MINUTES SPOKANE VALLEY CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING STUDY SESSION FORMAT Spokane Valley City Hall Council Chambers Spokane Valley, Washington June 3, 2014 6:00 p.m. Attendance: Councilmembers Staff Dean Grafos, Mayor Mike Jackson, City Manager Arne Woodard, Deputy Mayor Cary Driskell, City Attorney Bill Bates, Councilmember Erik Lamb, Deputy City Attorney Chuck Hafner, Councilmember Eric Guth, Public Works Director Rod Higgins, Councilmember Mike Stone, Parks & Recreation Director Ed Pace, Councilmember John Hohman, Community Development Dir. Ben Wick, Councilmember Morgan Koudelka, Sr. Administrative Analyst Mark Calhoun, Finance Director Sean Messner, Sr. Traffic Engineer Carolbelle Branch, Public Information Officer Chris Bainbridge, City Clerk Mayor Grafos called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. ROLL CALL: City Clerk Bainbridge called the roll; all Councilmembers were present. ACTION ITEM: 1. Motion Consideration: JAG Grant Morgan Koudelka It was moved by Deputy Mayor Woodard and seconded to authorize the City Manager to apply for the Justice Assistance Grant. Sr. Administrative Analyst Koudelka explained the purpose and process of applying for this grant, as noted in his June 3, 2014 Request for Council Action, and mentioned that this grant opportunity was originally discussed with Council by Chief VanLeuven and St. Lyons. Mayor Grafos invited public comment; no comments were offered. Vote by Acclamation: In Favor: Unanimous. Opposed: None. Motion carried. 2. Solid Waste Transfer, Disposal Final Agreement Mike Jackson, Erik Lamb It was moved by Deputy Mayor Woodard and seconded to authorize the City Manager to execute a contract with Sunshine Recyclers, Inc. for solid waste transfer, transport and disposal for the City of Spokane Valley. Mr. Jackson stated that this topic has been discussed at length for several years and most consistently since 2011. Mr. Jackson said that last week Council authorized him to finalize the contract with Sunshine Recyclers, Inc. and that finalizing that contract included clearing any contingencies. Mr. Jackson informed Council that those contingencies primarily related to financial and bonding stipulations, and have been cleared to his and the City Attorney s satisfaction. Mayor Grafos invited public comment. Speaking on behalf of the Board of County Commissioners, Commissioner Mielke said that earlier today he delivered a letter to Council requesting Council postpone the execution of the contract with Sunshine for three weeks to allow for formal action by the Spokane City Council regarding the reduction in the disposal rate; he said this request would be appreciated in light of the time extensions that Spokane County previously provided to Spokane Valley for consideration of its solid waste contracting options. Mr. Mielke said that there are two purposes for this letter: (1) to specifically and formally request an extension as noted above; and (2) that Spokane Valley has asked them for a price; he said that at least two things have changed since last week: the City of Spokane has contacted them and said they are willing to Council Study Session 06-03-2014 Page 1 of 6
open the negotiations regarding the disposal fee; he mentioned that they (the County) have always operated with the idea of the City of Spokane owning the capital assets, and he said that was a significant component of this; and he added that the third change is uniformity with regard to whether a landfill closure monitoring fee is part of the gate fee. He said they went back to try to present the most similar comparisons; he said this is a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract and because of the money involved and the cost to citizens, said he feels it worthy to see if there is another option. Mr. Mielke explained that the second part of this letter is that he has been authorized on behalf of Spokane County to offer to Spokane Valley a gate fee of not more than $94.30 per ton contingent upon the City of Spokane verifying the number given by them as noted in the June 3, 2014 letter, and said that is also noted in that letter that the Spokane Council s formal action on that rate adjustment is expected in approximately three weeks. Mr. Mielke said this is a ten-year agreement with a rate of not to exceed $94.30; and said he believes when Spokane Valley looks at the change in the municipal solid waste fee per ton, as well as the lower rate the County has consistently offered on the organics or the clean green, that this is a difference over a ten-year contract of as much as $3 million or more. Mr. Mielke said that once Spokane Valley Council makes a decision, it would be a ten-year commitment with no opportunity to opt out. Mr. Steve Wolf of Sunshine Disposal Recycling, explained that some of the things discussed at the last meeting included the same level of service, predicable rate, and control; he said they are at 80% engineering design now and it has now been vetted; he said he doesn t feel staff would have recommended going with Sunshine unless that system was fully capable of handling the citizens needs; he said the facility will be expanded to handle the trucks, and it is designed to also handle hazardous household waste and recycling. Mr. Marc Torre said the Sunshine disposal fee is still lower than the County s; he suggested the comparisons mentioned by Mr. Mielke are not totally similar, and he requested Council act tonight. Spokane County Utilities Director Mr. Kevin Cooke said the maximum rate of $94.30 per ton is for seven days a week, which is the same operation they currently have; he said the main reason for the adjustment downwards in the rate is that they are looking at the reduction in the disposal rate of the Waste-to-Energy plant and taking the landfill closure costs out of the gate fee; he said at yesterday s Board of County Commissioners meeting, there was discussion about handling the tonnage if Spokane Valley did not join the system, and said under that, they d likely look at some alternate schedule for operating the transfer station, but under the proposal in tonight s letter, that is based on the current operational approach for the transfer station. Sunshine General Manager Mr. Dustin Bender said he realizes where a tip fees needs to be and he has been doing this for fourteen years, and said he is confident his company will deliver the best price with exemplary service. Regarding the clean green, Mr. Bill Curry said he takes twenty or more loads now but he has not heard about the second company s lower rates. Mr. Tim Crosby, with Waste Management, said they have partnered with Mr. Torre s company on this project; have supplied Sunshine with pollution insurance, they have the landfill space and said he stands firmly behind them and believes this would be the best resource for Spokane Valley. There were no further public comments. Mayor Grafos reminded Council that today s vote is not between Spokane County and Sunshine, but is a vote to authorize the execution of the contract. Council discussion included comments about being ready to move forward with Sunshine, that this topic has been discussed for a long time over multiple meetings and that Spokane Valley has tried to negotiate with the County, but finally had to make a move to go forward; they expressed their appreciation to the County but also noted the County wasn t willing to give a rate, while Sunshine did; that this is a difficult decision as Spokane Valley has a good relationship with Spokane County and that even tonight, there is mention of the municipal solid waste fee contingent upon approval by Spokane; that the County offered Spokane Valley an advisory role only, while Sunshine Council Study Session 06-03-2014 Page 2 of 6
offered control of the system; and that Council feels they are acting in the best long term interest of Spokane Valley citizens. Vote by Acclamation: In Favor: Unanimous. Opposed: None. Motion carried. NON-ACTION ITEMS: 3. Browns Park Master Plan Mike Stone Parks and Recreation Director Stone went over some of the details of the proposed master plan as per his PowerPoint presentation. Concerning the current condition of the park, Mr. Stone said the majority of the facilities are old and run down and recommended for replacement, which is of course, limited by funding availability. He explained that the volleyball programs are becoming increasingly popular, and that the next closet area is 300 miles west of us; he said Evergreen Regional Volleyball Association is working to create a premier volleyball venue in Spokane Valley. Mr. Stone mentioned the March 27 public meeting, said they mailed out an additional 1600 postcards to all residents surrounding the park in an effort to make sure people were aware of the meeting; he said the turnout was good with over forty people, and half of those provided written comments, some of which were included in Mr. Stone s PowerPoint presentation, adding that the plan is in direct response to the stakeholders and neighborhood residents working to figure out how to have both a neighborhood park element and a volleyball portion. In discussing some of the proposed features, Mr. Stone said every feature in the park is multi-use and can be used by all citizens. Councilmember Bates said he attended the March meeting and it was well done; and that he drove by the park Sunday and it was full; he asked about estimated costs. Mr. Stone said the $2 million would include everything shown on the map; that annual maintenance is not very different from current costs, and the expensive parts would be in the neighborhood park area. Mr. Stone said staff tried very hard to listen to what the public was saying, said people tell him that we have a real gem here but it just needs a little polish; and that he feels citizens can co-exist when there is a volleyball meet going on. Councilmember Pace said he too went by the park on Sunday, that it was packed, his grandson loves it, and feels it will be even better with the improvements, and said the idea of having a place to host these events in our City is exciting. Councilmember Wick extended his compliments on the meeting and said the plan appears to include all things asked for at the public forum. In response to a question about budget, Mr. Stone said $40,000 has been budgeted for this year. Deputy Mayor Woodard said he likes the venue and wants to ensure that the public and neighborhood had enough opportunity for comment; but even without having further comment, said he is fine with this project, adding that it encourages heads in bends. Councilmember Hafner said it is a great location, and he thanked staff for the hard work. Mayor Grafos said he likes and plan and he too wants to make sure the neighborhood is involved, and feels we should have another meeting, perhaps a public hearing; and if the neighborhood agrees with the plan, he doesn t have a problem with it. Director Stone said he was informed Council might want a public hearing and it is set for June 24 th ; said he doesn t see much more we can do in the form of notifying the public; that this is the first time in six years the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee actually supported this; that people ask what we have to offer and said this park puts us on the map as just one small area that might bring people into our city. Regarding a public hearing, City Manager Jackson said staff can also put up signs at the park as well as advertise in the newspaper, and he asked if that would satisfy Council s desire for additional public input. Councilmembers appeared to shake their heads in agreement. Mr. Jackson noted that the meeting would be open to all interested parties. After brief discussion concerning the hearing and when to schedule a motion, it was decided a motion would be set for either the July 1 or July 8 meeting. 4. Streamlined Sales Tax Mitigation, and Marketplace Fairness Act Mark Calhoun Finance Director Calhoun went over the background material included in the June 3 Request for Council Action form, and explained streamlined sales tax mitigation as well as the proposed Marketplace Fairness Act, and he went over some of the figures associated with these issues as well as our City s projected losses. Mr. Calhoun said if the Act were approved, state legislators would completely mitigate our streamlined sales tax losses and re-direct our mitigation payments to the K-12 funding, and that the reality Council Study Session 06-03-2014 Page 3 of 6
for us would be an annual deficit of about $300,000 on top of what we already lost on liquor revenue sharing. Deputy Mayor Woodard said this was discussed at the Chamber s Government Affairs meeting, and said he wants to make sure our legislators don t keep chipping away at our shared revenues. Councilmember Wick said that it would not only be the city facing losses, but the Marketplace Fairness Act would have a great impact on businesses that ship all over the United States; and speaking regarding the company where he works, said they would probably have to lay off people and reduce the size of the company; he said the Act would be bad for jobs. Mr. Jackson said staff would bring forward additional information as we receive it; that this is also on Council s legislative agenda to protect our shared revenues and said we should take opportunities to tell our legislators how important these shared revenues are for cities. 5. Thierman Traffic Issue Eric Guth, Sean Messner Public Works Director Guth said that a concerned citizen had requested the City review the lane assignments on Thierman between Sprague and Appleway due to their concern with trucks trying to navigate that section of the road when making left-hand turns onto Sprague and/or Thierman, and that occasionally both lanes were blocked in that endeavor. Mr. Guth said staff did a two-pronged approach by compiling data traffic counts as well as vehicle types. Via his PowerPoint presentation, Senior Traffic Engineer Messner explained his findings and discussed and compared his current analysis with an analysis conducted in April, 2012, with the 2012 results indicating no changes being recommended, and that the queue storage was sufficient to accommodate existing traffic, that blocking could occur but on a non-reoccurring basis. Mr. Messner spoke of his current analysis of data collected April, 2014, with some data collected during various traffic times, including peak morning, mid-day and evening peak hours, and said that the result was that there is generally no more than one truck every four minutes, that 74% of entering traffic is westbound on Sprague, 21% is northbound with the majority of traffic turning left onto Sprague; he said trucks account for less than 4.5% of that left-turning traffic. Mr. Messner said the traffic data validates current signal timing and design, and that the blocking of the intersection at Appleway is non-reoccurring. Mr. Messner also explained that staff reviewed the existing conditions to develop conceptual options that might add left-turn capacity on Thierman, and he went over the pros, cons, and estimated costs of the four options as depicted in the PowerPoint. Mr. Messner explained that when a large truck makes that turn, it currently goes into the second northbound lane on Thierman, so making that next lane a shared through and left turn lane with a dedicated left turn lane would cause more problems for the trucks as they d have to take into consideration the car on the inside lane. Deputy Mayor Woodard said he thinks the problem is not Sprague and Thierman but rather Appleway and Thierman and then turning back onto Sprague; said he thinks we need two lanes on Thierman turning onto Sprague and to add appropriate signage; he said that he went to the area and watched for about ten minutes and it was apparent to him that the problem is actually pretty simple, and to make option 1 more complete: coming off the freeway ramp next to our City s gateway there are three lanes; and now all three lanes can go straight and only one can turn; he said the problem is you can t get enough of the vehicles in that Thierman section if a truck is going across both lanes because they have to weave out and then try to get back into the interior lane; he said if they were able to stay in that outside lane and still turn onto Sprague which is where they want to go, then they re not blocking both lanes; and said he thinks from a purely logistical commonsense standpoint, if you had two lanes that could turn on the exit on Appleway then you d move traffic through there a lot better. Mr. Messner said that Deputy Mayor Woodard is very correct intuitively with couplets, that the first cross street on any couplet on either side experiences more turns then elsewhere on the corridor, and the area in question is a short distance and a very difficult situation. Mr. Messner explained that from the everyday perspective, he would agree intuitively with Deputy Mayor Woodard; however, from an engineering perspective and the safety side, there are consequences with it; and from the delay side of that two to three seconds delay during a peak hour, when you combine all that with the traffic entering the intersection, Council Study Session 06-03-2014 Page 4 of 6
you re looking at over three hours of added delay; so from a congestion management perspective he said that s also not good. Deputy Mayor Woodard asked how would we test a theory, perhaps by using temporary signs or have a traffic controller; he asked how do we see if the people are using it the way we are trying to discuss it, and that it would actually help; said he doesn t want to spend $50,000 just to find out three months later that it was absolutely ludicrous; and again asked if there is a way to test something. Concerning the expense, Mr. Messner said we would have to change out two of the signal heads on the northbound mast arm, change the signing on Thierman, and would have to change the signal timing. He said in terms of what they do to try to validate options, he said they can take a look with the software; he said he realizes software analysis compared with real world are not exactly equal, but said we haven t done any simulation work or more in-depth analysis, and he proposed those suggestions before implementing any other steps. Councilmember Hafner said in two years we have not had any complaints; and that after the first study it was determined that the best way is to leave it as is; and now with a second study because of one complaint, we do another study with the same results. In response to a question about the study s cost, Mr. Jackson said the study was done in-house, and Mr. Messner said the traffic count cost about $800. Councilmember Hafner said we have come to the same conclusion and haven t solved anything; that all four recommended options all have issues common to accidents and/or delays, so nothing has been solved and we haven t eliminated a problem we think we might have and we really have no other evidence showing a traffic problem and there have been no accidents; and said he doesn t understand the whole concept and he s not sure why we are discussing this based on one complaint. Councilmember Bates said he went to the area and traffic flows fairly smoothly in that intersection; he said Thierman is very tight and northbound Thierman could accommodate about seven pick-up trucks; he said there are two lights, and in the right-hand lane is a sign indicating Yield on Green and Councilmember Bates said he thinks that is a mistake; both lanes are yielding when that light turns green; he said people are waiting for the traffic to clear going south on Thierman; then in twenty seconds the green arrow comes on, there is a long delay and people are not sure they have the right-of-way until that traffic stops; and asked why is there a yield on green when all the traffic is lined up wanting to make a left-hand turn. Mr. Messner said often times with the lagging left turn if there s not a lot of southbound opposing traffic, that left-turn lane can operate as a permissive state, so people can move out into the intersection and wait for an available gap to make the left turn; when that twenty seconds is up the protected left turn phase comes on, so the reason for implementing this is to try to get more traffic through on a left-turn while southbound traffic continues, all in an effort to make the intersection more efficient. Concerning semi-trucks, Councilmember Bates said he only saw one and that truck driver had no trouble making the turn; and said he also recommends leaving the intersection exactly the way it is now, but to change the arrow to automatically make the left turn. Mr. Messner said he could research that. There was other brief discussion concerning level of service and of the intersection in general with apparent Council consensus for staff to conduct the software simulation. At 8:00 p.m., Mayor Grafos called for a ten-minute recess; he reconvened the meeting at 8:11 p.m. 6. Truck Parking in Residential Zone Cary Driskell After City Attorney Driskell gave a brief background on this issue, he explained that he researched police department violations and found none regarding the no trucks nor any violations of running refrigeration units or idling in residential areas; he said there were no reports of violations and no violations issued. Mr. Driskell said that he spoke with Mr. Rick Squibb, a truck driver who testified in 2012 about wanting to allow parking in residential areas, and who said his position has not changed. Mr. Driskell said he is open to discussion and comments. Deputy Mayor Woodard asked about having an ordinance that has a future effective date, and Mr. Driskell said that it is possible to have an ordinance with a delayed implementation. Councilmember Pace said this topic fits into Council s core value to Council Study Session 06-03-2014 Page 5 of 6
preserve the character of residential neighborhoods and that people don t want trucks parked in neighborhoods; and that he was hoping to figure out a good commonsense ordinance to prevent trucks from parking in front of people s houses but still honor property rights; and said he would like to have a discussion about what the city might do to make it easier for truck drivers to park trucks elsewhere. Councilmember Bates said he would like to hear form the truckers again; he also questioned whether this issue should include motor homes, recreational vehicles, or trailers; said we don t want to make something so stringent that people with a thirty foot RV can t park it in their own driveway; he said there are a lot of fifth wheelers and we need to look at it all; and said perhaps they should only be permitted to be parked in the driveway or the side of the house. Councilmember Hafner said when this issue was brought to Council as an ordinance, he and Mayor Grafos voted against it; he said he didn t want any trucks in his or any residential neighborhood; he said every time Council tried a compromise, it ended up with trucks still being permitted to park in a residential area. Deputy Mayor Woodard said there are different kinds of residential lots, and if Council decides to have a public hearing, he would like staff to notify truckers about it. Councilmember Pace suggested we have a creative ordinance; that it needs to consider RV s and other trucks such as Snap-ontools, or Schwan; but still keep people s property rights in mind. Councilmember Hafner said the issue is semi-trucks parking on the street blocking a home or a view, and Councilmember Wick said that most of the blocked view is not due to the truck but the semi-trailer. Councilmember Hafner mentioned the need for emergency vehicles to have easy access, and if trucks are parked on the street, it could prove to be a problem. Mr. Driskell said he would research this topic further for a future council agenda. 7. Advance Agenda Mayor Grafos Councilmember Hafner suggested our City consider some kind of a festival to start drawing people into our City, something similar to what occurs in the South Perry neighborhood; and Mr. Jackson said he would look into that suggestion. 8. Council Comments Mayor Grafos There were no additional Council comments. 9. City Manager Comments Mike Jackson Mr. Jackson had no additional comments. It was moved by Deputy Mayor Woodard, seconded, and unanimously agreed to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 8:36 p.m. ATTEST: Dean Grafos, Mayor Christine Bainbridge, City Clerk Council Study Session 06-03-2014 Page 6 of 6