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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-24-2004 City Counciil Study Session MINUTES CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION CITY OF LAKE ELSINORE 183 NORTH MAIN STREET LAKE ELSINORE, CALIFORNIA TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2004 ************************************************************* CALL TO ORDER The City Council Study Session was called to order by Mayor Pro Tern Kelley at 4:01 p.m. ROLL CALL PRESENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: HICKMAN, MAGEE, SCHIFFNER, KELLEY ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: BUCKLEY Also present were: City Manager Watenpaugh, Assistant City Manager Best, City Attorney Leibold, Administrative Services Director Pressey, Community Development Director Brady, Lake/Aquatic Resources Director Kilroy, Parks & Open Space Manager Fazzio, Recreation & Tourism Manager Fazzio, and City Clerk/Human Resources Director Kasad. DISCUSSION ITEM City Manager Watenpaugh noted that Mr. Costa who was celebrating his 100th Birthday was an active participant at the Senior Center. Mayor Pro Tern Kelley inquired if members of the Rotary Club would be present to accept their proclamation. Staff confirmed. Mayor Pro Tern Kelley inquired if there were any questions on the Consent Calendar. Page Two - Study Session Minutes - February 24, 2004 - Councilman Magee questioned specific warrants and obtained clarification from staff regarding their purposes. Councilman Hickman questioned specific warrants and obtained clarification from staff regarding their purposes and vendor contracts. Mayor Pro Tern Kelley questioned the public hearings. City Manager Watenpaugh clarified that Item 21 was a set of annexations into the public safety CFD. Councilman Hickman inquired about the location of Villa Martinique. City Manager Watenpaugh clarified the location. Councilman Hickman noted that Item 22 was regarding Weed Abatement, and inquired if staff would have the tractors in time. City Manager Watenpaugh indicated that if they were not in house in time, staff would rent them. He noted that staff had basically abated about half of the City's properties to date and were moving forward on the balance. He indicated that property owners would have until May 1 st to abate their parcels, and then staff would go to the most visible and areas of public safety concern first. - Councilman Magee questioned the costs for abatement. City Manager Watenpaugh indicated that there were set fees, based on staff s abatement of properties, on a square footage basis. He explained that there was a $250 administrative charge for each parcel as well as the square footage charge for weed removal and tree trimming. Councilman Magee inquired with regard to the tree trimming on Lakeshore Drive between the inflow channel and the Senior Center. Parks & Open Space Manager Fazzio indicated that the trees were trimmed by the weed abatement crew. Councilman Magee commended them on a nice job and questioned the square footage costs. Parks & Open Space Manager Fazzio indicated that the cost was $.025 per square foot. - Page Three - Study Session Minutes - February 24, 2004 City Manager Watenpaugh addressed Item No. 31, the Swick-Matich Concession building and noted that the high bids appeared to be due to the fact that everyone was busy and didn't do the work. He noted that the bid cost was almost $300 per square foot for the restroom facility. Councilman Hickman noted that the League parents had built the concession stand at Tuscany Hills park; and suggested letting the Little League do this work. Mayor Pro Tern Kelley clarified that this facility would need to meet ADA requirements. City Manager Watenpaugh commented that none of the Leagues had built a facility from the ground up, and he was not sure they would be willing to take that on. Mayor Pro Tern Kelley reiterated the difficulty of meeting the ADA requirements. Councilman Magee commented that the groups might have someone qualified who would be willing to try, and suggested discussing it at the next user's meeting to see if anyone was interested. Councilman Magee questioned who calculated the estimate. City Manager Watenpaugh indicated that it was provided by the contractor. Councilman Magee inquired what could be deleted from the project. City Manager Watenpaugh indicated that staffwas evaluating that question. Councilman Hickman clarified that the League did the Concession stand, but not the restrooms; but stressed that they did an excellent job. City Manager Watenpaugh indicated that he would be happy to look at it, but noted that there might be other issues, since the funding was from CDBG. City Manager Watenpaugh addressed Item No. 32 regarding the Downtown Merchant events. He noted that originally they were planned to come before the Council in April, but the Association wanted to bring forward the potential for a City wide garage sale, prior to April. Councilman Hickman inquired if garage sales would be free to everyone for two months. Recreation & Tourism Manager Fazzio indicated that free garage sales were only in April. Councilman Magee indicated that it was his understanding that people would be charged $25 to participate in this event, and the sales would occur Page Four - Study Session Minutes - February 24, 2004 - on Main Street. He inquired how they would feel about moving down one block, to Sulphur Street, instead of Graham, and incorporate the parking lot area in their event. Donna Lucas indicated that they intended to keep it to one or two blocks with additional spaces depending on the need; but noted that they had not considered the parking lot. She suggested the possibility of the City providing a dumpster at that location. Councilman Magee indicated that his main concern was keeping the parking in front of the restaurants open and available. Ms. Lucas indicated that the parking would not be available anyway, due to the street closure. Councilman Magee indicated that he would like to revisit this event and move it down one block: and stressed that the restaurants have difficulty during those events. Mayor Pro Tern Kelley addressed the regular street fair and noted that this would allow them to include a swap meet two times in conjunction with the events; and there would be no additional street closures. She indicated that this street closure had been discussed several times and the majority of the business on Main Street preferred this setup. Ms. Lucas clarified that the event was shut down by 5 p.m. to allow for the restaurants' evening business. - Councilman Schiffner clarified that the event was only on Sunday; and noted that at one time the restaurants and barber shop complained. He commented that Guadalajara was always full either way. Ms. Lucas noted that the Vietnamese Restaurant was only open for dinner on Sundays. Councilman Schiffner commented that there seemed to be no great harm being done. Ms. Lucas indicated that the restaurants were concerned for their regular customers. City Manager Watenpaugh clarified that there were a number of restaurants originally opposed to the program, and staff met with La Tre and offered to meet with Rusticana. He noted that the Council last dealt with the Street Fair on January 14t\ 2003. Councilman Schiffner indicated that the Council had met with the business people and this had been discussed heavily with the final decision to leave it as it was. Mayor - Page Five - Study Session Minutes - February 24, 2004 Pro Tern Kelley concurred that the majority of the businesses wanted the event to stay as it was. Councilman Hickman indicated that he would like to expand the event to a City-wide garage sale for the entire City. Ms. Lucas questioned the fee for garage sales. Mayor Pro Tern Kelley indicated that residents were allowed two garage sales per year, with permits costing $5 each. Ms. Lucas suggested this was a nice way to help clean up the community, and would allow for networking with the City and Downtown Merchants. Mayor Pro Tern Kelley indicated that her only question and concern would be after the event was over, that there would be adequate people and places to dispose of residuals, so they were not left behind. Ms. Lucas commented that there were options for partnering to ensure disposal. Councilman Hickman inquired if the Salvation Army would pick up the remaining items. Ms. Lucas indicated that the Salvation Army was pretty fussy about what they would take and it was unlikely they would be there on Sunday after the event to pick up. She commented that the swap meet on the other side of the Lake was packed every weekend, but stressed that they were only going to be doing it two times this year. Councilman Schiffner commented that this request would not cause any additional impact on the restaurants. Councilman Magee requested clarification that this item would be coming back for consideration. City Manager Watenpaugh confirmed. Councilman Magee inquired when it would be back. City Manager Watenpaugh indicated that it was due to come back in April. Councilman Magee stressed his concern with parking for the restaurants and suggested that he would offer the same courtesy to any other business. He noted a recent Council meeting, when he arrived and parked in front of Enchanted Treasures and was asked to park elsewhere, so he would not impact their business. He suggested the impact of this event was similar on the restaurants, and stressed equal courtesy to the businesses. Ms. Lucas indicated that she also had a business on Main Street, and any day of the Page Six - Study Session Minutes - February 24, 2004 - week, parking is difficult. She indicated that her customers use the parking lots and suggested that the restaurant customers could do the same. She commented that she would like the whole three blocks to be a walking district. Councilman Schiffner concurred that the parking was never good, but this issue had been discussed extensively. Mayor Pro Tern Kelley commented that if the event was moved for the convenience of the restaurants, it might be hurting other businesses that rely on the walk-in business of the events. Ms. Lucas noted the parking areas used for the restaurants. Councilman Hickman noted the irony of the parking situation was that those who parked during the day were the business owners. Ms. Lucas confirmed this was an issue. Councilman Magee indicated that when this matter was discussed in April, he would like to see something in writing from the businesses or see people at the hearing. He commented that he had been to the fairs and had seen what they did to the restaurants; and indicated that he was very tom over this issue. Ms. Lucas indicated that the fair had been declining, but as the new President of the Downtown Merchants group, she was working to rebuild it with advertising, etc. Councilman Schiffner indicated that all of the Councilmembers were tom over this issue. Mayor Pro Tern Kelley concurred that this was a difficult issue. - Redevelopment Agency Chairman Hickman noted that the Redevelopment Agency Agenda contained only the Warrant List. Boardmember Magee questioned what the Union Bank payment was for. Administrative Services Director Pressey indicated that it was debt service on three series of bonds, including principle and interest. Chairman Hickman addressed the warrant list, and questioned the distribution of funds. Administrative Services Director Pressey clarified the receipts through the City and the payments to the Redevelopment Agency. He explained that there were other sources of funds, but the timing of the property tax did not always match. He indicated that the bottom line was that there were sufficient funds to cover the payments. - Page Seven - Study Session Minutes - February 24, 2004 Legal Counsel Leibold noted that the Redevelopment Agency Board had one item for Closed Session discussion. Public Finance Authority Chairman Magee inquired if there were any questions on the Public Finance Authority Agenda. Authority Member Hickman noted that he was still not sure of the Authority's functions. Chairman Magee indicated that Administrative Services Director Pressey's comments had been very helpful in explaining the function of the Authority. He noted that this Agenda's action was limited to receiving one payment and writing one check. Administrative Services Director Pressey clarified that the check was only for debt service. Executive Director Watenpaugh noted that the payment was for the annual report by Rod Gunn. Administrative Services Director Pressey clarified further, and explained that the annual report was required to be prepared and submitted to the repository for the update on the status of investments. Authority Member Hickman inquired if the PF A was for the Assessment District. Administrative Services Director Pressey indicated that certain bonds were done through the Public Finance Authority, and noted that it would be covered in more detail at the meeting next week. ADJOURNMENT THE STUDY SESSION WAS ADJOURNED AT 4:36 P.M. AT~JtJ VICKI KASAD, CMC, CITY CLERK! HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR CITY OF LAKE ELSINORE