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01122012CouncilMinutes CITY OF AMMON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES – WORK SESSION THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2012 AGENDA: CITY OF AMMON 2135 SOUTH AMMON ROAD CITY COUNCIL – WORK SESSION THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2012 – 4:30 P.M. DISCUSSION ITEMS: 1.Woodbury Corporation – Scott Bishop – Hitt Road 2.Vacant Business Location – Utility Billing EXECUTIVE SESSION: 1.Personnel Evaluations - Idaho Code 67-2345 (1-b) 2.Real Property Acquisitions - Idaho Code 67-2345 (1-c) 3.Pending Litigation - Idaho Code 67-2345 (1-f) MINUTES City Officials Present: Mayor Fuhriman Councilmember Dana Kirkham Councilmember Brian Powell (arrived at 4:45 p.m.) Councilmember Rex Thompson Councilmember Russell Slack Councilmember Sean Coletti City Administrator/Clerk/Planning Director Ron Folsom Deputy City Clerk Rachael Brown City Treasurer Jennifer Belfield City Engineer Lance Bates Public Works Director Ray Ellis City Officials Absent: Councilmember Brad Christensen DISCUSSION ITEMS: Councilmember Kirkham opened the meeting at 4:43 p.m. at 2135 South Ammon Road in the Mayors absence, and apologized for the late start. Woodbury Corporation – Scott Bishop – Hitt Road: 1. Ron explained he invited Scott Bishop to come and speak to the Council about the traffic issues on Hitt Road. Scott asked if he could have a copy of the traffic study. Ron said if the City had a traffic study done, he doesn’t have a copy of it. Councilmember Kirkham said she thought Chief Roos had a copy of the traffic study. Councilmember Slack thought it was a traffic report, not a traffic study. Ron will follow up with Karl Noah to see if he has the traffic study. Lance directed the Council to a map on SharePoint. Councilmember Kirkham proposed not allowing parking in front of the stores in the Albertson’s shopping center, and if that would affect their parking requirements. Ron said he believes they are in compliance now but would probably fall out of compliance due to the fact the City requires a lot of parking. Scott Bishop said the store tenants would prefer their customer be able to get out of their cars, go directly into the businesses, and not have to cross the drive th lane. Councilmember Kirkham said it is getting difficult to get out of that parking lot onto 17 Street and be able to turn right or left. Councilmember Kirkham said during the holidays the traffic was backed up in front of the stores all the way to Target, and people backing out or trying to find a gap so they can back out exacerbates the situation. Councilmember Slack said the parking spaces act like a speed bumps and people go slower because cars are coming in and out of those parking spaces. Scott Bishop said removing the spaces would turn it into a thoroughfare, especially if you start limiting access from Hitt Road to the shopping center, and Albertson’s is concerned about speed and the volume of traffic. Councilmember Kirkham decided to let it go and directed the discussion to Lance who again directed the Council to a map on SharePoint. Lance explained the option for putting in a u-turn on Hitt Road. Councilmember Slack said there is no left turn into Target; you have to make a U-turn further down the street. Councilmember Slack 12 Council Minutes 1-12-12 Page of asked how a diesel would get into Target, because they can’t negotiate a U-turn. Councilmember Slack asked about the distance. Lance said it would be almost 300 feet to where the extruded curb comes through. Discussion ensued about the proposed changes. Scott Bishop said they deal with condemnations a lot. Scott said they have shopping centers near-15 in Utah and have dealt with a dozen condemnations over the last year. Scott said this affects the businesses and the people making their livings here. He said this feels like engineers just went to the backroom and came up with something and then said we are building this in three months and adjacent businesses never had an opportunity to voice their concerns. Councilmember Kirkham said there was some discussion about the cement barriers and Target had representation at that time. Scott said he knew they were trying to limit left hand turns at Target, and he recognized it’s tough, but he didn’t recognize that it meant unprotected U-turns. Councilmember Kirkham said because Councilmember Slack is on the committee to discuss Hitt Road, she would propose that Councilmember Slack call Mike Lehto to let him know the City of Ammon wants to discuss this immediately, because at this point we are not interested in their design. Councilmember Kirkham will contact Mayor Jared Fuhriman to request a meeting with him to let him know the City of Ammon is not willing to move forward with this so they need to take it off their construction plans. Councilmember Slack said this is based upon the outcry of our business owners. Scott said this will cripple the businesses there. Councilmember Slack said the City could take the median money that was proposed for the project and contribute that piece towards a light by Target. Councilmember Kirkham asked Councilmember Slack to bring that up in their committee meeting, and then she will let Mayor Jared Fuhriman know this is what the City of Ammon is proposing. Councilmember Coletti will take Councilmember Bean’s place on the committee. Councilmember Kirkham said the businesses in that area should consider writing a letter to the editor saying this is what is proposed and the public is unaware of this. Councilmember Kirkham asked Councilmember Slack to set a deadline for hearing back from them by next week because this is part of the City of Idaho Falls’s summer construction plans. 2. Vacant Business Location – Utility Billing: Ron explained that at a previous meeting Councilmember Slack had heard from businesses about vacancies that were still being charged full utility rates. Ron directed the Council to view SharePoint for some examples of a business location that has vacancies and how staff handles the billing. Discussion ensued regarding the ERU’s and the flows to the Region. Misc.: EXECUTIVE SESSION: 1. Personnel Evaluations - Idaho Code 67-2345 (1-b) 2. Real Property Acquisitions - Idaho Code 67-2345 (1-c) 3. Pending Litigation - Idaho Code 67-2345 (1-f) The meeting adjourned at 5:40 p.m. ___________________________________________ Steve Fuhriman, Mayor _________________________________________________ Ron Folsom, City Clerk 22 Council Minutes 1-12-12 Page of