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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-02-01 City Council Regular MinutesCITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING FEBRUARY 1, 2011 The regular meeting of the City Council of Apache Junction, Arizona, was held on February Apache Junction City Council Chambers pursuant required by law. the City of 1, 2011, at the to the notice CALL TO ORDER Mayor Insalaco called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. INVOCATION Councilmember Wilson gave the Invocation. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Councilmember Coleman led the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL Councilmembers Present:Mayor Insalaco Vice Mayor Dietz Councilmember Barker Councilmember Coleman Councilmember Serdy Councilmember Wilson Staff Present: (Councilmember Eck was absent.) City Manager George Hoffman Assistant City Manager Bryant Powell City Clerk Kathleen Connelly City Attorney Joel Stern Public Safety Director Jerald Monahan Parks & Recreation Director Jeff Bell Development Svcs. Director Brad Steinke Others Present:Grants Specialist Roger Hacker Business Advocate Janine Solley REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL FEBRUARY 1, 2011 PAGE 1 OF 12 Records Supervisor Rhonda Wise Animal Control Officer Laura Voelk Administrative Assistant Barbara Duft CRU Coordinator Constance Halonen Captain Troy Mullender ACCEPTANCE OF CONSENT AGENDA )Vice Mayor Dietz MOVED THAT THE CONSENT AGENDA BE ACCEPTED AS PRESENTED. Councilmember Barker SECONDED THE MOTION. VOTE:Unanimous. The motion carried. ANNOUNCEMENT OF CURRENT EVENTS Councilmember Wilson invited the council and staff to the First Touch for the Black Stallion Literacy Program on Friday at Desert Vista School.The children will get their first book. They will start at 10:30 in the morning. Councilmember Barker commented she had the privilege of volunteering for the Itty Bitty Olympics on Saturday.It was a great day with hundreds of little kids doing physical activities.She complimented Heather, Crystal and the parks and recreation department for a great event. Councilmember Coleman announced on February 20 they have the Lost Dutchman Marathon.He was advised today that the half marathon is already full, which this far out is quite an accomplishment.If someone wants to run now, they must do the full marathon, 10K, 8K or the 5K.It is the 10 year anniversary and they will be giving finisher medals in all of the races.In the 10K he believes they have to finish in the top 300.He will be running in the full marathon. AWARDS, PRESENTATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS Grants Specialist Roger Hacker announced the Salt River Brass will be doing a concert on February 12 to benefit the parks and REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL FEBRUARY 1, 2011 PAGE 2 OF 12 recreation department.He introduced Laurel Pasantino, president of the board of the Salt River Brass, who gave a brief presentation on the Salt River Brass. CITY MANAGER'S REPORT City Manager George Hoffman commented on the Salt River Brass, thanked the mayor for representing the city at a Mesa Oath of Office ceremony, and commented on an article in the Arizona Office of Tourism News on Apache Junction. Councilmember Serdy interrupted to say after the event was over, he took the people from the Arizona Office of Tourism on a tour of the Multi -Generational Center.It was the star of the show, especially when they saw the views of the Superstition Mountains from the track.It is such a great venue.They really liked the venue and the way parks and recreation take care of it. City Manager George Hoffman commented people that are introduced to Apache Junction are often pleasantly surprised.He continued with his briefing, saying the city has now had 3 straight months of good sales tax data, but that there are 2 bills in the legislature that could be harmful to cities and towns.He added the Arizona Center for Civic Leadership invited Pat Brenner to attend a session they had, mentioning the Citizens Leadership Institute as a model for a state program, and that Crystal Sawyer of the parks and recreation department had an article appear in the Arizona Parks and Recreation Association publication. Public Safety Director Jerald Monahan introduced the Responsible Pet Owner Campaign.Presentations were given by Renee Mullender, Shelly Monahan, Captain Troy Mullender, Animal Control Officer Laura Voelk, Tuni House from Paws for Life, Marta St. James, and Community Resource Unit Coordinator Constance Halonen.During the presentation City Clerk Kathleen Connelly was recognized for adopting the first dog from the Apache Junction Animal Control shelter and was presented with a charter membership of the Silver Paw Club.Community Resource Unit Coordinator Constance Halonen presented certificates to the volunteers at animal control. REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL FEBRUARY 1, 2011 PAGE 3 OF 12 Mayor Insalaco commented it is a breath of fresh air to hear all the compliments from the volunteers and recall in the back of your mind all the nasty letters in the paper that are very negative.This outweighs those one hundredfold. Development Services Director Brad Steinke gave a presentation on the 2010 General Plan. Councilmember Coleman commented he appreciated his incorporation of the ideas and comments that he got from the council regarding the maps and all that. Vice Mayor Dietz added the work that he and his staff have done is phenomenal. PUBLIC HEARINGS DEVELOPMENT FEE ORDINANCE APPEAL BY MELISSA TRUDELLE )Development Services Director Brad Steinke briefed the council on the item. Mayor Insalaco requested the applicant address the council. Ms. Melissa Trudelle addressed the council.She stated her intent is to take a vacant lot in an already completely developed neighborhood and build a new home.The lot is one of those eyesores sitting there with nothing but weeds on it.She was not aware prior to closing of the impact fees that she would be required to pay. She is here tonight to see if she can get the impact fees waived, which will hopefully prolong her relationship with this city and continue to do further projects like this. Mayor Insalaco opened the public hearing on the item. Mr. Elliott Fisher, 547 E. Quail, Apache Junction, addressed the council.He stated he sees the development fee situation as a shakedown and always has, especially with the economic climate now.The fee is unbearable for a lot of people trying to upgrade the city.They REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL FEBRUARY 1, 2011 PAGE 4 OF 12 have passed maintenance standards to improve the city and then slam people with these expensive fees to improve their lots. She wants to take a lot and do something with it.He does not understand what the goal is for the fees.He does not believe that the fee actually goes into the development of roads in that neighborhood that the fees are collected for.He has not seen it in the past and he is not convinced. Mayor Insalaco closed the public hearing with no one else wishing to speak.He reopened the item to council discussion. Councilmember Serdy commented this was brought up before with the previous council.Five years ago one could buy any piece of dirt and plop something on it and turn it for a big profit.We were behind the times; he believed the development fee at that time was $3,000.He thinks that the jump was too big at that time and should have been gradually increased.He thinks they discussed several years ago the lowering of fees for inf ill to try to incentivize the inf ill in the older parts of town.Portalis and the large developments would be left higher where they are at.He would like to see some relief and incentive for inf ill projects. Councilmember Wilson asked what the impact would be to the rest of the community if they waive the fees. Councilmember Serdy commented he understands there is nothing they can do here.He meant for in the future.He would like it looked into. City Attorney Joel Stern stated Arizona Revised Statues Section 9-463.05 requires that development fees be administered in a fair manner.Essentially that means that if they waive the fee in this case, what would be required, but it is not in the statute however it is how it is interpreted by other cities, towns and legal experts who have dealt with development fees over the years, is that the city should take the money from the general fund and put that dollar amount back into the development fee fund.That is what is supposed to be happening and he believes that is the correct interpretation of a waiver.That way there is no discrimination REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL FEBRUARY 1, 2011 PAGE 5 OF 12 among developers and properties.No one developer is paying for another person's waiver.That is the intent behind the statute. Mayor Insalaco asked him to explain what all the fees are for. City Attorney Joel Stern stated there are police fees, library fees, and parks and recreation fees.However, the road fees are the largest part of it.The city does not have a fire department so there are no fire department fees.Other cities have fire department fees and sewer fees and have fees much higher.We do not have a sewer fee that we collect for the sewer district or one that we collect the fire department. Assistant City Manager Bryant Powell added additional fees are for open space and general government. City Attorney Joel Stern stated 8CA of those fees are the road portion of it.That is the cost of the use of the development, how it affects and impacts the community. Councilmember Coleman commented the fee schedule is actually based on a calculation of the actual costs of that infrastructure.If they want to look at reducing the fees, if this is not the actual cost, then what they are looking at actually is how much they want the taxpayers to subsidize the cost of that infrastructure.If the costs are actually lower, then we should lower them.However, they have been told that this is the actual cost.He asked the city manager if he was interpreting this correctly. City Manager George Hoffman stated that is correct. Councilmember Coleman commented if they want to tax incentivize inf ill development, then we will be talking about taxpayer subsidizing the development.The fees are based on the actual calculated costs. He does not know if he will ever be able to convince Mr. Fisher that those are what the costs are.They have seen presentations REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL FEBRUARY 1, 2011 PAGE 6 OF 12 on the conditions of the roads.As traffic increases bit by bit, those fees go to pay for new roads.The expansion of the library is another example.The rate of books being checked out increased so we expanded the library with the development fees to handle the increase in population that we had.That is what it is.It is not immediate, it is the collectiveness of it. They cannot put up a fence and say they like the rural nature and want to stay small.But, he has heard from residents that they understand growth, they just do not want to pay for it or subsidize it.That is what the development fees do.The mere fact that we would be asked to take money from the general fund to pay for this waiver would be a very difficult thing for him to explain to the taxpayers. City Attorney Joel Stern stated there is another option for this applicant.She can come up with a different calculation if she believes these fees do not represent the actual cost.However, that is not the way this one went.This is an actual request for a waiver.The City of Mesa recently had a court case where they added a new development fee, called the cultural facilities development fee. It basically pays for the cultural events downtown.That development fee was upheld by the Court of Appeals.It is on appeal to the Supreme Court.There are different types of development fees that can come in.This city tried a school development fee in 2000. Councilmember Coleman stated he does not want to talk about that one. City Attorney Joel Stern stated the analysis in that case was that it is not related to a city function.This statute was thought out pretty well, in that sense, if you look at the way the Court of Appeals looked at it.These are not needless development fees.They are what is needed to run the city. Councilmember Coleman stated he believed that what the court held was schools were not necessary public infrastructure. City Attorney Joel Stern stated that is correct.It was not listed specifically under REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL FEBRUARY 1, 2011 PAGE 7 OF 12 the statute and therefore the city could not do it.All the fees we have are listed under the statute. Vice Mayor Dietz asked if our fees were the lowest or one of the lowest in the valley. City Attorney Joel Stern stated based on population and infrastructure he believes that is correct. City Manager George Hoffman commented he believes they are comparable.The largest component of impact fees are for roads.The cost of building roads has some basic shared costs across the valley.He thinks they are in the mix both in the cost to build a road and what we charge to build that road.He offered that Councilmember Coleman is absolutely right.The philosophy behind the fees is that growth should pay its own way.One of your speakers referenced that he did not see road improvements going into the neighborhood.The way the fee is designed, the whole city is currently the allowable zone for where the impact fee can be utilized.Councilmember Serdy has wondered, and staff wonders, if they can reduce the fees north of the freeway by making that its own zone and making the infrastructure costs south of the freeway a separate zone.They will need to utilize a specialized consultant to develop this one so that it is accurate and legally defensible to modify it.He is intuitively optimistic that they can achieve that objective because there is more infrastructure in now.Until that analysis is done, he cannot say that conclusively.It is his hope and his belief. They do not see so much of the neighborhood roads being built, but those who have been here a good many years will remember Superstition was not as it is now, nor was Broadway.We had two lane roads that worked fine for a very long time with four way stop signs.Person by person, dozens by dozens, hundreds by hundreds and finally thousands, as we grew over time, resulted in those two lane roads not being enough.The policy question for the council and community is if we need to go from a two lane road to a five lane road, should the existing residents pay for that or should each new home/growth pay for that.The option was the latter, that new growth should pay their proportionate share of building that new infrastructure.The system of fees in intended to have the new people help shoulder REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL FEBRUARY 1, 2011 PAGE 8 OF 12 their burden.It was not legally required to have them do it. As Councilmember Coleman said, they could have the current residents pay for the new residents, or they could just not build the road.They have all been in parts of the valley where there is considerable traffic congestion. Vice Mayor Dietz asked if this also included the police department. City Manager George Hoffman commented growth has an impact across a variety of service levels.He spent most of the time talking about roads because it is the single most expensive component, but what he just mentioned is also a component. Mayor Insalaco closed the discussion with no further comments and called for a motion. Councilmember Barker MOVED THAT THE DEVELOPMENT FEE ORDINANCE APPEAL BY MELISSA TRUDELLE FOR A WAIVER OF THE $9,508.00 DEVELOPMENT FEE FOR CONSTRUCTION OF A CONVENTIONAL HOME AT 341 W. 22ND AVENUE BE DENIED. Councilmember Coleman SECONDED THE MOTION. VOTE:Unanimous. (Councilmember Wilson stated during the vote that this is a complete new home.There has never been an existing structure on the property nor was a residence there in the past.) The motion carried. OLD BUSINESS None. NEW BUSINESS None. COUNCIL DIRECTION TO STAFF REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL FEBRUARY 1, 2011 PAGE 9 OF 12 None. SELECTION OF MEETING DATES, TIMES, LOCATIONS, AND PURPOSES Vice Mayor Dietz MOVED THAT AN EXECUTIVE SESSION AT 5:45 P.M. AND A WORK SESSION AT 7:00 P.M. BE HELD ON MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2011, IN THE CITY COUNCIL CONFERENCE ROOM AND CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS,RESPECTIVELY; AND THAT AN EXECUTIVE SESSION AT 5:45 P.M. BE HELD ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2011, IN THE CITY COUNCIL CONFERENCE ROOM. Councilmember Barker SECONDED THE MOTION. VOTE:Unanimous. The motion carried. CALL TO THE PUBLIC: Mr. Elliott Fisher, 547 E. Quail, Apache Junction, addressed the council regarding the medical reserve corps, Superstition Mountain Promotional Corporation, school impact fees, residential impact fees, and the ability of cities to finance. Mr. James Boerigter, 1054 E. Roosevelt, Apache Junction, addressed the council regarding changing the rules on the notification on extension of bar premises. Councilmember Coleman commented Mr. Fisher was correct regarding the city not being able to collect the school impact fees.The appeals court said we could not do it.However, it is very common for one governmental entity to collect taxes on behalf of another governmental entity.Property tax for the school district is collected by the county.It is a common thing.One of the differences tonight between the appeal tonight and the appeal last time is that there had already been an existing structure on the last appeal that was granted.He voted against that one, also.Since there had been a structure, he can understand the way the council went on that one.As far as holding the city down, it puts us right in line with every other city that has development fees:Scottsdale, Mesa, Tempe, REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL FEBRUARY 1, 2011 PAGE 10 OF 12 Chandler, and Gilbert.As long as we are all holding each other down, it is an even playing field.He does not buy it.If they have bad infrastructure because they cannot pay for it, he thinks that is what holds cities down. Councilmember Barker asked the city manager to speak with Mr. Boerigter and try to see what the problem them. Councilmember Serdy commented he was going to ask the same thing.He added he believes all the cities pretty much do the same thing. ADJOURNMENT )Mayor Insalaco adjourned the meeting at 8:10 p.m. Consent Agenda Items are as follows: 1. Acceptance of Agenda. 2. Approval of Minutes of Regular Meeting of January 18, 2011. ACCEPTED THIS 15TH DAY OF FEBRUARY, 2011, BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF APACHE JUNCTION, ARIZONA. SIGNED AND ATTESTED TO THIS 15TH DAY OF FEBRUARY, 2011. HN S. INSALACO ayor ATTEST: KATHLEEN CONNELLY City Clerk REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL FEBRUARY 1, 2011 PAGE 11 OF 12 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Apache Junction, Arizona, held on the 1st day of February, 2011.I further certify that the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was present. Dated this 8th day of February, 2011. / ir #:1-4 -e Z Z-1‘,A,Z. KATHLEEN CONNELLY City Clerk REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL FEBRUARY 1, 2011 PAGE 12 OF 12