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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/20/1996 Adjourned Meeting 1:12 CITY OF YAKIMA, WASHINGTON AUGUST 20, 1996 JOINT CITY /COUNTY /UNION GAP ADJOURNED MEETING The City Council met in session with Yakima County Commissioners and Union Gap Council Members on this date at 7:30 a.m. at the ESD #105 Administration Building Conference Center, 33 South 2nd Avenue, Yakima, Washington, Mayor Lynn Buchanan presiding. Council Members present were Ernie Berger, John Puccinelli, and Bernard Sims. Council Members Clarence Barnett, Henry Beauchamp, and John Klingele were absent and excused. City staff members present were City Manager Zais, Assistant City Manager Rice, Al Chronister, Fire Chief, Glenn Valenzuela, Director of Community & Economic Development, Dueane Calvin, Water & Irrigation Manager, Marketa Oliver, Administrative Assistant to the City Manager, Larry Peterson, Assistant City Attorney, Dave Brown, Water & Irrigation Engineer, Doug Mayo, Wastewater Project Engineer, and Deputy City Clerk Skovald. Yakima County Commissioners present were Jim Lewis, Chairman; Bettie Ingham, and Bill Flower. Yakima County staff members present were Dick Anderwald, Director of Planning and Special Projects; Dan Hesse, Director of Public Works, and Dema Harris, Director of Administrative Services. Union Gap Council Members present were Mayor Dan Olson, Bill Ackerman, Walt Rippee, and Phil Salzman. Union Gap Staff Members present were Paul Burlingame, City Manager, and. Kathleen Holscher, Assistant City Manager. There being a quorum of the City Council, Mayor Buchanan welcomed the group and opened the meeting. _ AIRPORT MASTER PLAN ISSUES Bob Clem, Airport Manager, introduced Dennis Byam, Chair of the Yakima Airport Board. Mr. Byam reported the Yakima Air Terminal Master Plan Update is complete and urged the officials to accept the report. 1 He also urged the officials to integrate it into the day -to -day operations and allow the zoning authorities to review it so they can get an iJdea of the special needs of the airport and modify existing landuse regulations to satisfy FAA's standards and requirements for the airport. He explained the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires a Master Plan for airports which receive federal funding in order to protect the large investment and to satisfy future aviation demands and environmental directives. The report is a good faith projection for future development and offers the public improved safety, convenience, increased airport efficiency, operation flexibility, and support for economic growth. Mr. Byam pointed out that the Airport Master Plan is not an environmental impact statement; although one would be required if a proposed project were to provide for landing larger aircraft or propose a significant increase in capacity for passengers to be able to land, such as an additional runway. Mr. Byam presented a brief history of the airport, whichjhas come from a dirt and sagebrush airstrip in 1926 to a modern terminal built in 1949 and rehabilitated several times, including a project currently underway to handle increased traffic flow and demand. Mayor Buchanan asked how many airplanes registered in Yakima County1are based at the airport. He also asked what method is used to determine the amount of air cargo activity. He feels these statistics should be . .: ;�, �;: �,. _, 113 ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING -- AUGUST 20, 1996 verified and suggested keeping, track of cargo in /cargo out statistics. Council Member Berger referenced k the goal; as indicated in the Executive Summary of the Airport Master Plan of capturing 65 percent of the products originating from the Yakima Valley. He questioned how that information could be determined if actual statistics were not used. Mr. Byam and Mr. Clem questioned the necessity of keeping track of air cargo activity since no revenue is received from air cargo, only landing fees of the aircraft and rental fees. The estimated amount of air cargo activity is a capacities type estimate; but indicated they would keep track of that information if necessary. There was also discussion about the number of aircraft based at the airport and the large number of privately owned and operated airplanes in the county - not based at the airport. Council Member Puccinelli referred to a comment in the Executive Summary, Airfield Alternatives on page vi, by residents who live in houses located at the end of the runway suggesting consideration be given to developing a new airport elsewhere in the Valley because of the effects of noise from the airport. Council Member Puccinelli feels this area should not be zoned residential and asked why property at the end of the runway is zoned residential. He feels this land should be designated as agricultural or industrial, anything but residential. Commissioner Ingham invited Dick Anderwald to speak about this issue. Mr. Anderwald referred to the Urban Area Plan and the Airport Overlay Zone. That zone requires every project undertaken within that area be subjected to the next level of review to include surrounding property owners. There is no justification for further regulation of lands out by the airport boundaries. There is some land outside the airport fence that is noise impacted. Even though broader, generalized land use issues need to be considered, the residential area developed to the south and west of the airport is not found to be impacted by the operations of the airport. Therefore no .such compensation would be due them or should any restrictions be placed on this area that housing should not be built. From a regulatory point of view, there is no justification for further restricting the use of that land and /or compensating landowners for damages that they might incur. On the other hand, there is a declining height restriction that does apply within the Airport Overlay Zone for any use situated there, and that is reviewed whenever a building permit is sought. He indicated the staff recommendation is that the Airport Master Plan be adopted by reference as an element of the new Urban Area Comprehensive Plan. Council Member Puccinelli reiterated his concern about upset residents wanting a new airport at a new location. Mr. Anderwald directed attention to the foldout maps, Exhibit 6 -6, 2012 Noise Contours, and Exhibit 6 -5, 1997 Noise Contours, and pointed out that the map actually shows.a reduction in the amount'of noise, particularly to the south, occurring at the airport in the year 2012 over what it is today. That is expected because the aircraft being built today are, . substantially quieter than those in use at the present time and would be retired over that time frame. Mayor Buchanan pointed out that the projected noise levels are averaged over a 24 -hour period. There is no comparison between this and single occurrence noise levels. Commissioner Lewis pointed out that this is for the noise of aircraft, not maintenance or any other activity that might occur in the Industrial Park. There has been some complaints about ground operations, ground noise pollution, not aircraft flying over. These are issues that the joint owners will 2 1.1 ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING -- AUGUST 20, 1996 have to work on and probably invest some money. Noise levels need.to be taken into consideration with the growth of residences around the airport and determine what kind of noise 'level is going to come from any proposed operation at the airport. Daniel Ellingsworth, 2610 Hollow Creek Place, complained about excessive noise levels, not from aircraft flying over, but from a private company's ground maintenance activities which seems to !be intensifying. Mr. Ellingsworth reported that the City regulations pertaining to noise which have been adopted and enforced are different than the State regulations the Department of Ecology is supposed :to enforce, but due to budget restraints they don't. He expressed concern for residents who will live in the new condominiums being developed; in this area. This issue needs to be taken into consideration so that the noise levels don't increase for the surrounding areas. AIRPORT INDUSTRIAL SITE DEVELOPMENT Dick Zais reported that City, County, and Union Gap representatives met over a month ago to talk about Airport industrial siting and a specific property that may be affected by the formation of an industrial site. During that meeting overlapping jurisdictional questions were raised about the extension of water and sewer service into this area. Since that joint meeting with all the policy makers, a staff group from the City, the County, and Union Gap discussed what jurisdictional approach to take should grant funding become available or loan funding become available to enable this to happen. Currently, the strategy isito leverage and attract as much support as possible. Perhaps the armory project, currently in the legislature which would have state and federal funding associated with it, could be used to extend the utilities. One of the key questions that had arisen was whether or not Union Gap and /or the City of Yakima should be the responsible parties to extend the service with perhaps Nob Hill Water participating. as well With respect to sewer utilities, the City of Yakima feels that it is within its service area to propose that extension of sewer and utilities and allow that to go forward on that basis. Union ;Gap officials were asked to consider that as they look at their own requirements and development responsibilities in the area they have' to serve. Water service was also considered and it is felt that is still an option that the city could also pursue. Nob Hill Water does not have a close enough direct tie to serve the area in question. Referencing a conceptual drawing of water and sewer lines proposedifor the industrial site area, Glenn Rice briefly outlined the proposal to extend water 'and sewer to the industrial site area from 16th Avenue to the east and Ahtanum to the south along with an extension to the west as part of the Public Facilities Plan for future service. Mr. Rice introduced Dueane Calvin and Doug Mayo, who were available to answer water and sewer system questions. Mr. Rice also emphasized the need to acquire substantial funding from perhaps both state or federal ' resources to accomplish this proposal as resources and time permits. Paul Burlingame reported that he had talked informally with the Union Gap Council, and they feel they want to . develop water and sewer services south of Ahtanum and west of 16th. Glenn Rice pointediout that he might suggest, as they've discussed with Union Gap, the County, and the City of Yakima, that these areas are within the Yakima Service Area, both for land use issues and water, sewer and utilities. 3 115 ADJOURNED JOINT MEETING -- AUGUST 20, 1996 In response to questions by,Mayor Buchanan, Mr. Calvin and Mr. Mayo provided specific details a9 dut: the utility service extension plans, including the size of the water main pipes and the lift station discharge pipes as well as other information. Mr. Mayo reported that the cost of this installation is substantially more than what was put forth in the YCDA written proposal of a week or so ago. It will cost about $2 million each to provide water and sewer utility services to the proposed industrial site. Mr. Rice again indicated that part of the 1997 Biennium will concern this and the supplemental legislation hopefully for other utility services to service the area. It is the start and we will have to work with public works trust funds or other funding to service the area in this fashion. OPEN DISCUSSION /OTHER ISSUES Mayor Buchanan directed attention to the fire protection for the airport where there is a requirement for one full-time firefighter. Since 1992 the cost to maintain that firefighter and equipment at the airport has been 90 percent paid for by the taxpayers of. the City of Yakima. In response to a question from Commissioner Flower, Al Chronister, Fire Chief, explained that the equipment is used specifically for airport crash fire rescue, is airport owned, and was 90 percent purchased with federal grant money. Those apparatus are used specifically for airport operations. They only go off the airport grounds if there is, for example, an airport crash away from the airport. Specifically, it has no other purpose in any other area except for crash fire rescue. The other apparatus there are city owned vehicles and they respond to first -aid alarms or to the fires within the city. He then described the scenario up to this point as it relates to the firefighter and equipment at the airport. It was an unforeseen cost to the City of Yakima that it has borne for the past five years. Council Member Berger pointed out that with the budget season coming up on both the city and county it is a question that needs to be clarified fairly soon; it should be a shared cost. Mayor Buchanan stated that the City has been subsidizing it for five years now and that is money the City could be using for other general fund activities. There was a considerable amount of discussion about the costs and how to resolve not only this issue but other unsettled issues that also involve Terrace Heights and Union Gap. After indicating that a time should be scheduled with the County to discuss the airport firefighter costs issue, the meeting adjourned at 8:25 a.m. READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY: „ / / " /1/ 9, COUNCIL MEM: R j DA^I'E r COUNCIL ME∎ BE'RR DATE ATTEST: . `t lE� P�� Gv ;1/11 / CITY CLERK BUCHANAN, MAYOR Minutes prepared by Deputy City Clerk Skovald. An audio tape of this meeting is available in the City Clerk's Office. 4