HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/02/2015
B A K E R S F I E L D
fM V{Ü|á ZxÜÜç Committee Members:
Chris Gerry, Administrative Analyst Jacquie Sullivan, Chair
Bob Smith
Willie Rivera
AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT
REGULAR MEETING OF THE
COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE MEETING
Thursday, April 2, 2015
12:00 p.m.
City Hall North
First Floor - Conference Room A
1600 Truxtun Avenue, Bakersfield CA 93301
The meeting was called to order at 12:05 P.M.
1. ROLL CALL
Committeemembers Present:
Councilmember Jacquie Sullivan, Chair
Councilmember Bob Smith
Councilmember Willie Rivera
Staff Present:
Alan Tandy, City Manager
Steven Teglia, Assistant City Manager
Christopher Gerry, Administrative Analyst
Caleb Blaschke, Management Assistant
Virginia Gennaro, City Attorney
Andrew Heglund, Deputy City Attorney
Nick Fidler, Public Works Director
Kris Budak, Public Works TRIP Manager
Roani Sandoval, TRIP Engineer
Tera Loveless, TRIP Accounting Supervisor
William Knoetgen, TRIP Project Manager
Greg Gharib, TRIP Deputy Project Manager
Janet Wheeler, TRIP Community Outreach Coordinator
Don Anderson, Finance Property Manager
Dianne Hoover, Recreation and Parks Director
Others Present:
Roland Genick, Parsons
Members of the 24th Street Improvement Association
Member of the Public
Members of the Media
Community Services Committee Meeting
Agenda Summary Report
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Page 2
2. ADOPT FEBRUARY 5, 2015 AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT
Adopted as submitted
3. PUBLIC STATEMENTS
None
4. NEW BUSINESS
A. Committee Discussion Regarding Landscaping and Walls of the 24th Street
Improvement Project – Tandy
City Manager Tandy stated that the City Council directed staff to provide
concepts of an attractively landscaped 24th Street Improvement Project at a
public workshop to gain community consensus regarding the design options and
present the results to the Community Services Committee for further discussions.
The majority of comments for the community were in favor of the landscaping
identified as Palette A. There was not an overwhelming consensus regarding the
design options for the walls, however, some residents requested a design that
incorporated a brick facade with vines. Therefore, in additional to the two design
options previously presented at the public workshop, an additional two design
options that incorporate a brick facade were presented at the meeting. He
provided a brief description of all four design concepts. The two new design
concepts do not include vines because they attract insects and rodents and are
problematic.
Committee Chair Sullivan asked if there are any added benefits in the differences
between the four design concepts or if the designs were merely differences in
appearance.
Mr. Roland Genick of Parsons stated there were no added benefits between the
concepts only differences in the appearance. City Manager Tandy added that
the cost of each of the four design concepts is relatively similar.
Committee member Smith stated that there are existing walls along 24th Street
which will remain the same; therefore, there will not be consistency in the overall
appearance of the street.
Mr. Genick stated the private walls on along on the south side of the street are not
affected by the project and will remain the same. The majority of changes will
occur to the walls on the north side of the street because traffic will be moving
closer to the homes on the north side. Mr. Tandy added that some of the existing
walls are historic in nature and are not proposed to be removed and that based
on the federal sound study criteria, federal funding cannot be used to replace the
walls on the south side as the traffic will be moving away from those homes.
Committee member Smith asked what the appearance of the south side of the
street would look like.
Community Services Committee Meeting
Agenda Summary Report
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Page 3
Mr. Genick stated there will be trees and the sidewalk between cul-de-sacs and
the Parkway.
Public Works Director Fidler stated residents of the Tree Streets are establishing a
community nonprofit partnership and are planning to put up walls at the end of
the cul-de-sacs which will match the walls on the north side.
City Manager Tandy stated that there had been no recent communication with
the residents of the Tree Streets and was unaware of any proposals they may have.
Committee member Smith stated he thought design alternative 3 was the best as it
contained an appearance of a mix of old and new due to the brick details.
Committee member Rivera stated he agreed with Committee member Smith.
Committee Chair Sullivan asked if there was a specific timeframe to select a
specific a design concept.
City Manager Tandy stated there was not and depended on what the Committee
preferred to do. A decision during the meeting was not necessary; the discussion
could be brought back to the Committee next month or the Committee can
recommend having the presentation presented to the full City Council. Staff will
add the design concept to the website to get more feedback from the public for
clarity on how to proceed with the final design phase. Mr. Tandy also stated that
there are a couple of other issues related to 24th Street like, crosswalks and
landscaping adjacent to the cul-de-sacs on the south side of 24th Street, that will
also need to be discussed at a future meeting after staff has had time to prepare
background material.
City Attorney Gennaro reminded the Committee about the pending litigation of
the CEQWA report on the 24th Street Project. She stated that there would be a
period of time to consider all the concepts and make a decision.
Committee Chair Sullivan stated it would be good idea to have a workshop with
the full City Council to review the design concepts.
Mr. Hawkeswarth, a member of the 24th Street Improvement Association
(Association), stated he and others of the Association prefer the brick
appearance. He stated the association was created to be able to handle any
issues that may arise in the future on the overall appearance of 24th Street.
Committee member Smith requested he be provided with examples of local works
of the brick appearance.
Mr. Genick reviewed several pictures of similar examples of the brick look from a
catalog.
Committee Chair Sullivan asked if funding was available to replace the walls on
the south side so they are similar in appearance to the walls on the north side.
Community Services Committee Meeting
Agenda Summary Report
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Page 4
City Manager Tandy stated that the current plan of the project included retaining
some of the private walls on the south side. Public Works Director Fidler stated the
issue was not funding, but an environmental issue because some of the walls were
deemed historic in nature by the State of California’s Historic Preservation Office.
Mr. Hawkeswarth asked if the Association unanimous voted to put up similar walls
from what will be found on the north side that the State’s Historic Preservation
office would deny such request and whether there was a document which
specifically indicates which walls are historic in nature.
City Manager Tandy stated it was a possibility because the Historic Preservation
office would be interested in preserving what they view as historic not want what
the property owners are interested in. TRIP Project Manager William Knoetgen
stated the cultural report and the EIR identify the different areas including the
historic area in general and is not specific to each wall.
City Attorney Gennaro informed the member of the Association that they consult
with a private attorney if they care to move in that direction as there may be other
circumstances that they would need to address.
TRIP Deputy Program Manager Greg Gharib added that additional studies can
disrupt the current process if there are any alterations to the current project and
will delay it.
Committee member Rivera asked staff to provide him and the full City Council a
copy of the presentation provided at the 24th Street Community Meeting held at
the Rabobank Arena on February 4th.
Public Works Director Fidler provided a detailed summarization of the construction
including where walls would be built, direction of the roadway, curb and sidewalk,
etc. along 24th Street utilizing Google Earth.
Committee member Rivera made a motion to provide the landscaping from Pallet
A, all four wall design concepts including the no planting of vines to the full City
Council at the next council meeting. The motion was unanimously approved.
B. Committee Discussion Regarding Landscaping the 23rd and 24th Street Couplet -
Tandy
City Manager Tandy stated that several City Councilmembers requested a
study to extend the aesthetic elements of the 24th Street Project throughout
the couplet area after review of the proposed improvement plan for the 24th
Street Project which included new signage, ornate banners, and decorative
concrete features on handicapped accessible ramps. He also added that
landscaping was not designed into the original project and that there was no
funding budgeted for it.
There are numerous site constraints that limit the scope of the proposed
couplet project including lack of space and costs associated with excessive
concrete removal, distance to water sources for irrigation, and existing drive
Community Services Committee Meeting
Agenda Summary Report
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Page 5
approaches that require a clear line of site. Staff was able to identify 31
potential landscaping areas which do not occur continuously or consistently
and some of which already have landscaping. The cost to landscape such
areas is very high due to the scattered tree locations, lack of irrigation, and
extensive areas of sidewalk reconstruction to establish landscaping and an
irrigation system. The existing on-street parking along the couplet will be
removed as a component of the 24th Street Improvement Project making on-
site parking critical to the property owners adjacent to the couplet.
Businesses have not been surveyed but staff believes that a substantial
amount of the property owners would not support the project if they face
additional loss of parking.
Committee Chair Sullivan asked what the proposed changes to the couplet
area were.
City Manager Tandy stated the couplet section is not proposed to be
modified with the exception of some drive entrance enhancements and
handicap ramp improvements. The Couplet Landscape Project will not
achieve the design continuity several Councilmembers expressed interest in.
Staff can still do some of the things to create a visual continuity between the
respective projects like monument signs, street markers, signage, banners and
colored concrete.
Committee member Smith stated he liked the proposed signage concepts,
but that he would like to see trees throughout the couplet area. He
requested staff do a walk-through of the couplet area with him to pinpoint
areas where trees can be placed and to get clarification as to why it may
not be feasible.
Committee member Rivera made a motion to continue discussion of this item
to a future meeting and requested staff work with the City Attorney to
coordinate a walk-though of the couplet area with all three Committee
members. The motion was unanimously approved.
5. COMMITTEE COMMENTS
Committee Chair Sullivan asked if streets signs would be located on the south side
indicating the residential streets.
Mr. Genick stated there would be monument signs indicating so.
6. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 1:50 P.M.
cc: Honorable Mayor and Council