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HomeMy WebLinkAbout3-22-18 PSC agenda packet Council Public Safety Committee 2nd Floor Conference Room City Hall March 22, 2018 3:00 p.m. Members: Staff: Others: Councilmember D. Gutierrez (chair) City Manager Cliff Moore Councilmember Cousens Asst. City Manager Ana Cortez Councilmember Funk Police Chief Dominic Rizzi Councilmember White (alternate) City Prosecutor Cynthia Martinez Brad Coughenour Scott Schafer Agenda 1. Election of committee chair 2. Approval of February 22, 2018 minutes 3. New Business a. Proposed fire code revision – cooking under tents – Denman b. HB 1022 Enhancing crime victim participation – C. Martinez 4. Old Business a. Traffic calming procedure revision – Schafer b. Domestic violence i. Legislative action c. Conclusion of public forums/wrap up 5. Other Business 6. Information items 7. Recap of future agenda items 8. Audience Participation 9. Adjournment Council Public Safety Committee February 22, 2018 MINUTES Members present: Staff: Councilmember Dulce Gutierrez (chair) City Manager Cliff Moore Councilmember Kathy Coffey Asst. City Mgr. Ana Cortez Chief Dominic Rizzi, Police Chief Bob Stewart, Fire Scott Schafer, Public Works Prosecutor Cynthia Martinez, Legal Brooke Goosman, Legal Sgt. Jim Moore, Police Terri Croft, Police The meeting was called to order at 3:03 p.m. 1. Approval of minutes of January 30, 2018 It was MOVED by Coffey and SECONDED by Guterriez to approve the minutes as presented. Motion PASSED unanimously. 2. New Business 2.a. Parking Legislation Goosman introduction proposed legislation to regulate parking in front of mailboxes. The proposed legislation would prohibit parking within 15 feet of a mailbox Monday- Saturday 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. The penalty would be a $20 infraction. The legislation is based on the ordinances of other municipalities. This proposal is based on complaints received and has the support of the postal service. Coffey inquired if it is common knowledge not to park in front of a mail box and if there was a need to post this information. Rizzi suggested a PSA or social media campaign could be done to get the word out prior to enforcement. Sgt. Moore also suggested pre- printed warning notices for distribution prior to enforcement. It was recommended by Coffey to move this item to the full council on the March 20 agenda. Gutierrez seconded the recommendation. 2.b. Traffic calming procedures Shafer reported that the Streets Division gets approximately one request per week and 5 petitions annually for traffic calming measures. The challenge that the division faces is the budget not only for installing traffic calming measures, but for staffing to conduct studies as to the necessity of the measures. This takes away from the repair and replacement fund. The division generally waits until the end of the year to determine if funding is available, but often have to deal with inclement weather and snow removal, which also impacts the budget. In 2018, $30,000 was earmarked for traffic calming requests. Staff is also reviewing the request process to include public meetings with affected residents, changing the percentage of signatures required from 51% to 75%, and following up to ensure residents still want the calming measures prior to installation. Coffey noted that speed bumps are increasingly popular, but not necessarily effective. Shafer advised that other traffic calming measures can be implemented with speed humps as a last resort. Shafter noted the need for follow up studies after the installation of any traffic calming measures to verify they are creating the desired outcome. Cortez added that staff would like to partner with YVC engineering students to assist in conducting the traffic studies. She introduced the proposed revisions to the committee. Gutierrez noted that there are many requests, but in neighborhoods with a higher concentration of houses, many people aren’t comfortable with conducting the door to door petitioning. Coffey felt that the proposed revisions were still problematic. Gutierrez requested the item be kept on the agenda for the next meeting to continue discussion. City Manager Moore asked if YVCOG had any capacity to conduct the necessary traffic studies. Shafer advised that they had previously conducted studies for the city but the results were poor and the data was unreliable. Moore advised he would follow up with YVCOG. Coffey requested that the topic be added to the Council round table agenda. 2.c. Gang Prevention/Intervention Conference Gutierrez advised of the upcoming gang prevention and intervention conference May 7- 8. Participation would be approximately $800/per attendee for travel and registration. She asked if there was funding available in the training budget to attend. Moore advise there was, especially since the AWC conference will be held in Yakima, which will reduce costs for us to attend, so those funds could be redirected to the gang conference. Coffey felt this would be a good opportunity to obtain information to bring back. She recommended sending Gutierrez to the conference and forwarding the item under Council Reports on the next council agenda. 3. Old Business 3.a. Speaking points for YSD/Yakima City Council joint meeting Gutierrez advised that this will be the 3rd meeting joint meeting between the Yakima School District and Yakima City Council, and requested C. Moore address the comments from Councilmembers Funk and Cousens regarding the topic. Moore advised there was an e-mail exchange that indicated the council members thought one council member had been selected or identified as a liaison to the school district., which is not correct. Moore advised he had suggested Gutierrez lead the conversation among the council members since she had been interacting with the school district with the mentorship program. It was determined this was a point of confusion and there was no liaison selected. Coffey had heard that there was some discussion regarding the school district at the community forum the night before. Martinez had been present at the forum and reported that due to the recent violence in Florida, the focus of this forum seemed to be school safety and gun violence. Parents were inquiring about measures the school district had taken for safety, training, etc. There were questions regarding notifications for lockdowns. Cortez advised Councilmembers Mendez and Funk were present at the forum and advised they would relay the concerns to the school district. Cortez also advised that the jurisdictional issues between the school district’s authority and the city’s authority was explained. Coffey felt this issue should be on the agenda for the joint meeting. C. Moore advised the school district representative didn’t have the information prepared regarding responses and was caught off-guard. Moore has reached out the principals of the next three host schools so that they are prepared for this type of questioning. There was discussion regarding the lockdown notification protocols. C. Moore listed some recommended agenda items for the joint meeting: -2016 legislation requiring truancy boards to be functioning in 2017-2018 - after school programs - community schools – willingness to keep schools open after hours - mentoring program - literacy - does council want to assign a liaison to the school district Gutierrez noted we need to be efficient and considerate of submissions they may have. She advised Councilmember White would like to see the emphasis on younger students. Gutierrez added four additional proposed topics that fall under the umbrella of Implementation of Promising Practices - Active Shooter drills - After school/summer programs - Out of school suspensions/truancy - Safe routes of school capacity Coffey felt all the topics should be consolidated and sent to the full council to review and narrow down at the March 1 briefing. 3.b. Comprehensive Community Safety Plan Cortez reported that representatives from Yakima County Probation, United Way, Yakima Housing Authority, Rod’s House, Aspen, La Casa Hogar, YWCA, Safe Yakima, and Comprehensive Health Care met to provide input into the plan. The group recommended to start with the vision of the outcome rather than the specifics to get to the outcome. This will be used to redraft the vision statement. Group members liked the linkage of topics but felt that substance abuse also needed to be included as part of the safety plan. The group determined to come at the topic from an asset point of view rather than a deficit, that is, to look at what we have rather than what we don’t have. These ideas will be incorporated into the plan as soon as possible. The group also felt the statement “not for them without them” was important, that people who would be impacted by the plan should be at the table in the planning stages. They also agreed that the role of the City was to make connections and not be the “funder” of the plans. The next draft will be prepared by March 6. Coffey requested a list of people that attended the meeting in addition to the list of agencies/partners they represented. 3.c. Forum planning 7th forum is set for this evening, February 22 at 6:00 p.m. at Lewis & Clark Middle School. Councilmember Mendez will be facilitating. Forums are also set for February 24 at Franklin Middle School, February 27 at Washington Middle School, and March 7 at Wesley United Methodist Church. Cortez noted that the last forum was different from past forums due to the events in Florida and provided an opportunity for parents to express their concerns. There was also discussion of awareness of the forums within the community and their appreciation for the outlet. Moore commented that the change to making notes on a flip chart were helpful for demonstration to the participants. Gutierrez noted that each forum has been unique. 3.d. Domestic Violence Coffey stated she would like to have Martinez write up her suggestions and Detective Oja’s input for legislative action. She also asked that the Partnership Committee stay on top of the legislative action. 3.e. Fire 101 Academy Stewart provided an update on the upcoming Fire 101 academy. 4. Other Business 4.a. Community Academy Rizzi reported that registrations are going well for the upcoming Community Academy and that the department is planning for a Spanish language academy. 5. Information items The committee recognized Fire Chief Bob Stewart’s last Public Safety Committee meeting. 6. Recap of Future Agenda Items  Cortez will provide the list of entities invited to the Community Safety Plan meeting and a list of the people attending  Martinez will meet with Oja to draft the domestic violence legislation 7. Audience Participation There was no audience participation 8. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m. Approved: MEMORANDUM March 7, 2018 To: Safety Committee Members From: Fire Code Inspection Division RE: Cooking Under Tents Proposed Ordinance The Fire Code Inspection Division is proposing an ordinance that will amend specific sections of the state adopted 2015 International Fire Code (IFC). Chapter 31 of the IFC addresses tents and other membrane structures. We are looking specifically at cooking operations under tents and canopies. The proposed ordinance would allow cooking under tents and canopies at events that are specific to our city, such as the Farmers Market and the Central Washington State Fair. It would give fire inspectors a standard that can be enforced consistently at these kinds of events. Currently, the fire code is somewhat vague on the subject of cooking under tents. One section states that some cooking and heating equipment is allowed, while other sections say that open flames are not allowed. This lack of clarity requires a level of subjective interpretation. City of Yakima Fire Inspectors are tasked with applying and enforcing this code on events that differ greatly. One event might have a few hundred people with 1 or 2 cooking tents while another would host an event where thousands of people would walk through and there are 20 different vendors utilizing different cooking operations in tents of all sizes. Our research has found that many jurisdictions use the local ordinance process to tailor the code to fit the kinds of events specific to their areas. This proposed ordinance would provide a single code that applies to Yakima’s events regardless of size or number of food vendors. The items in this ordinance have been composed with fire and life safety as the focus, while offering a level of practicality. This allows the fire inspectors to consistently provide a safe environment for the citizens of Yakima while providing clear, easy to understand criteria for the food vendors and event coordinators. ORDINANCE NO. 2018-____ ORDINANCE amending the City of Yakima Municipal Code Chapter 10.05 Fire Code WHEREAS, the City of Yakima has seen an increase in festivals, street fairs, and other events where vendors may provide food and beverages to the public; and WHEREAS, many of the vendors use temporary tents as part of their activities to provide shade for volunteers and workers, and to also create a space for vending their food and beverages; and WHEREAS, the Fire Code does not allow for any flame, fire or heat, or any flammable or combustible devices to operate inside or within 20 feet of any tent or membrane structures open to the public unless approved by the fire code official; and WHEREAS, staff from the fire department and the building code official evaluated when, and under what conditions, it may be appropriate to allow cooking under tents or canopies within the City of Yakima; and WHEREAS, after evaluation, it was determined that some cooking under tents or canopies could be allowed as long as the vendors or persons cooking meet specific requirements; and WHEREAS, the City Council finds that it is in the best interests of the residents of the City of Yakima and the City to allow cooking under tents or canopies with specific requirements; now, therefore, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF YAKIMA: Section 1. Chapter 10.05 of the City of Yakima Municipal Code is hereby amended to add Section 10.05.095: 10.05.095 Establishment of limits in which cooking under tents is allowed. (1) A tent, for the purposes of this Section, shall be defined as a structure, enclosure, canopy or shelter, with or without sidewalls or drops, constructed of fabric or pliable material supported by any manner except by air or the contents that it protects, and which meets the flame propagation performance treatment set forth in Section 3104.2 of the International Fire Code (test method 1 or 2 of NFPA 701), CPAI 84, or California Fire Marshal Seal. (2) All tents with dimensions larger than 10’ x 10’ must conform to labeling and certification which shall be done in accordance with Sections 3104.3 and 3104.4 of the International Fire Code. (3) Cooking under tents shall conform with each of the following requirements: (a) Tents with cooking devices are not allowed to be open to the public; (b) Cooking devices are not allowed to obstruct the exit access, exit or exit discharge; (c) Cooking devices located under tents with sidewalls shall have cooking devices located a minimum of three feet from tent walls; (d) Cooking surfaces shall have a minimum vertical clearance of forty-two inches to tent structure when the tent dimensions do not exceed 10’ x 10’, and a minimum vertical clearance of 48” when the tent dimension exceeds 10’ x 10’; (e) All tents with cooking devices shall be separated from other tents and structures by a minimum of 5 feet; (f) A minimum rated 2A-10BC fire extinguisher shall be located within each tent; (g) If grease laden vapors are produced, a six liter class K extinguisher shall be located within the tent; (h) All fire extinguishers shall have an up-to-date annual inspection tag provided by certified personnel; and (i) All compressed gas cylinders shall be restrained to prevent dislodging. Section 2. Severability. If any section, subsection, paragraph, sentence or clause of this ordinance is declared invalid or unconstitutional for any reason, such decision shall not affect the validity or constitutionality of the remaining portions of the ordinance. Section 3. This ordinance shall be in full force and effect 30 days after its passage, approval, and publication as provided by law and by the City Charter. PASSED BY THE CITY COUNCIL, signed and approved this 20th day of February, 2018. ATTEST: Kathy Coffey, Mayor Sonya Claar Tee, City Clerk Publication Date: Effective Date: