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Council Minutes 02/01/2001 CITY OF AMMON February 1, 2001 Minutes of the Public Hearing and Regular Meeting of the Mayor and City Council: The meeting was called to order by Mayor C. Bruce Ard at 7:30 P.M. in the City Building, 2135 South Ammon Road, Ammon, Idaho, with the following City Officials present: Mayor C. Bruce Ard Councilmember Harvey L. Crandall Councilmember Leslie Folsom Council member Ira K. Hall Attorney W. Joe Anderson Engineer Bill Manwill Public Works Director David Wadsworth Fire Chief Clarence Nelson City Clerk Aleen C. Jensen Others Present Marla Bezold, Tiebreaker Elementary School Brad Pickett, Quail Ridge Developer Jim and Jake Hansen Brigham Ball Ryan Jordan Cindy Donovan, 3725 East Sunnyside Road, Ammon Tom Hunsaker, 2925 Carolyn Lane, Ammon LaRall Kent, NuTech Energy Systems Absent: Councilmember W. Lee Bean Council member Crandall Hall led the Council member Hall offered a prayer. Hansen, Brigham Ball, and Ryan Jordan. they were attending the meeting. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, and Mayor Ard welcomed Boy Scouts Jake They each stated their name and told why The first item on the agenda was a presentation by Marla Bezold who is a second grade teacher at Tiebreaker Elementary School. She represented approximately 500 students and the faculty. For the past year they have been preparing their grounds. The faculty decided their students had a big problem. Their school is within the Ammon city limits, and they need the help of the City of Ammon in some ways. The problem their children have is the wind chill. The wind comes from the south towards the east and crosses several open fields. It gathers up momentum, and by the time it hits the playground area it is going quite fast. They have decided they would like to have a windbreak and a living snow fence along the edge of First Street to accomplish some goals. The goals are to protect the students from the elements of the cold, to provide protection for the buses as they turn in to the school, and to help City Council Meeting, February 1, 2001 - Page 2 make the grounds into a beautiful place because it is the entry into Ammon. In order to do this, they have been working with High Country Resource Conservation and Development in Rexburg. They have been told that many grants are available to assist with obtaining trees and money for their project, which involves the whole student body. They have to develop a partnership with the City. This means the City of Ammon would need to obtain a membership with High Country RC.&D. Ms. Bezold distributed a drawing to the Council to show what they are planning. The Council asked questions about the High Country RC.&D. program. Membership would allow anyone within the jurisdiction of the City to apply through the federal government for grants to buy trees, shrubs, etc. to beautify the area. They have obtained support from all the faculty, from the School District No. 93 Director of Elementary Education, from the District No. 93 grounds keeping crew, from the PTO, and from local Scout troops. They would like the project to be done mostly by the students so they will appreciate it and allow the trees to grow to maturity. If the City enters into High Country RC.&D, the school faculty will implement the plan. Councilmember Folsom moved to acquire membership in High Country RC.&D. Councilmember Crandall seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Folsom - Yes; Crandall - Yes; Hall- Yes. The motion carried. Brad Pickett applied for a building permit in Quail Ridge Division No.4, and the City Office issued the permit. The Bonneville County inspector suggested that the City should not allow a building permit before the water and sewer are in. In a conversation between Council member Hall and Brad Pickett, Brad said the water and sewer are in the street, and it is a matter of connecting to the main line. He wants to get started building a custom built house, which will take six or seven months to finish, so that he can get in on the Home Show in the spring. Councilmember Hall suggested that Brad come to City Council meeting to explain the situation. The improvement drawings were verbally approved by the City Council a couple of weeks ago. City of Idaho Falls is in agreement with the subdivision if City of Ammon agrees. Everyone agrees and they just need to sign off at this time. The drawings are with the contractors to obtain bids to get the water and sewer up to the subdivision. All the waterlines, the sewer lines, the meters, and the manholes are in the subdivision. The homes going in the subdivision, as far as the covenants, are custom homes and require longer to build. The developers want to promote the subdivision and get started building so they can be ready for the Home Show. The application for a permit was submitted, the plans have been checked, and the permit was issued, but a call today requested the developer not to proceed without further approval. Councilmember Hall said the building inspector says there is a state law that states that you can not issue permits and do construction unless there is water and sewer. Council member Hall did not want to approve of Brad Pickett going ahead without the City Council Meeting, February 1, 2001 - Page 3 City Council approval. Engineer Manwill said he did not see any problem with issuing the building permit. He would not be able to get a certificate of occupancy. Attorney Anderson did not see a problem. The developer/builder is taking all the risk because he is responsible for the sewer and water lines. Councilmember Hall moved, under the circumstances, that we allow Brad Pickett, developer, to build houses in Quail Ridge Division No.4, but there will be no certificates of occupancy until the water and sewer are connected up there and the developer understands that. Council member Folsom seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Hall- Yes; Folsom - Yes; Crandall- Yes. The motion carried. Mayor Ard opened the Public Hearing to consider the request of LaRall Kent for a rezone from C-1 to R-1A of the south one hundred forty (140) feet of Lot 1 Block 1 Hiller Addition. Notice of the Hearing was published in the Post Register on January 17 and January 24, 2001. Also, notices of the hearing were mailed to property owners within three hundred (300) feet and to other interested parties. LaRall Kent was sworn in to give testimony, and he explained his request. A map of the area was reviewed to orient the City Council to the exact location. The request was considered by the Planning and Zoning Commission at a public hearing. They recommended approval. Mr. Kent wants to build a two-unit townhouse on the lot. The reason for the townhouse is to provide a buffer between the single family dwelling on the south and the commercial on the north. Also, there will be a block wall to separate the commercial. There was no public input. Mayor Ard closed the public hearing and called for a motion from the City Council. Council member Folsom moved to approve the request for rezone from C-1 to R-1A of the south one hundred forty (140) feet of Lot 1 Block 1 Hiller Addition and to instruct the attorney to draw up the ordinance. Council member Hall seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Folsom - Yes; Hall- Yes; Crandall- Yes. The motion carried. Councilmember Crandall moved to approve the minutes of City Council Meeting held November 2, 2000. Council member Folsom seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Crandall- Yes; Folsom - Yes; Hall- Yes. The motion carried. Council member Folsom moved to approve the minutes of City Council Meeting held January 4, 2001. Council member Hall seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Folsom - Yes; Hall- Yes; Crandall- Yes. The motion carried. Tom Hunsaker reported on the status of the cellular communication tower ordinance. Council member Folsom advised that the consulting firm has been very good to help. The committee needed the expertise, and the firm has done it free of charge. The moratorium has been extended to the end of February. City Council Meeting, February 1, 2001 - Page 4 There has been no additional information regarding postal service for Ammon. Residents are encouraged to continue to obtain complaint forms from the Post Office and to submit them. The City has water rights in the Progressive Irrigation District on five small parcels of land. It is not possible to use the water. Each year a water tax is assessed. The only way to eliminate the yearly tax is to apply for exclusion from the District. Attorney Anderson asked if there was any way to feasibly get water to the properties or to transfer the rights to other City properties. Irrigation water is becoming almost impractical in a developed area. The Council discussed properties involved. There was a question about whether there were any water rights transferred with the Eagle Pointe property recently deeded to the City for a park. It was agreed to follow-up on exclusion of the water rights in the Progressive Irrigation District. Reports: Fire Chief Nelson reported for the Fire Department. He distributed information on fire ratings from the January 2001 issue of FireRescue Magazine. It is difficult for a volunteer department to get a rating better than 5. The last fire rating evaluation for City of Ammon was in 1997, and we were rated as 5. Chief Nelson discussed the points, which are considered when a department is evaluated. Plans are to continue to work to provide good service and to improve our department. The department will request a new evaluation later this year. Indications are positive that we should receive a better rating. Chief Nelson reported on a recent problem with dispatch. Problems have been going on for sometime. Bonneville County owns the dispatch equipment. The dispatch employees are City of Idaho Falls, but they wear Bonneville County uniforms. In discussing the problem with a representative of the City of Idaho Falls who is in charge of the operation, he questioned whether or not City of Ammon has a signed contract for service. Our participation in 911 should entitle us to some type of service. At present, Ammon is dispatched with one call. The Sheriff has been made aware of the problem, and the Fire Department will investigate the problem more. David Wadsworth reported for Public Works. He has been trying to keep waterlines from freezing up. The frost has been going down deep, and Rich Lane has been a problem area. Attorney Anderson reported on the Civil Rights case of Keith A. Roberts. The City received a response and it was undecided whether to respond to the response. Allan Swenson, representative of ICRMP who is looking in to the matter, called to discuss the case with Attorney Anderson. He suggested that the City not respond, but to wait and see what happens. Regarding Ammon Ranch, there are two road sections not included in the annexation. Those will have to be included when there are other annexations in the City Council Meeting, February 1,2001 - Page 5 area. The Council should keep in mind that this affects Ammon Road and Sunnyside Road. Councilmember Folsom advised that Dr. Jensen, Superintendent of School District No. 93, has resigned. Also, she encouraged the Council to get the details worked out with Benton Engineering on the hydraulic analysis of the water system. Council member Crandall referred to the recommendation of the auditor to increase our capitalization amount. We have been capitalizing at $300, and they suggested raising it to $5000. It was thought that $5000 was high and $1000 would be more realistic. In other words, if the City buys anything for over $1000, we enter it on the depreciation schedule and anything less we expense. The Council agreed to go with $1000 as capital expense. Engineer Manwill reported that the County Commissioners have set up once-a-month meetings for updates on the Sunnyside Road project with City of Ammon and City of Idaho Falls. The February meeting has been moved to Wednesday, February 14. After that, the meetings will be the first Wednesday of the month. At the last City Council meeting we talked about the right-of-way and the changes in the project. The right-of-way door is still open and the costs on the project may not have to be amended. The City Clerk reported there has been a feeding problem with the HP printer. The repairman got the printer running again, but he indicated that we should probably look at ordering a replacement part for approximately $177.90. Council member Crandall instructed the Clerk to order the new part. Attention was called to the meetings, which have been scheduled for February. Tiebreaker School and Tiebreaker Park join each other. The Council may want to look more closely at the school wind breaker plans in relation to the park. Claims were approved. Councilmember Crandall moved to adjourn the meeting, and Council member Hall seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 P.M. Mayor Attest: City Clerk