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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-07-02 MinutesCity Council Street Committee Minutes July 2, 2007 Page 1 of 16 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 July 2, 2007 A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council Street Committee was held on July 2, 2007 at 4:30 p.m. in Room 219 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: Alderman Kyle Cook Staff Present: Ron Petrie, Chris Brown, Tim Conklin, Gary Dumas, Paul Becker, Dan Coolly 1. Call to Order Chairman Lioneld Jordan called the meeting to order. 2. Approval of the minutes of the June 18, 2007 Street Committee meeting Alderman Ferrell moved that the minutes to the Street Committee meeting held on June 18, 2007 be approved as submitted. Alderwoman Thiel seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. 3. Transportation Bond Program Items A. Presentation of the comments from the June 14, 2007 public meeting for the Mount Comfort Road Improvement Project and discussion of authorization to proceed with final design and right-of-way acquisition Ron Petrie said a very good meeting was held on June 14, 2007 with those who own property along Mount Comfort Road. This includes 83 tracts of property with 70 property owners. Forty 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes July 2, 2007 Page 2 of 16 people signed in to the meeting and ten left comment forms. These were forwarded to members of this Committee with the agenda for this meeting. He said another comment form was received just a few minutes ago and the gentleman who made the comment is present at this meeting. He repeated that it was a very good meeting. Many of the comments addressed reducing the greenspace, sidewalk width, etc. in order to reduce the right-of-way that would have to be purchased from their property. Those comments were expected and he said he would make the same comments himself. He said that he would recommend that the Committee consider reducing the greenspace from 10 ft. to 6 ft. in the areas that are very tight and reduce the sidewalk from 6 ft. to 5 ft. He said most of the Master Street Plan's cross sections show a 5 ft. sidewalk so this would be consistent with that Plan. He said the next step on this project is to get a final decision on the design and move it forward to the final design phase, get all the approvals necessary and bid the project out as soon as possible. He added that a big step in that process is the purchase of all the right-of-way which will take some time. Staff is looking to get a final decision on the typical cross section and the routing of the roads at this point. In response to a question from Alderwoman Thiel, Ron Petrie said the lanes were 14-11 wide but the bike lanes would not be marked separately. He said 11 ft. will be the driving surface with 3 ft. for a bike lane. That gives the opportunity for a bicyclist to move over so the car can pass. There will be symbols on the side but no white line separating the two lanes. Alderwoman Thiel stated her understanding that a fifth lane will be added at major intersections. She asked if this is what the people in the area want and support. Ron Petrie said in general terms that is correct. Alderman Jordan said Mr. Knies had called about his business on Shiloh and was a little concerned. He asked where we are with that. Ron Petrie said the Committee recommended working with Mr. Knies to move forward with a driveway off Shiloh (basically where Shiloh is now would be a driveway) and possibly some small signage. The access from Shiloh would also remain. We now need to draw up that option and get it to the State because that is in the State right-of-way and it will ultimately be their decision. Alderman Jordan opened the floor to public comment Ken Knies said he manages the local Farm Credit Services office here in Fayetteville. He said they built the office about five years ago. He said he has been in touch with their legal counsel concerning this issue solely so they are able to put the City on notice as to where they are and their concern about the damage and impact of the earlier conceptual design. He had a letter to share with the Committee. He said it sounds like there is some newer information and he wondered if this information was different from what he had heard in the past. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes July 2, 2007 Page 3 of 16 Ron Petrie said he believes Mr. Knies was at the last Street Committee meeting when this was discussed. What he has outlined to the Committee today is his understanding of the result of that meeting. Ken Knies said he hadn't fully understood that. He said he has a letter from Connie Clark, their legal counsel, to share with the Committee. He said they are entering this in the spirit of cooperation and trying to work something out. He is confident there is an easily agreeable solution to this. Alderman Jordan said he understood Mr. Knies was going to work with Ron Petrie after the last Street Committee meeting. Ken Knies said they have talked and met since then. He said he understood that the next step was for him to come to this meeting and speak to the Committee. Alderman Ferrell said he is hoping we can resolve this because his understanding is that once Mr. Knies gives the Committee the letter from an attorney representing him, all the communication after that is between the City Attorney and that attorney, leaving the Committee out of the loop. Alderman Jordan said it is also his understanding that once another attorney gets involved, the issue is then between the two attorneys. Alderman Ferrell said he is only indicating that he would like to have an amicable resolution to this if possible. Ken Knies said he believes we all agree with that. He said since he wasn't served any formal notice on this, his concern is finding out they missed an opportunity to make a change in this design because they didn't act. He said there is a great deal in the attorney's letter that talks about cooperation and finding a mutually agreeable solution. He said he will be glad to talk to Ms. Clark before he presents the letter to the Committee. He said he doesn't want to mess up any opportunity to work with this Committee and the staff. Alderman Jordan said it would probably be best if Mr. Knies talks to his attorney, and possibly to our City Attorney about this. Alderman Ferrell asked if Mr. Knies has conveyed all his concerns to Mr. Petrie. Ken Knies said he has done so to a degree. He said the one thing he has done since talking to Mr. Petrie is talk to a number of other parties including customers about the cul-de-sac issue. He said he got the response he anticipated, that it is not an acceptable solution from a customer standpoint. He said it really isn't acceptable from Farm Credit's standpoint either. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes July 2, 2007 Page 4 of 16 Alderman Ferrell asked if this Committee is in a situation where we can help with this issue. Ron Petrie displayed a map showing the area. He pointed out the business and Shiloh Drive as it exists today. He then pointed out the location of the cul-de-sac on the original plan. He said what has been discussed is leaving a driveway (strictly a driveway, not a public road) coming off Mt. Comfort with some type of sign on Mt. Comfort directing vehicles to the business. He said the actual cul-de-sac would probably need to be moved and a second driveway put in on that portion of Shiloh. There would therefore be two driveways feeding into this business. He said it is his understanding that this option is acceptable. Ken Knies agreed that they had discussed this option. He wasn't aware that this option was the Committee's offer. He said moving the cul-de-sac is confusing him some because their goal is to eliminate the cul-de-sac and make it a driveway. Ron Petrie said you have to look at what is a public road and what is a driveway. He said where the public road ends you have to have a way to terminate it and a way for traffic to turn around so it doesn't have to do so in a private driveway. He said that is the only purpose of the cul-de- sac. He said if the State says no to this option, we may have to look at doing a driveway on the City's property. Ken Knies said if it is agreeable to the Committee, he will get with Mr. Petrie and continue this discussion. Alderman Jordan agreed to that. Mike Clemons said he lives on Mt. Comfort, just east of Salem. He said he is pleased to hear about recommendation for the slight reduction of greenspace and sidewalk. He said because the plans don't call for retaining walls for backfill, the resulting angle will be somewhere around 33 degrees, terminating right at his wall, sending water into his building. He said he has spoken with several of the engineers in previous months about the possibility of condemnation and was assured there was no problem. He hopes something can be worked out. He said he would like to see the total elimination of the bike lane. He said there were good reasons not to have the bike lanes on that road, including the speed of the traffic. He talked about the slope of the plan and mentioned that it will eliminate parking for he duplex he rents. There being no further public comment, Alderman Jordan returned the discussion to the Committee. Mayor Coolly said it is City policy to include bike lanes and they are also in all the alternative transportation plans. He said if the Council or the public want to make a push to get rid of bike lanes, it would have to be a City wide effort by changing all the City polices. Alderwoman Thiel asked why this property was allowed to be built so close to the right-of-way. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes July 2, 2007 Page 5 of 16 Ron Petrie said some of these properties have been there in excess of fifty years. He said he isn't sure that is the case with this property. In response to Mr. Clemon's concern about the side slopes he said staff always evaluates this issue. He said there is a cost savings because you either have to slope it up, purchase additional right-of-way or easement or build a retaining wall. Depending on the size of the retaining wall, that might be the most cost effective. He said these things are considered in the final design. At this point they really don't have enough information to say whether or not a retaining wall would be built, but it is something that can be considered. In response to a question from Alderman Jordan, Ron Petrie said the Committee now has the option of making a final decision at the Committee level or of sending the issue to the Council for consideration. Alderwoman Allen asked that the issue be tabled until the next meeting. Ron Petrie asked what information staff could provide to the Committee in order to get this project moving forward. Alderwoman Thiel said she believes we need to see if there is a solution for the business on Mt. Comfort which was discussed earlier. She said she could not support doing away with the bike lanes because most of the people who live out there support them and it is a citywide policy to include bike lanes. But she suggested that some resolution would need to be worked out for this property owner. Alderman Ferrell said he knows how important it is to continue to move the projects forward. He asked if we would be able to move on with this if the two questions that came up tonight are resolved. He said he thinks there has been a lot of public discourse on this and he will be ready to take some action after we've tried to work out a solution on these two issues. Alderwoman Allen said she agrees with both Alderman Ferrell and Alderwoman Thiel. She said she doesn't want to see the bike lanes removed but hopes we can resolve the problems that are concerns of the citizens. She said she doesn't see that taking a long period of time. She hopes we'll be able to move this on by the next Street Committee meeting. Alderman Jordan said he also hopes so. He advised Mr. Clemons to meet with Mr. Petrie to discuss the situation. Ron Petrie said with the Farm Credit situation, the final decision will lie with the State highway department and could be a two to three month process. He said we could draw up something showing possible solutions with or without their approval but we probably won't have a final resolution on this until we get word back from them. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes July 2, 2007 Page 6 of 16 B. Discussion of Amendment No. 1 to the engineering contract with Garver Engineers in the amount of $716,850.00 for professional services associated with the Mount Comfort Road Improvement Project including final design, property acquisition document preparation, and contractor procurement. Ron Petrie said our original contract with Garver for Mt. Comfort (both portions: the intersection work at I540 and the full length down to Rupple Rd) brought us to this point. We have preliminary plans that have been submitted, approved and reviewed by the property owners in the area. The next step in this would require an amendment to the contract. We wanted to identify all the work they would be doing before we actually have a contract with the final design. Next will come the final design, property acquisition documents and getting the project out to either bid or to a negotiated procurement like we did the WSIP. This amendment will get us to that point. In the future we will have to have one additional amendment to get us through the construction. From a budgetary standpoint we have budgeted $1.5 million for all the engineering of this project so we are still within our estimate. Alderman Ferrell spoke about discussion in the past regarding contacting and surveying citizens about these projects. He said that this one business sitting down there was significant as a contact when drawing up these plans but they were not contacted by Garver and he thought it would be a good idea to learn from that in the future. Alderman Jordan asked if anyone from Garver could address that question. Frank McIllwain said their contact with the citizens was two fold. First, the City's land acquisition staff contacted all the citizens through registered mail to get them to come to the public meeting and Garver was at that meeting. He said it wasn't part of their scope of work to go door to door and talk to citizens because they were working on a conceptual design for which they would use this forum at the Street Committee for discussion. Alderman Ferrell asked if he was getting ahead of himself and if this is something that will be done later. Frank McIllwain said yes, as they get down to the fine detail design. He said so far they have an idea that has been reduced down and will still have to be reduced down more until they get to construction plans. He said that level of effort comes sometime between now and then. Ron Petrie said this item will be forwarded to the full City Council. He said the next Street Committee meeting will be held before this is heard at the City Council. Alderwoman Thiel asked if it is Mr. Petrie's recommendation that this item not be tabled but be forwarded on to the full City Council. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes July 2, 2007 Page 7 of 16 Alderman Ferrell moved that this amendment be forwarded to the City Council for discussion. Alderwoman Thiel seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. C. Discussion of the "Agreement of Understanding" with Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department for the Cato Springs Road Improvement Project. Chris Brown said Cato Springs Road is one of the Bond program projects. It is also a federally funded project. Those federal funds flow through the State Highway Dept. to the City so before we can receive the funds, we have to execute this "Agreement of Understanding" between the City and the Highway Department. He said the agreement basically spells out the responsibilities of the City and the State to make sure we meet all the requirements in order to receive the federal funds. The funding obligation is 80% federal funding and 20% City funding. He said on this project the total federal funds we expect is about $2.7 million and the project will cost about $5 million so we will exceed the 20% requirement. The agreement further outlines the things the City is required to do, such as submitting plans to the highway department and getting approvals before we advertise, etc. The agreement also outlines the responsibilities of AHTD as far as keeping up with all the paperwork required to receive the federal funds. He said we have the preliminary plans completed on this project so as soon as we get this agreement signed, we can send those plans to the State for their review. We will then be able to move on into preliminary design and final design. In response to a question from Alderwoman Thiel, Chris Brown said the federal funds we expect to receive are estimated to be $2.7 million. The project budget is a total of $5 million. So we are talking about a total of $2.3 million in City money. It is an 80% match with a maximum of $2.7 million. He said these are the budget numbers from the bond program and nothing has changed. Alderman Jordan opened the floor to public comment There being none, the discussion was brought back to the Street Committee. Ron Petrie said this item does not require City Council approval. It is more of an informational item at this point. However, it can be forwarded to the Council if the Committee wishes to do so. He said there is already a resolution granting the mayor authority to sign this agreement. It is a fairly standard document coming from the AHTD. Alderwoman Thiel moved that the Committee approve this Agreement of Understanding with the AHTD for the Cato Springs Road Improvement Project. Alderwoman Allen seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. D. General update of the Street Bond Program Chris Brown showed a summary schedule of the Street Bond Program. He said the concept design stage has been completed on several projects and the progress on the chart is stopped on 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes July 2, 2007 Page 8 of 16 these projects until all the public meetings, etc. can be accomplished. Among these projects are Cato Springs Rd., Mt. Comfort Rd., the Expressway Corridor and College Ave. He said the concept plans for College Avenue have just been completed and will be brought before the Committee very soon. He said on all of these projects staff will be scheduling public meetings and presenting contract amendments to the Street Committee. He said that Gregg Avenue would be the next construction project put out for bid and that should happen within the next couple of months. Zion Road will be coming along this fall. He said traffic calming (Washington- Willow/Wilson Park) is under construction and is about half done. All the speed tables have been installed in the Washington/Willow neighborhood and they have moved over into the Wilson Park neighborhood. He showed pictures of the two landscaped islands: one at Cleburn and Vandeventer. He said a tree will be put into the middle of this island with the rest of the island being filled with dirt and mulched. This island is a total of about twelve feet in diameter from the outside of the curbs. Alderwoman Allen said she drove around the roundabouts yesterday and couldn't see how it would be possible for an emergency vehicle such as a fire truck to get around them. Chris Brown said they know that larger vehicles will have to go up onto the curb and the curbs are designed to be mountable. He said they have checked some of the vehicle turning templates and measured to see how they work. He said they will have to get up onto the curb but can navigate through there by doing that. Alderwoman Allen questioned why we would do these islands instead of a speed table if we know they will be problematic. Chris Brown said it is a tool and has its drawbacks just like the speed tables do. He said emergency vehicles have to slow down for the speed tables as well. He said the island has different weaknesses than the speed tables but they both have weaknesses. Alderwoman Allen said she agrees they will be aesthetically more pleasing but was concerned about the issue for emergency vehicles. Chris Brown said we are doing three of these and will see how they work. If for some reason they aren't working, we'll make changes. Alderman Ferrell said he recommends an extra hard hardwood as the tree in the island. Chris Brown showed other pictures of the circles under construction. He said they go in very quickly. He said Tomlinson Asphalt is the contractor for these and for the speed tables and they have been very efficient about getting them installed so the street is not closed for a long period of time. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes July 2, 2007 Page 9 of 16 Mayor Coody mentioned if you drive over the speed table on Wilson Street and then drive over the one on Dickson Street you'll find they are very different in height. He asked that staff check to see if there is some sort of average for both of them. He said the one on Dickson Street is pretty extreme. He also asked that Mr. Petrie give the Committee a brief update on the history of these speed tables and islands and how they came to be. Ron Petrie said it was suggested by aldermen at the time to include the traffic calming in the bond issue. He said staff had drawn up a concept plan that showed many more than the three we are doing today. He said with these three we will get feedback and go on from there. He said he has not received any feedback either way on these. Alderman Cook said the Wilson Park neighborhood is having a meeting soon and we will get feedback at that time. Alderman Jordan opened the floor for public comment. There being none, the discussion was brought back to the Street Committee. 4. Discussion of the City's Traffic Calming Policy Ron Petrie gave a quick run down of how this policy is being handled. He said the Street Committee discussed this late last year and talked about changing some things in the policy. These changes have been very helpful though they haven't solved all the problems or taken care of all the issues with the policy. The policy used to require that people get a petition signed by 70% of the property owners on a street just to get a study started. It was a painful and long process. However, now a simple request can initiate the process. He said this is a very popular program and a majority of citizens would like to have something in their neighborhood. Early in the year staff start to create a list and continue to collect requests through the year. In the fall when school is back in session and traffic is back to its normal amount, staff studies every request. Last year they had forty-three requests and to -date we have twenty-two. Once all data is accumulated, staff uses a weighted formula to create a spread sheet and the data is presented to the Street Committee for a decision regarding which projects to undertake. This is the process used in 2006 and staff will use it this year as well unless the Committee would like to make changes. Alderwoman Allen said she thinks this is a much better process than the old policy. So many property owners are absentee landlords and it can take a long time to get any speed bumps installed. In response to a question from Alderwoman Thiel, Ron Petrie explained the color designations on the chart of projects that was distributed to the Street Committee to determine the projects to be done this year. He said those projects are being completed this year but they are a little behind on them. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes July 2, 2007 Page 10 of 16 Alderwoman Thiel said that Hyland Park has applied (for traffic control) for four years. She asked if they need to apply again next year Ron Petrie said they have already applied. Alderwoman Allen said about two years ago she came before the Street Committee to talk about the situation on Poplar St. by Woodland Jr. High School where people think that College connects with Gregg Ave. She said she doesn't see Poplar on this list. She asked if it was not considered a request when she came before the Committee. Ron Petrie said at that time the situation was being handled in a different way. He said the City (particularly the Transportation Division) was looking at increasing the signage and also to use a series of mini -bumps. This option was ruled out because of the noise. He said the request was not placed on this list because it was his understanding it was being handled through a different process. He said it could certainly be added to the list this year with no problem. Alderwoman Allen asked that it be added to the list. Ron Petrie said it will be on the list. He said it will go through the study and will be brought back to the Committee. Alderwoman Allen said she isn't sure the neighbors there understand the process. She said the people on Poplar have expected to see the situation remedied any day. It is a serious problem with school children walking along there. The speed bumps need to be there. Alderman Cook said he remembered when the Street Committee first looked at the traffic calming issue. He said one of the things discussed was that volume was weighted so heavily in the selection process. He said on a local street the volume isn't really an issue if the traffic isn't going so fast. His concern is with the volume being so heavily weighted. If the traffic is going slow you don't have to worry about the volume. He would think that sidewalks and traffic accidents would be weighted heavier than the volume. He said the Street Committee discussed this at the time but since this was a new idea, they went ahead with the plan as it was to move it forward. Ron Petrie said the only change in the original plan is that they did not limit the traffic accidents to 5 points. That was a minor change but he thought it was critical. Every accident should count. Alderwoman Thiel said she agrees with Alderman Cook about the volume issue. She asked if these points are what are most commonly used. She understands there has to be enough volume to justify the cost of it but she wonders if that is weighted at the right ratio. She asked if Mr. Petrie could check some other cities that have traffic calming policies. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes July 2, 2007 Page 11 of 16 Alderman Ferrell said he remembers that the Committee was involved in a thousand things when this came up and felt this was a good place to start. But there is always room to look at it and change it. He thanked Mr. Petrie for getting this policy off the ground. Alderman Jordan opened the floor for public comment. There being none, he returned the discussion to the Committee where it was decided to discuss the policy further at a future meeting.. 5. Discussion of a cost share with the Boardwalk Subdivision Property Owners Association in the amount of $68,730.00 for the dredging of the Boardwalk POA pond. Ron Petrie said staff and several elected officials have been meeting with this POA for about two years. Even before that time we had been receiving complaints from property owners who live along this pond. The pond is located just to the south of Mission and to the west of Crossover. It is approximately a five -acre pond that was installed before any of the subdivisions were built. Most of the complaints received from five years ago to the present deal with the amount of mud entering the pond. There were some very large projects being built around it, such as the widening of Crossover Rd., the Summersby Subdivision just to the south and up the hill from the pond. He would also suspect that the Boardwalk Subdivision itself had some impact on the debris in the pond. During these discussions, staff considered building some structure on the upper part of the pond to catch a lot of the debris. They came up with a design and priced it out and the price they got was very high. At that point they decided to see how much it would cost to dredge the pond instead. Most of the development is complete now and the area is stabilized. Staff has been contacting contractors off and on for close to a year. He said it is very hard to get many people to give an estimate on this because of the size of the pond. He said he did get a proposal from Wilson Excavation in the amount of $76,330.00. The Boardwalk POA has agreed to share in the cost in the amount of $7,600.00, leaving $68,730.00 for the City. He said members of the POA are present at this meeting if the Committee would like to hear from them. Alderwoman Allen asked if this was originally a retention pond or just an aesthetic pond for the subdivision. Ron Petrie said it was more of a farm pond when it was built. When the subdivisions were built around it they did not dedicate drainage easements. The pond is owned by the POA now and is more aesthetic at this point. Alderman Jordan opened the floor for public comment. Rick Volmer said he lives in the Boardwalk Subdivision and is a member of the POA Board. He said the way the situation was explained by Mr. Petrie is also the understanding for the POA. He said he would be happy to field any questions. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes July 2, 2007 Page 12 of 16 Alderman Thiel said she has met with the POA and neighbors, along with the mayor and former Alderman Swifty Reynolds so she is familiar with the situation. She said she believes the issue is that the pond is so silted up that it is killing all the aquatic life and creating problems. It is becoming a swamp rather than a lake. She said when Summersby Subdivision was engineered, it was engineered properly originally, though the utility company came in and wreaked some havoc. However when the subdivision was built out a few years later, each individual lot created a lot of runoff. She said that it was pretty much documented that that contributed to the problem. There was also probably some contribution to the problem when Crossover was widened. However, the fact that all this has happened is not really the fault of this POA and they feel that the City does have some responsibility because we didn't prevent the problem. She said she has encouraged staff to find a way to work with this subdivision to remedy this situation. Dredging the pond and deepening it does seem the simplest way to go about this. She said she assumes our engineers believe it won't silt back in again once it is cleaned out properly. Ron Petrie said the time frame it would take for it to silt back in would be much, much greater than it was before. He said you will always get some natural silt but we now have new ordinances and most of the development in the area is complete. Alderman Ferrell asked how we arrived at the amount that the POA would cost share. Rick Volmer said during their discussions with the City, they were asked to step up and help out to some extent. He said their board met and based on the quote Mr. Petrie received and the amount of money they have available, they arrived at 10% of the quote as their contribution. Alderman Ferrell asked how many members there are in this POA. Rick Volmer said he believes there are eighty three households. Alderwoman Allen said she can understand that the City would have some responsibility because of development, but $70,000 seems pretty hefty. Rick Volmer said there are some other issues. He said during the development of Summersby they were working with some staff at the City and had raised the concerns about several problems. He said they did understand that silt fencing is not required in a residential construction. But there were times when loads of top soil were set right on the street and when it rained it would wash down into the pond. He said the City had to go out there and warn contractors and ask them to abide by the City's rules and he said the City had some trouble policing that. He agrees that it is a situation where the POA doesn't feel they created the problem and understands that the City doesn't feel that they created it either. But the problem is there. He also talked about other problems that are developing with the pond. He said the POA was asked to step up and help out as much as they can and this is the amount they came up with. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes July 2, 2007 Page 13 of 16 Alderwoman Allen said she certainly can see how this is problematic but she also thinks about what else could be done with that money. She asked how this kind of situation is handled in other cities. Alderwoman Thiel said she understands Alderwoman Allen's statement and agrees to some extent. However, she said she is looking at this as an individual's property and their property was ruined to some extent by what appears to be a lack of ordinances to protect them. Those ordinances are now in place and it was a costly lesson to the City. She said this City is built on hillsides and that creates problems. We have had to come up with unique ordinances to protect people who live down stream. She said she realizes the City does have tort immunity and we're not necessarily liable but she still feels like we have a responsibility. She asked what Mr. Petrie's recommendation would be. Ron Petrie said having met with this neighborhood for as long as he has, he would consider this a drainage problem. He said it is a problem that is very similar to a regional type detention facility. He said to a large degree this situation has kept our creeks a lot cleaner because a lot of materials have been deposited in this pond. This has been beneficial to the City in some ways. In response to a question from Alderwoman Allen, Ron Petrie said he does not believe any of this is the City's fault. But the question is probably if it is the City's responsibility and that is a question he would have a problem answering. He said it was certainly the fault of the people who built the houses and roads but that is a very large group including other government agencies and it would be very hard to go back on them. It is now in the City's hands to see if we want to fix it. Alderman Ferrell said he is sympathetic. He said he would be more sympathetic if it were a fifty-fifty split. But knowing that it has served as a useful detention facility, he would support moving it on. Kim Battrone is with the Boardwalk Property Owners Association and she said she supports what Mr. Volmer has already said. Alderman Cook asked Mr. Petrie if this is one of those things that would fall under a storm water utility. Ron Petrie said he thinks it could. He said if the Committee wants to proceed with this cost share, we might want to see if we can acquire some rights to it. Or we may want to make sure we don't have to do this again, depending on which way the Committee wants to go. Alderman Cook asked what our policy is in other drainage areas in the City. He asked if it is the City's responsibility to clean those out and how we typically handle these issues. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes July 2, 2007 Page 14 of 16 Ron Petrie said what we have been doing is making the POA responsible for that. At some point that will have to change. In many subdivisions there is not a POA. So one day staff and Council will have to address this. In response to a further question from Alderman Cook, Ron Petrie said we have not cost - shared with POA's to clean out ponds that he is aware of during the time he has been with the City. Alderman Ferrell said if we can establish somehow that this is not a precedent, he would support moving the issue forward to the Council for consideration. Mayor Coolly said staff has been talking to this neighborhood for a couple of years and he is glad it has finally come to the Committee for a decision. He said the precedent setting is something all are concerned about. But when Hwy 265 was built there was an enormous amount of runoff and that was a public facility used by a lot of the public. So he can see how this could be justified because the pond did act as a catchment basin for a lot of public works. He said though we don't want it to serve as a precedent, he can see where it could be something we might want to follow through with. He said we have been talking about this for quite awhile and he is glad the neighborhood has been as patient as they have been. There being no further comment from the public, the discussion was brought back to the Street Committee. Alderwoman Allen asked if the decision at this point would be simply to move it on to the full Council rather than approving it. Alderman Ferrell moved that this cost share be forwarded to the City Council for consideration. Alderwoman Thiel seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. 6. Discussion of a conceptual plan for East Avenue sidewalk improvements between Center and Meadow Streets Ron Petrie encouraged everyone on the Committee who has not been out to this area to walk the sidewalks in front of the Continuing Education Building. He said these are certainly a safety issue that staff is going to address as soon as they can. He said they have looked at the corridor, especially on East Avenue and want to recommend making a change out there. He showed a map of the existing sidewalk. He said there are very large trees along the sidewalk. He said in removing the sidewalk that exists in the area it will be very difficult to save the trees. He said this is currently two lanes with one-way traffic going north toward Dickson. Staff's recommendation is to have one lane of traffic, keep parallel parking on both sides and move the sidewalk to where the existing parking is today. This would allow for 8 -ft. sidewalks and the area where the existing sidewalks are would be greenspace. He said part of the Dover Kohl plan was to convert 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes July 2, 2007 Page 15 of 16 all of these streets to two-way. By going with this recommendation, we are at least making the comment that East Avenue will remain one way for the foreseeable future Alderman Jordan asked if staff would do the same thing on Center. Ron Petrie said we would keep the sidewalk basically where it is on Center Street. We are not proposing to change it to one lane of traffic. A decision will have to be made in the future as to whether to make it a two way street. The sidewalk work will not involve getting out into the street as it will on East Avenue. Alderman Ferrell asked if administration has a recommendation on this. Gary Dumas said this is the administration's recommendation. Mayor Coody said East Avenue coming off Center is not really two lanes; it is more of a one and three quarters lane because when people try to use it as a two lane, it is too tight and confusing. He said this plan would function quite well. It would have a safer one lane of traffic instead of almost two lanes trying to compete. He thinks it also meshes with the plans of the Cosmopolitan Hotel. Alderman Ferrell asked if this would force some traffic off East Avenue onto Spring Street. Mayor Coody said he doesn't believe it would. East Avenue doesn't carry a lot of traffic. In response to a question from Alderman Ferrell, Ron Petrie said Dover Kohl recommended that all the streets coming onto the square should be two-way. Ron Petrie said they did receive some potential plans just to the north of this for the Renaissance Hotel. Staff will present these to the Committee and they will tie into this plan. The Committee will also be seeing improvements on the square just to the south of this around the Bank of America. Mayor Coody said he and Mr. Johnson (UA) have been in communication and the City is asking the University to cost share 50-50 on this since this is the sidewalk around the Continuing Education Center. We don't have confirmation on this at this time. Alderman Jordan opened the floor for public comment. Mike Johnson, University of Arkansas, said they have been talking to the City regarding this. He said it is the City's responsibility to maintain the sidewalks but the UA is part of the City and they have looked at cost sharing to get this done. He said they are very interested in the entire plan for the square and the rest of East Avenue down to Spring St. to have a picture of the entire project. He said he is a civil engineer and though he thinks Dover Kohl had a great idea, he 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes July 2, 2007 Page 16 of 16 believes two-way traffic coming into the square will cause a problem. He said he is looking forward to the upgrades on the square and the University is willing to work on a cost share with the City on the pieces around here. He said it is an extremely serious safety problem and needs to be taken care of as quickly as possible. There being no further public comment, Alderman Jordan brought the discussion back to the Street Committee. Alderman Jordan said he doesn't have a problem with any of this. But he said he believes we will eventually have a problem with the trees on Center Street and that concerns him. He thinks it should be two lanes on Center but doesn't have a problem with it going to one lane on East. Ron Petrie said staff would like a recommendation from the Committee though this is not a Council item unless the Committee wants it to be. Alderwoman Thiel said she absolutely supports this. She said this is a safety issue. Alderwoman Thiel moved that the conceptual plan for the East Avenue sidewalk be approved. Alderwoman Allen seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. 7. Scheduling of the next Street Committee Meeting The next Street Committee meeting was scheduled for Wednesday, July 11, 2007 at 4:30 in Room 219. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org