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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-03-14 - MinutesMayor Dan Coody City Attomey Kit Williams City Clerk Sondra Smith City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes March 14, 2006 Page 1 of 6 Member Aldermen aye evi le AR KA N SA 5 City of Fayetteville Arkansas City Council Water & Sewer Committee Meeting Minutes March 14, 2006 Ward 1 Position 1 - Robert Reynolds Ward 2 Position 1 - Kyle B. Cook Ward 3 Position 2 — Robert Ferrell Ward 4 Position 2 - Lioneld Jordan A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council Water & Sewer Committee was held on March 14, 2006, at 5:30 p.m. in Room 326 of the City Administration Building located at 113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas. MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman Kyle Cook; Alderman Robert Reynolds; Alderman Robert Ferrell; Alderman Lioneld Jordan Other Council Members Present: Alderman Shirley Lucas Staff Present: David Jurgens, Gary Dumas, Tim Conklin, Ron Petrie, Steve Davis Chairman Kyle Cook called the meeting to order. 1. Approval of the Minutes Alderman Ferrell moved that the minutes of the February 2, 2006 Water/Sewer Committee Meeting be approved as distributed. Alderman Jordan seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. 2. WSIP Update a. West Side Wastewater Treatment Plant David Jurgens said that starting next month staff will be handing out a pamphlet showing photographs and charting some progress from Brasfield & Gorrie. They have been working hard and taking advantage of the good weather. They have laid pretty much the entire length of the water line. Construction on the plant has started and a large crane has been set up. In response to a request from Chairman Cook, Mr. Jurgens said a site meeting could be set up for the Committee in the very near future. b. Subproject WL -5, Force Mains from Hamestring Lift Station to West Side WWTP. David Jurgens said there is a lot of pipe on the ground for WL -5. That contractor has not started any excavation yet but should be starting fairly soon. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes March 14, 2006 Page 2 of 6 c. Subproject SL -1 and 3, Gravity Lines from Old Wire Road to Gregg Avenue and from Porter Road to Hamestring Lift Station, combined as one contract. David Jurgens said this is on the upcoming Council agenda but he left it on the Committee agenda because we didn't have the full contracts at the last meeting. He wanted to answer any questions the Committee might have. There were no questions. d. Subproject WL -4. Gravity Lines and Force Main from Gregg Avenue Lift Station to Hamestring Lift Station. David Jurgens said staff still has to obtain three easements on this line. We have been negotiating with property owners and have obtained other easements. The City Attorney gave direction on getting modified appraisals on the remaining easements and we should have those in within three weeks. This will not hold up the contract on this project. If we award that contract within three weeks, it won't hold up construction. There will be considerable time in which the contractor must order pipe and lead time for delivery, etc. We are hoping to get the three easements handled without having to file in Court. Either way we can do it without slowing the project down. e. Backup Power Generator Alternatives David Jurgens said staff is still evaluating this item. Much of staff's time recently has been concentrated on the contracts in the above listed items. f. Easement Status Update David Jurgens said we are slowly moving forward on the east side easements. We are adding in the line that goes up Country Club Hill. There are four easements along that tract. We will have an update on these at the next meeting. Alderman Ferrell asked how many easements had not yet been obtained. David Jurgens said we don't have too large an area or too high a dollar value on the east side because most of that is paralleling existing pipe. Not counting the line going up Country Club Hill, we initially needed to obtain 75 tracts on the east side and a total of 39 remain outstanding. Most of those are partials only because, with the exception of the line that goes across Morningside Drive, it is all paralleling existing pipe. He said the letters are out for all of Line 7. The letters have not yet gone out for Line 4, which is the line that goes from Razorback Road to Happy Hollow. g. WSIP Property Potential Sale David Jurgens said Ozarks Electric is now defining exactly what acreage they want. It is looking as if they will formally request four acres immediately adjacent to where we are building the plant, in the middle of the plant site. That gives better buffering and screening for any developments that might occur outside the plant site. We have also had multiple meetings with Arkansas Natural Resources concerning wetlands banking. They are looking at around 120 acres of the plant site on which they would be doing a constructed wetlands bank. They are also 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes March 14, 2006 Page 3 of 6 looking at several hundred acres that are not on our site because they have to have connectivity to the creek. Mr. Jurgens expects a draft proposal letter from them within the next week or two to open negotiations. They are looking at doing one consolidated wetlands plan for the whole area, paying for the building, etc. and in trade for doing that wetlands work that the City needs to have done, they would accept ownership of the land. They only want to own the land for as long as it is has credits. Whenever all the credits are granted or sold the land would revert back to the City for ownership. They are amenable to having trails through the area. We could have several hundred acres of permanent greenspace with trails with this deal, including acreage outside of the City's property. 3. Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation Project Update a. Basin 1-5, 18 & 19 Sewer Rehabilitation Construction David Jurgens said this contract is on the Council agenda for March 21. He left it on this agenda to allow the Committee to see the actual completed contract. b. Farmington Area Manhole Rehabilitation David Jurgens said the manhole rehab is complete. In January we got the final video tapes of the lines. We are proceeding with final design work on what line rehab needs to be done. The surveyors will be out in the next couple of weeks. We should have an estimated cost within 45 to 60 days. c. Insituform Term Contract Renewal David Jurgens said no progress has been made on this item as staff time has been devoted to the contracts listed in the above items. 4. Goshen Water Tank and Fire Protection David Jurgens included a letter of proposal from the mayor of Goshen in the agenda packet for this meeting. He explained that the 12 -inch water line that goes out to the twin -bridges and to Wyman Road had to include some fire hydrants because you need the hydrants for basic water system maintenance such as flushing lines. Unfortunately developers saw those hydrants and believed they could have fire protection for their developments. That created some challenges for the system. When we purchased the charter for that system it did not include any fire protection. We were in a lawsuit about a year ago with Waterford Estates and it was determined at that time that those hydrants can function on gravity -flow off the internal pressure of the lines, using the small nozzles. But if a pumper truck was hooked up to the large nozzles on the hydrants, it has the potential to put such a pull on that line that it could actually collapse the pipe coming down the hill from Slaughter Mountain. If that happened, it would be months before Goshen would have water again. In order to prevent that, we put a locking mechanism on the large nozzle on the hydrants. The small nozzles are still available and usable and the spacing at Waterford Estates is such that they do have fire protection there. The issue with Goshen is that they want fire protection in the city. The County has enacted a State law relating to the fire code which requires fire protection for any new developments over five lots. It creates a dilemma because the water system can't support the flows required for fire protection on the rural subdivisions. Therefore, much of Goshen does not have fire protection and cannot have it under 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes March 14, 2006 Page 4 of 6 the existing water system. The White River water system was never designed nor intended to have fire protection. Mr. Jurgen's recommendation to the Committee is that some sort of contractual agreement between the City of Fayetteville and the City of Goshen be developed as to what services they want and how we are to provide them. The agreement would define what services the City of Fayetteville would provide, identify funding mechanisms and any differences in rates, etc. We have such an agreement with both Farmington and Greenland. Right now Farmington and Greenland get fire protection, but they pay a charge of a little over $6 per month per fire hydrant. That charge has paid for the larger pipes, the operation and maintenance of those pipes and for the fire hydrants. We don't have that type of agreement with Goshen or with Johnson so there is a disparity in what we charge those cities and in what services we provide. In order to develop the agreement with Goshen, a negotiating team would probably need to be appointed. Alderman Cook asked if the final answer to this dilemma is a water tower. He has heard comments from people in the area who are adamantly against a water tower. David Jurgens said the final answer is not as simple as a water tank. A water tank on the Slaughter Mountain area at that pressure plane would probably provide water sufficient for fire protection out to Wyman Road and to the Twin Bridges. That is where there is currently a 12 - inch line. East of there is served by a 6 -inch line and that line really constricts the flow. So the water tank on the west side wouldn't help nearly as much for anything beyond Wyman Road. The primary water tank in Goshen is out on Fire Tower Road, east of the city center of Goshen and that comes back into town through an 8 -inch line. This provides adequate fire protection for that eastern section of the town. So parts of Goshen are protected but to provide fire protection to the entire city of Goshen, which covers a very large area, is going to take a huge amount of work. We could get fire protection to the majority of the town with the tank on the west side and some piping increases. In response to a question from Alderman Ferrell, Mr. Jurgens stated that the City of Fayetteville owns the entire water distribution system in Goshen. It was once the White River water system and it goes all the way to the Madison County line. Mr. Jurgens said we are obligated only to provide drinking water to Goshen, not fire protection. He believes fire protection should be paid for by the customer who receives the benefit. Alderman Cook asked Mr. Jurgens to outline what he feels are the next steps between the cities of Fayetteville and Goshen. David Jurgens said his recommendation is that we get with the City of Goshen and establish a negotiating committee to identify what is needed or requested and to develop a contract. The contract would also identify funding mechanisms to provide the additional services requested. It is also within the Council's prerogative to not provide fire protection outside the city limits of Fayetteville. Offering this service is changing our scope of service. Mr. Jurgens requested guidance from the Committee on how to proceed. Alderman Cook said he would like to at least sit down with the City of Goshen representatives and talk to them about this issue. It was the consensus of the Committee to begin talks between the two cities. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes March 14, 2006 Page 5 of 6 5. Lierly Lane Subdivision David Jurgens reminded the Committee that Lierly Lane is a subdivision adjacent to the city limits on the northwest part of town, by Hughmount Rd. They have requested connection to the wastewater collection system in lieu of putting in a STEP system. Mr. Jurgens gave the Committee members copies of a letter from the Health Department recommending this subdivision be put on City sewer, although they approved the STEP system. Staff position is that in the long run these developments will be hooked up to the collection system eventually and he feels that the City and residents, as well as the environment, will be better served to have them hooked up initially rather than going back and doing it later. Alderman Cook said it was his recollection that this item had been discussed by the Committee in the past and that the vote at that time was split. However, he said at the time that there is no reason not to take it to the full Council for discussion. There was a discussion between the Committee, staff and representatives of Hometown Development & Blind Squirrel, LLC, developers of this subdivision. Mike McDonald, representative of Hometown Development, said that the developers are willing to abide by the same rules and fees of the City as they would if they were inside the city limits. Their plans are to request annexation into the City right after final plat approval. He said when the issue was discussed earlier his group wasn't sure whether or not they could be annexed so they proceeded with the step system. It was approved and is ready to install but the letter of approval from the State recommended annexation. Gary Dumas recommended that the item to extend the sewer could be taken forward to the full Council with a contractual agreement that if they cannot bring forward the annexation request at the same time, they will at least be annexed before any houses are occupied. Alderman Jordan suggested that Hometown Development apply for annexation now. Mike McDonald said that would work as long as they can do it concurrently with proceeding with the development. Gary Dumas asked if the request for annexation could be tied contractually to the request to extend the sewer. He explained that the request to extend the sewer could come to the Council within three weeks. However, the annexation request would have to go through other channels before it even gets to the Planning Commission, which could take two to three months. As long as there is a contractual agreement that they get the sewer if they annex, would that work for the Committee and the developer? Hugh Earnest, also representing Hometown Development, said they could agree to this as long as the development can go forward in the meantime. Gary Dumas wanted to make clear that the five Council members present would be agreeing to approve the annexation. If the Council does not approve the annexation, the end result would be that the development would get sewer outside the city limits. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org City Council Water & Sewer Meeting Minutes March 14, 2006 Page 6 of 6 Alderman Ferrell moved that the request to extend the sewer be approved by the Committee and forwarded to the Council, along with a contractual agreement that the developer will pay all appropriate fees and abide by all City rules and regulations and will submit a request for annexation to the City concurrently with this request. Alderman Reynolds seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of three to one, with Chairman Cook voting no. 6. Beaver Water District Negotiations David Jurgens pointed out that the packet he handed out earlier at the Council Agenda session is the most current proposed contract. The one in the packet submitted to this Committee has been replaced by that one. He said staff had been working with Beaver Water District for several months on this agreement. There were some moments of fairly intense negotiations and both sides compromised some. Mr. Jurgens said he believes this is a milestone movement forward in protecting the watershed. Alderman Cook said he agrees it is a good thing. Alderman Reynolds moved that the proposed agreement be forwarded to the full Council for approval. Alderman Jordan seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 7. Farmington Contract Update Steve Davis said a meeting of the Farmington negotiation team is scheduled in approximately two weeks. 8. Scheduling the Next Water/Sewer Committee Meeting The next meeting of the Water/Sewer Committee was scheduled for Thursday, April 20, 2006 at 6:15 p.m. 113 West Mountain 72701 (479) 521-7700 (479) 575-8257 (Fax) accessfayetteville.org