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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-15-2016 regular meeting City Council of Peachtree City Meeting Minutes September 15, 2016 7:00 p.m. The Mayor and City Council of Peachtree City met in regular session on Thursday, September 15, 2016. Mayor Vanessa Fleisch called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Others attending: Terry Ernst, Mike King, Kim Learnard, and Phil Prebor. Announcements, Awards, Special Recognition Mayor Fleisch recognized Fire Chief Joe O'Conor for 15 years of service with the City. Members of American Legion Posts 105 and 50 and the Marine Corps League accepted the proclamation for POW/MIA Recognition Day, which was September 16. Public Works' Cart Path Crew received The Effort Always Matters (TEAM) award for completing 9.09 miles of cart path repaving during FY 2016. The goal was nine miles each fiscal year (which would end on September 30). Those recognized included Robert Werner, Damarcus Hunter, Thomas Robertson, Jason Hannah, Jerry Williams, Jeffery Webb, Joshua Parks, James Smith, Jimmy Freeman, James Owens, Stanley Chutkhan, Anthony Tornatore, Robert Mills, Wayne Newman, Henry Godfrey, Oscar Aguayo Galvez, Mat Dudka, and Fred Holmes. 10-Minute Talk Southern Conservation Trust Jim Qualls, a member of the Southern Conservation Trust (SCT) board of directors, addressed Council, saying the SCT's mission was to enhance the quality of life through conservation in the community. Line Creek Nature Area was the most popular site, with approximately 30,000 visitors each year. Since 1993, SCT had managed nature areas in the City and invested $25,000 - $30,000 annually. The Flat Creek Nature Area near The Fred had a 1,200-foot boardwalk that gave visitors a glimpse into the 513-acre forested wetland. Another popular site at Flat Creek was near the Taco Bell on Crosstown Court, where the wetland area had eroded due to people taking their golf carts into the area. SCT had turned part of the area into an official trail and had blocked other parts of the area to control access. In addition to the 583 acres SCT managed in Peachtree City, SCT managed another 1,845 acres located not only in Fayette County, but others as well, that had tributaries that went to the Flint River. Some of those areas were open to the public, including the newly-opened 308-acre nature area known as The Ridge in Fayetteville. Partners in The Ridge included Clayton State University and Gordon College, and both were conducting wildlife studies at the nature area. Fayetteville was leveraging its hotel/motel tax to develop The Ridge, which was located at the end of Burch Road. Future phases included a gazebo, outdoor classroom, picnic shelters, and a nature center. Only three acres of The Ridge would have been disturbed upon completion of those projects. SCT, along with multiple partners, was also developing a seven-mile paddle trail on along Whitewater Creek, beginning at The Ridge and going to Starr's Mill. Qualls said a "hike and like" event was scheduled at Line Creek on September 25. The ribbon-cutting for the new stormwater detention/wetlands area at Line Creek (partnership between City, SCT, and Trinity Development) would also be held that same day at 2:00 p.m. Minutes August 4, 2016, Executive Session Minutes September 1, 2016, Regular Meeting Minutes King moved to approve the August 4, 2016, executive session minutes and the September 1, 2016, regular meeting minutes as written. Learnard seconded. Motion carried 4-0-1 (Ernst). City Council Minutes September 15, 2016 Page 2 Monthly Reports There were no comments on the Monthly Reports. Consent Agenda 1. Consider Non-Profit Funding Agreement- Fayette Senior Services 2. Consider Non-Profit Funding Agreement- Promise Place Learnard moved to approve Consent Agenda items 1 and 2. Ernst seconded. Motion carried unanimously. Old Agenda Items 06-16-06 Update on County-wide Branding Initiative Fayette County Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Carlotta Ungaro gave an update on the initiative. Branding was the term for the identity of a product, service, organization, individual, or marketplace built through marketing and messaging. She noted the County-wide branding had come out of the Fayette Visioning plan, saying that branding was important to economic development, talent recruitment (the County had trouble keeping millennials and young families), and community cohesiveness. The Fayette County Development Authority (FCDA) was in the process of attracting jobs and capital investment in the County using a good branding campaign. A very specialized marketing company was required for developing a brand, and Requests for Proposals (RFPs) were sent out. Nine proposals were returned, and the list was narrowed to three companies that were interviewed by the committee. DCI of New York City was selected, and Ungaro pointed out the company only did community marketing and had been in business since 1960. They had worked with more than 450 communities, states, and countries. The team had done their homework prior to the interview. The budget for the branding campaign had been set at $90,000, and DCI's proposal had been $79,963. The proposals ranged from $43,000 to $212,000. DCI planned to visit Fayette County for two days in October for an immersion tour. Ungaro said she was working on a schedule to get them around the County in that time. The recommendations and the brand should be back by mid to late March. Ungaro said things would be quiet for a few months, and she would come back with a report anytime Council desired. New Agenda Items 09-16-03 Consider FY 2017 Budget for Keep Peachtree City Beautiful Keep Peachtree City Beautiful (KPTCB) Executive Director Al Yougel asked Council to approve the FY 2017 budget. He noted that he had been asked by the Mayor and Council to get a local chapter of Keep America Beautiful started in 2008, and the charter had been received by the end of 2009. The motivating force at the time was a litter problem. He continued that the problem was actually with litterers. The key elements of KPTCB's success were the support from the City, courts, Public Works, Public Safety, probation, and community service workers, with the assistance of mature, reliable, motivated supervisors and funding. Yougel continued that 63% of households in the City were recycling, noting there had been an increase in the drop off of glass recycling since residential carriers had stopped taking it in February 2016. During the last year, KPTCB had taken care of 55 trash cans on the cart paths, II seven dog stations, and a lot of special events held in the City. More than 1.2 million pounds of recyclables had been dropped off, and KPTCB had received $15,700 from the sale of the recyclables. Eight thousand five hundred (8,500) hours had been spent by Community Service workers picking up litter on 83 miles of streets and approximately 100 miles of cart paths. Two City Council Minutes September 15, 2016 Page 3 thousand six hundred (2,600) Community Service workers had logged 21,200 hours. The recycling program included 110 bins located at 11 schools in the City and seven municipal buildings, as well as placing bins at special events held in the City. The Rockaway Road compost site was open for 625 hours, had 17,500 vehicle visits, chipped 1,100 (or more) Christmas trees, and was the collection site for more than 228,000 pounds of "stuff" during the City's annual spring clean-up held the first weekend in May. To date, KPTCB had collected 63 truckloads and 26 trailer loads of trash from the path system. The trash removed from the path system also included limbs and grass clippings residents illegally dumped in the greenbelt and along the path. The concerns were the pull cost of the recyclables compared to the commodity values, the collection of paper and cardboard at schools, vehicle replacement, and commercial trash activity. Yougel continued that KPTCB received funding from a $1 franchise fee for every household with garbage service per quarter, which was collected quarterly from the approved residential garbage and recycling companies. He asked Council to consider increasing the fee to help make up the shortfall in revenue the organization received from recycling companies for materials dropped off at the Recycling Station, which had decreased from $26,000 annually to $15,000 due to the reduction in value of recyclables. The revenues received from all the recyclables had gone down, while the cost to have the recycle containers had gone up. The more successful they were, the less money they got, Yougel said. The proposed budget for FY 2017 was $158,130. Anticipated revenues included the $43,600 in the waste haulers franchise fee; $18,400 from recyclables/Earth Day/fees; $50,370 for the litter/compost contract; and $45,760 for cart path litter/trash pick-up. Expenditures were also estimated at $158,130; however, there were no allocations for facility improvements or capital reserves. The estimate to have the 20-yard bins pulled was $56,700 ($14,175 per quarter), which was a $5,500 increase. Yougel noted that the total for insurance for KPTCB was $7,000 annually. Learnard asked Yougel what he needed. Yougel said an increase in the franchise fee was needed as well as a tax/fee for commercial haulers in the hopes those carriers would handle the garbage in a more responsible manner. He noted that he often saw trash flying out of the garbage collection trucks when they were in the City. Learnard asked Yougel to submit a proposal to Council. City Manager Jon Rorie said the City had increased the KPTCB budget though the General Fund to help balance out the issues. Staff had also discussed an increase in the franchise fees. He said they had to figure out a way to address the issues with the commercial haulers. Yougel said the fee should be increased from $1 to $2 per customer per quarter. He reiterated his feelings that the City needed to establish the same requirements for the commercial haulers as were in place for the residential companies. Learnard moved to approve the FY 2017 budget for KPTCB. King seconded. Motion carried unanimously. Council/Staff Topics Discuss Lake Peachtree Spillway Design Rich Greuel of Integrated Science & Engineering (ISE) said the team had come up with some options since the June 7 workshop, when they had discussed the various types of spillways with Council. Dan Davis of ISE, Randy Bass and JR Collins from Schnabel, and Annette Bowman would discuss the ancillary areas around the dam. City Council Minutes September 15,2016 Page 4 Greuel said the challenge with the project was to rip out and replace the spillway without increasing flooding upstream or downstream and still making it compliant with all the state regulations. Bass said a decision had been made in 2014 to keep the dam at Category 2, which would not require any oversight from the state. However, the state could change the regulations at any time and require the dam be Category 1 again, so Council's direction was to have the spillway and dam meet the Category 1 criteria so no further work would be necessary. He noted the recent floods in South Carolina, saying if that had happened here under the current conditions, the dam would have washed out and there would no longer be a Lake Peachtree. Presently, the spillway could handle a 100-year storm (eight inches in 24 hours), but that South Carolina had had 22 inches, most of it in 24 hours. To meet all the criteria, the team considered a three-stage piano key weir with the piano keys at different elevations. The advantages of this type of weir included it mimicking the existing discharge rates of the existing spillway (100-year discharge would be 99.7% of current discharge, resulting in minimal increase in threat to downstream properties). It would mimic the flood elevation of the lake [100-year flood elevation within 0.03 feet (1/3 inch) of current flood elevation resulting in minimal increase in threat to upstream properties as a result of spillway management]. There would also be no mechanical devices to maintain or replace, which meant minimum long- term maintenance costs. The current Georgia Safe Dams Category 1 Design Standards would be met. Bass continued that there had been a lot of analysis of piano key weirs, but none had been constructed in the United States to date. Schnabel's office in Greensboro, N.C., was currently designing one for construction next year. A three-stage piano key weir was unique, and special modeling had to be done to understand how it would work. Collins said the piano key design features included Stage 1 for control of normal pool and smaller storms (at normal pool). Stage 2 controlled 100-year flood events (two feet above normal pool). Stage 3 controlled extreme flood events (4.5 feet about normal pool). A parapet wall would increase the dam height by approximately 1.4 feet via a berm along the northern face of the dam. Upstream channel improvements would improve the channel to the spillway to ensure flows could reach the spillway without causing upstream flood increases. The two low and middle stage keys would be in the middle, with the bigger keys on the outside. The area at the edge of the peninsula would be shaved down and used as borrowed material to allow for a smoother transition between the lake and the spillway, which would keep the spillway as functional as possible while providing the contractor the borrow material needed for a coffer dam to keep the work area safe. During construction, Bass said the lake would have to be lowered, but not drained. The dam would be built during hurricane season (September through November), so the chances of flooding would be minimized. Vegetation growth would also be minimized during that time. A coffer dam (a temporary watertight enclosure that is pumped dry to expose the bottom of a body of water so that construction can occur, The Free Dictionary) would be constructed to protect the work area. The entire dam site would be closed for the duration of the construction. Kelly Drive/McIntosh Trail would remain open, and Fayette County Water System and the City's Public Works employees would have access. Rorie referred to future changes in the Environmental Protection Division's (EPD) regulations, asking about the possibility of installing manual gates. Rorie said the purpose of the gate would be to help relieve the pressure on the lake, and it would not have ballasts and compressors and a City Council Minutes September 15, 2016 Page 5 lot of mechanical parts. Greuel said the gate would be more of a valve, turned by a wheel that was turned by hand. Lee Pope of the Fayette County Water System said the design would meet the regulations for the minimum flow downstream, which was not being met at this time. Water stream gauges were installed above and below all of the reservoirs to ensure aquatic life was maintained. When the reservoir would get too low, no water would be released. A 30-inch drain was located next to the intake structure in the dam, and it was the only drain in the reservoir. The drain was 60 years old, and it had not released enough water to keep the reservoir drained during the dredging done earlier in the year. The drain had also broken at one point, and divers were brought in to make repairs. If the drain was the only release structure, it would have to be upgraded. Pope recommended adding another drain to the new spillway structure, something that could be operated manually in the event of an emergency so the minimum flow downstream could be maintained. The cost impact should be minimal at this time. King asked what the cost would be. Bass said a 30 or 36-inch gate would cost$10,000-$15,000 for installation. Rorie said this was the time to capitalize the cost over the next 50 years, and the opportunity was here to do it right. They had to look at the long-term investment when spending pennies on the dollar in today's dollars compared to going back and fixing with tomorrow's dollars. Pope said the additional drain might not ever be used, but they should think about it. He said the weir design was ingenious, and the team had done an excellent job on design and research. Greuel explained that a coffer dam was a temporary dam that would keep the worksite from flooding during a rain event. Rorie asked if it would be possible for the lake to fill to the coffer dam with the one drain. Rorie said the coffer dam could help with the "weather permitting" issue. Bass said there could be storm that would wash out the coffer dam. To minimize that possibility, they had talked about lowering Lake Kedron in the event of a big storm, and Lake Kedron could be used for flood storage so the coffer dam did not wash out. Learnard asked if there would still be a downstream flow with the coffer dam in place. Bass said there would. Learnard asked how the elevation of the piano key weir would compare to the current spillway. Bass said the lowest stage would be at the current spillway elevation. She asked how much higher the other keys would be. Greuel said the second low key would be approximately two feet higher, and the outer keys would be four feet higher than the lowest key (first stage). Davis said they had hoped to preserve the existing spillway and build the piano key weir behind it, but it would not fit, and that was the reason for the coffer dam. The existing spillway had to be demolished. The construction should be done by June 2018. The lake would be lowered in August 2017 for the construction, but not to the same extent as it had been for the dredging, and the water would be back in April 2018. The anticipated construction cost of the spillway was approximately $3.1 million, Greuel said. The recommended contingency was 15% ($465,000). The number had been checked by the contractor who worked on Lake McIntosh. The team would continue to refine the numbers as the designed progressed. Fleisch asked if the permits and timing were on the right path. Rorie confirmed they were still on schedule with the permitting. City Council Minutes September 15, 2016 Page 6 Greuel discussed the multi-use path considerations, noting the existing system split the cart path on Kelly Drive/McIntosh Trail bridge. There was no separation between the vehicles and golf carts. Pedestrians needed to step into automobile traffic lanes to allow carts to pass. The alternatives considered included reconfiguring the existing roadway bridge, realigning the existing path, and constructing a new path to an alternate bridge. Greuel said one recommended alternative was to construct a new cart path by the Community Garden to the existing Boxwood Court bridge (Phase 1), adding there was only a 300-foot difference in distance. Challenges were anticipated with the path reconfiguration, Greuel said, adding that people had been using the current path since 1990. The Boxwood Court bridge wqs a single-lane bridge measuring seven feet wide. Phase 2 would be to construct a new path along the dam after the construction was finished. Bowman discussed the potential park improvements, recommending a parking area near the spillway. For those interested in getting around the lake, Bowman suggested giving everyone an opportunity to do what they enjoyed while still being able to get from place to place. The path users would be able to get through on the paths, or they could sit and just gaze out over the water. She believed in crime prevention through environmental design, adding that a police officer would be able to easily drive through the parking lot and see what was going on. There were opportunities to enjoy the lake or continue on around the lake. Bowman also recommended thinning out some of the vegetation so people could visually enjoy the lake. Learnard asked about the parapet wall. Greuel said that would be a berm, which would raise the height of the dam so it would not be overtopped during a flood event. Sometimes it was an actual wall. In this case, not that much height was needed, so they were planning a landscaped berm that would blend in to the surroundings. He estimated the bridge and cart path improvements at $800,000. A bridge over the spillway would be 15 feet wide (standard was 12 feet but this would allow people to be walking on the bridge as well as golf carts) by 160 feet long and would cost $400,000 - $450,000. The supports for the bridge would be engineered into the spillway, and the bridge could be added later. Permitting would not be needed. Fleisch asked when the trees on the other side of the dam would be taken down. Rorie said staff would start cleaning underbrush along with the construction. Fleisch asked what was needed from Council at this time. Rorie said the work done so far was based on the charrette held during the June workshop. They wanted to be very public with what would be going on, and they did not want the engineers to design a piano key weir and find out it was not wanted in a few months. The purpose was to begin construction in August 2017, and if they were going to meet that target, they had to start the design work now. Council indicated agreement with moving forward in designing the tiered piano key weir spillway presented that night. Davis said the team planned to be back before Council with periodic updates and refinements in the cost estimates. Rorie reported that the work on Senoia Road for the MacDuff Parkway bridge was on target and moving forward. He had shared that information with Tyrone Town Manager Kyle Hood. City Engineer Dave Borkowski said the anticipated opening of the road to through traffic would be between October 1 and October 15. A four-way stop would be created at the intersection with the extension of Kedron Drive, and there would be a work area in that vicinity for bridge pieces and equipment. Police Chief Janet Moon addressed the possible routes for school buses, saying the Department was working with Roxanne Owen and Doe Evans at the Fayette County Board of Education. The City Council Minutes September 15, 2016 Page 7 buses would either continue to use Senoia Road or would turn around at Belvedere. They planned to keep the crossing guard at Crabapple Elementary School. Learnard reported that she crossed the 5K finish line at the Divas Half-Marathon & 5K held on September 10, adding the route was great and Public Services were great. O'Conor said the organization was looking at coming back to the City, but in the spring of 2018 instead of the fall. Executive Session An executive session was not needed, according to 4,4c144-Sumner, who was filling in for City Attorney Ted Meeker. There being no further business, Learnard moved to adjourn the meeting. Ernst seconded. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 8:58 p.m. kik N , 0/1*-Alk 14. Pamela Dufresne, u'�•uty City Clerk Vanessa Fleisch, Mayor