Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCSAC.2023.0522.MinutesCOMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION MAY 22, 2023 VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION May 22, 2023 A Regular Meeting of the Community Services Advisory Commission was convened at 16705 E. Avenue of the Fountains in open and public session at 5:00 p.m. Members Present: Commissioner Stephen Barnes, Commissioner Craig Rudolphy; Commissioner Ron Ruppert; Commissioner Rory Wilson Absent: Chair Natalie Varela, Vice Chair Carey Reddick, Youth Commissioner Sruti Peddi Staff Present: Interim Community Services Director Kevin Snipes; Town Engineer David Janover, Executive Assistant Patti Lopuszanski Audience: None 1:,:;i i,.; https://otter.ai COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION MAY 22, 2023 VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES WILSON: Call the Meeting to Order. Can I get a Roll Call, please? LOPUSZANSKI: Yes. Chair Varela is absent Vice Chair. Reddick is absent. Commissioner Barnes. BARNES: Here. LOPUSZANSKI: Commissioner Ruppert RUPPERT: Here. LOPUSZANSKI: Commissioner Rudolphy RUDOLPHY: Present. LOPUSZANSKI: Commissioner Wilson WILSON: Here. LOPUSZANSKI: Youth Commissioner Peddi is absent. WILSON: All right, thank you. Are there any Reports by Commissioners? RUPPERT: To reiterate what we had last week on a tour of the Community Center, led by Jennifer and Kevin, and thank you very much for doing that. I know that those who were there were well-informed. And it brings us up to date, again, we walked through the Community Center itself almost room by room and each was explained what actually happens there are what are the possibilities. We saw what some of the infrastructure was done, and updates that were done, not only to the building but to the hallways and the reasonings behind that and it was, you know, really informative to us. And for us to get a scope of what that building can actually perform throughout the year for the various functions that come into town. Then we went outside and looked at Centennial Circle and looked at the future there as far as what the plans may be, and entrance to the Dark Sky Observatory, the movement of the Community Garden and how it's all going to take place, and some of the tree removals and the reasons behind that. And it's just, you know, from my perspective, and I think all of our perspectives, it was a, you know, really informative, and we were thankful for that. WILSON: Anyone else? Yeah, I would agree with Ron, I think was a really good turnout for our commission and I learned a lot. I liked the fact that we got to see the different rooms as well as the art room, which I didn't know existed so that was cool. But yeah, that's all from me if there's anyone else who has anything. All right, Call to the Public. LOPUSZANSKI: There is no CaII to the Public. WILSON: All right. Then I will hand it over to Mr. Janover the Town Engineer. JANOVER: Good evening, members of the Community Services Advisory Committee. I'm Dave Janover, your Town Engineer. And I'm here to give you a little bit of an update on our Palisades Boulevard and Saguaro Boulevard, sidewalk gap infill project. So just to kind of start things off, town staff are continuously looking for opportunities to improve our roadway network for all modes of transportation, bicycles, vehicles, and pedestrians, but really with a focus, especially on pedestrian safety. So pedestrian safety is a key element and a part of our comprehensive plan to improve pedestrian safety town -wide. So, most areas within the town prior to our incorporation in 1989, were constructed without sidewalks. So, it really was like the Wild West, everyone's kind of doing their thing before incorporation, and even though it was a master -planned community, there was never really a plan for a walkable community and sidewalks were not part of that plan. So once incorporation took place in 1989 the council then developed an interest in making Fountain Hills more of a pedestrian - friendly community. And so, in order to add greater connectivity to our community town staff has over the years applied to MAG, Maricopa Association of Governments, for federal grant funding for various transportation and pedestrian projects. Pretty much anytime we can get our hands on any kind of grant https://otter.ai COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION MAY 22, 2023 VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES funding, we do our best to do so. So, in 2019, my predecessor applied for grant funding through the transportation alternative and CMAC for comprehensive, I'm sorry, congestion mitigation, air quality program through MAG for the design and construction of a gap infill sidewalks program on two corridors two of our arterial corridors, Palisades Boulevard between Fountain Hills Boulevard and Saguaro and on Saguaro Boulevard between Fountain Hills Boulevard and Colony Drive. So, in the spring of 2020, low and behold, we were notified by MAG that we did in fact, get selected for this project. And we received at the time a $2 million grant. Since that initial funding was awarded, we actually were awarded some additional funding and will, discuss in a later slide, I'll get to our overall financial situation. RUDOLPHY: Mr. Janover, is there a time limit on when the grant funds expire? JANOVER: Great question. There is, I believe, a time limit as to when they expire. If they're not done, we typically can request MAG extensions. However, for this particular federal grant, we will just have to go back to MAG to request an extension. But what would happen is if we were not able to fulfill our part of the project and our funding, and we weren't able to move forward with it, that money would go back into close-out funds. And that will be made available to other municipalities through MAG for their projects. So, we really do want to complete this project, and we do have Council authority. And they are on board with this particular project because it is such a commitment on our part, and it took so much work on our part to get this funding award. The council does understand that, and this is one of the projects that they are on board with. RUDOLPHY: So, do you anticipate completing it in the required timeframe? JANOVER: Yes. RUDOLPHY: Thank you. JANOVER: So just from the 10,000-foot level, this project is going to construct eight -foot sidewalks along both of the corridors along Saguaro and Palisades Boulevard. And some areas they're going to be six-foot sidewalks, but we're going to try to get eight feet wide wherever we can. So, it's going to fill gaps between existing sidewalks so that pedestrians don't have to when it comes to the end of a sidewalk, they'll have to walk in the street or walk in a parking lot. It just gives them a continuous safe path for walking along the sidewalk. And we're also going to complete some full street block sidewalk lengths. We're also going to be connecting to some existing pedestrian generators, like parks and churches, commercial areas, and things like that. We will be addressing pedestrian safety with this project, removing hazards for pedestrian safety, giving them better accessibility and ADA that meets ADA guidelines, and upgrading curb ramps. All are in conformance with federal requirements. And also, as part of this project, we are going to have numerous utility relocations. In order to accommodate the sidewalk, we're going to be improving some private driveways in order for tie-ins. We're going to be narrowing some roadways, and I'll get to that in a little bit. In order to fit some of these sidewalks in were going to be obliterating and restriping pavement, were going to be putting in retaining walls, landscaping work, and removal and relocation of signs. So, there's quite a bit as part of the scope of this project. So, there are four locations that comprise this project. The first one is the south southern project area, what were calling the Southern Project Area. And that is from Saguaro Boulevard between El Lago and Colony and that area has some pretty steep slopes adjacent to the roadway. The way the project is going to address that is by narrowing the lane widths, which will allow us to bring the existing curb and gutter in. So, we're going to be shrinking the roadway quite a bit in order to make way for the real estate for the sidewalk. And I have one or two slides that kind of show that little animation you're going to love that. You're going to say wow, that Janover was really something when he came by https://otter.ai COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION MAY 22, 2023 VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES with that. And the North Project Area, which is over here, the North side is this image North is to the right. We have Saguaro Boulevard between Ibsen and Fountain Hills Boulevard and in some of those areas, there is adequate room to fit the eight -foot meandering sidewalk. But other areas do need the same kind of lane shifting to accommodate the new sidewalk north of Sterling Way, we actually have a sidewalk that's going to be going into the landscape median beat that separates Saguaro Boulevard from the frontage road which is Casa Grande Drive. And then in the middle section over here, that is Saguaro north of La Montana the sidewalk is going to be constructed behind the curb and gutter. So, there are not too many issues there, but we will have some utility conflicts to address there. And then the Palisades Boulevard section right over here from Almont to Fountain Hills Boulevard, we are going to have a sidewalk that's going to be placed again adjacent to and behind the curb. And again, we have some utility locations that are going to be required through that section of the project. So, this is the one I was talking about. So, you can see over here, this is our existing roads section on Saguaro, near Colony Drive. And you can see our lane widths are 12-foot outer lanes, and we have 14-foot inner lanes with a raised median. And we have seven -and -a -half -foot shoulders on either side. So, what we're planning to do is decrease the width of those lanes and shoulders to give us this situation. So going from 12 to 11 and then from 14 to 12 and a half on the inner lanes. And if you take a look over here, where the curb and gutter is, the curb and gutter are moving from this location to that location, which will allow us to give us some real estate so that we could put it on the sidewalk and in some cases, we're going to have to have a bit of a retaining wall, not as high of a retaining wall. If we didn't narrow the lanes, we are fighting against some pretty big grades there. RUPPERT: Does this impact bike lanes? JANOVER: We're still providing the shoulders and I personally like to see a five-foot shoulder minimum to be used for bicycles and we are providing six feet so were in good shape, we are narrowing the shoulders a bit from seven and a half to six. But in the grand scheme of things, six is still fine. And then the same thing here Saguaro at Fountain Hills Boulevard through the state we have four 12-foot lanes across the road section with a 13-and-a-half foot, two-way center turn lane, and seven - foot shoulders. And we're ending up with this situation that will actually help us get a six-foot sidewalk along this pretty good slope here without the need for a retaining wall. So, we were working with our consultant EPS group, to really try to figure out ways to reduce the cost overall and give us the best possible project that we can achieve. RUDOLPHY: Do you anticipate that the drivers are going to really notice anything different? JANOVER: I don't think so, 11 feet might have a little bit of an effect in the beginning, once they see the new lane striping coming in the same room, this is a little bit narrower than they are used to. But hopefully, that'll have the effect of traffic calming just a little bit. There will be a slight effect. We did hold a public meeting. It was an open house actually at the Community Center last November from four to 7 pm Town staff were in attendance as well as a representative from Arizona DOT and our consultants from the BPS group. And they were I would say approximately 25 members of the public including some elected officials that that attended, and we had a number of pretty large aerial robots that were out. And they showed this type of information here showing the sidewalk ramp work that was proposed as well as the sidewalks that were going to be proposed and all this so that they can find their location and see exactly what were doing and how it affects them personally. So, we were able to answer their questions where they provided some input, and it was a pretty good turnout. So as part of this project, we have a number of private properties that we need to obtain temporary construction easements from and that's in order for us to do some driveway tie-ins to try to really properly complete the grading and https://otter.ai COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION MAY 22, 2023 VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES some landscaping and some retaining wall work and things of that nature. So, we have about 10 properties that were required to obtain temporary construction easements because this is a federally funded project, we have to require the federal process for property acquisition. And even though were not acquiring the property from them, we are it is a form of property acquisition, getting an easement when I take, were not doing any kind of taking. It's just an easement that will allow us to do work on their property and be on their property while we're doing the project. Once the project is done, and it's approved, that completely goes away. And there's no cloud on the title or anything like that. What we needed to do as part of the federal process, we had to write each of these property owners a letter explaining what the project was, including a temporary construction easement form that they are, they would assign and notarize and get back to us, along with an exhibit. So, of all these properties, we have one holdout at the moment, that they're ghosting me for some reason. I don't know why. But I spoke to them a few times and I can't seem to get a hold of them. But I got nine out of the 10 I think I might just have to go there and just hunt them down they are in Chandler someplace. RUPPERT: Can you do eminent domain or, or just do the 10-foot easement? JANOVER: Yes, we have some time to try to get that from them until we actually start the project, the ADOT does allow us to proceed forward even if we don't quite have all of them in place. But this one is a slight amount of work. And if worse comes to worst, we could probably get around it if we needed to, but we'd rather just be on the safe side and get it we don't really have an issue and I spoke to the owner, personally, and he didn't really seem to have an issue. It's just like it's they're busy on vacation or what have you. But we'll get it. So, in order to make all this happen, we had to have an underlying IGA or Intergovernmental Agreement. So, on May 4 of 2021, our Town Council approved a resolution for an IGA with the State of Arizona, that defined all the project costs for the federal funding that we're going to receive as well as our Town's contributory match. So, this is a great grant program, because the federal funding covers 94.3% of the costs and we only have to pay 5.7 cents on the dollar. So, it's actually it's a fabulous program, one that has been around for a pretty long time. So, after that initial IGA, about a year later, we had a first amendment to the IGA that was approved by the Town Council in April of 2022, and because we were awarded close-out funds that we were using for additional potholing and additional investigatory work by our design team, just to make sure that we addressed upfront all of the potential utility conflicts so that we didn't have those problems down the road, like during construction. So, putting a little bit more money into the project at the beginning would kind of save us money towards the end. So that IGA refined the project costs and redefined and updated the federal funding and the town's funding. And then just a few days ago, last week, we had amendment number two, which was approved by Council and then appropriated additional funds for the project as well. So, we were getting some additional monies from the feds, and that also resulted in an additional town match. I'll give you the final numbers on this slide. So, you can see in the right column that has the red outline around it are the top arrow over here, the total costs of the project design and construction is 3.9, just under 3.9 million, with the federal funding corning in at 3.6 million, and our match is $252,000. So, imagine for a quarter million dollars out of the town, the work that were getting, the infrastructure that we're getting, and the improvements are really amazing. This is going to be a great project. We just need to note that if the actual project costs do exceed the federal grant funding allocation, then the Town is responsible for that difference. So, if it comes in, you know, $40,000 over, we're required to pay that additional $40,000. Now, based on the timing, if we do find that things are going over, for some reason, during construction, we can apply for additional closeout funds during the next cycle, because MAG does that every year. So we take advantage of other municipalities' projects, which either didn't https://otter.ai COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION MAY 22, 2023 VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES move forward, or if they did better on their projects and money was left on the table, or they just didn't move forward with their projects at all. That goes back into a pot and all we need to do is just request close-out funds for whatever we need. And usually, we're pretty good at getting it. RUDOLPHY: Have you bid the project out yet? JANOVER: Not yet. We're getting right to that though. So, our construct Some plans and specs are currently at the 95% progress level, we should be getting the final plans probably in the next week or two. So, once complete, then were going to advertise it for bid. And it'll be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder all done in accordance with the federal process. That takes about 60 days. Then, after that, our construction phase will be anticipated right now to last about 210 working days, which is about 9 to 10 months or so. So, we are anticipating at this time starting construction third quarter in the fall of this year, and hopefully finishing just before the end of the fiscal year. So, June, maybe July timeframe of 2024. RUPPERT: Is it all vertical sidewalks? Or is there some meandering? JANOVER: Yeah, there'll be some meandering sidewalks and then some of the eight -foot will well be able to meander some is going to be depending upon the location and how much real estate we have to work with. Some will be literally like right behind the curb, you know, some will be separated by gore strip, but straight, but there'll be some style to some of it. There'll be some style. Yeah, wherever we can we II put style on there. Yes. So that concludes my formal remarks. I'd be more than happy to answer any questions, or if you have detailed questions, I'd be more than happy to try to get your answer through Patti and, Kevin. RUDOLPHY: Based on your recent experience with construction bids, are they still coming in outrageously high? JANOVER: That's a great question. I think were seeing that the late labor rates are still pretty high. You know, there's a lot of demand out there for work. I think we've seen a little bit of a slowdown, but maybe they're just the start of it. Maybe Kevin, maybe from some of the numbers that you've seen, you know, where were hopeful that we're going to be coming in. And one of the things that that we anticipated was that we were kind of in this of elevated numbers and things, were kind of going a little haywire and lots of demand. So that was kind of accounted for in our construction cost estimate. So it's just a matter of like, how, high do you go with your cost estimate? Right? Where do you stop what's reasonable? So, we tried to be as conservative as we could with that estimate, but we just don't really know until we don't really know until the bids come in and you open them up. That's and then well see if we're short, we'll certainly have to make a decision with ADOT and with our design team, whether we try to rebid it or do we just go for closeout funds and to make up that difference. RUDOLPHY: Great. Thank you. JANOVER: You're welcome. WILSON: I have a couple of questions. I know I don't remember when exactly. But there was a few people who were concerned about accessibility with sidewalks a while back. Are you taking that into account? Like I know there are the weird little red ramp things I don't know what you call them. But then there's just the sidewalk just been like slanted. Like, how do you plan on doing that? JANOVER: Yeah, great question. Yeah, so any areas that are that do not meet ADA accessibility are slated to be removed and replaced with ADA-accessible and ABA guideline -meeting sidewalks. So all of our curb ramps, all of the cross slopes of our sidewalks, the longitudinal slopes, everything will be meeting or as close as possible to ADA guidelines pretty close, if not on the money. https://otter.ai COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION MAY 22, 2023 VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES WILSON: Thank you. And then I'm going back to like the lane widths. I know you had like 11, 12, 14 is there a minimum that they have to be? JANOVER: Great question. Yes, I've seen lane widths as low as 9 1 /2 to 10 feet which for me that's just too narrow, especially on an arterial roadway. We have, 45 miles an hour, you know, that's just a little bit too close for comfort for me. I know I think in Phoenix, they had kind of gone down too in some areas pretty narrow that is, I think a bit uncomfortable for a normal driver. But where we are with 11 feet is pretty good. That's a pretty average narrowing. Yeah. WILSON: And that's like taking into account the truck routes, right? Yes. Okay. Yes. Cool. Thank you. Well, that's it for me, thank you. I don't know. See anyone else have any questions or comments? SNIPES: Hey, Dave, is the narrowing that you did on El Lago up here with the width on those? Do you remember? And I'm putting you on the spot, but I was just thinking if that was something that they could see that kind of get an idea. JANOVER: I think that was pretty close. I think that was like 11 or 11 1/2. SNIPES: That's what I was thinking. Yeah. So, if you want him to see the new so they they've done this traffic calming by what we call putting the streets on a diet and narrowing the lanes down to help try and get people to drive a little bit slower and we are seeing good results with that. But if you go out here and go up El Lago to Fountain Hills Boulevard, you can kind of see how those lanes are layout there's definitely a different feel to it when you're driving up through there. JANOVER: Great point. Yeah, we went out there and actually did a took our drone out there and flew it and it looks, it looks great. It really does. Yeah, we've gotten some really good feedback on that project so far. And so that's, you know, do like exactly what Kevin said, were putting the road on the diet. We're kind of narrowing the lanes a bit, which helps with keeping people more channelized. I remember when I was with the city of Avondale before I came here in my last life, we had a road called Gordon Lakes Parkway, and it had a 20-foot lane, 14 feet two a left turn lane, and a 20-foot lane. Yeah, and it will, and it was a 25-mile-per-hour speed limit. I'm like, it's impossible to go 25 miles per hour when you have a 20-foot lane. It just it's impossible. And this is where Avondale Boulevard at Thomas Road, it ended and became a local street called Gordon Lakes Parkway. So, we actually did the same thing. We put that on a road diet, we narrowed everything and put in bike lanes and shoulders and above actually buffered bike lanes and had some great success there. So, it works when it's applied properly. Well, thank you very much. I appreciate the opportunity. And if anybody has any questions, please direct them through Patti and Kevin, and I'd be more than happy to provide additional information. RUDOLPHY: Thanks, Dave. WILSON: Thanks so much. Pleasure. Next is Consideration and Possible Action of the Approval of April 24, 2023, CSAC Meeting Minutes. Did everyone get a chance to review those? Can I get a Motion to Approve? RUPPERT: I'll make a Motion to Approve. WILSON: Second? RUDOLPHY: Second. WILSON: All in favor say, Aye. ALL: Aye. WILSON: Okay, then next is the Review and Discussion of the Environmental Plan. I know there was talk of tabling that. SNIPES: That's up to you guys. If you guys want to table this item we can bring it back up at the next meeting, we can certainly do that. https://otter.ai • COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION MAY 22, 2023 VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES LOPUSZANSKI: Rory is not going to be here for the next meeting due to traveling. Did you want to talk about building workgroups, or do you want to just table it until September? WILSON: Honestly, I'm fine if you guys discuss this next meeting, you can still email me if you need to on comments and whatnot. I just tried to make them as detailed as possible for anyone who is interested. So, I'm fine with whatever everyone else is fine with. RUDOLPHY: My idea I think they're excellent. You did a great job and were very specific and I'm surprised you found so many. Good imagination. My comment earlier was I think we need as Patti said some of the well all of the other Commission are on hiatus for the summer. I think your feedback and input would be invaluable as we discuss it. So, I would suggest that either we do it tonight or we postpone it until after the summer is finished. WILSON: In that case, I would personally like to have at least Natalie's and Carey's opinions if that's possible, so I think we should table is everyone okay with that? All right, do we need to take a vote on that or just like consensus? Okay. LOPUSZANSKI: You're good. It's a discussion so you're fine. WILSON: Update Mayor's Youth Council since.....Okay, the next one is Update on Future Agenda Items. Does anyone have any future agenda items? LOPUSZANSKI: This doesn't have to be for the June meeting. If there's something that a topic or some research something that you want me to look into or staff look into, we can just have that as a running list and then we can look at that again in September or the future. WILSON: I do not have any and if no one else does too, we'll just move on to the next item, which is the next CSAC Meeting which is June 26th. Do we have any comments or questions on that or just update? May I get a motion to Move to Adjourn? RUPPERT: I move to adjourn. BARNES: Second. WILSON: All in favor say Aye. ALL: Aye. Having no further business, Commissioner Rory Wilson adjourned the Regular Meeting of the Community Services Advisory Commission held on May 22, 2023, at 5:32 PM COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION ATTEST AND PREPARED BY: Gatti Lopuszan ki, E tive Assistant https://otter.ai • COMMUNITY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION MAY 22, 2023 VERBATIM MEETING MINUTES CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Regular Meeting held by the Community Services Advisory Commission in the Town Hall Council Chambers on the 22nd day of May 2023. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and that a quorum was present DATED this 26th Day of June 2023. Patti Lopuszan zki,hE2u''< r` ecutive Assistant https://otter.ai