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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/18/2000 Adjourned Meeting 224 CITY OF YAKIMA, WASHINGTON JANUARY 18, 2000 ADJOURNED MEETING The City Council met in session on this date at 7:30 a.m., in the 2nd Floor Training Room, at the Police Station /Legal Center, 200 South 3rd Street, Yakima, Washington. Mayor Mary Place, presiding, Council Members Clarence Barnett, Henry Beauchamp, Lynn Buchanan, Larry Mattson, Bernard Sims, and John Puccinelli were present. City Manager Zais; Assistant City Manager Rice; Director of Finance and Budget Anson; Police Chief Blesio; Administrative Assistant to the City Manager Oliver; Director of Public Works ,Waarvick; Director of Community & Economic Development Cook; Planning Manager Skone; Streets & Traffic Division Manager Willson; Assistant City Attorney Peterson; Neighborhood Development Services Manager Cobabe; City Engineer Adams; Supervising Traffic Engineer Davenport; Senior Engineer Desgrosellier; and Grants Writer Morales were also present. 1. REVIEW OF STREET AND TRAFFIC ENGINEERING ISSUES: A. STREET FUNDING GRANT /LOAN REVIEW B. OVERLAY PROJECT PRIORITIES 2000 C. SIX -YEAR PLAN /PRIORITIES D. TRAFFIC CAPACITY ANALYSIS E. CAPITAL FACILITIES PLAN OPTIONS FOR FUTURE FUNDING City Manager Zais opened the discussion with some comments regarding funding for street projects, including a brief summary of budgeted revenues and expenditures in the 2000 budget. He outlined the five major funds for street and traffic operations and improvements. First, he discussed Fund 141 (Street & Traffic Operations) and indicated the revenue for this fund comes from property taxes; county road tax from annexations; gas tax; intergovernmental revenues; grants; and charges for service. He said the expenditures are for traffic engineering operations; equipment- signal controllers; street maintenance, including sealcoat; snow removal; potholes; and wheel path preservation. The next fund is Fund 142 (Arterial Street). The Arterial Street Fund receives revenues from the 1/2 cent gas tax; intergovernmental revenues; and operating transfers, such as those coming from street and local improvement district assessments. Expenditures from this fund are used for debt service for numerous projects; grind and overlay projects; traffic calming projects; sidewalk connectors; etc. There have been some reserves building in this fund that have been transferred to other funds, specifically $520,000 for the Yakima Avenue Project and $300,000 for grind /overlay projects. The Arterial Fund Street balance currently is at a minimum balance of $100,000. 225 JANUARY 18, 2000 - ADJOURNED MEETING The third fund (Fund 143 - Transportation Improvement) is the Gateway- dedicated special fund for the I -82 project. This project was a total of $20 million with six or seven partners participating in it to make it successful. There is still $100,000 in this fund for landscaping, which is not enough for the entire landscaping portion of the project, but provides a beginning point. There remains $200,000 in reserve to close out the project. The fourth fund is the Public Works Trust Construction Fund. Revenue sources for this fund are the local 1/4% Real Estate Excise tax, miscellaneous revenue, and operating transfers. This fund supports projects such as City Hall repair and rehabilitation. For example, this year, the HVAC system needs updating and it will come from this fund. There is a $100,000 cash balance in this fund. The fifth and final fund (Fund 392) is Cumulative Reserve for Capital Improvements. The revenue sources for this fund are intergovernmental revenues and miscellaneous revenue. The money effectively is transferred from other accounts and also comes from the Federal Highway Administration; grants such as the railroad study grant that the City lobbied Congress for and received in the amount of $750,000 is an example; and proceeds from the Public Works Trust Fund loan. This fund will support $600,000 in grind and overlay projects this year. In summary, there are some unbudgeted potential resources from the National Highway System. The City could possibly access additional state or federal monies, if the matching funds were available in the City budget. Council Member Beauchamp asked if the $100,000 budgeted for the Gateway project landscaping could be used as matching funds to obtain other funding. City Manager Zais indicated that a committee had been meeting to look at how the landscaping could be redesigned to facilitate public - private partnerships. The committee, spearheaded by the Chamber of Commerce, was examining city entrances and has been meeting for six or seven months. Mayor Place indicated that the money was to be used to work on I/ improving the entrances to the City but there may be additional funding available through wetland mitigation. Council Member Puccinelli said that the committee had been successful in building public - private partnerships, for example Cavanaugh's has agreed to maintain certain areas after the improvements have been made. He said that the North 1st Street and Nob Hill Boulevard entrances need improvements as well. Mayor Place said she would be happy to provide Council with a map showing the sites the Committee has identified as needing improvements. • 2 226 JANUARY 18, 2000 - ADJOURNED MEETING Council Member Beauchamp asked if the City could use the landscaping money to leverage additional money. City Manager Zais said the City had gone back to the Department of Transportation and met with Sid Morrison, Secretary, to try to receive more money. However, the State spent more than their original allocation for the project and indicated that no more funding is available. Mayor Place asked if the City was allowed to use right -of -way instead of actual dollars as matching funds. Mr. Zais said that was possible in some cases. There was discussion concerning the Mead Avenue project being bumped to a lower priority level by newer projects, which now means Mead Avenue may have to be rebuilt rather than improved through a grind and overlay project. Staff responded to Council's questions regarding 1) how the needs were prioritized, 2) economical viability of grind and overlay projects on streets that do not have curbs and gutters, and 3) the Mead Avenue project. Mr. Adams and Mr. Zais explained the prioritization process, which takes into consideration not only the pavement conditions and use of the road, but funding availability as well. Ms. Willson explained that the surface appearance of a street is not necessarily an indicator that it is in good condition; it may not have a stable roadbed. Ranking of a project is based on the Capital Facilities Plan and the 6 -Year Transportation Improvement Plan. Council Member Puccinelli expressed concern about the crossing at Fechter Road and with all of the construction occurring on 40 Avenue that the City is not addressing future needs. Bill Cook said that staff is asking for Council concurrence on the funding list so that engineering design work on those projects can begin. Mayor Place asked if maintenance and grind and overlay work trigger curb, gutter and sidewalk requirements. Mr. Cook responded that it does not trigger those requirements. Mayor Place asked for consensus on the list for project funding. Council Member Sims said he is in favor of what he sees on the list. Mr. Mattson said he favors the list, except for Englewood from 32nd to 40th because he wants to look at it first. Council I/ Member Puccinelli said Council had promised to do something with Mead Avenue and we may need to do more than was originally thought. Council Member Puccinelli said he wanted to be assured that there was a 10 -year life expectancy on the grind and overlay project with heavy truck traffic and wants staff to look at it. If the grind and overlay is not lasting as long as it should, the City may be paying off the debt for it on streets that did not last long enough. Mr. Barnett said that if there were any changes 3 227 JANUARY 18, 2000 - ADJOURNED MEETING to the proposed Mead project, there should be a neighborhood meeting first. Council Member Sims asked if there was no funding source for grind and overlay projects past 2000, why was the City spending money on the equipment for grinding. Mrs. Willson responded that the equipment is to be used for sealcoating and is needed to grind wheel paths. The discussion moved on to capacity. Joan Davenport, Supervising Traffic Engineer, discussed the Comprehensive Plan that, was adopted in 1998 and 1999 and the transportation element of the plan. She gave some background information on the plan development and said that Council had adopted a level of service "D" for arterial streets. If service drops below the "D" level, the City cannot approve development without the developer changing the development plan to accommodate a transportation element. Yakima has an adopted standard of 600 vehicle per lane during peak hours. This is the varied Yakima standard, .which was locally adopted. Measuring concurrency for development is based on locally adopted standards. In 1992 on 40th Avenue, there were 12,000 vehicles per day and in 1999 there were 25,000 giving 40th Avenue a level of service "E ". Other streets are close and segments of some are already at the "E" level. Mayor Place mentioned that 16th Avenue has been exempted from the level of service standard. Mrs. Davenport indicated that was correct and so were 10th and 32nd Avenues. Mr. Buchanan said that the City needs to do something on 16th Avenue because it is the main route to the airport. Mayor Place said that Council could come back to discuss 16th Avenue later because it is exempted from concurrency. Mr. Waarvick suggested that staff bring back a review of eliminating left turns, collision and intersection information. Mrs. Davenport said there are several options with respect to concurrency. The first option is to do nothing. The impact would be that the City would then have to deny development in the 40th Avenue area. Another option would be to allow development if the private sector pays for mitigation measures. Mayor Place asked if funds were available for concurrency issues. Council Member Puccinelli agreed with Council Member Buchanan on the subject of 16th Avenue and that Council should change the service level on 40 Avenue. Mr. Sims did not agree with exempting 40th Avenue • because of the increased development occurring in that area. Mrs. Davenport said that an exemption would require a Plan amendment. Mr. Waarvick said that the idea Council Member I/ Puccinelli had discussed was basically Option 4 in the staff report, which was to exempt 40th Avenue from the level of service "D" standard. Mrs. Davenport pointed out that to exempt it would also require a Plan amendment. She then explained that staff recommends Option #5, which would amend the Transportation Concurrence Ordinance and change the definition of transportation capacity to specify 800 vehicles per lane during peak hours; 4 228 JANUARY 18, 2000 - ADJOURNED MEETING clarify the methodology used to conduct the analysis; and change the exempt level to include any new development that adds less than ten afternoon /evening peak hour trips to the street system. The Transportation Element of the Yakima Urban Area Comprehensive Plan will need to be amended if the Council authorizes the change in the threshold. Council Member Puccinelli said that the Growth Management Act was supposed to promote in -fill of existing land and it seems to be coming apart because of traffic problems. He said that if a developer builds an office building on 40th Avenue now, instead of building in an undeveloped area, the developer would need to put in a turn lane because of traffic. Mr. Waarvick said that the staff recommended approach takes care of Council Member Puccinelli's concerns. Mayor Place asked what the national standard for vehicles per lane is. Mr. Adams responded that 1,200 is the national standard and areas on the west side, such as Bellevue, were at a level of 1,500 vehicles per lane. Phil Lamb, the Hearing Examiner for the City and County, spoke and said the County is facing many of the same issues in the Terrace Heights area. He said that he agrees with the staff recommendation and unless local government plans to deny every new project, the increase to the'800 vehicles standard needs to be put into place. Yakima needs development. He said we may not like the traffic, but we need the development. Council Member Mattson said he favors the staff recommendation and thinks it makes sense administratively. Council Member Barnett said he would like the number of trips in the staff recommendation evaluated and wonder if that was a reasonable number with the type of development that was going on in the 40th Avenue area. Assistant City Attorney Peterson discussed the draft ordinances and whether or not they could be addressed as emergency amendment provisions. He said that the situation met the elements necessary for Council to declare an emergency to pass the ordinances. Mayor Place asked if more than a simple majority of the Council would be needed. Mr. Peterson responded that it was not necessary, however, he emphasized that the public should be involved in the discussion. Council Member Sims asked if the staff recommendation were adopted, if that meant abandoning the idea of adding a lane on 40th Avenue. Mr. Waarvick responded that the staff recommendation simply took the City out from under its self - imposed restriction. The draft ordinance was then discussed. Council Member Puccinelli suggested the idea of eliminating left turns on 40th Avenue except at major intersections. • 5 • • • 229 JANUARY 18, 2000 - ADJOURNED MEETING Bill Huibregtse spoke, endorsing the staff recommendation and that the change is needed now. He suggested going even further than the staff recommendation and setting the standard at 1,000 vehicles per hour, which is closer to the industry standard. City Manager Zais suggested in the interest of time, that staff come back with the other two sections of the report for discussion at a later time. He further suggested that if there is Council consensus on the staff recommendation, that staff be given direction to move forward with the appropriate actions. Mayor Place asked if there was consensus on the staff recommendation, including adding another lane to 40th Avenue. Council Member Sims favored adding a lane on 40th Avenue, even if it meant amending the Six -Year Transportation Improvement Plan. Council Member Barnett asked if including the additional lane would change the top priorities in the Transportation Improvement Plan. Mr. Zais said no, but that capacity was affected. Mayor Place said she would like to have discussions about 16th Avenue and intersections at a future time. Mr. Waarvick said that staff would move forward with legislation to set the date for a public hearing for the emergency amendments t� the Comprehensive Plan. Council Member Sims asked for a map, representing improvements scheduled for future years, with each year in a different color. It was MOVED BY PUCCINELLI, SECONDED BY MATTSON, TO ADJOURN AT 9:25 A.M. The motion carried by unanimous voice vote. Gr p READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY: 1 ��yp,... COUNCIL MEMBER DATE A im 4_, 11. A, .3 7 1g700 0 IL ' BER DAT ATTEST: City Clerk y Place, Ma Y Mary � Mayor Y • Minutes prepared by Marketa George Oliver. An audio and videotape of this meeting are available in the City Clerk's Office • 6