Committee Minutes

FINANCE DEVELOPMENT STANDBY COMMITTEE
June 14, 2010 - - 5:30 p.m. - - A101

Present: Christensen, Glassheim, McNamara, Gershman
Absent: None

Called to order at 5:30 p.m. by Chair Christensen.

1. Budget Amendment – Street Department

Saroj Jerath, Director of Finance, explained that due to the large amount of snow which occurred earlier this year the Street Department needs to amend their budget to cover overtime costs for snow removal and hauling. The source of funds is from the %1.5 million allocation of weather related funds which the City received from the State of ND. This amendment will use $50,000 of those funds to cover the overtime costs.

Motion by McNamara, Second by Glassheim, to recommend approval of the budget amendment. Aye: All. Motion Carried.

2. Appointment to the Grand Forks Historical Preservation Commission.

Gershman asked whether there were any other applicants for the positions other than the reappointments. Peg O’Leary, on behalf of the Commission, stated that the Mayor’s Office advertised the openings and she did not believe that there were any other applicants for the positions. She noted that there was one individual that had visited with her, but once they learned more about the function of the Commission they did not appear to be interested.

Motion by Glassheim, second by McNamara, to recommend approval of the appointments. Aye: All. Motion carried.

3. Addition to Central High School and parking for Central High School.

Bill Hutchison, representing the School District, explained the proposed project for an addition to Central High School to provide increased space for fine arts programs at the school. He distributed a preliminary plan which would add on to the southeast corner of the building. He noted that keeping in mind the historic nature of the theatre entrance, they would be leaving that intact on the inside of the building and the addition would be designed to be compatible with the original building. The project will also result in the restoration of the balcony in the theatre area. In order for the addition to take place the School District is requesting that the City vacate a portion of the street. The vacation would result in the loss of parking on 1st Ave N, about 20 spaces, but would still allow for 2-way traffic so traffic flow would not be affected. The plan has been reviewed with City Administrator, Planning and Engineering Departments for preliminary review and believed that the plan would preliminarily meet city requirements.

Brad Gengler, City Planner, stated that they had met with Mr. Hutchison and reviewed the plans, they will require some further review including looking at traffic model, but would see that they are in order to move on to Council so that they can continue the review process. It was noted that this would come back to Council again as vacation request and information from staff if the final plans and review concur that they would be acceptable.

Motion by McNamara, Second by Glassheim to forward to City Council with preliminary recommendation to approve addition plan and authorize staff to continue process of review. Aye: All. Motion Carried.

Hutchison stated that parking at Central High School has been under review and with anticipated loss of the Civic Auditorium lot the concern is greater. He provided a handout detailing the number of spaces currently used by the school (380) which meets the City Code requirement of 350 which is based on number of students and staff at the school. He noted that in addition to the spaces detailed, studies that have been conducted show that routinely there are 120-140 cars on the street that are connected to Central as well. Hutchison showed various maps with area lots noted with potential number of spaces that could be used to accommodate parking needs of Central, provided that the school district was able to negotiate a deal with owners. At this time some have been contacted but are not interested in selling to the School District, just leasing, which still leaves them with no long-term solution for parking for the school.

Gershman asked what the current occupancy rate was for the parking ramp. Greg Hoover, Director of Urban Development, stated that they are more than 50% rented, as just added a new contract with a downtown business for 70 spaces, is ability to lease some additional parking to the school on top of what they already lease, but would like to continue to reserve some as public parking to meet needs of area businesses too. Gershman commented that would like to see how many we could get in the ramp as would not like to see all available lot space taken for parking as hinders future development in downtown for housing or other businesses.

Christensen stated that we are also seeing declining enrollment and would encourage them to continue to talk with owners of vacant lots as shown on diagram to secure parking including looking at City owned lots on N 4th Street and believes that city would be willing to lease until such time as they are ready to proceed with development of the property. He noted that if the School District wished to pursue ownership of property for parking it could be done through a taking, but that would be a decision that the district would have to determine if they were willing to make.

The group asked how many spots were available for Red River High School. Hutchison stated that they have approximately 500+ spots, as besides the school district lot they have an arrangement with the Park District to use the lot for Apollo Field that is adjacent.

Hutchison stated that the School District may also be open to purchasing the parking ramp and had been interested in the Civic lot in the past. Christensen replied that the Civic lot has already been sold and contracted to someone else and is not in favor of selling the ramp to the school as there is also parking needed by others in the downtown area that utilize the ramp to meet those needs and believe that it could hinder business development if not available, however would be in favor or supporting the school district in a lease of ramp or in acquisition of vacant property.

Glassheim commented that he would like to see a purchase of ramp left on the table for discussion, or maybe a portion of the ramp, as that could help alleviate some of the financial needs that are forthcoming related to the ramp. He added that to use all surface lots when there is unused space in the ramp seems to be not the best use of the resources available.

McNamara concurred that would like to see the parking ramp stay in the discussion and perhaps need a meeting with all players affected by the use of the ramp to see what could be worked out. The group discussed that there are businesses that would like relief from the assessments for maintenance on the ramp and perhaps there would be a way to structure something that could serve the school, downtown businesses, and the public parking issue and also lessen or eliminate those assessments for businesses. Gershman commented that having a number of surface lots scattered around can be unattractive so would be nice to centralize the parking as much as possible.

Hutchison stated that he had heard the Civic project may be slightly delayed and was wondering from a planning standpoint when it would actually become unavailable. It was noted that perhaps would be available for the next year as a parking source for the school district, which would give them some time to work with the City and property owners on other solutions.

Hutchison will bring this information back to the School District and will also bring information for discussion to full Council on Monday.

Hoover stated that he also has some other information that will be coming back to Committee related to parking. Christensen stated that he would like to see a solution worked out on this by August 1 so that the School District knows where they are at prior to school starting.

4. Amendment to NSP Grant Award for Prairie Harvest Mental Health Project.

Meredith Richards, explained the history of the project and that due to title problems the original site selected for this project on South 4th Street is not available so this request is to amend the earlier agreement and transfer the project to the JDA owned lots on University Avenue. The lots on University are smaller in size and so the project has been adjusted and the cost of the project reduced from the original $2 million to $1.44 million. A neighborhood meeting was conducted last Thursday to get input from area residents. 50 notices were sent out to property owners within 400 feet of the proposed project, six attended the meeting and initially had some questions and concerns, however at the end of the meeting were comfortable with the project and the process in place for it moving forward. The project architect reviewed building plans for the project with the Committee including the floor plan, exterior design and lot placement. Committee Members were in favor of the exterior of the project design that includes brick along with other materials and expressed a preference that final design be as planned so that it fits in the downtown urban style for downtown properties and nearby buildings. Hoover stated that at this time they would be looking for a recommendation to approve the amendment to the agreement for this project.

Motion by Glassheim, second by McNamara, to recommend approval of the amendment to the NSP Grant Award for the Prairie Harvest Project. Aye: All. Motion carried.

Meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Sherie Lundmark
Admin Specialist Senior