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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-08-02 City Council Regular MinutesCITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING AUGUST 2, 2011 The regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Apache Junction, Arizona, was held on August 2, 2011, at the Apache Junction City Council Chambers pursuant to the notice required by law. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Insalaco called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. INVOCATION Councilmember Wilson gave the Invocation. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Vice Mayor Dietz led the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL Councilmembers Present:Mayor Insalaco Vice Mayor Dietz Councilmember Barker Councilmember Serdy Councilmember Smithson Councilmember Wilson Staff Present: (Councilmember Coleman was absent.) City Manager George Hoffman Assistant City Manager Bryant Powell City Clerk Kathleen Connelly City Attorney Joel Stern Public Safety Director Jerald Monahan Interim Public Works Director Giao Pham Development Services Director Brad Steinke Others Present:Public Works Manager Shane Kiesow REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL AUGUST 2, 2011 PAGE 1 OF 12 Revenue Resources Manager Roger Hacker ACCEPTANCE OF CONSENT AGENDA )Vice Mayor Dietz MOVED THAT THE CONSENT AGENDA BE ACCEPTED AS PRESENTED; AND THAT APPROVAL BE GIVEN FOR THE PROPOSED INDIAN COMMUNITY STATE SHARED REVENUE PROGRAM:LOCAL NONPROFIT PARTICIPATION POLICIES. Councilmember Barker SECONDED THE MOTION. VOTE:Unanimous. The motion carried. AWARDS, PRESENTATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS Mayor Insalaco read a proclamation designating August 2011 as "Drowning Impact Awareness Month" and presented it to Tina Gerola of the Apache Junction Fire District. ANNOUNCEMENT OF CURRENT EVENTS Councilmember Serdy announced the art gallery in old Bashas' Plaza is having another First Friday event.The idea is to get all the businesses in the area to pitch in.He encouraged others to stop by and see if they have any ideas. Mayor Insalaco commented all city departments have employees who have been working more jobs than they have been getting paid for.Every department has helped to get this city through. Every department has lost employees.The public works department has lost its director and two members have taken over and are doing the job.People think of public works as doing the streets.They repair furniture, install the water key boxes for AJ Water at city hall, repair plumbing problems, repair city vehicles, clean the streets, and do a lot more.He thanked Shane and Giao for taking over the way they did and keeping the department going. Mayor Insalaco announced he was at VFW Post 7968 today where Officer Joe Lucero received the VFW National Law Enforcement REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL AUGUST 2, 2011 PAGE 2 OF 12 Award.He was nominated by Commander Jim Johnson.He was chosen at the local level, district level, state level and finally the national level.He was initially nominated for his efforts on the National Incident Management System, and his role for insuring not only the police department's compliance, but also for being involved regionally in arranging for free national level training for Apache Junction Police Department personnel.His efforts have insured the eligibility for the police department to continue receiving grant money.He was also nominated for the consistent way he carries out his duties day to day, and his compassion and caring for the people of the city. CITY MANAGER'S REPORT City Manager George Hoffman commented on the reconstruction of Winchester Road, vertical construction starting again at Central Arizona College, Councilmembers Barker and Smithson keeping an eye on the redistricting issues in the county and state, and keeping an eye on what transpires at the federal level and how it impacts the states and cities, specifically with the grants. PUBLIC HEARINGS RESOLUTION NO. 11-21, DECLARING CASE AM -1-11, AMENDMENTS TO THE ZONING ORDINANCE PERTAINING TO DOWNTOWN OVERLAY DISTRICT, A PUBLIC RECORD )Development Services Director Brad Steinke briefed the council on the item. Councilmember Wilson commented page 37, item 13 has a list of sign types not recommended for the downtown area.He would like clarification that moving signs are signs with moving elements. Development Services Director Brad Steinke stated if they are heading towards adopting digital LED design standards, what that is intending to say is that if they want digital signs, the design guidelines will allow them subject to these standards.He asked if they wanted him to go through them. REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL AUGUST 2, 2011 PAGE 3 OF 12 Mayor Insalaco requested he do so. Development Services Director Brad Steinke stated the first one would be the digital sign being incorporated into the free standing sign.It cannot be on the side of a building, sitting around separately or on top of the roof.The second one is that the portion of the free standing sign that is digital cannot exceed 50% of the total sign area.If they are allowed 100 square feet of free standing sign, only 50 square feet can be digital.That is still a big sign, and very expensive.The third one is that the message being displayed on this digital sign cannot be continuous.This is very important.It cannot be ongoing or fully animated.It has to change at a minimum of every 8 seconds.That may sound strange, but the industry has been working long and hard on this.Houston allowed continuous glowing digital signs and is now backing off because of the safety hazard with cars.People are fixating on the signs, texting, and one second turns into ten seconds.Phoenix is about to adopt their sign package; they are using 8 seconds.They are seeing 8 seconds to 10 seconds. If they want to let it all go and allow full motion graphics, then they just remove number three.Number 4 is maximum brightness.During the daytime the sun is about 7,500 nits.At nighttime, that same 7,500 nit sign would be a beacon blinding you.The industry states you need to have a different standard from night versus day.The nighttime standard is from 300 to 500 nits.He is uncomfortable because he has not really seen this to know what it means.That seems to be where the industry is headed.The fifth one, recently added, is if they want the digital signs to have a curfew rather than be on all night.The typical standard is to turn them off at 10 PM or the close of business, whichever is later.These are the standard requirements they are seeing with communities wrestling with this. Councilmember Wilson commented he had visited the mid -west, Chicago area, and got to see a lot of these wonderful signs.He noticed how some of them would display a series of words coming in from the center and flowing out.It would then hold for 8 seconds.He asked if that would be considered a moving sign. REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL AUGUST 2, 2011 PAGE 4 OF 12 Development Services Director Brad Steinke stated that would be part of the message.However the message appears, if it is like that, diagonal, or if they split things, once that message appears and sits there for 8 seconds, a similar one could appear.They would not be against that. Councilmember Wilson stated he wanted to make sure of that.He saw that a lot.It was eye- catching.They would come up with the regular price of gasoline.He just did not know the definition of a moving sign because this does flow into it.The other thing that he saw was a series of signs that are when you are crossing into New Mexico that almost look like fireworks going off with bright, flashing lights all over.It is eye-catching, but it is very distracting.He thinks that would be something they would not want. Development Services Director Brad Steinke stated that would violate the 8 second rule for strobe -like flashes.While the message can get there in an eye- catching manner, it has to stay there for 8 seconds. Councilmember Serdy asked if those signs were on a rural freeway. Councilmember Wilson stated some of them were.Some were in the community.The one mentioning the price of gasoline was in the community. Councilmember Barker commented he stated this was if they choose to tackle the LED sign standards.LED sign components are part of the adoption of the district design guidelines.She asked him to clarify how adopting the design guidelines is not adopting the digital LED sign standards. Development Services Director Brad Steinke stated he put this standard in both the ordinance and in the original design guidelines.Then he took it out of the ordinance but he did not take it out of the guidelines.If they want to introduce this in, they keep the guidelines as presented before them and simply add this to the ordinance. REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL AUGUST 2, 2011 PAGE 5 OF 12 Councilmember Barker stated he said he was uncomfortable with doing this at this point.She asked him to explain. Development Services Director Brad Steinke stated up until yesterday he did not know what nits meant.When he does research on things, especially technical issues that he is unfamiliar with, he tends to want to do a robust scan.He has looked at about 15 ordinances and talked to a couple of sign guys.He feels better now than he did 3 weeks ago, but he believes there is probably something missing that will have to be revisited.Sign people are very clever and signs are out there to grab attention.He is certain the industry has something in store for us that we have not anticipated. Councilmember Barker asked if we have a means for measuring nits. Development Services Director Brad Steinke stated the city would have to hire a sign company to do a nit measurement.He thinks the signs can be calibrated in a way that does that. Councilmember Smithson asked how this is related to neon signs which also can move and to the billboard signs that change. Development Services Director Brad Steinke stated they would have to go back to the sign code if they wanted to allow billboards in the city.It would be addressed at a separate time. Councilmember Smithson stated he is talking about if someone wanted to put a sign on the front of their building that is a smaller sign and meets the sign size standards, but they wanted something with either neon or with rotating movement. Development Services Director Brad Steinke stated the rotating is disallowed right now.It allows neon. REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL AUGUST 2, 2011 PAGE 6 OF 12 Councilmember Smithson stated they could have dancing girls and popping corks on their sign, but they cannot have the LED do the same thing. Development Services Director Brad Steinke stated they cannot have popping corks in any form. Nothing can be animated or moving right now.It has to be a static sign.They could have neon that looks like a champagne bottle, but they cannot have a cork popping out of it. Councilmember Barker asked if he was thinking that the complete addressing of digital signs would be better if a complete address of the sign code were done rather than sticking it in here.If it is here, it needs to be incorporated into our sign code. Development Services Director Brad Steinke stated it would not have to be incorporated right now.This would get a jump on it. Vice Mayor Dietz commented this is just for the downtown. Councilmember Barker stated if they chose to do this, it would have to be incorporated into number 8 or 9. There was general discussion on what part of the ordinance it would be under.It was determined it would be number 3 under Shared Benefits. Development Services Director Brad Steinke stated if this is approved as part of the downtown, it will still be addressed as part of the sign code when the zoning thing comes back. Councilmember Barker stated that was part of her question.She was trying to figure out how all this was related to the sign code. Councilmember Serdy commented neon is still pretty fragile.These are signs outside a business.Someone could build a business with lots of windows. REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL AUGUST 2, 2011 PAGE 7 OF 12 They put the neon sign on the inside and it is doing its stuff. He asked if the city would be regulating those signs inside the business. Development Services Director Brad Steinke stated if they have a big window, they could put a fully -animated, digital sign inside the window.The city does not regulate the signs inside. Councilmember Serdy commented that is where you see most neon signs. Mayor Insalaco commented that is because neon is too fragile.If someone throws a rock at it, it is all gone.He then opened the public hearing on the item. Mr. Louis Babin, 2191 S. Belair, Apache Junction, addressed the council.He commented the digital sign issue came up while he was on the planning and zoning committee, although not necessarily LED.He pointed out the difference between digital and analog signs.Digital implies there is a computer tied to the signs.He is concerned with the intensity, and with it being computer controlled, they should be able to adjust the intensity to what they would want. Vice Mayor Dietz commented they could get the adjustment from the 7,500 down to the 500. Mr. Louis Babin stated they could also work with the businessman if they needed to tweak that a little bit.That was his main concern on the digital signs. Mayor Insalaco closed the public hearing with no one else wishing to speak.He reopened the item to council discussion.There being no further discussion, he called for a motion. Vice Mayor Dietz MOVED THAT RESOLUTION NO. 11-21, A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF APACHE JUNCTION, ARIZONA, DECLARING AS A PUBLIC RECORD THAT CERTAIN DOCUMENT FILED WITH THE CITY CLERK ENTITLED "CASE AM -1-11:AMENDMENTS TO THE APACHE JUNCTION CITY CODE, REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL AUGUST 2, 2011 PAGE 8 OF 12 VOLUME II LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE,CHAPTER 1 ZONING ORDINANCE, PERTAINING TO THE DOWNTOWN OVERLAY DISTRICT", WHICH WAS ALSO ADOPTED BY REFERENCE AS AN EXHIBIT TO ORDINANCE NO. 1375, BE APPROVED. Councilmember Wilson SECONDED THE MOTION. VOTE:Unanimous. The motion carried. ORDINANCE NO. 1375, AMENDING THE ZONING ORDINANCE BY ADDING ARTICLE 1-25 DOWNTOWN OVERLAY DISTRICT AND ADOPTING BY REFERENCE THE DOWNTOWN OVERLAY DISTRICT Mayor Insalaco opened the public hearing on the item.There being no one wishing to speak, he closed the public hearing and reopened the item to council discussion. Councilmember Barker commented she wanted to point out that the past tense in the last one kind of threw her. Mayor Insalaco closed the discussion with no further comments and called for a motion. Councilmember Barker MOVED THAT ORDINANCE NO. 1375 BE READ BY TITLE ONLY AND THE READING OF THE ENTIRE ORDINANCE BE WAIVED. Vice Mayor Dietz SECONDED THE MOTION. VOTE:Unanimous. The motion carried. City Clerk Kathleen Connelly read the ordinance by title only. REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL AUGUST 2, 2011 PAGE 9 OF 12 Councilmember Barker MOVED THAT ORDINANCE NO. 1375, AS READ BY THE CITY CLERK, BE APPROVED AND ADOPTED WITH THE FOLLOWING AMENDMENT:THAT WE ADD TO SHARED BENEFITS, THAT IS LETTER C ON PAGE 5 OF THIS DOCUMENT, A NUMBER 3 THAT WOULD BE ENTITLED DIGITAL LED SIGNS STANDARDS AND WOULD HAVE THE 5 POINTS THAT HAVE BEEN SHOWN ON THE SCREEN. Vice Mayor Dietz SECONDED THE MOTION. VOTE:Unanimous. The motion carried. RESOLUTION NO. 11-22, ADOPTING THE DOWNTOWN OVERLAY DISTRICT DESIGN GUIDELINES Mayor Insalaco opened the public hearing on the item.There being no one wishing to speak, he closed the public hearing and reopened the item to council discussion.There being no discussion, he called for a motion. Vice Mayor Dietz MOVED THAT RESOLUTION NO. 11-22, A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF APACHE JUNCTION, ARIZONA, ADOPTING THE "APACHE JUNCTION DOWNTOWN OVERLAY DISTRICT DESIGN GUIDELINES", BE APPROVED. Councilmember Barker SECONDED THE MOTION. VOTE:Unanimous. The motion carried. OLD BUSINESS None. NEW BUSINESS None. REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL AUGUST 2, 2011 PAGE 10 OF 12 COUNCIL DIRECTION TO STAFF 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, AUGUST 15, 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, AUGUST 16, 2011 IN THE CITY COUNCIL CONFERENCE ROOM. Councilmember Barker SECONDED THE MOTION. VOTE:Unanimous. The motion carried. CALL TO THE PUBLIC: None. ADJOURNMENT )Mayor Insalaco adjourned the meeting at 7:40 p.m. Consent Agenda Items are as follows: 1. Acceptance of Agenda. 2. Approval of Minutes of Special Meeting of July 18, 2011. 3. Approval of Minutes of Regular Meeting of July 19, 2011. 4. Consideration of Proposed Indian Community State Shared Revenue Program:Local Nonprofit Participation Policies. ACCEPTED THIS 16TH DAY OF AUGUST, 2011, BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF APACHE JUNCTION, ARIZONA. REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL AUGUST 2, 2011 PAGE 11 OF 12 SIGNED AND ATTESTED TO THIS 16TH DAY OF AUGUST, 2011. N S. INSALACO Mayor ATTEST: KATHLEEN CONNELLY City Clerk 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 2nd day of August, 2011.I further certify that the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was present. Dated this 9th day of August, 2011. THLEEN CONNELLY City Clerk REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL AUGUST 2, 2011 PAGE 12 OF 12