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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Minutes - City Council - Meeting Date: 10/2/2017 City of Glendale 5850 West Glendale Avenue Glendale, AZ 85301 tLENIE Meeting Minutes Monday, October 2, 2017 10:00 A.M. Workshop Meeting Council Chambers City Council Mayor Jerry Weiers Vice Mayor Ian Hugh Councilmember Jamie Aldama Councilmember Joyce Clark Councilmember Ray Malnar Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff Councilmember Bad Turner CALL TO ORDER Mayor Weiers called the meeting to order at 10:02 a.m. ROLL CALL Present: Mayor Jerry Weiers Vice Mayor Ian Hugh Councilmember Jamie Aldama Councilmember Joyce Clark Councilmember Ray Malnar Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff Councilmember Bart Turner Also Present: Kevin Phelps, City Manager; Michael Bailey, City Attorney; Julie K. Bower, City Clerk WORKSHOP SESSION Councilmember Malnar arrived after the roll was called. 1. COUNCIL ITEM OF SPECIAL INTEREST-ZONING TEXT AMENDMENT PLANNING AND ZONING NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS Staff Contact: Sam McAllen, Development Services Director Presented by: Jon M. Froke,AICP, Planning Director Ms. Bower read the item by title. Mr. Froke said there were five components to the citizen participation process (CP): •The citywide Interested Parties List, managed by the Planning Division. The list contained the names and addresses of individuals and organizations who wished to receive notification of public hearings for land use application. •Postcards sent to people on the Interested Parties List, City Council, Planning Commission, Board of Adjustment and property owners. •The Zoning Ordinance required that the Area of Notification was property owners within 300 feet of the site. The notice area had been administratively increased to 500 feet for projects presented before City Council and Planning Commission. A Councilmember could request that the area be increased. •A notice of public hearing was published in the Glendale Star at least 15 days prior to the public hearing. •The subject property was posted for cases that were heard by City Council and the Planning Commission with a 4'x8' sign and an 18"x24"sign for cases heard by the Board of Adjustment. Mr. Froke said if Council wanted to revise elements of how the public was provided notice of applications that required a public hearing, the amendments could be processed through a future Zoning Text Amendment. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if a way could be included that moved the area of notification so that residents were notified in situations where the standard area would not encompass any residences. Councilmember Turner suggested including a provision for notification to a minimum number of residences. He said it was the first time he had heard that a Councilmember could request City Council Meeting Minutes-October 2,2017 Page 2 of 8 expansion of the area of notification and asked if it happened often. Mr. Froke said the practice had been in place for many years. Councilmember Turner asked if the 4'x8' posted sign was required for a conditional use permit request by a homeowner. Mr. Froke said the sign would be required for a homeowner requesting a conditional use permit. Councilmember Turner would be interested in reducing the size of the sign required in a residential area. He was also interested in increasing the area of notification to a 500-foot standard for all cases. Councilmember Malnar had raised the topic because of several projects in his district where residents were not notified. He was trying to make the process open and transparent and create a notice for all of the residents in the general area that would be impacted by the project. Councilmember Malnar would like a policy with a minimum area but also required that the neighborhood be reviewed and that impacted residents be included even if they were outside the minimum area. It required flexibility based on the project. Mayor Weiers suggested squaring the circle off. Councilmember Clark had been increasing the area of notification for years. She said the adjacent impacted neighborhoods should be notified. The second issue was that no one knew about the Interested Parties List. Information about it should be displayed prominently on the City's website. Councilmember Aldama said it was difficult to say that only those within a 300 or 500-foot radius were affected. He said another issue was apartment complexes. Only the owner got notification and not the residents of the apartments. He would like that to be addressed. Councilmember Turner wanted an objective standard that was applied universally. There would always be a situation where someone didn't get a notice because of their location. The applicant had to be treated fairly and the requirements for each applicant had to be the same. Mr. Phelps said from a staff and GIS perspective, it was easier to work with an objective standard. There wasn't always an easy definition of the impacted neighborhood. He said a minimum number of homes standard would be problematic. An objective standard would work for most situations. Some flexibility could be built in to deal with unique situations. Councilmember Clark said a major project of 600 acres impacted so many neighborhoods but those neighborhoods wouldn't fit into the 300-foot limit. Some projects didn't impact any residents. There had to be flexibility based on the project. Councilmember Tolmachoff said when the applicant had attorneys who knew what the requirements were, asking to expand the area didn't work. There was no requirement to do more than the minimum. Mayor Weiers said expanding it to 500 feet increased the area by two-thirds. There was nothing being proposed that prohibited Council from expanding the area. Councilmember Malnar asked if staff could compare cost estimates for different areas of notifications. He favored the block-shaped area and supported a fixed standard with the flexibility to expand it. City Council Meeting Minutes-October 2,2017 Page 3 of 8 Councilmember Turner said it should be done in an objective manner and applied uniformly. There was nothing that precluded a Councilmember from using his or her own communication funds to increase the notification. He thought there could be liability for the City if similarly • situated applicants were treated differently. The business community needed certainty. Vice Mayor Hugh asked for Mr. Bailey's opinion. Mr. Bailey said consistency was the easiest thing to enforce. Where it became a challenge was when the City went beyond an objective standard and it became subjective. Vice Mayor Hugh asked if the property was on the border, did the City notify the residents who lived outside the City. Mr. Froke said yes, the City did notify those residents outside the City boundaries. Councilmember Turner also supported notifying each unit in a multi-family property. Mr. Froke said that would be problematic because the City didn't always know how many units there were. Staff would look at that issue. Mayor Weiers asked how the notification for registered sex offenders was handled in regard to apartments. Police Chief Rick St. John said the department had a contract with an outside vendor who made sure all apartment units were notified. Council consensus was to move forward with reviewing the standards. 2. HEROES PARK LIBRARY CAPITAL PROJECT UPDATE Presented by: Tom Duensing, Assistant City Manager Presented by: Jack Friedline, Assistant City Manager Presented by: Vicki Rios, Budget and Finance Director Ms. Bower read the item by title. Mr. Phelps said Council would be provided with an update on the project. He said staff would be recommending that the overall budget for Heroes Park be increased. The initial thought had been a pre-fabricated design but that had changed to a custom design. There was a cost difference because of the change. Staff had developed a financing plan that did not use the general fund. Mr. Duensing said staff wanted direction from Council on the proposed financing plan. He said the land was purchased in 1998 and the library was identified in the FY1998 CIP. In April 2016, direction was received to locate the library at Heroes Regional Park. The funding identified for the library was development impact fees (DIF)and was included in the FY16/17 budget with design commencing in FY16/17 and construction beginning in the current fiscal year. Mr. Duensing said the original budget was$3.1 million,which included construction costs of $2.38 million. Staff determined the cost to go from modular construction to permanent construction, increased construction costs to$3.12 million, with a total budget of$3,868,545. Mr. Friedline said the feasibility study probably had a low price per square foot for the modular construction. The fact that the plan was to, over time, increase the square footage of the library to 30,000 square feet, made permanent construction more desirable. He said other factors for an City Council Meeting Minutes-October 2,2017 Page 4 of 8 increased project cost included moving the library site, increased cost for utilities and some type of soil remediation would be required. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked why the library was moved. Mr. Friedline said the siting of the recreation center and the lake required the location of the library site to be adjusted. There needed to be a sense of connection with the whole park. Mayor Weiers asked for clarification regarding the use of general fund monies. Mr. Duensing said no general fund money would be used. He noted there would be technology costs for the new building. Those costs could be included in the project budget and financed with DIF. Funding sources included: DIF—Library $3,451,524 DIF—Parks/Other $ 300,000 Grants/Interest/Other $ 117,024 Mr. Duensing said the total technology costs were $294,583 and could be funded from the DIF— Library fund. It was an appropriate and acceptable use of DIF funds and would not impact any other park projects. Councilmember Turner said staff had previously assured Council that modular construction would not look like doublewide trailers or boxes connected together. Council was satisfied that type of construction would give the City flexibility, reduce costs and was something the City could be proud of. He asked what the square footage was for the proposed project. Mr. Friedline said it was approximately 7,000 square feet. Councilmember Turner asked how that compared with the original design. Michael Beck, Chief Librarian, said the proposed project was approximately 7,500 square feet. The original proposal was for 33,500 square feet. Councilmember Turner asked if it reflected the change in how people used libraries. Mr. Beck said that was correct. It provided for an open floor plan,flexibility, allowed staff to move collections around and tailor the collection to the needs of the community. Councilmember Turner asked what would be delivered for$3.86 million. Mr. Duensing said the project would deliver the library building, the technology and improvements around the library such as an adequate parking lot design, landscaping and pathways. Mayor Weiers asked if it also included furnishings. Mr. Duensing said it did. Councilmember Turner asked what the site layout would be in relation to the future rec center. Erik Strunk, Public Facilities, Recreation and Special Events Director, said there would be the library, a rec center and an aquatics center all within close proximity to each other. It was all going to be interconnected. Mayor Weiers asked if the City continued on the proposed projects, how long would it take to City Council Meeting Minutes-October 2,2017 Page 5 of 8 accomplish everything. Mr. Strunk said the build out for Heroes Park was in the out years of the CIP. Councilmember Tolmachoff was confused because Council was assured that a modular building would be indistinguishable from a permanent building. The modular waswhat was presented to the public and approved. She wanted to know how the change came about. Mr. Friedline wasn't sure how the change occurred. He said the intent was to expand from a 7,500 square foot building to a 33,500. The question was how to connect the modular pieces and meet building and fire codes. The cost estimates for the expansion were also low. Councilmember Tolmachoff said it was disappointing that staff had presented the modular as a viable option when it wasn't. Council wouldn't have approved it if it had known about the fire and building code issues. Councilmember Malnar said it was a great idea to go with the permanent building and was pleased that the technology was being included. He supported the proposal. Councilmember Aldama said it was a fact that some of the City's employees were in modular buildings so he was cautious about calling modular building unsafe. He said libraries were intended to be long term structures and he supported the proposal. Councilmember Turner said the original plan called for a 33,500 square foot structure. He didn't want it to be construed that he was saying that a 33,500 square foot building was necessary. Councilmember Turner wanted a phased plan and that it be planned for 20 years from now not from 20 years ago. Vice Mayor Hugh said the proposal would not impact the general fund and the City needed to move forward with it. He supported proceeding. Councilmember Clark said the district residents had been waiting 20 years for the library. Many constituents had expressed the opinion that a modular was not what they wanted. The Foothills library, at 36,000 square feet, was very functional. She was looking for the same thing to serve south and west Glendale. What was being sought today was the beginning of the library. It didn't impact the general fund and would be expandable. Councilmember Clark supported the proposal. Mayor Weiers said staff, at the time, was doing what it needed to do at the direction of a former Council, to get the'project kickstarted. The new proposal was a reflection of how far the City had come and was now able to do permanent construction. He supported the proposal. Council consensus was to move forward with the proposal. CITY MANAGER'S REPORT Mr. Phelps said staff was working closely with the developer for TopGolf regarding issues with the purchase and sell agreement. There was a closing scheduled for October 6th which might get pushed out a couple of days so that the issues could be resolved. The Planning Department was working on issuing permits for site work. CITY ATTORNEY'S REPORT Mr. Bailey had no report. City Council Meeting Minutes-October 2,2017 Page 6 of 8 COUNCIL ITEMS OF SPECIAL INTEREST Councilmember Clark invited the public to a presentation regarding opioids on October 4th at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers, hosted by herself and Councilmember Malnar. Councilmember Turner had brought forward an item of special interest regarding amending the workshop agendas to allow for Council comments and suggestions as an agenda item. He renewed the request. Councilmember Turner said he and Vice Mayor Hugh had discussed recognizing the service of former Mayor George Renner and former Parks and Recreation Director Lee Stanley in the near future, as well as recognition for former Mayor Max Klass and his wife Betty. Vice Mayor Hugh supported Councilmember Turner's request for the recognitions. Mayor Weiers reported that the Phoenix Rescue Mission was having a chain breaking on November 17th. He asked residents to participate by donating turkeys. MOTION AND CALL TO ENTER INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION A motion was made by Councilmember Bart Tumer, seconded by Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff to hold an executive session. AYE: Mayor Jerry Weiers Vice Mayor Ian Hugh Councilmember Jamie Aldama Councilmember Joyce Clark Councilmember Ray Malnar Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff Councilmember Bait Turner Passed EXECUTIVE SESSION A motion was made by Councilmember Ray Malnar, seconded by Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff to adjourn the executive session. AYE: Mayor Jerry Weiers Vice Mayor Ian Hugh Councilmember Joyce Clark Councilmember Ray Malnar Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff Councilmember Bart Tumer Other: Councilmember Jamie Aldama (ABSENT) Passed The meeting reconvened at 1:10 p.m. ADJOURNMENT City-Council Meeting Minutes-October 2,2017 Page 7 of 8 A motion was made by Councilmember Ray Malnar, seconded by Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff to adjourn the meeting. AYE: Mayor Jerry Weiers Vice Mayor Ian Hugh Councilmember Joyce Clark Councilmember Ray Malnar Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff Councilmember Bait Tumer Other: Councilmember Jamie Aldama (ABSENT) Passed Mayor Weiers adjourned the meeting at 1:11 p.m. I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the meeting of the Glendale City Council of Glendale,Arizona, held on the 2nd day of October, 2017. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was present. Dated this 1st day of November, 2017. 7 a K. Bower, MMC, City Clerk City Council Meeting Minutes-October 2,2017 Page 8 of 8