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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 01/25/2003 4863 CITY COUNCIL MEETING Lake Sutherland Port Angeles, Washington January 25, 2003 CALL TO ORDER - Mayor Wiggins called the special meeting of the Port Angeles City Council to order SPECIAL MEETING: at 10:00 a.m. ROLL CALL: Members Present: Mayor Wiggins, Councilmembers Braun, Campbell, Erickson, Headrick, Rogers, and Williams. Members Absent: None. Staff Present: None. Public Present: B. Gawley. GatewayParking Solutions Gateway Parking Solutions: Discussion was held about the parking alternative with a lid over the Gateway bus area. The lid will cost more and must be attractive. It was the consensus of Council that the Gateway project must go forward, as the cost of the cancellation of the project would be over $500,000 and would have to be paid by the City. The parking committee's solutions and goals of no net loss of parking are going well. Considerations were discussed regarding the impacts to the conference center and how do solve that need as well. Members discussed the critical need of private sector parmering in order to address the additional costs of parking requirements. Action items identified were to obtain an engineering cost, as well as FTA demands, if any. Underground Underground: The Mayor opened the discussion by recapping the voting history of prior Councils regarding the North side of Front Street. The previous Council voted to fill in the vault area. Councilmember Williams then provided his perspective of the 188 feet on the north side and his analysis of the value, as well as cost comparisons in relation to Laurel Street. Councilmember Braun shared the concern of closing the window of opportunity to potential private sector investment, for example, the expansion of the Cornerhouse basement property- could the vault/tunnel area leverage that possibility? Councilmember Braun asked the question of what is unique to Port Angeles - what about the history? Councilmember Rogers inquired if the vault area would be of value to the parking solution as an area for needed pillars and possibly ventilation. Deputy Mayor Campbell expressed concern as to whether this preservation would generate money for the City. He questioned if this would compromise City dollars, if there is a prospect for this, and what would the City be getting. He felt the , question of the future opportunity is still unanswered. Councilmember-Headrick discussed where the money comes from, whether it is feasible, and whether the area would help with the parking solution. Councilmember Erickson commented that it seems only a small group of people believes it's important and that the historical value of the 1914 sidewalks isn't there; public meetings held previously didn't surface any private sector interest. · After continuing discussions with all members, Councilmember Williams moved that staff be directed to provide an analysis preserving the north side of Front Street from Laurel to Lincoln Street, the tunnel vault section in relation to the Gateway project, with cost impacts and parking solutions. The analysis is to be completed -1- 4864 CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING January 25, 2003 Underground (Cont'd) within 5 weeks ora Council meeting. Councilmember Braun seconded the motion. Councilmember Headrick offered an amendment to included engineering input from the firms of Pardini and Lindberg. The voteon the amendment carried 6 - 1, with Mayor Wiggins voting in opposition. The vote on the main motion carried 6 - 1, with Mayor Wiggins voting in opposition. Urban Growth Area Urban Growth Area: Mayor Wiggins recommended that a committee be formed to forward the utility infrastructure plan with expenses and revenue sharing. The committee members would be County Administrator Dan Englebertson, a County Commissioner, City Manager Mike Quinn, and one City Councilmember. After a small discussion, Councilmember Erickson advised she would like to be on the committee; Councilmember Headrick agreed to be first alternate, with Councilmember Braun the second alternate. It was agreed to convey this to Manager Quinn for implementation. Pool Renovation Pool Renovation: Mayor Wiggins opened the discussion regarding the issue of a policy change in suspending the current pool renovation. He queried how the proposed sports complex, to be located at Lincoln Park, would affect the maintainability of the current pool, while the development of the proposed sports complex might be 10-15 years out. Councilmember Erickson expressed the opinion that it is time to put the current renovation forward and have the citizens consider it for a bond or not. She was not in support of the sports complex, because the public won't vote for it and the pool should be renovated as planned. Councilmember Braun advised that he was on the pool committee, and the renovation was important, but the pool would have to be shut down for a year and the costs have escalated from $2.5 million to $4.2 million. Councilmember Braun indicated the sports complex committee is working very hard and has made progress regarding the construction and maintenance costs. He projected it would be ready for a ballot consideration by 2004 or sooner. The value of the sports complex is that the City owns the land, thus reducing the costs. This facility will help solve the needs for many sports and is an economic developmentproject. The projected costs, including operations and maintenance, range from $6 million - $10 million. To renovate just the pool at a rate of $4.2 million isn't cost effective. The tennis, soccer, pool, skating rink, and hotel groups are all in favor of this approach. Councilmember Braun said he has not yet brought this forward for Council consideration, as they are not ready, but he is targeting March for a presentation to the Council. City Development City Development: Short discussion confirmed that the City staff is moving forward and will be coming to the Council in March with some interim recommendations. All members of the Council were in consensus in support of this effort. Ennis Creek Estates Ennis Creek Estates: Mayor Wiggins opened the discussion with the history of the status of the property sale. The last direction from Council was a "fire sale"; the Real Estate Cormnittee had previously recommendednot to move forward with the $200,000 in required costs for the lot development. The current real estate listing is expired, and there is no marketingplan. Councilmember Williams indicated that the problem is that the City can do very little without the necessary funding;~9.w, ey~er,~r~tax~~~:n?, ~z.:~t~'P3~uew ~/'~ subdivision ordinance passed by Council does provide without the requirement of the final plat. Discussion continued regarding the merits of spending more money and whether the City could recoup the money on selling half of the lots. Councilrnember Williams offered that, yes, the City could recoup the money, because the City already owns the land as opposed to a developer having to purchase the land and absorb the development costs. Consideration was given to the use of the fire hall roof insurance reimbursement to finish the necessary lot enhancements. The recommended action was to send this back to the Real Estate Committee for review. Morse Creek Morse Creek: Deputy Mayor Campbell provided the information that the "in-stream" flows with FERC is still not resolved regarding the existing license. Fisheries have -2- CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING 4865 January 25, 2003 Morse Creek (Cont'd) responded that further reductions are requested during certain months. FERC has said to negotiate with Fisheries, and the City has sent responses to the consultants andthe agencies that the reduction of flow requested results in a reduction of the dollar volume. Action agreed upon was to direct staff to put the best case forward to FERC for resolution. Elwha Dams Elwha Dams: The Memorandum of Understanding has been re-drafted and is being submitted; Council is in agreement with the language changes of the MOU. Staff is to advise of the response by the Park. Conference Center Conference Center: Discussion was held about the next steps after the Shorelines hearing. If the Shorelines hearing is favorable to the Ehm development, then a deadline must be given to Ehm for the finance plan. Should the Ehm proposal falter, then the RFP shouldbe amendedandre-issued. The Councilmembers concurred with this path. Council Volunteer Initiative Council Volunteer Initiative with School District 121: The Mayor introduced his with School District 121 proposal for paid City staff one-hour weekly volunteer effort with the school. The Mayor advocated the need for this, as the Council should consider that the community is more than bricks and mortar. The Council needs to take a leadership role with the children. Discussion continued regarding costs and impacts, and all Council members were supportive, but agreed that there could be citizens that object to tax-paid employees volunteering in this fashion. Councilmember Braun advised that backgrounds were necessary. Councilmember Williams indicated that a similar program was in place during his previous teaching job, and it was very successful. Councilmember Williams moved to endorse the Mayor's Volunteer Initiative. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Erickson and passed unanimously. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 1:35 p.m. Minutes submitted by: Councilmember Rogers ~,-~'""~Glenn Wiggins, Mayor B~cky J. Upffal}, C(~ Cl~r[' - - ~ -3-