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Work Session
Discussion Items
·
Agenda Review:
This is the
opportunity to discuss any changes to the
Regular Agenda, which follows tonight, or to remove items from the Consent
Agenda for discussion.
·
Discussion of Village Trash Collection
with Service Providers
Council members made
several comments over the last six months regarding trash collection. The trash haulers that operate within the
Village were invited to tonight’s meeting to discuss the following two items,
and any others that arise:
1. Weight
of trucks, use of third axle, and deterioration of Village streets; and
2. Start
times. Not before 6:00 AM is in the
attached ordinance. For some
companies 8:00 AM was past practice.
Reports of start times as early as 5:00 AM are being received.
It also became clear
to me upon reading the ordinance that the annual fees need to be provided and
approved (see Section 62-65).
Discussion is
recommended to fine tune our operations.
·
Local Street Reconstruction Plan
On September 20, 2004, the Village Council had a work
session following the Annual Tour. We
discussed a comprehensive local street reconstruction program. Attached are complete notes.
One suggestion made
was to review “chip and seal” options to spread the dollars around. Some concerns about aesthetics, in-line
skating, complaints from last time, car damage and safety were noted. Nevertheless, staff agreed to research it
further.
At the MML conference
two weeks later, I discussed chip and seal with other managers and learned
about Calhoun County’s experiences.
John and I arranged a tour of Sturgis (Three Rivers area on the
Indiana border) and of Calhoun County (Battle Creek area).
To chip and seal
exclusively, like in Sturgis, would be counterproductive. It would cheapen our neighborhoods and
downgrade our community. The street
adjacent to the Sturgis High School was once asphalt; the new chip and seal
downgraded the area.
On the other hand, to
use chip and seal or sand sheeting, slurry
seal or asphalt paving, in different
combinations depending on the neighborhood and street condition, will
stretch the Village’s dollar further and would accentuate our services. The actual solution chosen would differ
thereby depending upon the nature of the curbing, or lack thereof, the
current rural/urban quality of the neighborhood, the traffic load and the
existing pavement condition. The
overall goal would remain the same:
get the biggest impact for each taxpayer dollar in order to upgrade
the Local Street conditions from a 3-5 to a 7-9.
Rather than having a
bottom line cost to redo the local streets that is close to two million
dollars, this experimentation might be able to address the Village’s Local
streets, catch basins, etc. for roughly $650,000. The program would be completed within five years of the TIF
completion and would last for the foreseeable future, if regularly crack
sealed and maintained.
See the complete
report and possible schedules attached.
Next Steps
1. In
addition to the steps outlined on the notes of our September 20th
meeting, staff asked the Village Council if you would like to experiment with
the above methods in one neighborhood. This experimentation includes leach
basin installation.
2. Investigate
the sub-soils;
3. See
how far the first year of funds can be stretched using the above approaches;
4. Put
these funds in the capital budget for FY 06 for Council review in April,
2005;
5. If
generally approved, meet with the affected neighborhoods and seek relevant
input;
6. Televise
the sanitary sewers – flush and flow test the water lines in summer of 2005,
along with the needed Reliability Study, and adjust the plans
accordingly. Approve a realistic 4
inch water line replacement policy;
7. Get
a final review from an engineer and discuss the results with Council;
8. If
the project is still a go, bid it out the first two years in late fall, or
early spring, for construction in 2006 and short-term borrow the necessary
funds. Such funds would be paid off
by the freed-up TIF dollars over two years, starting in April 2007.
·
TIF Projects and Status Reports
1. Review
of the Harbor Steel Redevelopment Streetscape Process, Changes to Rotary
Drive, and Access to Central Park
Fleis and VandenBrink
was engaged in November to design this streetscape project using a CDBG grant
from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
The Village Staff,
the Parks and Recreation Committee and the property owner reviewed Fleis and
VendenBrink’s preliminary design.
Several revisions to save trees were made. The Village Council reviewed the plans at the last meeting on
January 3, 2005.
The Village’s key
objectives are to: 1) share an
entryway that compliments both the East Village development and Central
Park; 2) accentuate the entrance into
Central Park; and 3) enable overflow
ball field parking to use the development’s parking lots in the evening
hours.
The planned arch and
signage will accomplish these objectives, along with our expected wayfinding
signage program. The possibility of
putting banners up would enable promotion of Central Park events: Easter egg hunts, ice rink, the softball
program, Heritage Festival events, Langeland Field, etc.
Further, a maintenance
easement understanding needs to be fashioned between the parties. A discussion draft was attached to the
last agenda but has not been agreed to yet by the Developer. We are meeting on Friday.
The final design
plans will be displayed tonight before going out to bid. Bids will be returned and be provided to
Council for award on March 7, 2005.
Bids will not be recommended for award unless the long-term
maintenance agreement is executed.
Redstone is working
on leasing up the area. They will
include a unique take out restaurant and a financial office. Additional spots are still available to
lease.
2. Exchange Street Typical and Phased Plans
Moore and Bruggink,
Inc. was engaged last summer to: 1)
review the width of Exchange; 2) see
what could be done to provide on-street parking while minimizing any
widening, 3) not harm the existing
trees and 4) include miscellaneous design elements recommended by the
Downtown Master Plan.
Joe Camp from Moore
and Bruggink presented his findings at the last meeting. The cost estimate was $160,000.
The variables
discussed included: whether to slow
traffic on Exchange; stop signs on Exchange at Jackson; safety of on-street
parking; school bus turning radius; preservation of trees; short-term parking
in front of the Post Office; closure of the parking lot curb cut that causes
traffic conflicts; and whether this streetscape concept should eventually be
extended west to Cutler Street, as Exchange Street redevelopment occurs.
The CBDDA reviewed
this report at their January meeting and unanimously endorsed all elements of
it. Joe Camp attended and made
changes in the radius of the bump outs to address school bus turning.
Since these two
meetings, I received general community feedback registering concern about the
Post Office curb cut elimination. In
addition, the TIF funds do not allow for any significant expenditure to
accomplish these plans in the short-term.
(The ornamental lights are not yet done east of Lake Street and the
Graflex building matter is still pending.
Both of these items could use up all the available TIF
resources.) A further variable is
MDOT construction on M-104 this fall and possible overflow congestion on
Exchange during the construction.
For these reasons, my
conclusion is that these plans be discussed further after this fall and
implemented in a partial fashion then.
Meanwhile, as
development progresses to the west of Division, sidewalks and on street
parking, with or without widening, will be required as part of the site plan
submittals.
Relatedly, attached
is a list of TIF that projects will be funded from now until TIF’s end or
hibernation. The list assumes no grant being received for Lakeside Trail gap
completion.
3. West
End Redevelopment
There is quite a bit
of activity planned for the West End by the private sector. The Marina plans to continue their
expansion to include Marina retail on West Savidge; the former Tim’s is
slated for a deli and a seasonal ice cream shop; and the former Graflex is
being readied for 32 condominiums and a restaurant.
The new potential
owners of the Graflex property approached the Village to see if they could
long-term lease the former Police Station and pay to have it demolished and
turned into public parking. I am
agreeable to this use and will be recommending it as a satisfactory solution
to help with redevelopment of the area, as per the grant requirements.
At some point, it
will be necessary to re-invest in the street and to provide for angle parking
on the north side. This parking would
better serve the businesses and would create a better shopping and pedestrian
environment.
If the Village
Council concurs, we will include this project into the long-term Local Street
construction plans to be done once the neighborhoods are caught up and
resources permit.
4. The
Future of the Tax Increment Financing District
I researched the
possibility of keeping the TIF district around should it be useful in the
future after we are caught up on Local Streets. The attorneys advised me that Allendale did this exact same
thing.
I asked for more
information and received the attached opinion letter. This idea would give the Council future
flexibility to use TIF for projects for long-term brownfield redevelopment
purposes. See the letter attached for
more detail.
·
Review of Band shell plans for Mill
Point Park
The Rotary Club of
Spring Lake would like to proceed this summer. Attached are rough schematics about what is planned.
The Rotary’s job
would be to install the pre-fabricated structure in Mill Point Park. The Village’s job would be to ensure the
grade is correct to tie into the planned Grand River Greenway. (Later in this agenda, a recommendation is
made to hire the engineer for the Grand River Greenway to accomplish this
coordination.)
Although the Parks
Committee did not have a quorum on Tuesday, they met and discussed this
project. Their conclusion is to
support the project as planned.
Miscellaneous
Announcements or Status Reports
o
NOWS water premium rates
o
NOWS intake fix and potential $90,000
cost (See bond information attached
regarding a 3 to 8 cent per 1000 gallon impact for 15 years.)
o
NOWS Contract amendments and direction
o
Applications to Planning Commission
(None to date)
o
Applications to Historic Conservation
District (Need one more)
o
Mural from Bank One for Barber School?
Upcoming Agenda Items (Tentative)
February 21, 2005
Agreement on
long-term maintenance for East Village redevelopment
Public hearing on
extension of the groundwater use restriction zone in the South Park Street
neighborhood.
Groundwater ordinance
revisions
Public Hearing on a
Cost Recovery ordinance
March 7, 2005
Annual Budget
adjustments
Set the Budget public
hearings
Planning Commission
Appointments
Cost Recovery
ordinance
March 21
Lakeside Trail Gap
Go/No Go
April 4
Cancellation?
April 18
West End
Redevelopment PUD
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