Loading...
HomeMy Public PortalAbout2023.10.04 Special Joint Meeting MinutesMINUTES McCall City Council Special Joint Meeting McCall City Hall -- Legion Hall VIA TEAMS Virtual October 4, 2023 Call to Order and Roll Ca11 Work Session Adjournment CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL 1 OPEN SESSION PAYETTE LAKES RECREATIONAL WATER & SEWER DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS (The District) Board Chair Holm opened session for The District at 9:01 a.m. and called for a roll call. Chair Holm, Vice -Chair Patterson, Director Larson, Director Weida, all answered roll call. Director Young is absent. OPEN SESSION MCCALL CITY COUNCIL (City) Council President Nielsen called the Special Meeting of the McCall City Council to order at 9:01 a.m. Council President Nielsen, Council Member Nelson, Council Member Maciaszek, and Council Member Thrower all answered roll call. Mayor Giles was absent. City staff members present were Bill Nichols, City Attorney; BessieJo Wagner, City Clerk; Sarah Porter, Deputy Clerk; Erin Greaves, Communications Manager; Michelle Groenevelt, Community Development Director; Brian Parker, City Planner; Nathan Stewart, Public Works Director; Sean Reilly, Network Administrator; Meredith Todd, Assistant City Planner; Building official John Powell. District Staff present were David Watkins, JUB Engineers and District Engineer; Tami Richardson, Business Manager; Jeff Bateman, Operations Manager. Also, presents were Elt Hasbrouck, Valley County Commissioner and Drew Dodson, The Star - News. WORK SESSION 1 Chairman of the Joint Meeting The District Board and City Council considered a motion to authorize Council Member Nielsen to conduct the Joint Meeting. MCCALL CITY COUNCIL October 4, 2023 Special Meeting Page 1 of 9 Council Member Nelson made a motion for Council Member Nielsen to lead the joint meeting. Council Member Thrower seconded. In a voice vote, the District Board and Council all said aye, and the motion carried. Council Member Nielsen expressed the importance that Payette Lakes Recreational Water and Sewer District Board (District) and the City Council have a good working relationship and thanked the District for agreeing to have a joint meeting. Council Member Nielsen also noted the goals of the meeting including for the City to better understand the District's proposed Accessory Dwelling Unit policy, working together to meet the needs of local housing, and understanding the District's needs to limit service at the moment as well as the process for creating policies. Council Member Nielsen stated that both the City and District have the same goal of serving the community. Director Weida noted that the District plans for the meeting included going over current models and expressed that the system is complicated and difficult to understand. An additional goal is to have a better understanding between the District and the City. David Watkins JUB Staff Engineer for the District reiterated that a review of the draft master plan, model history and model results are goals for the meeting. Engineer Watkins reviewed how infiltration and inflow (I&I), groundwater and storm water getting into the sewer system, impacts the sewer system capacity. I&I can happen through sump pumps, manhole lids and broken pipes and causes the need for upsized pumps, pipes, and treatment facilities. The problem in McCall is that the peak flow event every year is the spring when occupancy is at a bare minimum and there is snow melting and rainfall events that cause I&I. The 2019 model of the entire system found that the base flow in the spring is about two times the typical residential flow. When larger weather events like rain and snow occur the system is essentially serving three cities worth of flow and that is what has claimed the capacity. Engineer Watkins gave a summary on the District's planning boundary, lift stations, miles of pipe, manholes and estimated dwelling units (EDUs). The interim model was completed in 2019 and model results along with flow monitoring data showed multiple locations of pipes beyond capacity, water backups in manholes and multiple lift stations running constantly and exceeding capacity. City Public Works Director Nathan Stewart summarized that the District did not have overflows during the rain event used in the model but the way a rain event is programmed into the model can create overflows to find areas that are worse off than others. Engineer Watkins noted that the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) requires a design storm or programmed storm event to be modeled and if there are overflows in that design storm, that is when DEQ starts tracking the district more and when moratoriums typically occur. There is an interesting situation currently because there are not literal overflows occurring but if another storm happens like the 2019 storm used in the model there are multiple locations that would overflow. Commissioner Hasbrouck asked if the numbers are just in City limits or in the impact area. Engineer Watkins noted that the numbers are for the District planning area which includes both the City limits and the impact area. Additionally, the interim density policy was put in place to reduce risk in areas of bottlenecks so major issues like overflow do not occur. To create the interim policy, basins were sorted into class A, B and C. Class A — no predicted surcharging, Class B — surcharge 3ft or more from rim and Class C — surcharge within 3ft of rim. MCCALL CITY COUNCIL Page 2 of 9 October 4, 2023 Special Meeting City Community and Economic Development Director Michelle Groenevelt asked for Engineer Watkins to provide perspective for the City Council on how the interim policy relates to subdivisions. Engineer Watkins noted that the District has historically had a position to issue permits to those already paying taxes in the District. For example, when a District patron is ready to build a house, that patron should receive a sewer hookup and be able to build their house. The interim policy was crafted with that position in mind and allows for each residential parcel to have at least one sewer connection even in the high -risk Class C areas. Keeping that position in the policy prevents people from being turned away if they want a connection but are in the Class C basin. Larger lots can still subdivide into smaller lots but only at one connection per acre in the Class C basin is allowed. Additionally, at the time the interim policy was created there was not a good handle on commercial lots and zoning, so the policy includes a statement allowing commercial lots one connection per parcel. Council Member Thrower asked how Class A is treated with the interim Policy. Engineer Watkins noted that Class A is treated as if there is no interim policy and connections would be considered based on the planned sewer density and size of the lot. Director Groenevelt asked if the sewer density follows the zoning. Engineer Watkins noted that outside of the City limits the District is still following the original sewer density from before the system annexation. Director Stewart noted that there seems to be some confusion when the District planned sewer density does not match with the City Zoning. Ideally density would be the same for the District and the City but both densities were completed under different circumstances. Engineer Watkins noted that the original sewer system outside of City limits was built oversized to accommodate everything in the District. Additionally, Engineer Watkins noted that there are no Capacity issues currently, the largest issue is the lift stations being beyond the design life of the system. Council Member Maciaszek asked what area of the City limits encompasses the Class C Basin. Engineer Watkins noted that Class C is all throughout the City, but the main area is on the East side of town because of issues with lift station 50. Engineer Watkins also noted that the mapping is based on the modeled capacity but there is another issue at hand which is going through the annexed portion of the system, mainly downtown, and collecting condition information. Wooley Ave sewer is flat and serves a large area, it is one of the larger bottlenecks in the system. Director Weida said that the bottlenecks are one of the most frustrating things encountered by the District. Engineer Watkins additionally noted that lift station 51 near Ridley's Family Market has an issue with capacity as well. Engineer Watkins gave an overview of the Master Plan process noting that the plan was started in early 2022 with stakeholder workshops in March and May of 2022 and Board meeting workshops consistently between 2022 and 2023. I&I is the primary culprit for the existing system exceeding capacity and there needs to be a plan to tackle the I&I issues in the existing system, there needs to be an understanding of what pipes and lift stations need to be upsized and how much the cost will be assuming I&I stays the same, and a need to know what the system looks like to serve the buildout condition for about 50 years. Sewer Density and the Master Plan is based on the new Valley County Parcel Geographic Information Systems (GIS) shapefiles from 2022. The District also used the City's Likelihood of Change shapefile, City Zoning shapefile and City Future Land MCCALL CITY COUNCIL Page 3 of 9 October 4, 2023 Special Meeting Use as well as District Planned Sewer Density for areas outside of the City limits and bonus density assumptions are included in the calculations. City Director Groenevelt noted that all the data collected can be layered to see correlations between all the information available. Engineer Watkins noted that the District has hydraulic models using GIS. Public Works Director Nathan Stewart noted that using GIS could easily show where sewer density is different from City density by overlaying the shapefiles. Engineer Watkins noted that the interim plan from 2019 was created using the City's zoning inside of the City limits to determine the sewer density since the District did not have a density planned for the area inside of City limits. At the time of annexation, the assumption was that the zoning in the City matched what the sewer system was designed for. Director Groenevelt noted that in 2005 prior to the annexation a Master Plan was in progress for the sewer system. The Master Plan was looking at growth projections and all the items the District is currently going through as well as if there needs to be a new facility built or if the current facility at the time could be upgraded. Engineer Watkins reviewed the importance of considering buildout conditions and the need for trunk line capacity to be well ahead of growth. Additionally, the McCall system is not like most systems. For example, Meridian plans a decade or two ahead so when subdivisions are built the only upgrade needed is for larger pumps into lift stations that were already sized for full build out. Director Groenevelt noted that the type of build out happening in larger and newer cities is more of a suburban green field new development but there are a lot of old cities around the country that are probably a better comparison to what is facing McCall. Council Member Nielsen noted that the City wants to be a good partner to the District and coordinate upgrades with streets projects and asked if the District put larger pipes in the ground during the recent Davis Ave and Deinhard Lane projects. Engineer Watkins noted that the District looked at the pipes and decided there was no need to upgrade the pipes. Additionally, Engineer Watkins expressed that the City should be putting in more storm systems because every time the City puts catch basins in place and houses can be taken off sump pumps everyone wins. Public Works Director Stewart noted that roadside swails are cost-effective unlike storm sewers that are expensive and require maintenance. Director Weida noted that having models to define what the real problem is and where the problem is can help solve the issue. The current models utilized by the District show that I&I are the problem. Unless there is a way to ration the capacity available in the system, there may be issues with overflows and DEQ regulations or even a moratorium on issuing permits until the issues are fixed. Director Weida also noted the District has had overflows where the river exits the lake and that is motivation to ration the maximum capacity coming out of the system. The fastest way to allow people to exist with the type of sewer system in use is to increase the capacity. To increase capacity, a fee needs to be developed to enable the District to bring on more employees to solve the I&I problem. There have been multiple cases where sewer pipes have been fixed by throwing a garbage bag over the top of it or burying it because of the way the sewer system was developed. With the system in place today it is on the same level no matter where you go locally, which is why an inordinate number of lift stations are needed for a sewer system of the current size. That means an inordinate amount of maintenance needed to keep all the lift stations in operation. Each lift station pumps the sewage up and then allows it to flow back down to the next one. If you fix a blockage MCCALL CITY COUNCIL Page 4 of 9 October 4, 2023 Special Meeting or a bottleneck in the line, it then gets moved on to the next lift station. That is why it is necessary for the District to perform rationing of capacity. In the spring there is twice as much flow from leakage in the lines. Sewer lines leak because the sewage generates gas that is acidic and corrodes the top of the pipes. A large section of sewer line was replaced between downtown, and Shore Lodge and it was discovered that the line had no top at all. Council Member Maciaszek asked if it is possible while the District is in process of completing the Master Plan and doing upgrades, to have a GIS layer on a public map that shows the current possible sewer hook ups. If so, would it be possible to link the City GIS and the District GIS to help the public understand. Director Weida expressed that it is possible to provide a GIS map to the public but costly. The District has adopted best practices to talk to everyone requesting a sewer hookup so there is no confusion or misinformation. Engineer Watkins noted that the District does not currently have an online publicly available GIS map. Director Groenevelt asked if the District had a layer available to share with the City. The public uses the GIS maps offered by the City, everyone from developers, architects, and property owners to potential property owners. Jeff Bateman District Operations Manager expressed that when people look at the online GIS maps there are assumptions made that connections are available or easy access to a sewer and that just causes problems for the District, it is easier for the District if the public calls or comes into the office to talk to staff. Engineer Watkins asked for clarification on the City application and if there is a requirement for applicants to reach out to the District. Director Groenevelt confirmed and explained that City staff will explain what the zoning is and direct the applicant to talk to the District, but it is challenging from a public perspective as well as a staff perspective because the City does not know anything at all about what connections may or may not be available. City GIS maps typically have a disclaimer as to how the information can be used. It could be helpful for the public to see an overlay of where each basin is even if it is not to the parcel level. Engineer Watkins noted that it would depend on if the District is willing to share GIS files, but the Master Plan will be available online after completion and includes maps. Director Groenevelt noted that part of the issue might be how the City and District can coordinate and integrate some of the information so that the public does not have to go to 10 different places trying to find answers. Director Weida agreed and reviewed the process the application for the School District housing has gone through successfully. Council Member Nielsen noted that because there are two sets of policies on what can and cannot be done in areas of the City, there is some confusion. Director Larson commented that the public needs to be made more aware of the fact that the two zonings do not have to match. The City can have one zoning designation and the District can have different zoning on the same parcel for sewer density. City zoning was developed under one system and purpose and the District allowances are based on another. City zoning changes very infrequently while the District's zoning could change overnight. If you comingle information, then there is the expectation that the comingled information is currently correct when there is a chance the information is outdated. Council Member Nielsen asked when the Master Plan will be available and noted that it is not the first time since the Master Plan process started that the question of timeline has been asked. Engineer Watkins noted that the sewer volume of the Master Plan is expected be out by the end of MCCALL CITY COUNCIL Page 5 of 9 October 4, 2023 Special Meeting the year and the rate analysis is currently underway. Director Stewart noted that the City Council has directed City Staff to work with the District in creating capital projects to ensure projects have the least impact on the community. Once the sewer portion of the Master Plan is out, City staff will have the information needed to collaborate efficiently. Engineer Watkins gave a high-level overview of projects expected in the next five years. Council Member Nielsen noted that one of the big reasons for the joint meeting was to discuss the District's ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit) Policy and how the Policy affects local housing options outlined in the Local Housing Action Plan. Additionally, Council Member Nielsen expressed that the City wants to work with the District to figure out how to keep ADUs as an accessible option for local housing. A lot of projects are not coming to fruition because there is just not enough sewer capacity or there may be capacity there but until the District is done with the Master Plan there is no way to know for sure. Director Weida noted that it should be possible to enter into an agreement with anyone who wants to build an ADU requiring the applicant to fix the I&I problem to be approved. Just as developers can pay to replace lines that need to be expanded so that the development can be built. Additionally, Director Weida expressed that an ADU is not 1500 square feet. An ADU should be in the range of 250 to 800 square feet. Director Weida also expressed concern over ADUs being built for short term rentals and not local housing. Director Groenevelt clarified that the Local Housing Action Plan outlines ADUs as a housing strategy. Additionally, ADUs cannot be short term rentals per City code and additional regulations on short term rentals limit the occupancy to two persons per bedroom plus two. The City is open to discussing policy changes when it comes to ADUs. The current proposed policy for the District is very different from the City policy and it is confusing for the public. Director Larson expressed that the District's goal is to manage capacity of the system regardless of where it comes from, every hookup impacts capacity, and it doesn't matter if it is local housing or not. Additionally, the biggest fix to improve capacity is fixing the current leaks in the City system. Director Groenevelt noted that the District is rationing hookups and deciding who gets a hookup and who doesn't. The City and the District can work together to determine who is and is not getting sewer hookups. To serve the community it is important to provide hookups to the projects that make the most sense for the community that are consistent with planning and consistent with community needs. The City would like to have policies in place that meet the goals of the District as well as the community. Director Weida commented on how the District is rationing hookups based on the current density maps and that rationing does not align with the way the City would like to see development happen. If the District can come up with a process for those in the community who would like an ADU to pay a flat fee towards fixing the sewer leaks in their area that would be an option. The District is going to move forward with a bond for next year to obtain the funding to fix the I&I problem. Council Member Nielsen expressed that the City wants to support the District to make the improvements that are necessary to drop the I&I and open capacity for additional units however MCCALL CITY COUNCIL Page 6 of 9 October 4, 2023 Special Meeting the City can. Additionally, there is a lot of funding available right now for infrastructure and the City is willing to help facilitate obtaining grant funding for the District. Director Larson noted that if the City brings a list of geographic priorities, the District can identify specific issues that need to be addressed in those areas. Council Member Nielsen noted that the streets capital improvement projects are planned years in advance, and it would be helpful for the District to look at any plans for streets infrastructure and see if the District can do any Sewer projects at the same time to save on cost. District Larson agreed that the solution is sharing information in a timely manner to allow for budgeting. Council Member Nielsen noted the need to continue the post annexation Joint Wastewater Advisory Group meetings to keep communication open. Commissioner Hasbrouck noted concern for losing value if development is stop or employee housing is not provided. Additionally, Commissioner Hasbrouck expressed concern for environmental impacts to the community if the sewer system is not fixed. District Manager Bateman expressed that the issue is not isolated, the City system has issues throughout. Director Stewart noted that knowledge is power, and the evolution of the District Master Plan is key. A future possibility could be allowing additional hookups in specific basins if a fee is paid towards maintenance. Defining the basins helps for scheduled improvement and being able to provide possible future dates if contracts are approved for when property owners can expect additional hook ups. Additionally, Director Steward expressed that as little as twenty ADUs in the City would make a huge impact on workforce housing. Council Member Thrower brought up how assigning connections works. If a property owner needs two connections for a 1200sqft house and a 600ft ADU but a 5000 sqft house with five bathrooms receives one connection, the capacity is not the same. The larger house will generate more sewage than a smaller house with an ADU. Engineer Watkins clarified that the larger homes that are around the lake are in basins that are not exceeding capacity. The 2019 model for the existing system showed no difference between the District basins and the basins inside the City showing that bigger homes are not filling to the same density of people that the smaller homes are. Council Member Nielsen asked how many EDUs are being compared in the model. Engineer Watkins noted that the number of EDUs is not being compared but rather looking at residential parcels and number of homes. On the 4th of July inside the City limits was generating 225 gallons per day per resident and the District outside of City limits was generating 210 gallons per resident per day showing that even in the parts of town that do not have large homes still has high gallons generated. Director Stewart noted that ADUs, regardless of size should be expected to have sewer flow because the residents will be more consistent than with vacation homes. Council Member Nelson recognized that there are critical capacity issues with the sewer system. There must be a way to ration connections in a way that benefits the community and local housing efforts. Director Weida noted that the model gives the ability to gain resources and address I&I issues. Additionally, last year McCall lost 8% of the blue-collar workforce in town because people can no longer afford to live here. Council Member Nelson agreed that focusing on I&I needs to be the goal. Council Member Maciaszek noted that the City and District have very similar goals and information and policies need to be integrated between both agencies. Director Weida agreed. MCCALL CITY COUNCIL Page 7 of 9 October 4, 2023 Special Meeting Council Member Nielsen asked if changes to the ADU policy regarding local housing can be considered instead of completely shutting the option down. Director Weida noted that it's important to determine what is possible in terms of capacity before moving forward. The local teacher housing for McCall Donnelly School District (MDSD) going in on Stibnite is a great example of workforce housing. Council Member Thrower noted that if the units were deed restricted in the project it would have been possible to get a density bonus and do R16 instead of R8 zoning. Engineer Watkins noted that MDSD could have moved forward with a bonus density because a model was run on the project and capacity was not a problem for the parcel. Director Groenevelt clarified the definition of an ADU according to City policy and noted that the goal of the meeting is for each governing board to hear from each other, discuss how to accomplish goals for all entities and how to create policies that work for everyone. Council Member Maciaszek asked what the feasibility to determine the definition of an ADU to be the same between the City and the District. Director Weida noted that while the City may have different definitions for an ADU, the District only comes down to if there is or is not capacity. Council Member Nielsen reviewed the deed restriction incentive program and noted that the incentive could be used to lower the cost of an additional sewer connection when adding an ADU. There needs to be an easier way for the public to navigate the policies between both entities. Director Weida noted that once the Master Plan is completed there will be better information on where the basins are. Mayor Giles noted that additional regular meetings may be needed to work on the ADU policy. When considering policy, it is important to look at how the policy is impacting the community and the sewer system. If ADUs are banned, then people will just build larger houses. Engineer Watkins noted that ADUs are not uniformly denied at this time, it depends on what basin the parcel is in. Additionally, Director Groenevelt and Engineer Watkins reviewed the misalignment in ADU policies between the District and the City policies with the main issue being the zoning definitions. Council Member Nelson questioned when and how the entities figure out next steps for future meetings. District Clerk Richardson noted that each entity could provide staff and one board member meet once a month and it would not be an open meeting without a quorum. Council Member Nielsen noted that there is already a structure in place as JWAG as part of the annexation agreement. Director Weida feels that once a month meeting is not sufficient and that a meeting needs to take place by weekly in a neutral place. Director Larson noted that many entities have different policies the public must follow on the same topic. Where the City zoning shows a density for two sewer hookups the District zoning may only show one hookup available. Council Member Maciaszek noted that while that may be the case right now, five years from now that same parcel may be able to have additional hookups. Director Groenevelt noted that as separate entities a policy can be made to meet the sewer goals and the community needs. Director Larson noted that the process is already simple. The District has a density map and that is what the system can accommodate at the current time and once the pumps are upgraded the District plans to go back to the density that was originally in the City limits. Director Groenevelt noted that the current process includes members of the public bouncing back and forth between the two entities to get answers. Both entities are local government and not federal or state government. It is the job of local entities to have an easy and simple process that serves the community. Council Member Nelson agreed with Director Weida that a once -a -month meeting is not enough. Council Member Nielsen noted that a lot can happen with input and direction from the JWAG. The JWAG is still a meeting that MCCALL CITY COUNCIL Page 8 of 9 October 4, 2023 Special Meeting legally must continue happening post annexation so the meeting format should continue with an agenda that includes meeting topics, discussions, and decisions to direct staff. Council Member Nelson agreed. Board Directors, Council Members and staff discussed how Post JWAG format and structure. District Attorney Adam Christenson at Hawley Troxell commented on the post annexation JWAG advisory group noting that the JWAG should set its own meeting schedule. City Attorney Bill Gigray gave a history of the sewer annexation and agreement and the requirement of JWAG meetings to continue after annexation. As for the consideration of the ADU policy, that is a topic that should be discussed by the JWAG per section nine of the Annexation Agreement. The continuation of the JWAG is a mandatory provision in section 9.10 of the Agreement. The Post JWAG is charged to monitor, aid, review, and comment to the parties' staff and to report and make recommendations to the governing bodies of the parties regarding the performance of section 9.10, the operations portion of the Annexation Agreement. The Advisory group can be terminated but both parties must agree to the termination. It is also possible to revise provisions relative to the advisory group if both parties agree to some changes being made. District Weida noted that there was a perception that members thought in general that there were better uses of their time than being part of the JWAG but maybe there is a way to redesign it to answer the types of questions that have come up in the meeting. Attorney Gigray noted that the advisory group, pursuant to the Agreement ordered by the court, is mandatory. Council Member Nielsen suggested having District and City Staff coordinate a meeting time since both the District Board and the City Council will have to appoint members to the Advisory Group. The District Board, City Council and Staff discussed when appointment decisions could be made and possible locations for JWAG meetings. Council Member Nielsen expressed appreciation for the joint meeting taking place and the valuable information obtained. Engineer Watkins briefly reviewed the costs for projects over the next twenty years. Commissioner Hasbrouck asked for an update on the lagoon liner issues. Engineer Watkins noted that the District has been working to hire a third party firm and the goal is to have the liner fixed by next summer. ADJOURNMENT 1 Without further business, Mayor Giles adjourned the meeting at 11:35 a.m. ATTEST: BessieJo Wa er, City Cl k Robert S. Giles, Mayor MCCALL CITY COUNCIL October 4, 2023 Special Meeting Page 9 of 9