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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Public Works/Planning - 07/09/1991 PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE JULY 9, 1991 PRESENT: Jim White John Bond Steve Dowell Jerry Hayes Leona Orr Bill Doolittle Don Wickstrom Jack Cosby Tom Brubaker Pat Taylor Gary Gill Mr. & Mrs. Rust 5th & Cloudy - Ed White stated that his staff did a visual survey of the parking situation. The Transportation Division feels three of the four recommendations previously explained in memo form to the Committee, should be implemented as soon as possible. The street lighting is in progress now; Puget Power is doing the installation which is covered under the contract. Regarding the signing, a work order needs to be prepared. At this time Jim White asked what prompts a 25mph section vs. a 15mph section in such a short and narrow area. Ed stated that State law stipulates that a street cannot be signed less than 25 mph unless it is a school zone. Ed will be contacting the Parks Dept. to review the possibility of dedicating a portion of that field or possibly relocating the fence along 5th St. to allow for parking. Jim White requested that Ed pursue that issue and get back to the Committee. Ms. Williams voiced objection to the parking proposal and stated that just the "attention" to the present parking situation seems to be working. Ms. Williams feels that taking any portion of the field and paving it for parking means the community will be loosing park space. She feels that posting "tow away" signs and/or posting notices of parking across the street would be a better start. After further discussion of parking location, parking safety issues, and police response to violators, Leona Orr suggested that these types of issues be brought before the Public Safety Committee. At this time, Ed stated that the Transportation Section cannot support the installation of speed bumps. After taking speed information, the average speed on 5th Avenue appears to be 28mph. Most speed bumps are designed to lower the speed somewhere less than 30mph. The Transportation Section did estimate installing 3 speed bumps at a cost of $2500. 00. The Committee unanimously recommended proceeding with the first three items on the Cloudy Street issue. v Guiberson Street Reservoir Wickstrom stated that in December of 1990, Jack Cosby requested that the City landscape the reservoir; a plan was developed and circulated among the community. Landscaping improvement costs would be approximately $30,000 and would be drawn from the water fund. There are funds in the water utility for both construction and maintenance. However, the problem is with the present situation of the City's overall budget. Because of same, vacancies within Public Works Maintenance are not being refilled independent of whether or not the General Fund is impacted. As such, the Department has no assurance of keeping the personnel we have, which are needed to maintain the existing facilities, let alone add new maintenance responsibilities. Wickstrom recommended deferring this item until the budget situation is resolved. Responding to Jim White's question of transferring existing personnel within the department, Wickstrom stated we need to first secure the personnel we have in order to insure the maintenance of the infrastructure versus vegetation which is a lower priority. Jack Cosby stated that the community has an "eye sore" in the Guiberson Street Reservoir and he feels it should be landscaped. Jim White asked Don to submit a landscaping plan and an estimate of the maintenance cost involved at the next Public Works meeting. Water Comprehensive Plan - Conservation Element The County's approval of our Water Comprehensive Plan is tied to the City amending said Plan to incorporate a Water Conservation Plan and Program. Their hold on us is our needing their approval to serve outside the City limits and/or to construct our facilities such as the rebuild of our Kent Springs Transmission Main within County rights-of-way. We are in the process of developing a conservation plan as part of the Pipeline 5 project with Tacoma. Thru RWA, we are" working on a South County Regional Water Conservation Program. Committee unanimously concurred with the need to develop a plan that meets the County's conservation elements. Kent/Des Moines Park & Ride Lot Wickstrom stated that we have received TIB grant and METRO is absorbing all the local costs. Metro will be responsible for the design and construction of the project. The Ci,ty,,,,,will have some work involved in administering the funds and securing the permits and annexing that piece of property which will be de-annexed by City of Sea-Tac. Cost wise, Metro is responsible and the City of Kent is responsible only for collecting the money from TIB and forwarding it to METRO, plus any work required in administering the funds or in the de-annexation and permit process, which METRO will pay for. Committee unanimously agreed to proceed with the. Kent/Des Moines Park & Ride Lot expansion. fl 0 � Metro Center YMCA Proposal - Hazardous Free Community Don stated that Metro Center YMCA has requested that the City become a "hazardous free community" which in 1991 we wouldn't have any budgetary impact other than staff and in 1992 it would cost $5000 plus staff time. However, as of the present time the Solid Waste Coordinator position is on hold due to the City's budget situation. Since we do not have the staff to make available, we are proposing not to pursue this proposal. The $5000 funding does not present a problem as we believe we could get a grant for same. Committee unanimously agreed not to become involved in the Metro YMCA proposal at this time. Pat Taylor Requests/Concerns: 101st Ave. Parking Ms Taylor stated that the removal of parking on 101st Ave. S.E. has created a problem. ' She stated the students at the Beauty College have been parking there in the past and now with the removal of parking, it has presented a serious problem. Ms. Taylor requested that temporary parking be made available on one side of the street. Ed White responded that there was a site distance problem. The Traffic Division felt that in order to relieve that situation, the parking was removed. Jim White requested Ed to review the problem again and see if there is something else that can be done to relieve the situation. Ed will keep in contact with Pat Taylor on the problem. Bill Doolittle Requests/Concerns: Mr. Doolittle stated that six weeks ago the Council passed a resolution to eliminate the restricted parking in front of city hall for police and fire. To date, the signs were still there. Mr. Doolittle also wanted to discuss rubberized crossings on UPRR crossings. His understanding was that UPRR would pay for the cost of upgrading their crossings using concrete materials. According to Mr. Doolittle, the City wants rubberized materials at City expense. However the concrete would need to go through a test phase before it could be installed. At this time Mr. Doolittle requested the committee to do whatever it takes to fix the UPRR crossings, preferably at no expense to the City. The materials for the Meeker St. crossing have been sitting in their yard for months, according to Mr. Doolittle. Steve Dowell asked Ed White what the status was of the sign request by Mr. Doolittle. Ed explained that the ordinance takes 30 days before it becomes effective. Also that they had to order new signs and were waiting for them to arrive so they could remove the old and install the new in one trip. Ed explained that police will not enforce the parking unless there is signing directly adjacent to the parking stall. 0 0 Regarding the railroad question from Mr. Doolittle, Wickstrom explained that the City has not held up the railroad from doing anything. He pointed out that the railroad sets their own schedule. He also pointed out that yes, we would like to have them do S. 228th first so we could see how the concrete is going to work. Wickstrom confirmed that the railroad will do the concrete without charge. If we do rubberized crossing, the City will have to furnish the rubber. Essentially, with completion of the railroad crossings, of the mainlines will be done leaving the spurs to be completed. Wickstrom stated that the City has had excellent experience with the rubber crossing that have been installed and have had poor experience with concrete. Steve Dowell suggested using the rubberized crossings and asked for a time frame for installation. Don again explained that everything is up to the railroad schedule. The City has no control over the railroad time. Regarding the cost, Don stated that there is $120, 000 in the 1991 budget. Jim White requested to get back to the committee with the UPRR's schedule of installation. Six Year Transportation Improvement Program Ed White briefly explained the Project Summary prepared for the committee. Jim White suggested the committee review it and bring it back for discussion at the next Public Works Committee meeting. Referencing James Street Safety Improvements, Ed White stated that he will be meeting with the citizens on the 23rd of July to get a clear definition of the problems of safety on James St. The citizens had stated their concern on the lack of ability to cross James St safely and came up with an estimate of $300, 000 for a pedestrian overpass. Ed stated that in the area of the church off James, there is a proposal for a two-way left turn lane. Also, there are some concerns about the future signalization of James & Jason. Discussion followed regarding the possibility of future widening of James St. Don explained that cost could run as high as $2 - $3 million per mile. He further stated that the construction of the S. 228th St. corridor would alleviate the James St. problem. Don suggested that the committee look at James St. as an alternate to the east leg of S. 228th. Don explained that although the TIP is important, it is not as important as the approval for the CIP plan. The CIP sets the City's funds where the projects are actually funded from. Most of these projects are within the CIP plan. The CIP is more important in terms as to what will be built whereas the TIP is targeting grant funds. Further discussion followed regarding the upgrading of the City's signal system. Ed White stated that a consultant will be hired to help evaluate the current system needs. This was partially funded by the City last year. It is a VMS upgrade and it will be 1993 before it is done.