CITY OF PEORIA, ARIZONA PINE ROOM MAY 16, 2006 A Study Session Meeting of the City Council of the City of Peoria, Arizona was convened at 8401 W. Monroe Street in open and public session at 4:05 p.m. Members Present: Mayor John Keegan, Vice Mayor Vicki Hunt; Councilmembers Cathy Carlat, Patricia Dennis, Joan Evans, and Carlo Leone. Members Absent: None. Other Municipal Officials Present: Terrence Ellis, City Manager; Susan Thorpe, Deputy City Manager; Carl Swenson, Deputy City Manager, John Wenderski, Deputy City Manager; Constance Copeland, Assistant City Clerk; Neil Mann, Stephen Bontrager, Glen Van Nimwegen, Robert McKibben, J.P. de la Montaigne, Kirk Haines, Chad Daines, Sandy Teetsel, and Carolyn Hinderliter. Audience: Approximately 20 Mayor Keegan announced that because of the high summer temperatures, “no coat” attire for male employees at City Hall was appropriate until after Labor Day. Subject for Discussion only: Potential Annexation – 640 Acres West of Vistancia John Wenderski, Deputy City Manager, introduced the general plan amendment and annexation for 640 acres located abutting the municipal boundary at Dixileta Drive and 135th Avenue. The general plan amendment requests a redesignation of a portion of the 640 acre property. The potential annexation requests were presented in August 2005. Based on Staff recommendations and due to water and wastewater issues in the area, the potential annexation was tabled at that time. The developers have been working to resolve the complex issues and in November Staff met with the property owners and developer. It was decided that the developers would fund a contract for consultants to resolve the water issues. Glen Van Nimwegen, Community Development Director, opened his presentation on the 640 acre annexation describing the context of the area. Currently the residential estate allows up to zero - two units per acre with the target density of one unit per acre. The applicant has asked to increase the density on the parcel up to the residential load destination which allows two – five units per acre with a medium density of three units per acre. The open space area is not a part of the request. Out of the 640 acres, the applicants are asking for 502 acres to increase in density from one unit per acre to target density of three units per acre. Mayor Keegan asked about the open space area and if they are anticipating the density transfer in that area to preserve the open space. Mr. Nimwegen explained that because of the slopes on the property, Staff recommends approving up to one unit per acre over 130 acres; that density will move on to the flat lands. In response to Councilmember Evans, Mr. Nimwegen clarified that the whole 640 acres is recommended at 2.7 units per acre. There would be more density in the flat lands to make up what cannot be developed in the open space area. Discussion ensued covering topics regarding concern over the increased density. The parcel is made up of different landowners. Staff has been working with eleven different landowners owning thirteen different parcels ranging in size from five acres to 160 acres. Part of the Staff’s challenge is to hold all of these variables together and do a unified project. Councilmember Dennis asked about commercial land usage. Discussion followed on the location of commercial support, including the neighborhood of Vistancia. Councilmember Carlat asked about the location of the 640 acre, bordering on the edge of Surprise. Discussion ensued regarding the commercial nodes within the area. Mr. Wenderski focused the discussion on several items: 1) Transportation 2) Water and Wastewater 3) Services: Police, Fire/EMS and solid waste collection Mr. Wenderski explained that Staff would address the challenges for each of these areas and possible solutions in today’s report. David Moody, City Engineer, reported on the development process for transportation. This process requires information on who wants to build, what they want to build and when it will be built. Once that is determined, then road structure can be built and the water lines established. The topography needs to be considered. A coordinated transportation and utility master plan will need to be developed by the property owners and evaluated by the City to determine the phasing of infrastructure to support the planned development in this area. All the improvements including transportation are the responsibility of the individual property owners. Councilmember Carlat asked if there is enough solidarity within this group to ask them to enter into this large financial commitment together. Mr. Moody said that is their ultimate plan and as a group, they can afford to accomplish that. The City of Peoria has ultimate control in dictating to them what they have to build and the standard in which to build so that Police and Fire will be able to access their properties. Stephen Bontrager, Utilities Director, noted several points on providing water service to the entire 640 acres. One alternative is to enter into an agreement with Arizona-American Water Company, who would be responsible for providing service to the entire 640 acres to include an additional 480 acres to the south, if and when this area is brought into the City. Arizona-American would be responsible for providing the entire water infrastructure to this area working through the developers regarding wells, transmission lines, and reservoirs and boosters. Other issues that were considered: 1) The City must secure the right to place recovery wells within Arizona-American’s existing service area to facilitate use of the nearby Agua Fria Recharge Facility. 2) Arizona-American would like to be a long term participant in the Twin Buttes Water Facility helping to provide necessary redundancy to their water system. A conflict with the City’s water policy and the desire of the developers was noted. Councilmember Dennis asked if there were comparisons between the Arizona-American Water Company and other companies. Mayor Keegan asked about the joint APS/SRP power plant with regards to the annexation. It was noted that the Arizona-American Water Company already controls a large portion of the planning area and that Arizona-American would provide service for water issues only and not waste water. Councilmember Dennis expressed concern about the reliability of service and what would happen if the City had to accommodate the water services. Discussion included developing the treatment plant, looking at connecting the City’s main service areas through the connector from the West Wing Parkway up to Lone Mountain Road alignment and on a long term basis, looking at other ways of augmenting the area north of Bell Road. Councilmember Dennis continued by expressing concern that if something ever happened in this capacity what accommodations would be made for water for the future. Mr. Van Nimwegen reported that as part of the general plan amendment and the proposed annexation, Staff looked into the incremental impact on public safety with the development. There are two major service delivery providers: Police and Fire. For the Police, it is estimated that they will need eight additional employees and approximately an increase of $850,000 in the annual operating costs. With additional growth in the area, the Fire department will add additional fire stations with an estimation of $300,000 per year impact on their operating budget. Staff recommended approval of the general plan amendment and 640 acres annexation. Mayor Keegan inquired about the impact on public safety and his concern about the finite limit of service areas. Robert McKibben, Fire Chief, discussed the master plan for Fire service taking into account the planning area using the City’s General Plan as a resource. Right-of-Way Service Level Options Terry Ellis, City Manager, followed up on an earlier conversation which Council had about the Right-of-Way maintenance and some problems that happened last summer. The contract had some adjustment problems and Staff did a good job working with the contractor on getting on track. At this point, the contractor has done a good job. Since then, the Council, through the budget discussions has raised the issue of a different level of service, or a different standard in the Right-of-Way. In the future, a different level of service and a different standard may be considered. It was suggested not to make recommendations for changes to the levels of service at this point. J. P. de la Montaigne, Community Service Director, introduced the Staff in Parks and Right-of-Way Maintenance and presented 33 pictures of various locations and levels of service in the Right-of-Way. The presentation showed a comparison of different levels of service and city maintenance compared to HOA maintenance at different locations. Topics of discussion were: What is going on right now, what are the standards, what are the costs and what are the options. Recommendations were made: * Inventory current major arterials for development standards * Develop plan for plant standards/upgrades * Develop plan for granite landscaping upgrades * Develop plan for visual transition of public areas * Review alternative service levels Councilmember Dennis presented examples of Right-of-Way issues focusing on three categories of maintenance standards: Rural Natural, Urban Natural and Urban Sculpted. Discussion ensued regarding appropriate plant size, location of plants, suitable for area, plant type, and maintenance of plants in the right-of-way. Mayor Keegan asked Council to consider how much the City wanted to spend to maintain these areas. One thing that might be fair to fix are the issues that are not in the maintenance contract but are problems in the Right-of-Way. Graffiti needs to be continually addressed although Peoria is doing an excellent job on cleaning up graffiti. Mayor Keegan asked Staff to develop a plan to get more people actively involved with reporting graffiti to the City. Mr. de la Montaigne summarized by saying that Staff understands what the Council is asking for in the Right-of-Way. It is important for the Staff to hear about areas in the City that are working well. The recommendations that some larger shrubs get sized down will be considered and accomplished. The costs need to be realistic in order to get to the next level. There is good progress being made. Adjournment: Being no further business to come before the Council, the meeting was duly adjourned at 5:50 p.m. _____________________________________ John C. Keegan, Mayor ATTEST: __________________________________ Mary Jo Kief, City Clerk