2012, 05-29 Study Session Minutes MINUTES
SPOKANE VALLEY CITY COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
STUDY SESSION FORMAT
Spokane Valley City Hall Council Chambers
Spokane Valley,Washington
May 29,2012 6:00 p.m.
Attendance:
Councilmembers Staff
Tom Towey,Mayor Mike Jackson, City Manager
Gary Schimmels,Deputy Mayor Kelly Konkright,Deputy City Attorney
Dean Grafos,Councilmember John Hohman, Community Development Dir.
Brenda Grassel, Councilmember Mark Calhoun, Finance Director
Chuck Hafner, Councilmember Mike Stone,Parks &Recreation Director
Ben Wick, Councilmember Rick VanLeuven, Police Chief
Arne Woodard, Councilmember Steve Worley, Senior Engineer
Carolbelle Branch,Public Information Officer
Carrie Koudelka,Deputy City Clerk
Mayor Towey called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL: Deputy City Clerk Koudelka called the roll. All Councilmembers were present.
ACTION ITEM:
1. Mayoral Appointment of Students to Economic Development Committee—Mayor Towey
It was moved by Deputy Mayor Schimmels and seconded to confirm the Mayoral appointments of Ben
Baker and Josh Ramsey to the Economic Development Ad Hoc Committee. Mayor Towey said Council
previously decided to add two students to the Ad Hoe committee and Councilmember Hafner went to
high school principals seeking volunteers. Ben Baker and Josh Ramsey volunteered. Mayor Towey
invited public comment; no comments were offered. Vote by Acclamation: In Favor: Unanimous.
Opposed:None. Motion carried.
NON-ACTION ITEMS:
2.Draft 2013-2018 Six Year Transportation Improvement Plan(TIP)—Steve Worley
Senior Engineer Worley began his presentation of the 2013-2018 TIP and reminded Council that the TIP
is a planning document that they can change; however, RCW 35.77.010 requires we adopt a revised and
extended transportation program for the ensuing six calendar years. He said this year they focused on
adding pavement improvement projects. He said they have scheduled a public hearing for June 12, 2012,
to review the plan. Mr. Worley went through the reports in the packet and told Council "Secured Funds"
are funds we already have including grants we already received; "Grant Funded Projects" listed are funds
we are trying to get.He said the "S" notations mean the funds are secured and the "P" notations means we
are planning to get those funds. Projects on the "Unfunded" list are projects staff thinks need to be done,
but for which we do not currently have funding. He said our TIP has to be fiscally constrained based on
how much we can afford to do. He said we estimate revenue and the grant funds we receive in a typical
year and then pick the projects that fit within the revenue sources. The projects listed in black on the
summary report are unfunded projects that were in the previous TIP for this year that were not removed
from the draft TIP for 2013-2018.
Mr. Worley explained they listed projects by category rather than by year as had been done in previous
years. The categories include arterial improvements, bridges, congestion improvements, street
preservation projects, pedestrian/bicycle improvements, and street reconstruction projects and that they
come straight from the pavement management program adopted by Council. He said from that plan, staff
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Approved by Council:06-12-12
identified projects for which they felt we could receive grant funding and said they added the street
reconstruction category based on Council recommendation. Mr. Worley said they added concrete
intersections and concrete corridors under reconstruction projects because once we get down into rock it
becomes more than preservation. Councilmember Grassel asked for the price difference between concrete
intersections and asphalt. Mr. Worley said he does not know the actual difference. He said based on
recent projects a concrete intersection typically runs $1,000,000 and could cost 30-40 percent more than
asphalt. He said they have not done full concrete corridors before but they typically last about three times
longer than asphalt.
Mayor Towey asked when we will know if we get TIGER grant finding for the Sullivan West Bridge
project. Mr. Worley said we should find out next week. Councilmember Woodard asked where we are on
the resurfacing of Sprague Avenue from Thierman to Park project. City Manager Jackson said regarding
the preservation component of this project, Council will have the option of repaving Sprague from Park to
the overpass. He said bids come in this Friday on Phase I and once we review those we will know how
much money we have available.
Councilmember Wick asked if improvements to roads with gravel walkways are included in the plan. Mr.
Worley said the Mission and Park projects are included but they would require a local match and his
understanding is that Council indicated the focus should be preservation projects. Councilmember Wick
asked if we are limiting ourselves to grant funding if we don't include those projects on our TIP. Mr.
Worley said projects can be added to the TIP if and when we get a funding opportunity for it.
Councilmember Grafos asked what funding is taken into consideration when determining projects we
think we will be able to afford. Mr. Worley said state and federal grants, local grants such as Spokane
Transit Authority and other local dollars. He said they average that dollar amount over the previous nine
years to determine a typical funding amount for the current year. He said it does not include tax revenues
and said the City's match dollars come from REET funds and are unrelated to the Poe contract.
Councilmember Grassel said the $10,000,000 per year needed for our road program as identified by the
JUB report includes funding from all resources not just the City. She said her understanding is the City is
funding $2,000,000 toward that $10,000,000 and said it is an important point to emphasize because it
makes a difference to her as to whether Council needs to consider a second revenue source. Mr. Worley
said the City-funded $2,000,000 included in the TIP is the local match for grant funded projects,
including street preservation projects. He said the unfunded list includes the remaining arterial street
preservation projects and we do not have an identified funding source to pay for them. Councilmember
Wick said that to keep up with our Pavement Management Plan (PMP), we would need the City's
$2,000,000 match plus the additional pavement preservation money of another $4,000,000, plus another
$2,000,000 that would be the local access street funds. He said we would need another$6,000,000 on top
of the$2,000,000 match if we were to do everything recommended in the PMP, so the$10,000,000 didn't
just shrink down to $2,000,000. Mr. Worley said we need to add the reconstruction projects as well.
Councilmember Grassel said she was just referring to the City's portion. Councilmember Wick said he
thinks that it would all be the City's part of it. Councilmember Grassel said the finding comes from
different buckets of money, not all from the City's funds. Mr, Worley said we look at every opportunity
for grant funding and he said that is good, provided we go after the grants for projects Council has
identified because we have to provide the local match for them, Mr. Worley said he understands there is
$24,000,000 in federal funding and federal funding is the only grant source that can be used for
preservation projects. He said of that, about 60-75 percent will go toward preservation projects and a
small percentage will go to improvement projects. He said he thinks there is opportunity to get a good
portion of federal preservation grant funding.
Councilmember Hafner said we need to start fixing the streets regardless of whether we get grant funding
or we will never catch up. Mr. Worley said sometimes we can get federal match dollars for state grants, or
vice versa, that can reduce the local funds but typically, granting agencies like to see local funds
allocated. Councilmember Grafos said we should do the projects that we identify as important without
Council Study Session Minutes 05-29-12 Page 2 of 6
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waiting for grants because they may never come through. Mayor Towey said he thinks many cities have
fallen behind because they were waiting for grant funding and he thinks we need to recognize there are
two phases: the grant phase and identifying preservation roads that can't wait for grants and need to be
done now. Councilmember Hafner said he would like to address the problem at the retreat so we can
move forward as soon as possible. City Manager Jackson said the conflict is the lack of resources. He said
there is one pot of money and we are not just waiting for grants; we are allocating the money we have to
preservation and road repair. He said the emphasis for the budget this year is to free up as much available
funding as possible to allocate to preservation projects. He said the fact is the resources are not there. He
said they are looking at $10,000,000 - $11,000,000 per year for arterials, local access streets and
reconstruction. He said recently they have been focusing on arterials but Council has also brought up the
need for preservation of local access streets. He said as we prepare the budget this year we will work to
free up money for repair and preservation, then decide what the lack of resources are and what the
revenue shortage is and how we will make that up to get where we need to be.
3. Truck Traffic/Parking—Kelly Konkright
Deputy City Attorney Konkright said Council asked staff to look at the issue of trucks parking in
residential areas. He said there are no provisions in our current code to limit or restrict parking of trucks
in neighborhood residential areas and home-owners have limited options such as if the truck is in
violation of law or poses a safety hazard or traffic obstruction.He said other jurisdictions such as Spokane
and Liberty Lake have ordinances to restrict trucks in residential zones. After he presents the information
to Council, he asks they provide direction as to what to do next.
Mr. Konkright said Spokane identified specific vehicles restricted from parking on residential streets at
any time. He said other jurisdictions have identified specific length or weight restrictions; however, he
said that can be difficult to enforce. Some have imposed time restrictions and some prohibit street
parking but allow parking in the driveway or on the property. He said he recommends that if Council
considers restricting parking, they include a provision that allows for temporary loading and unloading so
as not to prohibit commercial activity such as landscape workers or movers. Mayor Towey asked if the
fourteen city examples he included in the packet is for all the cities in Washington or a representation of
all the cities. Mr. Konkright said he just did a cross section of a few cities that address this issue but in
somewhat different ways. Councilmember Grassel asked how our current code addresses the homeowner
who is also the driver of the truck parking on the street. Mr. Konkright reiterated there is nothing in our
current code addressing commercial vehicles parking on residential streets. Councilmember Woodard said
he doesn't want to restrict trucks from parking in residential areas because there could be subsequent
repercussions and he doesn't want to burden police with enforcement when higher priority crimes are
taking place. He said he thinks we should address the truck idling and parking of a vehicle extending into
the right of way. Mr. Konkright said if we make code provisions in our ordinance, it would be enforced
by our code enforcement officers and we would set policy whether it is complaint driven or if we can
write it up as a nuisance. Mr. Konkright said it is up to Council to consider the scope of vehicles and the
type of activity that could be harmful to the community to avoid collateral damage. Councilmember
Woodard said he also wants Council to consider the duration of time the equipment is parked and idling.
Councilmember Wick asked if code enforcement did a survey to see how widespread this problem is. Mr.
Konkright said we do not have a count of citywide incidents or a survey. He said the pictures provided in
the packet came from code enforcement while out on other duties. City Manager Jackson said the real
question is whether Council wants to legislate the parking of trucks or other vehicles. He said once they
answer that question they can approach how to go about it. Community Development Director Hobnail
said code enforcement officers located six areas where truck parking is more prevalent and somewhat
constant so they provided the photos for Council. He said they did this over a two-week period and found
approximately six locations and some of those locations had multiple trucks. Councilmember Hafner said
he wouldn't want a big truck parked on his street with the noise and the diesel smell. He said there are
other locations to park and the doesn't like them in the neighborhoods obstructing views unless it is on a
temporary basis. Councilmember Grafos said those trucks represent jobs in our city and he suggests we
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Approved by Council:06-12-12
talk about imposing weight restrictions on commercially licensed vehicles. He proposed "Parking or
storing of a commercially licensed vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of 12,000 pounds or greater
shall be prohibited from parking on public right of ways and residential zoned areas." He said the gross
vehicle weight (GVW) rating is labeled on the truck so you don't need a scale for enforcement and that
will eliminate recreational vehicles. He said the exception would be vehicles working on construction
projects, loading and unloading and "casual parking of commercial vehicles continuously for a period up
to three days per month" to allow them to park at home for a weekend. He said if a person can get the
truck onto their property, they should be allowed to do so and if they are idling and noisy, that becomes a
noise problem to address differently.
Mayor Towey said Councilmember Grafos brought up good points and his concern is they are talking
about the small business man on the road who comes home for a few days a week and he said he doesn't
know where they will park if they can't park their trucks at home. He said if we draft an ordinance, we
should include an exemption for a specified time for leeway to come into town to be with their family.
Councilmember Hafner said he is not arguing whether they can park on their own property. He said he
thinks the noise is a concern for neighbors. Mayor Towey said we can go forward with an ordinance that
takes into consideration the small business man and still relieves the neighborhood of the problem of
parking. Councilmember Wick said he is leaning toward not needing regulation or an ordinance at this
time. He said we are already financially burdened and staff time is stretched and he doesn't think we need
an ordinance at this time. Councilmember Grassel asked staff to identify what a semi-truck driver does in
jurisdictions that don't allow them to park on residential streets and what the hardship to the business
owner is if parking is not allowed. She said she would like to limit the ordinance to noise and view
obstruction. Mayor Towey said Council was given information as to the impact on neighbors, but not the
impact on the truck owner and he said he would like that information before drafting an ordinance. Mr.
Konkright said before staff begins drafting an ordinance he will provide Council with the impact to truck
drivers if they can't park on the street and what impact other cities experienced when they implemented
their ordinances, and where the truckers will park their trucks if not at home.
Mayor Towey called for a recess at 7:20 p.m. and reconvened the meeting at 7:35 p.m.
4.Proposed Franchise for Coeur d'Alene Indian Tribe Use of Right-of-way—Kelly Konkright
Deputy City Attorney Konkright said the Coeur d'Alene tribe asked to access part of our right of way to
install fiber optic cable for internet usage using Avista's overhead power lines on a route that goes
through the southeast corner of the city starting at 11th Avenue and Barker Road to 8th Avenue, then east
to Hodges Road. He said negotiations with the tribe were simple utilizing a standard agreement. The City
would give the tribe a nonexclusive franchise to use right of way for a ten-year term and requires the tribe
install and maintain the line, and maintain appropriate insurance. It also requires the tribe seek City
permission before they can abandon the cable line and it allows the City to set a condition that the line be
removed if abandoned; thereby putting the cost burden on the tribe rather than the City. Mayor Towey
asked if ten years is standard. Mr. Konkright confirmed it is and said that after ten years we negotiate a
new franchise. Councilmember Grassel asked Mr. Konkright to explain the cost to the City specified in
section 4, number 2. Mr. Konkright said the agreement requires the tribe to lay dark line for City use so
we would pay a monthly charge if the City wants to use that line for our own purposes. He said we only
pay if we want to use the line and it is beneficial to the City because it is at a good price. He also said
federal law requires that any franchise we grant be non-exclusive. It was consensus of Council to bring
forward to a future meeting for consideration.
5.Lodging Tax Sunset Provisions—Kelly Konkright
Deputy City Attorney Konkright said the sunset provision in the lodging tax is set to expire June 30,
2013. He said AWC (Association of Washington Cities) will try to get it extended but if they are
unsuccessful, the City will only be able to spend lodging tax funds on marketing special events and
festivals designed to attract tourists, and acquisition and operation of tourism related facilities in which
the City has ownership interest, and other costs of tourism promotion. In 2007 legislation amended
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Approved by Council:06-12-12
provisions in the lodging tax that changed some definitions and added a new section, RCW 67.28.1816,
allowing jurisdictions to disburse lodging tax funds for the marketing and operations of special events and
festivals and to support the operations and capital expenditures of tourism-related facilities owned by
nonprofit organizations. He said those provisions are set to expire. Mayor Towey asked if agencies that
we grant funds to, such as Valleyfest and HUB, would be required to give the unspent funds back to the
City if they do not spend the money by the time the sunset clause expires. Finance Director Calhoun said
it sunsets at midnight June 30, 2013. He said if the Lodging Tax committee awarded funds to HUB, they
could not use funds after that date so the funds would support the first six months of operation and then
only used for marketing after that. Mayor Towey said he would not like to eliminate any applicants based
on what may or may not happen. He said he thinks it would be hard for agencies to spend all their money
for marketing by June 30th. Mr. Calhoun said we don't give the funds up front, we reimburse costs
incurred so they would need to submit invoices for costs up to June 30,2013.
Councilmember Woodard asked if we can use the funds for freeway signage. Mr. Konkright said he will
research that and bring information back to Council. He said signage could be included for City owned
facilities. Councilmember Grassel said Valleyfest can use the money for marketing without issue. She
said she also thinks that agencies such as Visit Spokane can use the funds we issue them to turn around
and give as grants to other agencies so the sunset clause would not prohibit them from doing things such
as that.Mr.Konkright and Mr. Calhoun said they would be very surprised if agencies can use lodging tax
revenue from our City to give to another agency such as the HUB and if we received an invoice from
them requesting reimbursement after June 30, 2013 we would not pay it. Mr. Calhoun added an auditor
would likely write us up if we did pay it.
6. Solid Waste Update—Deputy Mayor Schimmels/Mike Jackson
City Manager Jackson said the Solid Waste Committee was created to develop a scope of work to define
for a consultant the information that all the participating cities felt they need to help make a future
decision regarding solid waste.He said they created a technical committee to determine the scope of work
and another committee to review the submitted RFP proposals. He said he is looking for consensus to
have the County develop an RFP based on this information. He said the scope has been refined and
divided into three major components: the Waste to Energy Plant, transfer stations, and the long haul
system. He said each scenario develops five, ten, fifteen and twenty-year periods to determine the
operating costs and he said whoever provides the service needs to provide all elements of the service. The
Waste to Energy facility needs to be kept running at all times so they are looking at other means of
burning fuel such as wood and whether that is feasible. He said currently Spokane Valley does not
provide collection so that is something we might need to look at, whether providing collection service or
contracting for collection service, or continuing to have a franchise agreement for collection. He said
currently we don't have a line item in our budget for solid waste so it does not cost us any money or
resources; therefore, any increase would be an increase in cost to Spokane Valley and to the customer. He
said the agreement covers whether the transfer station could be acquired privately or publicly and the cost
if we wanted to construct a transfer station. He encouraged Council to start thinking about what we will
do with the results as they come in to help determine the direction they would like to take.
Councilmember Woodard asked if the RFP is directed more toward a public type answer rather than
private. City Manager Jackson said they had private haulers on the committee and it is designed to be
either public or private. Councilmember Woodard asked if long haul is for trucking or train and said the
transfer station should be given to Spokane Valley or sold to us for $1.00 because our taxpayers helped
pay for it over the last twenty years. City Manager Jackson said it would likely be both truck and train but
it needs to be determined based on cost. Mayor Towey said this will give us information to use to make a
decision. The only thing outside of the document is the collection part of it and the three things connected
to it: if we own it ourselves, franchise, or contract and said he would like more information on the
different aspects of all three. City Manager Jackson said they haven't set the time frame but he will report
back with more information as it becomes available. It was consensus of Council for City Manager
Jackson to noti15,Commissioner French to move forward.
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Approved by Council:06-12-12
7. Advance Agenda—Mayor Towey
Deputy City Attorney Konkright said he will bring the truck parking information back to Council the
meeting after the retreat. Councilmember Grafos asked what the limitations are for the City putting signs
on the interstate for businesses. City Manager Jackson said we will look into it but we are generally
limited to directional signs for landmarks or City facilities and government related signs. Councilmember
Woodard said the Department of Transportation regulates the signs and businesses pay to be on them.
Councilmember Grassel said she would like Council to be provided with the agendas and minutes from
the Economic Development meetings.
8. Information Only: The Finance Monthly Report was not discussed.
9. Council Check-in—Mayor Towey
Mayor Towey said he had a meeting with Dr. Harken two weeks ago to discuss different aspects of his
presentation and he mentioned one concern he had was that while Council all thought the proposed statue
was beautiful, the location may not be right. He said his concern is that particular location needs a
"message" statue rather than an "art form" and we could use that piece of art elsewhere in the Valley
where citizens can get up close to view it rather than drive by it. He asked to open it up for discussion so
he can get back with Dr. Harken regarding the art and the location. Deputy Mayor Schimmels and
Councilmembers Woodard, Hafner, Wick and Grafos spoke in agreement with Mayor Towey. Mayor
Towey said he would like the Arts Council to use our gateway sign to come up with art that complements
the sign and theme of Spokane Valley. He will contact Dr. Harken to see if they can come up with an
agreement for the sculpture he presented and location of future arts.
10. City Manager Comments--•Mike Jackson
City Manager Jackson said we received a grant from the state through the Department of Ecology to
construct stormwater improvements on Sprague Avenue from Park Road to the overpass. He said we are
moving forward with the landscape architect and will need to move full steam ahead if we want to finish
this year. He said if we slow down to Iook at alternatives,his guess is the project will get designed but not
constructed this year; however, he said there is no guarantee it will get constructed this year anyway, but
if we pause now it will not get constructed. He said that if Council wants to change direction, he needs to
know.It was consensus of Council to continue moving forward.
It was moved by Deputy Mayor Schimmels, seconded and unanimously agreed to extend the meeting
fifteen minutes to 9:15 pm. City Manager Jackson said in the next couple of weeks he will come forward
with one design and they can talk a little more about the parking. He said if Council wants to move in a
different direction at that time,we can.He said the preliminary discussion he has had with public works is
that parking along that section would require quite a bit of engineering and a lot more time to develop that
plan.
It was moved by Deputy Mayor Schimmels, seconded and unanimously agreed to adjourn. The meeting
adjourned at 9:05 p.m.
ATTEST: —aimr
Th'omas E. T•wey,Mayor
Christine Bainbr'dg-, City Clerk
Council Study Session Minutes 05-29-12 Page 6 of 6
Approved by Council:06-12-12
Spokane
jUalley
2013-201 8 Six Year
Transportation
Improvement Program
(TIP)
j
Overview
• Planning Document
• Required by ROW 35 .77 .010
• Included in the Comprehensive Plan
• Can be amended at anytime
• Focused on Pavement Preservation Projects
• Public Hearing Scheduled for June 12tH
Project Categories
• Arterial Improvements
• Improve safety, pedestrian and bicycle mobility,
promote economic development, address geometric
deficiencies, reduce congestion , etc.
• Only projects with current funding
• No new Improvement Projects
• Bridges
• Replacement — Sullivan Rd Bridge over Spokane River
• Major Maintenance — Sullivan Rd Bridge over UPRR
• Bridging the Valley — Barker Rd Overpass
Valley
Project Selection for 203-208 Six Year TIP
• Congestion Improvements
• Only projects with current funding
• Pedestrian/Bicycle Improvements
• Currently funded projects
• Projects needing Construction funds
• Street Preservation
• Pavement Management Plan
• Street Reconstruction
• Pavement Management Plan
••i*Vauey
`Unfunded' Improvement Project Examples
Stn Ave. (Havana Rd. to
Park Rd.)
r 8th Ave. (Dishman Mica Rd.
to Sullivan Rd.)
Adams Rd. (32nd Ave. to
Mission Ave.)
• Barker Rd. (1-90 to South
City Limits)
• Barker Rd. (Spokane River
to Trent Ave (SR290))
Bowdish Rd. (Sprague
Ave. to Dishman Mica Rd.)
• Broadway Ave. (Flora Rd.
to Barker Rd.)
• Flora Rd. (Sprague Ave. to
Mission Ave)
• McDonald Rd. (Sprague
Ave. to SR-27)
• Mission Ave (Argonne Rd.
to Pines Rd.)
• Park Rd. (Sprague Ave. to
Trent Ave)
• Sprague Ave (Tschirley Rd.
to East City Limits)
sporxan
Valley
Example Improvement Projects
6
Public Works Department
Same
40Valley
Project Selection for 2013-2018 Six Year TIP
• Reconstruction Projects
• identified in PMP
• Added Concrete Intersections
• Concrete Corridors
r Argonne Road (I-90 to Montgomery Rd.)
Sullivan Road (Spokane River to Trent Ave (SR290)
• Preservation Projects
• Arterials most eligible for federal/state grant funding
• Remaining projects grouped into annual PMP project
Siorkane
Example Preservation Reconstruction Projects
• Grind/Overlay Project • Concrete Intersection Project
_
• Sprague Ave. & Fancher Rd.
8
Public Works Department
Spkane°
Valley
Summary
• Review TIP List of Projects
Stiaane
,•••*Valley
Questions?
BROAOWAY AVENUE FMPROVEMENT PROJECT
WASHINGTON STATE TRANSPORTATION 51.662338
IMPROVEMENT BOARD FUNDING
SpoLtene
\:eln■
OTY OF SPOKANE VALLEY $234226
TOTAL $1,846.564
CONTRACTOR.:MJM GRAND.INC.
10
Public Works Department