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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/18/2003 Regular Council Meeting MinutesMINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MARANA TOWN HALL MARCH 18, 2003 PLACE AND DATE Marana Town Hall, March 18, 2003 I. CALL TO ORDER By Mayor Sutton at 7:04 p.m. II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Led by Mayor Sutton III. INVOCATION/MOMENT OF SILENCE Led by Mayor Sutton IV. ROLL CALL COUNCIL Bobby Sutton, Jr. Mayor Present Herb Kai Vice Mayor Present Jim Blake Council Member Present Patti Comerford Council Member Present Tim Escobedo Council Member Present Ed Honea Council Member Present Carol McGorray Council Member Present STAFF Mike Hein Town Manager Present Dan Hochuli Town Attorney Present Jim DeGrood Development Services Admin. Present Jocelyn Bronson Town Clerk Present Jaret Barr Assistant to the Town Manager Present Attached is a list of public attendees. V. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Upon motion by Council Member Escobedo, seconded by Council Member McGorray, the agenda was unanimously approved. VI. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES Upon motion by Council Member Honea, seconded by Council Member Blake, the minutes of the March 4, 2003 Council meeting were unanimously approved. 1 MINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MARANA TOWN HALL MARCH 18, 2003 VII. CALL TO THE PUBLIC/ANNOUNCEMENTS Marana Police Chief Richard Vidaurri spoke before the Council and introduced a newly hired officer, Officer Kevin Trapp. Juell Smith, longtime Marana resident, spoke to the Council regarding the possibility of renaming the Ora Mae Harn District Park for a Little League coach, Alan Ourada, who had recently passed away. Ms. Smith related that Mr. Ourada had been a baseball coach in Marana for 13 years and had touched the lives of over 1,200 kids during that time. Mayor Sutton asked that Ms. Smith provide the Town Clerk with the information regarding Mr. Ourada. David Graham, representing the New West sand and gravel operation, addressed the Council regarding noise complaints associated with backup alarms on the mining vehicles. He reported that, after completing an investigation, actions to remedy the noise annoyances had been put in place and included the replacement of the audible alarms with strobe lights as well as the suspension of mining operations after 9:00 p.m. until further safety information became available. He added that a meeting with Happy Acres neighborhood representatives had been scheduled for next Wednesday, March 26~, and he welcomed further talks to resolve the noise issues. Mayor Sutton thanked Mr. Graham for his efforts and asked to be kept abreast of the resolution process. Andy Peele, a Continental Ranch resident, spoke before the Council regarding air and light pollution associated with the New West mining operation. He said that he had filed an air pollution complaint with Pima County but that he did not hold much faith in acquiring a resolution from that agency. He emphasized that stricter adherence to the ordinances regulating mining operations would easily resolve the majority of the pollution problems. Ken Jenson, a Sunflower resident, thanked the Council for the opportunity to speak regarding his concerns related to air pollution. He identified himself as a representative of an air quality committee from the Sunflower Homeowners Association and, while acknowledging that the mining operation associated with the numerous noise, air and light pollution complaints was not located within "~ the Town boundaries, he asked that the Council support the committee's request for denial to New West of any permits for burning of used oil and tires. 2 MINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING.: MARANA TOWN HALL MARCH 18, 2003 Mr. Jenson noted that California had eliminated this practice because of the release of dangerous hydrocarbons, PCBs and heavy metals into the air and added that the local New West plant had been sited for violations of dioxins released into the air. He pointed out that the nuisance odor coming from the batch plant could also possibly deter newcomers to the developing northwest Marana area as well as hold down property values for current homeowners. Mayor Sutton commented that this was indeed a topic of concern to the Council and Town staff and that following the ordinances regulating mining operations more closely was key in reaching amicable solutions for all concerned parties. He said that it was evident that Mr. Graham and the New West mining operation's personnel were more than willing to work on these problems in tandem with the community and Town staff. Mr. Hein thanked Mr. Peele for his vigilance over this neighborhood problem and added that Mr. Peele and the Managers' staff had been working together on setting up the March 26~ meeting with Town staff, New West officials and the concerned residents. VIII. STAFF REPORTS There were no questions regarding the staff reports. IX. GENERAL ORDER OF BUSINESS A. CONSENT AGENDA 1. Resolution No. 2003-06: Agreement Between Town of Marana and FCD Marana Venture I, L.L.C., an Arizona limited liability company for Construction of Potable and Non-Potable Water Facilities and Provision of Water Utility Service (Brad DeSpain) 2. Resolution No. 2003-22: Canvass of the Vote, adopting the results of the Primary Election held on March 11, 2003 (Jocelyn Bronson) 3. Resolution No. 2003-23: Application for Liquor License: Location Transfer b a Corporation: Consideration of recommendation to State Liquor Board for a No. 07 (beer and wine) liquor license application submitted by Walter Brent Kyte, on behalf of Pizza Hut of Arizona, Inc., for Pizza Hut #301ocated at 4131 W. Ina Road (Jocelyn Bronson) 4. Proclamation: Proclaiming April 3-4, 2003 as VFW Red Poppy Days (Jocelyn Bronson) 3 MINUTES' OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MARANA TOWN HALL MARCH 18, 2003 5. Increase in Staffing: Request for one additional office support assistant position to support the Marana Operations Center (Jane Howell) Upon motion by Vice Mayor Kai, seconded by Council Member McGorray, the consent agenda was unanimously approved. B. COUNCIL ACTION 1. PUBLIC HEARING: Ordinance No. 2003.04: Amendment to Title 3, Section 03.02, Definitions, "Building Heights". A request to change the definition of Building Height, as described in the Town of Marana Land Development Code, title 3 -Definitions, Section 03.02 -Definitions "B", Building Height (Joel Shapiro) This item was continued from the February 18, 2003 Council meeting. Mayor Sutton called for speakers from the audience regarding this item. No speakers came forward and the Mayor declared the public hearing open and closed. '~"` Mr. DeGrood stated that this item had been originally scheduled for the February 18th Council meeting but was continued until this meeting in order to allow for the additional dialogue with the building community regarding the reasons for the request. He said that a series of builder forums had been conducted by the Town and that a number of homebuilders and Council members represented at these meetings were recommending an alternative motion for approval at this time. He briefly explained that the new recommendation which stated that the building height be redefined to measure from the finished floor of a structure to the highest point on the structure excluding vents, chimneys and antennas, provided that the finished floor was no greater than two feet above any grade within four feet of the structure. He added that it was also recommended that a process be established allowing future subdivisions to exceed the current 25-foot height limitation within residential zones provided that a special review occurred and that each request was brought before the Council for specific approval prior to plat processing. Council Member Blake motioned to approve Ordinance No. 2003.04 and further moved that staff be directed to prepare a potential "Building Height Increase Option', to be added to residential zoning classifications, ~. whereby requests for building heights that exceed the maximum allowable height per the code be brought to the council as a Council Action Item prior to consideration of the Preliminary Plat, and that any 4 iVIINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MARANA TOWN HALL MARCH I8, 2003 requests for building height increases for existing platted subdivisions be brought forward as Council Action Items. The motion was seconded by Council Member Comerford and Ordinance No. 2003.04 was unanimously approved. 2. Resolution No. 2003-19: Authorizing the approval and execution of an amendment to Development Agreements between the Town of Marana and Cottonwood Properties, Inc., and related Trust Entities, relating to the provision of regional water, trail and traffic improvements (Mike Hein) Jaret Barr, Assistant to the Town Manager, gave a brief outline of the proposed amendment to the current Development Agreement between the Town and Cottonwood Properties. He explained that the current agreement required that the capacity of the water pipeline be reserved exclusively for the Dove Mountain development but that, through down- zonings and environmental regulations, the densities within the development were lower than anticipated. He reported that Cottonwood Properties had entered into an agreement with land owners outside of ,~~ Dove Mountain in order to utilize a portion of their reserve pipeline capacity in exchange for reimbursement for a portion of the initial infrastructure costs. He pointed out that this agreement required Cottonwood Properties to apply the first $1 million and thereafter half of all revenues toward infrastructure costs that could be reimbursed from any sales tax revenue derived from the proposed resort hotel in the area. He further explained that the Town would receive one half of the revenue in excess of $1 million for the development of trails within the Tortolita Trail Master Plan, transportation system improvements related to the extension of Dove Mountain Boulevard to the new Twin Peaks Interchange, and other public improvements. He added that the Town would receive $550,000 for these improvements in the current calendar year. He continued by stating that the agreement identified the location of a 2-acre parcel that was to be dedicated to the Town for a trailhead parking lot to serve the Tortolita Trail Master Plan. He recommended approval of the proposed resolution. Upon motion by Council Member McGorray, seconded by Council Member Honea, Resolution No. 2003-19 was unanimously approved. 5 MINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MARANA TOWN HALL MARCH 18, 2003 3. State Legislative Issues - Discussion/Direction/Action regarding all pending bills before the Legislature (Mike Hein) Michael Racy, lobbyist, spoke before the Council regarding legislative issues of concern to the Town of Marana. He reported that the State Legislature was currently in special session to approve revisions to the fiscal 2003 budget in order to balance the budget for the current fiscal year. He said that the State's $300 million deficit needed to be resolved before the end of the fiscal year and that the legislators were able to reach an agreement after several false starts. He declared that the 2003 budget deficit had been resolved and that cities and towns were spared any additional burden in that resolution. He added that this was really the prelude to the main event which would be the 2004 budget which had a deficit in excess of $1 billion. He noted that the legislative proposal shifted approximately $170 million in expenses to the counties. He remarked that there were other incidental shifts that would impact cities and towns as well but that no proposals contemplated revisions, changes or reductions in State-shared revenues. ~~~ He emphasized that there was also widespread acknowledgement that neither the joint legislative budget committee proposal nor the governor's budget proposal were anywhere near what the ultimate resolution would be for the 2004 budget revisions. He went on to explain that one of the things that had spared the cities and towns on revenue sharing was that in order for the State to reduce revenue sharing it would have had to acquire a 2/3 vote of the House and Senate which was almost impossible to accomplish. He pointed out that the risk to Marana was a possible shift of additional state services to cities and towns which was the avenue the State had taken with counties. He listed State services that had been shifted to the counties including additional probation costs, restoration to competency costs, and a proposed shifting of all state prisoners incarcerated for less than 12 months to county facilities. He clarified that there was a list of approximately 12 other service transfers being proposed and emphasized his concern that there would be additional attempts to shift more items to cities as well. He reassured the Council by saying that he thought revenue sharing appeared to be safe for now. 6 MINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING - MARANA TOWN HALL MARCH 18, 2003 Mr. Racy continued with his report and updated the Council regarding enormous transfers being made from the HURF fund to aid in balancing the State's budget and that a sweep of virtually all unencumbered funds including the airport improvement fund had been made. He said that the transfers threatened to delay or terminate various projects at the Marana Northwest Regional Airport (MNRA) and other airports around Arizona. He disclosed that the Town was the leader of a coalition fighting against some of those funding shifts and that the group had been successful in preserving all of the MNRA projects for the time being. He confirmed that while there might be some minor adjustments in the cash flow schedule, it appeared that all of the airport projects that Marana currently had pending would be able to continue on the same schedule. He warned that there was both additional risk and opportunity for 2004 because the State was proposing to divert 50% of the .flight property tax into the general fund. He explained that initially the legislators were proposing this shift for a two year period and that he had lobbied the Governor's office for the opportunity to scale that shifting back to one year and to a figure less than the proposed 50% diversion. He stressed that there would still be a lot more activity in the airport area because all of these types of projects were long term capital improvement projects not only impacted by what had taken place in the 2003 budget but also by what would take place in the 2004 budget. He went on to say that there were many issues affecting or potentially affecting towns such as various water bills. He disclosed that one bill strongly supported by the Town was concerning multi-jurisdictional water conservation districts. He explained that the bill allowed cities and towns to form alliances with surrounding water districts for various water infrastructure projects. He conveyed that this was an issue that the coalition of water companies in southern Arizona had been working on for some time. He said that there were two different bills on annexation involving county islands and that one of the bills allowed a jurisdiction to annex aten-acre county island through a simplified process. He believed that this bill would survive and make it through the legislature's approval process. He outlined the second annexation bill saying that it would allow cities and towns to annex islands up to 80 acres but commented that he did not give this bill any hope of surviving. 7 MINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETLNG • MARANA TOWN` HALL MARCH 18, 2003 Mr. Racy reported next on law enforcement legislation stating that there was a bill introduced that would have diverted traffic ticket fines from the DPS system currently going to the counties and to other local jurisdictions. He confirmed that the Town was successful in defeating that bill in the Senate Appropriations Committee last week. He concluded his report with information regarding a number of bills that had been proposed within the land use area. He described one bill that mirrored the anti- down zoning bill that was passed several years ago with respect to counties but had been struck down in court. He confirmed that a new bill containing the same language was introduced and would have preempted authority to do any form of down zoning without an owners' approval. He said that the bill did not get a hearing and was not moving forward in the process. He talked about the McClure Bill, HB 2411, which proposed that if a government act were to diminish a property value by 25 % then the property owner had the right to sue the jurisdiction in Superior Court. He indicated that the bill had been expanded from last year's version which applied only to counties and to environmental regulation and now included cities and towns as well. He said this bill would have severely limited the Towri s authority to continue with the Habitat Conservation Plan. He announced that the bill came up for a third and final reading in the House before moving to the Senate where it was defeated by a vote of 21-36. He added that a movement was made for reconsideration but the reconsideration failed as well. He informed the meeting attendees that Marana and Pima County were among the lead jurisdictions against this bill along with a coalition of others including Scottsdale and Phoenix. C. MAYOR AND COUNCIL'S REPORT Council Member Escobedo asked that Town staff be directed to send the request by Juell Smith for the renaming of the Ora Mae Harn District Park over to the Parks Committee for review and that a report of their decision be made to the Council at their earliest convenience. He congratulated the newly re-elected Mayor and two Council members on their recent wins in the primary election held on March 11, 2003. He also commented on the Founders' Day festivities over the past weekend. He said everything went well and that the Towri s anniversary celebration was a huge success, especially with the outstanding fireworks display. 8 MINUTES OF REGUL.4RCOUNCILMEETING MARANA TOWN HALL MARCH 1$,2003 Council Member Comerford commended the Town staff on the hard work and dedication they displayed during the Founders' Day weekend. She said that everyone she spoke with had raved about the festivities. Vice Mayor Kai and Council Members Honea, Blake, and McGorray joined in the praise for the Towri s anniversary activities. They thanked all of the volunteers who contributed time and effort to making the event a success. Mayor Sutton reminded everyone that the ribbon cutting ceremonies for the new Wal-Mart were scheduled for tomorrow, March 19~, at 7:30 a.m. and he urged all to attend. He added to the accolades for the success of Founders' Day, particularly the rodeo events. D. MANAGERS' REPORT Mr. Hein congratulated and thanked the Parks and Recreation staff, the Planning department, and the Police department crew for the coordination and detailed planning of the Founders' Day event. He also thanked the Marana Chamber of Commerce for their input as well. X. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Mr. Hein mentioned that, in the future, elections and Founders' Day events would be placed on the Towri s calendar so that the public would be adequately informed of upcoming important dates and events. Jocelyn Bronson, Town Clerk, solicited donations for her upcoming jail sentence on April 2nd in association with the Muscular Dystrophy Association fund drive. XI. ADJOURNMENT Upon motion by Council Member Escobedo, seconded by Council Member Blake, approval to adjourn was unanimous. The time was 7:40 p.m. 9 MINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MARANA TOWN HALL MARCH 18, 2003 CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing are the true and correct minutes of the Marana Town Council meeting held on March 18, 2003. I further certify that a quorum was present. celyn B onson, Town Clerk ~~®~nnrrorej,'py .oe~ `,ORPORAlF ~ 9 10 MARANA TOWN COUNCIL MEETING Public Attendees DATE: ~~ ~~~ ~~ Name Address v ~- ~, ~~ i L I ~ e~.~e.~ ''~J lL ~GV' /~ t 3 Z~1.1 ~ L~~ ~-~ ~ ~SG~3 3zg ~ (~J ~v ~.~ ~~~ 85~~1-5 p~ ~ ~/~ l I (o s ~ ~~~ X35-C~i ~u~~.n ~~T°~ ~~~~ ~"~~/ O~ L ss~~.~ L,~ ~v~ ~'~~~~7^ ~ f 7y ~ ~~~~~~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ti~ _ s~ ~