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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-08-04 MinutesMayor Dan Coody City Attomey Kit Williams City Clerk Sondra Smith aye evi le AR KA N SA 5 City of Fayetteville Arkansas City Council Street Committee Meeting Minutes August 4, 2005 City Council Street Committee Minutes August 4, 2005 Page 1 of 8 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 August 4, 2005 at 6:00 p.m. in Room 326 of the City Administration Building located at 113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas. MEMBERS PRESENT: Lioneld Jordan (Chair), Robert Reynolds, Bobby Ferrell MEMBER ABSENT: Don Marr Other Council Members Present: Kyle Cook, Shirley Lucas and Mayor Coody Staff Present: Ron Petrie, Gary Dumas, Tim Conklin, Chairman Lioneld Jordan brought the meeting to order. Proposed Gregg Street Extension Alderman Jordan asked Ron Petrie, City Engineer to begin the discussion on the proposed Gregg Street extension. Ron Petrie said that three options were discussed at the Ward 2 meeting. He provided a side-by- side comparison of those three options as was presented at the ward meeting. The first option is a Gregg Ave. to Arkansas connection, connecting to Gregg north of North Street. The second option is the parkway option and the third, the latest plan presented by staff, is a Gregg Ave. to West Ave. connection. He said since he wasn't at the ward meeting he thought Alderman Kyle Cook might have more information to share. Alderman Cook said about 75 people attended the Ward 2 meeting to discuss this item. At the beginning of the meeting a vote was taken to see where people stood initially on the three options. The first plan was most supported at the beginning of the meeting. After discussing the different options, the middle option received one vote by the end of the meeting. The last option got about 15 or 16 votes. The discussion boiled down to connectivity — making sure the streets do not connect. No one wants cul-de-sacs unless it is a last ditch effort to control traffic flow. There was also discussion of east versus west side of the railroad tracks, about the issue of how much property it would take for each option and the potential of having a bridge over the railroad tracks (the first option). At the end of the meeting another vote was taken and the first option (the Gregg Ave. to Arkansas connection at $12.7 million) was almost a unanimous favorite. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes August 4, 2005 Page 2 of 8 Alderman Jordan asked if Jay Hunnicutt from the University of Arkansas had any comments from the University perspective. Jay Hunnicutt said he had no comments. Alderman Jordan said he would open the discussion up with the Committee first and would then ask for comments from other aldermen and the mayor. Alderman Ferrell said one of his big concerns has been the structures to be removed. But he said if the University has no problems with this option and the people want it, he is okay with it. Alderman Reynolds said he will also support the Ward 2 aldermen and the people of that ward. But he doesn't see how they will be able to go before the people for a vote with this. He thinks we probably need to wait on these projects until November to make sure the sewer plant is on line. He doesn't think the public will support a bond issue until something is going forward on the sewer plant. Alderman Lucas asked for clarification that the option being discussed is the one that goes beyond North Street. Alderman Cook said that this option flies over the railroad tracks north of North Street. Alderman Lucas asked if everyone really thinks this plan will take traffic out of the area. She thinks people are still going to go up and down Gregg Street, through Wilson Park and on over. She doesn't think this is solving the problem. Alderman Cook said the group had discussed that quite a bit and the main concern was bringing the traffic closer to the North and Gregg intersection. Alderman Lucas asked if the main concern was traffic around the park itself or is the concern about the houses down Gregg Ave. toward Prospect. Alderman Cook said the goal, as stated by Alderman Marr several times, is not to eliminate traffic in Wilson Park, the idea is to reduce the amount of traffic that comes through there to the street standards for local streets. Alderman Lucas said that the traffic that really goes down Gregg and across through Wilson Park and over to Maple are people going to Dickson Street and this hasn't changed that. Alderman Cook said that was also discussed quite a bit. The University's numbers show that of the people who came to the intersection of Wilson and Maple, 80% turned left. At the ward meeting they discussed where that 80% goes. Some go to Dickson, some downtown, some to the Walton Arts Center parking lot, some will be heading to the new parking deck. He thinks this option addresses the problem because it is going to be the easiest route, as opposed to weaving through the park. It was also discussed that traffic control measures would be added to the plan in that area. Everyone agreed they thought this was the best long term option. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes August 4, 2005 Page 3 of 8 Mayor Coody said that Ron, working with a few of the neighbors in the area came up with a very viable solution. He said this was a minority perspective but he is used to that. He said he felt this was a very important discussion for several reasons. He said he, too, represents Ward 2 voters as well as everyone else in town. He said that he agrees with Alderman Lucas. He isn't convinced this solves the problem and feels it creates other problems. For example the plan developed by Ron with Steve Frankenberger will cost around $7 million as opposed to the plan that will cost $12.7 million — a $5.7 million difference. But over and above the cost savings there were other problems. The $12.7 million plan maintains an existing intersection (Gregg & North) and it generates a new intersection west of the railroad tracks. That will create two major intersections on either side of the railroad tracks. The railroad is planning a 5 -fold increase in trains coming through town as well as increasing the speed of the trains from 8 mph to 30 mph. With the "Frankenberger" plan, $2 million of the $5.7 million difference could be used to separate train traffic from automobile traffic by lowering the street six feet and raising the track 6 feet to get the clearance to have an overpass. This would eliminate potential fatalities at that intersection. This would also eliminate a crossing instead of adding another intersection to a very busy at -grade crossing. It would also keep us from having to buy a great deal of property in the area for rights-of-way. It would give us money to improve the two-story bridges, all of West Ave., add a turn lane to Dickson Street and West where all the traffic is going. He feels the Frankenberger plan solves the problem much more effectively for a lot less money. He said that he deeply respects Aldermen Cook and Marr's opinion but he just has to disagree on this issue. Alderman Lucas said she supports Ward 2 citizens and would be willing to spend the $12.7 million if she thought that the plan would solve the problem. She has lived in this town for a long time and feels that people are just naturally going to continue the old route. She doesn't see this plan changing that pattern. Alderman Cook said in response to that, they have looked at ten options and he wouldn't say that any of those options have corrected any of the issues that have been experienced. To him, the $12.7 million option addresses the problem better than any of the other options. Alderman Lucas said she looks at the park as kind of square with traffic flowing around it and she believes the issue is trying to keep the through traffic out of this area. It scares her that we will be putting all this money into this project and still have the traffic. Alderman Jordan recognized Glenn Sowder from the audience. Glenn Sowder said what the Gregg Ave. to Arkansas Ave. plan gives is that it would add a seventh bridge over the railroad tracks (he stated that at this point there are only six bridges to get across the railroad tracks in Fayetteville). This would help traffic west of North Gregg. He stated that there are about 18,000 students now and about 5,000 employees at the University and there is a lot of potential parking and University -owned land on the west side of the tracks. Another thing to consider is that according the latest traffic count there are 8,000 cars on North Gregg between North and Prospect and 2,700 on Frisco Street which is only about 18 ft. wide. There's a lot of traffic that can be diverted north of North Street and drawn to the west side of town where the students and faculty can get where they want to be. He said he remembered the vote at the ward meeting being 41 in favor of the North Gregg to Arkansas option, 10 in favor of the Frankenberger plan and 1 in favor of the remaining plan. He said the Frankenberger plan would have an intersection at Arkansas on Maple, one at North Gregg and Maple and would 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes August 4, 2005 Page 4 of 8 create a new one from Frisco onto Maple. We would still have Wilson onto Maple and West on Maple and Vanderventer all intersecting Maple Street within 1000 feet. Mayor Coody asked Jay Honnicutt from the University of Arkansas what the University's position is on the Frankenberger plan. Jay Honnicutt said that the University supports the plan but obviously it is not their first choice. He said their first choice is the first plan. Mayor Coody asked Ron Petrie, as the expert on engineering, to speak on the issue. Ron Petrie said he could just give his opinion from an engineering perspective. He said if you look at where the traffic is going, which is downtown and not the University, he thinks the third option (the Frankenberger plan) is the best because it keeps the traffic where it is now. It improves the route but most importantly, it remains where it is now. Alderman Jordan brought the discussion back to the Street Committee members and asked for any comments. There being no further discussion, Alderman Jordan said he would entertain a motion to accept the first option (the Gregg to Arkansas, $12.7 million option). Alderman Ferrell moved and Alderman Reynolds seconded the motion that the Gregg to Arkansas option be accepted. The motion carried. Discussion of Phasing of Proposed Transportation Plan Alderman Jordan said it had been brought to his attention that many of his constituents have some concerns about the Transportation plan and voting for a bond issue without having settled the issue with the wastewater treatment plant. He said he doesn't want to pull the plug on the transportation plan because he feels it is very important to the City. But he also has to be responsible to the people he represents. As the Chair of the Street Committee he has to make recommendations and he has concerns about going on with the plan until the WSIP situation is settled. He asked for comments from the Street Committee and then from other aldermen and the mayor. Alderman Ferrell said he too had talked to citizens and had calls from his constituents who questioned the wisdom of moving forward with this plan. Everyone knows we need streets that can be used but that issue is being overshadowed right now by the WSIP. He thinks we need to put the issue off for awhile until the new plant is moving forward. Alderman Reynolds agreed and said he talks to a lot of people at coffee shops and such and they do not support the plan until they find out we will take care of the sewer plant. Alderman Lucas agreed. She said it bothers her that we will have to wait on this but she also hears from the people that we should wait. Alderman Cook said he agrees and hears the same but does want to say that we are not going to kill the plan. It will still be there. We have a plan in place that is ready to go but he also feels 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes August 4, 2005 Page 5 of 8 we need to wait until the sewer plant is situated a little better. He thinks the transportation plan is a good plan and staff and Council have put a lot of effort into it. He said we'll be ready to hit the ground running when we feel the people are ready to support it. Mayor Coody said he is glad to hear the Council say these things which he has been struggling with also. He said the staff knows how big a project this will be and trying to tackle two big projects at the same time is very daunting. He is happy that the Council is willing to put this on a "middle burner" and hopes in time we can find ways to trim some costs on the plan. He feels having this bond issue right after a $170 million sewer system (you would be talking about a quarter million dollar debt for a town of 70,000 people) is a great deal to ask. He says the City always tries to find ways to cut costs and we need to continue to do that. Alderman Jordan said he feels it is in the best interests of this plan that he make the recommendation that the items be tabled until later. He said he apologized to the Committee members, administration and staff and offered to step down as chair of the Committee if that was the wish of the members. He said he thinks the street program is very necessary for this city. We need the roads and we're going to get the roads. We just aren't going to get them right now. Mayor Coody said he feels Alderman Jordan needs to remain as chairman. The situation we are facing now is beyond anyone's control. He said Alderman Jordan is a fine job. This is going to work out and we're going to get our sewer system and our roads. It's just going to take a little while longer. Alderman Ferrell said he wholeheartedly agrees. He said if we remove this issue for right now, we can channel all our energy and focus on water and wastewater. Then once that is going forward and working, we can put a lot more energy onto this plan. He said he thinks some things may change between now and when we actually go forward with the transportation plan. He seconded Alderman Jordan's motion to table the transportation plan. Alderman Jordan asked for further comments. There being none, he called for a vote. The motion passed unanimously. 2006-2010 Capital Improvement Program Proposed Street Improvements After a brief discussion about the CIP, staff recommended that the Committee table the issue until the next Street Committee meeting. It was agreed that the Committee will meet again in three weeks, in conjunction with the next Water and Sewer Committee meeting (August 25). Alderman Ferrell asked how many streets the City has built this year (excluding overlays and co-ops with the State). Ron Petrie said there were very few street widenings this year. There were several intersection improvements and street widenings last year based on the existing CIP. Alderman Ferrell said he had a citizen comment that he didn't know of one street we had built. Tim Conklin said that Old Missouri Road was recently completed. Ron Petrie added that Shiloh and Millsap have also been done. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes August 4, 2005 Page 6 of 8 Alderman Ferrell asked if that was in 2004 or 2005. Gary Dumas said he thought Old Missouri Road was completed this year. Mayor Coody said that usually the City has developers build the streets for new developments. The streets are then dedicated to the City and we maintain them. Alderman Ferrell said that's what he thought but the citizen said something about some extensions of existing streets that the City had proposed a couple of years ago and he said he hadn't seen anything. Alderman Ferrell said he answered that most of the streets in neighborhoods are done by developers. He asked if there was any other besides Old Missouri that had been done. Tim Conklin mentioned Broyles Road. Ron Petrie added that we had widened Millsap and also Shiloh there by the Mall, both in 2004. There is very little in 2005. In the existing CIP for 2005, Township is listed and it is under design. There is only $830,000 in the CIP this year and there will be $1 05 million next year so Township cannot be bid until next year. He also went through the list of other projects for 2005. Alderman Ferrell asked if Broyles, Millsap and Shiloh were the only roads done in 2005 that we didn't co-op with anyone. Ron Petrie added Old Missouri Rd. Mayor Coody asked if Alderman Ferrell was talking about building new streets or improving existing streets. Alderman Ferrell said he was really talking about building new ones, but on some of these he would consider it rebuilding. Alderman Reynolds mentioned that 6th St. was a complete rebuild. Tim Conklin said that when the BWR study was complete it looked at the traffic congestion delay and how to reduce that in the most economical way. The $2 to $2.5 million a year that we have in the budget has been focused on improving intersections. Turn lanes and signalization projects were funded when we updated the CIP two years ago. Those are the projects you've seen completed in Fayetteville — Poplar Street signalization, west of Maple, Millsap and College with the turn lanes, Shiloh, Sycamore and Gregg. Because you only have $2 to $2.5 million, the signalization projects to relieve congestion were what the Street Committee focused on. The money is just not there to do the bigger projects all in one year. Alderman Ferrell said he also had an e-mail from a citizen saying he understood on the widening of Hwy 16 West to Double Springs Road that the State had recommended there be a turn lane and that the City was making it four lanes. He asked if that was correct. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes August 4, 2005 Page 7 of 8 Tim Conklin said there would be turn lanes at major intersections. It will be designed like Wedington Drive between Garland and I-540 matching the design completed by the highway department. Alderman Ferrell asked if it was true that it was the recommendation of the highway department to keep a continuous turn lane in the center and that the City had recommended that there be four lanes with turn lanes at intersections with green space added. The citizen said there had been public meetings on the issue. Alderman Ferrell asked whom he could visit with about this to get an answer to the citizen. Tim Conklin said there were public meetings and the discussion was green space, sidewalks and turn lanes and putting the turn lanes at major intersections. Ron Petrie said he could look to see if there had been some correspondence to and from the previous City Engineer on this. Mayor Coody said the gentleman might be looking for a simple answer to a complex question. He said personally he thought a continuous turn lane is a suicide lane. And with a continuous turn lane you are encouraging businesses to have multiple driveways to each business and you start to develop real access management problems. Tim Conklin said he should have some correspondence, etc. that might help answer the question. He said it has been a long time ago and he just doesn't recall exactly what was discussed. Alderman Ferrell asked if that recommendation (from the highway department) would come through the Street Committee. Gary Dumas said it probably should. Alderman Lucas said it is a good thing that this is brought up because when they start doing Hwy 265, we will want to know what's happening with that. Mayor Coody discussed the allocation from the Federal government, approximately $12.2 million. This is by far the largest allocation appropriated for Fayetteville in decades. The next largest was $1.5 million for Dickson Street improvements. Staff and everyone worked hard to make this happen and he wanted to publicly thank Congressman Boozman, Senator Pryor and Senator Lincoln and their staffs for working with us and with Van Scoyoc to make this happen in Fayetteville. It was agreed that the next Street Committee meeting would be held at 5:00 p.m. on August 25, 2005. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Street Committee Minutes August 4, 2005 Page 8 of 8 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org