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TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE
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MCDOWELL MOUNTAIN PRESERVATION COMMISSION
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August 25, 2015
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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 5:28 p.m., Tuesday, August 25, 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, Commissioners Tom Aiello, Bill Craig, and Klaus Schadle.
Absent at roll call were Vice-Chair Tom Barberic, Commissioner Ken Thornton, and Commissioner Stan
Ruden. Staff members present were Town Manager Grady Miller, Director Mark Mayer, and Executive
Assistant Jennifer Lyons.
AGENDA ITEM#3: CALL TO THE PUBLIC
No one from the public wished to speak at this time.
AGENDA ITEM #4: CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING THE JUNE 23, 2015 MEETING
MINUTES
`11'w Commissioner Schadle questioned Agenda Item #5, bullet point 5, The all-weather road will be maintained
by MCO until the second phase is started and the utilities are put in; a second water tank needs to be put in
before the road is completed. According to the agreement the Town signed Adero is responsible until second
phase is finished and the way he reads this Adero is off the hook when second phase is started. Director
Mayer advised would check the recording, but if this is what Jeremy Hall stated the minutes cannot be
amended,but can be adjusted in the next minutes.
On Item #9 we reported the name of the trail was the Sonoran Loop South Trail, but the name is the East
Loop Sonoran Trail, confirmed by Chair Myers and Commissioner Craig.
Commissioner Schadle made a motion to accept the minutes as corrected as of the June 23, 2015 meeting,
Commissioner Craig seconded and the motion passed by unanimous vote.
AGENDA ITEM#5: UPDATE FROM THE SONORAN CONSERVANCY
Commission Craig remarked, nothing new. Next meeting October 5th.
AGENDA ITEM#6: UPDATE ON THE SONORAN LOOP SOUTH TRAIL
As discussed in Agenda Item#4 the name is East Loop Sonoran Trail.
Commissioner Craig explained: He took plans to Jeremy a few weeks ago and they were set up to go to
August 6th Council Meeting for presentation of the project. Prior to that, there was a little miscommunication
between Commissioner Craig and Jeremy, and he was not aware it was going to come up that quickly to the
'r..- Council. He had a concern relative to the residents in Eagle's Nest. Director Mayer, Commissioner Craig,
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and Town Manager Grady Miller talked about that and decided to cancel the presentation to the Council at
the August 6th meeting. Since then Commissioner Craig had done some redesigning of the trail so that it is at
least 200 feet from any property in the Eagle's Nest. We are going to make a presentation tentatively on •
October 20th to residents of Eagle's Nest. Listen to their concerns, communicate, and then present it to the
Council hopefully following that. A time was not set for a presentation to the Council.
The buffer that is presented on the map is 200 feet. Depending on where the building envelopes are, it's
going to be at least 200, on some of them 250-280. Nothing less than 200 feet to the back of their property
line.
AGENDA ITEM #7: UPDATE FROM THE PRESERVE MARKETING GROUP REGARDING
PRESERVE TRAIL MAPS AND TRIFOLDS
• Emergency marker and helicopter landing zone map hopefully will be done before too long. Ken
Valerde of the Town is working on all 3 of these. That is going to have the updated
Andrews/Kinsey's information, which will entail 45 signs and one new helicopter landing zone and
one new emergency marker. Now it will be a 6 page deal and will give to those to all emergency
responders: Scottsdale, Rio Verde,our fire and our sheriff Director Mayer will check to see if a copy
was given to Fort McDowell. Correction,there are 2 new emergency landing pads. One on Andrews-
Kinsey trail and one at the end of the Promenade.
When we had meeting with sheriff's department and fire department on firewising. They both were
very impressed with those maps and thought they were excellent and very useable and were looking
forward to the updates.
• Regional map. The Big Picture Map that was given out at mostly at the Town Fairs and other venues (3
so people would get a sense of where Fountain Hills is in relationship to Scottsdale and the Regional
Park to our North. A new one coming out that's going to be a little more expanded. It will be almost
all of Scottsdale trails and almost all of Regional Park trails in our area. There are some outlines on
that Ken will heighten to it make more visible.
• Fountain Hills trails map. It will have all of our trails including the new Andrews-Kinsey trail. Then
they'll fit together. The trails map fits into the regional map and will make a lot more sense to
people. Instead of being a trifold, will be a 6 fold. It will be 11"X 17"then be folded over once and
into a trifold.
AGENDA ITEM#8: UPDATE ON THE 2015 OBJECTIVES
Quick Read - we were going to be put that on each of the trail markers or many of them, 11-12 of them.
Chair Myers will send the updated information from Commissioner Thornton onto staff and then staff will
distribute it to the Commission.
New flier just talked about that. (See Agenda Item#7)
The preserve will not be called a Park. That is done. Unless something drastic happens, we are not going to
call it a Park.
Quarterly updates for the Council.That is Item#11 on our Agenda.
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Budget is done.
Emergency Markers on the A/K Trail: those are hopefully coming pretty soon. 45 markers and only 6-7
posts.
Test 911 in Preserve—that's done.
Invite Jeremy Hall to MMPC—that's done.
Firewising—As stated in the presentation by Assistant Fire Chief Dave Ott, everything the South side of Shea
is in good shape but there is no preserve on the South side. Home owners associations in general have been
doing a very nice job on keeping those washes clear. The greatest chance of ignition is right here in our
Town and if catches fire here then it goes up the washes. So we can take another look at that.
Trail counters — Chair Myers thanked Director Mayer and the Town for purchasing the three trail counters.
Also purchased were some McClouds, some rakes, picks and three tool boxes. Two will be put in the
preserve and one of them in the Town Overlook Trail.
Bench Criteria—no more benches in the preserve.
Marquee on the 2 Trails
• At Eagle's Nest it needs a little overhaul. It's not too appealing and there is a remark about not using
the trail on holidays. Director Mayer will verify the specific language, but believes there was some
.. language in the original agreement with MCO on the trail, because that it goes through property.
Director Mayer had no reports of anyone getting turned away because of a holiday.
• The map itself, there is a little pin where are at, but there is nothing saying where you are. There
needs to be a sign"You are here".
• The restroom it should be really be marked public restroom. There is an area there where it says it's
private and if you would put public, the public would know that's what it is.
If you are a first time hiker up there, all the signs point you away from the guard house. The guard has lots of
maps but per the guard Chair Myers spoke to, most people don't stop there. We need a pouch with maps in it.
This might help people stay on the dotted line and not go into the project. Also something can be put in the
kiosk that says for a map, stop at the gate house. That way the guard could give a little lecture to stay on the
dotted line. On one side is a map and the other side is the rules. When the new maps are available, would
like to blow up and put in the kiosk.
Five Layers of Protection—this isn't done.
Timetable and Costs—that isn't done.
Recognition of the Conservancy and Recognition of the Value of the Preserve (this was discussed after
Preserve to Bid)
Chair Myers asked Commissioner Schadle to be on different work group. The 2 items that Chair Myers
asked, Commissioner Schadle and whoever he picks to be on that committee are of Recognition Valve of the
Preserve and Scar on the Mountain. We will call that the Valve of the Preserve. Commissioner Schadle,
chose Commissioner Ruden and Chair Myers. Now we have just 3 on each of work the groups.
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Preserve to Bid—MCO to come up with temporary utilities plan and send them to Director Mayer, who will
then forward the plans to J2. J2 to review temporary plans to make sure there won't be anything included
that would have a negative effect on the final plans. Then J2 will then produce the 100%plans and those will •
be the bidset. There will be coordination with MCO and whoever bidder is because MCO has got to install
temporary utilities.
It's important we get the design done as quickly as possible, so that we can coincide with when we have the
access up there. We time the bid when based on when we are going to have potential actual access to be able
to go up there. Rather set a specific date,we have to work from when occupancy is going to occur. We have
money to do the final design work. It's a timing issue, you don't necessarily bid on that particular date, you
bid on when you think you are in position to construct. When that date gets closer, we'll be able to figure out
what specific date is and plan accordingly.
It is not in this year's budget,but is in the CIP for next year. It's typically a 5 year CIP, so each year they will
add another year on it, but they'll go through the approval process again. So they'll approve the CIP and
including the money in theory for trail head construction next year again. The CIP is renewed on an annual
basis.The plan is to do it but there is nothing final about it until they actually approved by Council.
AGENDA ITEM #9: DISCUSSION OF DESIGNATING A MMPC REPRESENTATIVE TO THE
COMMUNITY SERVICE ADVISORY COMMISSION
The Commissioners have been taking turns going to the meetings. The Commissioners will continue rotating.
• August 31 - Commissioner Schadle
• September 28 - Chair Myers
• October 26-Commissioner Aiello
Director Mayer, stated that CSAC meets at 5pm and asked the Commission if there would be any objections
to moving these meetings to 5pm starts. Chair Myers made Motion to change the meeting times to 5pm.
Commissioner Schadle seconded and motion passed by unanimous vote.
AGENDA ITEM #10: DISCUSSION OF MCDOWELL MOUNTAIN MONTH EVENT ON
NOVEMBER 21,2015
Commissioner Aiello spoke to Captain David Letourneau and asked him is it possible that we can get the
helicopter for McDowell Mountain Month day. He's going to speak to right people to find out. He also
needs an email basically on what McDowell Mountain Month is, and this way he can present it to whoever
he has to present it to. Chair Myers will make that email to Mr. Letourneau. Commissioner Aiello,to get a
hold of Commissioner Barberic and give another update next month.
AGENDA ITEM #11 DISCUSSION OF DATES FOR JOINT MEETING OF THE COMMISSION
AND TOWN COUNCIL
Commission chose January 26, 2016 and discussed that in the future they would like to change that to a more
regular update with the Council.
AGENDA ITEM#12: CONSIDERATION OF ADJOURNMENT
Commissioner Craig made a motion to adjourn at 6:21 p.m., Commissioner Thornton seconded and the
motion passed by unanimous vote.
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McDowell Mounts reservation Commission
By:
Bill Myers, Chair
Reviewed by: 01 C .
Mark C. Mayer, Director of Community ervices
Prepared by:
Je er Lyo xecutive sistant
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 August 25, 2015. I further certify that the meeting was
duly called and that a quorum was present.
By: - f
J ifer ns, Ex Live Assistant
ID Dated this 1st day of September 2015
(1.01#
McDowell Mountain Preservation Commission
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