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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Meeting - Council Workshop - Minutes - 09/15/2015 O e kext�� WASHINGTON Kent City Council Workshop Minutes September 15, 2015 The workshop meeting was called to order at 5:01 pm by Council President Ralph. Councilmembers present: Ralph, Berries, Boyce, Fincher, Higgins and Thomas. Parks Sustainability — Jeff Watling, Parks, Recreation and Community Services Director presented slides and provided an update of the parks and trails system in the City of Kent. He said it continues to decline at a rate faster than the City can address. He discussed the specific strategic outreach and planning that has gone on over the past five years. He also highlighted and displayed photos of the eight projects that have been completed or are underway since 2011 and reviewed the Parks Asset Analysis. He pointed out that 32 percent of the City's assets (assets valued at over $10,000) were at or near the end of their lifecycle in 2011. Now, he communicated in I 2015, 42 percent of the City's assets are at the end of their useful life. Watling reviewed the Parks Department budget requests noting that $5.2 million was requested and $0.5 million was funded, thus the City is only funding 9 percent of the need. Watling communicated that the City acquired $1.5 million in grant funds for Morrill Meadows, Hogan, and Lake Meridian Parks ($500,000 for each). Councilmember Boyce verified that each grant award is specified for each project and cannot be combined and spent on just one area. Watling continued and discussed the Lake Meridian Park dock replacement, Hogan Park field conversion, and the Morrill Meadows/YMCA expansion projects. He stated that the main question is whether or not the City's park and trail system is too big relative to land use and population. He reviewed the City's annual parks capital need and announced that the total unfunded need is $8.86 million. Watling discussed next steps and introduced the members of the Parks and Recreation Commission. Council President Ralph thanked Watling for the presentation and the Parks staff for doing a great job despite the need. She communicated that Victoria Andrews is doing a great job pulling together volunteers to work on the parks and it is important to figure out a way to take care of them. Councilmember Boyce verified with Watling that none of the parks have been closed outright, but some areas have been repurposed and specific amenities have been shut down. Councilmember Fincher said outreach is very important and communicated how a lack of parks affects children and health. She noted that people look to put their businesses and lives next to parks because they are amenities. She said the City needs to educate the residents so they fully understand the losses that could occur with this issue. Councilmember Berries noted that this message was given to the Council four years ago. He stated that establishing the commission was a great idea, and now it is time to communicate to the residents the status of the parks system. He noted that if the City Kent City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes doesn't do any work on the parks system it is less likely to receive grants. He inquired if there has ever been a local improvement district (LID) established to work on the parks system. Councilmember Higgins thanked Watling for the slides and stated that maintenance and capital funding per capita would be slides that he would like to see included in this presentation. He stated that the City needs to demonstrate the problem and communicate to the public what actions have been taken thus far. Then, when more funding is required, they will have a better understanding of what the City has done already. Councilmember Berries suggested investigating an LID for parks and trails. Commissioner Richard Johnson communicated that building a "buzz" needs to be done prior to going out to vote on any LID or voter approved option. He stated that Kent suffers from the perception that the parks are really good, and the challenge will be to communicate what is really going on. He noted that we can assume what the community wants to do with the parks system, but we need to find out from them what their desired direction is. Commissioner Randy Furukawa discussed an LID and Council President Ralph communicated that they generally are utilized to pay for one project. City Attorney Tom Brubaker explained that a property can only be assessed if there is a specific community benefit. He added that if a value is realized by the residents of a community they can have an LID assessed. He stated that it would be hard to do an LID on a park because there wouldn't be a direct increase on the value of a home in the LID area. Watling confirmed for Councilmember Berries that the Parks and Open Space Plan will be set up to prevent the City from having to locate funds for future maintenance on improvements done today. He noted that a lifecycle system will be set up to include maintenance and reinvestment back into the system. Councilmember Berries noted that a user fee system needs to be developed to assist with providing revenues for this in the future. Council President Ralph summarized the discussion and challenged the Council to take a hard look at some of the options the Council has to better improve the parks system. Mill Creek Drainage Update — Mike Mactuitus, Environmental Engineering Manager presented the Kent Valley Stormwater improvement projects and gave the Council a copy of the presentation and a map. He reviewed the reestablishment of the channel and highlighted the depths along the creek. He discussed the issues the City is having in attempting to do all the improvement work and noted that the Green River Natural Resources Area (GRNRA) Regional Stormwater Facility is twenty plus years old and needs some maintenance. 2 I Kent City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes Councilmember Higgins confirmed that the Corps won't let the City work on the areas along James Street that have sediment because there are fish concerns. He added that the GRNRA facility is manmade, without fish, and is designed for the sediments. Mactuitus stated that a force main pipe needs to be installed at the GRNRA to pump the sediment out to the Green River and reviewed the North Park Neighborhood improvements. Tim LaPorte discussed improvements in the Springbrook Creek area and the need to get the water to the Black River Pump Station with the assistance of a containment berm and the replacement of the trunk line along 84th Avenue South. Mactuitus highlighted several other areas which have stormwater issues and noted that they are included on the projects list. Meeting adjourned at 6:25 pm. Ronald F. 1 bore, fRM`C City Clerk 3