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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMMPC.2015.1201.Minutes $.1AIN91 o �? TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS 4 ,il4,41 MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE g — MCDOWELL MOUNTAIN PRESERVATION COMMISSION ', : December 1,2015 44*t • h AtV AGENDA ITEM#1: CALL TO ORDER AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE A public meeting of the McDowell Mountain Preservation Commission was convened and called to order by Chair Bill Myers at 5:00 p.m., Tuesday, December 1, 2015 in the Council Chambers at Town Hall, located at 16705 East Avenue of the Fountains,Fountain Hills,Arizona. AGENDA ITEM#2: ROLL CALL Present at roll call were Chair Bill Myers, Vice-Chair Tom Barberic, Commissioners Tom Aiello, Bill Craig, Stan Ruden and Klaus Schadle. Absent at roll call was Commissioner Ken Thornton. Staff members present were Director Mark Mayer, Finance Director Craig Rudolphy, and Executive Assistant Jennifer Lyons. AGENDA ITEM#3: CALL TO THE PUBLIC No one from the public wished to speak. AGENDA ITEM #4: CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING THE OCTOBER 27, 2015 MEETING 41,-, MINUTES Vice Chair Barberic made a motion to accept the minutes of the October 27,2015 meeting,Commissioner Craig seconded and the motion passed by unanimous vote. AGENDA ITEM #5: UPDATE ON TOWN FINANCES BY FINANCE DIRECTOR CRAIG RUDOLPHY Director Mayer invited Finance Director Craig Rudolphy to address the questions raised by the Commission at the last meeting regarding the money set aside for the trailhead: 1. How safe is the money? 2. If the Town were to go into default,could that money be used another purpose? Finance Director Craig Rudolphy reported to the Commission, that he could only explain what the funding sources are going to be and they have not changed in the past two years. • The total project budget for the Adero Canyon Trailhead is$1,948,771.00 • Spent so far,not counting anything in this current fiscal year is $18,771.00 • $1,930,000.00 is left in the budget • $20,000 has been budgeted for the current fiscal year • For the next fiscal year starting July 1st,2016—there has been budgeted$1,910,000.00 • Of that $1,910,000.00, $1,841,000.00 is coming from development fees. Development fees were collected when homes were built and statutorily those development fees must be used for the purpose which they were collected for, or they must be refunded to the people that paid them. The Town is not able to utilize, to dip into, borrow, spend any of those dollars other than for the designated purposes. The remaining money is going to be coming from our Capital Project Fund which is roughly$68,000.00. �rrr' McDowell Mountain Preservation Commission Page 1 of 5 C:Commission MMPCIAgenda&MinuteslMinutes12015112011SM Finance Director Craig Rudolphy gave the following responses to the Commissioners concerns: • When the new development fees statues were passed, if the money is not expended (spent) by the sunset date,the money must be refunded to the people that paid it. • Expenditure limitation is not anticipated in the current year,but until the budget is fmalized and goes before Town Council(it first goes in April),he cannot say for sure that wouldn't exist. • After we got all done with the budget, we are under the Capital Expenditure by $3.6 million. So in actuality it could have been included in the 2015-2016 fiscal projection. • Part of the expenditure limitation was created because of the new fire station. None of the money has been spent. The new fire station will be included in the calculation for fiscal 2016-2017 but the majority of issue that was anticipated for the expenditure limitation was a result of the Shea and Saguaro construction projects. We (the Town) have no major construction projects planned in the next several years. AGENDA ITEM #6: DISCUSSION OF TOPICS TO BE ADDRESSED AT THE JANUARY 26TH, 2016 JOINT MEETING WITH TOWN COUNCIL • 2015 Objectives&Work Groups Assignments • Trailhead • New Maps • Signage • Review Trailhead Design • Budget • Possible Trailhead Site Visit Chair Myers will put together some ideas and forward to Jennifer to distribute to the Commission. AGENDA ITEM#7: UPDATE FROM THE SONORAN CONSERVANCY Commissioner Craig gave the following update: • Botanical Garden-trail and signage are in very good shape. • Part of the Conservancy through Bill Schmidt is to work with the Greening of the Islands at Town Lake. He was not at the last meeting, so no report relative to that. • Trailblazers have just fmished the maintenance of the Lake Overlook Trail and it is in very good shape. From the last three and half weeks,the(trail)counter read just over 1,100 people. • Steve (Fleming) is going to be moving so the Chairmanship of the Conversancy is open. Bill Myers has become a new board member on the Conservancy. Chair Myers and Commissioner Craig reported on Tool Boxes and Counters: • Town Overlook Trail has one tool box by the East entrance and one counter. • Preserve will have two tool boxes and three trail counters. The Sheriffs Department helicopter will haul the tool boxes up there. AGENDA ITEM#8: UPDATE ON THE EAST LOOP SONORAN TRAIL Commissioner Craig gave the following summary: • The proposal was approved by Town Council. • Chair Myers has requested from Jeremy Hall(from the development) and the HOA representative access for us to go up there, either through Adero Canyon or by means of going through Eagle's Nest and up to where the water tower is. • McDowell Mountain Preservation Commission Page 2 of 5 G:Cammirsian MMPCL4genda&Minutes Minutes120151120115M • Final flagging of the tread (trail) needs to be done. Ribbon is marking the corridor. The corridor being a place within thirty feet in both directions (from the center line). That is the normal definition of the corridor. We hope to do the flagging in December and start building in January depending on where we get access. • We are waiting on the creation of the signage for the Andrews-Kinsey Trail. The trailblazers hope to do the putting up of those prior to building the East Loop Sonoran Trail. When the Council passed the East Loop Sonoran Trail, there were stipulations that had to be met in connection with installing the trail. • Trail is only 2 feet wide • No trespassing signs into the neighborhood • Move the trail back from 200 feet to 300 feet(from the back of the property lines) • Placement of some boulders where people were cutting through and other access points Chair Myers, Commissioner Craig, Town Manager Grady Miller, Mayor Linda Kavanagh, Director Mayer and two town deputies went and looked at quite a few areas including several of the cul-de-sacs in Eagle's Nest just to verify those five stipulations could be completed without any trouble. AGENDA ITEM#9: UPDATE ON ADERO CANYON Director Mayer informed the Commission of the latest information regarding the proposed suggestions from MCO: • The differential in price between the proposed gabion baskets vs. the suggestion from MCO to utilize boulders and backfill material: We determined that there was not a whole lot of difference in cost and in some areas actually more expensive, but there was some savings in other places but it was minimal, so we had informed MCO we weren't going to do that. • MCO had also proposed using 8,800 cubic yards of fill material, which was estimated to be about $88,000.00 worth. We did some figuring and the first time it came back the savings potential would be less $10,000.00. It was a pretty small amount to deal with and a lot of work. At that time we determined based on the prices we had gotten from their contractor who is doing their earthwork up there that we weren't interested. The contractor revised the numbers and we haven't fmished crunching the numbers completely yet, but suspect the numbers aren't close enough to really make it worthwhile. The issues we run into are plant salvaging and then store the plants somewhere. We asked MCO if they would store the plants and they were reluctant to do that because they would feel responsible if they didn't survive. The cost of designing, constructing and maintaining that was not included and so it would come out of that $10,000.00 potential savings. The other issue that was raised was the architect has completed drawings to 95%. He's already got the excavation and the drawings in there based on that original plan, so those would have to be revised and there would be a cost involved there. The number gets narrower and narrower and represented 0.1 percent of the overall project budget. Our initial reaction to the numbers we got back in were better but still not enough to justify all the time and effort and additional expense that would go back into it. Director Mayer addressed the following questions from the Commission: • Where will we be getting the 8,800 cubic yards? It will be hauled in. • Are we going with gabion baskets or boulders and backfill? Gabion baskets which was originally proposed. It's a rustic look and can build more steeply. It will give a more finished look than the McDowell Mountain Preservation Commission Page 3 of 5 G:Commission MMPC14genda&MinuteslMmutes110151110115M boulders and fill material would. Some of the concern was when you get those larger boulders • you get a lot of washing between the boulders with the fill material and that doesn't happen typically with the gabion baskets. • If we get the 1.9 million in the budget for 2016-17, we can actually start doing something July 1, 2016. One thing that we have been haggling over and can't come to a conclusion on is how much lead time do we need and when do we need to start? Director Mayer has asked the architect to come up with a time line. If we start the drawings now, how long does it take you to get to from 95-100%? How long will it take us to bid the project? How long will it take us construct the project? So we know whatever that time period it is, we know if we want it done by that particular date,here's how early we need to start. • MCO has to design and install the temporary utilities? Have they started? That is correct and they are working on. They have asked us for additional materials. What type of capacities we are looking at? How big does water tank that's going to serve the restrooms and the nursery need to be? AGENDA ITEM #10: UPDATE FROM THE PRESERVE MARKETING GROUP REGARDING PRESERVE EMERGENCY MARKER AND RESCUE MAPS The maps are ready to go to the emergency responders: our fire and police here in Town, Rio Verde, Scottsdale and Fort McDowell. AGENDA ITEM#11: UPDATE ON THE 2015 OBJECTIVES AND WORK GROUPS ASSIGNED TO EACH Chair Myers to review the 25 (objectives), get clear what group was on which one and give an update over the next several weeks. AGENDA ITEM #12 DISCUSSION OF MCDOWELL MOUNTAIN MONTH EVENT ON NOVEMBER 21,2015 The following ideas were discussed for next year's event: • Event to bring hikers together,possibly a nighttime hike or moonlight hike. • Combine the event with what you do at the Great Fair. Amy and Liberty Wildlife maybe they become part of the exhibit, instead of one booth have two or three. • Coordinate events from the trailhead when it's built. • Work with the Conservancy to have themed hikes(botany, saguaro or bird). • 2-3 minute continuous video loop about the Preserve. AGENDA ITEM#13: UPDATE ON THE SIGNS FOR THE PRESERVE'S TRAILS • Lead time for signs is approximately 3-4 weeks • 9 new posts • 5 bags of sackcrete to install the posts • 55 signs • A minimum of 110 tamper resistant rivets will be ordered • Tools need are a rivet remover and a tool for sharpening *The above points were discussed during Agenda Item#9 Commissioner Craig mentioned he did receive a concern from a biker about placement of signs as a safety issue. McDowell Mountain Preservation Commission CO) Page 4 of 5 G:Commission MMPCWgenda&MinutesMinuter12015 120115M AGENDA ITEM#14: CONSIDERATION OF ADJOURNMENT ,.. Commissioner Schadle made a motion to adjourn at 5:52 p.m., Commissioner Aiello seconded and the motion passed by unanimous vote. McDo ell i ou' ain Preservation Commission By: Bill ers ' air Reviewed by: C _ Mark C. Mayer, Director of Community Se r ices Prepared by: — Jenni r Lyo , xecutiv ssistant CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the McDowell Mountain Preservation Commission Meeting held on December 1, 2015. I further certify that the meeting as duly called and that a quorum was present. By: Je Ter ons,Exe tive Assistant Dated this 21st day of December 2015 McDowell Mountain Preservation Commission Page 5 of 5 G:Commission MMPC1Agenda&MinutesMinutes120151120115M