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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAugust 18, 2014COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF JEFFERSONVILLE, INDIANA August 18, 2014 The Common Council of the City of Jeffersonville, Indiana met in regular session in Room 101, 500 Quartermaster Court, Jeffersonville, Indiana at 7:OOpm, on Monday August 18, 2014_ Council President Julius with Vicki Conlin, City Clerk, called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. President Julius asked those in attendance to stand as Councilperson Samuels gave the Invocation. President Julius then led all those present in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. The roll call and those present were: Councilperson Smith, Councilperson Payne, Councilperson Sellers, Councilperson Gill, Councilperson Glover, President Julius, Councilperson Samuel, and Councilperson Owen. Councilperson Zastawny absent. MINUTES TO BE APPROVED: Councilperson Glover made a motion to APPROVE the minutes from the regular Council meeting on August 4, 2014, with Vice President Gill seconding, PASSING on a vote of 8-0. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA: Vice President Gill asked Councilperson Owen if under item 1 in Unfinished Business he made a motion to pass in the first or second reading_ Councilperson Owen stated it was passed in the first reading on August 4, 2014- Councilperson Owen made a motion to APPROVE the agenda with the changes, with Vice President Gill seconding, PASSING on a vote of 8-0_ cLA1M5 TO BE APPROVECO: General Claims: Controller Amy Deering presented the general claims list in the amount of $1,321,629.49. City Clerk Conlin presented two hand carried claims, the first one for $2,500.00 from HCC the insurance company back from January 20, 2011. The next one is for $10,000.00 from April 21, 2011. It will be a total of $12,500.00. Councilperson Owen inquired as to what these were. City Clerk Conlin stated that the insurance company had done an audit and found that these had not been paid. Vice President Gill asked for a new total. Controller Amy leering stated the new total to be $1,334,129.49. Councilperson Owen made the motion to APPROVE the claims with the addition, with Councilperson Samuels seconding, PASSING on a vote of 5-2-1. President Julius abstains. Vice President Gill voted against because she does not support the purchase of alcohol. Councilperson Smith voted against this because of purchases through Park's Riverstage. REPORT OF THE CLERK: Recognition of Patty Rush. Patty Rush was recognized and given gratitude for her 20 years of dedicated service to Clark County and Jeffersonville. She was personally thanked, given a plaque, and personal gift from City Clerk Conlin. 1 A. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: 1. Les Merkley — 2014 -OR -38 An Ordinance Amending Ordinance 2006 -OR -28 and 2008 -OR -51 Regarding Refuse/Garbage Collection: At the request of Vice President Gill and per the recommendation of the Street Department we are trying to clean up the existing ordinances regarding garbage collection. Councilperson Owen asks if there have been any changes, City Attorney Les Merkley states no. Councilperson Owens made the motion to PASS 2014 -OR -38 on the second and third reading, with Councilperson Gill seconding, PASSING on a vote of 8-0. 2. Amy Deering — 2014 -OR -41 An Ordinance of Additional Appropriation: Ms. Deering requested approval on the second and third reading with no changes being made since the last meeting. Councilperson Samuels questions if council should consider this being dropped to 290, per a conversation with Andy Crouch. This lets the Sewer Department have a part in this project, since it was originated by them. Councilperson Sellers states that Sewer Board already had the money for this. Councilperson Samuels asked for clarification, did the Sewer Board have $40,000.00 to put toward this project? Vice President Gill states this is what she heard. Councilperson Sellers states that this does not have to do with pavement on the road, it has to do with curbing and driveways. It has to do with drainage not paving. President Lewis asks City Attorney Scott Lewis if the Sewer Board wanted to give them the money for this project, could they put it in non -reverting. City Attorney Scott Lewis stated he had not heard anything about allocation for anything other than what is in the current contract and because of that there could be legal issues. I do not want you to assume they are allocating money if they are not. Councilperson Owen suggests leaving this as is. PUBLIC HEARING: Council President Julius opened the Public Hearing at 7:07pm, closed the hearing at 7:07pm. Councilperson Glover made a motion to PASS 2014 -OR -41 on the third and final reading, with Councilperson Sellers seconding, PASSING on a vote of 8-0. At 7:09 p.m. Councilperson Zastawny arrived. B. NEW BUSINESS: 1. John Kraft — 2014 -OR -43- An Ordinance Changing the Zoning Map Designation of 14 Parcels of Land Located at 10th and Spring Street: For the record, John Kraft, with the law firm of Young, Linderson, and Kraft 126 West Spring Street in New Albany, appearing on behalf of White Reach Development. Been before you on this property previously but then there was a desire to rezone the property to highway commercial. What has happened is there was a new application that was filed. It was taking 14 of the original parcels, totaling 7.7 acres, and rather than rezoning to highway commercial, it was rezoned to C2. This took four different zoning classifications, as a result of that requesting that all of these parcels now be rezoned in one particular zoning district. The result of this zone, by the request before you this evening, that C2 would now put it in a position for commercial use. It would not allow fast food or drive-thru restaurants. Also the applicant within the Plan Commission meeting did agree that some of the auto uses, the permitted uses under the terms of the C2, would allow auto sales, body shops, and auto repair. Under the terms set in the agreement by the applicant, the auto uses, the permitted uses, and ones granted by way of special exception, those would be taken out of that 2 C2 district and as a result of that there would be a deed restriction in order to rezone and keep these auto uses from moving forward. This comes to you with a favorable recommendation, it was a 4-2 vote from the Plan Commission. The Plan Commission is coming to you with a favorable recommendation, your considerations are the same as when we had it before with highway commercial. That primarily deals with a comprehensive plan, current conditions and character of structure and uses, most desirable use, conservation of property values, and responsible development and growth. You might recall as well when I was before you previously there were some issues about the sewer interceptor that certainly was addressed to the satisfaction that was necessary. When we went before the Plan Commission the issue of a traffic study was raised, that traffic study has been completed. If you read the executive summary, which also is the conclusion, it primarily addressed the fact that with the addition of an east bound right turn lane on 10th Street as well as a traffic signal on 9th, that is could be accommodated satisfactorily. Josh Hillman with Jacobi, Toombs, and Lanz is here with me. We are requesting that the 7.7 acre tract be rezoned to C2, which would be large scale, general commercial. I will address any questions you have of me, I will call on Josh, and likewise, • Lochmueller Group is here to answer any questions you may have concerning the traffic study. Thank you. Josh Hillman with Jacobi, Toombs, and Lanz Engineers, 1829 East Spring Street New Albany, Indiana. What we are requesting is rezoning. A traffic information study provided a list of recommendations or guidance on construction. The Redevelopment Commission has an infrastructure Improvements Project that is under design for this area as well which include the traffic signal at 9th and Spring Street. It would include intersection and signalization improvements at 10th and Spring Street. The development itself will take care of some of the infrastructure improvements that are identified on Indiana Avenue. Everything that is in this traffic study will be addressed as a part of the Infrastructure Improvement's Project through Redevelopment. Vice President Gill asked, so the public knows, if the entrance off the exit was only 140 feet when you come off the expressway; that is no longer being considered, correct? Josh Hillman responded that at this time he did not know what was proposed for the intersection right off of Indiana Avenue. Initially there were talks of having a fast food restaurant there, but this zoning will not allow for that. Drive way entrances will be per city Planning and Zoning requirements and will go through the development plan process. Councilman Smith raised his concern that he wanted to make sure the developers did not hold the city hostage if they do not get the bond or money. City Attorney Scott Lewis state that there are certain contingencies in place that favor the city for protection sake. Nick Bata is hereto answer any questions you may have concerning the executive summary. Nick Bata with Lochmueller Group, as part of our study we collected traffic counts, analyzed recent traffic counts, and we get a little better understanding of the proposed development to then use trip generations. So basically for a restaurant of X footage, you can estimate how much traffic that restaurant would draw. We put all this together and make some assumptions of where traffic will be coming or going based off of the development. Those assumptions are contained in the report. As part of the existing traffic we took a look at how is the network operating today, and that is more or less our baseline. Then we look at how the network would operate with the development. Our final task is to look at what improvements need to be made to bring the network back to its baseline, to make it whole again, so to speak, as a result of the development. President Julius inquired as to if they took into account that the closing of some exits would bring more traffic into the city; a higher traffic count. Nick Bata answered that the 3 scope of the study was not necessarily that big. They used traffic counts from the City and INDOT, not a bigger network. Just 10th and Spring Street and a little to the south. Councilman Samuels stated that he had a legal question, and appreciated the study, but what binds us to follow this study? Corporate Attorney Les Merkley states that his understanding is that Redevelopment will go over this again and do amending, per Mr. Merkley's recommendation, due to this being based on the agreement that was made prior to being denied. Councilman Samuels inquired was to whether there was a way to approve this if it is made contingent on following the guidelines of the plan. Corporate Attorney Les Merkley states that they can voluntarily agree to this, we cannot impose. John Kraft stated that they will do so and make a written commitment and take the traffic study into consideration. The development plan has to be approved, and can incorporate that traffic study as well. Nick Bata presents some proposals as part of the study. A lot of their attention was focused at 10th and Spring. Wanted to make sure they could handle the extra traffic from Indiana Avenue. Utilize Indiana Avenue for East End traffic only, in order to bypass the 10th and Spring Street signals. There are an estimated 100 cars an hour, at peak hour. We looked into if we could allow more movements into the development on Indiana Avenue. Our biggest concern to allow that, would be the Westbound left off 10th into Indiana Avenue is a safety issue concern. The Westbound lefts to turn onto Indiana Avenue are going to need a bigger gap for oncoming traffic than is typical. It is also complicated by the fact that cars are coming in at a higher peed off the interstate. So we had a rather significant safety issue there. We also thought about if you had a left turn lane for left turn signal, allowing turners exclusively. Alleviate safety concern because there would not be the opposing traffic for left turners. The drawback is it would really add time to the signal cycle, putting it at a deficient level. The last big safety issue is the angle of the intersection, your sight distance can be blocked. They concluded that the Indiana Avenue approach should be open to any more incoming movements, other than that Eastbound right. The Eastbound right has the benefit of drawing those 100 vehicles out of the intersection. A secondary benefit is that we can cut the yellow time in half on the signals, this saves a lot of time. The traffic signal at 9th and Spring would have signals for cars to go around to handle extra traffic. We do not see any operational issues. PUBLIC HEARING: Council President Julius opened the Public Hearing at 7:29pm, closed the hearing at 7:30pm. Councilman Zastawny states that he supports this and thinks it is going to be a lot better use of the land, better traffic, and the traffic study supports that. So I do support this rezoning. Councilman Samuels asks if they are able to add the contingency. John Kraft stated they would do so through a written agreement. Vice President Gill thanked them for their clarification on the safety and traffic issues. Councilperson Owens made a motion to APPROVE, with Councilman Zastawny seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. 2. Jasmine Booker and Christopher Booker — Autism Awareness: Angela Jackson Brown, guest with the Booker's to give a presentation about Booker Autism Foundation of Learning, BAFL. Introduced Ms. Booker to present. She was speaking to raise awareness and their plans to relocate their charter school. Their goals are to incorporate music and the arts to assist in learning. They want to continue to share in their talents with live performances and get others to come out and be a part of the program. These helps to keep these kids on task and out of the judicial system. They are misunderstood and fall through the cracks because they cannot 4 communicate effectively. This charter school would take the talents of these individuals and use them productively. Most display their skills best through visualization. Councilman Samuels states that he works at an agency that has a group home for boys and agrees with everything Ms. Brown is saying. Jasmine Booker states that it takes a whole community to get this going. Whether it is through funding and assistance, and connections, obviously. There will be a 3rd annual gala at Kye's this weekend. They are very honored this year because they are getting a proclamation from the Mayor's Office. This would be great for the council and the public to meet BAFL. This invite is extended to everyone. It will be Saturday the 23rd at Kye's. Mr. Booker stated that they were trying to find a location for the school, and were hoping for Jeffersonville. It would help both sides of the river to put it in a central area of development. Councilman Smith suggested to them to meet with County Council, Clarksville, and all the local municipalities. Brown states that they are pulling from all their resources. The children are the most important resource. Ms. Brown started a UN for autism, this was a global effort with royalty and dignitaries from other countries. She was asked by the UN to be a part of their organization. BAFL will be the only organization to represent autism in the US for the UN. Brown added that Ms. Booker is closely connected and this is a personal journey they want to share with the world because she has children on the spectrum. Brown wants to empower other children in this situation. To challenge these gifted children. Thanked the council for their time. 3. Les Merkley — 2014 -OR- 44 - An Ordinance Changing the Zoning Map Designation of a Certain Tract of Property Located on 6.401 Acres of Land in Stacy Spring Subdivision: Petitioner is Bob Lynn, represented by Greg Fifer. Greg Fifer, of the law firm of Applegate Fifer Pulliam LLC, 428 Meigs Avenue, here on behalf of the petitioner. Stacy Springs was annexed into the city of Jeffersonville with the annexation that was originally adopted in 2007, but prior to that had received a subdivision plan approved from the county. The property runs all the way from Stacy Road on 62 almost all the way to Bethany Road. It is one of the larger subdivisions that is platted for the Southern Indiana area. When it was platted it was done so with commercial lots on the road. Somehow when it came in, a certain block was zoned R3, whereas in fact, it was intended to be zoned commercial. Bob now proposes as a buffer for the road, with increasing traffic on Highway 612, which will probably continue to increase, to convert this to commercial use. Bob proposes to build mini storage units here. We have agreed to limit what types of commercial uses that would be allowed. If the mini storage units were not put in the only other things could be put in would be neighborhood commercial, which are much more restrictive than C2. I have drafted a zoning commitment that puts this into place. One tweak needs to be made, the rezoning includes a small strip that runs behind the commercial lots. This little strip became R3 in the annexation. It is about 4.5 acres, the end of it, the tail, about 2 acres, we propose to make it C2 with no restrictions. The rezoning of the tail will not operate to the detriment of any residential lot owners that will adjoin that. It will still have to meet all of the buffer plan requirements, landscape requirements that would be required under a development plan to be approved by the Plan Commission as each of those lots are taken down and an actual development is proposed. Jason stated that they have agreed to make the 6 foot fence increase to 8 feet and agreed to let the Plan Commission staff choose a different color besides blue for the roof. Councilperson Glover stated that initially the residents did have some issues but they are now comfortable with the new restrictions and proposals. They do not want gas stations or liquor stores, nothing detrimental to the neighborhoods. I have a letter from Mr. Lynn and this was discussed with the residents. 5 PUBLIC HEARING: Bob Lynn wanted to thank Councilperson Brian Glover for his direct involvement in this. 75% residents were knowledgeable about this before it was even proposed. Everything planned was well thought out and provided a buffer between them and commercial, to avoid the horror stories the community was fearful of. Council President Julius opened the Public Hearing at 7:52pm, closed the hearing at 7:55pm. Councilperson Owens made the motion to APPROVE 2014 -OR -44, with Councilperson Samuels seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. 4. Dennis Julius — Ohio River Greenway Development Corporation — Permanent Memorials, Monuments and Public Arts Policy: Everything is in your packet, this was brought to us about a year ago by the Greenway Commission. I want to revisit this and open discussion to see if it can pass. They wanted a monument, and the city would maintain it always because it is our property. Main purpose is to keep everything looking the same, congenial through Jeffersonville and Clarksville, the Greenway. Councilperson Samuels states that this in conflict with the Public Arts Commission. President Julius states that this would only affect the Greenway area, no the parks and such. City Attorney Scott Lewis stated this would just be the area defined as the Greenway. Suggested you could amend or revise to have the Public Art Commission involved in this decision. Councilperson Smith suggests that the groups meet together before any action is taken on this issue. Councilperson Samuels suspects anything they'd want to put would be fine, but we are different and want to have some flair that maybe New Albany and Clarksville probably wouldn't have. I want us to have some control on the issue. President Julius wants to keep the ball rolling because there is someone who wants to aggressively put something there. Councilperson Samuels says there is precedence for historical areas, and asked who needs to approve these things. Councilperson Smith states that he wouldn't want certain signs in the area. President Julius asks Councilperson Samuels to move this forward, he agrees. 5. Les Merkley — 2014 -OR- 45 - An Ordinance Replacing Ordinance 2014 -OR -14, Ordinance Establishing Longevity for City Employees Other Than Police and Fire Officials: Corporate Attorney Les Merkley states that the prior ordinance was vague as best and contradicted itself. This was in regards to how longevity was paid if the employment was severed. Corporate Attorney Merkley and City Attorney Lewis believe the county does it on a pro -rated share, but as of January 2014 longevity was based on time served. Pro -rated if severed at the beginning of the next year. Will be based on the period of pay periods worked. Corporate Attorney Merkley states they are working on writing a new handbook and hopefully finalizing it in the next few weeks and getting that out. Councilperson Samuels made a motion to APPROVE 2014 -OR -45 on the first and second reading, with Vice President Gill seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. CITY COUNCIL ATTORNEY REPORT: City Attorney Scott Lewis states that the Sewer Board wants a workshop meeting potentially this Friday. City Council is invited, and he wanted to inquire as to who would like to come or could be there. There will be a financial consultant giving a presentation, and does not see it lasting longer than an hour. 9 a.m. is the earliest if that works. City Attorney Lewis is giving the green light, all council is invited. Councilperson Owens states that he cannot make that date. DEPARTMENT HEAD REPORTS: None at this time. 6 PUBLIC COMMENT: Mike Hunt wants to address signage. He asks the council to consider having City Attorney Lewis revise a signed ordinance. Not happy with the semi -trailers with signs on them. He states that this makes 10th Street look bad. He wants these gone before the city elections come along. Clarksville has a sign ordinance that banned the prosecutor sign on the semi -trailer and it was relocated here. Also, not sure if it even has tags. Wants to have political signs limited in size. President Julius states that there should be a signed ordinance about this. Corporate Attorney Merkley is going to check on this, and they are in the process of rewriting the signed ordinance. Vice President Gill wants the no tags issue addressed. Mike Hunt says he doesn't think our ordinance applies to political signs and wants it to. He feels like this the time to clean up a little bit. COUNCIL COMMENTS: Councilperson Smith: Should we look into coming up with a standard for a facility that would require a certain fence height and color? Or is this something we want to handle as it comes? Should we come up with a standard? Councilperson Glover cautions about putting standards on this. If we put any type of guidelines in place, we are saying we are open for business. Now we have some say in how these things look. Councilperson Smith asks at what point they turn anything down. Councilperson Zastawny states that it goes through Planning and Zoning and UEZ if done correctly. Councilperson Smith states that just because they don't like something, doesn't mean it shouldn't go in. Feels like this is something to think about. Councilperson Sellers states that this could be problematic based on where the facilities will be. Councilperson Smith just wanted to think about it and throw it out there. Councilperson Zastawny: Spoke to Corporate Attorney Merkley about redevelopment as it relates to state statues. A report is done per City Controller Amy Deering. Corporate Attorney Merkley says it was the same report as last year but requires more information. Councilperson Zastawny also inquired about the marina, the current weight scale is slowing things down. Corporate Attorney Merkley says that this should be good for 3 months, we have one. Councilperson Zastawny stated that he did not know what has been approved and what hasn't. Corporate Attorney Merkley states that there a lot of issues and contingencies based on specific issues. President Julius called Jorge after the bid opening and discussed this with him quite a bit and the jetty was not part of the bid. Councilperson Zastawny supports this but finds it strange that we don't know what it will encompass until after the fact. Corporate Attorney Merkley states that this will be based on engineer's estimates, not attorneys or council. Councilperson Payne: None at this time. Councilperson Sellers: Hendersaw from Lay Ministries wans a golf team put together. Just wanted to see if the council would be interested. They also want council to attend their annual meeting on September 15. Also budget meetings were discussed and they want to have them September 23, 24, 25, 29, and 30. Want to advertise but may not need them all. President Julius states they should start at 6 p.m. Vice President Gill: Appreciates all the council members who came out to National Night Out. Board of Public Works and the Street Department, thanks to them. Thank you to the fire department. Publicly thanks to the city. Wanted to commend Jeffersonville Fire Department for their response to the fire on Howard's Avenue. Very proud of the fire department. 7 Councilperson Glover: Inquired as to where we stood on the fire truck insurance plan. Councilperson Smith stated that some adjustments were made within the contingencies and everything is good. Councilman Glover asked if they got their check and President Julius responded yes. Councilperson Owen: Just wanted to echo Vice President Gill's sentiments about the fire department. Councilperson Samuel: Wanted to state his appreciation to the FOP for their huge contribution to the families and girls who went to the Little League World Series. Many family members were able to go and support the girls thanks to this. Congratulated Corporate Attorney Merkley for jumping head first into an engagement and will be married. Councilperson Samuels mentioned that the next meeting will be kicked to September 2nd due to the holiday. President Julius: Ed, at the last meeting you brought up C1 to S1. My advice to council as a Park's Board member, we are not ready to take this over. Redevelopment should have gone through the process to change the zone. I say we ask Redevelopment to go back and rezone the park. Probably should go through Park's and look at the criteria. Councilperson Zastawny states that we also need to do the same for the Big Four as well. President Julius says maybe take that up for the next Park's Meeting. Councilperson Zastawny states that we also need to go through Planning and Zoning for the discovery period. This avoids contention. President Julius also stated that he did two ride along with the police last week. They were very accommodating and it was a good experience. ADJOURNMENT: Councilperson made a motion to ADJOURN at 8:24pm, with Councilperson seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. PPROVED BY: Dennis Juliuresident Vicki Conlin, City Clerk 8