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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStudy Session Agenda Packet 01-04-21STUDY SESSION AGENDA CITY COUNCIL CITY OF WHEAT RIDGE, COLORADO January 4, 2021 6:30 p.m. This meeting will be conducted as a VIRTUAL MEETING. No members of the Council or City staff will be physically present at the Municipal building for this meeting; the public may not attend in person. The public may participate in these ways: 1. Provide comment in advance at www.wheatridgespeaks.org (comment by noon on January 4, 2021) 2. Virtually attend and participate in the meeting through a device or phone: • Click here to join and provide public comment • Or call +1-669-900-6833 with Access Code: 931 3909 2035 3. View the meeting live or later at www.wheatridgespeaks.org, Channel 8, or YouTube Live at https://www.ci.wheatridge.co.us/view 4. Individuals who, due to technology limitations, are unable to participate in the meeting virtually (via the Zoom platform) or by calling in on the telephone may contact Danitza Sosa, Assistant to the Mayor and City Council, at 303-235-2977 by noon on the day of the meeting. Arrangements will be made for those individuals to access City Hall during the meeting to view the meeting and provide public comment if desired. These comments will be heard and seen in real time by members of Council and City staff. Individuals accessing City Hall must practice social distancing, wear a mask or other facial covering and be free of COVID-19 symptoms. Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to participate in all public meetings sponsored by the City of Wheat Ridge. Contact the Public Information Officer at 303-235-2877 or wrpio@ci.wheatridge.co.us with as much notice as possible if you are interested in participating in a meeting and need inclusion assistance. Citizen Comment on Agenda Items 1. Jefferson County slash site update 2. Massage ordinance update 3. Staff Report(s) 4. Elected Officials’ Report(s) ADJOURNMENT Memorandum TO: Mayor and City Council FROM: Patrick Goff, City Manager DATE: December 30, 2020 (for January 4, 2021 Study Session) SUBJECT: Jefferson County Slash Recycling Proposal Jefferson County proposes to accommodate a year-round, permanent slash recycling site located adjacent to the Rooney Road Recycling Center in Golden. Slash includes such materials as yard waste, tree trimmings, limbs and tree trunks. The Rooney Road Recycling Center provides a safe place to properly recycle and dispose of household hazardous waste. The Center is operated by the Rooney Road Recycling Center Authority consisting of a consortium of the cities of Arvada, Golden, Lakewood, Wheat Ridge, Lakeside and Edgewater, the towns of Morrison and Mountain View and Jefferson County. Jefferson County proposes to provide the land for the slash operation and is requesting that each jurisdiction using the site would support the needed improvements proportional to its population. Wheat Ridge’s estimated contribution would be $64,964. Tom Hoby, Jefferson County Open Space Director, will provide more details on this proposal to the Mayor and City Council at the January 4, 2021 study session. ATTACHMENTS: 1.White Paper: Slash Recycling at the Rooney Road Recycling Center 2. Jefferson County Slash Site PowerPoint presentation, November 19, 2020 Item No. 1 White Paper: Slash Recycling at the Rooney Road Recycling Center Submitted by the Rooney Road Recycling Center Authority December 2020 Introduction Jefferson County proposes to accommodate a year-round, permanent slash recycling site located adjacent to the Rooney Road Recycling Center at 151 Rooney Road, Golden, Colorado. The Rooney Road Recycling Center (RRRC) provides a safe place to properly recycle and dispose of household hazardous waste (HHW). The Center is operated by the Rooney Road Recycling Center Authority consisting of a consortium of the cities of Arvada, Golden, Lakewood, Wheat Ridge, Lakeside and Edgewater, the towns of Morrison and Mountain View, and Jefferson County.i Slash includes such materials as yard waste, tree trimmings, limbs, and tree trunks. Intent Jefferson County’s intends to assist the efforts of mountain communities to reduce fire danger by removing trees and other slash near buildings. Member jurisdictions will also soon be faced with an increasing amount of woody debris from trees affected by the Emerald Ash Borer, which has already been identified in the County. Figure 1. Slash operation at the Rooney Road Recycling Center, 2011 Proposal Jefferson County has developed a plan to construct interconnected trails and open space amenities around the Rooney Road Recycling Center located at 151 Rooney Road, and name the open space Tincup Ridge, as shown in Figure 2. The soccer fields, which are operated by the City of Golden, were built on a closed landfill. The Rooney Road Recycling Center and adjacent proposed slash operation would not be located within the landfill footprint or on open space land. ATTACHMENT 1 Figure 2. Proposed Tin Cup Ridge, Soccer Fields, Rooney Road Recycling Center, and slash area. Because much of the parcel shown on Figure 2 in brown is currently designated as Jefferson County Open Space, the County is performing the needed internal land swaps as well as negotiating a land swap with Wheat Ridge. The land swaps are necessary to allow slash collection and processing in that area. At a November 19, 2020, meeting with City Managers, Jefferson County proposed that they provide the land for the slash operation at an estimated value of $410,252. Each jurisdiction using the site would support the needed improvements proportional to its population. Preliminary estimates of needed improvements by Jefferson County Open Space were $650,000 including:  Grading at $150,000  Road Reconstruction at $220,000  Fencing at $25,000  Signage at $10,000, and  Constructing a building to house equipment necessary for the operation at $245,000 Contribution estimates of individual jurisdictions were presented as follows: Jurisdiction Percent Population Amount Requested Jefferson County (land) 38.6% $ 410,252 Arvada 21% $ 223,185 Golden 3.8% $ 40,715 Lakewood 29% $ 307,971 Wheat Ridge 6.1% $ 64,964 Lakeside < 1% $ 17 Edgewater 1% $ 11,134 Morrison < 1% $ 921 Mountain View 0.1% $ 1,093 The slash site would operate under a spoke and hub concept, in concert with Jefferson County mountain slash collection currently taking place. Future jurisdictional collections as may be necessary or desired will operate as additional spokes. No lumber or construction debris would be accepted. Eventually, slash is to be treated on site to allow Jefferson County residents access to the material produced, such as biochar, mulch, pellets and others. History A slash operation at the Rooney Road Recycling Center is not new. From January 2008 to November 2012, a slash drop site operated through a contract with A-1 Organics at the Rooney Road Recycling Center on land owned by Jefferson County Open Space, leased to the City of Golden, and operated by the Rooney Road Recycling Center Authority. The slash collection was popular and the service was well received by the community. In the short time the facility was in operation, over 340,000 cubic yards of material was collected by more than 91,000 customer visits with an average load of 4 cubic yards per visit. Spring and summer were the periods of greatest use. The slash operation charged 36% less than the landfill to accept and process slashii. The operation was self-sustaining, with the Rooney Road Recycling Center Authority received $1 per cubic yard for the slash brought to the site to help pay for maintenance of the Rooney Road Recycling Center and increase the number of customers using the HHW recycling services. As the operation continued to grow, the County became concerned about the visual impact of wood and debris adversely affecting the view scape to Jefferson County’s Gateway to the Rockies. In addition, the slash operation was inconsistent with the Open Space designation on the land. October 31, 2012, was the last day of the Rooney Road Center Slash operation as the short-term contract was allowed to expire. i The Rooney Road Recycling Center’s mission is to be a “Regional resource for hard to recycle household hazardous waste (HHW) materials using emerging technologies” at a cost supplemented by the member jurisdictions. ii Currently, the landfill charges $100 per truckload, or three cubic yards. Jeffco Year-Round SLASH Site Meeting November 19, 2020 ATTACHMENT 2 Jeffco SLASH Program Sustainable Lands And Safer Homes Tincup Ridge Park year-round hub Seasonal mountain drop-off sites Add year-round ‘Hub’ at Tincup Ridge Enhance program marketing and communications Collect and share information with residents at sites Add spokes in the plains Process and distribute materials for end use at sites Reduce net operating costs by adding sponsors Opportunities Grading $150,000 Road Reconstruction $220,000 Fencing $25,000 Signage $10,000 Building $245,000 TOTAL $650,000 Jeffco SLASH Center Estimated Improvements Costs RRRCA Member Percentage Cost Arvada 21.05023%$223,185.49 Edgewater 1.05015%$11,134.24 Golden 3.84013%$40,715.06 Lakeside 0.00162%$17.18 Lakewood 29.04694%$307,970.76 Morrison 0.08682%$920.58 Mountain View 0.10305%$1,092.59 Wheat Ridge 6.12725%$64,964.29 Jefferson County (Land-In kind)38.69382%$410,252.00* TOTAL 100%$1,060,252.00 * Estimated $.75/sq. ft. for land RRRCA Member Needs, Support, Questions Feedback Financial support Adding ‘spokes’ in the plains –seasonal local sites Questions, discussion Next Steps Member entities feedback 1/21? Develop Site Plan and cost estimate 5/21? Member entities financial contributions for improvements secured 7/21 RRRCA completes operations plan and secures contractor and/or hires staff to manage 7/21 Construction of improvements complete 12/21 Jeffco SLASH Center opens 2/22? Memorandum TO: Mayor Starker and City Council THROUGH: Chris Murtha, Chief of Police Patrick Goff, City Manager FROM: Darrel Guadnola, Division Chief DATE: January 4, 2020 SUBJECT: Massage Business Update ISSUE: In August of 2020 Council enacted a new ordinance regarding massage-oriented businesses. The purpose of the new ordinance was to ensure the health and safety of legitimate business patrons, while providing necessary tools to identify and eradicate illicit businesses posing as legitimate businesses. Among other things the new ordinance created a licensing system for massage-oriented businesses. In an effort to be friendly to businesses impacted by the new ordinance, a 90-day grace period was adopted whereby all businesses could come into compliance with the new code without incurring any fees associated with the new licensing system. PRIOR ACTION In late 2019, Council approved the development of a new ordinance governing massage-oriented businesses. In mid-2020 said ordinance was enacted. The new ordinance repealed Chapter 16 Article X “Massage Parlors” from the code, and amended Chapter 11 “Licenses, Permits, and Miscellaneous Business Regulations”. The changes adopted in 2020 included massage therapy in licensing, and allowed the City to regulate businesses under licensing as opposed to using “unlawful acts” that was under Article X. FINANCIAL IMPACT: None BACKGROUND: Upon adoption of the new ordinance staff actively worked to outreach to all massage related businesses in the city. Ultimately there were a total of 33 businesses identified that required outreach in order to be made aware of the new ordinance. Staff outreached to all known businesses and on December 1, 2020, just five days after the expiration of the 90 day grace period, a total of 11 businesses were in full compliance, three businesses had paperwork returned for clarifications or as a result of missing documentation, two were in background checks with paperwork being reviewed by the police department, 11 failed to respond to staff in any measurable way and remained fully non-compliant with the new code, and six had been identified as having gone out of business. Of the six that were out of business, efforts were undertaken to learn the cause of such. Two businesses closed their doors as a result of the Item No. 2 Staff Report - Massage Business Update January 4, 2021 Page 2 COVID pandemic and one closed its doors due to the retirement of the sole proprietor of the business. Efforts are under way to determine conclusively the cause of the remaining three closing their businesses, but it is believed that one or more of these businesses were operating illicitly and closed their doors as a result of the new code. In a further effort to reach out to businesses proactively regarding the new code, certified letters were sent to all of the non-responsive businesses on December 3, 2020. The letters again advised of the change in the ordinance and the need to come into compliance with the ordinance. On December 8, 2020 a compliance check was done at one of the non-compliant businesses. This check was predicated not only on the fact that the business’ licenses were non-compliant, but also on the fact that there was cause developed to believe that illegal activity was taking place at the business in question. During the compliance check, illegal activity was found, and two employees were cited criminally for violations of the code. This action remains open and is working its way through the system created by the new code. As of December 28, 2020, 16 of the 27 businesses are fully compliant. Four have had paperwork returned for missing items, two have paperwork currently at the police department in backgrounds, and five remain non-compliant, with one of the five being the business where the December 8, 2020 compliance check was made. Moving forward staff has developed the following framework to communicate with and address non-compliant businesses. Communications • Businesses which have turned in incomplete applications will receive a letter advising they need to either provide complete information to process the application or cease operations by a date certain, and if neither occurs by that date, action below will be taken. • Businesses which are actively in the licensing process: those that get approved are done; those denied via a Treasurer’s Office form of denial will be told they have to cease operations. If they fail to cease operations action below will be taken. City Action • Massage businesses not having meaningfully communicated with the city will receive a notice to abate under Code 15-16; if not voluntarily abated, either coming in for a license or ceasing operations, a motion for an abatement order from municipal court will be made and the order will be enforced by physically closing the business. • Solo practitioners who have not meaningfully communicated with the city will be subject to municipal court criminal citations for (1) operating a massage business without a license, Code 11-234(a), and if applicable providing massage without a valid massage therapist license, Code 11-239(o) RECOMMENDATIONS: Staff recommends that City Council continue to monitor the implementation and use of the new ordinance as a needed tool to identify and proactively deal with illicit massage businesses, with an update in the third quarter of 2021 or sooner if Council sees fit.