MONDAY, JULY 20, 2009

REGULAR MEETING

9:25 P.M.

1. ROLL CALL. Mr. Wisniewski called the meeting to order at 9:25 P.M., with Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mr. Sauer present. No members were absent. Others present were: Mayor O’Brien, Jeff Fix, Tim Hansley, Lynda Yartin, Ed Drobina, Brenda VanCleave, Lance Schultz, Greg Bachman, and others.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF June 17, 2009, Regular Meeting. Mrs. Hammond moved to approve; Mr. Wisniewski seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Sauer, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mrs. Hammond voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0.

3. COMMUNITY COMMENTS: There were no community comments.

4. DEVELOPMENT:

A. Development Director’s Report. Mr. Hansley stated he had no report and Mr. Schultz stated provided a brief update on the active developments. Mr. Schultz further stated the next Planning and Zoning Agenda would include review of a proposed indoor soccer complex. Mayor O’Brien stated it seemed an indoor soccer complex would be very close to our biggest failed intersection and he questioned if this was a good use of that land that close to that intersection. Mr. Wisniewski stated he understood that, but if it is zoned appropriately there isn’t much we can do outside of the traffic control issue. Mr. Schultz stated rezoning would be required as this land is behind the Big Bear site and is currently zoned residential. Mr. Sauer stated he agreed with Mayor O’Brien that it would be worth exploring alternative areas for this complex as it did not seem that we would be in a position to handle that kind of flow in that particular intersection. Mr. Bachman stated he has not looked at how much of an impact this complex would have on the 256/Refugee Road intersection as yet. Mr. Hansley stated the landowner is also the developer so it is not a situation where the developer is looking for a site. Mr. Schultz stated this is a two-step process, they need to get preliminary plan and final plan approval, so it will be several months before it would go to Council and there would be a lot of time to review the entire project and all the issues. Mr. Wisniewski stated it would be helpful if Mr. Schultz would include the active development update in his written report to the Committee as well as, from a commercial development standpoint, things that are looking to come into the City or what our phases are, estimated completion, etc.

Mayor O’Brien stated he had met with Mr. Fix and Mr. Hansley and he had asked if it would be possible to ask staff to do a land use plan, like the Diley Road Corridor Study, for the Refugee Road corridor from Kohls’ to Long Road. He stated he would like to see staff take this one on as it is not as big of an area and look at a plan to put in place or to adopt so that we have some sort of control over our own destiny. He stated we could try and market that area with a plan in hand and not sit back and be reactive. Mayor O’Brien stated the south side of Refugee almost to Long Road is owned by something like four families. Mr. Hansley stated he felt that given enough time staff could do that, it was not something that could be done immediately but during the winter when things are a little slower we could use the Diley Road study as a model and see what we can do. Mr. Hansley stated he felt it was an easier corridor to look at than Diley Road because it is more fixed.

5. PLANNING AND ZONING DEPARTMENT:

A. Planning and Zoning Director’s Report. Mr. Schultz stated he had provided a written report and would be happy to answer any questions.

(1) Planning and Zoning Representative Report. Mr. Sauer stated Planning and Zoning met on July 14^th and approved an outdoor patio for Don Patron’s and had not approved an outdoor patio at La Fogata. Mr. Sauer stated this patio had apparently had never formally gone through the process of being approved, and it was not approved because it did not comply with what we have typically approved in the past. Mr. Schultz stated they would hopefully come back with another plan.

B. ACTION ITEMS: None.

6. SERVICE DEPARTMENT

A. REPORTS:

(1) Service Manager’s Report. Mr. Drobina stated he had provided a written report and he would be happy to answer any questions. Mr. Drobina stated with regard to the electronic billing, we have received a price of almost $9,000 to put that system in but that also includes some things for income tax, and he does not have the direct cost for just water and sewer since that will come out of those funds. Mr. Wisniewski clarified it seemed the reason we did not get the stimulus funding was because we did not have a PTI for that project. Mr. Drobina further stated he had learned that Lancaster was getting $683,000 for seven different projects.

(2) Staff Engineer’s Report. Ms VanCleave stated she had provided a written report and she would answer any questions. She stated the contractor for the storm sewer project will be closing East Street for a period of two weeks while they bore under the railroad.

a. Review and discussion regarding Town Square Drive Extension. Mrs. Hammond requested if this could be moved to the end of the agenda and Mr. Wisniewski stated that would be fine.

B. ACTION ITEMS:

(1) Review and discussion regarding TDS options and costs. Mr. Drobina stated we have a cost for the actual testing from EnviroScience and he is waiting on a contract from Schottenstein with the not-to-exceed cost that was approved by Finance Committee.

7. ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT CAPITAL PROJECTS.

A. WASTEWATER

(1) Wastewater Plant Expansion – Update. Mr. Drobina stated the project is moving smoothly. Mr. Wisniewski clarified there have been very few complaints from any of the neighbors or residents.

B. TRANSPORTATION:

(1) Diley Road Improvements Project – Update. Mr. Drobina stated Columbus Street should open on Wednesday and shortly thereafter Long Road will be scheduled for a 15-day closure.

C. WATER: No Report.

D. STORMWATER. No report.

8. CHAIRMAN. Mr. Wisniewski stated he had nothing to bring forward at this time.

Mr. Wisniewski stated they would return to the discussion regarding Town Square Drive extension. Mr. Bachman stated everyone had received the memo from himself and Mr. Schultz. Mr. Bachman stated it was about 700 feet to complete this road from the cul de sac down to Center Street. Mr. Bachman stated the contractor will already be there putting the sewer in and he felt he should present Council with the option of going ahead and completing that road while he was already in there. Mr. Bachman stated the cost estimate to put in the road described in Option 1 of his report would be $300,000 and Option 2 would be $125,000. Mr. Wisniewski clarified the Mr. Bachman had verified these estimates with the contractor. Mr. Bachman stated he had listed both the advantages and concerns and had provided a memorandum from Planning and Zoning on development potential of the vacant land along the existing Town Square Drive. Mr. Bachman stated his recommendation would be to proceed with Option 2 as a change order to the contract with Beheler Excavating to construct the basic 700 foot long, 24 foot wide uncurbed asphalt road from the existing Town Square Drive cul de sac to Center Street. Mr. Bachman stated there was one small piece of land, the Ellis property, that would be needed and he understood there has been some talk about the City acquiring that. Mr. Bachman stated this would be a large change order to the current contract that is about $1.1 million, so it would be a little over a ten percent change order. Mr. Wisniewski stated his concern was about the commercial development because while it would be nice, the last thing he would want to see in there would be a gas station. He questioned what this was zoned for and Mr. Schultz stated the existing Town Square Drive came in with a concept plan identified with commercial retail, professional office, and flex office as shown on the drawing attached to his report, and to change that plan would require a rezoning. Mr. Schultz stated he would have to go back and look to see if there were any limitations on the retail. Mr. Wisniewski stated his next concern would be what would happen to the people east of Center Street, and clarified that East Church Street would be repaved with the sewer project. Mr. Sauer stated Safety Committee just restricted parking on Church Street and if we are putting the road through we would want to get parking off of the street because it is narrow to begin with. Mr. Wisniewski stated that was his concern, what kind of impact we would have on the residents on East Church Street. Mayor O’Brien stated he thought the development should be separated out from the discussion on the road because he had a lot of concern about the development in that area. Mayor O’Brien stated he had asked for, and not received, the plan to show who owns what because he would like to contact those people to see what their plans are. He stated he had heard there was an attempt to put a Super America at Town Square Drive and Hill Road. He stated he felt the City should take a look at every inch of that area and what it is going to be used for. Mayor O’Brien stated his main concern with the road is that we would need to discourage the through traffic to continue on to Church Street because using the East Street intersection on to 256, daily, is dangerous. He stated further he felt all the residents should be notified and we should have them in to talk about what we would be doing. Mr. Sauer stated his first concern was where this fell into our priorities and also if we put the road in there will have to eventually be a left-hand turn put in or we will be stopping traffic further back up 256 from being able to flow down to the traffic light by the Circle K. Mr. Sauer stated he does understand the cost savings on this, and that is what makes this a hard decision. Mr. Fix stated he felt there were a lot of valid concerns about land use and traffic flow, but at the same time he felt there would not be an opportunity like this to finish this road at this minimal cost again. He stated finishing that road has been in our plans for a long time and the choice is to address all the concerns and figure out if it can get done or to wait eight to ten years to do it. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that even for the minimal road if we did not have the contractor perform the work now the cost to have it done later would be at least thirty to forty percent more. Mr. Wisniewski stated this would be a big change for our downtown and as a councilperson it was difficult to think about it from strictly a traffic flow perspective. He stated there were a lot of unknowns as to what would happen. Mrs. Hammond stated she felt the issue with the old village is an issue that needs to be addressed separately because most of the businesses we have down there are not drive by businesses, they are destinations, so it would not change what we currently have drastically. She stated this road could expand the business area and be a benefit. Mr. Wisniewski moved to forward legislation to Council to authorize a change order to the Beheler Excavating contract for Option 2, a basic road connection, 24 foot, uncurbed in the amount of $125,000; Mrs. Hammond seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Hammond, and Mr. Sauer voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0.

9. OTHER BUSINESS: Mr. Wisniewski stated he would like to see the Committee members would feel about moving the regular Service Committee meeting to 6:30 P.M. on the Wednesday following the second Council meeting of the month so it would be just prior to the Safety Committee meeting. Mr. Hansley stated Safety Committee does convene at 7:00 P.M. so perhaps they might need to change their start time. Mr. Wisniewski moved to change the start time of the Service Committee to 6:30 P.M. on the Wednesday following the second Council meeting of the month so it would be just prior to the Safety Committee meeting; Mrs. Hammond seconded the motion. Mr. Wisniewski stated he would speak to the Chairman of Safety to see if he had any objections to this change, but right now the Service agendas are fairly brief so it should not affect their meeting. Roll call was taken with Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Hammond, and Mr. Wisniewski voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0.

10. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, Mr. Wisniewski moved to adjourn; Mrs. Hammond seconded the motion. Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Sauer, and Mrs. Hammond voted “Aye.” Motion carried, 3-0. The Service Committee adjourned at 10:37 P.M., July 20, 2009.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

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Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk