CITY PLANNING, PROJECTS, & SERVICES COMMITTEE

CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD

WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 2011

REGULAR MEETING

7:15 P.M.

1. ROLL CALL. Mr. Fix called the meeting to order at 7:15 P.M., with Mr. Fix and Mr. Barletta present. Mr. Blair was absent. Others present were: Bill Vance, Lynda Yartin, Greg Bachman, Joe Henderson, Chet Hopper, Mayor O’Brien, Chris Miller, Kathy Smith, Larry Smith, Nikki McKiernan, Fred Holmes, Rick Curnutte, John Eienstien, Deb Chavalis, and others.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF June 22, 2011, Regular Meeting. Mr. Barletta moved to approve; Mr. Fix seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Barletta and Mr. Fix voting “Yes.” Motion passed, 2-0.

3. COMMUNITY COMMENTS:

A. Review and discussion regarding renewal of Gas Aggregation Program with Volunteer Energy Services, Inc. Mr. Fred Holmes of Volunteer Energy stated it is time to talk about renewal for the provider of the natural gas aggregation program as the current certification will expire on October 31, 2011. Mr. Holmes stated everyone had received a renewal package and the City’s attorney has received some legal documents to review. Mr. Holmes stated he felt discussion regarding the pricing would be appropriate at this time. Mr. Rick Curnutte stated in the past few weeks several articles have been written regarding the problems with municipal aggregation programs in general. He stated a lot of communities have entered into fixed price deals for one or two years and the market has fallen and the utility has been cheaper. He stated this has cost many thousands of dollars. Mr. Curnutte stated Volunteer Energy’s program was developed specifically to compete against those type programs; they serve 18 municipalities and they have never lost one or had one cancel to go back to the utility. Mr. Curnutte stated he believed their guaranteed savings program was still the route to go and he is recommending Pickerington consider continuing the existing program which is guaranteed to be below Columbia Gas’ price. Mr. Curnutte stated they will do whatever the community would like, but they still felt that the utility changes their price on a monthly basis and Volunteer guarantees their price to be below that. He stated their recommendation is to continue going forward in this direction. He stated if you renew the program they will go back out to the community and, hopefully, they will be able to add to the current body they are currently serving. He stated they also want to continue the Community Reinvestment Program as long as they supply the City. Mr. Fix stated he appreciated Volunteer Energy’s program and he felt it was a benefit to the residents and he also appreciated the Reinvestment program which was used this year to help improve our downtown area. Mr. Fix also stated he appreciated the fact that Volunteer Energy’s headquarters are located in the City. Mr. Fix stated if he recalled, the program offered by Volunteer Energy is a percentage off of the Columbia Gas cost and that we were not in the category of municipalities that were paying more than they should have. He also stated he knew there was an opt out option for residents and he would be curious to know how many had decided to opt out. Mr. Holmes stated he did not have that information with him; however, his experience with all of their municipalities has been that it is usually less than one percent that opt out. Ms Chavalis stated she would like to add that many of the residents that did choose to opt out during the course of the year have called and asked to be included back in the program. Mr. Vance stated his office has not seen any complaints or any issues with this program. Mr. Holmes stated they have received calls from Violet Township residents and while they cannot be included in the City of Pickerington program, they do have an identical rate for them to use. Mr. Fix inquired if the Township was not able to create a program like the City’s, and Mr. Holmes stated they can but they would have to go through the whole process of getting a voter initiative and getting it passed. Ms Chavalis stated they have talked to the Trustees and she did not know why they have not moved forward on it. Mr. Fix stated that was confusing because you would think they would want to save their residents money. Mayor O’Brien stated as we were going through this process he had personally attended several Township Trustee’s meetings to explain why we were considering doing this and asking them to consider putting it on the ballot. Mayor O’Brien stated the Trustees had indicated they had rural areas and the residents had propane tanks and it would interfere with the residents’ freedom of choice. Mr. Holmes stated he had provided some documents to Mr. Miller of the City’s law firm, and Mr. Miller stated after tonight’s discussion he would be able to get all of the particulars together and see what everyone has to contribute to the process. Mr. Holmes stated just briefly to explain the renewal process requires an ordinance be adopted and then they will send out a renewal post card to all the residents currently on the program. He stated in addition they will send out a mailing to all of the customers who are not on the program, and that is how they would pick up additional customers. Mr. Holmes stated one amendment that he would like to have included is that currently the contract calls for quarterly payments on the Community Reinvestment Program, and he would like that to reflect it as an annual payment. Mr. Holmes stated the pricing would be seven percent off the adder; the Columbia Gas price is based on the NYMEX plus an adder and the City’s price would be seven percent less than what that adder is, so the price for Pickerington residents would always be below the Columbia Gas price. Mr. Fix clarified that is the same discount the City is currently getting. Mr. Miller asked Mr. Holmes to speak about the protections that were previously in place and would remain in place for the residents in regards to taking subscription from Volunteer Energy or if they wanted to convert back, and what the penalties are. Mr. Holmes stated currently there is no cancellation fee so if someone wanted to try the program for six months and then decided to go back with the utility, there is no cancellation fee. He further stated the reason they solicit new customers is because if a resident gets two months behind in their bill they are automatically dropped from the program so this is an opportunity for them to pick up those customers who would like to participate. Mr. Holmes stated with no cancellation fee there is very little risk to any of the residents and one of the advantages to the community is that their people do not go door-to-door and they have very good customer service. Mr. Holmes stated the PUCO would like to have the legislation 30 days prior to the expiration date which is October 23, 2011. Mr. Fix stated the action needed this evening is that something needs to be moved forward to Council. Mr. Vance stated he would recommend this be moved forward for Council’s attention. Mr. Barletta moved to approve and forward the renewal with Volunteer Energy to Council; Mr. Fix seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Fix and Mr. Barletta voting “Yes.” Motion passed, 2-0.

Mr. Fix stated as there are some residents present to address the drainage issue on Cricket Court if there were no objections he would take that discussion at this time.

Mr. Vance stated that there are two situations and technically they are private property situations, but he would not be confident that resolution could take place without some sort of city leadership involvement and our involvement would serve a neighborhood purpose.

Mr. Bachman stated with regard to the Cricket Court issue as he understood it, this was developed prior to the City having an ordinance about drainage from a house going out to the curb. He stated some of the homes on Cricket Court sit down a bit from the street and some of the drainage does go out the back into the back yards and there are also two above ground swimming pools in those back yards. Mr. Bachman stated the overall drainage is according to the subdivision’s drainage map, however, sometimes if there is a lot of water it probably does not drain as quickly as people would like. Mr. Bachman stated he did not see any obligation for the City to do any work in there, but certainly we could do something to help the residents out. Mr. Bachman stated he had provided some recommendations on what could be done in this area in his written report to the Committee.

Mr. Larry Smith stated he resides at 275 Cricket Court, right in the middle of this problem. He stated 273 Cricket Court is right above him and it was built in 2002, so if the City’s ordinance regarding downspouts was in effect at that time whoever passed it gave that property owner permission to drain the downspouts out in the middle of his back yard. He stated they have never been connected to a pipe. Mr. Smith further stated the six-inch pipe Mr. Bachman refers to in his memo has 275 and 277 downspouts running into it and those two work fine, it is above him, which is 273, that starts this problem. Mr. Smith stated he felt a 12-inch drain up through the back, and get her connected into the drain where it should have been. Mr. Fix stated it seemed to him we should find out when the house was built, and if it was built according to Code. Then, if it was not built according to Code, bring it up to Code. Mr. Vance stated according to the records the City inspected, this house was built prior to the more aggressive storm water regulations we now have. Mr. Bachman stated the subdivision was approved in 1992, and Mr. Smith stated the City has an ordinance on downspouts and water drainage onto other people’s property right now. Mr. Smith stated this has been an on-going problem for a good while and Mr. Vance stated we found out about the problem and we have brought it forward so it could be addressed responsibly and hopefully be of assistance because that is the goal. Mr. Fix stated the bottom line is there is an issue and we need to figure out how the issue is best resolved and how the City can assist in getting that issue resolved. Mr. Fix stated he would like to know more about what is causing the issue and how we might address that. Mr. Vance stated he would suggest he and Mr. Bachman meet with Mr. Smith and look at the recommendations of Mr. Bachman, see what would fix the problem, and then come back to this Committee with how we need to proceed. Mr. Fix clarified that installing a 12-inch pipe could be in the price range of $10,000 to $20,000. Mr. Fix requested the City Manager and City Engineer meet with Mr. Smith, look at the problem, and bring some recommendations back to this Committee next month.

Mayor O’Brien stated he would like to add that Cricket Court was started to be built out in 1991, but it was completed more than ten years later. He stated with regard to the particular lot that is causing the problem the residents got the City to force the developer to start maintaining the property and the City passed an ordinance that required any subdivision that was over 80 percent developed, all remaining lots had to be kept in the same condition as the adjacent lots. He stated this meant they had to be graded, grassed, and mowed, etc. He stated the developer did that and then decided to build a house on that lot. Mayor O’Brien stated when the house was built he had come to the City and talked to Mr. Leonard Lewis and was told that the house was to low and would not drain to the street so they were allowed to drain back like the other houses. He continued that for the first few years the water would run down the swale, but it has continually gotten worse. Mayor O’Brien stated when staff has the time to investigate this, he would suggest they go down stream toward that branch of Sycamore Creek because the house at 345 Timber Ridge; from the fence out to the stream is a lake now and that is a change from the past. He stated there may be an issue of blockage in the stream somewhere that is causing flooding as well.

Mr. Fix stated there was also a drainage issue on Washington Street. Mr. Bachman stated he had also provided some ideas regarding the problem on Washington Street and basically this lot is where the drainage comes out of the farm field that is quite a few acres and it funnels down to the back yard of two houses in the subdivision. He stated it appears a lot of times it overruns the one catch basin that is in the back and as corn was planted there last year and all the corn husks get funneled down to this catch basin and then the water is blocked by that. He stated there is evidence that the water floods the backyards at times trying to get to the catch basin. Mr. Bachman stated he has provided some options to the Committee for review. Mr. Fix clarified that the farmer does not have any responsibility to ensure the water drains off of his property in a way that does not impact neighbors and Mr. Vance stated when the developer came in they understood the storm water challenges and that is why a very significant catch basin was installed in the back yard area by the developer. Mr. Vance stated this is another regional neighborhood-like collection point and that is why he felt that realistically for anything to get done the City would have to take some kind of a leadership role at some point.

Ms Nikki McKiernan, 992 Washington Street, stated she was present this evening regarding this problem. Ms McKiernan stated the drainage problems started about six months after they purchased their home and she has had to purchase two sump pumps and the sidewalks are crumbling.

Mr. Fix stated he questioned how many other situations we have around the city where we have yards flooding due to the lack of drainage and Mr. Vance stated these are the only two he is aware of. He stated assisting in these situations does not necessarily put the city in the position where it has to move forward in other situations. He stated he hoped that tonight would be the start of a coordinated solution to these problems that seem to be development related from when the subdivisions were installed. He stated these are some critical areas as far as storm water goes and these situations are the result of some significant out of the norm wet weather as well. Mr. Vance stated he was seeking the permission of this committee to work with the City Engineer and come up with a specific game plan. He stated he knew this could not be corrected overnight, but his goal was to have a resolution in the next few months. Mr. Fix stated he would appreciate every effort we could make to make these situations right and he would encourage staff to aggressively pursue solutions to these issues and come back to this committee with recommendations on what we can do to get it taken care of.

Mr. Fix stated at this time he would like to address the City’s acceptance of Postage Drive.

Mr. Vance stated he had spoken to the law director today and he indicated that the paperwork needs to be put together as Postage Drive is ready for the City to assume ownership if that is the direction this committee would like to go in. He stated we have tried to negotiate some cross-connectivity with Kohl’s and it might take quite some time to potentially coordinate some agreed upon compensation to them. Mr. Vance stated he would recommend we accept Postage Drive. Mr. Fix inquired if we had enough paperwork to move this forward to Council for the September meeting and Mr. Vance stated he would recommend moving in that direction. Mr. Vance stated he would like to work with the law director and figure out a way to move this forward. Mr. Fix moved to have the City Manager coordinate with the law director to prepare and forward the legislation for the City to accept Postage Drive without superseding any priorities of the City Engineer; Mr. Barletta seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Barletta and Mr. Fix voting “Yes.” Motion passed, 2-0. Mr. Fix stated then it was his understanding this will be on the Council agenda as soon as possible.

4. DEVELOPMENT:

A. Development Director’s Report.

(1) Annexation – Update. Mr. Vance stated we are in the final stages of the Bashore annexation.

(2) Development Process. Mr. Henderson stated he will be trying to streamline this process and he will have more to report on this in the future.

(3) Economic Development Marketing Plan

a. Review and request for motion to approve Economic Development Signs. Mr. Henderson stated everyone had received copies of the proposed signs and it was brought to his attention that perhaps we should put the City logo on the sign because it does have the Chamber of Commerce logo, Violet Township’s logo, and the City’s development department logo, but perhaps we should put the City’s logo on it as well. Mr. Fix stated he thought having the City’s logo on there was important rather than the development department’s logo. Mr. Vance stated the proposed cost of the signs would be approximately $8,000. Mr. Fix stated since the Township’s logo and phone number are included on the signs he felt we should ask them to split the cost with us. Mr. Vance stated he would contact the Township on this. Mr. Barletta moved to proceed with the proposed economic development signs with the inclusion of the City logo rather than the development department logo, not to exceed $8,000, and to request Violet Township participate financially; Mr. Fix seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Fix and Mr. Barletta voting “Yes.” Motion passed, 2-0.

(4) Business Retention Project – Update. Mr. Henderson stated he has met with Ms Mayle of the Chamber and Ms Davis from the Township and discussed approaches they are going to take moving forward.

(5) Long Range Economic Development Plan – Update. Mr. Henderson stated he would be looking into this further and Mr. Fix stated if by the end of the year Mr. Henderson could come up with a two-year plan that would be a big step forward and would be appreciated by this Committee.

(6) Implementation of the Diley Road Corridor Plan – Update. No report.

5. PLANNING AND ZONING DEPARTMENT:

A. Planning and Zoning Representative Report (Mr. Blair) Mr. Blair was not present and Mr. Henderson stated Planning and Zoning had approved the Non-Residential Design Guidelines Certificate of Appropriateness for the soccer complex and he would be working with the attorney to get this moving as quickly through the process as possible.

B. Planning and Zoning Department Report (Mr. Henderson) Mr. Henderson stated he had provided a written report and would answer any questions anyone might have.

C. Fairfield County Regional Planning Commission – Update. Mr. Henderson stated the Commission had approved the Grace Lutheran Church being built on Refugee Road on the library’s old property.

D. ACTION ITEMS:

(1) Refugee Road Study – Update. Mr. Barletta moved to approve the Refugee Road Corridor Study to Council; Mr. Fix seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Barletta and Mr. Fix voting “Yes.” Motion passed, 2-0.

6. BUILDING DEPARTMENT.

A. Building Department/Chief Building Official’s Report. Mr. Hopper stated he had provided a written report for the Committee and would answer any questions. Mr. Barletta stated he would like to see a little more detail on permits showing year to date, last month, etc. so we can see what the pace is.

B. Code Revisions.

(1) Review and request for motion to approve draft ordinance amending Section 1444.03(d)(1) of the City of Pickerington Codified Ordinances entitled, “Standards” for Contractor Registration. Mr. Hopper stated he felt this would add a level of protection to the city. He stated we have the requirement that contractors must be registered with the City and they try to find ways around that by having the homeowner to pick up the permit. Mr. Hopper stated we would then not know if it were the homeowner or a contractor doing the work. He further stated if the homeowner applies for the permit they will be asked to sign that they are responsible for doing the work and should they hire a contractor and have problems, we would have the documentation showing the homeowner had stated they were doing the work themselves. Mr. Barletta clarified that when the homeowner comes in to get a permit they will sign this form and the only reason the contractor would have the homeowner get the permit is because they were not registered in the City, did not have the required property damage insurance of $500,000, or they may not be licensed with the State of Ohio. Mr. Vance stated we want the contractor pulling the permits so we can hold them accountable for their work. Mr. Barletta moved to approve and forward to Council; Mr. Fix seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Fix and Mr. Barletta voting “Yes.” Motion passed, 2-0.

7. SERVICE DEPARTMENT

A. Service Manager’s Report. Mr. Vance stated Mr. Drobina was on vacation but had submitted a written report.

B. WASTEWATER

(1) TDS – Update. No report.

C. WATER.

(1) Water storage tank maintenance contract - Update. Mr. Vance stated he would like to have a presentation of the benefits of a tank maintenance program at the August committee meeting.

8. ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

A. Engineer’s Report. Mr. Bachman stated he had provided a written report and he would like to add that Fairfield County took bids on CDBG ADA handicap ramps in the Pickerington Hills subdivision. He stated Decker Construction was the apparent low bidder and it looks like we will get 12-14 handicap ramps at no cost to the City other than providing the construction inspection, and the work should occur in the fall.

B. ACTION ITEMS:

(1) Water Master Plan and Sewer Master Plan - Update. Mr. Bachman stated he had talked about scheduling a work session for council to review both the water and sewer master plans and we could work on scheduling that.

(2) S.R. 256 Safety Improvement Project - Update. Mr. Bachman stated he is working on the application.

(3) Submission of the S.R. 256 storm sewer project for OPWC funds – Update. Mr. Bachman stated it is his recommendation that we line the entire 2400 feet of the storm sewer and the estimated cost right now is $300,000 to do that, but the sooner we do it the better. He stated if this committee concurred he would like to submit for OPWC emergency funds although he was not very hopeful on that. He stated he would also like to apply for regular OPWC grant funds for this project. Mr. Fix moved to authorize the City Manager to apply for OPWC emergency funds for the S.R. 256 storm sewer project; Mr. Barletta seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Fix and Mr. Barletta voting “Yes.” Motion passed, 2-0.

Mr. Bachman stated if we do not receive the emergency funding he would like to submit the OPWC application for this project for this year and that application is due October 2^nd. Mr. Bachman stated he did not know if he would know about the emergency funding before the next meeting. Mr. Fix moved to authorize the City Manager to submit this project for regular OPWC grant funds if emergency funds were not approved; Mr. Barletta seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Barletta and Mr. Fix voting “Yes.” Motion passed, 2-0.

(4) Review and discussion regarding Ordinance 2002-07, accepting a permanent easement from Gregory D. and Ann H. Lisk. Mr. Bachman stated we needed an appraisal of the property and a survey of the easement. He stated he understood the law director has contacted an appraisal company and a surveyor to get that done. Mr. Vance stated if the committee concurs he will continue moving forward getting this cleared up. Mr. Fix stated he would like to have this continued on the agenda.

(5) Review and discussion regarding drainage issues on Cricket Court and Washington Street. Mr. Fix stated these were dealt with earlier in the meeting.

Mr. Bachman stated every other year the City Manager can propose a storm water utility fee rate increase and we are getting close to that time if that is something the committee would like staff to take a look at. He stated he had checked with the Finance Director today and this year our revenue from the storm water utility is approximately $577,000 with expenditures of approximately $800,000. Mr. Bachman stated the fee was initially $1.50 per month for a single family house; it was increased to $3.00 in 2010, and increased to $4.00 in 2011. He stated for the expenses we had this year the fee should actually be $6.00. Mr. Vance stated he would work with Mr. Bachman and Mr. Schornack and come up with a recommendation for this committee.

Mr. Bachman stated he had spoken with Safety Committee about sidewalks on W. Columbus Street and he would proposed the possibility of a shorter project on W. Columbus that would get sidewalks from Hill Road to the first subdivision on the south and north side of W. Columbus Street. He stated he had a preliminary discussion with the Fairfield County Engineer as there is a culvert under W. Columbus Street that he is responsible for, to see if they would go in on a joint grant application with us. He stated a preliminary cost estimate for the project is $750,000 but with various funding sources we might be able to keep the City’s cost from the General Fund to about $50,000. He stated Safe Routes to Schools funding takes at least two years and OPWC would take about a year, and he did need to get confirmation from the Fairfield County Engineer that they would go along with this. He stated he was just presenting this tonight so the Committee could review it and determine if they would like him to pursue it for next year.

C. TRANSPORTATION

(1) Review and discussion regarding City’s acceptance of Postage Drive. Mr. Fix stated this was dealt with earlier in the meeting.

9. CHAIRMAN.

A. Strategic Plans Goals – Update. Mr. Fix ascertained that Mr. Bachman has not prepared a pavement maintenance plan for this year as he only had $20,000 that would be used for crack sealing. Mr. Bachman stated he is planning on using the Fairfield County Engineer’s crew for the crack sealing as that is a very cost effective way to do that. Mr. Fix stated he would like Mr. Bachman to come back to this committee next month with what he needs to get the minimum done this year.

10. OTHER BUSINESS:

A. Proposed solar panel project at the water treatment plant - Update. Mr. Vance stated he and the law director would be meeting with Tipping Point this week.

B. Review and discussion regarding parking agreement between the City of Pickerington and 37 East Columbus Street. Mr. Vance stated this is an agreement that was not executed between the City and the property owner at 37 East Columbus Street. Mr. Vance stated he would recommend that when we do the pavement improvements in 2012 that we pave this parking lot and stripe as needed and then agree to take a second look at it in the future. Mr. Vance stated he would bring the final documents back to this committee next month.

11. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, Mr. Barletta moved to adjourn; Mr. Fix seconded the motion. Mr. Barletta and Mr. Fix voted “Aye.” Motion carried, 2-0. The City Planning, Projects, and Services Committee adjourned at 9:00 P.M., July 20, 2011.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

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Lynda D. Yartin, City Clerk