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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998.0813.TCRM.Minutes TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MINUTES OF THE RETREAT SESSION OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN COUNCIL AUGUST 13, 1998 A public meeting of the Fountain Hills Town Council was convened and called to order by Mayor Morgan at 12:00 P.M.at the Southwest Inn, 9800 E. Summer Hill Boulevard,Fountain Hills,Arizona. ROLL CALL-Present for roll call were the following members of the Fountain Hills Town Council: Mayor Sharon Morgan, Vice Mayor Al Poma and Councilmembers John Wyman, Sharon Hutcheson, Marianne Wiggishoff, and Penfield Mower. Councilman Sid Apps was absent. Also present were Town Manager Paul Nordin, Town Clerk Cassie Hansen, Town Engineer Randy Harrel, Director of Parks & Recreation Robin Goodman, and Interim Community Development Director Andrew McGuire. 1. Future Bond Election Options a. November election for$1.3 million bond for Lakeside open space b. March election for multiple bond issues/community prioritization Councilwoman Wiggishoff stated that since there were 15 other items slated to appear on the November ballot, it was not practical to add another item such as a bond issue question. She suggested this issue be postponed until March of 1999. She said she felt multiple issues on a ballot listed for prioritization by voters might not result in a clear picture and that it was the Council's responsibility to prioritize community issues. Councilman Poma suggested to wait until the plans for the Lakeside area were firmer and include an $8 million issue regarding the Community Center on the March ballot. Councilman Wyman stated there was too much to consider before including language for the November ballot and suggested multiple issues could be a problem. Councilman Mower suggested a land preservation issue such as Lakeside was appropriate for the March ballot. Other issues that could be included were a library and town offices. Most agreed the swimming pool issue was moot. Councilwoman`xrggishof-sugge@ted the Mr. Nordin reminded the Council that the charter city issue would involve three elections. 2. Lakeside Village Rezoning and Future Development Options Councilwoman Wiggishoff stated she thought the R1-10 zoning was wrong for the Fountain Park/Lakeside area and that the view in Fountain Park should be preserved, allowing preferably single family. She said she was concerned about the lower parcel not contained in the Nuessle project. Mr. Nordin stated he understood that Kaufman would be filing a plat for the lower parcels which contained R-5 zoning and that it would be too late for the Town to rezone that area to single family. Mr.McGuire stated if plans were submitted and contained major redlines,the Town would have time to proceed with a rezone, but did not ascertain this to be the case. Mr. Nordin informed the Council they could not use an emergency clause in a rezone so the 30-day waiting period would most likely give the developer ample time to submit plans. Councilwoman Wiggishoff commented that the Council should have proceeded with a rezone process last year. Councilman Mower said he thought previous reasonable negotiations would have taken place to resolve limitations in the development. Mr. McGuire stated there was no way to circumvent the period of publishing and notice to the public and that the earliest a public hearing could be scheduled was for October when six of the seven Council members could be in attendance. He said the first meeting in October's public hearing would rezone all parcels of the Lakeside area,but that a reduction of a portion of the area could be considered. Mr. Nordin offered to convey the Council's opinions to MCO. Shelley Johnson, MCO Properties, stated the developer for the lower parcels anticipated submitting their plans within the next two weeks but that they had offered to negotiate with the Town. Town Council Retreat Session 8/13/98 Page 1 of 5 3. Neighborhood Infill—Preservation of Vacant Lots a. Matching funds for preservation through lot purchase Councilwoman Wiggishoff suggested a Town-sponsored program be initiated to encourage neighborhoods to purchase vacant lots within their subdivisions for the purpose of creating small areas of permanent open space. She explained that the Town could create a small account for the use of encouraging this program with as matching funds. She said it would be understood that the Town would not assume ownership or maintenance of any of these open spaces. Mr. McGuire displayed a map which depicted all the vacant platted residential, commercial, and multi-family lots in the Town. Mr. Nordin suggested applications for matching funds be prioritized by the date they were received. Councilman Wyman stated that since financial projections predicted that all reserve funds would be substantially diminished in the next five years, this program was not feasible. He said a funding mechanism such as a bond issue similar to the McDowell Mountain Preservation bonds could sponsor this program. Mr. Nordin stated the financial condition of the Town would be re-examined every year. Wally Hudson stated he understood North Heights Subdivision would like to dissolve their ownership of the Aspen dam. Mr. Nordin stated recent discussions included questions regarding the ownership of the dam; whether it was owned by North Heights, Sunridge Canyon or MCO Properties. The consensus of the Council was not to pursue this proposal at this time,but to review it in the future. 4. Economic Development/Tax Base Enhancement a. Report from Mayor Morgan, Councilwoman Wiggishoff and Paul Nordin on the activities/goals of the Mayor's Council for Economic Development The next meeting scheduled for August 18th would promote a vision stated for businesses and a consultant would formulate one vision statement. Mayor Morgan said several activities had been initiated including selecting different sized banners,pursuing convention use of the Community Center,assisting existing businesses, and using coupons for (1160 North Scottsdale residents. Councilwoman Wiggishoff stated the Spring coupon drop in the Northeast Valley would encourage patronage of local businesses, the Awareness Program would be continued, and a committee would be established to identify target business areas. Also a committee would be created to put a packet of information together for prospective businessmen. a„d roviding inf ti,.. about♦he clew p mitt' of Fountain u:n5 t, A SU Decals and new clothing items with the business logo would also be pursued. 5. Presentation of Options for a Future Library Facility (discussion on this item will take place at 2:30 p.m.) a. Joint resource center/library with the School District — Dr. Maria Menconi, School Superintendent Dr. Menconi stated the middle school administration building was 8000 square feet, which would not meet the requirements for a library facility. She said the School District had spent$70,000 on the school's library facilities and offered to discuss ways to share expenses with a joint facility. Councilwoman Wiggishoff asked Dr. Menconi if she had concerns about adults using school facilities during school hours from a safety standpoint. Dr. Menconi said she had worried about that factor even on election days. Councilman Mower said he favored Maricopa County to service the library for Fountain Hills. Mayor Morgan agreed that the Town doesn't have the resources to enter into supervision problems and usage of adult materials by children. Dr. Menconi predicted a joint facility would be problematic. b. Joint public library with the Maricopa County Library District—Bill Scalzo, Director, Barbara Roberts,Deputy Director Maricopa County Library District Town Council Retreat Session 8/13/98 Page 2 of 5 Mr. Scalzo outlined some of the services provided by the Library District including the use of other facilities, an outreach service and the bookmobile. He stated that with the population of Fountain Hills, he estimated a library building of approximately 15,000 to 20,000 square feet in size. He stated at present 8,000 library cards had been issued by the Fountain Hills Library and that figure represented a high percentage of residents. He explained that the Maricopa County Library District's services was to provide books, materials and initial staff and build on an additional volunteer force. He said the County had been phasing out branch facilities and preferred to have space provided at no charge such as was being done by the Town of Gilbert and Surprise. A facility that met the square footage requirements would get the commitment from the County to provide more materials and better services. He said the County was not interested in a joint school-library facility primarily because the school facility had different needs and sometimes experienced problems with providing services to all users in a community. He said a joint facility might set a precedent and would represent the least productive measure in providing library services. Ms. Roberts stated that since the needs of the community had grown so rapidly there was an urgent need for more space in order to offer more staff and materials. Mr. Scalzo stated there were support groups in other communities whose purpose was to raise funds for library services. He said the Historical Society group could partner in a facility if the facility was large enough. He stated the public would support a facility because it would fill many needs in the same building. Mr. Scalzo stated the Town would pay the utilities and maintenance and the Library District would provide staff, materials and collections. He estimated $45,000 was needed to open a facility. He suggested needed materials be identified and a"friends" group be created to raise money for those needs. He said the disadvantages in having a joint facility with a school district was the parking spaces required, different furnishings for adults and kids, differed technology needs, higher operating costs and staff concerns. He stated that if a library were built within a shopping center, it would have even greater usage. Councilwoman Wiggishoff asked about facilities such as reading rooms and special children's facilities in a shopping center rather than a large library building. Mr. Scalzo stated this concept had worked in larger cities with neighborhood libraries but not in smaller municipalities. He informed the Council that at present the Fountain Hills branch library costs were $372,133 per year and represented the second most expensive library operation in Maricopa County. ,, c. Joint library/museum—Alan Cruikshank,President,Fountain Hills Historical Society Mr. Cruikshank stated the Historical Society had raised $18,000 and used the funds to hire an architect to draft future building plans for a regional facility to focus on the history of the Verde River along with other local history. He said there were grants available to historical society-library facilities for technology expenses and that applications would be submitted for these grants. He stated a 20,000 square foot facility would work with the library using 15,000 and the museum using 5,000 square feet. He noted that the present facility the Historical Society used would be torn down after March of 1999. Mr. Cruikshank estimated a new facility would cost $2.2 million and a bond issue could be used for financing the project.. Mr. Porterfield stated the Library Board had raised $90,000 for their building fund and could most likely raise another $500,000. Councilwoman Wiggishoff said she liked the idea of putting this building in the Town Center. Councilman Wyman stated the parking requirements were more likely to be met using the Town Center location. Future meetings between Robb Dietz, the Museum's architect, Roy Porterfield's committee, Maricopa County Library District personnel and Cassie Hansen would be scheduled to discuss needs and requirements. Town Clerk Cassie Hansen asked the Council if they wanted this issue on the March ballot. The Council said they preferred a Spring election, preferably in May. Councilwoman Hutcheson asked if the 15,000 square feet was large enough for library quarters. Mr. Cruikshank said a second phase of the building could be later expanded to accommodate additional meeting rooms. 6. Town Hall Facility-Year 2000 Options a. Purchase,lease,build Councilman Wyman reviewed the cost recapitulations included in the Willdan assessment of the Town's existing buildings. He said he was concerned about the $500,000 in leasehold HVAC improvements and$630,000 for repairs Town Council Retreat Session 8/13/98 Page 3 of 5 to the building. Reviewing different options, it would still require approximately $1 million to bring the buildings up L., to code. Town Clerk Hansen estimated that $4.7 million would be required for new construction. She said if the Library was re-located to Building A and the Town used Buildings B and C, a $3.1 million figure would be needed. Town Engineer Harrel stated miscellaneous observations were not included in repair estimates. Vice Mayor Poma said he felt the best way for the Town to pursue would be to build a new building close to the new Community Center. Mr. Nordin stated the present owner of the buildings was in a secure financial position and most likely would not require a large cash payment and thought the owner would be open to alternate financing options. Ms. Hansen indicated that the study did not consider the actual purchase of the building in the total costs that were presented or alternate working facilities for staff during repairs and/or construction. Mayor Morgan suggested the safety issues contained in the report be addressed immediately. Councilman Mower stated he thought the Town was in a strong negotiating position as a result of this study. The Building Committee will make a recommendation. Ms. Hansen stated the lease for Building A would include the present lease rate until the year 2000. Mr. McGuire noted that the cost of utilities was not included in the report. Mr.Nordin stated an additional source of funding would be required no matter which option, remodeling or new construction, the Council selected. He said a recommendation would be presented to the Council sometime in early October. Town Engineer Randy Harrel stated a Phase I environmental study had been completed with no indications of violations but additional testing for asbestos and lead was being conducted. 7. Future Park Development/Projections for Build-Out a. Presentation by Robin Goodman and the Parks and Recreation Commission Director Goodman reviewed the status of the Four Peaks and Golden Eagle parks. She said one of the projects for the redevelopment of the Master Plan for Fountain Park was planned for sometime this Fall. The other project for a concept plan for Four Peaks Park was scheduled to promote feedback from residents and members of the School LeDistrict. She reviewed other projects such as the second phase for the development of Fountain Park and the development of Plat 302. Also a parcel of property adjacent to the High School could be converted into "Falcon Field" for a soccer field for school and community uses. She stated there was another parcel adjacent to McDowell Mountain School that could possibly be developed for a field for multiple uses. She said the Commission had recommended an aquatic center be included as a project in the next three to four years. Also a 15-acre site adjacent to the middle school could be pursued. Director Goodman stated the first phase of Fountain Park was being planned for fiscal year 1999-2000 as the first priority. She said Four Peaks Park, Phase II and Phase III for the development of a dirt field behind the School Administration office had potential. Councilwoman Wiggishoff commended the Parks and Recreation Commission on their park system but stated the Community Center project would should have first financial priority along with the development of the downtown. Mayor Morgan agreed. Councilman Wyman stated the development of the downtown was critical and would determine future park development plans. Director Goodman stated the Heritage Grant program awards would be announced in three to four weeks and she anticipated receiving the request for$700,000. She said those funds were required to be spent in the next three years. Mr.Nordin stated staff desired direction from the Council as to which amenities would be constructed in Fountain Park. Councilwoman Wiggishoff asked about the alignment of a walkway from Fountain Park to the downtown center. Vice Mayor Poma suggested a videotape be made to air on Channel 11 depicting the Town parks, tennis courts, etc. Councilwoman Wiggishoff agreed but suggested waiting until the Community Center was built and then get realtors to assist in funding such a video for economic development purposes. Director Goodman stated high school students could be encouraged to put together a video. Councilwoman Wiggishoff suggested the Focus be used to inform the public of park amenities. Councilman Mower reminded the Council of the partial development of Plat 302 as an off- leash facility. TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS L Town Council Retreat Session 8/13/98 Page 4 of 5 a/e7 Sharon Morgan,Mayor A'TEST: Ce. Cassie B. Hansen,Town Clerk PREPARED BY: ,, � �. --�..�. J Linda D.Le en,Executive Assistant CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Retreat Session held by the Town Council of Fountain Hills on the 13th day of August, 1998. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and that a quorum was present. DATED this 3rd day of September, 1998. )ILL) Cassie B.Hansen,Town Clerk L Town Council Retreat Session 8/13/98 Page 5 of 5