City Council Meeting   9/2/2008

P.S.

I'd like to call this, I'd like to call this meeting to order.

We'll start with the planning meetings.

and invisible with liberty and justice for all.

We're looking for the perfect holiday tree and if you have a tree that is under 25 feet tall and would like to donate it for use for the community, please call 970-3129 and any other announcements on the part of other councilors.

Take it away.

Thank you.

Waters.

And the first person to speak, Collette Hall.

Thank you.

perhaps in the awareness and educational aspects of making the pedestrians and drivers aware of the emphasis that council would like to place on pedestrian safety.

Thank you.

and I'll give you the translation as well.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for your time.

Next speaker, Stratton Salaitis.

Thank you.

Naomi Roberts.

Thank you.

Mr. Mason.

Thank you.

Savage and then Messina.

Thank you very much for the work you do.

Seaman?

Thank you.

Would anybody like to go first?

Only two comments, sir.

In regards to the Med Creek Parkway, I'd like for the city attorney, if he would, to address the supermajority issue that we're part of.

That's the opinion that was specifically, as I say, requested with regard to the parkway.

And I certainly can't disagree with what Mr. Mason has said.

you know what can we do now and how much money you know and how to do this strategically and I think the Housing Authority is actively working on that and I'd also like to thank Ms. Roberts for her comments.

To get an update I think would be the next appropriate step.

I think the West Hill Institution

We should stay there for a few days to see how they like it.

Item A is an appropriation of $68,990 Albemarle County Funds for Therapeutic Recreation, second of two readings.

Are there any items that councillors would like to remove from the consent agenda, or is there a motion to approve?

So moved.

Second.

And here to present this issue is Jeanette Juhanicek and I believe Brent Sprinkle from VH.

And Brent Sprinkle and Greg Krasimiak from VDOT are here to answer any questions that you may have.

Any questions before we open the public hearing?

Has that been re-explored?

to avoid introducing additional safety issues as you merge into the intersection.

What is the width of the sidewalks on each side?

Five foot.

And bike lane?

Obviously when you put the striping in you lose a little bit of actual width there even though you can drive on the striping but it's not supposed to be done.

Could you comment on that please?

because you've got to hold that point in order to get the transitions in and the proper lane widths.

I'm trying to follow what you said.

on one scheme, or your rail system on one scheme and the road going this way.

Okay, so you're trying to make sure the bridge and the road, the bridge itself and the road itself are parallel.

I don't see a north there.

I might ask someone else to translate all that for me if they could.

then the other design features could be.

So it's what you're saying that the width was set and then it was noted that there was room for parking?

Yes and then parking was added but we could take that away if that's not the neighborhood's desire to have parking.

Neighborhood's desire is to have the bridge be smaller.

So I think looking at all of this, we're kind of forced into a corner with this is the best option given the money and given that we want to keep on schedule for an ad date of November 2009.

What is the urgency?

This is an infrastructure, an aging infrastructure that is failing that does need to be replaced.

So bridges are rated, have safety ratings from 0 to 100, is that right?

Zero to a hundred and we're at a two for sufficiency rating and Brian could explain a little bit more on that.

Do you know of any bridges in this entire area that have a worse rating?

The last time I looked, two was the lowest one in the Culpeper district and it's probably one of the lowest ones in the state unless the bridge is already closed.

And typically you want to see a bridge at least

You know, there's a lot of thought else that goes into that decision other than just the numbers.

I just want to put this in context.

Even though the bridge is safe today, the next inspection might, you know, find something that would require us to spend extensive maintenance money to keep it open or to possibly close it, which has happened in the county recently.

Peter Hedlund.

Thank you very much.

I had Linda Seeman, but I don't think she was commenting on this one either, so yes.

Thank you.

I would just like to ask the audience to explain a little bit more.

So I just wanted to raise the rating between 56 and 67.

which is what I think council had looked at earlier and like I said the need to transition properly into the intersection is where the flare on the bridge comes out a little bit and picks up a few feet on each side.

You do have, I counted 12 feet for transition so I understand how you get from 60 to 67.

The width of all of it.

I mean, I think one of the problems with maps is not quite as definitive.

Yeah, if you would.

That would be helpful.

Because of the way it's populated, but that's about what it would appear.

Can you explain the quote unquote, that space between the bike lane and the sidewalk on either side?

I know now with the restricted wait limit and know through trucks, you know, you can come through there, but when the buses, transit buses or whatever should come in there, which is a city decision, the more space you can get between the mixed use there, the safer it's going to be.

What is your concern about having the bridge be tighter than it is proposed here?

That's ultimately our interest in reducing the size of the bridge.

Any other comments?

And it seems to me that maybe reality has some effect on the ideal 60 feet.

At this point I think I'm comfortable with where it is, even though it's not as small as I was hoping for.

So I hope that you think that also.

If the parking is a side effect that we can't avoid, then sure, why not let people park there?

Is that not true?

We're free to stripe it out and say no parking if that's what the neighborhood needs.

We have a resolution before us.

Just while we're on that issue, I thought it would be important to hear some of the questions.

But the rail that you mentioned, that has already been decided.

Will there be, you know, to hold the rails in the fellows?

I don't think the details have been, but we're going to try to match what's on West Main Street as closely as we can, knowing that the features are a little bit different, because you don't have the worldwide sidewalks like you do at West Main Street, so there's a little bit of limitation there.

If you can do West Main Street, I think you'll be doing well.

Right, which is going to be similar to that, but it's not going to have the width in the other facilities that we'll put out there to really enhance that.

Bicyclists aren't comfortable with the design that we have here even though I know it's not as narrow as some would like.

Is it a plan to have lighting on the bridge or is it a good design yet?

Yes, there's planned to have lighting, the locations have been selected, the exact acorn, head, or any of the actual, again, design details, those haven't been selected.

Can we use some of the lighting in West Main Street which could be used probably?

We have the design standards now from the city, which I'm sure we'll probably use, and West Main certainly falls within the city standards.

There's some kind of thing built into it.

Definitely, and city standards follows that as well.

So, with the passing of this resolution, could you talk a little bit about a time frame that we might see this bridge replaced?

have it within a year, I believe, of construction?

That's what we're hoping to do.

So that would be in January of 2010 is when you anticipate turning?

To opening it up, yes.

But I think I'm comfortable with the resolution as it's stated.

Is that a motion?

Also a move.

Is there a second?

Second.

I just wanted to know, so regarding the parking spaces, is it going to leave?

If we take out the parking, that means we can narrow it a little bit, I don't think.

No, you can't say it's going to affect the roads.

Well, I heard him say it might be a couple feet, but maybe I misunderstood.

No, it won't affect the actual width of the bridge.

Thank you all for working through all the issues.

I must say that I think the example of how you can make better projects I think really wins.

Next item on our agenda is a report from our Pedestrian Safety Committee and a resolution authorizing reallocation of $700,000 from Capital Products Fund for Pedestrian Safety Measures, Mr. Jim Tolbert.

and has been filling in ably for us while our traffic engineer has been out.

There's a bunch of features on here for instincts.

Emergency vehicle approaching clear intersection immediately.

And this goes with the ambient sound so it's louder if there's more noise out there and it's quieter.

Impressive how they make it walk.

And it'll keep saying wait until it's green again.

Wait.

Again, there's a list in here of several locations that

I'd be glad to entertain your questions.

What is the time frame for Phase 1?

My guess is that given, if you approve this tonight, that we can start ordering materials and we're talking about doing the installation of these with existing staff so it will be fitting in as they can do it, but sometime after the first of the year we would start actually being able to start doing the installations.

And so I'm glad we're moving forward to those things.

Let me know where that idea is.

One that people use all the time, but it's not the same as the mark crossing and she's been working to establish that as well.

In the same way, if you miss a sign question, you have to start over and take the test again.

That's a great idea.

There's a lot of variety.

That's the problem.

So they do want you to align them now.

Are there tactile ways of indicating the crosswalk or other things that are accepted and standard, or is this pretty much what we need to do in order for it to be safe?

I'm not aware of any,

Audrey Dannenberger, I know is an expert in this area.

And a member of our community is very helpful.

Thank you.

It didn't make the final cut and I'm wondering if that was just

Well, it actually is one of the policy recommendations.

It talks about minimum curb heights, which is a related issue.

Right, that's where it was intended to be, that when we repay there's a certain amount of milling in curb heights that are maintained.

That's all I have.

And I'd like to hear more about what the evaluation process is going to look like.

I think that would be great.

I would think that

We are talking about major work there with the countdown signals with the improved crosswalks and the buttons.

There's a nice one, street level one.

and each one was cost about 50,000 dollars each and it's for the sake of that at least.

and it's anticipated even if the water street lights redevelop that they'll have replacement parking there so they'll still have a great deal of pedestrian traffic and they're really not suitable for signals at those locations.

I was wondering when you started the location, when was the best location, I don't know yet.

There's no intersection, but that one has been there for a while and people are going across there no matter what.

It's a long block.

So she is looking at that as where the optimum place, you know, where people are willing to go across and where there's the best sight distance and where it works best.

That's where I mostly see people crossing.

Right.

I'm glad that you have more blind people themselves in the planning effort.

Right, they've been very helpful.

It is really something which...

They picked the priority areas for us.

Fry Hill and I think it was a very good study and I think we did improvement.

There's one other area they recommended for an audible signal and that's at the Copley-Massey intersection but since that's in the university we've asked our university rep to pay for that one so we'll be following up to see if we can get one more that will be helpful.

We can do all the educating we want, but the best education is setting an example, and so I would both thank Mr. Cottle and the rest of the city staff for doing that, and ask that there be some periodic reminder of how important the effort of having the city staff, when they're driving places, you know, the city vehicle, to set the example of stopping for pedestrians and crosswalks, be one of the ways we can help get the message out.

Mr. Mayor, are you ready for a motion?

Yes, sir.

I'd like to move the recommendations for the task force in pedestrian study, and I have firstly, except the bill won't say.

Crystal Riddevall, first of all, tell us what the Water Resources Protection Program is.

Are you able to see the screens somewhat?

Before this starts, I would like to extend a special thanks to Holly Edwards, who you will notice in our PSA.

Also, Chris Angle, Will Owen, Sherry Iacheta's son, and then obviously our TV10 communications department staff have done quite a nice job.

Go.

Well, I sure hope that rain stirred up plenty of fish to catch.

Hey Dad, where does all the rain go?

Some of it soaks into the ground, but when it falls on a hard surface like this parking lot, it finds its way into a storm drain.

What happens after it goes into the storm drain?

Well, first it travels underground through the city's storm water pipe, and from there it empties into small streams.

And the streams connect with the Rivanna River, where we love to swim.

Only rain down the storm drain.

I do have two comments, sir.

I am very concerned about the amount of money the financing of this will be a source of funding and utility for especially coming in the near future I am very concerned about whether we can afford at this stage.

Well we will be presented with some alternative.

Some of those pieces are going to be finalized after this last advisory committee meeting, but we are well on track to move this forward.

What kind of interaction or communication has there been with those kinds of property owners?

Well at the moment we have relied very heavily on the folks on the advisory committee to represent those groups and then with your approval our intent would be to invite those folks who we can see as being some of the larger fee payers to a separate meeting to personally go through each individual property and help give them an insight to what those fees may look like.

They'll get credits towards their, assuming we move forward with the utility fee, they'll get credits towards their fee, is that correct?

which is why we would prefer to see things early on on public lands where we might have opportunities to speed it up.

Thank you for your hard work on this.

Thanks.

First is a city-owned project advisory environmental checklist.

and Mr. Tolbert, wherever he is, I believe is presenting this.

He's down the hall.

You brought me on Checklist, Mr. Tolbert.

We were talking about pedestrian education.

You were wearing many hats tonight.

So I present that to you for your consideration.

Thank her for pushing us in the right direction.

She put in a lot of work reviewing and commenting.

Comments, questions?

At least the trees I think is something you can emphasize more.

Any number of these issues respecting the current natural hydrology of the building site, do we have information available on best practices for doing just that?

We have some of that and then our engineers are available to discuss those items with them.

Was there discussion of including energy cell measures as part of the site planning?

Ms. Mueller will be discussing some other energy saving policies with you that don't apply to the private sector but public later on the agenda.

Venable orientation, solar orientation, those kind of things are equally important in the checklist, I think.

Okay, thank you.

Any other questions or comments?

I'd also like to thank Mr. Tolbert, his department, and Kay Slaughter and the Urban Ecosystems Committee for working hard on this.

Want a motion?

I would love a motion.

I will move the resolution to include the two suggestions of Mr. Huja.

Is there a second?

Second.

Ms. June Miller, and I want to say how excited I am to see this coming before us tonight.

and I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Well, just for people watching at home, can you tell us a couple of the specific things that this resolution is?

The university has also come up with a similar policy and they're saying 1 to 2% on there, so I think we're all in line with industry standards.

If you make a motion, I'll be happy to make it.

Please do.

I move the resolution presented by the staff.

Any other questions or comments, discussion?

And, you know, new construction is certainly an important part of that, and hopefully, and I think you're seeing the private sector embrace that.

I think what they're seeing is we've proven it can be done.

Any other business before council?

It just bothers me to no end.

It's 376 units, it's 10 square miles, it's manageable and it's doable in our city.

If not, we'll open it up again to matters by the public.

There being no other comments, Mr. Williams, please come forward.

Thank you.

If you could help us inform us all on that issue, it would be appreciated.

Ms. Roberts?

And I just want to thank you all for acknowledging them tonight.

Thank you.

The End