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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Public Works/Planning - 10/15/1991 a CITY CLERK PUBLIC WORKS COMMITT 1: OCTOBER 15, 1991 PRESENT: Jim White Carol Morris Leona Orr Gary Gill Steve Dowell Ed White Don Wickstrom Bill Wolinski Tom Brubaker Mr. and Mrs. Rust, Bill Doolittle, Ron Mikulski, Xike Spence, Jim Nelson, Steve Kartchner, Connie Epperly, Kenneth McClintock Signature Point Mr. McClintock, manager of Valley Apartments, spoke to the Committee concerning the construction of the Signature Point Apartments. He indicated that during the road construction residents of his apartments have had to live with constant dust, damage has been done to the parking lot and building of Valley Apartments. Mr. McClintock indicated that the owner of the building and the tenants feel someone should be responsible for the damage done. Wickstrom indicated the developer of the Signature Point apartments is rebuilding Holly Road. The City"s inspectors have previously red-tagged the project. Mr. McClintock indicates that the contractor waters the road when the inspector is around but stops when he leaves. It was determined that claims should be filed with the City Clerk for damages. Tom Brubaker indicated the claims would be referred to our insurance cagier who will determine liability. Wickstrom indicated we would not accept the project until the claims are resolved. Reith Road Steve Kartchner asked about constructing a right hand turn lane at the bottom of Reith Road. Ed White indicated that the backup only occurs one hour a day and only about 10-15% of the traffic are turning right and in order to properly accommodate the right hand turn movements, the right hand turn lane would have to be constructed up to the top of the hill. Mr. Kartchner suggested using the side of the road that is already paved. Ed White referred to the safety factors involved in using the shoulder. Jim White stated he felt a short term solution would be to widen the road at the bottom to allow the right hand turns. Mr. Kartchner suggested just posting the road to allow the right hand turns. Ed White commented he was concerned about the safety issues involved in doing that and did not feel it warranted. Jim White asked that Ed White come up with a long term solution to the problem, develop costs, etc. and bring it back before the Committee. r ' PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE OCTOBER 15, 1991 PAGE 2 Steve Dowell commented about the types of issues that are being brought before the various Council committees. He expressed concern that more and more administrative details are coming before the committees and that the committee charges are to set policy and make decisions based on staff recommendations. Valley College Ron Mikulski, president of Valley College, stated that Valley College was licensed by the State this year as a four year college. He added they have several facilities throughout downtown Kent. *He requested that the City place approximately four directional signs in agreed upon locations directing traffic to Valley College. He stated he has seen similar types of signs in other communities. Dowell expressed concerns about the City providing the signs for a private school. Jim White commented that he thought Northwest College in Kirkland purchased their own signs because they are a private facility. Gary Gill added that King County will allow non- profit organizations to pay for signs and the County will mount them. Carol Morris indicated these types of signs fall under the street occupation ordinance. Ed White clarified that was for a permit to place the signs. That permit does not indicate the City would purchase or construct the signs. The signs would have to be provided by the applicant. It was determined that Mr. Mikulski should work with Ed White on this issue. Street Occupation Ordinance Jim Nelsen indicated he was addressing the Committee from two perspectives, that of an active realtor in the area and president of Seattle-King County Association of Realtors Southeast Council. He commented that Ordinance 2998 would cause major chaos in the real estate industry and would cause inconvenience for owners who are trying to market their property. He requested that real estate related signs be exempt from the ordinance. Wickstrom clarified that prior to the ordinance no signs were allowed in the public right of way including real estate signs. This ordinance does allow those signs in the right of way but requires a permit to do so. Ed White added that staff is in the process of developing fee recommendations and it is proposed that for real estate signs an initial fee of $75 be charged plus $5 for each sign rather than a $75 permit fee for each sign. Carol Morris suggested that she meet with Mr. Nelsen to fully explain the ordinance and to get his input on the resolution setting the fees. Dike Spence, governmental affairs director and legal counsel for Seattle-King County Association of Realtors, made comments concerning the process identified in the ordinance. Carol Morris clarified that the process in the ordinance covers a wide range of needs and that PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE OCTOBER 15, 1991 PAGE 3 real estate signs would not necessarily have to go through each step. Spence said he would like to have it clarified in the ordinance. He then continued about the importance of signs to the real estate industry. He stated that in Bellevue the industry polices itself. There are three signs allowed in public right of way for each open house, only during the time of the open house, not on utility poles and must be removed at night. When these rules are violated, the City notifies the realty office and the realtors association. In the industry, they agree that if one agent sees a sign improperly placed that agent will pick up the sign and return it to the realtor. They prefer it that way so they do not lose any of their signs. Carol Morris reiterated that she would be happy to work with them to address their concerns in the resolution. Steve Dowell indicated he feels this ordinance is going to be a continual source of difficulty. Toady Brubaker added that prior to this ordinance being developed he had been working with a member of the maintenance staff on the disposition of the 200+ real estate signs that had been confiscated. Mr. Spence and Mr. Nelsen will work with Ed White and Carol Morris to address the concerns of the real estate industry with this ordinance. 94th Avenue Storm Drainage System Improvements Wickstrom stated that the analysis of the storm drainage system on James Street determined it had capacity to intercept the drainage from the Hilltop area. Construction of the drainage improvements needed on 94th would cost approximately $90,000. This would intercept the drainage at the culvert on 94th, take it to the James Street system to an outlet into Mill Creek. Wickstrom clarified this will take the drainage to Mill Creek sooner than it now reaches it. Dowell asked if that would put more water on Central. Leona Orr asked if it would impact those homes along Mill Creek that have drainage problems now. Wickstrom indicated it would be hard to determine if this diversion would make an impact on that area. Dowell asked if we had a plan to solve all the drainage problems. Wickstrom indicated we have already invested $1 million in the Upper Mill Creek. The six year financial plan for the drainage utility which will be brought before Council soon includes a $26 million improvement program. The first year's emphasis is the lagoon conversion. The second year's emphasis will include an analysis of the erosion problems and how to achieve higher storage. Wickstrom reiterated that the storms you are asking us to address exceed the design standards we have in place. Leona Orr asked if something could be done in the interim to increase the capacity of Mill Creek. Wickstrom stated that finding storage is another problem. He has proposed funding the analysis needed on the Mill Creek system for 1992 . The drainage channel north of James Street is the responsibility of Drainage District #1. That channel is P i A� PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE OCTOBER 15, 1991 PAGE 4 probably reduced by siltation. Plus, we have been dealing with 75 to 100 year storm events which is beyond our design standards. Leona Orr stated she had spoken with Morgan Llwellyn about this as he is a commissioner of Drainage District fl. He indicated that the District may disband. She questioned who would have control over the channel if that happened. After considerable further discussion, the Committee unanimously recommended proceeding with the 94th Avenue storm system improvements. Parking Ordinance Carol Morris explained that she drafted the ordinance in this form to consolidate all the ordinances on No Parking into one. She suggested she redraft this ordinance to eliminate the street names in the ordinance that is codified only stating that there is no parking in those areas so posted and to list the streets in a separate ordinance. She continued that no new streets have been added to the No Parking designations. The definition of the 15- minute parking zones has been changed to the definition for loading zones so that those areas do not state a period of time but just for the loading and unloading of property or passengers. The tow- away section is what was previously discussed so that now when a tow-away area is posted, the cars can be towed. The penalty section has been changed eliminating a reduced penalty for those not requesting a mitigated or contested hearing. The Committee unanimously recommended that the ordinance be redrafted to exclude the street names from the ordinance to be codified and that a separate ordinance be developed specifically identifying the streets on which there is a no parking designation.