Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-11-05 MinutesCity Council Street Committee Minutes Nov. 5, 2007 Page 1 of 15 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 November 5, 2007 A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council Street Committee was held on November 5, 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 ALDERMEN PRESENT: Alderman Kyle Cook; Alderwoman Shirley Lucas STAFF PRESENT: Ron Petrie, Gary Dumas, Chris Brown, Mayor Dan Coody, Terry Gulley, Tim Conklin; Kit Williams 1. Call Meetine to Order Chairman Lioneld Jordan called the meeting to order. 2. Approval of the minutes from the October 1, 2007 Street Committee meetin¢ Alderman Bobby Ferrell moved that minutes of the Street Committee meeting held on October 1, 2007 be approved as submitted Alderwoman Brenda Thiel seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. TRANSPORTATION BOND PROGRAM TITLES 3. Zion Road Widenine Proiect A. Presentation of the construction bids for the Zion Road Widening Project and recommendation to the City Council to accept the low bid in the amount of $1,453,095.55 from Ames Construction Solutions, LLC and approval of a 5% contingency in the amount of $72,655. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes Nov. 5, 2007 Page 2 of 15 Ron Petrie said the Zion Road project on the Transportation Bond program was to widen the half mile from College Avenue to Vantage Drive to three lanes. This project was designed in- house with our own staff. He said Paul Libertine and Chris Brown did an excellent job on the design. Bids were opened on October 29, 2007. There were eleven bidders for the project and the low bid was from Ames Construction Solutions at $1.45 million. The estimate on this project was approximately $2 million so this bid was 27.3% below the estimate. Staff is recommending adding a 5% contingency to the project to make the total expense $1,525,750. Alderwoman Thiel asked if the City has used Ames Construction in the past. Ron Petrie said to his knowledge we have not used them. He said they are currently doing a project for the City of Springdale. Staff has called Springdale and they are very happy with Ames' work. But we have not had any experience with them. Alderwoman Thiel asked if they had completed anything for Springdale. Chris Brown said the project they are working on will be completed in December. From what he understands they are several months ahead of schedule on this project. Springdale is very pleased with the work they have done. Alderman Ferrell moved that this item be forwarded to the City Council with recommendation for approval. Alderwoman Allen seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Alderman Ferrell said he appreciates Ron's staff starting this project with in-house design. And he really likes seeing these bids come in under estimates. B. Presentation and recommendation to the City Council of a Utility Construction/Relocation Agreement with Arkansas Western Gas in the amount of $47,500 for the gas line relocation associated with the Zion Road project. Chris Brown said we have a proposed agreement with Arkansas Western Gas for the relocation of their gas lines along Zion Road. These lines need to be relocated so that we can do the widening of Zion. The agreement is that the City will pay 48.5% of the actual cost of the work. The City's cost would be $47,500. He said it is a standard agreement that the City does with the gas company for these sorts of projects. In response to a question from Alderwoman Thiel, Chris Brown said an estimate of the total cost of the project is in the packet given to the Street Committee members, along with a breakdown of the percentages. Alderman Jordan opened the floor for public comment. There being none he returned the discussion to the Committee. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes Nov. 5, 2007 Page 3 of 15 Alderman Ferrell moved that this agreement be forwarded to the City Council with recommendation for approval. Alderwoman Thiel seconded the motion and itpassed unanimously. C. Discussion to bring forward a resolution authorizing the City Attorney to seek condemnations on certain lands owned by the Bellafont Gardens POA, Inc. and the Gantert Family Trust. Chris Brown presented a right-of-way map for Zion Road. He pointed out both properties under discussion on this map. He then displayed a close-up map of the Gantert property. He said we need to acquire about 15 feet of right-of-way. We also have proposed a 15 ft. utility easement. He pointed out a portion of the low area of the project which is a drainage easement. He said staff has talked to the son of the owners of this property who is looking at a development plan and is expressing some reluctance to accept this offer. He believes the drainage is the big issue. At this point, without knowing what the plan is for the development, the City doesn't have much choice in where to put the drainage and still make the project work. Alderman Ferrell asked if there is any indication of when the owners will have an idea of when they would have a development plan. Chris Brown said they did tell staff they are actively working on this. It could possibly even be this week that they have a plan to review. Of course the issue at this point is that we have the construction bids and we need to move forward with construction. We are also concerned about the timing of everything happening. In response to a question from Alderman Ferrell, Chris Brown said even if the Committee sends this to the Council with a recommendation for condemnation, there is still the opportunity to work it out without the condemnation. He said staff will continue to work on this with the 16MIU r-34.91 Alderman Ferrell opened the floor for public comment. There being none he brought the discussion back to the Committee. Alderman Ferrell moved that this item be forwarded to the City Council with recommendation for approval. Alderwoman Allen seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. 4. GCen Avenue Improvement Proiect A. Presentation of the construction bids for the Gregg Avenue Improvement Project and recommendation to the City Council to accept the low bid in the amount of $540,353.54 from Tomlinson Asphalt Company, Inc. and approval of a 5% contingency in the amount of $54,035. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes Nov. 5, 2007 Page 4 of 15 Ron Petrie pointed out a mistake on the printed agenda for this item. He said staff is recommending a 10% contingency on this project (rather than 5%). He said the number is right but the percentage is wrong. Chris Brown said this is the Gregg Avenue project which has been discussed a couple of times. It includes a right turn lane for southbound traffic on Gregg Avenue at North Street. Between North and Prospect a 3 ft. mountable median and three sets of speed tables are a part of the project. There is a large retaining wall just north of North Street along the west side of the road which will have to be replaced. He said there were eight bidders on this project. Tomlinson Asphalt Company of Fayetteville was the low bidder at $540,353.54. The project contingency (10%) is $54,035. Mr. Brown said the engineer's estimate was $756,000 so again we are about 30% below the estimated cost for this project. Alderman Ferrell asked why staff is asking for a 10% contingency. Chris Brown said this is smaller project and the 10% provides a bit of extra contingency in case something comes up. He said $50,000 is not a lot of money when you're talking about these construction projects. Alderman Jordan opened the floor for public comment. There being none, he returned the discussion to the Committee. Alderman Ferrell moved that the contract be forwarded to the City Council for approval Alderwoman Thiel seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. B. Presentation and recommendation to the City Council of Amendment No. 1 to the engineering contract with CEI Engineering Associates, Inc. in the amount of $62,656.46 for the construction phase services for the Gregg Avenue Improvement Project. Chris Brown said CEI was the design engineer on the Gregg Avenue project. They have completed the design and we need to amend the contract to provide the construction phase services. Under this contract amendment they will provide observation services and also review pay estimates, change orders and all the contract administration typically provided by our design engineers. The amount of the contract amendment is $62,656.46. That is a "not to exceed" number. They will bill at hourly rates for whatever work needs to be done. The total services, including design and construction phase services will be $151,036.46. Alderman Jordan opened the floor for public comment There being none, he returned the discussion to the Committee. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes Nov. 5, 2007 Page 5 of 15 Alderman Ferrell moved that the contract amendment be forwarded to the City Council for approval. Alderwoman Thiel seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. 5. Fayetteville Expressway Economic Development Corridor Project: Discussion of the Agreement of Understanding between the City of Fayetteville and the Arkansas Hi2hway and Transportation Department for the Fayetteville Expressway Economic Development Corridor Project. Ron Petrie said earlier in the year the Street Committee and City Council approved three concepts to be used for the Federal earmarked funds the City received. A letter was sent in early June to the highway department with those three projects. Since then we have received the agreements for two of the projects. This is a fairly standard agreement that is required to utilize the Federal earmarked funds. He noted a couple of items: the Van Asche portion of the earmarks was determined to be ineligible from the actual wording in the Bill. What is required is a technical correction and that is something staff has been working with through our senator's office for the past few months. We are hoping to make it happen but there is no guarantee at this point. So at this time the agreements will only apply to the flyover and connection to Mall Avenue and the improvements to the on and off ramps at North Hills Boulevard. The way it is set up is that the City will do the design work. After the design is complete, we will turn it over to the highway department. They will do the actual bidding of the project then will turn it back to the City to do the construction and management of the construction. Alderwoman Thiel asked how much the City will have to pay. Ron Petrie said the City will pay 100%, using Federal earmarked funds and our 20% match. Alderwoman Thiel asked Mr. Petrie to explain a little more about why Van Asche didn't qualify. Ron Petrie said in the bill passed by Congress the only wording used was "construct and rehabilitate Fayetteville Expressway Economic Development Corridor". Mayor Dan Coolly said the highway department views Van Asche as a local street and they won't let us use Federal earmarked money in the State system for a local street. We either have to get the street redesignated or get an act of Congress to modify the wording to allow us to use the money for Van Asche. Staff is still working on this but we are not terribly optimistic. Alderwoman Thiel said she decided to tour the Rogers area to see what was going on up there. She said the amount of road construction is incredible. She said she doesn't know how much Rogers is paying for it but she said it is incredible compared to what we seem to be getting. She said she is just trying to find out why. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes Nov. 5, 2007 Page 6 of 15 Mayor Dan Coolly said he believes a lot of it has to do with the political clout Rogers has, the deep pockets, plus the fact that the congressman is from Rogers. He believes there is some leverages there we just don't have in Fayetteville. Ron Petrie said he isn't sure of the breakdown of who is paying for what in Rogers and how much the State is actually involved. Alderman Ferrell said Rogers did pass something and bond money is paying for some of it. He asked Mr. Petrie if there are any logistical problems caused by the Van Ashe situation and the delay in getting it approved that could cost the City as far as the planning and engineering on the remaining projects. Ron Petrie said he doesn't believe there are any obstacles that we can't overcome. We would certainly like to do it all at one time because of the effectiveness of doing it that way. We will have to repeat several steps because it can't be done all at the same time but he believes we can overcome those problems fairly easily. It will cost a little more this way. Alderman Ferrell asked if a decision by Congress to change the wording might come in the near future. Ron Petrie said it could potentially be in 2009. He said we hope that it can be addressed in this year's highway bill but the real highway bill is in 2009. Alderman Jordan opened the floor for public comment There being none he brought the discussion back to the Committee. 6. Arkansas Hiehway 265 Widening Project: Discussion of the letter dated October 12, 2007 from the Arkansas Highway & Transportation Department regarding the estimated cost of the Highway 265 Widening project. Ron Petrie said on October 17, 2007 we received a letter from the State. For the record he read a portion of that letter. "in the current statewide transportation improvement program, the Department has also budgeted $7.7 million for a total project cost of $15.4 million. The current estimate, which includes right-of-way, utilities and construction, is $42 million. Therefore as we recently discussed it will be necessary to reduce the limits of this project to better match the funding that is budgeted in the STIP unless additional funds become available. This update is being provided for your information and comment." Mr. Petrie said he is bringing this item before the Committee to get their comments. Mayor Dan Coolly said obviously we don't want to put $7.7 million dollars into a project that only goes a third of the distance we originally planned. But we don't want to say we're going to take our money and go home either. He said he believes the best compromise is that since we said we would pay 50% of the $15.4 million ($7.7 million), if the State wants to do one third of 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes Nov. 5, 2007 Page 7 of 15 the job, we will pay one third of our promised obligation toward that. This way we will continue to be the partners we originally said we would be. But he believes it would be a bad investment to plow all that money into something that will not do us much good. Alderman Jordan said we are basically saying if they scale back on their end of this, we scale back on our end. He said he kind of likes that. Alderwoman Thiel said we're still not getting much done out there. Alderwoman Allen said she would agree with the mayor. Alderman Jordan opened the floor for public comment. John Nooneaster asked if the $7.7 million obligated for this project comes from a bond program where it was specifically included. He also asked if the traffic would flow better through that area if there was some additional construction to the intersections instead of the divided highway. He said it seems like the traffic backs up more at the intersections. He wondered if there is anything that can be done at the intersections as opposed to widening the highway. Alderman Jordan said he believes this is part of the bond program. Ron Petrie said it might be good to hear from our City Attorney and get a legal opinion on this particular matter. He said it is his understanding that the actual ballot issue did not specify projects, which would allow us to move the money around to other projects. Alderman Jordan said it is his understanding also that we can move money into different projects as long as they are in the program. Kit Williams said he believes that is correct. As long as we stay within the program that was presented to the voters and which the voters approved. He said what was approved were road improvements, specifically ones presented to the citizens. He said the ballot was even more general than that but he would be more comfortable staying within what was presented to the voters. His recommendation would be to stay within that final list presented to the voters if at all possible. If we want to go outside the list we will need to look and make sure we have statutory authority to do so. Alderwoman Thiel said she believes it has been said that if we stay out on Hwy 265 we could still utilize this money at intersections. Ron Petrie said he thinks the next step is to determine what to build. If we determine how much money we are going to have to go toward the project, we can provide a recommendation to the highway department. But ultimately they are the ones to make a final decision on what is going to be built with those funds. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes Nov. 5, 2007 Page 8 of 15 Alderman Jordan said we are really not going to know much of anything until we send a letter to the State and tell them what we are proposing. Larry Long said he has lived in Fayetteville for the last 17 years. He said he knows this section of road very well, having driven, biked and walked over it many times. He said he can't express the exhilaration he felt when he read in the paper the first time about the four lane boulevard with bicycle lanes. He said when he read that the project was dead in the water it was like being kicked in the stomach. He said he believes he speaks for a large number of people who use that road on a daily basis. Now what we have to do is be very realistic about our situation. He said he is lucky that he can pick the times he uses this road because he is retired but there are many who can't pick their times. If you go over that road you will realize how busy and how demanding it is to get from one place to the other. There aren't that many other options and it is only going to get worse over the next couple of years. He said his concern now is where the $7.7 million will go. It becomes a question of priorities. He said he is seeing money spent throughout the rest of the City. He said this area has three major schools within a mile of Hwy 265 and Hwy 45 and there are 50 major developments on that side of town. That road will be untenable in probably two years. We have to do something about it. He said the fact of the matter is that this is a conduit and you have to put so many cars over the road and there are only so many cars you can put on a two-lane road. The obvious solution is to make it a four -lane. He said at this time it is four -lane up to Mission Boulevard. He asked how far we can make it four -lane toward the high- density areas. Even though it might not go to the City line, maybe we can take care of the traffic between Joyce and Hwy 265 in some way. He said he would love to have seen a divided highway. He said a four lane divided highway in a beautiful area means money. It means the houses are worth more and the City is worth more and is more inviting. He requested that the Committee seriously consider that whatever money is available be leveraged in any way possible so it is focused on Hwy 265 to solve what will be an increasingly serious problem for the City. Bob Davis said he lives on the east side of town off Hwy 265. He said it is hard to get past Hwy 45 in the morning. He said between 7:15 and 8:15 in the morning traffic is backed up to 7/10 of a mile south of 45. In the evening traffic is usually backed up on the north side to close to Joyce St. or even further. We have to find a solution. We all know when the State gives us dollars, those dollars are for that project. Should the Committee decide not to use those dollars for Hwy 265, the money will probably go back into the State pool and be allocated to some other community. This area needs help. If nothing else go ahead and pave another lane to help traffic going north and south and put turn lanes where needed. If it is possible in the future we can come back and put in bike lanes and sidewalks on both sides. If we can only afford sidewalks on one side at this time, that may be what we have to do. Traffic is tough in this area and it is going to do nothing but get worse. He said we need to find something to alleviate that. There being no further comments, Alderman Jordan brought the discussion back to the Committee. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes Nov. 5, 2007 Page 9 of 15 Alderman Ferrell said he agrees that Hwy 265 is a conduit. He said he lives one block west of Hwy 265 and drives on it every day. In looking back, he wishes we had known something about this two or three months ago when we were talking about whether we wanted bicycles paths or ten foot sidewalks or a divided median. He said it seems very peculiar that from that time to this the bank is dry but things like that happen. He said he asked Mr. Petrie to look at how much further we could go if we did scale it down to a four -lane road with turn lanes. Mr. Petrie said it would be about $5 million less. Alderman Ferrell said his first preference is to build Hwy 265. However it depends on what the State comes back with. The traffic is not going to go away and we have to over -haul it. If the State does not go this way, we will have to take a look at other things and see if we're eligible to use other funds. He said we certainly want to be able to get people to our centers of commerce. Alderwoman Thiel said Mr. Long brought up some good points. She asked if staff has any figures concerning how far we can go with the money we have. Ron Petrie said he did have some figures. He said the total length of the project is 4.22 miles. If we use the $15.4 million figure, we could build 36.7% of the project. If we begin on the south end that would get us halfway between Old Wire Road and Joyce. If we back off and reduce what we give to the State toward this project, we would be looking at going from the beginning to Old Wire Road assuming we go with the improvements as they are designed. Alderman Ferrell said it would be interesting to know if there have been any situations where it was elected to go halfway or part way with a State project. Alderwoman Allen said it makes a good bit of sense to start in and build as far as we can go. But she would be interested in hearing what the people out there have to say at the next ward meeting. Alderman Jordan said he certainly wants to build this correctly, once and safe. However that works out that is what we need to do. He said he thought we had a good project going and he is not very excited about the letter from the State with a $42 million dollar price on that road. He said we won't really know anything until we send a letter to the State and see what they come back with. He said he assumes that Mayor Coody will draft that letter. Mayor Coolly said he and the staff will work on that letter. He said we don't know where we go from here. We got the $15.4 million estimate in 2004 and he wonders how the price went up 300% in two and a half years. He said we need more information from the State. For them to say the price has tripled with no real explanation, we're not sure where we stand. Alderman Cook said he can't fathom why the price went up either. He asked if the state provided any unit prices on their first estimates. Ron Petrie said not that he is aware of. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes Nov. 5, 2007 Page 10 of 15 Alderman Cook said we don't know where they started from. That is what confuses him. He would love to see the difference (in unit prices) between then and now. Even in May when we were discussing this they added another $5 million and then two months later they have doubled it. It is frustrating because it almost seems like we are being stampeded into reducing the scope of the work to a basic highway. That frustrates him because all along Fayetteville has pushed for the bike lanes and the sidewalks on both sides. Alderman Jordan said it is interesting that we looked at Rupple Road with the boulevard and bike lanes and we figured it at somewhere between $1000 and $1200 per foot. That has just been a couple of years ago. This price for Hwy 265 is about $2600 a foot. Alderman Ferrell said that whatever happens he believes our number one priority is to build the highway as planned, but if we can't we need to do all we can to salvage whatever part of the money is allocated. Alderwoman Thiel said she is still a little confused about the letter to be written. She asked if we want to reduce the amount that we are going to offer on this or are we going to say we are willing to give the full $7 million. Mayor Coody said we don't have enough information. We need to get more information. The letter will be more about asking questions. We will let the State know we still want to be partners in some kind of process to get Hwy 265 rebuilt into something that handles the traffic load. But they have thrown us a curve without any real explanation so before we can say what we think is best, we need some more data so we know what our options are. Ron Petrie said he will send out a draft copy of the letter to the Committee. Mayor Coody said he did want to say that the bike lanes and the boulevard didn't make much difference in this deal. He said there was only $800,000 difference between the two plans and that is negligible in light of the $42 million. So it is not the design itself that makes the difference. We're going to try to figure out what happened. College Avenue Improvements Project: Presentation and recommendation to the City Council of Amendment No. 1 to the engineering contract with McClelland Consulting Engineers, Inc. in the amount of $74,690.50 for the engineering design necessary to obtain the AHTD permits, easement documentation, and electrical engineering associated with the College Avenue Improvement Project. Ron Petrie said this is the next contract we need to get approved in order to proceed with this project. The project also includes the work for the intersection, getting the conceptual plans back to the Street Committee and getting the option selected designed. We're ready to move forward 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes Nov. 5, 2007 Page 11 of 15 with another project. He said staff will be presenting options for Rock Street to the Committee in the next couple of months Alderman Jordan opened the floor for public comment There being none he brought the discussion back to the Committee. OTHER ITEMS: 8. Discussion of an alley located off Dogwood Lane between Lafayette Street and Assembly Drive as requested by the Transportation Division Ron Petrie said the Committee packet includes a copy of the alley in question. Pictures taken in that area were displayed. Terry Gulley said his main purpose is to get input from the Committee regarding how we want to handle situations like this. He said we have another situation that is sort of following this one with a vacation request. He pointed out Dogwood Lane and showed where it runs into East Lafayette Street (where Lafayette dead ends past Mission). He said east of that, turning south and as Dogwood continues east toward Mt. Sequoyah there is a public alley that used to extend to connect to another street. That part of this alley has been vacated in the past and a house has been built on it. What we have now is a short section of 20 ft. alley that essentially serves as a driveway for a couple of homes. The alley is paved and the owner of one of the homes has requested that the City clean out the ditches and repave it. Since it essentially serves two homes, Mr. Gulley said it seems like a little much for this situation. He said his recommendation for this type of situation is that the City do an abandonment of the alley and allow it to be a driveway, which is what it has been for many years. Staff needs guidance on this because we have another situation in the Wilson Park area where we have a vacation request that goes from Parks Street to Highland. He said since staff is running into these situations more and more they would like for the Committee to give some direction on what the policy should be. Alderwoman Thiel said she hasn't heard anything about this from her constituents. She asked if the City has maintained this alley in the past. Terry Gulley said it has been fifteen to twenty years since it was paved. He said it was in the early 70's that the one section was abandoned. Alderwoman Thiel said just looking at the information she would say to vacate the whole thing and let the property owners take it over. As far as a policy she believes that if the alley went somewhere we should maintain it. She asked what it would cost to repave this. Terry Gulley said it is overgrown and they would probably have to go in and trim it because he doesn't think he could get his paver up through there now. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes Nov. 5, 2007 Page 12 of 15 Alderwoman Thiel said we don't maintain a lot of public alleys that actually go somewhere. Terry Gulley said we have a few that are paved but a lot of them are gravel. If they are used and we can see they are used a lot, we will go in and do some maintenance on those. This is more for the use of just one or two private citizens and it looks like a private driveway. Brenda Thiel said she understands Mr. Gulley wanting a policy decision but actually since he deals with maintenance issues all the time and prioritizes them he can just say we just don't have the time to do this one or it is not a high priority since it just serves two people. Terry Gulley said staff has been requested to do this by the citizen and he has told that citizen that we would get some type of policy direction. He said he did not want to shut someone out without letting the Committee offer an opinion. Alderwoman Allen asked if the house is for sale. Terry Gulley said it is not as far as he knows. He hasn't seen a sign there. He said it sets way back from Dogwood, probably 200 or more feet. The owners own the frontage all the way down. Alderman Ferrell said it would be a good idea for the Committee to go out and take a look at this. He said he could go look at it himself if the Committee doesn't wish to make a tour. He said he would like to look at it before he makes a decision. Alderwoman Thiel said maybe the Committee should look at it. But she said looking at the budget items that the Council will have to slash she believes we have to look more and more at what serves the most people. She said this is in her ward and these are her constituents. Alderman Ferrell said he thinks Alderwoman Thiel is probably right. He asked Terry Gulley how much of a hurry he is in on this item. Terry Gulley said staff can arrange to get the Committee up there to look at this. Alderwoman Thiel said she can see in the information given that this only serves two people. She said she feels Mr. Gulley has to draw the line about where the maintenance is done and she believes he has basically done that and said there are other priorities that serve more people. Terry Gulley said his point in coming was to inform the Committee before they start receiving phone calls. Alderman Jordan said we'll just hold off awhile and he is sure it will come back again (after Alderman Ferrell has a chance to see it). 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes Nov. 5, 2007 Page 13 of 15 Alderman Jordan opened the floor for public comment There being none, he returned the discussion back to the Committee. 9. Discussion of possible ordinance revisions to require a Performance and Payment Bond or other guarantee to maintain a proiect's erosion control and a discussion of the Maintenance Bond requirements for private developers. Ron Petrie said this is just the beginning of this discussion. There is no ordinance revision in front of the Committee on which to comment. He said he is just asking for some direction on how to move forward on this item and seeing what the interest is in the possibility of doing this. He said there are two bond items that have been discussed amongst staff and the Council. The first is the performance and payment bond on the erosion control. That is an item that was volunteered at the Woodstock Development and we all know that it is really a result of what we have seen on Aspen Ridge. The second item is something that has been brought to staff s attention with some of the projects where the contractors have gone bankrupt and the developer is stuck with a very large payment on the required maintenance bond. What we require today is that 100% of the cost of that improvement (water/sewer, streets and drainage) has to be bonded for one year. Mr. Petrie said in his experience we have never gone back on a maintenance bond. We've threatened it a few rimes and the problem was taken care of before we had to actually file any legal paperwork. He said he has been told that it is expensive to get that bond in all instances. He said he has just begun to do some research into this. He says the City of Bentonville requires one year for 25% of the cost. Rogers, Springdale and Little Rock require 50% of the cost for one year to be bonded. Tulsa is the only other place he could find that requires 100% as we currently require. He said he thought he should bring these two issues to the Committee for discussion. Alderman Ferrell said he had asked Mr. Petrie to take a look at this. He said he thinks everyone realizes what condition some of the people in construction and development are in right now with all that is happening in that industry. One of the first questions he asked Mr. Petrie was if he had ever had to go back to the bond and he said he hadn't. Alderman Ferrell therefore thought we might consider saving them some money, remembering that the first thing that happens when there is a problem with a bond is that the bonding company's attorneys pick up the phone and call the contractor and put pressure on them to solve the problem. He thought we might put this on the table and maybe lower the bond a little bit. Alderwoman Thiel said she agrees it might be a good discussion to look at a lower percentage. The other part of this is the idea of a possible requirement for a performance and payment bond for the project's erosion control. She is supportive of that also. She asked if this would be only on certain projects that have an issue or the potential of an issue or if it would be on every project. She wondered if every project has an erosion issue. Ron Petrie said he doesn't know the answer to that. Maybe it's the size of the project. A lot of the drainage permits are predicated on the size of the project. Or maybe it's hillside. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes Nov. 5, 2007 Page 14 of 15 Alderman Thiel suggested it might be a combination of both - anything on a hillside and anything of a certain size. Ron Petrie also suggested that whether or not it is on a flood plain might be an issue. Alderman Thiel said she is certainly supportive of this. She said she would like to see the staff move forward with something based on whatever has been learned from the latest project for we had a volunteer and his difficulty in obtaining that kind of bond. She said she wouldn't want to eliminate a maintenance bond requirement but we might possibly reduce it. She said the leverage comes in whenever the bond people get nervous and put the pressure on the developer. The going average in the area would be adequate. Alderman Ferrell asked Mr. Petrie to briefly describe what we are talking about on this performance bond for the benefit of those who might not understand. Ron Petrie said we currently do not require a performance bond for any public improvement but we do require guarantees. He said it is an actual legal document where someone goes and pays money to guarantee that the work will be done (that's the performance side of it). The maintenance side is that they are guaranteeing that work for a period of time after the completion of the project, up to a certain dollar amount. Alderman Jordan said he does like the performance bond. He said he agrees with Alderwoman Thiel's comments on when it should or shouldn't be applied. That's something we will have to discuss more as we get further into this. In response to a question from Alderwoman Thiel, Ron Petrie said his intention is, if staff receives support for this from this Committee, he will put together a document and have that document reviewed by the City Attorney's office. He will then bring it back to the Street Committee for review. It will also go to the Ordinance Review Committee. Gary Dumas said if the Street Committee likes the idea, staff can prepare it and send it to the Ordinance Review and then on to the Council which would be the normal procedure. Alderwoman Thiel said there are two things happening here. One of them is the reduction of the maintenance bond requirement and the other is for the performance bond. Ron Petrie said they are both revisions to separate parts of the Code. All of it is contained in Chapter 158 but they are in different sections of that chapter. Alderman Jordan opened the floor for public comment There being none, the discussion was brought back to the Committee. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes Nov. 5, 2007 Page 15 of 15 10. Scheduling of the next Street Committee Meeting The next meeting of the Street Committee was set for Monday, December 10, 2007 at 4:30 p.m. 11. Adiourn There being no further business, Alderman Jordan adjourned the meeting. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org