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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-10-05 MinutesCity Council Street Committee Minutes October 5, 2006 Page I of 9 Member Aldermen Mayor Dan Coody Ward 1 Position 1 - Robert Reynolds V10 Ward 2 Position 2— Kyle Cook 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 5, 2006 A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council Street Committee was held on October 5, 2006 at 4:30 p.m. in Room 111 of the City Administration Building located at 113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas. Members Present: Alderman Lioneld Jordan, Chair; Alderman Kyle Cook; Alderman Robert Reynolds Members not Present: Alderman Bobby Ferrell Staff Present: Ron Petrie, Mayor Dan Coody, Tim Conklin, Gary Dumas, Chris Brown, Terry Gulley 1. Call to order The meeting was called to order by Chairman Lioneld Jordan. 2. Approval of the minutes from the September 14, 2006 Street Committee meeting Alderman Cook moved that the minutes of the September 14, 2006 Street Committee meeting be accepted as presented. Alderman Reynolds seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. 3. Discussion of funding options for the $800,000 to be paid to the Arkansas Highway & Transportation Department for the Gregg Street Widening Project Ron Petrie said the proposal from AHTD to continue this project if the City would contribute $800,000 was discussed at the Street Committee meeting on August 8, 2006. The project is the section of Gregg Ave. between Fulbright and Township. The Committee was in support of the cost share with the State but was concerned about using Township Road funds for the project. The Committee requested that staff bring forward some alternate funding options. Staff has 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes October 5, 2006 Page 2 of 9 developed two additional options. The first option is to take the money from the $8.8 million designated specifically for cost sharing in the Street Bond issue. The second option is to use existing street capital improvement funds. We have $585,000 remaining in the cost share account for this year. We have set aside $500,000 to do engineering for the Rupple Road between Wedington and Mt. Comfort Rd. That project did not make the final list although there has been some consideration of combining this to the Mt. Comfort Rd. project and possibly doing some work on the Rupple Rd. intersection. However, there are no plans at this point to use this money for engineering for this project. Mr. Petrie said the State did opt to bid the Gregg Ave. project out for the 4th time. There was a low bid of $6.49 million, which is a little less than the previous low bid of $6.84 million. AHTD has sent the City a letter saying they will accept that bid pending receipt of a check from the City. In response to a question from Alderman Cook, Mr. Petrie said the State still wants $800,000 from the City even though the bid came in a little lower than last time. Mayor Coody told the Committee that there is a movement beginning for Arkansas municipalities and the State to join with Counties and go to the Legislature to request an increase in the turnback funds to cities and counties. The goal is to double tumback funds, which would help in areas such as this. Alderman Cook asked what the negatives would be of using the remaining cost share money for this year and part of the CIP money from Rupple Road. Ron Petrie said there is the possibility that we can put this $500,000 into the Mt. Comfort Road project and get the intersection at Rupple and Mt. Comfort realigned. It would take more than $500,000 to complete the project because there will have to be a bridge over Hamestring. But if the money is put toward the project it would go a long way toward paying for this improvement. The contract with Garver Engineering included studying this project and coming up with a price. Alderman Jordan said this is one of the most important sections of road in his ward. Mayor Coody asked if he understood correctly that we might be able to save some money on the Township project by constructing Township to City standards instead of by State engineering standards. Ron Petrie said it definitely saves time and money not having the State permit these projects. It would be hard to come up with an exact dollar amount but the savings could be around $400,000 and $500,000. In response to a question from Mayor Coody, Ron Petrie said it is a possibility that we might be able to use the potential savings on the Township Rd. project for the Gregg Ave. project. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes October 5, 2006 Page 3 of 9 Alderman Jordan asked if we take the money from the $8.8 million from the Street Bond issue that is designated for cost sharing, could it be replenished from the Township Road savings when they are realized. Ron Petrie said that could be done by putting the money back into the CIP cost share funds. It could get a little complicated. There is some advantage to using the existing cost share funds because it's doesn't affect the cash flow for the first few years of the bond issue. But either would work. Alderman Cook moved that we use the $585,000 remaining in the cost share account for this year, supplement that with money from the $8.8 million from the bond issue cost share money until a savings from the Township project is recognized, at which time that savings will be used to replenish the money taken from the bond issue cost share. Alderman Reynolds seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Ron Petrie said staff would prepare an item for the full City Council agenda. 4. Update of projects listed in the approved Transportation Bond Issue. Chris Brown reviewed some of the highlights of progress made on Bond Issue projects over the past three weeks. A detailed progress report was distributed. There are nine projects in the Bond Issue that the City will be designing and contracting. So far design is under way on three of those projects. Four additional projects are being negotiated with engineering firms and one project is being designed in-house. All projects are under way with the exception of the Rupple Road project. On the Washington/Willow project, staff is negotiating a design contract with CEI Engineering. Staff has also met with some neighbors to talk about traffic calming plans. Those plans should be finalized within the next several months. Ron Petrie said CEI is designing the intersection improvements at North and Gregg Ave. The remaining traffic calming is being done in-house. Chris Brown continued that for the Technology Corridor (Cato Springs Rd.) Garver Engineers has been selected for the design and a contract is being negotiated. Carter and Burgess has been selected for the Garland Ave. from I540 to Howard Nickle project and a design contract is being negotiated with this firm. Garver Engineers has been hired to do the two projects on Mt. Comfort Road, (the intersection at I540 and Mt. Comfort from Rupple to Alpine). They will begin gathering traffic data as well as doing survey work in the near future. Carter and Burgess has the contract to do the Expressway Corridor and that contract has been executed. They will now begin taking traffic counts on this project. A citizen survey is on the City website for this project to collect some information from citizens. Signs will be placed in the project area in several locations and cards will be distributed to businesses in the area telling about the survey and encouraging citizens to go on-line and take the survey. He said there have been quite a few hits already even without the advertising. The Zion Road project is in-house and staff has begun 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes October 5, 2006 Page 4 of 9 gathering some of the property ownership data and field surveys are being completed. McClelland Engineers has been selected to design the College Avenue project. That contract is now being negotiated. The remaining projects are being designed and contracted by the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department. Staff has met with the AHTD on all the projects and has some current information. On the Crossover project, they are completing the environmental assessment and that will have to be sent to the Federal Highway Administration for approval. Once approval comes back, there will be another public meeting but that has not yet been scheduled. Design on the remaining two projects will start immediately and it is hoped that construction can begin in 2009. Alderman Reynolds asked what was happening with the Cato Springs Road project (three lanes, turn lane and sidewalk on one side). Ron Petrie said that project is designated the Technology Corridor and is number two on the list. He said he believes the drawings show sidewalks on both sides but if that can't be done, it can't be done. Garver Engineers has been selected for this project. He said staff has met with all the engineering firms and set the scope of the contract. He believes we will get most of the contracts back within two or three weeks for final review and to bring before the Committee. In response to a question from Gary Dumas, Ron Petrie said his staff is working on getting this update information on line and getting an update to the newspapers every couple of weeks but that has not happened yet. Alderman Jordan said he would like to suggest that there be some sort of chart with a timeline set up at each Street Committee meeting showing where we are on each project. This would allow the camera to focus on the chart and allow viewers to be able to see exactly where we are on the projects at each meeting. Chris Brown said staff is working on something like that, to include scheduling progress as well as financial information. In response to a question from Alderman Jordan, Gary Dumas said plans are to put up more permanent signs on the project sites indicating the status of the project and identifying the projects as those funded by the bond issue. He hopes the signs will be up in the next few weeks. 5. Discussion of a staff proposal to perform a drainage study in the Washington/Willow Neighborhood area. Ron Petrie talked about drainage problems around the College Ave./Mission/Maple St. areas. He showed a map of this part of the City and outlined the watershed, going from the top of Mt. Sequoyah to College Ave. The infrastructure for this watershed has been in place for 80 years or longer. He said one of the main problems is that the water comes down in an open channel and hits an old, native stone box culvert with a large grate. The water goes under and between houses 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes October 5, 2006 Page 5 of 9 in areas with no dedicated drainage easement. Flooding has occurred in several houses in the area. Mr. Petrie further described other areas where there are also drainage problems and explained the infrastructure in those areas. Staff has been looking into the problems over the past several weeks. He said this is a system that the City has historically claimed no ownership for. There are no drainage easements and it has not been the City's responsibility. He said the problem will be very costly to fix. The first step would be to hire someone to do a study and determine cost estimates and recommendations. Alderman Reynolds said he doesn't see what could be developed to prevent flooding when we get a four or five inch rain. He said he has seen the whole valley between Johnson Street to Rebecca under water. In response to a question from Alderman Cook, Terry Gulley said the drainage structures are open and water does flow through but they are all rocked up and the water goes under houses and driveways. There are no access points through there. When we get a one -inch rain, the system seems to handle it okay so there doesn't seem to be a stoppage. It just doesn't have the capacity to handle a lot of water. In response to a question from Alderman Jordan, Ron Petrie said whoever contracts to do the study will do a full investigation to find out if there are any problems other than capacity issues. Gary Dumas said there has been a policy that we do not claim responsibility for the drainage problems in this area since the area was built. This will be a significant change in that policy. He said the ability to fix the problem even after it has been studied will be an issue. This will be very expensive. The City will have to look at a revenue stream to begin to address the issue. He mentioned a drainage utility fee or something similar. Alderman Cook said we did a drainage study along Hamestring and tried to fix some drainage issues there. He asked how this policy decision would be different. Ron Petrie said the projects are very similar. He said Hamestring probably contained more drainage easements. Terry Gulley said the big problem in this area is a drainage structure that is probably 80 to 100 years old over which homes have been built, essentially right up against streams. The area just can't handle the drainage any more. At Hamestring there are still some open areas we can go through. Gary Dumas said the Hamestring decision was also a policy shift. There needs to be a comprehensive approach to this because there are drainage issues in various parts of town. There has to be a way to address them financially and we don't have that resource right now. Alderman Jordan asked how it can be fixed, regardless of what the cost might be. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes October 5, 2006 Page 6 of 9 Ron Petrie said hiring someone to tell us how it can be fixed is the first step. He said we have two potential sources for the funds for the study. He said there was a drought over the past couple of years so some of the money set aside for drainage problems has been unused. He said we have an account called "Drainage Study/Phase II Stormwater Management" which has a balance of $365,600. There is another CIP account called "Other Drainage Improvements" which has a balance of $524,000. The money for the study could come out of either account. But the funds would be of limited use for any improvements needed. Alderman Jordan said if the City intends to eventually address this issue, there will have to be some sort of study in order to develop a plan. Alderman Cook said he had received two phone calls before this meeting in support of getting the study started. He also received numerous calls regarding the flooding after the recent rain. Alderman Reynolds moved that staff be authorized to proceed with a selection process to perform a study to be funded by the two funds mentioned by Mr. Petrie. Alderman Cook seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Ron Petrie said we will select a firm, probably from our existing list of SOQ's, negotiate a contract and bring that contract back to the Committee and the Council. 6. Discussion of an ordinance revision to allow the Street Committee to amend certain portions of the City's Minimum Street Standards. Ron Petrie said this was briefly discussed at the last Street Committee meeting and everyone seemed to be in favor of it and wanted to see a copy of the resolution to be brought forward. He gave the Committee a copy of a simple resolution he had drafted. In addition, he distributed copies of the current Minimum Street Standards. He said the standards were passed in 1996 by resolution, not as an ordinance and this document is not contained in the UDO. It is a stand alone document adopted by resolution. Because of the new downtown and hillside ordinances, we need to update the existing street standards. As a long term goal, it should be formatted to become a part of the UDO, which is where it needs to be. If we can make the updates at a reasonable pace with the help of the Street Committee, the entire package can be sent to the full Council for insertion into the UDO. Alderman Jordan suggested that if the staff and Committee see that something may be controversial, it can always be taken to the full Council for discussion. We are mostly talking about minor issues. Ron Petrie said these are mostly technical details. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes October 5, 2006 Page 7 of 9 Alderman Cook moved that staff be authorized to develop an ordinance allowing the Street Committee to amend certain portions of the City's Minimum Street Standards to present to the Council. Alderman Reynolds seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Van Asche Drive Alderman Reynolds asked to open a discussion regarding Van Asche Drive. He said he is worried that if we don't get Van Asche from Gregg Street over to Hwy. 112 soon, we may lose some of the tenants at the NWA Mall to the new Pinnacle Hills shopping center. He said we need to publicize that we are going to extend Van Asche as soon as we can to keep our tax base. In response to a question from Mayor Coolly, Ron Petrie said there should be a groundbreaking in a couple of weeks on Van Asche from Gregg to CMN. Van Asche on the west side was not on the Phase I bond project list. It is not on a CIP list. Gary Dumas said the economic corridor study is underway which will address better access into the mall area. That study should be completed in six months. We are still talking to property owners in the area. He doesn't know what the study will tell us but it will address all of the issues of access from the north and west and getting around on the east side. He said that section of Van Asche could cost around $5.5 million. It could come out of the economic corridor money but there are other improvements that will probably also be needed. There will probably need to be some property owner partnerships to get all of the access we need through that area. Alderman Reynolds said he just wants the word to get out through the media that we are working on the Van Asche project to make it more accessible for customers of the mall. Ron Petrie said access to this area was the whole purpose of this federal earmark. 8. Additional Item — Gregg Ave. extension — future phase Ron Petrie said staff has been approached by a property owner who is ready to sell out and give us first option to purchase their property. An appraisal was done approximately a year ago. One lot was appraised at $150,000 and a piece of property with a two story duplex was appraised at $200,000. Of course it would have to be appraised again if we are interested in buying. Mayor Coolly said if the owner is interested in marketing it now, he believes it would be in our best interests to pick it up even if we wind up not doing anything with it. We can always put it back on the market later and get our money back. Ron Petrie said the property to the south is more valuable to the City than the north section. A small section of the north piece might be needed for right of way. He said there is always the option of buying the property, getting the right-of-way and putting the remainder back on the market. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes October 5, 2006 Page 8 of 9 Alderman Reynolds said the price sounds reasonable to him. There was some further discussion regarding the land and the needs. It was decided that Ron Petrie would get more information regarding the size of the property and other details to bring back before the Committee. 9. Other Issues Terry Gulley said he has received several calls regarding an area east of Hwy. 265 behind the Millennium Center. He said apparently the County Planning Commission denied a cottage -type development on about ten or fifteen acres near the Old Wire Rd. and East Joyce intersection. He said two or three of the neighbors called about that to voice their objections to traffic through there. He said it is dangerous "S" curve in this area. He had looked at going in and taking out a couple of the trees. The City doesn't have a lot of right-of-way but there are a couple of trees that are literally almost in the drainage ditch that have been hit so many times they are scarred. That would allow them to make the street a little wider. He said the garage of a small house close to the street prevents the City from going south and there is a four -five foot embankment on the north. He said "No Truck" signs have been put out to try to keep the dump trucks out. It is so narrow that it is dangerous to meet a truck coming from the other direction. The citizens he has had contact with want something done and asked Mr. Gulley to bring the matter to the Street Committee. The Master Street Plan shows the street cutting across from the intersection across Dr. Knox's land and going diagonally across the open field. In response to a question from Alderman Jordan, Terry Gulley said the neighbors are looking for help. He said his intent was to try doing a little widening before the winter — possibly two or three feet. He said that would just be something done in-house to try to deal with the drainage and get a little extra width. He said the citizens just wanted him to make the Committee aware of the problems and see what options there might be. Alderman Jordan asked if staff could have some maps and information available at the next Street Committee meeting. The neighbors could come and discuss the situation. Terry Gulley also distributed information to the Committee regarding projected asphalt costs. He said the City has used up all funding appropriated last year for in-house overlay. There was $1,050,000 in the CIP and an additional $400,000 allocated through the budget process. This was used to put down thirteen miles of asphalt overlay. There is enough left in reserve to keep the patch crews going for the rest of the year. He reviewed the budget for the past couple of years and the plan used to attempt to ensure that all roads are repaved in a fifteen year cycle. He mentioned the new developments that are adding miles of streets to that cycle each year and the need for additional funding to meet those needs. He said there was a 25% increase in the cost of asphalt last year and the supplier is now saying there will be another 25% increase this year. There are only two sources of asphalt in the area and he doesn't believe the other source will be 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes October 5, 2006 Page 9 of 9 much lower. If his budgeted amount doesn't change, we will be going backwards as far as how many miles of paving can be done in a year. He said he realizes the budget is tight but he wanted the Committee to know where the Transportation division stands and what the needs are. Alderman Jordan asked how many miles we are trying to pave each year. Terry Gulley said in 2003 we had about 250 miles of City roads and about 75 miles of State roads. That came out to about 17 miles of road that would need to be paved each year in order to pave all roads in the fifteen year cycle. In the three years since, we have added several more miles of City roads (it is around 280 miles now), so the figures will change some. He said right now it is not critical but twelve years from now that number will have grown and become a very large number. Alderman Cook said he's amazed we're still annexing land and adding more streets to be maintained and not recouping the costs. He said the growth is killing us. He said he believes Terry's crews are doing a great job but the costs are killing us. Gary Dumas said we talked about this problem back before the 2006 budget discussions. There were no additional funds added to the budget and the result is that we are doing 13 miles of streets instead of the 17 — 19 miles we had hoped to do. If we don't get additional money in the budget process this year, next year's production will dip back down to where it was in the early 2000's. He doesn't believe anyone wants us to get back to doing eight or nine miles a year. Alderman Jordan said he agrees with Alderman Cook that the more land we bring in, the more the maintenance costs go up for streets. He said we are going to have to start looking at some long ranging planning on how we can do a lot of this. He thanked Terry for bringing this information to the Committee's attention. Terry Gulley said he would try to get more accurate figures together for the next Committee meeting. Alderman Jordan asked if Terry would provide for the Committee information that would tell them how many more miles per year the current rate of growth will add to the estimated 17 miles per year that was discussed last year. He also requested an estimated cost for that number of miles each year. 10. Scheduling the next Street Committee Meeting The next meeting of the Street Committee was scheduled for Thursday, November 2, 2006 at 4:30 p.m. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org