Meeting Recap: February 17, 2014

Note: Items of discussion in this recap includes a link indexed to that portion of the City Council meeting replay. Click on bold headers that are linked to view that portion of the video.

(STILLWATER, OKLA. / Posted Feb. 24, 2014) - The Stillwater City Council met for its regular meeting Monday, Feb. 17, 2014. (View the meeting agenda here)
 
Pledge of Allegiance
a. Led by Richmond Elementary School students Joye Condley and Austin Hooten.

Proclamations and Presentations
Oklahoma Emergency Management Week 

Photos

Consent Docket
a. Approval of minutes: Regular meeting, Feb. 3, 2014

Council approved 5-0.

Public Hearings
a. Receive public comment regarding a request for a map amendment rezoning property addressed as 1202 S. Duck St. from RSS (Residential Small Lot Single-Family) to O (Office) (CC-14-11)

Development Services Director Paula Dennison presented the report on the requested map amendment to the Council. Dennison said the requested office zoning is consistent with the C3 Plan, the expected growth patterns along 12th Avenue and the property is adjacent to a residential neighborhood. 

Planning Commission recommended the Council approve the request

Council approved Planning Commission recommendation 5-0.

b. Receive public comment regarding a request for a map amendment rezoning property addressed as 1530 W. Sixth Ave. and 521, 523, 525 S. Walnut St. from RMU (Residential Multi-Family - Urban) to RMI (Residential Multi-Family - Intermediate) (CC-14-12)

Dennison presented the report on the requested map amendment to the Council. Dennison said this request is a down-zoning. She said the requested RMI zoning is consistent with the C3 Plan, the expected growth patterns of the area the proposed zoning is less intense than the current RMU zoning.

Councilor Joe Weaver asked why the property owners would want to down-zone their property. Dennison said there were some setbacks using the RMU zoning. The RMI zoning would help them do what they are planning to do at this time.

Councilor Weaver asked for clarification on the setback. Dennison said the greatest impact is on side yards of the property. With the requested RMI, they are allowed to go as close as 5 feet to side property lines. In the RMU, they have to maintain a minimum of 15 feet. The down-zoning would allow greater use of the property. 

Mayor John Bartley asked about the zoning of the properties north and south of the questioned property. Dennison said those properties were zoned as RTM (Residential Two-Family and Multi-Family), making the questioned property the highest dense zoning in the immediate area.

Kelly Harris, Keystone Engineering, spoke in favor of the zoning request.

Planning Commission recommended the Council approve the request.

Council approved Planning Commission recommendation 5-0.

c. Receive public comment regarding a request for a map amendment rezoning property addressed as 402 and 410 S. Hester St. and 711 W. Fourth Ave. from RMI (Residential Multi-Family - Intermediate) to HR (High-Rise) (CC-14-13)

Dennison presented the report on the requested map amendment to the Council. Dennison said the high-rise zoning is consistent with the C3 Plan, the expected growth patterns around Fourth Avenue and the property is adjacent to high-rise zoning.

Councilor Weaver asked why the C3 plan did not classify the area as high density. Dennison said it was recommended for high density in the plan, but at the time development was proposed for the properties, the applicant did not have the two  properties in discussion. Therefore, the proposal was based solely on what is seen in the existing high-rise district. 

Harris was present to answer any further questions.

Planning Commission recommended the Council approve the request.

Council approved Planning Commission recommendation 5-0.

d. Receive public comment regarding the closing of a portion of a utility easement on property addressed as 519 S. Jardot, The Vintage (CC-14-14)

Dennison presented the report on the closing to the Council. She said it was an unusual request because there are no easements there now and it is not intended to have any easements there in the future. This is based on the contractor's plans for phase two of development on the property. Dennison said the closing would still allow for proposed building and reaffirmed there were no utilities within the easement.

Staff recommended the Council approve the closing.

Council approved staff recommendation 5-0.

Reports from Officers and Boards


Councilor Weaver - Thanked the agencies in Stillwater, the county and state officials that helped coordinate operations during the closing of the Oklahoma State University multimodal transportation terminal Thursday.

Mayor Bartley - Welcomed back Vice Mayor Chuck Hopkins. Reminded viewers that he will be the guest on KSPI at 8:15 a.m. Tuesday and would be on Triple Play Radio at 7 a.m. Wednesday. Reminded viewers that next Monday (Feb. 24) the Council will be holding a study session

Vice Mayor Hopkins - Apologized for missing the past few meetings and said he believed he will be present through the April elections.

Appointments
a. Stillwater Medical Center Authority Board

Mayor Bartley nominated Dan Duncan for reappointment.

Council approved 5-0.

City Council is adjourned; SUA is called to order.

Consent Docket
a. Approval of minutes: Regular meeting, Dec. 16, 201; Regular meeting, Feb. 3, 2014
b. Bid recommendation for the Perkins Road booster pump station and recommendation of construction bid award, request for authorization for instrumentation and controls application engineering and construction inspection funding (SUA-14-03)
c. Award Professional Services Agreement for design, bidding and construction phase services for replacement of miscellaneous water main segments (SUA-14-02) 

Councilors Weaver and Cody Scott requested item 'b' be removed from consent docket.

Trustees approved consent docket excluding item 'b' 5-0.

Items Removed From Consent Docket
b. Bid recommendation for the Perkins Road booster pump station and recommendation of construction bid award, request for authorization for instrumentation and controls application engineering and construction inspection funding (SUA-14-03)

Bill Millis, acting Water Utilities director, and Eric Fladie, construction program manager, addressed the Trustees on the bid recommendation.

Trustee Weaver asked for an overview of the project.  

Fladie said the function of the station is critical for use of the 56th Street water tower to open it up to service customers in the southwest zone. The final design for the pump station was completed at the end of 2013 and they closed out the real estate actions to buy the land to put the station on in January. Bids were opened on January 27 and five bids were received. The bid from Crossland Heavy Contractors was accepted. 

Trustee Weaver asked if the company has done business with the City before. Fladie said it has done projects for Water Utilities in the past. 

Fladie said there were three aspects to the request. First is to award the bid and authorize construction. The second is for application engineering, which would allow for human control at the station site and from the water treatment plant so operators can operate the system from that area. The third is to make the request for construction inspection of the project. 

The total authorization that is requested is $1,458,000 to complete the project. That includes funding for the construction Fladie noted earlier plus 10 percent for the application engineering and the inspection. Authorization of the request will not impact the current water capital budget. 

The five recommendations are: Award bid to Crossland Heavy Contractors in the amount of $1,228,000; Authorize staff and general manager to execute the construction contract; Authorize construction expenditures up to $1,350,800; Authorize staff to execute an amendment to Garver for the professional services to execute the application engineering in the amount of $55,000; And authorize the inspection services in the amount of $45,000.

Trustee Bartley asked if the last two recommendations were part of the original project proposals. Fladie said they were not. He said they were something Water Utilities realized would need to be required but did not want to include in the engineering design package at the time because it wanted to wait for the completion of the construction design. They wanted to see what the magnitude requirement for that specialized construction phase would be. 

City Manager Dan Galloway asked if the original estimated cost was made with the knowledge that the extra costs would ultimately be present. Fladie affirmed Galloway's question.

Trustee Hopkins asked if Water Utilities has an agreement with District Three to pump water yet. Trustee Weaver said it did not because it was a separate matter.

Trustee Hopkins said he was concerned about the project and did not feel he could vote for approval on the request. He expressed concern in still having to build a water line and did not think there was a guarantee of that if not through District Three. He said he does want to make sure water gets to the southwest zone.

Fladie said Water Utilities has understood from the start that it needs the 18-inch water line to connect the 56th Street tower to the existing system for the pump station to provide any service to its customers. He said both are separate projects but they can't have one without the other to be a benefit for the City. Fladie said the status of the project Hopkins brought up is still in design and they are hopeful the real estate actions will be completed efficiently. 

Trustees Bartley and Hopkins asked for confirmation that the estimated date for the completion of the projects would be September 2014. Fladie confirmed the question but said it is contingent on the closing of real estate actions. 

Stillwater Utilities Authority Director Dan Blankenship said they would acquire there own easements to have the water line from the tower down to 44th Street. This would give the SUA ownership of the easements and the rights to control the water line. He said they would have to go through the District Three lines to get from the pump station to the tower. He said the SUA unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate into a formal agreement with District Three and decided to move forward with the pump station knowing both parties would need it in order to keep the tower full. 

Trustee Hopkins asked if they had enough capacity to fill the tower at maximum use. Blankenship said he understood they would be able to fill the tower and keep it full with this pump station. 

Trustee Hopkins asked it they would be using District Three's 14-inch line. Blankenship said they would be going down Perkins Road to 56th Street, across 56th Street to the tower through their lines. 

Trustee Hopkins asked if the size of the line would be a problem in filling the tank. Blankenship said there would actually be two "feeder" lines, another from 32nd Street, that would feed into the tower to fill it up.

Millis said the two feeder lines and the pump station will not provide enough water to serve the southwest zone. He said this is just one piece of the southwest zone solution. 

Trustee Weaver said he appreciated staff's noting that the pump station is just one of many attempted solutions in the southwest zone. He said he acknowledged Trustee Hopkin's frustration but noted that the Western line was not ready to be discussed due to easement concerns whereas this pump station was ready to be addressed and it seemed logical to take this step.

Millis said the Western line is also just one more piece that will improve the situation, not the total solution.

Trustee Bartley said it is understood by the trustees that the pump station is only a part of the solution.

Trustee Hopkins said his concern was that they have spent more than a year trying to get an agreement the SUA's partners to the south to pump water to the tower.

Blankenship said after multiple attempts to make an agreement, the decision was made to proceed. 

Trustee Hopkins said he understood the decision but didn't want to make any mistakes on this issue. 

Blankenship said there is some potential risk that they evaluated, but they felt the mutual benefits to the City and District Three made them comfortable enough to proceed with the recommendation for the pump station. 

Trustee Gina Noble asked what the worst case scenario would be if the SUA did not get a negotiated contract.Blankenship said the worst case scenario is that District Three closes its lines and neither the City nor they get water into the tower. 

Trustee Bartley asked how they would solve that problem. Blankenship said they could try to negotiate another agreement with them or have to build a line from the pump station to the tower.

Trustee asked the City attorney if he saw any reason why they would not be able to have a contract with District Three. City Attorney John Dorman said it was a difficult question to answer. He said they had to look at the fact that the pump station will provide water to them at pressure level that will let the water fill the tower. Dorman said the SUA can address any issues they have, but the District's solution is to shut the water off. Dorman said he was under an assumption that when the pump station is ready they would use the District's lines. 

Galloway said that when the decision was made by the two parties to jointly own the tower, the District thought the only way it could benefit them was by pumping the water through their lines. He said that he thought the District always assumed that would be the case and did not feel the need to specify it in a contract. 

Trustee Weaver asked if the SUA would have legal recourse of the tower in the event of not reaching an agreement. Dorman answered yes and said the District did not want to break the proposed contract into different issues and different agreements, which has added to some of the confusion in the agreement.

Galloway said he has never heard the District directly confirm they wouldn't open the lines to the SUA. Blankenship agreed.

Trustee Bartley asked if a new pump station could get more water to the tower than the temporary. Blankenship agreed and said the new line would disconnect the District's temporary pump station.

Trustee Bartley asked if they would have to later buy more easements along Western Road, 56th Street and 44th Street for another line. Millis said the easements do look forward to a future line project.

Trustees approve consent docket item 'b' 4-1, with Trustee Hopkins abstaining.

SUA is adjourned

END

Recap by Meagan Kascsak, Marketing and Public Relations.

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