Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-05-31 MinutesCity Council Street Committee Minutes May 31, 2007 Page 1 of 11 Member Aldermen Mayor Dan Coody Ward 1 Position l — Brenda Thiel V10 Ward 2 Position 2 — Nancy Allen CityAttorney Kit Williams � 1 Ward 3 Position 2—Robert Ferrell Ward 4 Position 2 - Lioneld Jordan City Clerk Sondra Smith ARKANSAS City of Fayetteville Arkansas City Council Street Committee Meeting Minutes May 31, 2007 A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council Street Committee was held on May 31, 2007 at 4:30 p.m. in Room 326 of the City Administration Building located at 113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas. MEMBERS PRESENT: Alderman Lioneld Jordan, Chair; Alderwoman Nancy Allen, Alderman Robert Ferrell, Alderwoman Brenda Thiel Other Council Members Present: Alderwoman Shirley Lucas and Alderman Kyle Cook Staff Present: Ron Petrie, Chris Brown, Tim Conklin, Gary Dumas, Paul Becker, Dan Coolly, Karen Minkel 1. Call to Order Chairman Lioneld Jordan called the meeting to order. 2. Approval of the minutes of the April 30, 2007 Street Committee meeting Alderman Ferrell moved that the minutes to the Street Committee meeting held on April 30, 2007 be approved as submitted. Alderwoman Thiel seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. 3. Presentation of proposed revisions and updates to the City Master Street Plan Map and street cross-sections to reflect the goals of City Plan 2025 and to complement the Future Land Use May Karen Minkel said she and other staff, primarily with the Planning and Engineering Divisions were charged with the task of updating the Master Street Plan and making sure it was consistent with City Plan 2025 goals as well as the Future Land Use Map. Staff has been working for several months now to complete that update. Ms. Minkel distributed a staff report, the text that 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes May 31, 2007 Page 2 of 11 goes along with the street cross sections and the cross sections themselves. She said these will be incorporated into a final document that will be formatted the same as the City Plan 2025. She gave a little background on all the information used to update the Master Street Plan. She said staff used the City Plan 2025 which specifically talks about an interconnected network of streets that offers a variety of options to get from one destination to the next. It also talks about a road network where traffic can be easily dispersed within the network rather than all motorists having to depend on one major thoroughfare. Staff also used the Future Land Use Map which was approved last year by the City Council. This map shows a spectrum of land uses varying in intensity and density throughout the City. Staff was careful to make sure the streets they proposed were consistent with this land use. Staff took into consideration a number of professional guidelines as well, including information from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and the Institute of Transportation Engineers. Although primarily planning and engineering staff worked on this Master Street Plan, there was also input and review from the fire department and solid waste personnel and the City's urban forester. She said staff wanted this Master Street Plan to reflect the policy decisions that have been made by the City Council since the last update. They also wanted to minimize the requests for unique street cross sections in proposed developments and to distinguish among land uses and patterns of development. They incorporated the newly annexed areas of the City and gave those streets designations and tried to accommodate the future population growth. Ms. Minkel highlighted some of the major changes made, including more small connecting streets and a better accommodation for pedestrians and cyclists, a greater sensitivity to context, a reduced right-of-way requirement in most instances and fewer street cross sections. She continued to review the staff report, noting access management and right-of-way requirements for different streets, alleys, etc. Alderman Ferrell said that in the past we have sometimes tried to shield or hide parking in the rear alleys. If we limit access to the alleys, he wondered where we would be encouraging the parking. Karen Minkel said residential rear alleys would often be the access to a garage or car port or something in the back. Tim Conklin said that the alley would provide access to the parking off the alley, to a garage or surface parking lot. Karen Minkel continued the presentation, reviewing the different street cross sections recommended for different areas of the City. The first example was `residential streets' which provide for the lowest level of traffic flow and service and which provide access to residential properties. A high degree of street connectivity is strongly encouraged for easy dispersal of traffic. She explained that there is a residential neighborhood street cross section as welt as a newly added low `impact development street' cross section. This could be used in instances such as the current Habitat for Humanity development. The text of the Master Street Plan says that 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes May 31, 2007 Page 3 of 11 these street cross sections will be approved by staff only when used in conjunction with other green neighborhood building practices. She then reviewed `local streets' which provide for a moderate level of traffic flow and service. She explained that there is also a designation for `local urban street', which is what Dickson Street is considered. She talked about `collector streets' which provide traffic circulation within residential, commercial and industrial areas. In the current Master Street Plan, a `collector street' cross section requires 70 ft. of right-of-way. In reviewing this, staff felt that though 70 ft. of right-of-way might be appropriate for a commercial area, it wasn't necessarily appropriate for a residential area. Therefore, the right-of-way for a `collector street' has been reduced to 58 ft. except at intersections where there is a turn lane. A `collector boulevard' is also an option and is encouraged for areas that will receive or encourage significant pedestrian traffic. She pointed out the chevron symbols on the Master Street Plan map. She said these are not bike lanes in the traditional sense but indicate that there will be cyclist traffic and it will be something that is required if this street is shown as being one of the on -street linkages in the trail network plan. Alderman Cook said the Sidewalk and Trails Committee discussed this and chose it as their preference. Karen Minkel said staff was advised that on a `minor arterial street' the traffic speeds would be enough to warrant an actual designated bike lane. Therefore a bike lane is designated on these street cross sections. `Principle arterial streets' carry high volumes of through -traffic. They are designed as boulevards for safety and beauty. A street cross section that is not in the previous master street plan is the principle arterial parkway. An example of this is the way Rupple Road is being designed. There are very few of these cross sections shown on the new Master Street Plan but staff did want to make the option available. She continued that the `hillside/hilltop overlay district streets' are essentially the same as they were on the previous plan. They are designed with a narrow right-of-way in order to minimize grading disturbance and tree removal. The last streets discussed are the `downtown master plan streets'. These are specific to the Downtown Master Plan area. There were twelve of these in the previous plan and that number has been reduced to four street cross sections. To make all the sidewalk and landscaping consistent throughout the City the right-of-way requirements have been increased slightly. All the other downtown streets fit one of the other street designations. She presented slides to show the four downtown street cross sections. The last one was the section of College Avenue that is within the downtown which was originally not included as one of the street cross sections anywhere. She then reviewed the right-of-way changes, which have either remained the same or been reduced, with the exception of `residential streets' which went up from 40 ft. to 43 ft. Ms. Minkel said this is the first public hearing that has been held for the Master Street Plan update. It is one of many that will be held in the future. Staff is planning an open house after this Committee has reviewed the plan. They would also like to have a technical meeting with local engineers and developers for their review before it goes to the Planning Commission and to the City Council. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes May 31, 2007 Page 4 of 11 Alderman Ferrell asked that as we go through this process we keep in mind that access to retail and commercial business is what pays to run to this city and if we restrict the access to enter those businesses or alter the access in a manner that can have a negative affect on our economy it is counter productive to us. Alderman Jordan opened the floor for public discussion. There being none, the discussion was brought back to the Street Committee. Alderwoman Thiel said it doesn't look like any of the street designations have changed very much. She thinks that will be important to everybody. Karen Minkel said overall she thinks that is correct. She doesn't believe there were a lot of designation changes. It was more a matter of looking at what those designations mean. Alderwoman Thiel said she appreciates Alderman Ferrell's concern about making sure there is adequate access to commercial, but she also sees the value in reducing asphalt where we can. Alderwoman Allen said she appreciates the work staff has done on this. She said she can tell that the job has been monumental and it will be interesting to see how it unfolds and what people have to say. Just at a glance it looks pretty good. Tim Conklin reiterated that there has been a collaborative effort on this project. He said it is not the planning division's Master Street Plan. He said their staff has met numerous times with engineering, solid waste, the fire department and others to make sure everyone has had input on the initial draft. He said this is a City of Fayetteville project to develop some cross sections that we can provide to the development community. We use the Master Street Plan to preserve corridors and also make recommendations as their developments come through of what they need to improve with regard to our collectors and arterials. He said he would like to thank all the staff who have participated in the project. 4. Transportation Bond Program A. Presentation by Garver Engineers of the preliminary plans for the Mountain Comfort Road Widening project between I-540 and Rupple Road and the Mount Comfort/Shiloh/Deane Solomon intersection Ron Petrie gave an overview of the reason for this presentation. He said the Committee has seen concepts for the intersection of Shiloh/Mount Comfort/Deane Solomon and has agreed on a concept. Preliminary plans have now been developed for the whole section of Mount Comfort and we are ready to move this project forward to get public comment. The next step after Committee approval is to set up a meeting out somewhere on Mount Comfort and invite all the property owners and get their comments. Those comments will be presented to this Committee 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes May 31, 2007 Page 5 of 11 and the plan will then be brought back to the Committee for final approval. At this point staff is looking for an approval to take this to the public for comment Frank McIllwain, with Garver Engineers said his purpose is to tell the Committee where we are on this project. He said they have completed a portion of the design and have more to go. He said the project is to take the existing Mount Comfort and do a reconstruction and widening to improve traffic flow. The project also includes a relocation of Shiloh Road, north and south. Sections of the project are in Arkansas State Highway Department right-of-way. He said they have coordinated with AHTD, presenting this design and have received a letter saying they concur with the design up to this point. He explained that Mount Comfort will be a four -lane section with a fifth intermittent turning lane as needed. We are proposing to have two lanes with turn bays (a third lane as needed but not continuous) for Shiloh. For Porter Road crossing under I540 they propose three lanes. They feel that is needed for the backup of traffic on the I-540 on- ramp. Alderman Ferrell asked if we have any idea where the "as needed" turn lanes on Shiloh might be. Frank McIllwain said that a lane would be needed to tum onto Deane Solomon and also onto Mount Comfort. They don't think anything larger than the minimum distance is warranted. Alderwoman Thiel wondered how this will work as far as creating entries into the Nelms property and the Hayes property which have not yet been developed but will be in the future. Frank McIllwain said a turn lane could be added anywhere as needed if the development does not occur soon enough to be added to this project. Alderwoman Lucas asked about access to the State Farm business with this design. Ron Petrie said at this point we have Shiloh Drive as a cul-de-sac in front of that business. He said they have met and discussed a possible separate driveway off Mount Comfort very close to where the existing Shiloh Drive is now. That is in the State right-of-way so we would have to get some approval to use that as a driveway. They have also talked about a small sign provided by the City to help direct the traffic because that business is obviously impacted by this change. This would give them dual access from Shiloh and Mount Comfort. Frank McIllwain explained the reason for the cul-de-sac. He said they believe part of the current problem with traffic congestion is the fact that there are five lanes coming in at one time at one point. They are therefore trying to keep this improvement to a standard four -lane intersection. Ken Knies with Farm Credit Services said he did have the opportunity to meet with Ron and Chris a week ago today which was the first he was aware of the impact of this improvement. He 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes May 31, 2007 Page 6 of 11 said they do have a concern about losing a lot of accessibility but at the same time they recognize that this project is probably going to occur and they want to be as accommodating as a corporate neighbor as they can. He said Ron had mentioned something about a modified island approach whereby through traffic would be eliminated. He said that would be a win-win situation for them. They are certainly anxious to work with whomever they can to the best level they can without losing the easy, convenient access to their business. Alderman Jordan assured him that we will work with him. Ron Petrie said the island approach was what he was referring to previously. He explained that it would not be officially a street going through but two driveways going in at different points. Alder -woman Lucas said she is sure there will be other businesses going in there so access needs to be taken into consideration. Frank McIllwain continued his presentation by talking about signalization. He said the project includes four new traffic signals: one at Rupple and Mount Comfort, one at Salem and Mount Comfort, one at Shiloh where it has been relocated for a new connection to Mount Comfort and a fourth one at the off ramps of I-540. The project includes 6 ft. sidewalks, a trail connection along Shiloh. Alder -woman Lucas asked if the trail would go under the highway. Ron Petrie said at this point we are not proposing to build the trail. Wherever we have a sidewalk where the trail needs to be, we want to go ahead and make it extra wide. The areas where that would occur are fairly limited. In the future, the trail would go under the highway at that location although it would take some work on the concrete abutments on the bridges to make it fit in. But at this point we are not proposing to include the trail with this project. Frank McIllwain said the future trail connection would be along Shiloh, connecting to Mount Comfort and Porter. He said they will build the connection that's along the street in this project and not build the continuation for the future (along Shiloh to the southwest). For Shiloh and Deane Solomon, Garver looked at a couple of different options. They used the traffic study to determine which road is the predominant road and determined that Shiloh was the predominant road. So in this design, Shiloh is a continuous through street onto Mount Comfort. In response to a question from Alderwoman Thiel, Ron Petrie confirmed that staff has met with the Nelms family and that they are satisfied with this design. Frank Melllwain said now that this conceptual preliminary design has been done, the next step will be public meetings and they would like to be able to move forward with those. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes May 31, 2007 Page 7 of 11 Alderwoman Allen said she doesn't understand why the cul-de-sac is where it is and why the design does not connect with the existing part of Shiloh Drive Frank McIllwain said they looked at how you could do this connection. He said there are six streets coming together. The traffic analysis indicates that that is the root of the traffic problem here, especially during the morning peak periods. So they looked at keeping this as the traditional four -leg intersection. It is too close to bring in another four -leg intersection and we can't take Shiloh and tie it on to the off ramp. So they felt that this was the best solution. Alderwoman Allen asked if Mr. McIllwain sees this as a relatively permanent solution. Frank McIllwain said that he did. Alderwoman Thiel said the Committee has seen several scenarios and this one seems to make the most sense. Alderman Jordan opened the floor for public comment. There being none, he brought the discussion back to the Street Committee. Alderwoman Lucas said she still worries about the curve. If that area is developed, she is concerned about a lot of traffic coming out on the curve. Mayor Coolly asked if that would be taken care of with access management and Ron Petrie said that it would have to be. Alderman Jordan said he has the same concern that Alderwoman Lucas has with the curve. Ron Petrie said the curve will be between two traffic signals so the hope is that the signals will slow down the traffic. Frank Melllwain said they did look at some options for the curve when they started this project. They had problems figuring out a way to connect Mount Comfort from the west and also Shiloh from the west. Alderman Jordan said he doesn't necessarily disagree but there may be some public comment on that issue. B. General Update including project schedules Chris Brown gave a few highlights of the projects. A ground breaking was held for the Washington Willow/Wilson Park Transportation Improvements traffic calming project. The notice to proceed has been issued for the contractor and they will start tomorrow (June 1) They will be start first in the Washington Willow neighborhood. There are eight speed tables there and 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes May 31, 2007 Page 8 of 11 the contractor expects to be able to do about two per week. Within a month they should be moving over into the Wilson Park neighborhood, assuming the weather cooperates. On the same project, we have preliminary plans from the designer for the Gregg Avenue/North Street intersection. Staff will be reviewing those plans over the next few weeks. That project should be ready for bid sometime this summer. We have concept plans on Cato Springs Road. Staff has hit a bit of a snag with the highway department on this project. Because the project involves federal funds, the City has to get an agreement worked out with the highway department before we move forward and it is taking a little longer than expected. In response to a question from Alderman Thiel, Chris Brown explained that we are receiving federal funds for the Cato Springs Road project that are filtered through the State highway department. We have to have an agreement with them that will spell out how the funds will be reimbursed and what approvals we will have to get for the designs. We have the design criteria approved, which sets forth the general concept but AHTD will have to review it in more detail. There are several issues they will have to give approval for, including right-of-way acquisition, the bridge, etc. Mayor Coody asked if the lack of agreement with the highway department is based on things we don't agree upon or if the issue is just stuck in the plumbing at the State. Chris Brown said it is really just sort of stuck. Mayor Coody said he would try to help with that if he is needed. Chris Brown said on the Garland Avenue project we have received the concept design from Carter & Burgess and staff is reviewing that. We have selected the projects for the Expressway Corridor and, again because of the Federal funding, we will have to get an agreement worked out with the State highway department. That process has started. The Zion Road project is being designed in-house and staff is working on the preliminary design. That project should be out for bid in the fall, assuming the utility relocations go as planned. The conceptual design for the College Avenue project is now being finalized and we should see it very soon. Alderwoman Thiel asked about the status of Huntsville Road. Chris Brown said AHTD has scheduled that for construction in 2009. They have told us that they have begun preliminary surveying. He will check back with them periodically on this project to make sure it is moving forward. Alderwoman Allen spoke about how important she believes it is to get these updates. When there are delays, people need to know and when we are ahead of schedule, they also need to know that. Alderman Jordan asked if we could have the big chart back up next time. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes May 31, 2007 Page 9 of 11 Alderman Ferrell said he got a call from Little Rock earlier today that the Lakeview case has been released from the Courts. That case has taken a lot of money out of the state and he hopes that decision will be positive financially for everyone. Alderman Jordan opened the floor for public comment. Mike Johnson asked if we had the opportunity to get any additional funding to move the Lafayette and Maple Street bridge rehabs up. He said it looked like it would be five years before the bridge rehab would be finished and the Lafayette Street bridge is in pretty bad shape. Ron Petrie said from the bonds standpoint, there is no opportunity for funding. There may be an outside funding source that we can look to, such as the CIP or grants or something like that. There being no further comment, he returned the discussion to the Committee. C. Discussion of the Transportation Bond Financing Gary Dumas said the Committee has received a memo from Paul Becker (Finance Director), Ron Petrie and himself talking about the issues with the sales tax. The sales tax issue also affects the dedicated sales tax used to repay the bonds that we have outstanding. The result of that is that it looks like the bond issuance scheduled for 2009 is going to be reduced from $24.5 million to roughly $8.8 million. Ron has gone back and looked to see what might have to happen to keep the program as much on schedule as possible. He has come up with two ideas: construction of Garland Avenue between I-540 and Howard Nickel should be delayed until after 2012. Sam's Club is improving a lot of the intersection work around I-540 and the frontage roads. The Van Asche extension over to Howard Nickel won't be complete until around 2009. It would be two lanes also so there won't be a great deal of additional traffic that the current roads can't handle. There is not a traffic problem today but there will be a traffic problem in the future, especially when Van Asche is finally four lanes and Park West begins to develop. He believes that delaying this construction will cause no traffic problems. The second project Ron has identified is the cost shares. There is currently $8.6 million remaining in the cost shares uncommitted. In order to keep all the other projects on track, there would need to be no more usage of those funds. A few months ago the Street Committee did discuss widening Rupple Road between Persimmon and Wedington at a cost of a couple million dollars. Staff would propose that the design on that continue in house but that construction be delayed until additional funding can be identified. That might not be until the next bond issuance. There are currently many intersections from Persimmon to Wedington and the transportation need to widen that road probably would not be necessary until after Rupple Road is extended all the way to Hwy 62. That would probably be the most opportune time to widen the Persimmon to Wedington section. With those two changes, everything else stays on track, assuming that sales tax continues to get no worse that it already is. There is some implication to the wastewater system project. We will 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes May 31, 2007 Page 10 of 11 just have to monitor that. But at this time there is no need to worry about the W SIP. It is the first priority Alderman Ferrell asked what the possibilities would be as far as the street bond program goes if the sales tax begins to increase again. Gary Dumas said right now we are proposing a no -growth in sales tax scenario. It stays at the 2006 level. If we grow at 2% between now and 2009, that 2009 bond issuance could be approximately $12 million instead of the $8.8 million. The thing to recognize is that sales tax fluctuates. There will be ups and downs. We have been riding an "up" for the past several years and right now sales tax is flat. Hopefully it will change directions and if it does, we will update the Committee on projects that can be moved forward or re -added. Alderwoman Lucas said she understands that the widening of Rupple between Persimmon and Wedington was being taken out of the cost share. Is that the why it is being eliminating? Ron Petrie said the reason he is recommending it is that it was not on the original list. It was added to the program. Alderwoman Lucas asked how this would affect the development that it was tied to. Gary Dumas said we would lose approximately $100,000 from the Westside Village development. That agreement was just signed by them in the last week or so. They would still provide their funding if we get the road built in 2009. Depending on how things are going between now and 2009, we may need to visit with the developer and see if they will extend the time a tittle further. Alderman Ferrell asked if there might be some considerations out of CIP money for some cost shares. Gary Dumas said we still have the normal cost shares that are in the CIP and we will be reviewing that again during this next budget season. In the last year that money has not been adequate, but in years prior to that it has been. Alderman Jordan opened the floor for public comment. There being none, he returned the discussion to the Committee. Alderman Jordan said we've just got to do what we've got to do. 5. Discussion of the City's Traffic Calming Policy Alderman Jordan said Alderwoman Thiel had said she would like to be present when this item is discussed. He asked if there was anyone in the audience who had come to discuss this item. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes May 31, 2007 Page 11 of 11 There was no comment. He suggested that the discussion be postponed until the next Street Committee meeting 6. Scheduling of the next Street Committee Meeting The next Street Committee meeting was scheduled for Monday, June 18, 2007 at 4:30 p.m. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org