Loading...
HomeMy Public PortalAboutMinutes_City Council Work Meeting_09262023 CITY OF IONA CITY COUNCIL WORK MEETING IONA CITY HALL SEPTEMBER 26, 2023 6:00 P.M. PRESENT: Mayor Daniel Gubler, Council President Rob Geray, Council Member Michael Thompson, Council Member Peter Wadsworth, Council Member Evan Mann, Public Works Director Zech Prouse, City Attorney Andrew Rawlings and City Clerk/Treasurer Keri West. ABSENT: None. VISITORS: James West, Rylea Farrens and Bill Koester. ITEMS OF BUSINESS: Discussion of Iona City Code § 10-1-17(E), pertaining to Construction Requirements for Public Ways in the Iona Subdivision Ordinance, specifically driveway approaches — Clerk West stated the Planning& Zoning Commission(P&Z) and the City Council discussed this topic last month, but Director Prouse requested to continue the discussion after we received information from the City Engineer. Clerk West stated she received information regarding the pedestrian safety aspect of driveway approaches from the City Engineer last night and updated the packets. Mayor Gubler stated the City Engineer confirmed there are no statutes in the state of Idaho that define requirements for driveway measurements. Mayor Gubler confirmed the current City Code allows for a maximum driveway approach of 30'. He continued and stated the discussion tonight is to decide whether the City should change the existing code to add limitations to the driveway approach measurements. Mayor Gubler stated he is not concerned with the length of the approaches, but he is concerned with impeding the drainage from the road and the sidewalks. Clerk West clarified the main reason this discussion is taking place is because there is nothing in the current code that restricts people from having multiple driveways unless it is a "half-circle". She continued and explained the example of a resident building a shop and adding a separate, second driveway off the road to access the shop. Director Prouse agreed and stated there is nothing in the code that restricts parallel driveways that are separated by the swale. He continued and stated there is only a restriction for half-circle driveways that limits the approach to 50% of the total frontage. Clerk West stated the P&Z discussed this during their August meeting and suggested adding a maximum percentage for all driveway approaches, not just the half-circle driveways. Director Prouse stated the sidewalks connected to driveways are different specs than standard pedestrian sidewalks, so that would need to be taken into consideration also if residents intend to add another driveway. Council Member Wadsworth asked who is responsible for sidewalk maintenance (excluding snow removal). Director Prouse confirmed the City is responsible for maintenance of all sidewalks and driveway approaches because they are part of the right-of-way. Mayor Gubler stated he would like to have a standard specification for sidewalk construction. Director Prouse stated that is already in the City's Standard Specifications and Drawings. He continued and encouraged the Council to consider placing a limit on the total length of frontage that can be used for driveway approaches. Council Member Thompson suggested a maximum of 50% of frontage for driveway approaches, regardless of it being a half-circle driveway or two separate driveways. Council Member Wadsworth agreed,but requested an option for residents to have a higher percentage if they have it engineered to satisfy the drainage requirements. Council President Geray disagreed and stated if the resident wants to deviate from this requirement it would be considered a Variance and they IONA CITY COUNCIL WORK MEETING- SEPTEMBER 26, 2023 would need to go through that process. Clerk West agreed and stated there would need to be a review process if a resident submits engineered drawings and that expense would need to be offset somehow, such as through the application fee for a Variance. Discussion continued regarding the logistics of these processes. Council President Geray asked if the engineers had given feedback regarding allowing all residents to have 50% of frontage for driveway approaches. Clerk West stated the feedback that was requested of the engineers was specifically pertaining to the pedestrian safety aspect of the sidewalks. Mayor Gubler stated he spoke to the engineers and was informed there is no statute that regulates the maximum for driveway approaches. Council President Geray stated he is not concerned with the statutes but wants to ensure the code is also addressing the necessary drainage. Director Prouse agreed and stated when new subdivisions are engineered, they do not account for multiple driveways. He continued and stated if every resident puts in 50% of frontage as driveway approaches, the amount of drainage for that subdivision would be drastically reduced. Director Prouse stated he would suggest all driveways beyond the first 30' approach must be engineered by the resident to satisfy the drainage requirements. After further discussion the Council decided that all driveway approaches that exceed the 30' width will have an application and engineering requirement. Discussion of Iona City Code 1-6-1: Regular Meeting, pertaining to the date of the monthly Regular City Council Meetings — Clerk West stated she would like the Council to consider changing the City Council dates from the 3rd Tuesday of each month to the 4th Tuesday of each month. She explained there are already 3 months during the year that they have to push back the meetings for various reasons, and this change would give an extra week in between the P&Z Meetings and the City Council Meetings. Attorney Rawlings stated the Council could also decide to not have the code specify the day of the week and month, but rather state that the Council would just approve an annual meeting schedule prior to the start of the year. Clerk West agreed and stated the Council already approves an annual meeting schedule in December each year. Mayor Gubler suggested changing the code to state that the annual meeting schedule will be approved each year by Resolution. Council Members all agreed to this course of action, with the majority of the meetings being held on the 4th Tuesday to keep consistency throughout the year, but also allowing additional time between the monthly P&Z and City Council Meetings. Attorney Rawlings understood and stated he will have this amendment drafted and ready for approval at next month's meeting. Discussion of Building Rental Fees —Clerk West stated the utility and maintenance costs have increased since the Resolution was passed in 2014 that defines the Building Rental Fees. She continued and stated the City currently charges $30/hour and $150/day for Iona residents to rent the gym or Council Room. The price for non-residents is $40/hour and $200/day. Council President Geray asked if renters always disclose their residency status. Clerk West confirmed the office staff verifies addresses for all building rentals. Council President Geray suggested keeping the resident rate as it stands, but increasing the non-resident rates. Clerk West stated she has created a spreadsheet with the utility and cleaning costs that shows an increase of 77% since 2016. Mayor Gubler stated the City is not interested in making money off renting the building, but we do need to cover our costs. He continued and stated he does not want to raise the rate for residents as renting the building at a lower cost is a benefit for residents. Council discussed how to amend the code and concluded to keep the Iona resident rate the same and double that rate for non-residents. Clerk West stated she will draft a Resolution for next month's meeting. 2 IONA CITY COUNCIL WORK MEETING - SEPTEMBER 26, 2023 Discussion of Enacting a new Section to the Iona City Code Title 5, Chapter 9: Litter and Weed Control, pertaining to external storage on private property — Clerk West stated this amendment was brought up by the City's Building Official, Allen Eldridge, because residents are starting to place shipping containers on their properties for storage. She continued and stated he would like to see those either prohibited or classified as accessory buildings so they would need to meet certain requirements, such as setbacks. Attorney Rawlings stated the code does address "storage buildings", but technically a shipping container is not a building. Council Member Thompson stated he does not want them to be prohibited, but does think they should have to meet setback requirements, like all other storage buildings. Council President Geray expressed concern over allowing shipping containers because they are highly, aesthetically displeasing. Council Member Thompson argued they are not more displeasing to look at than houses that have multiple junk cars and weeds on the property. Audience member, Bill Koester, stated these containers will rust over time and agreed with Council President Geray that they are not pleasing to look at. He suggested the City impose fencing and maintenance requirements for shipping containers. Director Prouse stated the fence code has a maximum of 6' in height and most shipping containers exceed that, so a fence would not be beneficial in this situation. Council Member Wadsworth suggested adding a requirement that all accessory buildings, including shipping containers, need to match the home. The rest of the Council felt that was too restrictive and not the City's responsibility. Mayor Gubler suggested changing the language in the code that would categorize a shipping container as an accessory building, thus requiring the same setbacks and permits. General Fiber Project Discussion — Director Prouse stated Direct Communications is continuing to work from the south zones to the north, installing the fiber cables and the ducting. He continued and stated Fybercom has subcontracted with a new installation company that is mimicking the method that Direct Communications has used. He also stated Fybercom is still doing some boring and hit another gas line today. Council President Geray asked if a letter had been issued to Fybercom. Director Prouse stated he did issue them a punch list of over 40 items that needed to be addressed or fixed before any new right-of way permits would be issued. He continued and said most of those items have been completed, but not all. Director Prouse stated he believes Intermountain Gas is going to step in and work directly with Fybercom to address the multiple gas line concerns. Council President Geray asked if there needs to be more done against Fybercom to address the many construction errors that have occurred. Director Prouse stated he would like to see them complete the punch list first, but there are two additional permits that could be suspended. Meeting Adjourned: 6:52 p.m. COUNCIL APPROVED: October 17, 2023 Daniel Gubler, Mayo ATTEST: Olfrf eri West, Cik/Treasurer 3