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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-01-24 MinutesMayor Dan Coody City Attomey Kit Williams City Clerk Sondra Smith aye evi le ARKANSAS City of Fayetteville Arkansas City Council Street Committee Meeting Minutes January 24, 2006 City Council Street Committee Minutes January 24, 2006 Page 1 of 9 Member Aldermen Ward 1 Position 1 - Ward 2 Position 2 Ward 3 Position 2 Ward 4 Position 2 - Robert Reynolds — Don Man- - a r— Robert Ferrell Lioneld Jordan A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council Street Committee was held on January 24, 2006 at 4:30 p.m. in Room 326 of the City Administration Building located at 113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas. MEMBERS PRESENT: Alderman Lioneld Jordan, Chair; Alderman Robert Reynolds, Alderman Bobby Ferrell, Alderman Don Marr Other Council Members Present: Alderman Kyle Cook Staff Present: Ron Petrie; Tim Conklin; Jeremy Pate; Gary Dumas; Terry Gulley; Mayor Dan Coody 1. Chairman Lioneld Jordan called the meeting to order. 2. Approval of minutes from the January 12, 2006 Street Committee meeting. Alderman Robert Ferrell moved that the minutes to the January 12, 2006 Street Committee meeting be approved as distributed. Alderman Robert Reynolds seconded the motion and it passed unanimously 3. Discussion of the traffic concerns associated with the proposed Wedington Circle PZD. (This item was tabled at the January 12, 2005 meeting for further discussion) Ron Petrie distributed a handout to the Committee. At the last meeting, the Committee recommended that staff and developers meet with the neighborhood association in this area to see if they could work out some issues before this development proceeds. Mr. Petrie said they had a very productive meeting last night (January 23, 2006). A group of 25 to 30 neighbors met with the developer and staff. They discussed existing traffic problems and Mr. Petrie said he suggested traffic calming measures that could be implemented in the area. He reviewed these measures with the Committee and explained which would work best on each street. He told the 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes January 24, 2006 Page 2 of 9 neighborhood representatives that he would present the plan to the Street Committee, get input and develop a plan to present to the adjacent property owners for their agreement. He mentioned that there was no one at the meeting from Hall Street and there are no recommendations for that street at this time. If necessary, staff can go back and develop a plan for that street later. Alderman Jordan said he understood the main concerns on Hall Street were sidewalks and curb & gutter, not traffic. In response to a question from Alderman Reynolds, Ron Petrie, said we do want some sort of traffic calming on James St. He doesn't yet know what staff recommendations will be with regard to offsite improvements on this development but he feels this should definitely be one of them. Another concern of the neighborhood was Mt. Comfort Road. He said the Street Department will probably be putting a sidewalk on that road as well as curb and gutter on one side. In conjunction with that improvement, we will likely propose additional measures to be done while that work is being done. He doesn't know the details of the Street Department plans so none of that is shown on this map and the neighborhood representatives understood that. Alderman Marr mentioned that the Committee had talked in the past about closing the diagonal of Mt. Comfort Rd. between North St. and Garland Ave. Ron Petrie said this map was prepared to show traffic calming. The closing of the Mt. Comfort cut -through is a separate issue since there is no funding mechanism for it. It is a part of the Garland Ave. improvements for the bond issue. Alderman Ferrell asked for the cost of the proposed measures presented for Stevens and Hendricks Streets. Terry Gulley said that a typical traffic table would cost around $2,000 to $3,000. Ron Petrie said there are six traffic calming measures proposed. The chokers would cost a little less, but in the same range. Alderman Jordan opened the floor for public comment. There being none, he brought the discussion back to the Committee. Alderman Ferrell said he likes the plan and would move to forward it to the Council. Alderman Reynolds mentioned the improvements on Mt. Comfort Road and said he wants to include that in the PZD package. Alderman Marr said that the Mt. Comfort improvement, intersection realignment, etc. is all a part of a much larger and more comprehensive project. He is hoping to address just the diagonal section between North St. and Garland Ave. and asked what the cost would be, allowing Lindell 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes January 24, 2006 Page 3 of 9 and Oakland to go through, but cutting off the access from the east side and the connection to Garland. This would get rid of one more intersection before we redesign James St. and Mt. Comfort at Garland. Ron Petrie said there wouldn't be a lot of work involved in doing this, except for the Lindell connection because it is all public parking lot and might be a time-consuming problem to work out. Alderman Marr said he is for this project and is fine with moving it forward but is concerned that we are going to add to the density and still have this intersection configured as it is. There was further discussion about some of the problems involved with moving traffic in this area and how they might be addressed to prevent more problems with this added density, particularly with regard to the Mt. Comfort diagonal between North St. and Garland Ave. Gary Dumas suggested that the Mt. Comfort diagonal could be closed to traffic entirely, which would essentially involve installing a few bollards. Lindell would remain open. He suggested that staff could bring back a closure option to the Committee at their next meeting. Alderman Jordan restated his understanding that the committee is in agreement with closing the Mt. Comfort diagonal, which will be something to be discussed later. The issue now is to approve the traffic calming issues and pass the project as is on to the Council. Alderman Ferrell had already made a motion to send this issue on to the Council. Alderman Reynolds seconded the motion and it carried unanimously. 4. Presentation of the estimated costs for the various options as presented in the Kings Drive Study from McClelland Consulting Engineers. Wayne Jones, McClelland Engineers presented a cost estimate for the three options discussed for this project at the last committee meeting. He reviewed the material handed out to the Committee and explained that the costs have a 20% contingency built in. The plans are conceptual at this time and design has not begun. During design there will probably be areas where cost reductions can be made. In response to a question from Alderman Marr, Mr. Jones said the stone shear key wall is the best option at the least cost. He described it as a trench about 4 feet wide, 12 to 12'/2 feet deep filled with stones ranging from % inch to 4 or 5 inches. It would also function as a draining system to remove any water from uphill, collecting the water and taking it down to be released at the Lakeside Drive location. This lowers the water table in the downhill material to the point that it increases the factor of safety of the slopes. All the options increase the uphill stability, but the other options do not reduce the water table. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes January 24, 2006 Page 4 of 9 Alderman Reynolds asked if the water line reconstruction and paving of the street could be done in-house for less money. Wayne Jones said that his estimates are based on going out for bids to contractors. Gary Dumas asked if there is any kind of unique cross section on the 1 100 feet of road. Wayne Jones said they looked at 3" asphalt, 8" crushed stone base with at least 12" of hillside material underneath that section. Nothing particularly unique. In response to a question from Alderman Ferrell, Mr. Jones said he believes the concrete there now is about 5" deep with about 2 to 3" of asphalt on top of it. Terry Gulley said his department could do the work in-house. However, to take on a rebuilding project of this size will eat up staff time. He said his division cannot do this and also do 18 miles of paving in the same year. He thought he might be able to do this and 13 miles of paving. However, if the savings warrant the trade off, his division can definitely do the work. Ron Petrie said that McClelland Engineers had committed to having these estimated costs to present to the Committee at this meeting. However, staff has not had a chance to review how those costs were determined. He would like to sit down with McClelland and work through the costs to see if there are opportunities to reduce the amounts. He thinks a large portion of the street can be just overlaid and still last ten to fifteen years. He's not sure that the project will call for a complete reconstruction for the entire distance. He thinks there are opportunities to reduce the cost estimate significantly. He thinks he can do this within two weeks. Alderman Marr asked if there is any money dedicated to this project in the current CIP. Ron Petrie said $500,000 is dedicated to this project in the current CIP, in addition to the $35,000 the Committee had previously approved for the study. Alderman Ferrell said he felt good about waiting another couple of weeks to see what cost reductions can be made. There was general agreement. Gary Dumas asked if McClelland is confident that an asphalt street, as opposed to a concrete street, is acceptable for this project. Wayne Jones said that most of the street is below the 10% grade criteria; maybe 150 feet is 10% or greater in slope which may or may not require concrete. With the low volume of traffic he sees no problem with asphalt. Alderman Jordan opened the floor for public comment. There was none. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes January 24, 2006 Page 5 of 9 Staff will review the cost estimates and further report to the Committee at the next meeting. 5. Update on the transportation projects that have received Federal funding in the SafeTea-Lu Highway Reauthorization bill. Tim Conklin said the Northwest Arkansas Planning Commission, Technical Advisory Committee and Policy Committee are voting to amend the 2005-07 Transportation Improvement Program for those projects that received Federal funding through the reauthorization bill. The first project is the Fayetteville Expressway Economic Development Corridor for which we received approximately $9 million. Forty percent of that funding is available today. The main purpose of the project is to look at how to improve access into our regional retail and medical area., CMN, Steele Crossing, the Mall area and the Washington Regional Medical Center area. The Mayor, with the help of Van Scoyoc, the city's lobbyists, and the area's Federal Delegation, were able to secure this federal earmark. The City's engineering division is currently working on an RFP to put together a study to determine potential access improvements within this area. This includes looking at I540, Fulbright Expressway and access into the area that includes the NWA Mall, Steele Crossing and the regional medical area. As we continue to see this area develop, access is going to be very important. He passed out the amendments that have been voted on by the NWA Planning Commission TAC & Policy Committee members. The second federal earmark was the UA Technology Corridor Enhancement Project. This includes the Cato Springs area with the Arkansas Research Technology Park. This area also continues to see development. Gary Dumas said he would like to reemphasize that we have been working for three or four years with our Washington delegation to try to get specific funding for special projects in Fayetteville. This is by far the biggest one we have received and it was a result of the efforts of the Council, administration and our delegation in Washington. He feels that it signifies to the community that access to this regional center is a high priority. He also feels that the discussions we've been having with the bond program about Rupple Road improvements, Howard Nickel and Hwy 112 tie in to improving access to this area from the south, the west and the north. Alderman Ferrell asked what the expectation is for the remaining portion of the allocation. Gary Dumas said there is no real way to know. But typically there is first the legislation that creates a project and then the appropriation. The appropriation so far is only 40%. There may be additional appropriation this year or it could be next year. But he doesn't see that as a particular stumbling block because of the time frame for getting this project under construction. In response to a question from Alderman Ferrell, Gary Dumas said there are other projects in the Regional Transportation Improvement Program. These are just the projects that are added because of the recent Highway Bill specific earmarks. Ron Petrie explained that this does not include federal money that goes directly to the State to be used for other local projects. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes January 24, 2006 Page 6 of 9 Alderman Jordan opened the floor for public comment. There was none. 6. Presentation of the proposed improvements and changes to the Master Street Plan for College Avenue and Archibald Yell Boulevard between Sixth Street and North Street. Mayor Coody said in both the public input section of the Dover Kohl Downtown Master plan and in the citizen survey done by the City, one of the things that came up was the need to redo College Ave. And as stated in the State of the City address, there is also a great economic need to redo this street. Mayor Coody went out at 3:00 p.m. on January 23 and took some pictures of certain areas along College Avenue. He showed these pictures to the committee. He pointed out the complete lack of any access management program and lack of sidewalks and curbs. He said College Avenue is the main street and heart of our community. As it is, there are almost no pedestrians and no wheelchair could access or maneuver in the area. Whereas the mall and CMN Business Park are key to our economic success, we should not put all our eggs in that one basket. He said the staff had put together some ideas for College Ave. based on the Dover Kohl plan and looking at the existing Master Street Plan. Tim Conklin handed out to the Committee three different concepts for College Ave. He reviewed each concept. He said there is constrained right-of-way within the area. The existing Master Street Plan, adopted around 1996, shows College Avenue as a principal arterial, which is a boulevard section, and staff is now looking at the possibility of implementing that within the area being discussed between North St. and Sixth St. Several projects in this area have come before the Council for waivers because the Master Street Plan does not work. Typically, when the Council begins to see these waivers come forward, it is a sign that we probably need to look at a different street cross section in order to address the issue. The third option presented looks at how to improve the left turning movements onto major streets within downtown and also looks at how to add right and left turn lanes at major intersections. This improves the capacity of the roadway and also improves pedestrian safety. Over the next few months staff will have discussions about how we can bridge the gap between the east and west sides of College/Archibald Yell as we look at the different options and opportunities to manage traffic flow. The goal is to improve the safety of not only the automobile but for pedestrians in this area. Mayor Coody reminded those present about the article in the Democrat Gazette several months ago describing this section of College as the most dangerous section of street in the two -county area. He also reminded everyone that these are concepts only, not a final plan. This is the beginning of a long and intense public conversation about how we want our main street to look. Tim Conklin said staff is seeing a lot of new development and redevelopment within this corridor and they recognize that 110 feet of right-of-way is not feasible or possible. It is staff's recommendation that landmark and historic buildings within the downtown area not be removed and they are testing to see what is possible to fit within a reduced right-of-way. We need to 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes January 24, 2006 Page 7 of 9 determine what the vision is for that corridor, amend the master street plan right-of-way requirements, and begin to implement an overall plan to improve the pedestrian and automobile environment with this area. Alderman Jordan opened the floor for public comment. One audience member spoke about his support of staff's efforts to make changes along College and make it safer for pedestrians. Mayor Coody said the rough estimates of the cost of this project seem very reasonable. He had spoken with Highway Commissioner Jonathan Barnett and his general perspective appeared to be that if the City can come up with a plan that the Highway Department thinks is feasible, there is likelihood they will cost share with us. The University and the City have teamed up on this and together will be approaching the Washington delegation about appropriating a little more money for phase two of this economic development corridor. Next year the University and City will team up and ask for an appropriation for a highway improvement on the UA campus. We will maintain that partnership and go back and forth each year between UA & City projects. Gary Dumas said the plan now would be to take this out for public comment and periodically report back to the Street Committee over the next few months. Don Marr said he is supportive of the plans for improving College and likes the ideas. He feels that the third option is the only one that is feasible and, to reduce confusion, should be the only one taken out for public comment. There was discussion among staff and Committee members about the three options. In answer to a question from Alderman Ferrell regarding funding for the City's portion of this cost if the Highway Department does agree to cost -share, Gary Dumas said staff will be requesting federal funding assistance to help with the local share and it is anticipated that private developers/redevelopers would also assist with some portion. Mayor Coody said a small amount might be added to the bond issue. 7. Presentation from Garver Engineers of the Van Asche Drive Extension Capital Improvement project. Frank Mclllwain, Garver Engineers presented to the Committee the concept design for a Van Asche extension from Steele Blvd. to Gregg Ave. Van Asche is designed to be a 4 -lane boulevard section with a bridge crossing Scull Creek. The project currently includes traffic signalization, railroad signalization and gates. He talked about the design and schedule. They expect to complete design in April and be ready to advertise for bids. Construction would then begin in May. He passed out handouts with cost estimates and explained the components. Ron Petrie said there are two things the Committee needs to decide. One item is the Northwood 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes January 24, 2006 Page 8 of 9 component of this design. The second is the amount of work to be done west of Gregg Ave. If the Committee wants staff to proceed with looking into Northwood, they will set up meetings with the neighbors and get their input. Staff would not proceed without approval from the Committee and from the neighborhood. He felt it would take at least a month to get neighborhood input because they would want to talk to each and every neighbor. Alderman Jordan asked if the Committee wants to wait on Northwood or go forward with it and have meetings with the neighborhood. Ron Petrie said he sees three options. One is to proceed with meeting with the neighborhood and get their input and then building the street if that is acceptable to them. The second option is to not build anything. The third option is allowing possible breaks in the median and when the development comes through as CMN Phase III, have that developer build the street. Mr. Petrie said when the original cost estimates were done on this project the work west of Gregg Ave. was not included That portion would be a $500,000 add-on to the project. It is expensive because of the railroad crossing, gates, signalization, etc. This portion is in the City of Johnson. Alderman Jordan suggested the portion of the project west of Gregg Street be cut from the plan. There was some discussion between staff and committee members about the layout of the street and traffic safety issues if this portion of the project is not done. Alderman Ferrell moved that that the project move forward, leaving out Northwood extension and the work on the west side of Gregg Ave. for right now. Alderman Marr seconded the motion. Alderman Jordan opened the floor for public comment. There was none. A vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously. 8. Proposed amendment to the Master Street Plan to realign Morning Mist Drive (Collector) located to the east of Hughmount Road in association with the St. James Park Subdivision. (This item was tabled at the January 12, 2005 meeting for further discussion.) Ron Petrie said this item was left on the agenda at the last Street Committee meeting in order for staff to produce further information. A map was distributed showing a larger area than previously shown. Staff recommendation is that, instead of extending Morning Mist all the way to Hughmont, it be turned and lined up with Bridgeport. This recommendation is based on the terrain on Hughmont, an existing house and location of the creek and all the other streets coming 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes January 24, 2006 Page 9 of 9 in together in an unsafe situation. There was discussion among staff and Committee members regarding this proposal and all the issues involved. Alderman Ferrell moved that this item be forwarded to the City Council for approval Alderman Reynolds seconded the motion and it carried unanimously. 9. INFORMATIONAL ITEM — Distribute copies of the Street Impact Fee Study from Duncan & Associates. Tim Conklin said this study was completed in October 2005. We contracted with Duncan & Associates to update the road portion of the fire, police and road impact fee study. The update is based on the Street bond program and the estimated cost of that program. As we continue to talk about the transportation improvement program, we will need to have additional discussions with regard to whether or not we want to continue to utilize our Master Street Plan where we have developers dedicate right-of-way to us. If we do that and we include the right-of-way costs, we will have to give credit for that right-of-way. If we do not include the right-of-way costs, we will not have to give credit for that right-of-way. The study included a methodology that calculates the developer's proportionate or rational nexus share of trips generated by different types of development. The fees without right-of-way for a single-family, detached home are $3,443.00; with right-of-way the fee is $3,799.00. Alderman Cook asked if there was any advantage to taking or not taking right-of-way. Tim Conklin said there may be situations with large developments that are in these arterial corridors where we may not have adequate impact fees to reimburse them right away. So if we do want to include the right-of-way, we would have to set up a policy of how much of the impact fee would be available to be reimbursed to the developer by year. This could potentially tie up some funds over time with change in property values. Right now we are getting those corridors dedicated to us and we are not compensating the development community for that land. He said he thought continuing to have development dedicate right-of-way to us might be less complicated to administer. Alderman Jordan said he would like to have the Committee review this packet and discuss it at the next Street Committee meeting. 10. Scheduling of the next Street Committee Meeting. The next Street Committee meeting was scheduled for Monday, February 13, 2006 at 5:00 p.m. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org