CITY OF HAMILTON
COMMITTEE MINUTES
DATE:March 24, 2015
NAME OF COMMITTEE:Committee of the Whole
MEMBERS PRESENT: Ken Bell, Al Mitchell,Joe Petrusaitis,
Rod Pogachar& Jenny West
MEMBERS ABSENT: Kristi Bielski
NOTE TAKER: Jamie Guisinger, Deputy Clerk
STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:Jerry Steele, Mayor
Keith Smith, Public Works Director
Dennis Stranger, Planner/ Special Projects
Ryan Oster, Police Chief
Karen Mahar, City Attorney
Councilor West opened the meeting at7:02pm.
COMMENTS FROM PUBLIC
None.
APPROVE MINUTES
The minutes from the March10th, 2015Committee of the Whole meeting were approved as written.
AGENDA ITEMS
Fire Department Controlled Burn at River Park
Mayor Steele said there is a letter from Chief Mohn in the packet notifying council they will be conducting a controlled burn in River Park on March 26th if weather permits. He stated this is something council had previously discussed last year.
RECOMMENDATION:None. Informational only.
Discussion with Sylvia McNeal regarding Tree Survey
Sylvia McNeal said she is a Board Certified Master Arborist and has been hired by the City to put together an Urban Forestry Master Plan. She stated there is a survey available for the general public on the city’s website. She encouraged everyone to take a moment and fill it out. She said the feedback will help shape and develop ordinances and policies for the city in the future. Ms. She asked council to contact her with any questions or comments. Keith Smith stated the survey would be up until the end of May. Councilor Petrusaitis asked if the plan would deal with the new trees that have been planted that haven’t been taken care of. Ms. McNeal said the management plan will deal with that issue. She said they would be walking the streets and looking at the new planting sites. She said she would be making a formal presentation at the Council meeting on June 30th. She stated that would include recommendations for removals, pruning, planting and developing a strategy and outreach to the community.
RECOMMENDATION: None. Informational only.
Parking at Westview Center (Proposed Bitterroot College Location)
Tom Korst, Superintendent of Hamilton Schools, said he was representing the project. He said the Zoning Board of Adjustment has approved the change of use of Westview Center to become a Community College. He stated the memo in the packet addresses their request of asking for 5 years to meet the requirements for the amount of parking spaces they need. He stated they are looking at the Armory parking lot as a possible option which would provide them with 35 spaces. Mr. Korst stated they are looking at the tennis courts as an option for a parking lot but would like the additional time to make sure the college is going to work out at the Westview Center before they rush into something they may regret down the road. Councilor Pogachar asked if the Hamilton tennis team would be without courts for a while. Mr. Korst said the request would allow the school to have 5 years to move the tennis courts, which is in their long term facility plan.
Keith Smith stated the Public Works Standards require the school to have 109 paved parking spaces before they occupy the building. He said the request is asking to delay or phase in the parking spaces for five years from now. He said staff recommendations are that if they allow the phasing in or delay, the school be responsible for providing a bond or some sort of security that the work will be done within the time period agreed upon. Mr. Smith noted the City Attorney drafted the agreement as a starting point for discussions from the Committee.
Jemeel Chaudry, campus architect at the University of Montana stated he has been helping the Bitterroot College. He stated the Bitterroot College’s current enrollment is 210 students. He said they do not currently have any problems with their facility they share with RCEDA and Job Service that has 77 spaces. He stated they are asking for consideration to have time to grow in the new space. He said there are 55 current spaces and they are working with the National Guard for permission to use their parking lot across the street which would give them an additional 35 spaces. He stated that does not include the street parking that is available along State Street. He said they may be able to come up with a better parking plan within the next five years and keep the tennis courts for the college or community to use. He stated they do not know if they will end up long term at Westview or build a new facility somewhere else.
Roch Turner stated he was concerned with the bond requirement. He said the college would be leasing the property for 5 years and noted there is a possibility of the college moving to an entirely new location. He said they are leasing it with the expectation that it would be a long term campus but that the bond could be potentially burdensome for all parties.
City Attorney, Karen Mahar,said the Zoning Board of Adjustment approved the conditional use permit of the building based on all parking issues being able to be worked out with the City. She stated City staff has put together a draft agreement that includes a security that the required work would be completed. She stated the City has run into issues in the past and gave an example of the Fairgrounds not meeting requirements as promised by the County. She stated there are several options available to the schools and noted a letter or credit or a security bond would be acceptable. She explained that a bond for $100,000 may only cost $1,000, for example. She stated there is no intent to burden the school, but that the council is held responsible to the tax payers. Victoria Clark of the Bitterroot College asked if the college ended up not purchasing the property after the five years, whether the work would still have to be done. Ms. Mahar said if the contract became void, the requirements would no longer be in effect. Councilor Bell said no one is looking to stop the project but if the city grants the variance to the Public Works Standards, they need assurance the work will be performed eventually. He stated at the end of the 5 years, if the college terminates the contract by moving out of the facility, the improvements to the parking would no longer be needed nor would the security.
Mayor Steele said he supports the project 100% but said the college presents a little more complex problem with traffic and parking issues. He stated he agreed with the school and college that they probably do have adequate parking spaces for the current students. He stated he felt they could all come up with an agreement but noted the City needed some security that if they grow within the next five years, they will come up with the additional spaces needed. Mayor Steele noted they may need to check into whether the tennis courts have restrictions on them from the Fish, Wildlife, and Parks grant that was used to resurface them several years ago.
Councilor West said she supports the college coming here. She said they are not going to have 109 students there all the time to start with. Councilor Mitchell said the location provides walkability that the college does not currently have. He stated having the college in that location will be great for the city. Ms. Clark said they are fine with the stipulation to come up with some sort of security. She stated she thinks the attorneys can sit down and work that part out if they can phase in the parking.
Dave Bedey, Hamilton School Board president, stated they are fully supportive of the college moving to the new location. He said he does not want to see this project get shut down over parking and thought the attorneys could work out a reasonable agreement for all parties.
Mark Neumann resident of Hamilton, and president of the Downtown Hamilton Business Industry District, said they are unanimously in favor of this. He said it will help with the diversity and economics of the community. He stated it is a benefit to the school district and citizens to have better education opportunities. He said with higher education comes higher income. And less crime.
Russ Lawrence of the Hamilton Downtown Association, said this was anticipated in their downtown master plan. He said it is a few blocks away from downtown. He noted he understands the parking problems but felt they could work together to find a way to say yes to this plan.
Debbie Joseph, a resident of Hamilton, said she is concerned about the future students parking along her property and asked if they could have some kind of regulation to keep them out of the residential area. She stated they already have problems during high school football season.
John Filzof Ravalli Head Start said timeliness is an issue.He said they currently lease the building from the school and only have a small window of opportunity to move to a different location during the construction phase of the project, which is Memorial Day to Labor Day.
Ms. Clark said the resident has very valid concerns about the parking and said the school would do whatever it could to educate the students on where to park. She noted it would be up to the city to enforce and implement residential parking.
The Committee discussed the issue and determined they would like to see the Attorneys work out an agreement that included the security bond and have the agreement brought back to the Committee of the Whole on April 14.
RECOMMENDATION: Keep in Committee. Have attorneys work out an agreement and return to the Committee for review on April 14.
Parking Ordinance Revisions
Karen Mahar said she prepared a memo on yellow paper outlining the proposed amendments to the parking ordinance. She stated she and Chief Oster reviewed laws regarding parking and had the City Clerk pull resolutions pertaining to downtown parking. Ms. Mahar stated the city had created a parking commission in the 1970s and then repealed it, then again in the 1980s. She said parking plans were drafted in the 1990’s. She stated proposed ordinance No. 385 has been reviewed by Dennis Stranger, Keith Smith, Judge Reardon, Chief Oster and herself.
Ms. Mahar said there are currently reserved parking signs such as in front of the Library. She said in the future, there will be a review process in place for making changes to parking areas. She stated it would go to Public Works for review of standards and they would make a recommendation based on the standards that would then come to council for a decision by resolution.
Ms. Mahar suggested the Council establish a bail schedule for parking fines that would still be enforced, such as improper parking. She stated after speaking with the judge, the bail schedule would be of immense help to the court.
Councilor Mitchell said he still has reservations about eliminating timed parking. Councilor West said she wished there were more people from downtown that would speak because she feels this is going to create many more problems than they currently have.
Chief Oster said he cannot figure out how Hamilton can be the only community where someone gets a parking ticket and it leads to such a major problem. Petrusaitis said he has never heard as many complaints as much as he did this winter.
RECOMMENDATION:Send to council and at that time, look at proposed bail schedule and signed areas resolution.
NON-AGENDA ITEMS – TOPICS FOR CONSIDERATION
-Fairgrounds Road Contract
ADJOURNED at8:48pm
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