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03-10-1988 (City Council) Minutes 433 CALLED CITY COUNCIL MEETING - MINUTES MARCH 10, 1988 7 :00 P . M. The Wylie City Council met in a called session on Thursday, March 10 , 1988 at 7 :00 P.M. in the Council Chambers, Municipal Complex . A quorum was present and notice of the meeting had been posted for the time and in the manner required by law. Those present were Mayor Chuck Trimble, Mayor Pro-Tem Sandra Donovan, Councilmembers John Akin, Cal Westerhof , Kent Crane, City Manager John Pitstick, Code Enforcement Officer Roy Faires, Public Works Superintendent Don White, Assistant City Engineer Ron Homeyer, and Secretary Candi White. Mayor Trimble called the meeting to order and Councilman Crane gave the invocation. CONVENE COUNCIL INTO WORK SESSION: Mayor Trimble convened the Council into a work session. DISCUSSION OF PERIMETER STREET FEES: City Manager, John Pitstick explained that staff was not recommending any changes to the fees, but did want to make some clarification. Assistant City Engineer, Ron Homeyer, explained that the staff would like to get away from charging developers perimeter street fees and have the developer actually build the street in as many cases as possible. He also stated that the ordinance reads that the City will have the developer build the street, except in cirumstances deemed by the City as not being feasible, at which time the developer would be able to pay the fee. Mr . Homeyer felt that this would leave the option to the City, rather than the developer in order to get more streets built rather than fees paid. He went on to say that rather than charging the developer when he subdivides a piece of property , the City should require him to submit a site plan review, at which time he should pay the fee, enabling the City to collect from developers who develop a large piece of property other than for the purpose of a subdivision. City Manager , John Pitstick explained that the perimeter street fee ordinance is tied into the subdivision ordinance, therefore, if a developer doesn' t subdivide they are not required to build a street, so the staff would like to tie it to active development, but not change the wording of the ordinance. Councilman Akin felt that this is very important, as the City has not done it this way in the past, and have let developers get half a subdivision developed and then leave, and the City didn' t have anything to fall back on. 434 Mayor Pro-Tem Donovan asked if the ordinance would come back to Council for action. Mr . Pitstick said that it wouldn' t have to come back to Council for action, as the wording is already in the ordinance, but the staff just wanted clarification so that when a plat was put before the Council for approval, staff could recommend that a street be built rather than fees being paid. Code Enforcement Officer, Roy Faires stated that an amendment could be made to the building ordinance to require a site review plan and pay fees before getting a building permit . Mayor Pro-Tem Donovan said it would be much better for the City to have small lots that were actively being developed than a large lot with nothing being done with it. Mayor Trimble said that if it was deemed feasible by the City that the developer build the street, it would have to be built before he could receive a certificate of occupancy. Councilman Crane wanted to clarify that this would definitely apply to commercial property, as a lot of the worst streets in the City will become commercial zoning and most commercial has some kind of deliveries, and could cause a real problem with delivery trucks without some sort of street improvement . Mayor Trimble stated that the City needed to take this into consideration when doing future planning. DISCUSSION ON THE HIGH 0 & M WATER LINE PRIORITY LIST: City Manager, John Pitstick explained that this item is an appendage to the major street reconstruction program to include funds to do some projects that are high operation and maintenance or cause a large liability to the City. Mr . Pitstick also explained that the City only has about $52 ,000 .00 to spend with a list of about $200 ,000 .00 worth of projects. Mr. Pitstick said that staff is proposing a priority list, but like to have some concensus from Council about what they feel are top priorities. Mr . Pitstick explained that the costs were figured for manhours and equipment costs per year for specific projects. Assistant City Engineer, Ron Homeyer explained that the first priority as recommendation from the staff is Eubanks Lane from Hwy 78 to Old Hwy 78 . The City had a sewer line installed, at which time the contractor included costs for additional base rock , which the staff felt the city didn' t have the money for, nor did they feel the additional rock was a real necessity. Mr . Homeyer said that the project is now complete and on a dry day, the road has a very good surface, but on a wet day the road is extremely slick and --� the County is requiring the City to fix it. He also explained that the $5 ,000 would pay for a three inch surface and provide an all weather road surface. 435 Mayor Pro-Tem Donovan was concerned about spending $5,000 on the road, when it might not hold up with school buses driving on it to the new school . Mr. Homeyer explained that the County would put a single or double coarse penetration on top of the surface the City provided. Assistant City Engineer, Ron Homeyer, explained that the second priority was the off-site drainage ditch in Wyndham Estates, in which the concrete channel is falling into the ditch and is in need of immediate repairs . Councilman Westerhof asked who' s specifications were followed when the channel was put in. Mr . Faires , Code Enforcement Officer said he thought it put in to County' s specifications, as the street was outside the city limits at that time . Councilman Akin said that the City needs to go to the County and ask for their help since the channel was built to their specifications. Assistant City Engineer, Ron Homeyer, recommended that the City go back into the Northwest corner of the intersection and start relaying the pipes. Mayor Pro-Tem Donovan stated that if the City is losing a road, the City Attorney needs to send a letter to the County giving them a specified length of time to repair the channel or that the City would repair it and send the County a bill . Councilman Crane asked if there was a cheaper way to fix the road . City Manager, John Pitstick, said that the City could probably piece it for about $10 ,000 to $15 ,000 but that it probably wouldn' t last another year. He also stated that the City would have to go to the County Commissioners to ask them to repair it, but that he felt like there would be a problem, as the County' s policy is that once property is annexed into the City, the maintenance responsibility belongs to the City. Mayor Pro-Tem Donovan told Mr . Pitstick that if he talked to the County and they wouldn' t repair the road to bring it back to Council and they would try to work on the County themselves. Assistant City Engineer , Ron Homeyer , explained that the third priority on the list was the Holiday Terrace Addition sewerline in which the creek crossing needed to be repaired. Mr. Homeyer said that Holiday Terrace is the subdivision behind the hospital , and the drainage channel which is upstream from the sewer treatment plant is what is in need of repair to avoid a health hazard. Councilman Westerhof asked how he proposed to repair it. Mr . Homeyer explained that it would take approximately 80 to 100 feet of line and then they would concrete incase the whole thing . Assistant City Engineer, Ron Homeyer said the fourth priority was the E. Brown St. drainage improvement which would consist of enclosing the existing ditch. He also explained that the ditch is fairly deep and would not take a 436 substantial amount of money, but would prevent a very dangerous roadway. Mr . David Mayes said that this problem with the ditch was right beside his house, and the problem did not exist when he moved in. He also said that his builder told him that he saw a problem, as water was coming down the alley and washing through his yard, rather than the culvert. He said that the City has cleaned the ditch out once, which helped, but that it needs to be fixed. Mr. Mayes also explained that the ditches are washing out at the end of the alley and that one car has been in the ditch. The fifth priority was a 24-hour monitoring system for lift stations and water pump stations by means of radio telemetry equipment . Mr . Homeyer told the Council that the city presently has a man check all seven lift stations at least one time every day, and preferably twice daily. He explained that the manhours and one truck costs approximately $9100 per year just to check all the lift stations to make sure none are down. With a monitoring system, a man could be free to do other things than checking lift stations, as there would be a warning from the system anytime a lift station was down. Mr . Homeyer said this system would cost $25,000 . Assistant City Engineer, Ron Homeyer, explained that the sixth priority on the list was the South Cottonbelt area sewerline in which the 4-inch sewer main needed to be replaced with an 8-inch line in order to eliminate the major problems of clogged lines in the area. Public Works Superintendent, Don White, said that his department has to clean out the lines in that area approximately once every two weeks. Mayor Trimble asked if there was a general policy about sharing the cost with the property owners. City Manager, John Pitstick explained that the City is responsible at the property line. Mayor Pro-Tem Donovan said that she didn' t feel that the City should start assessing the citizens for sewer lines, when they don' t know what size line is in front of their house when they buy it and they will already be assessed for street reconstruction. Mr . Pitstick explained that as the City starts repaving the streets, part of the drainage and sewer repair could be done and added into the street costs. The seventh project on the list of priorities was the W. Brown St . waterline in which the 1-inch water line needs to be replaced . Assistant City Engineer, Ron Homeyer explained that the 1-inch water line which is about eight to ten inches below the road surface has broken numerous times, and staff feels like it should be replaced where is crosses Brown St. , as well as running it back to Cottonbelt to an existing 8-inch line to provide fire protection to the entire area. Councilman Akin agreed, as this situation has 437 �.. hurt the City on the key rate for fire protection for a long time. Mr . Homeyer explained that the eighth project on the list of priorities was the Masters Avenue waterline. He said that there is a 1 1/4-inch PVC line that runs from Fourth St . to Masters, along Masters to the cemetery , which hasn' t caused a lot of problems until recently when the new funeral home moved in, and staff would like to see a full size line from Fourth St. over to Fifth St. Public Works Superintendent, Don White, explained that this could be done in-house. South Ballard St. water and sewer lines was the ninth project on the priority list . Mr. Homeyer explained that the sewer main in the alley is very shallow and flat and should be replaced to service the area adequately. He also said the waterline to Ballard St. on the East side is a 1 1/4-inch, 1-inch and 3/4-inch system that services four duplexes and three houses, therefore the person on the end isn' t getting any water . Assistant City Engineer, Ron Homeyer explained that another project on the list of priorities is the Rich property water line in which the cost would be for materials only. He also said that the City is hauling water to the site and that the cost for that service is astronomical . Councilman Westerhof asked if anyone had talked to Mr . Rich to see if there was a contract. City Manager, John Pitstick explained that Mr . Rich had bought a piece of property and wanted to build on it and was told that he had to annex into the City and that he would have water in six months and that the City would deliver water to him until that time. He also said that it has been two years and he still doesn ' t have water lines. Public Works Superintendent, Don White said that the city furnishes his tank and pumps and must clean the tank and service the pumps. Councilman Akin asked if North Texas Municipal Water District could furnish water from the line that runs to the landfill . Mr . Homeyer said that North Texas Municipal Water District won' t serve individuals. Councilman Crane felt that as a temporary solution, the city should ask North Texas Municipal Water District about using the line for an annual fee so that it wouldn' t become permanent . Mayor Pro-Tem Donovan agreed to the temporary solution, as she felt the city could handle the cost of this project better next year than this year . The last project on the list of priorities was the Shiloh Baptist Church sewer line. Assistant City Engineer, Ron Homeyer said that the church has been expecting to have a sewer line installed since they were annexed into the City, and they had budgeted $6 ,000 for the line which will cost about $15 ,000 . Mayor Trimble asked where they had gotten the figure to budget only $6 ,000 . Mr. Homeyer explained 438 that he had given them a figure on old cost figures, which didn' t include the creek crossing . Mr . McDonald, from Shiloh Baptist Church told the Council that the church had intended to put in a septic system, but decided they would rather put in a sewer line, and that Mr . Homeyer and Mr . Faires told them they could put in the line for about $6,000 . Mayor Pro-Tem Donovan said she had been working with the County to try to do away with septic tanks . Councilman Crane was also under the impression that the City' s subdivision ordinance didn' t allow septic tanks. Mayor Trimble felt like these people should be able to do whatever they needed to do. City Manager, John Pitstick explained that the recommendations that were presented by the staff were their feelings on what the first five things were that need to be done this year , unless the Council felt the need to change the order of priorities. He also said that he wasn' t looking for a vote on this , but did want a general concesus from the Council in order to allocate $40,000 to $50,000 for these projects if the street program was approved. The general concensus of the Council was that the top four priorities were Eubanks Lane additional base rock, Holiday Terrace Addition sewerline, 24-hour monitoring system for lift stations and water pump stations and splitting half of the cost to install sewer lines for Shiloh Baptist Church. Council also felt that Wyndham Estates off-site drainage, E. Brown St. drainage improvements and the Rich property water line were also critical areas of concern and that the city should consult the County and North Texas Municipal Water District immediately on those. There being no further business, a • . t ' was made to adjourn with all in favor . oaO�Foun ny���% Ch - — r imble, '''-'or SEAL ATTEST : 'CIE TE�'Po��`�• mnn in►na�u"" Candi ite, Se retary