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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Works November 25 20081 WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL 2 Public Works and Safety Committee 3 4 November 25, 2008 5 6 Committee Chair Barbara Brenner called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m. in the 7 Council Chambers, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington. 8 9 Present: Absent: 10 L. Ward Nelson None 11 Laurie Caskey- Schreiber 12 - 13 Also Present: 14 Carl Weimer 15 Bob Kelly 16 17 18 COMMITTEE DISCUSSION 19 20 1. DISCUSSION REGARDING HANNEGAN ROAD TRAFFIC CONCERNS (A132008- 21 405) 22 23 Brenner stated she received an email from a citizen about the dangerous intersection 24 at Hemmi Road and Hannegan Road. 25 26 Joanne Nelson, Hannegan Seafoods, stated her business is on the corner of 27 Hannegan Road and Hemmi Road. There have been several critical accidents and school 28 buses back up when coming out of the school area. She's concerned about safety. It is a 29 truck route, and trucks speed through the intersection. 30 31 Joe Rutan, Public Works Department, stated it is a busy intersection. They tested 32 the intersection for signal warrants in 2007. The intersection did not meet warrants at that 33 time. Accidents have occurred. People are making left turns from Hemmi Road onto 34 Hannegan Road, which is a dangerous maneuver. Because of the volume, people get 35 impatient and there is a failure to yield. Even though it doesn't meet signal warrants, the 36 solution would be a signal. 37 38 Caskey- Schreiber stated the problems occur during the hours before and after 39 school. 40 41 Joanne Nelson stated there were three critical accidents this year around the lunch 42 hour. 43 44 Brenner stated a Sheriff deputy can sit at the intersection, and their presence would 45 lower the accident rate. 46 47 Rutan stated people are doing things they may not otherwise do during construction 48 on the Guide Meridian. Once work on the Guide Meridian settles down, staff will do another 49 signal analysis to see what changes due to construction on the Guide Meridian. 50 51 Brenner stated people are speeding where they aren't supposed to. It would be 52 safer to lower the speed limit to 35 miles per hour at the school, and post a deputy at the 53 intersection for awhile. Public Works and Safety Committee, 11/25/2008, Page 1 Rodney Vandersypen, Public Works Department, described the speed limit along the road. There is a school zone of 35 miles per hour when kids are present, but all the kids are bussed to school. The children need to be within close proximity to the road and not behind a fence, per the Revised Code of Washington (RCW). Brenner asked if it would help to keep the speed limit at 35 miles per hour going north until after the school. Vandersypen stated this location doesn't show more accidents than any other place in the county. Because of current construction, right now there are more traffic and people who don't know the area. Caskey- Schreiber stated they should talk to Sheriff Elfo about increasing emphasis patrols, and then look at it in a year to see if accidents have increased. Maybe then the warrants will indicate whether a change is needed. Rutan stated there are left turn lanes, which help the situation, as long as the person making the left turn waits for traffic. It appears that people are getting impatient and making left turns when it's not appropriate. The accidents are occurring during daylight. Brenner moved to recommend that the Council request the Sheriff to put an emphasis patrol in the area. Rutan stated he will request that of the Sheriff. The Public Works Department contributes $700,000 to the Sheriff's budget for such things. (Clerk's Note: The Committee did not vote on the motion.) Joanne Nelson asked the cost of the stoplight at Hannegan Road and Pole Road. Rutan stated the right -of -way acquisition and design is about $4 million. The construction cost is about $2.4 million. The right -of -way cost alone was over $1 million. Nelson stated they are not cheap. COMMITTEE DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATION TO COUNCIL 1. ORDINANCE ADOPTING THE WHATCOM COUNTY SIX YEAR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM FOR THE 2009 -2014 PLANNING PERIOD (AB2008 -349) Nelson moved to recommend approval to the full Council. Brenner stated she recommends that they accept the proposed amendment in place of moving forward on the Consolidated Services Building. It's reduced in size by 20 percent and increased in cost by 20 percent. It's very expensive. They expect to spend all this money in the next year or two. Eliminate the Consolidated Services Building, site 8, on Council packet page 80. The building isn't necessary. A jail is necessary. Nothing is planned for the jail building. Caskey- Schreiber asked the vision for this building. Nelson stated the administration wants to bring together the Planning Department and Public Works Department staffs to create consolidated services. Public Works and Safety Committee, 11/25/2008, Page 2 Caskey- Schreiber asked if the plan is to remodel or demolish the old nursing home building. She asked about all the other buildings downtown they are supposed to invest in. Brenner stated they don't know the plan. Consolidated buildings belong downtown. The Council allocated $250,000 to look at this. The remodels done at that building were bad, but the building itself is structurally sound. It's not the place for all these services. This is a lot of money to spend when the County is running out of money. They should ask Council Policy Analyst Rebecca Craven to look at the consolidated bu' ding being at that location or a different place. Nelson stated they don't have the space to move everything downtown. Also, they won't have the ability to service rural customers. Services should be centrally located in the rural area. He hasn't seen any plan to save the building. This is the proposal from the administration to address the needs of the Planning and Development Services Department and Public Works Departments. If they want to change that plan, then the councilmembers must bring something forward to consider. Brenner stated the administration was supposed to bring an idea forward to the Council. Now, they are talking about putting this much money aside. That's crazy. It's not time critical. The jail is time critical, but no money is allocated for it. Caskey- Schreiber stated she's not sure she understands the master plan. She prefers to have a meeting to vet the vision before approving the plan. It would be a benefit for the citizens to access the Planning Department and Public Works Department services in the main area and for the workers to not have to drive all over the county to get to where they need to work. One option is to locate those services also in the law and justice center. Don't have services all spread over. She would rather consolidate services rather than put that growth in a rural area. Brenner stated they need to decide where the law and justice center is going to be before deciding on this. Look at the potential of locating those kinds of services in or next to that kind of facility. Nelson asked if the administration intends to include this project so the County has a plan in place in case it must move forward. It's part of the requirement under Growth Management to have a six -year capital facilities plan. Frank Abart, Public Works Department, stated he didn't submit this item, but that assumption would make sense. Rebecca Craven, Council Policy Analyst, stated the they can amend the six -year capital facilities plan any time they have a supplemental budget dealing with those capital elements, or once per year. The Council is scheduled to have a meeting with the administration on December 2 regarding capital facilities and jail plans. That meeting will happen before final consideration of this item on December 9. This item has been introduced. If they make changes to add stormwater, it will be re- introduced and re- noticed for a public hearing on December 9. It is supposed to be adopted concurrent with the budget. The Prosecutor's Office has said it's okay to approve it two weeks after the budget. It may not be okay to approve it six weeks after the budget. Motion failed 1 -2 with Nelson in favor. Public Works and Safety Committee, 11/25/2008, Page 3. Caskey- Schreiber moved to amend the ordinance to add the stormwater projects according to memo to the Council from Rebecca Craven dated November 24, 2008 regarding proposed changes to 6 -year Capital Facilities Element (on file). Motion to amend carried unanimously. Caskey- Schreiber moved to remove the Consolidated Services Building until they discuss overall plans with the administration. Motion carried 2 -1 with Nelson opposed. Weimer asked if they are planning to buy any property for the jail within this budget period. Dewey Desler, Deputy Administrator, stated the administration does not budget any money to purchase land for the jail, but there is some capacity to buy property when they decide to do that. The administration and Council will meet next Tuesday, partly in executive session, to discuss property around the jail. There will be a presentation about that issue. When done, he hopes the Council will provide direction. They are months away from making a decision on a specific piece of property. They must do a full environmental impact statement (EIS) on the property. More recent issues have come up about the status of water and sewer. They must work through those issues with the City of Bellingham. Also next Tuesday, they will have a presentation on progress to the property at Smith Road and Northwest Road. They will also discuss the Civic Center Building. They must still do a lot of work and make key decisions over the next few months, before they do more analysis on the specific purchase of the property. Caskey- Schreiber stated Ralph Black has offered to build and lease a jail building. She asked how that may work financially. She would like to consider that as a viable option. Desler stated it should be a viable option. There are several approaches that must follow State law and the County's ability to pay the bill for that. There may be some limitations on counties of this size to do more creative functions. Brenner asked if the County can do a lease option. Desler stated it can, but they must figure out how to pay for it. They must also figure out the size and programs that will go into the jail. Brenner asked if they could pay for it from the tax collected each year. Desler stated they can. Brenner stated she doesn't want that property to go somewhere else, before the County decides. They are putting so much money into other things. They are already collecting money from the public on the jail and nothing is happening. Desler stated the County is doing exactly what it told the public it would do. There has been no change in what the Council approved as a plan and what the County promised the public. The County told the public it would take many years. The County promised to build and operate a minimum security jail, which it did; build a new main jail about 10 year later, in about 2015, and; sell the minimum security jail to help pay for the new mail jail. They also promised to help the cities pay for their criminal justice costs. They are still doing what they promised the voters. Kelly asked the best way to incorporate the proposal from Mr. Black and any others into the executive session discussion. Desler stated the development takes more work Public Works and Safety Committee, 11/25/2008, Page 4 1 before the administration can recommend that approach. The County must use a 2 competitive bidding process to select the party. The County administration has been 3 approached to do something similar by many other people. 4 5 Kelly stated that at least three councilmembers are saying they would like to hear 6 more about Mr. Black's proposal and would like it incorporated into the process. 7 8 Brenner stated the requests for proposals (RFP) can be written in such a way that 9 the County will get what it wants. 10 11 Ralph Black, citizen, stated he can provide more information at a later date. If the 12 Council and Executive wish him to present, he can do that. 13 14 15 OTHER BUSINESS 16 17 There was no other business. 18 19 ADJOURN 20 21 The meeting adjourned at 2:12 p.m. 22 23 24 25 ]ill Jill Nixon, Minutes Transcription 26 27 `� ►►►► ►u �� urr�� 28 ATTESP-"��CY•C������ WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL 29 0�; • *HA 00 WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON 30 . F 31 UN 32 ` - 33 � - 34 Dana Brown- Davis, ouricil Clerk Barbara Brenner, Committee Chair Public Works and Safety Committee, 11/25/2008, Page 5