January 22, 2002
The Board of Commissioners of the City of Lawrence met in regular session at 6:35 p.m., in the City Commission Chambers in City Hall with Mayor Rundle presiding and members Hack, Henry and Kennedy present. Commissioner Dunfield was absent.
With Commission approval, Mayor Rundle proclaimed the weeks of January 28, - February 16, 2002, as “Read Across Lawrence Weeks.”
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Kennedy, seconded by Hack, to approve the City Commission meeting minutes of January 15, 2002. Motion carried unanimously.
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Kennedy, seconded by Hack, to approve the Neighborhood Resources Advisory Committee meeting of December 13, 2001; the Housing Trust Fund Board meeting minutes of December 12, 2001 and December 19, 2001; and, the Lawrence Arts Commission meeting minutes of October 10, 2001, October 14, 2001 and November 1, 2001. Motion carried unanimously.
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Kennedy, seconded by Hack, to approve claims to 439 vendors in the amount of $1,849,859.53. Motion carried unanimously.
The City Commission reviewed the bids for the comprehensive projects at 1826 New Hampshire and 1402 East 18th Terrace for the Neighborhood Resources Department. The bids were:
BIDDER 1826 New Hampshire 1402 E 18th St., Terr
Natural Breeze, Inc. $31,610 $24,601
Master Plan Management $22,360 $15,910
General Construction, Inc. $30,005 $18,888
Staff Estimate $20,000 $14,000
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Kennedy, seconded by Hack, to waive staff’s estimates and award the bids for 1826 New Hampshire, in the amount of $22,360 and 1402 East 18th Street Terrace, in the amount of $15,910, to Master Plan Management. Motion carried unanimously.
The City Commission reviewed the bids for the comprehensive rehabilitation projects at 817 Alabama and 812 Indiana for the Neighborhood Resources Department. The bids were:
BIDDER 817 Alabama St. 812 Indiana St.
Natural Breeze, Inc. $32,001 $39,807
Natural Breeze, Inc. $34,109 (Add Alternate)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Kennedy, seconded by Hack, to reject the bids for 817 Alabama St., and 812 Indiana St., because the bid amount exceeded the program limit of $25,000. Motion carried unanimously.
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Kennedy, seconded by Hack, to set a bid date of February 19, 2002, 2:00 p.m., for the Westwood Hills/Baldwin Creek No. 2, sanitary sewer improvements. Motion carried unanimously.
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Kennedy, seconded by Hack, to place on first reading Ordinance No. 7475, rezoning (Z-09-35-01) approximately 12.085 acres from A (Agricultural District) to RS-2 (Single Family Residence District). The property located west of Branchwood Drive, north of Stoneridge Drive (extended). Motion carried unanimously. (1)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Kennedy, seconded by Hack, to place on first reading Ordinance No. 7476, rezoning (Z-10-38-01) approximately .399 acre from M-2 (General Industrial District) to C-5 (Limited Commercial District). The property is located at 1350 North 3rd St., in North Lawrence. Motion carried unanimously. (2)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Kennedy, seconded by Hack, to adopt Resolution No. 6359, providing City approval of the request of Farnam Group Resources, Inc. to receive tax credits from the Kansas Department of Commerce for projects on the west side of Crossgate between 27th Street and Clinton Parkway. Motion carried unanimously. (3)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Kennedy, seconded by Hack, to approve the site plan (SP-11-76-01) for Rock Chalk Carwash, located at the corner of East 23rd Street and Ponderosa Drive, subject to the following conditions:
1. A Site Plan Performance Agreement be executed; (Per Section 20-1433).
2. Approval of a drainage study by the City Stormwater Engineer and approval of revised drainage plans showing necessary changes;
3. Public improvement plans for the storm drainage system must be submitted to the Public Works Department for review prior to release of the plan to the building inspector;
4. Label the 10’ U/E along the south side of the property;
5. Provision of an approved photometric plan;
6. Change Bradford Pear to Aristocrat or Cleveland Select;
7. Indicate if providing keystone retaining wall or obtaining permission from adjacent property owner to grade on adjacent property;
8. Show drive aisle width for automatic car wash lane and stall widths for self-service car wash bays;
9. Provision of a note stating, “All islands shown will be landscaped.” Revise landscape schedule to reflect all changes;
10. Provide correct legal description;
11. Provide a heavy phasing to separate Phase I and Phase II;
12. Show the existing 50’x30’ cross-access easement on Lot 2, R.C. Addition;
13. Filing of all access easements shown on the site plan with the Register of Deeds with book and page number shown on the face of the site plan prior to release of the plan to the Code Enforcement Division;
14. Provision of 5 bicycle spaces;
15. Show the label existing structure to be removed;
16. Provision of a photometric plan;
17. Provision of an interior parking lot landscaping calculation for each lot. Each lot must provide a minimum of 15% interior parking lot landscaping;
18. Provide a note stating no direct access from Lot 1 to East 23rd Street;
19. Provide trees on 1 out of every 2 landscaped islands (Per Section 20-1214);
20. Site Summary should be revised to state that the previously site planned square footage are R.C. Additions Lots 1 and 2;
21. Provide a sign directing exiting traffic from car wash bays to the south; and,
22. Remove “Lot 1A” and “Lot 1B” labels from the site plan.
Motion carried unanimously. (4)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Kennedy, seconded by Hack, to approve a revision to the site plan portion of a Use Permitted Upon Review (UPR-01-01-01) for the co-location of communication equipment on a tower, and including an 11’ x 30’ equipment building at the Wakarusa Water Treatment Facility. Motion carried unanimously. (5)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Kennedy, seconded by Hack, to authorize the City Manager to execute a change order to Penny’s Concrete Co., Inc., for $55,955 for concrete materials on the Bowersock Dam Improvements. Motion carried unanimously. (6)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Kennedy, seconded by Hack, to receive the request from Sauer Danfoss for Phase III tax exemption; and, refer to staff for an implementation report. Motion carried unanimously. (7)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Kennedy, seconded by Hack, to authorize staff to publish the necessary public notice for the proposed exchange of future park property (approximately .037 acres) between Ess Corp Development and the City near the future intersection of Overland Drive and Congressional Drive. Motion carried unanimously. (8)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Kennedy, seconded by Hack, to authorize the Mayor to sign a Subordination Agreement for Harold Barnes, 447 Elm. Motion carried unanimously. (9)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Kennedy, seconded by Hack, to authorize the Mayor to sign a Subordination Agreement for Angela Nascimento, 817 Alabama. Motion carried unanimously. (10)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Kennedy, seconded by Hack, to authorize the Mayor to sign a Subordination Agreement for Maxine Younes, 1320 East 18th Street Terrace. Motion carried unanimously. (11)
Commissioner Kennedy pulled Ordinance 7478 from the consent agenda. He said he received a number of phone calls concerning this ordinance amending the current rental registration ordinance. He said they wanted to discuss the rental registration and fee payment by the landlords.
Carolyn Bloom, Eudora, said she had a problem with this ordinance and did not believe it would provide the positive outcomes the City anticipated. She said she also had concerns with the rental registration and requested that the City Commission consider grandfathering existing rental properties which would be consistent with other City Commission actions.
Arly Allen, Lawrence, said he was a resident who was active in attempting to create this rental registration ordinance and having the ordinance enforced. He said the purpose of the ordinance was to reduce the number of unrelated people living in single-family neighborhoods and to help bring families back into those neighborhoods. The residents of Lawrence were trying to protect neighborhoods by not excluding people, but including people. He said he hoped the ordinance would be adopted and enforced by the City. Rental registration was a means by which the City could track those homes that were rented. The purpose of this ordinance was safety and public welfare for the single-family neighborhoods. It was difficult to credit the concerns of those who opposed rental registration and inspection because they essentially opposed the City’s right to maintain a safe and healthy environment in the neighborhoods. He said he thought the majority of people were not opposed to the idea of health and safety, but to the idea of limiting the number of people who could live in single-family neighborhoods. The rental registration ordinance was addressed by the City Commission and now the issue was how to enforce the ordinance in a way that brought safety, peace, and tranquility to the neighborhoods.
Russ Lang, Lawrence, said he did not have any objections to rental registration or reducing the number of unrelated people living in single-family homes from four to three, but wanted to discuss why health and safety issues only focused on single-family rental properties. If the City took a survey on health and safety issues for duplex units and town-homes, it would greatly out number single-family rental units. He said he visited with staff and received copies of the ordinance, application form, and inspection checklist for single-family dwelling units. He had concerns about the visual inspection to rental units for compliance with the 1997 Housing Code because he did not have a copy of the Housing Code and didn’t believe it was readily available. He said he assumed everyone that had rental units in single-family residential areas would need to follow this checklist. He said the checklist was good, but he had a number of enforcement related questions. He explained his concerns regarding the foundation would need to be free of water leaks; size and location of egress windows; and minimum headroom requirements for stairways. He felt many of the older homes in Lawrence would not meet these requirement even though the homes were in fine shape. He said anyone that owned single-family rental homes in Lawrence not meeting these standards would have large dollar expenses because of the inspection checklist. He said the checklist should be applicable to newer construction, but these were harsh requirements for older homes.
He further noted that the checklist stated the premises must exhibit no evidence of infestation from rodents or harmful insects. He said new and older homes had evidence of a mouse being there. He also believed this requirement was too vague because there was no definition of “harmful insect.”
Lang said under the “Electrical Equipment” category, he had a concern about the “electrical service entrance has a minimum capacity of 100 amperes.” He said this was certainly applicable now, but there were many homes in the older areas that only had a 60 amperes service panel and it would be expensive to require these older homes to meet this requirement.
Lang said the City should do inspections and thought every rental unit should be inspected whether it was an apartment or duplex because if the City was establishing rules for rental houses, it seemed foolish to apply these rules to only single-family houses. He said he was requesting that the City Commission consider the idea of a minimum inspection for all rental units such as smoke detectors, GFCI outlets in kitchen and bathrooms, and that every bedroom window should work. He said houses that were 5 years old or newer should be exempt because these homes would need to meet the 1997 Housing Code requirements. Another suggestion was, as the City issued pamphlets to landlords concerning code requirements, the tenants should be told that they could request a copy of the results of the inspections. He said this would eliminate problems in a practical manner. He said he hoped common sense would prevail.
Betty Alderson, Lawrence, said she supported the rental registration ordinance. She said Lang had brought up a number of interesting points, but if he had attended the meetings for the last two years a number of his questions would be answered because the inspection and the date that this ordinance would start was included to give people time to bring their properties up to standards before the inspections began. She said it was her understanding that there were existing state laws that affect rental units that were larger than single-family homes. She said she lived in an area of Lawrence with “50’s era” homes and she knew people had been renting basement rooms with small windows. There was no way that anyone could get out in an emergency. She said she thought staff had done a great job with this ordinance and the City needed to move forward. She said she was sure the ordinance would need some fine-tuning, but that was true of any ordinance of this magnitude.
Dan Bloom, Eudora, said he had been a public administrator for thirty years and had seen rental issues like this happen. He said the City did not need more government, rules, forums or hire employees to do these types of things because the City already had many of these things in place. He concurred with some of Lang’s points. He said he thought that all homes should be registered and made to follow this code, but if this happened, it would become a mess. He said he wouldn’t be surprised if City Hall did not meet the 1997 Uniform Housing Code. He said homes that were 50 and 60 years old, whether single-family or duplexes, would not meet the Code.
Mayor Rundle asked about the availability of the 1997 Uniform Housing Code and if it was part of the City Code that was on-line.
Mike Wildgen, City Manager, said the 1997 Housing Code was not on-line. He said it was available at several places including the library and the Neighborhood Resources offices. If a citizen wanted his or her own copy, staff could inform them how to order a copy.
Victor Torres, Neighborhood Resources Director, said staff had copies of the 1997 Uniform Housing Code and could make these copies available to view in the Neighborhood Resources office, but did not have any copies for sale. He said staff would be able to provide information to citizens who wanted to order the Code. He said the inspection checklist was compiled verbatim from the Uniform Housing Code such as the foundation requirement to be free of air/water leaks. He said the issue of the windows under “exiting-egress” was also directly out of the code. If there has been a basement that had been converted into a bedroom, this would be an issue that would need to be addressed.
Torres said the 100 amperes service requirement was a new construction requirement. However, there were a lot of homes in Lawrence with a 70 amperes service and staff had talked to residents on this issue. He said this checklist was intended to be put out to the general public and was on the web site. He said staff expected to get feedback on this document. It was a document that could be modified, mainly the requirement of the 100 amperes service because it was a major concern to a lot of people. If a house was built with 70 amperes service and an inspection was done on this house and there was no substantial change to electrical requirements, then the 70 amperes service would be adequate. However, if the equipment was changed, then the 70 amperes service was no longer adequate to support the additional load. He said inspectors would need to do a case-by-case inspection to determine the actual load requirement.
Mayor Rundle asked Torres if he could extrapolate this as a general application, that if a house were built to code at that time, the house would pass inspection if there had not been any changes.
Torres said if there were no major changes in equipment, which was the biggest issue, chances were that the 70 amperes service would be adequate. The other items on the checklist were directly out of the Uniform Housing Code. Staff had been using the Uniform Housing Code for quite some time to conduct minimum housing inspections on all houses, whether they were rentals or not, even prior to this ordinance. If a citizen called Neighborhood Resources with a complaint, staff would perform an inspection whether single-family or rental units.
Mike Wildgen, City Manager, said he wanted to remind the City Commission that the Uniform Housing Code had already been adopted. He said by implementing rental registration, the City Commission was not adopting a new code because the code already existed. For example, if a tenant or homeowner called for an inspection and there was not an adequate breaker box, the homeowner might need to upgrade that breaker box.
Commissioner Kennedy said he had a question about egress and knew there were a number of rental housing units that had smaller windows. He asked if rental-housing units with these types of windows were inspected and if they did not meet code would these windows need to be brought up to code prior to the unit being leased or rented.
Torres said, “yes”.
Commissioner Kennedy said if rooms with smaller windows were not being used as bedrooms, then the windows did not need to meet code, but if the room were used for sleeping, then the egress window(s) would need a 5.7 sq. ft. minimum unobstructed clear opening.
Torres said “yes.”
Commissioner Kennedy said the only time the code would be enforced were if complaints were filed by renters or if the landlord decided to remodel the house.
Torres said, “correct.”
Mayor Rundle asked about the older homes such as a California Rancher and would this type of home be acceptable because it met code at the time it was built, or would the sleeping rooms need to meet the window height requirement.
Torres said if it was a bedroom, it would need to meet the minimum height requirement.
David Corliss, Assistant City Manager/Legal Services Director, said the Uniform Housing Code made it clear if a tenant was going to sleep in a room designated as a bedroom then the room needed the housing code required egress even if the home met the building code when it was built.
Mayor Rundle said the City was balancing the safety and welfare of people renting homes in single-family areas with the interests of those persons with rental property investments in single-family areas. He said broadening this ordinance to cover multi-family dwellings was left on the table for future consideration, but the City was getting its major complaints from single-family residents and this was a starting point.
Commissioner Hack said she wanted to clarify that the City Commission’s action was to amend a portion of the rental registration ordinance. The ordinance was designed to maintain the integrity of the single-family neighborhoods and address safety issues. She thought the City needed to be patient and work things out as they come. She said she was sure citizens would inform the City when they had complaints and concerns and encouraged them to do that. She said she was in favor of moving on with the amendments to the ordinance.
Commissioner Henry said the concept of a minimum inspection, while initially intriguing, suggested relaxation of standards. He said he was in favor of the proposed amendments.
Commissioner Kennedy said the inspection checklist was good. He said he hoped the inspectors would follow the list and consider the age of the home when developing some consistent standards. He said he would like to see this ordinance encompass more than just single-family dwellings. He said he wanted to correct one of the members of the public who spoke by reminding everyone that the City did not hire eight, but two inspectors. These two inspectors had other inspection duties other than rental inspections. He said 275 homes had been registered as rental homes in RS neighborhoods.
Moved by Hack, seconded by Kennedy, to adopt on second reading Ordinance No. 7478, amending the rental registration ordinance. Aye: Hack, Henry, Kennedy and Rundle. Nay: None. Motion carried unanimously. (12)
Mike Wildgen, City Manager, mentioned that David Corliss, Assistant City Manager, recently testified at a Kansas Legislative Senate Hearing on the Senate Telecommunications bill.
Mayor Rundle thanked Corliss for his work on the bill and was glad the State was able to work out a compromise with the communications industry so that both interests could be recognized.
Price Banks, representing the owners of the Replay Lounge, said he would like to address the amendment to the site plan for the Replay Lounge, located at 946 Massachusetts. He said compared to other entertainment venues in Downtown Lawrence, the Replay Lounge was relatively small and could seat approximately 200 customers. It was situated at the northeast corner of 10th and Massachusetts and was in an area that was somewhat centrally located in the late night entertainment district of Lawrence. In recent years this particular area has become an area where people tend to congregate on the streets and public property when nearby establishments close and it was not just people from the Replay Lounge. In the parking lot at the 900 Block of New Hampshire people tend to congregate betweenmidnight and 2:00 a.m., every day of the week. It was likely that the parking garage at that location was also going to replace that lot as a gathering place. Hundreds and possibly thousands of customers from the Granada, Fatso’s, Louise’s, CoCo LoCo, Jazzhaus, Red Lyon, Harbour Lights, Replay Lounge and other establishments in the area migrate from Massachusetts Street, down 10th Street to the properties on New Hampshire Street. The area generated traffic, noise, and litter. It did not, contrary to popular opinion, generate much litter in the form of containers from the bars. Each establishment has a doorman and cups or bottles could not leave the premises. The area also attracted youth that were tooyoung to attend these establishments because these youth wanted exposure to late night activity and excitement. The City has a bus stop on the same corner as the Replay Lounge and that bus stop also generated considerable litter, in the form of paper, coffee cups and cigarette butts.
Banks said last June, Nick Carroll and other owners of the Replay Lounge learned of the plan that apartments were going to be built across the alley from their business. He said the owners wanted to be proactive, good neighbors and wanted to make the City and the developers aware of the potential conflict of land uses. There was a certain incompatibility of those late night activities and residential land uses. The Replay Lounge was not concerned about their customers. The owners would continue to police the customers andcontinue to cleanup the immediate area as they had in the past. Each day at opening time, the Replay Lounge employees policed the area outside the establishment for litter and swept the pubic sidewalks adjacent to the building. What the owners were concerned about was the impact from that major late night congregation from all of the downtown establishments, especially the entertainment establishments. Theowners were concerned that the Replay Lounge, which was the nearest neighbor, was going to be blamed for situations that were beyond their control. Banks said the owners had contacted him last June and talked to the developers of this site. He said they discussed the issue with Marty Moore, Managing Member of 9-10, L.C., who appeared to understand the problem and said he would talk to his partners about including language in the leases that would warn future residents of the situation in the area. In their efforts to enlighten the community they had also had conversations with each of the City Commissioners so they could appreciate the situation in the area and take a look at the Replay Lounge in its location.
Banks said the Replay Lounge had an enclosed outdoor service area. Unlike most similar facilities downtown, the Replay Lounge was enclosed with solid nine-foot walls. Nevertheless, the construction of the area required a site plan and one of the conditions on the site plan was that a note be placed on the plan stating “the applicant agrees to remove the patio garden if there are legitimate complaints by neighbors as to noise and trash, the City Commission shall review the complaints.” The primary concern of the owners was that the language in that approval might be used to remove the outdoor service area even if the Replay was not the source ofthe noise or trash. This was the subject of their complaint because of the proximity of the Replay Lounge and residents.
He said a letter from Jack Brand, Counsel for 9-10, L.C concerned the owners. In this letter, it was assumed that the noise and the trash in the City parking garage was generated by the 200 customers of the Replay Lounge and not by the approximately 2,000 customers of all the late night establishments in the area. The Replay Lounge would continue to be a good neighbor by policing its patrons in the area and keeping the sidewalks clean. He said the Replay Lounge asked not to put the responsibility for all the late night activity at 10th and Massachusetts on them and asked the City Commission to approve the requested removal of that particular condition from the site plan.
Nick Carroll, owner of the Replay Lounge, said he was a K.U. graduate in the early 1990’s and moved back to Lawrence to get into the music business. He said that was when he found his establishment at 10th and Massachusetts. At that time, the building was run down so he and other investors from Salina, Kansas, made a substantial investment to put in a restaurant/bar and featured pinball machines and live-music. Bands that were playing music in St. Louis, Kansas City, and Denver were skipping the Midwest and the owners of Replay Lounge decided to bring these bands to their bar because of the vibrant music scene. He said he felt that this was helping the cultural diversity downtown along with keeping Lawrence on the map as a music center. He said Lawrence was known for their live music, culture and arts.
Carroll said he wanted to address the beer garden. A nine-foot wall was placed around the perimeter to keep the noise in. The Replay Lounge was a full service bar with ten beers on tap. He said with the heating system the Replay Lounge could be opened 250 days a year. The sales of the back patio accounted for sixty percent of the Replay’s entire sales. The patio generated a lot of tax money and employed 25 people. The reason the request was being submitted at this time, was not to stage a fight with the owners or developers of the apartments, but needed to be addressed seven years ago.
Carroll said he enjoyed living downtown for three years. He said he wanted to recommended to people who were planning on living downtown that it was not quite the same as living in a residential area and it could get noisy at times. He said when he lived downtown he lived above a bar. It wasn’t so bad when the bar was open, but when they closed, it seemed people would leave the bar and sit by his window where he slept. He said it was something he had gotten use to after a month because he wanted to live downtown for the action and excitement. He said this was the frame of mind you needed if you were going to live next to an entertainment retail district. He said the Replay has had eight years of hard work and would like the same status as any other business downtown.
Jack Brand, Counsel for 9-10 L.C., said the reason these twenty apartments were being built at this location was because the City asked the developer to include them as part of the project. He said the City needed to focus on the question of whether or not the language that was put on site plans with other entertainment businesses should be deleted from this site plan. This language was specific to the applicant, that he agreed to remove the patio gardens if there were legitimate complaints by neighbors as to noise and trash and the City Commission would review the complaints. Brand said what this really said was whether or not the City was going to give up its control over this situation, which was the same control it had over other businesses. He urged the City Commission to follow staff’s recommendation and to not to give up that control. He said if the Replay Lounge was blamed for noise or trash, the City Commission could hear the complaint and decide the fairness of the complaint. If the patrons from the Replay Lounge continued to party in the City’s parking garage, the City needed to address the problem. He said the City had brought the developer downtown and told them to build apartments and if the City removed this condition from the site plan he said it would impair the City’s future ability to do similar projects. He urged that the staff report be followed and Condition No. 5 be left on the site plan.
Bob Schumm said he owned the property directly across the street from Replay Lounge and has operated his business for a longer time period. He said he never experienced anything but complete satisfaction with the way the Replay Lounge did their business. He said he never noticed any trash or problems with unsightly situations. He said he was not asked to address this situation, but he thought this was a reasonable request in that prior to this building there was a City parking lot. The City was involved with putting in those apartments through negotiations. He said by virtue of the owner of the Replay Lounge running his business properly and in an orderly manner over the years, the owner was now being held hostage to complaints about noise. He said it would be impossible to identify which crowd of people came from which establishment. He said he thought drinking establishment statutes controlled unsightly situations, noise, litter or anything that was offensive to the public. Most owners of drinking establishments in the area did not have those specific notes on their site plans. He said he did not have that condition on his site plans for his drinking establishment or cereal malt beverage license.
Mayor Rundle commented on Brand’s reference to the parking lot behavior being the responsibility of the City. Rundle said right now the City did not have any type of authority to go to a bar owner and get after them because of their behavior once they left their establishment.
David Corliss, Assistant City Manager, said it was problematic to pin behavior in that parking lot or even out on a public sidewalk to a particular establishment. Anytime you would go against the license or the site plan, you have a substantial evidentiary hurdle to say that this problem was coming from one particular establishment. He said the site plan condition intended to address legitimate complaints that could be directly attributed to this establishment.
Mayor Rundle said he was sympathetic with the request, but was also concerned about maintaining consistency. One thing that was accomplished was to articulate the atmosphere in the downtown area. He said he recently attended a meeting coordinated by the Journal World which focused on the major impact of the music scene in Lawrence, particularly in the downtown area. He said if the City Commission was asked to review a complaint, he thought this needed to be kept in mind. He said other establishments did not have this condition on their site plan because they were established before this became a practice. He said he could be persuaded by his fellow City Commissioners to support this issue, but he said he also thought staff made a good case for maintaining this as a consistent policy.
Kennedy said he had a chance to visit with the developer of the apartments and the owner of the Replay Lounge. Three years ago when he was Mayor there was major controversy in the downtown bar area and it seemed they all came together and resolved a number of major issues concerning trash and noise. The trash issue was addressed by Bert Nash and the utilization of Parks and Recreation which enabled young adults to help cleanup the downtown area on Saturdays and Sundays. He said as he visited with Moore, he realized these apartments were on the third and fourth floor of this building. He said the apartments had small kitchen windows with air conditioning units in each window that faced the Replay Lounge. He said knowing this relieved him of his concern about the instant complaints that would arise from this area. Kennedy said the Replay Lounge was not the only entertainment venue in this area and might not ever cause any problems. He said if sidewalk-dining areas did not meet the City’s criteria, the City could ask them to remove their sidewalk dining because they were using City property. He said with all of these issues, he thought it was in the City’s best interest to keep this condition on the site plan.
Commissioner Henry said he did not see the condition on the site plan as being offensive. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to identify specifically that the noise and trash was generated by this particular establishment. He said as a Commissioner, if a complaint should arise, he would want the ability to realistically consider the rationality of the complaint. He said he was in favor of leaving this condition on the site plan with the feeling that anyone who was a City Commissioner would be reasonable about the situation.
Commissioner Hack concurred with Commissioner Henry. She believed the owner was not simply trying to relieve himself of the responsibility of taking care of the trash and noise and other disturbances from his patrons. She said the owner has shown that he was a responsible member of the downtown community and appreciated his desire to be in Lawrence. She said it was important to keep the condition for the protection of the area. She said the Commissioners would look at legitimate complaints and asked the owner to trust the City Commission to make a fair an honest judgment in each case.
Mayor Rundle said he had reviewed bar statistics that the City Commission received from the Police Department and, relative to other bars across the community; the Replay Lounge did have a good record in terms of the lower number of complaints and incidents. He said he hoped the record captured the sentiment that the City Commission had given because it would be important to refer to the minutes if the City Commission received complaints in the future. (13)
Mayor Rundle called a public hearing on the proposed special assessments for sanitary sewer improvements to the Langston Hughes Elementary School site; Parkside Road; 27th Street and Wakarusa Drive; Scottsdale Street, from 26th to 27th; and, 27th Street, from Bluestem to Scottsdale.
Upon receiving no public comment, it was moved by Henry, seconded by Kennedy, to close the public hearing. Motion carried unanimously.
Moved by Kennedy, seconded by Rundle, to place on first reading Ordinance No. 7479, establishing special assessments for sanitary sewer improvements at Langston Hughes Elementary School site. Motion carried unanimously. (14)
Moved by Kennedy, seconded by Rundle, to place on first reading Ordinance No. 7480, establishing special assessments for improvements to Parkside Road. Motion carried unanimously. (15)
Moved by Kennedy, seconded by Rundle, to place on first reading Ordinance No. 7481, establishing special assessments for related improvements to 27th Street and Wakarusa Drive. Motion carried unanimously. (16)
Moved by Kennedy, seconded by Rundle, to place on first reading Ordinance No. 7482, establishing special assessments for related improvements to Scottsdale Street, from 26th to 27th Streets. Motion carried unanimously. (17)
Moved by Kennedy, seconded by Rundle, to place on first reading Ordinance No. 7483, establishing special assessments for improvements to 27th Street, from Bluestem to Scottsdale. Motion carried unanimously. (18)
Mike Wildgen, City Manager, presented the staff report on the intersection of 15th Street and Engel Road. He said when the St. Lawrence Center site plan was discussed late last year, the City Commission requested more information on this intersection after the Site Plan was approved. The City Commission was given a copy of the 1992 engineering study from JBM Engineers and there were six different possible improvement options listed. He said the City had worked with the University and made slight changes to the intersection, modified the street light, installed flashing warning signals, put in a pedestrian/bike safety island, and added a 20 mph speed limit restriction.
Bob Schumm, Lawrence, said during the St. Lawrence Center’s recent appearance before the City Commission, while requesting approval of their site plan, both the neighborhood and the Center gave testimony as to the difficulty and danger of using 15th and Engel Road intersection. The Church indicated a willingness to help improve the situation. Mr. Todd Thompson discussed a possible right-hand turn lane proposal for southbound vehicles on Engel. It was the Center’s opinion that this traffic movement would make a dramatic improvement to that intersection. In keeping with their testimony that evening, relative to being a good neighbor, they offered the following proposal written by Father Vince Krische, Director of the St. Lawrence Center. The St. Lawrence Center would offer the City an easement on its property located at 1435 Engel Road. This easement included enough area on the east side of Engel and the north side of 15th Street to provide for a continued right-hand turning lane for southbound cars turning west on 15th Street as well as an acceleration lane on 15th Street. This offer was contingent on the amount of land the City would need and would be free of charge to the City in order to help improve the intersection’s geometrics. He said they were happy to provide this use of our property to the City because they believed this would improve the intersection for the City, the neighborhood, and the St. Lawrence Center.
Mayor Rundle asked David Woosley, City Traffic Engineer, if the items discussed in the 1992 Engineering Study included medians on 15th Street. There has been a pedestrian island there, but that was not necessarily what the median treatment would have been.
Woosley said “no.” He said he thought the intersection would need to be expanded much larger to provide the turning lanes and other things of that nature. Another possibility was a median through the intersection to prevent north/south movement so everyone would need to make a right-turn-in or right-turn-out of the K.U. driveway or a right-turn-in or right-turn-out off of Engel. There were different possibilities with the medians, but he thought that was what the consultants had in mind.
Mayor Rundle asked about other geometric improvement possibilities along 15th Street. He also asked if that street was five lanes at Iowa Street.
Woosley said for a short distance it was five lanes and as you go eastbound, it narrowed down to two lanes.
Mayor Rundle asked if there was room to get right-of-way on the University side to be able to have a middle turn lane. He said he knew they were talking about shifting the Engel intersection so Engel would enter the campus on the south.
Woosley said he thought there was enough right-of-way for adding one more lane in that area. He said engineering had a consultant look at the entire area from Iowa to Engel approximately two years ago and there were right-of-way requirements for that. As far as adding a left turn lane down the center he thought there was plenty of right-of-way in the area to accomplish that.
Mayor Rundle said moving the intersection would probably interfere with the Visitor’s Center.
Woosley said there were a lot of different possibilities out there. Last year staff had discussions with K.U. about relocating the intersection to the west more into the area where the intersection was somewhat level to provide better site distance. He said at that time, they did not have any bid problems, but they did not have any money available to help fund a project of that nature. There were a lot of different possibilities to be looked at when the City was at a point of actually committing funds to do an improvement there.
Mayor Rundle said it seemed like any of these possibilities was going to generate feelings in the neighborhood, some would be more acceptable than others. He said regardless of the process, the City needed to come to some kind of understanding of their priorities in terms of what happens at the corner and at the residential properties in the vicinity. He asked when this project could be added into the Capital Improvement Plan.
Mike Wildgen, City Manager, said the City Commission needed to decide what that Capital Improvement Plan was. Clearly, the offer from the St. Lawrence Center might be a solution, but he did not know the traffic counts. He said this issue needed more study. He said this project could rapidly be an expensive project even if the City had some additional right-of-way.
Commissioner Kennedy said this temporary fix of a right hand turn lane off of Engel onto 15th Street would eliminate a lot of backup traffic that went into the neighborhood.
Mayor Rundle said the traffic counts seemed to be in gross terms. He asked if it was possible to get a week’s worth of data on right hand and left hand turns.
Woosley said staff could get peak hour counts but specific counts of that nature would have to be done manually. The machines could indicate how much traffic was approaching the intersection, and staff could pick out what the peak hours were and how many vehicles were making left and right turns by a manual count.
Mayor Rundle asked if it helped knowing the gross traffic at each point of the intersections.
Woosley said it helped, but as far as the right turn lane, it required a deeper analysis to see how many people were turning right and to see if this would help or not. There was a possibility that it would help, but without that analysis staff would not know. He said some of that analysis was done by the Center’s consultant when they did a traffic study and that study could be looked at and built upon to see how much help it might be.
Commissioner Henry said this kind of information was needed in order to make an intelligent decision. He said he appreciated St. Lawrence Catholic Center’s offer in coming forward with this helpful solution.
Commissioner Kennedy suggested that staff borrow the Center’s traffic study on that intersection.
Commissioner Hack said not enough information was known to make a decision at this point. She said she appreciated St. Lawrence Catholic Center’s offer and efforts to help.
Rundle said as far as a preferred option, he said he would rather have more information provided.
Wildgen said staff needed to talk with staff at K.U. to see what their current plans were.
The City Commission directed staff to continue to study the intersection to include traffic counts, for possible solutions. (19)
During the public comment period of the meeting, Cornell Mayfield, Housing and Credit Counseling Incorporated, requested City funding for his organization. He said they had been in the City of Lawrence since 1994, and located their offices here to provide services at the City’s request. They provided education, mediation between landlords and tenants, participated in fair housing workshops and Landlords Fairs, as well as other activities. He said the Housing and Credit Counseling taught tenants how to behave properly as tenants and, once tenants got out of transitional housing, how to keep that housing. Last year the Housing and Credit Counseling submitted an application requesting $13,109 for the operation in Lawrence, but did not receive that money. Prior to that, they were able to supplement with emergency grant funding, but the rules of the game were changed, so they did not receive funding because they did not qualify, and it was switched to direct cash assistance. Mayfield said they had experienced a shortfall in Lawrence, and were now asking the City Commission to consider funding Housing and Credit Counseling Inc., in the amount of $13,109, so they could keep their services in Lawrence and not deprive landlords and tenants of their services.
Mayor Rundle asked what other funding sources did they rely on.
Mayfield said they were primarily funded by Community Block Grants and United Way. He said the City at one time funded them with Emergency Shelter Grants
Commissioner Kennedy asked where they were operating.
Mayfield said 2518 Ridge Court.
Commissioner Henry said not long ago he received an email from a person that had used Housing and Credit Counseling Incorporated, and was extremely pleased with the service.
Mayfield said he has been in the business for thirty years. He said they worked a lot with the Landlord Association.
Rundle asked if landlords ever consider contributing funds since the landlords probably save money from going to court over certain actions.
Mayfield said he didn’t think so, but the landlords like the service because the services were free.
Hack asked if they had ever requested money from the landlords.
Mayfield said “no.”
Mayor Rundle said the Landlord Association might be the place to go to ask for funding.
Mayfield said he believed the Landlord Association did not have a lot of money. He said with City funding they were able to do workshops and presentations with them. He said they had their workshops on the weekends or evenings to accommodate the landlords because most landlords worked during the day and could not afford to take off to come to the workshops.
Commissioner Hack asked if their request was for the beginning budget that would be finalized this summer, or were they asking for something more immediate.
Mayfield said they needed something more immediate. He said this money would allow them enough time to work on the Community Block Grant applications which were due in August.
Commissioner Hack asked if they had a budget outline.
Mayfield said “yes”. He said he could leave copies of their proposed request. It would give the history and background of HCCI in the Lawrence Community.
Commissioner Henry asked if they came forward last year with a budget request for $13,109.
Mayfield said “yes.” He said they had been funded through the budget in 1999 then another source of funding came along through Emergency Shelter Grants. He said he informed the City back then they could gradually get themselves off of the City budget through other funding sources.
Rundle asked it the City’s Human Relations Department dealt with landlord and tenant complaints.
Wildgen said “yes.” He said there was a full time person that works with fair credit and housing complaints.
Rundle asked if the Human Relations Department had a reduction of staff because the City was not handling all of these complaints anymore.
Wildgen said “no.”
Mayfield said he had statistics that showed the number of referrals from the City of Lawrence Department of Human Resources. He said they worked with the Department of Human Resources with tenants and landlords when they could not figure a situation out. He said it was much cheaper and more economical to have HCCI work with landlord and tenants. (20)
Commissioner Kennedy said the City Commission received information from the Downtown Parking Advisory Board concerning a proposed parking garage at the north end of New Hampshire by the World Company. He said Mayor Rundle made a comment that the City could piggyback with the World Company to improve parking on the north end of downtown Lawrence. The World Company has come forward with a proposal to the City. The Downtown Parking Advisory Board reviewed and recommended that additional parking was needed. He asked, with the Mayor’s permission, that this proposal be brought back as a Commission item for discussion.
Moved by Kennedy, seconded by Hack, to recess until January 24, 2002, at 3:00 p.m. The City Commission would then reconvene, and go into executive session to discuss the City Manager’s performance evaluation.
APPROVED:
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Mike Rundle, Mayor
ATTEST:
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Frank S. Reeb, City Clerk
1. Ordinance No. 7475 – 1st Reading, Rezone (Z-09-35-01) 12.085 acres, A to RS-2, W of Branchwood Dr., N of Stoneridge Dr., (extended).
2. Ordinance No. 7476 – 1st Reading, Rezone (Z-10-38-01) .399 acres, M-2 to C-5, 1350 N 3rd.
3. Resolution No. 6359 – Tax Credits, KS Dept of Commerce, projects on W side of Crossgate between 27th & Clinton Pkwy.
4. Site Plan – (SP-11-76-01) Rock Chalk Carwash, corner of E 23rd & Ponderosa.
5. UPR – (UPR-01-01-01) Communication Tower at Wakarusa Water Treatment Facility.
6. Change Order – Bowersock Dam, Penny’s Concrete for $55,955.
7. Tax Exemption – Sauer Danfoss Phase III
8. Public Notice – Future park property, .037 acres, Overland Dr. & Congressional Dr.
9. Subordination Agreement – 477 Elm, Harold Barnes.
10. Subordination Agreement – 817 Alabama, Angela Nascimento.
11. Subordination Agreement – 1320 E 18th St. Terr., Maxine Younes.
12. Ordinance No. 7478 – 2nd Reading, Rental Registration discussion.
13. Replay Lounge – Site Plan amendment discussion. (Denied)
14. Ordinance No. 7479 – 1st Reading, Special Assessment, Langston Hughes Elementary.
15. Ordinance No. 7480 – 1st Reading, Special Assessment, Parkside Road.
16. Ordinance No. 7481 – 1st Reading, Special Assessment, 27th & Wakarusa.
17. Ordinance No. 7482 – 1st Reading, Special Assessment, Scottsdale, from 26th to 27th.
18. Ordinance No. 7483 – 1st Reading, Special Assessment, 27th, from Bluestem to Scottsdale.
19. 15th & Engel Road – Traffic Study discussion.
20. Housing & Credit Counseling – Request for City funding of $13, 109.