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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-10-01 MinutesCity Council Street Committee Minutes Oct. I, 2007 Page 1 of 7 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 October 1, 2007 A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council Street Committee was held on October 1, 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: Alderwoman Shirley Lucas, Alderman Kyle Cook Staff Present: Ron Petrie, Chris Brown, Tim Conklin, Gary Dumas 1. Call to Order Chairman Lioneld Jordan called the meeting to order. 2. Approval of the minutes from the Sept. 6, 2007 Street Committee meeting Alderwoman Thiel moved to approve the minutes of the September 6, 2007 Street Committee meeting. Alderman Ferrell seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. 3. Discussion of a request from the developers of the Crystal Springs Subdivision to jointly utilize the planned Raven Lane crossing of Clabber Creek for a golf cart path that is to be used by Razorback Golf Course. (This item was tabled at the September 6, 2007 Street Committee Meeting). Brian Solak with Engineering Design Associates said the last time the Committee met there were a couple of concerns expressed. He distributed some information and revisions to the proposal. He said the Committee had requested that the golf course commit in writing to maintaining the cart path. He said a letter in the information he distributed deals with liability within the right-of-way. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes Oct. I, 2007 Page 2 of 7 Alderwoman Thiel asked Ron Petrie if this was acceptable to him. Ron Petrie said he would prefer to defer to (City Attorney) Kit Williams on this. He said on the conditions of approval it might be noted that approval is contingent upon this letter being acceptable to Mr. Williams. Alderman Ferrell moved that approval of this letter is conditional upon review and approval by City Attorney Kit Williams. Alderwoman Thiel seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Brian Solak said the other concern expressed by the Committee was the need for the guard rail to be on both sides of the cart path. He said this change is shown in the copy of the revised plan distributed to the Committee. He told Mr. Petrie he had full sets of the plans for him if he needs them. Ron Petrie said his staff will review those plans with the rest of the subdivision as a part of that process. Alderman Jordan asked if there were any comments from the Committee. There being none, he said this was in his and Alderwoman Lucas' ward and with the addition of these changes they don't have any further problems with this proposal. Ron Petrie said he doesn't see any concerns. He said his staff will do a full review when they review the subdivision. But on the surface it looks like the issues discussed in the past have been addressed. Alderman Ferrell moved that this item be approved with the amendment noted above. Alderwoman Allen seconded the motion. Alderwoman Thiel asked that it be ensured that someone follows through and makes sure the letter regarding liability is reviewed and approved by Mr. Williams. If there is a problem it should come back to this committee. Alderman Jordan opened the floor for comment from the public. There was none. With a motion and second on the floor a vote was taken and itpassed unanimously. 4. Transportation Bond Program Items A. Presentation of the comments from the public meeting for the College Avenue Improvement Project and discussion of authorization to proceed with final project design. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes Oct. I, 2007 Page 3 of 7 Ron Petrie said comments received by staff were distributed to the Committee with the agenda. He isn't aware of any more received since these were handed out. He said a very good meeting was held a week ago at Jefferson School. He said forty-four people signed in. There were more than that present but they don't have an exact number. He said thirty-seven forms were left at the meeting and eight were sent in to either the engineering division or members of the Committee. He said there was a wide range of comments and overall he would classify them as very positive. Certainly the most often addressed comment was what to do with the intersection of Rock, College and Archibald Yell. Many had very strong feelings about closing College Ave. Most did not want to close the street but a few found it acceptable. A few comments were from business owners along the route with which staff had been meeting. At this time staff would recommend that the Committee consider breaking this project into two phases. The intersection work at College and Archibald Yell would be classified as Phase 2. Phase 1 would be the remainder of the project. He believes it would be advantageous to the project and if we have a good feeling on Phase 1 we can move it forward. If it is the Committee's wish staff can bring forward various concepts for the intersection work or we can exclude it altogether. But if we have it broken up into two phases it gives us a lot more flexibility on moving forward with the project. Alderwoman Thiel said she thinks it is a very good idea to have it in two phases because we want to move forward with most of the aspects of College Avenue. All the comments we have heard about that have been positive. She said she wouldn't want to forget doing anything with the intersection. She said she believes there are some possible solutions. One came up at the meeting that she feels was worthy of some thought. She said Tim Conklin had suggested some type of median that would prevent left turns. That was one idea and there may be some more. She believes this warrants a lot more discussion but she doesn't want it to hold up the entire project. In response to a question from Alderman Jordan, Ron Petrie said the maps staff has provided to the Committee are the original concepts (first 2 sheets) and reduced copies of what was shown on the large boards at earlier meetings. He said they don't have a specific line drawn but he would say the north side of the intersection of Rock Street is really where the phase line would be. Alderman Jordan said that's where we would start and basically head north. Ron Petrie said that's right. He said we hope to have some decisions on Phase 2 soon so that we can still construct it all together. But we can start the design on Phase 1 now. Alderman Ferrell asked if Phase 1 would be Rock to Maple. Ron Petrie said that is correct, excluding the intersection of Rock. Alderman Jordan asked if there was any other discussion from the Committee. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes Oct. I, 2007 Page 4 of 7 Alderwoman Allen said she was really impressed with all the ideas and suggestions the citizens who drive it all the time have. They know it better than any of us. She believes we are going at this in a really good way. She feels this is probably the most contentious intersection in Fayetteville. Alderman Jordan opened the floor to public comment There being none, he brought the discussion back to the Committee. Alderwoman Thiel clarified that we are recommending that the engineers start moving forward with final design based on the conceptual plan distributed today and then come back with more ideas on the intersection. Ron Petrie said we have to negotiate a contract with the engineers to do the final design and at least we can move forward with getting that in the works while we continue with Phase 1. He said he believes the feedback from the Committee on the intersection is that they would like to see some options presented. Alderwoman Thiel moved that staff move forward with contracting with the final design on Phase 1 (everything north of the Rock Street intersection). Alderwoman Allen seconded the motion. Alderman Cook asked where this falls in the bond issue phases. Ron Petrie said it was in the first phase of the bond issue - $1.7 million. Alderman Ferrell said he thought a portion of it was in the first phase with some more for later phases. Ron Petrie agreed and said the $1.7 million was in phase 1. With a motion and second on the floor a vote was taken and it passed unanimously. B. Discussion of the Agreement with the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department for the Fayetteville Economic Expressway Development Corridor project and recommendation to forward to the full City Council. (The Agreement will be forwarded to the Committee when received from the AHTD.) Ron Petrie said unfortunately we have not received this agreement. We anticipated we would have this last week. He isn't sure what the hold up is. He asked that this item be tabled for tonight. He said he will get this to the Committee as soon as we receive it. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes Oct. I, 2007 Page 5 of 7 Alderwoman Thiel moved that this item be tabled. Alderman Ferrell seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. 5. Discussion of a potential street cost share with the developers of the Woodbury development for offsite improvements to Zion Road. Ron Petrie said there is an aerial drawing in the agenda packet distributed to the Committee. He also had this drawing displayed. He said a subdivision is currently being constructed on a piece of land just to the east of Taliesin Lane. As a part of their approval they were widening Zion Road along the frontage and to a road he pointed to on the drawing. This left a portion of Zion Road unimproved. He said he had a conversation with this developer eight months to a year ago when we had $8.8 million. The developer remembers the conversation and they had done some quick design and given us a cost estimate to finish this gap. He said we know Zion Road will be done in future phases of the bond issue. It is obviously a very good candidate for future improvements. So anything we do now will be a plus. The engineer has given us an estimate of $48,886 to do that additional work. They did not include how much they (the developers) are paying on Zion Road, which he will need to show on the cost share. They are doing the work in front of the subdivision to a road pointed out on the map. We would be doing the section from that road to where the Old Missouri Road improvements stopped. He thinks it is approximately 200 feet. Alderwoman Thiel asked if that cost sounds reasonable for that amount of work. Ron Petrie said from what he has seen it seems reasonable. Alderman Cook asked if what we are getting for that money is a little wider lane and a sidewalk. Ron Petrie said that is correct. Alderman Ferrell asked if it will be possible to dovetail this with the improvements we have scheduled coming from Business 71 east. Ron Petrie said anything we do now (this curb and gutter) won't have to be removed, it will be utilized. As a matter of fact, with the improvements they have done on the north side of the road with this subdivision we really have it improved from (this point) all the way down to Hwy. 265. Whatever we do now, we will take out of the bond issue in the future. The bulk of the cost would be to put in the storm drainage. That is the most expensive thing. We would be filling in an existing open ditch and putting in storm pipe. Alderman Thiel asked if there is an advantage to going ahead and doing it now. Is there a cost savings? 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes Oct. I, 2007 Page 6 of 7 Ron Petrie said he thinks there is. There is a savings in having a developer's contractor do the work. He has the ability to go and negotiate the prices for us since we really cannot do that for something this size. There is no mobilization. One thing we have to address is where do we bring the funds from. It is not a large amount. We have additional funds set aside for Rupple Road. We have half a million dollars that we were going to use as a part of the widening there south of Wedington which has now been delayed for a few years. Those are capital improvement funds sitting in the bank. We can use funds such as this or bond funds that we have pretty much decided not to use. Alderman Ferrell said he wants to make sure he understands. He asked if Mr. Petrie is saying that it would be easiest to take it out of the Rupple Road funds or that there might be another area where it might be taken where there are some capital dollars. Ron Petrie said if we look at the street capital improvements dollars we have, there is very little to use. The money that is tied into projects like Township where we are just waiting for Gregg Avenue to be done, those funds we know we have plans to expend soon. We don't have any immediate plans for the half million dollars we've set aside for Rupple. He reminded the committee that the half million dollars was set aside for the section of Rupple between Wedington and Mt. Comfort to do the engineering. Then we pulled that project out of Phase 1 of the bond issue. Nothing has been truly identified and obligated for those funds. Alderman Ferrell asked if this could be considered a project of the tax (bond) money. It wasn't on the project list at the time but it is an improvement of a road that was. Ron Petrie said it certainly could be. He said when we talked about the $8.8 million six months ago, we agreed that it would be best if we did not spend it until later in the program since we don't know for sure how much funds we will have in two years for the next letting due to the sales tax. We were going to set that aside and when our sales tax dollars look better we will know we can spend it. This will be the Committee's and Council decision. Alderman Ferrell asked what Mr. Petrie's recommendation is. Ron Petrie said he thinks it is wise to do the improvements. With the volume on this particular street he would hate to leave that 180 foot gap unimproved. Alderwoman Thiel said she agrees with staff on this and would support it. She would recommend that the money come from the Rupple Road (CIP) money. Alderman Cook said it's such a small amount. He wondered if there is any contingency money from any projects that are closed out anywhere out there. Ron Petrie said we have some contingency funds for the Kings Drive project. He said it isn't a large number and he doesn't know it off the top of his head. We will have funds left over from 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes Oct. I, 2007 Page 7 of 7 the Van Asche project which is just a month away from being complete. Those are the two he can think of He will look and if it's available he will use those funds when he brings this forward to the full Council. Alderman Ferrell moved that this be forwarded to the Council with recommendation to approve using contingency money ifpossible or Clp funds. Alderwoman Thiel seconded the motion. Alderman Jordan opened the floor for public comment There being none he brought the discussion back to the Committee. With a motion and second on the floor a vote was taken and itpassed unanimously. 6. Scheduling of the next Street Committee Meeting It was agreed that when we receive the information from AHTD on the Fayetteville Economic Expressway Development Corridor project, Mr. Petrie will notify Alderman Jordan and a meeting will be scheduled at that time. Adiourn There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org