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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStudy Session Notes 03/21/2011 Revised STUDY SESSION NOTES CITY OF WHEAT RIDGE, COLORADO March 21, 2011 Mayor DiTullio called the Study Session to order at 6:30 p.m. Council Members present: Davis Reinhart, Karen Berry, Joyce Jay, Tracy Langworthy, Joseph DeMott, Karen Adams, Wanda Sang, and Mike Stites. Also present: City Manager, Patrick Goff; Police Commander, Joe Cassa; City Clerk, Michael Snow; Community Services Director, Kenneth Johnstone; Public Works Director, Tim Paranto; Staff and interested citizens. APPROVAL OF AGENDA 1. Staff Report(s) Mr. Johnstone will forward a proposed table of fees to Council for Medical Marijuana licensing for approval before the ordinance takes effect April 1st. The fee levels have been set at a level intended to recover the costs of license administration, likely a $500 initial fee plus standard base business license fee. Staff will verify for Council whether existing licenses can be transferred to a new business owner. Mr. Goff reported on the City revenue statistics for 2011. Sales tax revenues in January January are up 2.5% from last year and general revenues are up 5% from last year. Also, at year-end 2010 the City was able to put $686,000 more back into the general fund than forecasted. 2. Vehicle Replacement Policy Mr. Paranto presented options to examine the current vehicle replacement policy before the budget cycle begins for the next year. Council discussed options they felt might prolong the lifetime of city vehicles by carefully evaluating where more mileage can be obtained, allowing the city to increase the replacement intervals. Council unanimously recommended increasing the light and medium duty vehicle replacement thresholds, except motorcycles and Truck/Van-Diesel, from 100k to 120k miles plus add another year of age. Truck/Van-Diesels would increase to 185k and motorcycles would increase from four to five years usage. Heavy vehicle replacement schedules are recommended to stay the same as current. Staff was directed to examine each vehicle category individually as well, to determine specific adjustments appropriate for maximization of benefit and cost. 3. Landscaping Code Amendment allowing artificial turf Mr. Johnstone explained an issue with potential developers wanting to use artificial turf which is currently not allowed under the city code. Staff researched how other jurisdictions treat such landscape options and the technological advances in such materials. Few neighboring jurisdictions allow use of artificial turf in residential applications while commercial applications are more widely permitted and sometimes recommended. Staff expressed concerns with the aesthetics and long-term maintenance challenges with artificial materials. Council also expressed concerns for the appearance of artificial turf, the potential for ground water pollution by the leaching of hazardous minerals from these materials and for the “heat island” effect of these products. Residential applications that are limited in area, such as golf putting features would be more tolerable. It was agreed that the issue needed to be explored further over time to see how these landscape applications fair. 4. Update 1st Quarter Strategic Plan Mr. Goff briefed the Council on progress and status of various policy change areas, targeted actions and projects. Council expressed support to outsource the maintenance of bus shelter trash cans at several major problem locations, mostly along major roads and intersections. Mayor DiTullio called for a recess at 7:27pm. Mayor DiTullio left the meeting at the time of recess. Mayor Pro Tempore Langworthy resumed the meeting as Chair at 7:35pm. 5. Redistricting Plan Mr. Snow presented to Council the 2010 Census population analysis of Council Districts and a proposed redistricting plan (amended to this packet). The City’s current population apportionment is no longer compliant with U.S. Constitutional standards of 10% deviation between the smallest and largest districts. The imbalance shows a portion of District 4 territory would need to be moved to District 2 to bring the City into compliance. Council examined the Clerk’s recommended redistricting plan. Concerns were raised that the area proposed for being moved into District 2 is an area of relatively active citizens and that District 4 would be losing Board & Commission members. As such, some members wished to move an area north of Clear Creek into District 2 instead. Mr. Snow reiterated the importance of maintaining continuous and compact district boundaries and the negative impact of splitting clearly bound neighborhoods, while cautioning Council against the tendencies of gerrymandering. The Council ultimately decided to discuss redistricting options further at a Special Study Session to be held after the Regular Council Meeting of March 28th, and at the Study Session of April 4th, if necessary. For the next discussion, Mr. Snow agreed to provide Council with a map of the proposed change area with more population and street detail in order to explore other options. Meeting adjourned at 8:54p.m. Michael Snow City Clerk