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05-15-20 City Manager Report1 City of Kalispell OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER Information Memorandum 5/15/2020 1.Parks Department The Forestry crew has finished spring tree plantings in downtown Kalispell and throughout our park system. The crew is now working on stump grinding from locations where trees have been removed this winter. We were able to open the gates to KYAC on May 6. Staff is currently seeding a couple irrigation repair locations, prepping the infields for softball and baseball, along with daily tasks related to turf maintenance and refuse. The parking lot north of City Hall was recently crack sealed, seal coated, and restriped for purposes of longevity. We are developing plans to operate our Camp Woodland Summer Day Camp in Phase 2 of the Governors phased directive. The current plan calls for splitting the existing facility into three separate groups, each with their own indoor and outdoor spaces, bathrooms, and hand washing stations. Camp #1 would utilize the existing indoor and bathroom facilities. For camps #2 and #3, we will be purchasing two 20’ X 40’ canopy tents to serve as additional programming space with restrooms and hand washing stations at those locations. We are also creating separate activity equipment and sports bags for each camp to mitigate possible cross contamination of equipment between camps. For our free lunch program in partnership with School District 5, we are looking at options to deliver bag lunches to each camp or stagger lunch times between camps to mitigate contact between. We have received approval from The Flathead County City Health Department to operate camp in phase 2 with these adjustments. We opened Day Camp registration on Wednesday, May 6 by email only and received over 115 registrations in the first three days. We will not process payments until we have a firm indication from state and/or county governments that we are moving to Phase 2. 2 2.Fire Department Since the last update, the Kalispell Fire Department has received 139 calls for service. Fire department staff are continuing support and mitigation operations for the COVID pandemic even though there are no current active cases in Flathead County. We are still being dispatched to the “Special ALS” response type for respiratory or other possible COVID patient contacts. Monitoring of the patient care reports is assisting us in disseminating COVID related expenses. We also continue to monitor our personal protective equipment and forecast the viability of our current inventory for future use. In part to COVID, fire department personnel have researched and in-serviced a cleaning agent called Hypochlorous Acid or HOCL. Hypochlorous acid is a natural disinfectant produced by white blood cells to fight off infections. It is also the active ingredient in electrolyzed water, which is an industrial technology used for green cleaning and sanitizing. Electrolyzed water is made when electricity is used to change the chemical structure of salt, water & vinegar into a green cleaner as effective as bleach, but with no harmful chemicals, fumes, or residues. By utilizing out-of-service self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), we can have a portable unit that sprays a dry mist of HOCL solution to assist us in disinfecting our apparatus and equipment in an effective and safe manner. This process will be used in conjunction with the other disinfection procedures that are already in place. 3.Public Works Online Permits The City of Kalispell Public Works Department offers online permitting for their Stormwater Construction and Maintenance permits as well as their Public Right-of-Way permits. Contractors and Property Owners can register to use the system to create any of the above permits on the Online Permit System. Moving to an electronic permitting system has streamlined not only the submittal process but the review and approval process as well. Contractor Mill and Overlay Projects Through a competitive bidding process, The City of Kalispell has contracted out a portion of their milling and paving operations. LHC, Inc was the successful bidder and the work is anticipated to begin in May in the South Meadows and Ashley Park Subdivisions. The majority of these projects are funded through the Bridge and Road Safety and Accountability Act 3 (BaRSAA) (an allocation of the motor fuel tax revenues). The BaRSAA program allocates a certain amount of funds to local governments each year to help to pay for the construction, reconstruction, maintenance, and repair of rural roads, city streets and alleys that the city has the responsibility to maintain. 4.Planning Department The Planning Board met on March 12 and heard application requests from three applicants. The first request is from Matthew Vander Ark to annex a 2.39-acre parcel into the city and zone the land R-3 (Residential). The property is located at 155 Three Mile Drive. The second request is from Colton Lee Communities, LLC, to annex a 3.27-acre parcel into the city with an initial zoning designation of B-2 (General Business). The request also includes a growth policy amendment for the subject property. The growth policy map currently designates the subject property as Urban Residential and the proposed map amendment would change the designation to Commercial, which is the appropriate designation for the B-2 Zone requested. The property is located at 216 Hutton Ranch Road. The third and final request is from Connie Behe to annex an approximately 0.5 acre parcel into the city with an initial zoning designation of R-2 (Residential). The subject property is currently within the county and zoned county R-2. The property is located at 1100 Two Mile Drive. The Board did unanimously recommend approval of all the requests and their recommendations will be forwarded to the Council for consideration at the June 1, 2020 meeting. 5.Building Department In the last 4 weeks, we have issued permits for 15 single-family homes and 2 townhomes. This brings the total of new single-family/duplex and townhouse units for the year to 70, compared to 30 last year at this time. There was a total of 135 combined building and/or fire inspections completed in the last 4 weeks. Residential – 52 Plumbing - 12 Commercial – 20 Mechanical - 8 Electrical – 7 Fire - 36 6.Community Development WGM Group and its sub-contractor, Petrocon, conducted a Petroleum Phase II Environmental Site Assessment at the former CHS Country Store site. The work was conducted under the City of Kalispell’s USEPA Brownfields grant and required the removal of the fuel island canopy, fuel pumps, three underground 4 fuel storage tanks and associated piping. The site is currently owned by Bridgewater and is being redeveloped according to the Core Area Plan adopted by City Council in 2012. The Phase II Environmental Site Assessment including removal of equipment listed above was funded by the City of Kalispell Brownfields Program. The Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) Phase I update for the BNSF right of way being acquired by the City through a Railbanking and Sale Agreement with BNSF was completed May 13, 2020. The Phase I is conducted to establish the conditions present at the property prior to transfer of ownership. This transfer of ownership will allow the City to convert the area to a linear park and trail per the 2015 TIGER grant project. A Phase I Environmental Site Assessment has been conducted on behalf of the Flathead Food Bank on property being considered for purchase at the Gateway Community Center under the Brownfields Program. A Phase II ESA will now be conducted to provide additional information to Flathead Food Bank in advance of this potential purchase. The South Kalispell TIF Traffic project is moving forward with construction expected to begin mid-June by LHC and their sub-contractors.