[E-minutes] June 3 City Commission meeting minutes
Lisa Patterson
lpatterson@ci.lawrence.ks.us
Fri, 13 Jun 2003 16:25:57 -0500
June 3, 2003
The Board of Commissioners of the City of Lawrence met in regular
session at 6:45 p.m., in the City Commission Chambers in City Hall with
Mayor Dunfield presiding and members Hack, Highberger, Rundle, and Schauner
present.
With Commission approval Mayor Dunfield proclaimed the month of June
as "Kansas Business Appreciation Month."
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by
Hack, to approve the City Commission meeting minutes of May 27, 2003.
Motion carried unanimously.
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by
Hack, to approve the Mechanical Board of Appeals meeting minutes of March
17, 2003, March 24, 2003, and April 21, 2003; and the Board of Plumbers and
Pipe Fitters minutes of April 16, 2003. Motion carried unanimously.
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by
Hack, to approve claims to 349 vendors in the amount of $12,141,309.24 and
payroll from May 18, 2003 to May 31, 2003 in the amount of $1,362,336.31.
Motion carried unanimously.
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by
Hack, to concur with the recommendation of the Mayor and reappoint Jim
Stogsdill, Tim Holverson and Bob Newtown to additional terms to the Aviation
Advisory Board which will expire May 31, 2006; reappoint Mary Burchill to a
second term to the Lawrence Public Library which will expire April 30, 2007;
and reappoint Bob Suderman to an additional term to the Douglas County
Community Corrections Advisory Board which will expire May 31, 2005. Motion
carried unanimously.
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by
Hack, to approve the Cereal Malt Beverage License (On-Premise) for Pizza
Pro, 1800 East 23rd, Ste: N (Contingent Upon Departmental Approval). Motion
carried unanimously.
The City Commission reviewed the bids for one bulk refuse truck for
the Public Works Department. The bids were:
BIDDER BID AMOUNT
Westfall GMC $48,954
KCR International $50,104
Crossroads Chevrolet $51,779
K.C. Freightliner $52,526
American Equipment Co. $55,728
Roy Conley & Co. No. 1 $55,561
Roy Conley & Co. No. 2 $56,339
Roy Conley & Co. No. 3 $56,484
K.C. Freightliner $57,715
Gunther's Services No Bid
Key Equipment No Bid
Corbin Equipment No Bid
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by
Hack, to approve the bid from Westfall GMC, in the amount of $48,954.
Motion carried unanimously. (1)
The City Commission reviewed the bids for painting an outdoor pool
for the Parks and Recreation Department. The bids were:
BIDDER BID
AMOUNT
Advanced Protective Coating, Inc., without exterior caulking
$44,793
Advanced Protective Coating, Inc., including exterior caulking
$45,778
H.V. Industrial Inc.
$56,793
J.F. McGivern
$58,410
DAYCO Painting
$75,450
Goens Brothers Painting Co.
$75,800
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by
Hack, approve the bid from Advanced Protective Coating, Inc., in the amount
of $44,793 and exterior caulking in the amount of $985 for a total amount of
$45,778. Motion carried unanimously. (2)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by
Hack, to authorize the City Manager to execute an agreement with Central
National Bank for City banking services. Motion carried unanimously.
(3)
The City Commission reviewed the bids for Milling, Overlay and
Pavement Marking Improvements for 23rd Street, Learnard Avenue to Harper
Streets and North 3rd, and Industrial Lane to the North City Limits for the
Public Works Department. The bids were:
BIDDER BID AMOUNT
Engineer's Estimate $555,033.84
LRM Industries, Inc. $562,524.03
R.D. Johnson Excavating Co. $586,433.18
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by
Hack, to wave the Engineer's Estimate and approve the bid from LRM
Industries, Inc., in the amount of $562,524.03. Motion carried unanimously.
(4)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by
Hack, to set a bid date of June 17, 2003, 2:00 p.m., for the Oread Center
(16th Street/Research Park Drive) Street, Storm Sewer, Waterline
Improvements Project. Motion carried unanimously. (5)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by
Hack, to set a bid date of June 24, 2003, 2:00 p.m., for 6th and Comet Lane
Geometric Improvement Project. Motion carried unanimously.
(6)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by
Hack, to approve the write-off of receivables for calendar year 2001:
$113,136.65 for 895 utility billing customers and $184,194.88 for 57
miscellaneous receivable accounts. Motion carried unanimously.
(7)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by
Hack, to place on first reading Ordinance No. 7652, changing the name of
Stintson Avenue to Bryant Way. Motion carried unanimously.
(8)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by
Hack, to adopt Resolution 6472, declaring the necessity for condemnation of
a tract of property and a sanitary sewer easement for the 13th and Oregon
Stormwater Improvement Project, (Yoder tract) generally located at 835 East
13th Street. Motion carried unanimously. (9)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by
Hack, to receive the staff report concerning the status of a Use Permitted
Upon Review for Project Acceptance, 407 Maine Street. Motion carried
unanimously. (10)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by
Hack, to approve the Temporary Use Permitted Upon Review (TUPR-05-19-03) for
a fundraising event for the Boys and Girls Club on the Meadowbrook property
located at the northeast corner of Crestline Drive and West 15th Street on
Thursday, June 12th from 5:00 p.m. until 11:30 p.m. Motion carried
unanimously.
(11)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by
Hack, to authorize the Mayor to sign a Release of Mortgage for Billy J.
Hunsinger, 1132 New York. Motion carried unanimously.
(12)
Mayor Dunfield called for public comment on 2004 City budget issues.
Kathy Elkins, President, IAFF Local 1596, supported Chief McSwain's
proposal for Fire Station No. 5. Not only did the proposal enhance response
times and services for the services warranted now and in the future, it
would also provide a safer working environment for the members she
represented. With the continued growth of this City, their department must
expand to keep up. The City of Lawrence has grown tremendously since 1982
and they had not added an additional station since then.
As firefighters they faced more and more dangers each day. They were
the frontline defense against fires, medical emergencies, natural disasters,
hazardous materials, water, high angle and confined space rescues and
unfortunately in this day and time, the possibility of terrorist incidents.
Most people did not want to think of "what if" scenarios, but they as
firefighters and the Commission as leaders of this community must. The
proposal would give their department the resources it needed to provide
services and protection for the citizens of Lawrence which they had come to
expect from them. She said on behalf of the union firefighters that she
represented, she hoped the Commission would act favorably on the new Station
No. 5 proposal.
Cary Maynard-Moody, Alliance for the Conservation of Open Space,
asked the City Commission to add an Environmental Planner. She said someday
that would become an Environmental Division to their MPO. She said the
City's air last summer several times came close to being out of compliance
and we all know the condition of the Kaw where we draw our water. She said
the Environmental Planner would be someone who could help us screen each
development project, help plan our Comprehensive Plan, and delay the lengthy
debates that have happened in this community because they had not had an
office or professional to do the kind of work that the volunteers do to
examine projects to see if they would enhance or compromise our environment.
She said our environment needed protection. It was expensive, but you could
not revive it once it was gone. She said an Environmental Planner was a
good investment.
Commissioner Schauner asked if Maynard-Moody knew of other cities
that had made good use of Environmental Planners.
Maynard-Moody said Bloomington, Indiana; Ames, Iowa; Boulder,
Colorado; and Fort Collins, Colorado. She said when she talked to the
Environmental Planner Division in Bloomington that City was exhausted by
debates and compromised. As soon as they acquired an Environmental Planner,
things went more quickly and they had more protection and hope.
Commissioner Schauner asked if that was a City funded position.
Maynard-Moody said they were part of City staff.
Melinda Henderson, Lawrence, supported the request for an
Environmental Planner. She said as we grow we needed to be aware that we
were not using our environmental resources that we should be preserving.
The Economic Development portion of Horizon 2020 had been in the
process of being revised. The Economic Development Board did a great job of
updating that plan in prioritizing and adding new strategies. She said at
this meeting she heard reference to planning and land use planning as we're
planning to expand our business and industry. She asked the City Commission
to consider enhancing/expanding their participation in Economic Development
with the addition of an Economic Development Land Use Planner. This request
in no way reflected negatively on how our Economic Development Plan was
being updated.
She said the City Commission would be addressing consideration of
expanding the Urban Growth Boundary. She said we needed to consider the
land use issues associated with that, especially if we were targeting areas
for business and industry. Additionally, ECO2 has also looked at site
locations that might be good for businesses and industrial sites. She said
we were getting to a point where we could benefit from an Economic
Development Planner to work in concert with our Economic Development Staff.
She said because our Economic Development Program did not deal with
commercial, office or retail types of businesses a Professional Economic
Development Planner would be able to project not only the industrial space
needs, but also office space and retail space needs based upon growth in our
population, the size and makeup of the work force and the change and needs
of the community as a whole. She asked the City Commission to support the
idea of an Environmental Planner and also to consider the addition of an
Economic Development Planner to enhance our Economic Development Program.
Vice Mayor Rundle asked Henderson to tell us of other cities that had
made good use of Economic Development Planners.
She said Ames, Iowa; Lexington, Kentucky; Norman, Oklahoma; Lincoln,
Nebraska Boulder, Colorado; and Kansas City Missouri had all made good use
of Economic Development Planners.
Mayor Dunfield addressed the issue of possible City funding of USD
497 School District athletic activities. He asked for public comment.
Wayne Parks, Lawrence, said this suggestion bothered him when we talk
about replacing state shortfalls with more local taxes. He suggested to the
City, County and School District that we needed the Alternative High School
along with a Vo-Tech School.
Caleb Morse, speaking on behalf of Lawrence Association of
Neighborhoods, read a short statement that was sent to the City Commission
on Sunday. He said, "At our April meeting delegates to the Lawrence
Association of Neighborhoods went on record in general support of City and
County initiatives to fund activities that are currently funded by county
school district, but that are of community interest. In particular, LAN
would support the allocation of city funds required to maintain sports and
recreation activities currently funded by the Lawrence USD 497 and
allocation of county funds to maintain health services currently funded by
school districts countywide. We realize that resources are scarce at all
levels, and that the City and County are also facing severe budget shortfall
this year. However, it is also clear that state laws afford both city and
county governments more freedom to raise revenues to provide these kinds of
services than they do school districts.
It is important to note that our support for these actions at the
city and county levels does not indicate that LAN believes the State should
be absolved of its responsibility to provide adequate funding to our
schools, nor that we believe that the State is currently fulfilling this
responsibility. However, it is LAN's considered opinion that a strong
argument can be made that recreational activities and health care are not
the responsibility of school districts, but that they are more appropriately
funded at the city and county levels, respectively.
It is perhaps also important to note that our support for City
funding of USD 497 sports and recreation activities is not an indication of
LAN's approval for the Board of Education's recent decision to close
Centennial and East Heights Elementary Schools. Most people would interpret
this action as contrary to the demonstrated will of the electorate; it was
certainly contrary to LAN's policy on schools, which advocates for
preservation of schools in established neighborhoods. In light of the
results of the bond election, we were disappointed that the Board was
unwilling to search for other, less detrimental options to closure, options
that would improve cost-efficiency among District schools without harming
the neighborhoods and families they serve. In spite of any cost savings
anticipated from these closures, however, the budget crisis will persist in
our school district into the foreseeable future. LAN recognizes that, if we
are to prevent further cuts to school offerings, other governmental units
will have to work with the Board of Education USD 497 Administration to
share in the burden of funding these offerings. It is important to the
citizens of Lawrence that our schools continue to offer our children a
diverse array of educational opportunities. To the extent that City funding
of sports and recreation activities would relieve pressure on the District
to cut funding to other kinds of educational programs and services. LAN
supports this action."
William Dann, Lawrence, said sports and athletic teams at the high
schools was exciting and had many enthusiastic supporters and participants,
but we should keep one thing in mind, it was not an educational activity.
Intramural sports would be part an educational systems responsibility
because kids need physical activity. He said there were many educational
activities in town where that money could be spent such as developing our
pre-school program, more teachers, and school nurses. He reiterated that an
athletic program was not educational.
Russell Brickell, Lawrence, reminded the City that our basic service
was to provide services. The school district was not the same size as the
City. There were people in the school district that were citizens that did
not live in the City of Lawrence. He said to fund school functions with
property taxes for a limited group of the people who utilize the schools was
not appropriate. He said you would have people receiving the benefit
without sharing the burden. The state has determined they were going to
fund schools and it was not our job to take that over, especially if we
could not spread that out over the entire school district. He said if the
entire school district was in the City, he would support this issue.
Gerry Hammond, Representative and Director of the Douglas County
Property Owners Association, thanked the City Commission, City Manager, and
City staff for keeping this city running well through difficult times. He
was never ceased to be amazed about the far too many demands made for more
services each year, even in the face of continued declining revenues, but it
was too much to be asked to pay for school services. Noting that the County
Commission had been asked for one million dollars for school nurse services.
This latest gem was for high school extra curricular activities "sports" for
a mere 1.4 million dollars. He said that 1.4 million dollars could be
better spent on teachers without whom schools would die. He said lets not
be intimidated, even one dollar given by the City to help the schools would
create a dangerous financial precedent.
He said lets also keep in mind other establishments beyond School
District 497 who provided enlightenment and jobs to young and older people,
one of Lawrence's greatest educational and future growth sources instead of
declining enrollment.
The lowest per capita cost was the Lawrence Public Library. A
recently published survey showed how poor the financial support has been and
still was in this community. He hoped the City Commission would remedy this
by getting the most value for every tax dollar levied. Remember a mind is a
terrible thing to waste and let's not continue to waste the Carnegie Library
sitting empty on west 9th Street. He said this building could be used as a
Lawrence Children and Young Adult Center.
He said a year ago there was a list that was published of businesses
that had been given tax breaks, but had not met their promise. He heard
that the term "recession" had been used as a reason and that was a poor
excuse. He asked the Commission to take another look at these businesses
getting tax breaks and what was really going on.
Commissioner Highberger asked Hammond if he would support the use of
City funds to provide library services to schools.
Hammond said yes, because it was educational.
Charles Jones, speaking as a citizen of Douglas County, said this was
a tough issue because the County Commission faced many of the same
constraints that the City Commission did. He said when looking at the
County budget, he said in 2002 the Lawrence School District actually saw its
mill levy decrease by 3.8 percent; the mill levy in Eudora went up over 15
percent; and Baldwin went up approximately 2 percent. He said it was
important to keep in mind that the school funding formula works a
disproportional hardship on larger urban school districts. He said when
looking at their budgets, the school district has gone up 3.8 percent
between 2000 and 2003. The County Budget went up 23.2 percent in that same
time period because of health insurance, fuel costs, and salaries. He said
to put the pressure that our friends on the school board had been under in
the proper context, the Douglas County Commission would need to cut 7
million dollars from its current budget just to be even with where the
school district had been. He said the school district was facing 4 million
dollars in shortfalls over the next year. He said if they had to cut 7
million dollars and then a proportional amount of 4 million dollars, there
would be two outcomes. One was that they could not do it without doing
significant damage to this community. He did not think the school district
has been able to make cuts of that magnitude without causing real
significant damage to this community. The decisions that they made would be
fiercely and bitterly criticized to some of those that the school district
has made. He said they would like to think that those types of cuts did not
have a cost, but that was not true, those cuts shifted costs.
He said there would be social costs. After school programs keep kids
busy and out of trouble. The social cost that we would face would be more
cost at our juvenile detention center, maybe more pregnancy issues or abuse
issues. He said you don't just eliminate the cost because you cut the
funding, you simply shift it. He would argue that those costs have shifted
disproportionately to the poorest members of this community. They were the
people who could not afford to pay for play. They can't afford to pay for
buses to ship their kids to go to school. They can't afford for their kids
to be in after school athletics, drama, music and other things that ideally
they would like to see those kids have access to. These kids might have the
greatest need, but yet the least opportunity because the participation of
things that would add value to their lives.
In the long run, the decline of our school systems was going to have
dire consequences for this community. One of the things that has always
brought people to Lawrence was the excellence of its school system and if
that was no longer the case, then all of the developers who were out there
building houses, were facing a greater challenge in bringing more people to
this community. He said they wanted to attract high-end employers and one
of the things that high-end employers were looking for was the quality of
life. He said people want their kids to have an opportunity for an
excellent education. If we allow that to go away, he thought they would
risk alienating some of the high-end employers who could go any place that
would provide them with the things that they needed.
He said we also needed to have a strong labor pool. As part of ECO2,
they surveyed most of the employers in Douglas County who had more than 10
employees. He said 75 percent of those employers cited the public school
system as an important factor in their investment and expansion of business.
Finally, if you believed that schools and those programs build citizenship
and character, which he believed, he thought they were beginning to erode
the social capital. He said no one wants to spend more money for taxes, but
there were things that we value and we need to pay for some of the things
that we value. In the Fall of 2001, the K.U. Public Policy Institute did a
survey statewide and found that 59 percent of the voters supported tax
increases for K-12 funding. Last year there was a school bond issue and it
lost, but you need to believed there was a lot of negative votes from people
who believed in the schools and want to support the schools, but were
uncomfortable with some of the decisions they saw in that particular bond
issue. He said a majority of people were supportive of more funding for our
schools.
He said our taxes are tough. Although if you look at Douglas County
our property taxes rank 98th from the top. Certainly our valuation was high
and our mill levy was approximately 28.8 mills. The range in Kansas was 101
mills for Hodgeman County all the way down to 16 mills in Johnson County.
He said we often look at Johnson County in envy and maybe we should learn a
few lessons from them and one of the lessons was that their population voted
60 percent to provide forty-five million dollars to the public schools over
the next three years.
He said there were some tough strategic issues to address. One issue
was, do we allow the legislature to withdraw its feet from the fire by
taking over those local costs. He said in someway we do, but so many of our
legislators are feeling so much more dire pain in other areas. If you look
at the 105 counties in Kansas, a relative handful was actually growing and
the rest were declining. He said it was the young people who were leaving
and schools were becoming less and less an issue. He said the reality was
that we were a long way from any relief from the legislature. He suggested
that there might be another strategy for legislative action which was what
Johnson County had done in supporting its schools. Eventually there would
be a significant disparity in the level of education across the state and
the courts would go to the legislature and force the legislature to take on
the issue of equity and education.
He said we needed equity at standard where kids get a good education
and contribute to the well being of a community and meet expectations of
this community. He hoped the City Commission would support funding the
schools.
Paul Davis, State Representative for the 46th District, commended the
City Commission for this discussion, but he was sorry they needed to have
this discussion due to the fact that the State Legislature was not
adequately funding schools. He was encouraged that the City and County were
discussing these issues because our schools were in a state of crisis. He
was an optimist, but he said with all honesty that he was not terribly
optimistic that the Kansas Legislature was going to provide any additional
funds for schools in the near future.
He said the school finance formula, the way it works right now,
benefits smaller school districts and did not aid school districts like
Lawrence. He thought they needed a new school finance formula, but he was
not sure they would get that either. He said it was helpful to step back
and take a look at the context in understanding some of the legal boundaries
that they were operating in. The reason why athletics were being discussed
was because of some of the legal boundaries that they had to operate in with
the school finance formula. He said Johnson County was in the middle of
testing that with the sales tax, but athletics fit within the traditional
parks and recreational mission that cities had as nursing fits with the
traditional health mission that counties have. It was up to him, he would
prefer to give teachers a pay increase because that was the dire need in
education right now. He said we know that the schools finance formula and
the courts would not allow them to do that. He was a conceptual supporter
of this issue, but he was not saying that athletics was the right answer.
He said the situation that we were in right now in Lawrence, we clearly have
a local mandate to put more dollars into education. He did a survey of his
constituents and 84 percent were willing to pay more taxes for our schools.
The only way that we would get additional dollars under the formula that we
were currently operating under was from Topeka.
He understood the arguments that if the City of Lawrence was to fund
schools, they would be absolving the legislature of its responsibility. He
thought there were immediate needs that had to be met and these were not
needs that could be put off for several years and they call for creative and
perhaps drastic action. He was afraid of what our community and schools
would look like if were going to wait for this supposed economic recovery to
occur. He said people come to Lawrence, Kansas because we have good schools
here and we have to do whatever it takes to maintain that even if it means
acting at a local level.
Commissioner Schauner complemented Representative Davis for his work
along with the other freshman who attempted during the last few weeks of the
Legislative Session to create a different climate in the Legislature. He
did not think it was well known, but the past eight years the Kansas
Legislature has cut taxes through a combination of exemptions, reduced mill
levy, and reductions in personal property taxes. He said we have seen in
the neighborhood of three hundred million dollars of tax reduction in the
last 8 years, much of which has come directly from the appropriate level of
aid to public schools. He said the legislature was unwilling to do the
right thing. He was quoted that it was a "shameful lack of responsibility"
on their part and he continued to believe that was true. He found this to
be a very difficult question and the last thing he wanted to do was to take
any possible pressure off of Representative Davis' colleagues from standing
up and recognizing that this was a statewide responsibility. He said we
have a State Constitution that said adequate public schools were a statewide
constitutional responsibility. That was the crux of this rather difficult
decision making. He appreciated Representative Davis and County
Commissioner Jones comments on this issue and was well taken.
Davis thanked the City Commission for the support that they offered
to some of the proposals that were offered in the legislature. He also
mentioned that the number Schauner discussed earlier was in the one billion
dollar range.
Bill Mitchell, Lawrence, said it was difficult to argue against this
issue because he thought their hearts were in the right place. It seemed as
a strapped City or County, to even consider assuming part of the financial
responsibility, what seemed to be a poorly managed school district, would be
to let the heart entirely overrule the head.
Betty Alderson, Lawrence, agreed with comments made earlier that this
was this State's responsibility. She said they had seen their property tax
levy go down at the State level so maybe we need to pick it up at the City
level. She said there had been a negative impact on what the School Board
had on some of our most deserving children. She urged the City Commission
to see fit to put funding into the budget, if possible, to include something
other than athletics. She said not every child was athletic and there were
other after school programs that would benefit children if it was possible.
She realized they couldn't do anything about the salaries because the State
had to do that. She would like discussion about how that funding could be
used so that they could not manipulate it in someway other than what the
citizens would support.
Mayor Dunfield noted there would be a Budget Study Session scheduled
for tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. The content of any discussion here would most
likely carry over into the budget session.
Vice Mayor Rundle said that they were in the middle of a budget
process and obviously could not make any decisions on this issue without
putting them into the context of their budget. He was uncomfortable in
spending this money without some assurance that we were not going to
compromise the progression of expanding our fire services so the City was
adequately covered. He said they did not want to risk residents' homes,
their insurance rates or unnecessarily risk the fire/medical staff. He said
City staff was alerted to the possibility of no general wage adjustments,
the possibility of no merit raises and possibly no longevity bonuses. He
said the projections show that finances were going to worsen over the coming
years and hoped that the projections were wrong. He said they would work
hard to reverse that trend.
He said if the Commission agreed on some funding, they needed to
seriously discuss alternatives such as library and other needs that the City
could legally fund. The safety and health of students could be affected
through other programs than just sports. He said they campaigned on an
Economic Development platform that included addressing Vo-Tech needs in this
community.
He continued to be uncomfortable with the impacts of the school
closings. He said we were going to pay for that in the long-run on the City
side because there were studies that showed how when schools leave
neighborhoods, property values decline because single-families leave. When
property values decline we use the revenue and invite deterioration into
neighborhoods.
If the City Commission agreed to school funding, the Commission would
need to set out some clear conditions with accountability and set some
outcomes. He said if approving funding for the school district was only
making their budget more user friendly, he was among those that were
skeptical about some of the numbers used in the process. He was reminded in
this whole discussion that they had engaged in their quarterly meetings a
variety of topics and one of the last meetings held at the school district
and hosted by the School Board, preservation of neighborhoods was brought up
as a topic by the Chair. Another board member spoke enthusiastically about
doing a good job of guiding development in new areas so we know where
schools were going to go and that they were not following rushing after
development to try and provide adequate schools. He thought good planning
was equally applicable in the older neighborhoods too and his ability to
engage the School Board hasn't been all as satisfying as he thought it could
be. The communication has been a two way street.
Commissioner Schauner said one of the things he learned in the past
weeks was that the demands on the City budget were Solomonesque. His
understanding of the current budget dilemma at the City level was that based
on current projected revenues against budgeted expenses they were about four
million dollars short of the money that was needed to fund the current
program. He said each mill that we raise taxes produced approximately
$670,000 of income. To raise four million dollars we would need to raise
taxes a number of mills.
He said they had a study session with a number of outside groups in
the past couple of weeks and they all wanted additional funding from the
City. He said we were faced with increasing demands for: better treatment
of the homeless; economic development; and keeping Lawrence an affordable
community. He said we did have a fairly low mill levy as far as cities go,
but one of the things we needed to keep in mind was that a mill levy was
directly related to the value of property in the taxing unit. He said the
truth of the matter was that not only the State of Kansas in a dramatic
budget situation, but also the County and City.
He has worked in public education in one fashion or another for
thirty years. He was a school teacher for five years and an attorney for
Kansas NEA for almost twenty-five years. He had a heartfelt, deeply
committed place in his heart and his head for public education, for
students, and for teachers. He did not know what was right and had a
concern that any pressure they take away from the State Legislature to force
the legislature to do the right thing was not in our long-term best
interest. He did not think there was a short-term solution, but he was
concerned about the impact of a Johnson County sales tax or proposals here
that take the heat off the electorate that could in fact make a difference.
Commissioner Schauner said he would like to hear discussion from the
School District about how if there was any way the City Commission could
assist, what they would propose. He said the City Commission was trying to
figure out what they could do to help the School District, when as far as he
knew, they had not made any suggestions to the City Commission about what
would be helpful. As a recipient of taxpayer money, it seemed to him that
it was incumbent upon that body to initiate a conversation which he was
confident the Commission would be interested in engaging in. He would like
to like to hear what it was that the City Commission could do either jointly
or some fashion that would be of assistance.
Commissioner Highberger thanked everyone who took the time to come
down and address this issue because it was crucial to the future of our
community.
He addressed Commissioner Schauner's concern about taking the
pressure off our legislature. He said our legislative delegation has done
the right thing. He said what the City did with this issue would not take
any pressure off or adds anything to it. He was generally supportive of the
idea of the City taking on this responsibility in someway. He would like the
City Commission to take a look at libraries, transportation, or other
possibilities where the Commission could legally meet a need without
violating the State financing formula.
He mentioned Brickell's comment about using City funds to benefit
students that were not taxpayers in the district and he would like to give
that comment some thought. He also mentioned Alderson's comment about
considering the impact on the children was something that needed to be
addressed. He said the thing that concerned him most was the long-term
impact of this issue on our community. He said if the City did not do
something soon, we have the potential of getting into a downward spiral that
would be really hard to get out of.
Mayor Dunfield said Commissioner Highberger's point about not
allowing a downward spiral to really get started here was very much to the
point. He said we were looking at some serious problems with the City
budget, but the school district was in a state of crisis. If we're looking
at this as a triage situation because we're all hurting and we're all
looking for ways to maintain our services. If we look at the needs of the
County and City and we look at the situation that the School District was
in, it was quite clear that their situation was the one that was most
threatening to the ability of our community to recover from the economic
situation that we were in because if we loose a generation of school
children, we've lost them and we could not afford to let that happen.
He said we might be talking about funding athletic programs, but they
were not talking about the City supporting school athletic, but the City
providing some funds that would allow the School District to pay for
classroom teachers to put a greater proportion of their very limited funding
into the classroom where it would educate our children and that was the
intend behind this funding. His intention was to support the funding.
Commissioner Hack appreciated the individuals who spoke along with
her fellow Commissioners. This was an area that she felt very strongly
about because 31 years of her 32 years teaching career were spent in
Lawrence. She had a concern about maintaining that excellent School
District status.
She agreed that our School District was in a state of crisis, but
that did not negate the fact that the County, City, and State were also
facing similar concerns. She appreciated Representative Davis' comments
about the ability to tax in that the City and County do have that ability
where the School District was maxed out and that was the beauty of that
funding formula and Representative Davis' indication that the chances of
that changing were not great. She said they were fortunate in our part of
the State to have legislators who were committed to the education of our
children. She said when we blast the Kansas Legislature which they had been
know to do from this position several times, she hoped Representative Davis
did not take that personally.
She thought it was important to talk about how they got to this
question. She said this issue did not come as a request from the School
District. The genesis of this was issue was herself and several other
people talking more recently, but it was a spin-off from the 2001 election
issue in the School District and the City Commission. She said that
conversation has been out there in a nebulous form and she thought it was
time to bring it back to some conversation and numbers. She said that was
why she asked for the numbers for the athletic programs because there were
legalities in terms of what could be given to the school district.
She said if funding did not occur at a creditable level to the School
District, the type of things that get cut were sports, music, and art.
These activities were critical to the entire student population. She said
these activities were hooks that kept kids engaged in the process of
academics. She said the School District prides themselves on test scores
and high academic achievement. She said without doing any specific data
gathering, their test scores would go down over the next several years if
those types of hooks were gone. She said the people in this community who
could afford the private dance lessons, music, art, and athletics would be
served by wonderful programs here in our community to help them become
tremendous adults, but the kids that would suffer were the kids that do not
have the finances to support those types of activities. She said this was
an equity issue. She said we always look at the cost of doing something,
but we needed to look at the cost of not funding the school district. She
said this would be money that would be spent upfront and the benefits
received would be huge.
She said County Commissioner Jones said it best: " Are we letting the
Kansas Legislature off the hook?" She said in this case maybe so, but these
are our children in our community and regardless whether they live in
Lawrence or Douglas County, they are our kids and they are our future and we
need to help them.
Commissioner Schauner said he did not think Representative Davis
thought he was taking out after him with his comments about the Kansas
Legislature because Davis was attempting to do the right thing. He could
agree with Commissioner Hack's comments, but they also had a need to take
this information to their study session and try to figure out what was
possible and make sure we honor our responsibility to the taxpayers of
Lawrence whether they were parents or not parents. It was important that
they have these issues in order to develop a budget for the next fiscal
year. He said his on-going concern was that they needed some accountability
from the School District and need more information from them rather than
assuming this money would be an offset that showed direct results in a
context with student setting. Without that assurance he did not think they
would be honoring either the students or the taxpayers of the City.
Commissioner Hack appreciated Commissioner Highberger's comments
about the library, but she did not know what the legalities were in
contributing or not contributing to. She agreed that smaller meetings with
the School District and City/County staff would be the way to address this
issue.
Mayor Dunfield said the City Commission had plenty of good topics for
the study session. He said they were probably asking too much to expect any
type of response from the School District on the questions that Commissioner
Schauner and others had raised. (13)
David Corliss, Assistant City Manager/Legal Services Director,
presented the staff report concerning the Memorandum of Understanding
between the International Association of Firefighters, Local 1596 and the
City. He said this document was about Fire/Medical staff and management and
also about the people who were on the negotiating team. He said the
document was a one year Memorandum of Understanding that complied with one
of our Resolution as far as employee organizations. It was appropriate for
the Commission's adoption if they so desired. Unlike previous agreements
this was only for one year and this agreement would come back to the
Commission next year for recommendation.
He said the briefings that were received from staff in the past
outline issues that were contained in the agreement. Significantly, he
wanted to point out the compensation language. There was no general wage
adjustment in this document. This document indicted that if there was a
general wage adjustment for any other City employees, employee group, or
bargaining unit, that the individuals that were covered by this instrument
would also receive that same wage adjustment. In other words, if the
Commission through their budget deliberations decided there was budget
ability in 2004 to provide a general wage adjustment for all City employees,
then under this agreement the firefighters that were covered by this
agreement would receive the same wage adjustment. That language also
highlights that later this month the Commission would be receiving the
compensation plan from the City's consultants and the recommendations from
that plan and it indicated a good faith effort that City Management wanted
to engage with the firefighters union to begin discussions about possible
implementation of those recommendations. There would be a price tag to
those recommendations and they needed to find a way, if possible, to move
toward those recommendations if adopted by the Commission.
Commissioner Schauner said the wage adjustment language stated that,
"If the City institutes a general wage adjustment to any city employee, etc,
etc..." and asked if the city were to, for example, give David Corliss a 1%
general wage adjustment, would this agreement require the city to pay those
who were under this Memorandum of Understanding a similar 1% wage
adjustment.
Corliss said no. He said that would not be a general wage
adjustment, but a merit increase if they singled out one individual. A
general wage adjustment did not include merit based wage increases or
reclassifications of positions. The city had a traditional merit based step
in grade pay classification system. All of the city employees were
classified by their position and there were multiple steps of progression
through that system. He said the agreement did not change the merit
increases.
Commissioner Schauner asked if they improved the general schedule,
would that be considered a general wage adjustment.
Corliss said yes.
Kathy Elkins, IAFF Local 1596, thanked David Corliss and Frank Reeb
for treating the IAFF Local Union 1596 as professionals and she thought the
negotiations went well. She also thanked Chief McSwain and Deputy Chief
Bradford. She said they were both true advocates of the Firefighter's
safety and well-being. She said the IAFF's negotiating team kept the faith
during this process. She said they used the interest based bargaining
process. Those who had witnessed the damage that traditional bargaining
could do, know that interest based bargaining did not just build a contract,
but positive working relationships that last longer than dates on a
contract. She said the local members' voices were heard loudly and the IAFF
Local Union 1596 would continue to work in the members' best interest.
She said when negotiations started the IAFF told the City that they
wanted to be sensitive to the budget concerns of the City. She said the
budget was in a crisis and the IAFF wanted to do their part in not putting
more pressure on that budget. She said they were excited about the
Compensation Study that would be finalized later and appreciated the
opportunity to discuss that issue City staff.
She said this was a different Memorandum of Understanding that they
were addressing. She quoted a member of last night's meeting as saying it
was, "A contract of possibilities". This memorandum placed a lot of trust
in the City Commission. She appreciated Commissioner Rundle's comments
regarding what City employees and IAFF members were facing. The IAFF was
facing the possibility of no wage adjustment, no reclassification, the
possibility that the Commission would not approve the longevity pay in 2004
and the reality of increased health insurance. Basically, there was a real
possibility of bringing home less money in 2004 than in 2003. She said that
was very difficult, but as stated earlier, the IAFF was trying to be
sensitive to the budget.
She said one of County Commissioner Jones comments were, "We need to
take care of those who needed taking care of". She said those were the City
employees. City employees dealt with citizens and they were responsible for
making the City operate. She asked the Commission, when talking about the
budget, not to forget the City employees. She said the IAFF did approve
this budget, but it was close. She said the IAFF looked forward to working
with the city on the Compensation Study and staying on a positive note.
Commissioner Highberger thanked Kathy Elkins for her understanding
during a difficult budgeting year. It upsets him as a Commissioner to
approve a contract with no wage increase.
Vice Mayor Rundle noted the comment about brining home less money in
2004 and asked about the increased health care cost. He thought it was
because of health insurance employee contributions going up and therefore,
the employee paychecks were reduced if there were no general wage
adjustments.
Moved by Hack, seconded by Schauner, to approve the Memorandum of
Understanding between the International Association of Firefighters, Local
1596 and the City; and authorize the Mayor to sign the agreement.
(14)
Mayor Dunfield said an agenda item concerning the Memorandum of
Understanding between the Lawrence Police Officers Association and the City
was to be considered by the Commission. He said the Police Officers
Association did not have an opportunity to meet on this item, therefore,
this item would be deferred for a future agenda.
(15)
Chuck Soules, Public Works Director, presented the staff report
concerning University Place Neighborhood Traffic Calming Plan including a
permanent traffic calming circle at 17th (west leg) and Louisiana; a
pedestrian refuge island on Louisiana south of 18th (west leg); temporary
traffic calming circles on 17th at Indiana and Illinois; and two partial
diverters on 18th between Alabama/Maine alley and Missouri.
He said the neighborhood presented information to the Traffic Safety
Commission and they heard testimony and neighborhood concerns. He
said some of the neighborhood concerns were traffic volumes, cut through
traffic, and speeds. One of the main concerns was the opening of a new
recreation center in the area that would generate additional traffic. There
was representation from Kansas University, and they expressed agreement in
the overall concept of traffic calming, increased lighting, and sidewalks.
KU had concerns about the proposed traffic diverters and the traffic circle
at 17th and Louisiana. Some of the concerns were access for truck
deliverers and the pushing of traffic onto an already congested 19th Street.
The Traffic Safety Commission voted to approve this plan.
Commissioner Highberger heard concerns regarding emergency vehicle
access through the 17th and Indiana round-a-bout.
Soules said the Fire/Medical Department expressed a concern about
access, but staff typically received those types of concerns. He said when
they develop and design a traffic circle or roundabout, they try to make
those accessible to fire trucks by making the radius wide enough so that
those vehicles could get around them.
Commissioner Schauner asked if this particular roundabout required
the acquisition of right-of-way beyond what was currently possessed at the
intersection.
David Woosley, Traffic Engineer, said at 17th and Indiana, no, it
would be all within the confines of what was in there.
Mayor Dunfield said the issue of a traffic circle or roundabout was
one that needed to be clarified. What was being proposed was three
locations for traffic circles and all of those would take place within the
existing roadway and would not require any physical changes to the curbs and
sidewalks. He noted staff was talking about traffic circles and not
roundabouts.
Commissioner Schauner said those traffic circles were a smaller
diameter than a roundabout. He asked if that reduced size the genesis of
the Fire/Medical Department's concerns about emergency vehicles.
Mayor Dunfield said the key difference was that you don't actually
drive around traffic circles. The left turns were made in front of the
circle rather than by going around it. Presumably, a fire truck would be
able to make that same motion.
Commissioner Hack asked if there was discussion regarding speed
humps and cushions as opposed to the traffic circles.
Woosley said when the proposed plan started 2 to 3 years ago the
City did not have a policy on speed humps or cushions. He said although
there had been some discussions within the neighborhood they weren't carried
far. He said the neighborhood did not like that particular idea as much.
He said the Louisiana Street Calming Plan did propose a small
roundabout at 17th and Louisiana and that was what the Traffic Safety
Commission recommended in accordance with that plan approved by the City
Commission a few years ago. A traffic circle would not be able to be
constructed because it was a T-intersection. He said there would be
realignment of the curb on the east side of the roadway in order for it to
operate.
Commissioner Schauner recognized that increased traffic in that area
was a great concern by the neighborhood. He asked if there was a standard
used against measuring future requests for this type of treatment.
Woosley said no. The city did not having a traffic calming policy
in place. He said everything up to this point had been conducted and acted
upon by the City Commission on an individual basis.
Commissioner Schauner asked how long it would take to implement this
proposal.
Woosley said three of the five devices were temporary and these
devices could be done within a matter of a few days or weeks. The two
permanent devices would take longer. The pedestrian refuge island would
take a couple weeks to build and required funding. The mini roundabout
would take a considerably longer time because a consultant needed to be
hired to do the design and then bid the project as a contract.
Commissioner Schauner said he would like to address those issues,
which have been increasing in number, in a more systematic way. He said the
city would be better served if there was a policy that could be used to
judge the advisability of traffic calming devices.
Mayor Dunfield said there has been some movement in that direction,
but there has been no policy adopted.
Woosley said the Louisiana study had a recommended policy as a part
of that, but was never acted upon by the Commission.
Aline Hoey, President of University Place Neighborhood Association,
said she came to register her support for the plan. She said there were
many young families moving into their neighborhood. She said traffic was
becoming a problem in their neighborhood.
In 1999, the University Place Traffic Committee was formed to study
traffic in their area. She said after many traffic counts and neighborhood
surveys, it was determined that there was too much cut-through traffic
coming through at high rates of speed. She said with the help of Woosley, a
plan was formulated to address those concerns. She said they looked
specifically at the blocks with too much traffic based upon their
designation of residential streets. She said this was a neighborhood issue
and if traffic was diverted from one street, it could possibly go to another
street in the area.
She said there were some misconceptions about their plan in that
they were trying to create a gated community that people couldn't drive
through. She said this was not a true concept; they just wanted people to
drive through slower and carefully. She said on 18th Street there was a
problem with people driving fast, which was the reason for the proposed two
partial diverters. She said the pedestrian refuge on Louisiana was proposed
because of a number of children cross that street to go to Veterans Park, as
well as Cordley School. She said the neighborhood was a viable community
and a mixture of diverse residents. She thought this plan could help
preserve the quality of life for the neighborhood.
Caleb Morse, resident of University Place Neighborhood, said they
drafted and developed this plan long ago. At that time, there was a vacant
field on the west side of their neighborhood and now that there was a
building in that location, they needed to come back a reformulate their
proposal for diverter at 18th and Missouri. He said they came up with three
options. He presented a map depicting those options. He said the favorable
option by the neighborhood was a pair of partial diverts between Maine and
the alley between Maine and Missouri. He presented updated traffic and
speed counts to the Commission. He said the neighborhood put together a
good plan based on the information that was given and options they thought
were available to them. He said they would be willing to listen to other
options.
Leslie Tuttle, Lawrence, stressed that the plan was developed in the
spirit of what the neighborhood thought was being realistic, and compromised
as neighbors. She said not everybody thought that every element of this
plan was perfect, but a majority of people were in support of addressing
this problem. She said the cost of the traffic calming devices was
considered during the traffic calming development proposal. She said the
neighborhood did not want to install permanent traffic calming devices that
would not work or were not liked until it was known they were liked. She
said that was why the neighborhood was asking for temporary devices.
She said data has been collected over a period many years. The data
showed that the city needed to do something because their streets were in
danger of becoming collector streets even though they were residential
streets. She addressed the speed hump issue. The reason why their plan
was the same when addressing traffic circles was because if the neighborhood
were to ask for speed humps this process would begin all over again. She
said the neighborhood has followed the process of presenting a plan and if
city engineers recommended speed humps then the neighborhood would be happy
to try them out.
Jim Long, Representative of Provost Office, University of Kansas,
expressed KU's concerns regarding the proposed plan. He recognized the
neighborhood's efforts from the past two to three years in developing a
traffic calming program that would work for their neighborhood. KU was
recently asked several years ago to make comments on the neighborhood
efforts and KU took that opportunity and then a year later KU took
opportunity again to make comment not only to the neighborhood, but the City
as well. He said KU was in general agreement with the neighborhood's
efforts. Traffic calming along with improved lighting and installing new
sidewalk were all objectives that KU was in favor of because they would not
only benefit the neighborhood, but KU as well. He said there are two
aspects of the five proposed that KU had concerns about.
He said one concern was the two partial traffic diverters on 18th
Street. KU recommended at the Traffic Safety Commission meeting that the
proposals be further refined and evaluated by the city, university, and the
neighborhood. More specifically, KU recommended that the city traffic
engineer review the proposed diverter solutions against the analysis of the
project assessment criteria which was outlined in Transportation 2025. This
was a vehicle by which you take a project within our community and weigh it
in terms of goals, congestion, costs, and safety. He thought it was
appropriate to use those guidelines in this instance.
He said KU's primary concern was the same as the neighborhood's
concern which was safety of pedestrians and vehicles. He said there were a
variety of questions that should be asked as it related to 18th Street
traffic diverters. He asked how the traffic was going to be affected on
19th Street if the diverters were placed on 18th Street. He asked what
other plans, if any, for reengineering 19th Street to bring it in
performance as a street in an acceptable level. According to Transportation
2025, it would not be.
He asked which of the several options for diverters would lead to the
most significant traffic calming which would help out the neighborhood. It
was important to note that as we're thinking about having three options,
which were outlined. He said when thinking about, should there be protocols
with regard to speed bumps; protocols for common circles; and if they
listened to the neighborhood in terms of encouragement in that they were
willing to look at options as they were at the university with regard to
those options. He suggested that there should be an extended study in
relation to 18th Street.
Another concern was the idea of a permanent roundabout on 17th and
Indiana. He said that could have an affect on traffic coming to KU in terms
of pick-ups, deliveries, and heavy equipment. He said a traffic calming
circle would also impede traffic. He said it was important to note that a
task force has been formed to review not only truck traffic routes, but
truck delivery routes. KU asked the City Commission with regard to that
recommendation, was to step back and wait so the work of the task force be
completed and present it to the Commission for recommendation. He said this
seemed to be a good approach. He asked the Commission to table any further
activity in consideration with regard to that delivery route until it was
addressed by the task force. He said on behalf of KU, they recognized the
neighborhoods efforts. KU looked forward for further involvement as this
program moved through the City review process.
Vice Mayor Rundle said the TSC recommended permanent installations,
but he heard in discussions that there were budgetary reasons. He said
staff and the residents in that neighborhood wanted to use temporary devices
to see if they would work before they commit to permanent installation. He
asked if that would relieve some of the university's concerns if they new
these were temporary until they see what the impact would be at that
location.
Long said the university was concerned about any type of traffic
calming devices. He said in regard to the diverters, KU simply thought it
required further study.
Wayne Parks, Lawrence, said he was not necessarily a believer in
roundabouts or traffic calming devices. He said we did not have enough
collector streets therefore; we use residential streets as collector
streets. The topography and poor planning was the cause of these problems.
He suggested having Police Officers monitoring speed and traffic violations.
John Mullens, University of Kansas - Public Safety Office, said
there was a small segment on the KU campus that has a diagonal road call
Sunflower and coming off of Sunnyside it made it possible for long vehicles
to turn. Unfortunately, that was the road that needed to be taken for truck
deliveries. The designs shown at the TSC meeting raised a concern with the
temporary turning circles and the upright plastic/metal poles installed
would not allow larger trucks to maneuver around them. The permanent circle
which was more acceptable has a raised edge center and higher center core
which allowed fire trucks and ambulances to go over that curb. He said this
was one of the reasons they agreed with a permanent circles.
Another suggestion was installing a "stop sign" on 18th Street. He
said any citizen of Lawrence deserved to be safe.
He said there were three points to make on the 18th Street traffic
diverters. The Transportation 2025 plan talked about corridor preservation.
This plan stated: "One of the products in the development of Transportation
2025 was the identification of the major existing and future transportation
corridors for each of the roadway functional classifications in the
Lawrence-Douglas County region was depicted in the MTM. These corridors
should be preserved from negative impacts of development changing land uses
and encroachments so that future improvements could be made in an efficient
manner."
The Transportation 2025 plan also stated: "The City of Lawrence and
Douglas County had several responsibilities in this regard. As new
facilities were built, locations for futures access, and type of access
should be determined in order to promote good traffic flow and minimize
conflicts. Small incremental changes to the access plan could have large
and cumulative affects over time in areas where full access control already
exists, systematic block by block improvement strategy should be developed
and implemented to reduce traffic conflicts, and increase the capacity to
the roadways potential level."
He said this was what happened to the University Place neighborhood.
He said 19th Street traffic has picked up in Lawrence because more people
were moving into the southeastern edge of this community and they were still
working at places on the opposite side of town.
He said 19th Street was already designated as a congested roadway in
that plan from Louisiana to Iowa Streets. The traffic counts were currently
running over 2000 vehicles a day on 18th Street, the diverters would
actually push a majority of that traffic back onto 19th Street. This would
cause a twenty percent increase in daily traffic. He said one comment they
heard was that they could use 21st Street. He said if they put 2,000 cars
on 21st Street there would be another neighborhood group wanting to discuss
that issue.
He said safety was an issue. The three traffic counts conducted on
18th Street over a 13 year period indicated there were over 2,000 cars using
18th Street each day. Placement of the diverters on 18th Street would force
all of these vehicles onto 19th Street or other alternate routes. At least
1,000 vehicles per day would be forced to make left turns either on Naismith
or onto 19th Street. One of the reasons why most people use that area
leaving the campus was because they could go to Louisiana and continue south
or east using the light at 19th and Louisiana. What they would be looking
at if they could not go that light leaving that parking lot would need to go
in the same direction or would need to make a left turn at Arkansas
depending upon how the diverter was placed onto 19th Street. Many times
19th Street, westbound, because of the light at peak times, those
intersections were blocked. He said were putting in more left hand turns
into Naismith which carried approximately 1,400 cars a day. He said there
would be a back log of traffic trying to make those left turns.
He had concerns with 19th Street and Naismith Drive because vehicles
would need to cross 4 lanes which were taking a chance. Instead of fender
benders and lower speed accidents, they would probably end up with injuries
involved in those accidents.
No accident records had been provided for the other intersections
coming off of 19th Street and should be considered. He said while the speed
was decided for a consideration of the diverters, the proposal speed
studies, up until the study he just received, showed the average speed less
than 25 mph.
He said there were a lot of pro's and con's about the recreation
center. He said the numbers of cars that could park in that lot was a fixed
number. The recreation center was intended to replace all of the activities
currently going on at Robinson Gym. He said it was debatable whether this
recreational center would increase traffic.
Dietrich Earnhart, Lawrence, said the 17th and Louisiana mini
roundabout and pedestrian refuge proposal has already been approved by City
Commission. It was included in the package to be completed so that traffic
was not diverted from one street to the next street within their
neighborhood. KU feels that it might be helpful to be a "stop sign" at the
T-intersection between 18th and Louisiana Streets. He said there was no way
that would be disrupting or impeding their plans and would blend in nicely.
He said with regards to the traffic circles at 17th and Indiana and
17th and Illinois, in regards to truck traffic, he appreciated that there
was a task force in place to study truck routes in regards to the turning
circles and truck traffic. This was an issue that has been addressed in
regards to emergency vehicles and any truck that was appropriately driving
could get through as well.
He addressed the 18th partial diverters. With regards to the amount
and type of traffic that flow down 18th Street, it was obviously cut-through
traffic. The bulk of that traffic which was above the limit for a
residential street was cut-through traffic. He said the neighborhood would
like to have the traffic stay on 19th Street or the volume of traffic
reduced.
Betty Alderson, resident of Centennial Neighborhood, urged the
Commission to consider the proposal that the University Place neighborhood
had drafted. She said the neighborhood had worked hard on the proposal.
She was a firm believer in roundabouts after attending a meeting with
KDOT. KDOT's statistics on roundabouts show that there were fewer accident;
less severity of accidents; slows down traffic; and keeps traffic moving.
She appreciated the concerns about putting traffic onto 19th Street,
but that was where the traffic belonged. It was the only street that went
straight through from Iowa, east of Massachusetts in that area, until you
get to 23rd Street.
She said the neighborhood has been monitoring Louisiana Street speed
limits and used Police Department statistics and they know that the refuge
islands have slowed down the speed of the traffic. Not only did it slow
traffic down, but offered pedestrian a place to get across the street more
safety. She said a speed hump would not provide anything to a pedestrian.
She supported the neighborhood's plan.
Don Barnett, representing 3 of the 4 household on Mississippi Street
with children under 3 years old, said they were concerned about the new
recreational center and that they were in full agreement with the diverters.
Jonathan Earle, Lawrence, said the neighborhood did not believe that
more study was needed to put the plan into action. The neighborhood was
familiar with all those different options over a period of several years.
He was afraid what KU was suggesting was a "death by study". It was time
for the city to do something. He said their suggestion for temporary
devices made it possible to move forward and making sure their plan reached
the neighborhood's desired affect. He said the plan was in perfect harmony
with the goals of Transportation 2025. He said while they were sensitive to
concerns about congestion on 19th Street and they supported efforts to
address that concern, they did not believe it was reasonable to suggest the
congestion along 19th Street either could or should be solved by
transferring that traffic to a residential street, like 18th Street.
Morse said his position, as a resident of the neighborhood, was that
he was willing to with traffic engineers to come up with the right tweaking
for the plan. He said further study was not needed.
He said KU suggested that they wait until the Truck Route Task Force
comes back with a recommendation about the categorization of that street.
He said you might note that they actually had a traffic circle approved for
19th and Barker Street which was a truck delivery route. He said there was
no conflict with traffic calming devices and truck delivery routes.
He said concerning the partial diverters, he said University Place
had picked an option that they preferred which was Option No. 3.
He said the parking lot at 18th Street was an example of bad
planning. He said the parking lot took direct access to a residential
street. He found it disingenuous for KU to say that the major problem that
KU has created for their neighborhood was not their problem. He said if KU
wanted to fix the traffic problems on Naismith, he suggested they install a
traffic light at Schwegler and Naismith to allow those left hand turns.
Commissioner Hack agreed that the traffic problem needed to be
looked at as a whole. She appreciated the comments regarding the temporary
devices. If the Commission were to approve the plan then it would get
things moving and the neighborhood would not have start over with a new
plan.
Commissioner Rundle said he agreed.
Mayor Dunfield thanked one of the speakers who stated that the
Louisiana Street proposals had already been adopted by the city along with a
number of other traffic proposals waiting for further funding. The building
of a roundabout was a significant capital investment and needed to be apart
of that whole process and prioritized against all of the many other traffic
issues. He was comfortable that the Commission had adopted that as part of
their long range plan. He said there were things that the Commission could
do in terms of the temporary devices that could get a quicker results and
not need to wait for that larger funding cycle. He agreed that this plan
should be approved so that they could get these temporary measures into
place. The question of 19th Street was difficult, but the Commission could
not push 19th Street problem onto 18th Street.
Commissioner Highberger said there has been a lot of study put into
the proposal. He appreciated KU's concerns. He said since these were
temporary devices it would give them the opportunity to correct the solution
if there was a problem. He said diverting university traffic through 18th
Street was absolutely the wrong thing to do. He supported the plan as
presented.
Commissioner Schauner congratulated the neighborhood for their hard
work. He said the issue brought up his previous expressed concern about ad
hoc decision making about the impact of a particular project bringing in
more traffic in a particular area. It brings up a need to improve the level
of communication between KU and all its surrounding neighborhoods. He said
it was clear that KU would continue to grow. This brings good things and
negative things. One of the negative things was the traffic issue. Traffic
would continue to be a problem in neighborhoods until the Commission
develops a plan that addressed the traffic issue. He said the City
Commission needed to think outside the box and find a way to reduce traffic
on campus. He supported the proposal.
(16)
Moved Rundle, seconded by Schauner, to extend the City Commission
meeting until 11:00 p.m. Motion carried unanimously.
Moved Rundle, seconded by Schauner, to recess into executive session
to discuss matters deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship for
forty-five minutes. Motion carried unanimously.
(17)
After returning from executive session, David Corliss, Assistant City
Manager/Legal Services Director, presented the staff report concerning
Ordinance No. 7651, establishing a temporary building permit moratorium for
building permits at the northwest and northeast corners of 6th Street and
Wakarusa Drive. He said the draft ordinance establishes by its recitals of
procedural history as to why were here and certain findings that staff
believed were appropriate. It established a 6 month moratorium on the
issuance of building permits in the temporary moratorium area which was the
area bounded by 6th Street, Overland Drive, Folks Road, and Congressional
Road. It then sets out a number of items that would be considered during
the moratorium period and there were also additional initiation of certain
actions that staff believed deserved additional Commission discussion and
direction.
Mayor Dunfield called for public comment.
Wayne Parks, Lawrence, said there was a lot of history and concerns
about the corners of 6th Street and Wakarusa Drive and he thought a
moratorium was needed at that location, not only at that location, but
wherever there was development. He was concerned that this growth was
costing this City because of poor planning. He said the City needed to take
control of this development. He said this would also help the developers
because they would know the City's plan for this area and this would save
taxpayer money.
Jim Bowers, Attorney, representing 6Wak Land Investment LLC, a
limited liability company that owns Wakarusa Place, said the limited
liability was owned by Doug Compton and Bill Newsome. He read something
that was apropos of this discussion this evening which was a "Motion in
Limine" filed on behalf of the City, by the City Attorney. The Motion in
Limine was for the purpose of limiting the testimony of Commissioners in a
matter that was pending in front of Kansas District Court. The Motion in
Limine said during the last City elections, growth and development in the
city was a heavily issue of the campaign. Several of the present
Commissioners, although they had not taken office by April 1, 2003, ran on
platforms extolling certain philosophies regarding growth and development in
the city. Those philosophies regarding development now controlled the City
Commission and that was right of the electorates of Lawrence, Kansas, to
elect Commissioners who represent their views, who have desires to change
the pattern of growth in Lawrence. He said they as landlords had no right
to object to that course of action, but that course of action was with
respect to the future. This Commission has a duty and obligation to respect
the actions of the prior Commission. The prior Commission took action with
respect to his client's property which was protected by the United States
Constitution. In particular, under the 5th Amendment to the Constitution, a
person shall not be deprived of his/her property without due process of law.
Nor shall his/her property be taken without just compensation. Those were
Constitutional principles which transcend Kansas Law which transcend
ordinances passed by the City Commission. The Commission has the power to
change the land use regulations in the City of Lawrence so long as the
Commission complied with the statutory requirements and Constitutional
requirements and applied those new regulations prospectively, going forward.
However, with respect to projects that were approved by the Commission's
predecessor, when the owners of the land had played by the rules with
respect to those who approved, and acted in good faith and reliance upon
those regulations, the Commission needed to honor what the previous
Commission did and not try to rewrite the rules. The court would not let
the Commission. The doctrines of promissory estoppel, equitable estoppel
applied in a case like this. The City by approving the preliminary
development plan, the final plan, the plat, and inducing his clients to
believe they would have the right rely on the plan approvals which would
approve the development of up to 155,000 square feet of retail space,
including a building that had over 100,000 square feet was shown in the
plan. He said his clients relied on those plans and actions when they made
a heavy capital investment for soft costs, including planning, engineering,
legal work, and hard costs. The hard costs included the dedication of
right-of-way from the widening of 6th Street. They also dedicated land on
Wakarusa Drive as a condition of approval of that plan. More importantly
they agreed to waive any objection they had creation of special benefit
districts for the construction of two of the primary streets that served
this project. These special benefit districts were formed to construct
Congressional and Overland Drives. That commitment was what the city made
to his clients and that was what induced them to spend between 1.6 and 2
million dollars to date, not including the cost of acquisition of this real
estate with respect to those improvements and those costs.
On October 23, 2001, the Preliminary Development Plan for Wakarusa
Place was approved by the City Commission. On December 19, 2001, the Final
Development Plan was approved. What was important about this plan was the
noted at the top. The notes required that no occupancy would be allowed
until road construction contracts had been awarded for the benefit district
portion of Congressional and Overland Drives. On April 1, 2002 following
the approval of both the Preliminary and Final Development Plan there was a
plat approved for Wakarusa Place Addition. This plat was filed of record
with the Douglas County Recorder of Deeds on April 1, 2003.
He said the City Attorney and the Director of Legal Services told him
that in this case, under the vested rights doctrine, his clients did not
have any right to rely on these plans that were approved by the City. Until
they pull a building permit and until they act to their detriment on
reliance on that building permit and spend money, they did not have any
vested rights. There was one argument missed which was Congressional Drive.
The money has been spent and the construction was completed. He said
Overland Drive was also constructed and substantially completed.
He received the Moratorium Ordinance 7651 on May 28, 2003 and it was
passed on first reading last week. Today, he received a copy of a revised
April 29th draft which he had not seen before. He said what was interesting
about the April 29th draft was a new section a "Whereas" clause at the
bottom of the second page. It stated: "Whereas section 21-501 of the Code
of the City of Lawrence, Kansas provides in part building and occupancy
permits in subdivision." He said this was not a subdivision in the sense of
a single family or residential subdivision, this was a plat of a mixed used
commercial project in which there was substantial retail uses of the
property, "shall not be issued by the official in charge with respect to
such permits until the required public improvements have been substantially
completed to provide for adequate occupancy of the subdivision or for that
part of the subdivision being developed." He said what that language said
with respect to improvements that have been specifically required in this
project. He said the note that he read, detailed what the City's
requirements were in this case. After having sited that language, of the
section of the ordinance, this new revised ordinance went on to say: "The
Governing Body specifically finds that the public improvements to
Congressional, Overland, Wakarusa, and West 6th Street have not been
substantially completed to provide for adequate occupancy in the temporary
moratorium area, an additional study is required to determine the
appropriate time to release building permits pursuant to this law." He
asked when the governing body made the finding that was recited in the
revised ordinance. There has been no public discussion nor has that been
any hearing to make a finding of this type. He said the Commission had the
opportunity to avoid the burden of extensive, protracted, and expensive
litigation. He asked the Commission to step back and do the right thing in
this case. He said the recent elected City Commissioners were elected on a
platform that stated they were going to make substantial changes in this
town and they would change the way in which planning was done. He said
don't do what this moratorium would set the Commission on a course to do
which was to go back and try to undue what the previous Commission did. If
you go down that road, then the next Commission would do that to them and
that would start a cycle that would repeat itself. This was a nation in
which we have great respect for our laws. He asked the Commission as
elected representatives to the people of the City of Lawrence to have
respect for the laws that were passed by the Commission's predecessor who
granted the right of approval to his client to build these improvements. He
asked the Commission to give the building permit that they were entitled to
and don't pass the moratorium.
John Peterson, Attorney with Polsinelli, White in Overland Park
Kansas, appearing on behalf of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said he has not had the
opportunity to speak to this governing body or to these issues which
everyday seemed to have more of potentially to clearly impact the interest
of his client. He introduced his partner who heads the Litigation
Department in their Kansas Office and their co-Counsel, Todd Thompson who
has been extensively involved in the "typical" and "normal" process that
Wal-mart has gone through to seek the opportunity and the privilege of
continuing to do business in the City of Lawrence.
He said it has been his pleasure and the pleasure of his firm to
serve as regional counsel for Wal-mart over the past several years in regard
to a variety of issues regarding development, land use issues, and issues
rose as they moved through the regulatory process. It was in that capacity
that Wal-mart notified his firm because something was going on in Lawrence
and they were asked to work with co-Counsel, take a look and evaluate and
review what was going on. The quasi-judicial process, the process that the
state laws of Kansas provided enabled you to make land use zoning decisions
was complete. This was the report of the General Counsel. He said they
were in the ministerial part of the process, one where discretion was
extremely limited and they were being denied a building permit because the
structure that was approved through the quasi-judicial process for several
years was going to be used as a Wal-mart as opposed to a Home Depot. He
said with those directions they proceeded to work through volumes of papers
and material attempting to piece together, at least from a new perspective,
what took place here.
In one regard, he found out exactly what he expected to find, knowing
the expertise and competence of co-Counsel. He took the application through
the quasi-judicial process. He wanted a bigger store for Wal-mart and on
the basis of that application, he was denied on sound land use principals.
He said they might not have agreed with that decision, but were well within
their purview to make those decisions. co-Counsel continued to work within
the framework of Lawrence's rules, regulations, and historical pattern and
practice on how the City staff reviewed and evaluated similar applications
and found the opportunity to move forward in a ministerial process to seek a
building permit to allow Wal-mart build another store in the City of
Lawrence and he was denied. What he was surprised to find was the
methodology being employed by this City in an apparent attempt because he
knew there was a lot of discussions apparently going on here, some in
Executive Session and some potentially between members of the Governing Body
and the Administrative Staff, talking about what they should do about
Wal-mart. He said not in a public forum or not when the press could find
out exactly what "is" or "are" the rationales for these "inappropriate
intervention" in the administrative process, but behind closed doors with a
result that Wal-mart was not being allowed to move forward in the same
manner that every other applicant seeking the ability to build a business in
this City has been afforded over the years. He said for those of us that
operated in the confines of due process on a daily basis, he has never seen
anything like this. He said it was appalling. He said that was not a legal
term, but a personal term for John Peterson.
He said Wal-mart was making statements that they wanted to protect
their rights that some might deem to be threatening, that was not the
business that they were in. Wal-mart was in the business of building stores
in communities to provide our constituents a shopping option. He said no
one forces anyone to shop at a Wal-mart, Target, or any other business in
this city. He said when you're in business, just because someone said, "we
don't like the way you do business" that they were just going to turn around
and walk away. No business for which any of the Commission was employed, if
they played by the rules, made sure that they followed the procedural
guidelines, rules, regulations, and state law, relied on the anticipation if
they met those rules and requirements of the regulations in place, that they
would be afforded the opportunity to do what they were in business to do,
would walk away either. He said apparently there were different rules and
different regulations depending on how big of a company you were nationwide
or how big of a store on a square foot basis you operate from.
He said issues were well articulated and a clear record made by their
co-Counsel in regard to the legal issues. The appropriateness of a
moratorium that was focusing on one specific piece of property, not in a
quasi-judicial manner, when your talking about a specific piece of property,
state law was clear, you move from your status of approaching an issue from
a legislative function to a quasi-judicial function.
He could raise the issues of the utilizations of Executive Sessions
to talk about a matter when you would affect property rights without
announcing why the Commission was going into Executive Session. He said
modification of ordinances that were going to impact his client
significantly in changing the language in midstream from 1st Reading to 2nd
Reading. He said the record has been made and unfortunately for everybody.
There was a new forum that has been created for many of those legal issues
to be address at it was a shame that it has come to this.
He said, in closing, he would join with Bower's and the property
owner's request that they take a step back. He said this Commission might
not like what the prior Commission had decided in terms of the appropriate
land use for this specific piece of property. He said this Commission might
not like the fact that the prior Commission passed rules and regulations,
created stipulations, and created a roadmap of rules that if to be followed,
a Wal-mart could open its doors and provide that second shopping options to
the citizens of Lawrence. He said everything was done appropriately and a
sound legal basis. If the Commission wanted to change their policy
prospectively, they had the power, ability, and the methodology to do that,
but to take a change in policy and retroactively apply it to a situation
where businesses and landowners had relied on those prior decisions, he
would submit to the Commission in closing, was both illegal and patently
unfair. He said Wal-mart played by the rules and asked the Commission in
utmost respect for the City Commission to play by the rules. He said set
aside this moratorium, review your issues prospectively, but let them get on
with the business of providing shopping opportunities for your constituents.
Frank Janzen, Lawrence, was born in Chanute, Kansas, in southeast
Kansas and it was a small town. He said they put in a Wal-mart in Chanute
quite a few years ago approximately one mile south of town. He said
downtown Chanute had quite a few empty store fronts and that was the case
many years ago until the planning for Lawrence was able to keep a strong
downtown.
He addressed the remarks made by Peterson concerning Commission
changes and requesting that this Commission not reverse any decisions from
previous Commissions. He asked if Peterson believed that was true in
Washington D.C. where each change of administration brings changes in laws
and regulations.
Janzen said we apparently have some powerful people here in Lawrence
from out of town. He said we as a community had always dealt with issues
locally doing the best we could for our community. He said we have not had
any problems before with people from out of town coming in to try to force
things through this community. He said we should stand up and do what was
best for Lawrence.
Moved by Rundle, seconded by Hack, to extend the City Commission
meeting until 11:15 p.m. Motion carried unanimously.
Gwen Klingenberg, Lawrence, addressed the comments about
Congressional and Wakarusa being almost completed. She said Wakarusa was
closed north of 6th Street and Congressional was approximately three or four
feet higher than 6th Street. Until KDOT made changes to 6th Street, there
was no way that Congressional would be open. She found it hard to believe
that because there was a piece of asphalt there, that road was usable.
Alan Cowles, President, West Lawrence Neighborhood Association, said
the attorneys representing the applicants and Wal-mart suggest that their
clients were playing by the rules and yes, they were playing by their
interpretations of the rules as they would like to see them. He said we
differ with that interpretation. Some builder wanted to build in a hurry,
leaving the neighbors to suffer the consequences for a number of years with
the big box eye sore, excess traffic, traffic going through residential
neighborhoods, and hazards to our children. The builders would head home
and the attorneys would had off to Missouri in the executives would stay in
Bentonville, leaving us to suffer the consequences.
The moratorium would last approximately one to two percent of the
duration of the building which was proposed and they urged passage of the
moratorium.
Commissioner Highberger asked if Congressional and Overland Drives
were substantially completed.
Soules said "substantial completion" would be looked at by his
Engineering Department as accessible, opened to traffic, and was usable.
Seeding, driveway approaches, and miscellaneous issues were not completed
for "substantial completion." He said "substantial completion" was looked
at in the industry as being ninety-five percent completed. He thought those
two projects were ninety-five percent complete at this time.
Commissioner Schauner was not sure about Soules answer.
Soules said the projects were not "substantially completed."
Commissioner Schauner asked what period of time would Congressional
Road, as it moved to the south, not be an access point to 6th Street.
Soules said that was not part of the project. The tie in was being
done with the 6th Street project. KDOT was tying Congressional into 6th
Street.
Commissioner Schauner asked what was the current timetable for KDOT
to they that road into 6th Street.
Soules said KDOT was hoping to open bids early in September, but
their original schedule was the first of next year.
Commissioner Schauner asked what would be the completion date for
that project.
Soules said 1 1/2 to 2 years from next January. He did not know what
the right-of-way issues were at this point.
Commissioner Schauner asked if the original draft of Ordinance No.
7651 contained the "whereas" in Section 21-501.
David Corliss, Assistant City Manager/Legal Services Director, said
it did not contain that recital and he also made an amendment that was
suggested by Commissioner Rundle at last Tuesday's meeting in regards to the
third recital on the second page, "the rigorous investigation is needed."
He believed those were the only changes that he made.
Commissioner Schauner asked it both of those paragraphs were new to
this particular draft.
Corliss said no. The only new paragraph was the one at the beginning
at the bottom of page two.
Commissioner Schauner asked if the word "rigorous" was added.
Corliss said that recital was re-written to make it clearer English.
Commissioner Schauner said on 1st Reading last week, would he be
correct in assuming that the draft ordinance did not contain the "whereas"
section at the bottom of the second page which begins "whereas section
21-501" and it didn't contain all of the words that were in the third
"whereas" on the second page, including the word "rigorous."
Corliss said yes.
Commissioner Schauner asked Corliss if this City Commission, in his
opinion should approve this draft ordinance on 2nd Reading at this time,
with those changes having been inserted as of May 29, 2003.
Corliss said yes. It has been this City's practice and opinion that
you could amend ordinances on 2nd Reading.
Commissioner Schauner asked if it was the Legal Departments opinion
that this ordinance was essentially the same ordinance that was passed on
1st Reading last Tuesday evening.
Corliss believed it was substantially the same, but he thought that
recital was an important policy issue for the City Commission. It was a
very important provision in our laws as to whether or not building permits
would be issued when public improvements were not completed.
Vice Mayor Rundle said they had encouraged in the past for people to
come and comment during the 1st and 2nd Reading, so that the Commission
could catch errors and make amendments.
Commissioner Schauner said being new to the Commission it was in the
opinion that these two clarifications would be consistent with the practice
this Commission had used in the past.
Commissioner Hack clarified that it was past "City Commissions."
Vice Mayor Rundle wanted to note that the finding that public
improvements were not "substantially completed" did not say Congressional,
Overland, Wakarusa, or west 6th Streets. It stated "all of those streets"
and west 6th Street. He said it has been an ongoing item of discussion
concerning west 6th Street and whether there would be funding. He thought
the Commission and the community had been in discussions concerning this
issue regularly.
He said the prior City Commission approved those plans with
conditions. He thought those conditions still pertained those plans and
this Commission has acted on those other matters that were referred to by
the speakers. He had no problem approving this ordinance on 2nd Reading as
amended.
Commissioner Highberger did not see this moratorium as a change in
the course of the Commission. He believed it was necessary to ensure that
the will of the prior Commission was followed. He said what happened at
this intersection would affect every citizen of Lawrence for the next 100
years. He thought they only had one chance to do this right. He supported
moving ahead with this ordinance.
Mayor Dunfield responded to two of the points that were made. He
said one point was this Commission's actions had been entirely consistent
with the actions that the previous Commission took with regard to this
particular piece of property. He did not see any changes of course.
Another point was that he did not believe that anyone on this Commission
thought that this was an issue about Wal-mart, but it was an issue of land
use. He was in support of the moratorium and thought it was entirely
appropriate. West 6th Street was not going to be completed for quite
sometime and the large scale commercial development that might feed into
west 6th Street as a result of this piece of property also needed to work
hand and hand with that construction.
Moved by Hack, seconded by Highberger, to extend the City Commission
meeting until 11:30 p.m. Motion carried unanimously.
Commissioner Hack appreciated the Mayor's comments and agreed with
those comments. She has supported and would continue to support economic
and commercial development at this area because it was designated by Horizon
2020. She said what this would allow them to do, by supporting this
moratorium for this brief period of time, was to allow for an area plan to
be developed, look at the definitions and the use group tables which the
Commission worked on with the findings of fact, and work with the traffic
study with adequate public facilities in this area, particularly 6th Street.
She supported the ordinance as amended.
Commissioner Schauner said there was a phrase in pension law that
talked about "cliff vesting" and he said his sense was this was much like
that. This was a situation where the Commission was at a precipice of
making a decision which would have a practical and physical impact on every
surrounding activity that would last a long time. He said it was imperative
that the City take a very hard look at the traffic impact that the
proponents of the commercial development at that site would have on that
intersection. He said they needed to take a look at what they would permit
be done with the northeast corner of that intersection which stood to be
without any square footage and needed to be developed in a common sense way
that gave appropriate uses to all of the persons who were involved in that
corner. Until they develop that plan, he thought that moratorium was the
only way that he knew of to step back before they made decisions that were
unalterable and think through this process in a way that would protect all
of the stakeholders.
He hoped the Planning Commission would take a hard look at all of
these issues and bring the City Commission some direction so that could make
an informed decision. He supported the adoption of this ordinance on 2nd
Reading.
Moved by Schauner, seconded by Rundle, to adopt on second and final
reading, Ordinance 7651, establishing a temporary building permit moratorium
for building permits at the northwest and northeast corners of 6th Street
and Wakarusa Drive. Motion carried unanimously.
(18)
Corliss asked the Commission if there was anything they saw in the
body of their agenda, when talking about the initiations of those four
items.
Commissioner Hack asked if the area plan and rezoning go hand in
hand.
Corliss said yes. He said it was important that the City Commission
indicate that this was a priority of the Commission to move forward as far
as staff and the Planning Commission's attention to this matter.
Commissioner Hack said that should be stressed to this Commission in
fairness to all parties.
Commissioner Schauner concurred that issue should be a priority of
the Commission. He would link the small area plan with the traffic impact
on that corner. He said what was likely to occur next in the development of
that part of town was that there would be at some point, a westward march to
the SLT with development. He believed that there wasn't anyone who has
driven in the town more than 30 minutes, who would do anything they could to
prevent a repeat of 23rd Street or 31st Street and Iowa. He said they had
one chance to get this issue resolved, from that corner west. He would like
to see the area plan developed in a way that would not include just that
corner, but that corner impact on westward development of that stretch of
6th Street. He said the prior Commission had addressed that node at 6th and
the SLT. He said that node and this node were not directly connected
technically. He believed there was a slippery slope as they moved west.
Vice Mayor Rundle asked if the text amendments were encompassed in
the re- codification of the Zoning and Subdivision Regulations.
Linda Finger, Planning Director, said they would be posted on the
City's website next month.
Corliss strongly suggested not waiting for the re-writing of the
zoning code. These changes needed to happen quickly and not wait.
Finger also suggested not waiting for the new regulations because
those regulations would be entirely different than the zoning regulation.
She suggested proceeding with Step No. 3.
Mayor Dunfield said in the findings of fact based on the March 25th
meeting, that whole issue of the definitions was central.
Commissioner Hack said the traffic issue with the improvements to 6th
Street was a major portion of the findings of fact.
Mayor Dunfield asked if the Commission discussion provided staff
enough direction to proceed.
Corliss said yes.
Mayor Dunfield called for public comment.
After no public comment, Mayor Dunfield said the Sunday sales of
liquor was being brought up with frequency and whether the City of Lawrence
would take up that issue in support. He asked the Commission if they wanted
this item placed on a near future agenda.
Vice Mayor Rundle asked Corliss how many cities had passed the sales
of liquor on Sundays and how cities many were considering that issue.
Corliss said there were approximately three or four cities that have
passed that regulation and the Attorney General was appealing the District
Court decision from Wyandotte County. The District Court of Wyandotte
County upheld that County's resolution.
Vice Mayor Rundle was going to let it ride with the end of the
session.
Commissioner Hack would like it placed on an agenda. She suggested
placing this issue on the June 24, 2003 or after, City Commission agenda.
Commissioner Highberger did not have a strong desire to move forward
with this issue, but he was not opposed to moving forward.
Corliss suggested notify all of the Retail Liquor Stores that was an
issue that the Commission would consider and ask for comments by the end of
the month.
Commissioner Schauner suggested also notifying all the grocery stores
that sell beer as well. He understood that the Commission did not have any
authority to do that, but there was a competition issue.
Corliss suggested the July 1, 2003 Commission agenda for discussion
and direction. He said this required four affirmative or 2/3 majority of
the Commission.
Mayor Dunfield concurred to attentively place this issue on the July
1, 2003 City Commission agenda.
(19)
Commissioner Highberger received a letter regarding the SLT and in
pending record of decision by the Corps of Engineer's. He said several
other parties requested that the City contact the Corps of Engineer and
asked them to postpone the record of decision on the SLT until they could be
briefed on the impacts that the record of decision would have on the City of
Lawrence and write a draft copy of the letter to send to the Corps of
Engineer.
Mayor Dunfield did not have a chance to study this issue in detail.
Commissioner Hack did not support this issue. She thought this issue
had been already addressed sufficiently and they were at the point where
they needed to move along and be allowed to make their decision.
Commissioner Schauner said the Commission wasn't trying to cause them
to study it anymore, but what decisions they do make would have an impact on
the City's surface streets and realistically the budget. He thought the
Commission should be consulted with respect to those decisions. He asked
that this issue be placed on a future agenda.
Mayor Dunfield said if it was still relevant to place this item on
next weeks City Commission agenda.
(20)
Moved by Highberger, seconded by Rundle, to adjourn at 11:30. Motion
carried unanimously.
APPROVED:
_____________________________
David M. Dunfield, Mayor
ATTEST:
___________________________________
Frank S. Reeb, City Clerk
CITY COMMISSION MEETING MAY 27, 2003
1. Bid - 1 bulk refuse truck for Public Works to Westfall GMC for $48,954.
2. Bid - Painting outdoor pool for Parks & Rec to Advanced Protective
Coating for $45,778.
3. Agreement - Banking services to Central National Bank.
4. Milling, Overlay & Pavement Improvements for 23rd, Learnard to Harper & N
3rd, Industrial Ln to N City Limits to LRM for $562,524.03.
5. Bid date set - June 17th, 2 pm., for Oread Ctr (16th/Reseach Park Dr.)
6. Bid date set - June 24th, 2 pm., 6th & Comet Ln Geometric Improvements.
7. Write-offs - $113,136.65 for 895 utility billing & $184,194.88 for 57
misc receivables.
8. Ordinance No. 7652 - 1st Reading, name change from Stintson Ave. to
Bryant Way.
9. Resolution No. 6472 - Oregon Stormwater improvement project, 835 E 13th.
10. UPR - Project Acceptance, 707 Maine.
11. TUPR - (TUPR-05-19-03) fundraiser, Boys & Girls Club, Meadowbrook
property, NE corner of Crestline & W 15th.
12. Mortgage Release - 1132 New York, Billy Hunsingner.
13. Public Hearing 2004 City Budget issues/USD 497 athletic activities.
14. Memo of Understanding - International Assoc. of Firefighters, Local 1596
15. Memo of Understanding (Deferred) - Lawrence Police Officers Assoc.
16. Traffic Calming Plan - 17th (W leg) & Louisiana.
17. Executive Session
18. Ordinance No. 7651 - 2nd reading, temporary building permit moratorium.
19. Retail Liquor Store issue discuss - July 1, 2003.
20. SLT discussion.
5
June 3, 2003
City Commission Minutes
Page 51
_____________________________
Lisa K. Patterson
Communications Coordinator
City of Lawrence
PO Box 708
Lawrence, KS 66044
(785) 832-3406
fax (785) 832-3405
lpatterson@ci.lawrence.ks.us
http://www.lawrenceks.org