HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/10/2020 Study Session Meeting Summary Minutes X .:,
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MARANA AZ
ESTABLISHED 1977
MARANA TOWN COUNCIL
STUDY SESSION
11555 W. Civic Center Drive, Marana, Arizona 85653
Council Chambers, November 10, 2020 at or after 6:00 PM
Ed Honea, Mayor
Jon Post,Vice Mayor
Patti Comerford, Council Member
Jackie Craig, Council Member
Herb Kai, Council Member
John Officer, Council Member
Roxanne Ziegler, Council Member
SUMMARY MINUTES
CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL:
Mayor Honea called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM and directed the Clerk to call the
roll. Mayor Honea,Vice Mayor Post, Council Members:Jackie Craig,Patti Comerford,
Roxanne Ziegler,John Officer, and Herb Kai.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE/INVOCATION/MOMENT OF SILENCE: Led by Mayor
Honea.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA:
Council Member Ziegler moved and Council Member Kai second the motion approving
the agenda as presented. Motion passes unanimously, 7-0.
DISCUSSION/DIRECTION/POSSIBLE ACTION
D1 Relating to Mayor and Council; selection of the Vice Mayor (Cherry L. Lawson)
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Mayor Honea moved and Council Member Comerford second the motion to appoint
Vice Mayor Jon Post to continue to serve as Vice Mayor for a two-year term.
Mayor Honea asked for a roll call vote.
Ayes: Mayor Honea,Vice Mayor Post, Council Members Comerford, Craig,
Kai, and Officer.
Nays: Council Member Ziegler
Motion passes, 6-0.
D2 Relating to Development; Discussion and direction concerning proposed
regional public infrastructure deal points for a development agreement for the
Mandarina development project located north of I-10, north and northwest of the
Tangerine Road traffic interchange (Jane Fairall)
Town Attorney Jane Fairall introduced former Town Attorney Frank Cassidy who
provided an overview of the Mandarina development project.
Mr. Cassidy highlighted the below concerns and deal points:
• Lack of infrastructure in the area, and having someone to upfront the cost to have
it installed. How best to deal with reimbursing the developer for the oversizing of
the infrastructure. The four infrastructure items are:
o First, is a 15-inch sewer that connects to the Tangerine Downtown Sewer
that the Town installed a few years ago at Moore Road,and the future Clark
Farms Road intersection. It will go underneath the freeway up to the
western tip of Mandarina.
• It will be sized for the whole area, but more than half of its size
would be available for other developments.
o The second is the off-site water, 16-inch water line. The line will end in
front of the Quik Trip Gas Station.
• It will go under the freeway, under the Union Pacific Railroad; it has
to go inside a 32-inch pipe.
• A 16-inch pipe is located inside of a sleeve that goes across
that. An expensive piece of construction will go to the
intersection of Mandarina Boulevard.
• At that point, a 12-inch line will go into Mandarina. The town
will only talk about the 16-inch line that goes to Tangerine
Road. That 16-inch line will continue eastward and connect to
the system that the town built in the Marana Technology
Park. 1
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o The third set of infrastructure is the series of drainage improvements. A
drainage improvement runs along the eastside of Mandarina, then travels
along Tangerine and runs along Union Pacific Railroad. It then connects to
a second regional drainage facility, referred to as Regional Detention
Basin.
• A northern channel that collects drainage from that sub-region, and
takes it to that detention basin.
o A fourth area of infrastructure is non-potable.There is a requirement within
zoning requiring them to serve the property with non-potable. However,
the property is not located within the CMID district.
• In order from the easiest to the most difficult, the 15-inch sewer.
• The Town is proposing on the 15-inch sewer to have that as a
protective facility under the Town's current Protective Facilities
Ordinance that is located in the Utilities Chapter of the Town Code.
• Protecting that facility, the Town would bring as part of the
Development Agreement a Proposed Protected Facility fee, and
other property owners who would connect to that, primarily the
Tortolita Shadows to the north and to the former Deconsini property
located further east. That sewer could potentially serve property as
well as LA Mirage depending on how they would provide service to
the area.
• There is nearly 3,000 units of capacity available inside of that 15-inch
line.
• The first deal point would be to authorize Town staff to move forward with
identifying this as a Protective Facility, so to establish a fee that others looking to
connect would pay. It would be a per unit charge for connection.
• The second deal point would address the water facility. The 16-inch water facility
will be part of the inner-connect. The Town's long-term goal is to inner-connect all
of its satellite water systems. The Town's Infrastructure Impact Fee Program for
Water Facilities will continue to include inner-connections.
o The Town would propose for the 16-inch water line, the Town would
initially ask for a protected facility designation for that facility as well. The
Town would then anticipate adding that 16-inch project to the Town's
Impact Fee Program for the Water Infrastructure Impact Fee. Once it is in
the Impact Fee Program, then others would simply pay the impact fee, and
Mandarina would certainly be entitled to a credit against the impact fee.
o Propose to move forward and allow them to credit their full infrastructure
impact fee until that facility is reimbursed. Doing so, would allow
Mandarina to receive reimbursement quickly.
Vice Mayor Post stated the Town could do both, but that it could remain a protected
facility until the infrastructure impact fee is in place. He asked whether it would remain
protected while the Town collects the fee on it. Mr. Cassidy replied stating that is correct.
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Under state law,there is a two-year moratorium period.If someone initiates a subdivision
before the Town's impact fee is in place, they will have two years that they would not
have to pay the impact fee. The Town would leave the protected facility fee in place to
cover the entire time-period so to recoup those fees, also for others who wish to tap into
it.
Mr. Cassidy explained the question for the Council is whether it is comfortable is
allowing the Town to reimburse the full amount of the infrastructure impact fee, until
Mandarina is reimburse; or, make it less.
• The third piece of infrastructure is to take all of those drainage facilities together.
One way to pay for critical infrastructure is the drainage facilities are regional
drainage facilities that are certainly critical infrastructure, is to get a developer to
upfront them. If there is a developer who is willing to upfront the cost of that
critical infrastructure, that appears to be a logical way to do that.
o The Town would propose, like the 16-inch water line, the Town would
suggest that it expand its protected facility program to include drainage
facilities.
o It would require a Town Code amendment that would come before the
Council for its approval. The Council could consider the amendment on
the same day as the Development Agreement. That way when the Town
constructs a drainage facility, it can be reimbursed through the protected
facility charges.When a developer builds a facility,it would be reimbursed
and paid those fees. Currently, the Town does not have an impact fee for
drainage; however, it could eventually end up having (as it has been
discussed among staff; however, have not determined a good approach to
it.) one.
o The fallback approach is to do a protected facility. As another development
needs to drain into this series of facilities, you determine how much flow
will come from that development. Then you determine how much capacity
is taken up, and you develop a fee for it. It is the same concept of putting
water through a pipe.
Mr. Cassidy acknowledged Clint Glass who handles these types of issues is in the
audience and could speak to Council on this matter.
Vice Mayor Post stated he would like to address some drainage concerns that may or
may not be pertaining to the development agreement. Mr. Cassidy stated anything
related to Mandarina is up for discussion. He continued explaining the deal points.
• Related to the drainage facility, the Town suggests it go ahead and establish the
protected facilities fees for each of those three facilities. The trouble with that is if
you are the developer, and you only rely on that, that developer would not be
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paid back until there is 100% development in the area. That is, until all of those
facilities are completely filled-up. A significant portion of the future flows into
this area is areas owned by State Lands. The Town has no idea of when that will
come forward. Having these facilities in place, will make other development able
to come forward.
o The Town would recommend that Council would allow a reimbursement
from Construction Sales Tax generated by the Mandarina Development.
That is, if they generate the Construction Sales Tax, it comes back to them.
If others develop with water going into those facilities, those other
developments would pay those protected facilities fees.Those fees are used
to payback Mandarina. In using this approach, the revenues are generated
by the development.
o If Council is okay with this concept, what remains to be discussed is how
much of the Construction Sales Tax would be used to reimburse them. We
have four pennies ($.004) of Construction Sales Tax. By resolution, three of
those four pennies are set aside for transportation. The Tangerine Corridor
Project has been discussed for years, and the design concept report for that
drainage comes to this facility. In north Marana, one of the cross sections
for our major roads includes drainage facilities.
o The three pennies that has been set aside for transportation ought to be
used to reimburse this developer for these drainage facilities. Once those
facilities are paid in full, the remaining of those dollars come back to the
Town, and the Town should leave the protected facilities in place. Despite
the developer being fully paid, the Town wants to be repaid as well.
Town Engineer Keith Brann commented on the map sent to Council by the Tortolita
Alliance organization stating that study was part of the Northwest Drainage Study the
Town performed over the last year or two. That study was a refinement of the Tortolita
Fan Study the Town did to change or affect the FEMA map. FEMA was going to put the
entire northwest into the floodplain. CMG Drainage conducted that study as well with
FEMA that affected the flood insurance rate maps. The study the Town conducted two
years ago was a refinement of that study with modern software, better computing power
and better typography. That it did not change the risk of flooding; however, showed us
a much better fashion where the water actually went. The risk hazards were unchanged,
but that it resulted in the Town knowing how much water there was.
He continued stating from that point, the Town was able to model improvements that
changed the floodplain. That was the purpose of that study; namely does the Barnett
Channel work, it does. The Town learned that as long as you take it up to the cap and
capture the water at the overshoot. That was a big part of that study. The other part to
that study involved looking at west of the river as well as the Marana Airport area. That
led to another project, which is to remap the airport and get it out of the floodplain. That
process is moving very well,and the Town has been receiving and providing information
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back from FEMA. The Town looks to have that completed, but not necessarily out of the
floodplain, the knowledge of the floodplain by years end. However, there is a timeframe
before FEMA moves forward to remap the area. It is likely to be completed sometime
next year.
The map that the Tortolita Alliance emailed to Council is the current effective floodplain
of the Tortolita Fan, FEMA mapping. If you were in one of the blue areas, you would
have to have flood insurance. Mr. Brann mentioned one of the comments from the
Tortolita Alliance related to floodplain and this agreement related to the standard of care,
or the "100 year" flood. The Town does not like to use the term of 100-year flood, as it is
a misnomer—people think there is a flood every 100 years. It is not. He explained how
the 100-year is defined, as 1/100 or one (1%) percent of occurring every year including
back-to-back years. FEMA uses the term base flood, which the map is based upon;
standard floodplain.
Tortolita Alliance ask why the Town does not use the 200-year flood or the 500-year flood.
That is not the standard of care across the nation—the nation uses the 100-year flood
except in cases where there is critical infrastructure.Critical facilities do design to a higher
standard. Development does not design to that standard. That is more of a policy
standard that is used across the country.
Council expressed concern with the ponding of water and its potential affect the Town
drainage channels and neighboring structures in the future. Mr. Brann explained it is the
policy of the Town when there is development especially in that area, a developer is not
allowed to increase the flow leaving the site greater than that of the existing conditions.
That is the purpose of the basin, to hold the water and metered it out at the existing flow
rate. However, that only applies to the regional water that is intercepted by those ditches
brought to those basins. Every drop of water that fall onto Mandarina is under the
northwest policy, which is full retention.
Clint Glass of CMG Drainage Engineering, Inc. provided an explanation of the
oversizing of the drainage stating when they had done the FEMA Flood Insurance Study
Map in 2011 was to study two types of storms for the FEMA mapping. It is referred to as
the regional type of storm. They looked at 3.5 to 4 inches of rainfall over the entire
watershed, which is approximately 165 sq. miles. The runoff from that was determined
that the flow-depth were mapped, that is the basis of the FEMA Floodplain Mapping.
He continued stating one of the requirements of the Town from that study was to analyze
a non-regional storm,which looked at the possibility of higher intensity rainfall than that
of FEMA requirements for the 100-year flood. That resulted in a mapping of
determination for peak discharge that is based on 4.5 to 5 inches of rainfall during a 24-
hour period over 165 sq. miles. That is in excess of what is required by FEMA, which
would place the standards of most communities at requires. The level of safety is built-
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into the determination of the peak discharge rate of which the channels were designed to
handle. That is a factor of safety and is not related to a 200-year storm per se. However,
they have accounted for a higher intensity of rainfall over that large area in sizing the
channels.
Council continued discussing the drainage concerns within the community and across
the highway related to water being metered and possible overflows, how it will be
handled, and future cost involved for the Town.
Vice Mayor Post and Mayor Honea asked whether any of the Transportation Impact
Fees collected would assist the Town with Tangerine Roadway widening. Mr. Brann
replied stating Tangerine Roadway is in the Impact Fee Program for Phase 2. All
development in the northeast would pay for Tangerine Roadway. Actually,that is project
is in the northwest, and CAP Canal would benefit—not Tangerine Roadway.
Mr. Cassidy stated based on last year's mediation agreement with Mandarina, they are
paying for the permanent part of the road that goes through Mandarina. By paying for
that permanent road, it will become part of the Impact Fee Program. They will get impact
fee credits for the money that they are putting in for those permanent improvements. The
Town believes there will be some additional money after the credits given Mandarina.
As Mr. Brann stated, to the extent it goes beyond that, would be applied to the other
impact fee to the Northwest Roadway Impact Fee.
Mayor Honea stated after this project is build, the Town would need to have a structure
of the CAP, and a stop light on Tangerine. Although it is not necessary today, eventually
the Town will build that. He had hoped that the Town would be able to generate some of
those funds with this project, as it will serve this project immensely. Mr. Brann replied
stating it is his understanding of the agreement that it is a supercharge payback to the
developers. For the next several years, all monies generated from this development will
be to payback the developer. Mayor Honea expressed concern that Marana would likely
have to use General Fund dollars to pay for some of the roadway construction in the
future.
Council Member Ziegler asked what the numbers are for the project in that area. Chad
Rodriguez stated for regional improvements, the estimate comes out to over $23M; they
are not being reimbursed for all of that. Based on some of their concept for plans of
residential, commercial, light industrial, office and other opportunities that exist with
Mandarina for them to move forward, with Construction Sales Tax and Impact Fees, he
shows over $32M that is generated for the total build-out for Mandarina. They are not
requesting all of that back, not even 50% of it. They are requesting pay back on the front
end. They are the financing mechanism that gets the infrastructure build, as they are not
requesting reimbursement from the Town upfront. He stated they would do that. They
wish to have pay back. One of the items discussed is the drainage that is a concern for
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everyone. They look at the project from a cost aspect. They are only using 25% capacity
from that channel on the north-end up to the pond. However, their request is for $.75
reimbursement on the entire stretch even though down near Tangerine Road, he believes
they would only use 10% of the channel. The rest is open to allow others to come in and
use.
Vice Mayor Post thanked Mr. Rodriguez for not adding a CFD to the project. Mr.
Cassidy replied stating as part of the agreement last year, it does allow Mandarina to
request a CFD.
EXECUTIVE SESSIONS
Pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.03, the Town Council may vote to go into executive session,
which will not be open to the public, to discuss certain matters.
El Executive Session pursuant to A.R.S. §38-431.03 (A), Council may ask for
discussion or consideration, or consultation with designated Town representatives, or
consultation for legal advice with the Town Attorney, concerning any matter listed on
this agenda for any of the reasons listed in A.R.S. §38-431.03 (A).
FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS
Notwithstanding the Mayor's discretion regarding the items to be placed on the agenda,
if three or more Council members request that an item be placed on the agenda, it must
be placed on the agenda for the second regular Town Council meeting after the date of
the request, pursuant to Marana Town Code Section 2-4-2(B).
ADJOURNMENT
Mayor Honea asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting.
Vice Mayor Post, moved and Council Member Officer second the motion to adjourn the
meeting. Motion passes unanimously, 7-0. Meeting adjourned at 7:18 PM.
CERTIFICATION
I hereby certify that the foregoing are the true and correct minutes for the Study Session
Meeting of the Marana Town Council meeting held on November 10, 2020. I further
certify th. : quorum was present.
Cherry4„.040
L. A4i666«
awson, Town n Clerk
MARANA Z
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