Loading...
10-24-89 Public Works Comm MinutesPUBLIC WORKS/ANNEXATION/PARKS COMMITTEE MEETING October 24, 1989 8:15 A.M. Present at the meeting were Councilmen Furlong, Atkinson, Hafferman, Hopkins, Nystul; Mayor Kennedy, Ken Hammer, Craig Kerzman, Fred Zavodny, Dick Brady, Mike Baker. Also attending were Dick Fazio, Dick Kuhl, Connie Nelson, Phil Free, and Bobbie Wagner. Chairman Hopkins opened the meeting with the first item on the agenda: BANNER POLICY C. Hopkins explained that several months ago the Public Works Committee recommended to the Council that the cost and time involved to put banners up and make sure they stay up and administer the process was too expensive --estimates between $200-$400 per banner. Connie Nelson, President of Artists & Craftsmen of the Flathead said they have been using the banner for 10 years, along with approximately 50 other non-profit organizations that benefit the valley and bring tourist dollars into the valley. She saidd they had just purchased a new banner a few months ago for $700, and she had talked to other organizations that did not know about the decision to not hang banners and they were all distressed. She asked that the Committee reconsider their decision. The question came up of having a private party or outside organization hang the banners. Mayor Kennedy had already vetoed that because of the liability problem. Bobbie Wagner of the Artists & Craftsmen suggested the City charge a fee for hanging banners. C. Hopkins said the Committee had considered that as an alternative, but were afraid all they would get would be commercial enterprises. Ken Hammer said that had been done before and got out of hand. C. Hafferman suggested a reader board by the Chamber of Commerce building, which would give as much publicity as a banner. Connie Nelson stated a reader board would cost money to construct and maintain, and who is going to monitor it? C. Hopkins suggested non-profit organizations contribute $50 to help maintain it. C. Furlong suggested getting sponsors to help defray the expense. He said he would like to see a group of interested citizens come up with a plan. C. Furlong mentioned the fact that it was against state law to hang a banner across a highway. Connie Nelson stated she had talked with the State Highway Dept. and they said they will continue to allow it as long as the City would handle getting them up correctly. They had just OK'd Whitefish & Columbia Falls to hang them across their main streets. C. Atkinson spoke in favor of pursuing this further, but stick to non-profit organizations. -1- Connie Nelson stated she had sent letters to other organizations and most of them had responded in favor of keeping the banners, and she felt that they would agree with the concept of getting sponsors to help with the cost. C. Furlong suggested that a member or members of the group sit down with the Public Works Director and have it spelled out exactly what the costs are. Ken Hammer said they also have to take into consideration whether or not property owners would let them hang banners from their property. C. Hopkins stated after Connie had met with Ken he would set up another Committee meeting to see what was come up with. AIRPORT Mike Baker stated he had been looking into the possibility of selling some real estate to get rid of the airport debt. He said he had spoken with Don Hollister of the Junior Olympic Softball people and he has been made aware and is receptive to the idea of the sale of the softball fields along the highway and using some of that money to relocate the softball fields. Baker said the remainder of that money would be used to pay off the airport debt. He stated the softball organization is reluctant to put any more money into the facilities, • they would rather do it at a new site. C. Hopkins asked if this would occur within the next year, Baker said there was a good possibility. He said the fields right now are in poor shape. There was a discussion of other City land that could be used, an area on South Woodland was mentioned and also the old dump site on Willow Glen Drive. MOTION: C. Hafferman made a motion to get an appraisal on the area encompassed by the ball fields. There was some discussion of the boundaries. Baker said he would like to meet with the Pilots Association to see what their perimeters are or what is needed for future use of the airport. C. Atkinson said he would not second the motion because it may preclude the conversation we need to have before that. He still feels the City should not be in the airport business and has some concerns as to what commercial activity would go on along our highways, such as another strip like on the other 3 ends of town. After further discussion the staff was instructed to find the perimeters and boundaries of the property to be sold. C. Furlong stated his concern is that the Kalispell City Airport is listed as the most used non-commercial airport in the state of Montana, and if that is true, why is it operating at a deficit or on a shoestring. C. Hopkins agreed, even if the City gets out of the airport business we will still have that debt, and he thinks its proper that we find some way to relieve that debt. -2- Fred Zavodny said he thought there was a contractual statement or deeding statement that the land known as Kalispell Airport, when it was deeded to the City, that says if a portion of the land was ever sold, the total proceeds will go to improvements at the airfield. He said the City Attorney should research that. C. Nystul mentioned a letter that had been received from someone who wanted to enter into a long term lease on some land north of the SRS building. DICK FAZIO & AMPHITHEATER Mr. Fazio presented a plan for an amphitheater at Woodland Park. He stated the Flathead Jazz Society would like to take on the project. He said they do have $1,000 committed to the future building of the plan, a commitment from PP&L to furnish all of the electricity that would be needed to run this facility property, they have a $2500 commitment from KCFW TV for advertising and production of any kind of promotion, KOFI Radio has also committed to any kind of air time they would need for advertising; Larry Olson, a roofing contractor, has agreed to furnish the roofing materials and the labor to put the roof on, Ken Williams has already done quite a bit of work getting a tentative plan together and putting some figures together for an exact cost; a contractor in Whitefish has donated concrete work. He said the facility would probably run about $120,000 to $130,000. is system, of the cost would be for a proper sound system, a proper lighting system, and some other equipment. Fazio said if the Parks & Bee Dept. will go ahead and accept this as a proposal, the Jazz Society is willing to take this on as a project and take care of all the work that needs to be done. What they need to know is what the Parks & Rec. Dept. would do to help with landscaping and the additional parking that would be needed in Woodland Park. He said Mike had outlined some additional parking that could be added to Woodland Park and that would give them approximately 280 parking spaces within the Woodland Park Complex. Fazio spoke of the need for a facility like this in Kalispell. He said according to his figures a facility like this could bring in a quarter of a million dollars in two months, the lowest figure would be $60,000 - $70,000. He spoke further on the advantages of having the amphitheater in Woodland Park and suggested it be named The Bus Foy Memorial Amphitheater. Ken Hammer spoke regarding the overcrowding already in the park. Baker said with the construction of the amphitheater it would take away the ball park, so you would add a use and take away a use. He said we would be adding more people to a portion of the park that nobody goes to now anyway. • Dick Kuhl spoke in opposition to the amphitheater, it would have too much of an impact on the rest of the park. -3- • C. Nystul requested the Committee be provided with a site plan, narrative and cost estimates for parking lots, trails, etc. Fred Zavodny stated that the City had worked quite hard for several years to stabilize the bank at the north end of the park, it's an unstable bank. He recommended an in-depth study of the load bearing surfaces of both the lower part of that and the hillside before we put a $130,000 structure on it. C. Furlong stated there was no money budgeted for parking lots or trails. Baker said the parking and trails would be included in the amphitheater construction cost. The Parks Dept. would maintain, mow and water. Leasing the facility will help pay the cost of maintenance. Major upkeep could be worked out with the Flathead Jazz Society. Mayor Kennedy reported that Anderson Masonry wants to buy a small area of Woodland Park. MOTION: C. Nystul moved that the Parks Director be requested to proceed with the overall conceptual plan of this project, to report back to this Committee with a site plan, with a narrative describing the project, and with cost estimates of what is involved in all portions of the project, the facility, the trails, the parking lot and any other services. The Committee will then make a decision • whether to continue to support the project or not. C. Furlong seconded. The motion passed unanimously. ISLAND ANNEXATIONS -ROADS Fred Zavodny presented a map and color -coded list of streets which the City would take over maintenance of when the annexation of islands occurred. He explained the locations of the different color codes, and the designations that the public works staff has put on the roads, such as whether the City or County will maintain the roads, etc. C. Hopkins asked if the City made any promises or suggestions that these roads would be annexed, and what is the County's position on these roads? Ken Hammer answered that the recommendation he made regarding the roads coded in pink (Appleway, Grandview, Two Mile and Three Mile) was not to accept them and he explained why and they were in agreement with him at this time. The other roads on the list they felt that commitments were probably made at the public hearing and therefore they should be annexed. The concern is to get those portions of streets resolved before winter so when snowplowing occurs everybody knows where we are. C. Furlong said he felt it is our obligation when we annex islands to provide service, but the income from the annexations doesn't start till January, 1990. His recommendation would be to encourage the staff to get together with the County and come up with an agreement to bring back for the Council's consideration and action. C. Hopkins asked if we support the concept that Fred presented, except the pink? C. Nystul said we should think about Grandview sM • south of the college, he had heard some discussions that said that if that is a County road, then why is the City giving them encroachment permits for the college? Fred said he didn't think the City ever gave the college any permit to do anything up there. There was further discussion on some other roads. C. Nystul said he would concur with the list with the four exclusions; it is more reasonable for the County to plow them because most of the traffic that flows down them is primarily out of the City anyway. C. Furlong said he felt we should send back these recommendations to the County with the Public Works Committee and come up with an agreement. STREET RECONSTRUCTION Ken Hammer said he would like to make everybody aware of a misconception regarding how we do street reconstruction and how we come up with a program. He said the comment was made that the street reconstruction program is set up on the convenience of the Street Department, and that is not the case. The street reconstruction program encompasses everything from water mains to storm sewers to sanitary sewers, curbs and sidewalks. The public works staff will submit a block for reconstruction. First of all we reconstructed streets that were in a gray area whether they needed reconstruction or not but the water mains needed to be replaced so we replaced them. Ken said he would like everyone to understand that when we do present a street recon- struction program it includes everything, including storm drainage. Next spring we're looking at that 16 block area around Sykes. The streets are bad, yes, but also what's going to be addressed is storm drainage and sanitary sewers. He said we get a TV camera in some of the sanitary sewers that we think might be a problem and we actually TV'em before we reconstruct the street to see if the sanitary sewer should be replaced. Ken said in the last Sewer & Water Committee minutes it was brought up that it was done on the convenience of the Street Department, and it's not. It's also a physical restraint on where the money's going to come from. Anytime we offer a street reconstruction program it's extremely comprehensive. Some good examples are that in the last 5 years there's been 6 miles of sanitary sewers either extended or replaced; over 2 miles of force mains have been put in; in the last 5 years there's been over 3, miles of storm drains put in; almost 10 miles of streets have been reconstructed, over 10 miles of curbs have been replaced, we've put in over 7 miles of water mains, 82 new hydrants, 317 services, 162 new valves, so I just want to make sure everybody understands we don't just submit a street reconstruction program because a street needs to be done, everything is taken into consideration. Ken said a list will be ready in the next week or week and a half. TRACTOR BIDS Baker presented the 4 bids which were received. He said Stedje Bros. at about $17,000 were not really in the ball park at all. Davies' -5- bid is a John Deere and Parsons' bid is a Kubota. We are within about $323 difference in the 2 bids. The John Deere has a few more options for that price. In his opinion the John Deere would be the best of the two. He said he had heard that the Golf Course has several attachments that could be used. He didn't know yet if these attachments would fit on the Kubota. Ken Hammer stated that the City of Libby had traded off almost exactly what Baker's looking for with all the attachments, with about 50 hours on it. Baker said he would check on it. Baker will come back at the next Committee meeting with a recommendation. OTHER There was a brief discussion of the 5th Avenue West construction problems. There are several things that need to be discussed with Mike Fraser. The curb cut at entrance to Buttreys off of Meridian Road was discussed. The turning radius is too small. There was a discussion of either making it bigger or closing it off entirely. It was decided to get input from other departments before a decision is made. Meeting adjourned at 10:40 A.M. sh 0 Q:V