June 25, 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 Vice Mayor Dunfield presiding and Commissioners Rundle, Henry, and Kennedy present.  Mayor Hack was absent. 

Vice Mayor Dunfield recognized the City of Lawrence’s Waste Reduction & Recycling Division for receiving the Environmental Excellence Award from Bridging the Gap for outstanding efforts to protect the environment.

As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by Henry,to approve the City Commission meeting minutes of June 18, 2002.  Motion carried unanimously.

As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by Henry, to approve the Housing Trust Fund Board meeting minutes of May 21, 2002; and, the Parks & Recreation Advisory Board meeting minutes of May 14, 2002.  Motion carried unanimously.

As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by Henry, to approve claims to 401          vendors in the amount of $1,555,822.72.  Motion carried unanimously.

            The City Commission reviewed the bids for Clinton Parkway and Lawrence Avenue traffic signal improvements for the Public Works Department.  The bids were:

As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by Henry, to award the bid to J. Warren Co., Inc., in the amount of $106,135.  Motion carried unanimously.            (1)

As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by Henry, to authorize the City Manager to execute an Engineering Services Agreement with Delich Roth and Goodwillie for the removal of a sanitary sewer pump station located at 621 Utah Court for $25,176.  Motion carried unanimously.                                                                                           (2)

As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by Henry, to approve the selection of New Horizons Computer Learning Center for PC software training for City employees for $590 per day.  Motion carried unanimously.                                               (3)

As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by Henry, to authorize the City Manager to execute the project agreement with the Kansas State Historic Preservation Office accepting 2002 Historic Preservation Fund grant in the amount of $42,432 for the hiring of a design review intern and the development of five National Register Historic Districts.  Motion carried unanimously.                                                                                          (4)

As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by Henry, to place on first reading Ordinance No. 7537, establishing “no parking” along the south side of 9^th Street, from Tennessee Street west to the alley; and, on both sides of 12^th Street between Delaware Street and Oregon Street.  Motion carried unanimously.                                                         (5)

As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by Henry, to place on first reading Ordinance No. 7538, authorizing the condemnation of easements and rights-of-way at Malan Realty site (31^st Street Improvements).  Motion carried unanimously.        (6)

As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by Henry, to place on first reading Ordinance No. 7539, increasing City court costs from $20 to $22.50.  Motion carried unanimously.                                                                                                                      (7)

As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by Henry, to adopt Resolution No. 6394, authorizing the Mayor to execute an agreement with KDOT for 6^th Street, Eldridge Road to Wakarusa Drive (KLINK), mill, overlay, and pavement marking. The State will participate in this project at a fifty percent (50%) share up to a maximum of $200,000.  Motion carried unanimously.                                                                                                                      (8)

As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by Henry, to approve the site plan (SP-05-36-02) for construction of a building addition to the Lawrence Indian United Methodist Church, located at 950 East 21^st Street, subject to the following conditions:

1.                  Provision of a revised site plan to include a 6’ sidewalk along Haskell Avenue;

2.                  Provision of a revised site plan to include the following note:  “BZA approval stipulated that variances will become null and void upon change/cessation of property use.”

3.                  Filing of the dedication of additional right-of-way for Haskell Avenue at the Register of Deeds and provision of a note on the site plan indicating the Book and Page reference.

4.                  Execution of a site plan indicating the Book and Page reference;

5.                  Execution of an agreement not-to-protest a benefit district for East 21^st Street sidewalk, street, and storm sewer improvements.

 

Motion carried unanimously.                                                                                                           (9)

As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by Henry, to approve the recommendation from the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board to receive the art piece entitled “Emergence” as donated artwork.  Motion carried unanimously.                        (10)

As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by Henry, to approve distribution of the Request for Proposals for Parks and Recreation Master Plan for the property leased from the Corps of Engineers (east of Clinton Lake dam area).  Motion carried unanimously.                                                                                                                                      (11)

As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Rundle, seconded by Henry, to authorize the Mayor to sign a Release of Mortgage for Nicolas and Kristen Beck, 521 Indiana.  Motion carried unanimously.                                                                                                        (12)

During the City Manager’s report, Chuck Soules, Public Works Director, reported that from the existing 10 inches of asphalt on 23^rd and Inverness Drive, staff milled off 4 inches of asphalt because of the rutting that was caused by heat.  He said this road has 4 inches of concrete overlay and fiber reinforced with a mixture of granite.  He said he felt confident that this would be an improvement to that road that would last many years.  Soules said this type of technique is being used also on the Wakarusa project.

Vice Mayor Dunfield called a public hearing concerning the formation of a benefit district for 31^st Street and Nieder Road.

David Corliss, Assistant City Manager/Legal Services Director, presented the staff report. He said 31^st and Nieder was one of the prominent intersections in the community that warrants traffic signalization at this time.  He also noted that the City is in the process of improving 31^st Street approximately from Nieder to the east as part of the home improvement development on the north side of 31^st Street.  Pursuant to the Resolution establishing this as a public hearing, in the development policy, staff notified the property owners that are in the proposed benefit district.  He reference a staff memo that discussed the drive-through nature of Nieder Road.  The special assessment benefit district would include the property in the Resolution and did not include any City financial participation.  He pointed out the spreadsheet that provided the square footage of the various tracts in the proposed benefit district, the percentage of those tracts in relationship to the entire benefit district, and the estimated cost based on the estimate of $325,000 to make the improvements. 

Corliss said staff looked at the plats of the development plans for the properties in this area and there are no agreements not-to-protest a benefit district for the improvement at 31^st and Nieder Road.  He said there would be a necessity to move Nieder Road slightly to the east to align better to the Goodwill site because the Goodwill Building is on the western portion of their lot.  He said staff met with representatives from Goodwill and Aldi’s to discuss both this improvement and the pending improvements on 31^st Street.  He reminded the Commission that 31^st Street would have a median from Nieder to Iowa prohibiting left turn movements into and out of Douglas County Bank.

Pursuant to State law, there was also a proposed resolution that finds in advisable to do the improvement, create the benefit district, and then ordering the improvement.  He said if the Commission wants to change any of the particulars of the benefit district that could happen, but the Commission could not enlarge the benefit district unless the process is started over. 

Commissioner Henry asked Corliss if Nieder Road was moved slightly to the east, would that line the road up with the entrance to Aldi’s and Goodwill.

Corliss said when the City hires an engineer, moving the road was something they would need to look at.  He said he thought the City had enough exiting right-of-way on Nieder Road to do this without asking Douglas County Bank for dedication of right-of-way.  He said without an engineer to tell the City how this would work, he did not want to make promises that could not be followed through.  Allowing the road at that location was important and the access issues for the Goodwill and Aldi’s site are important aspects of the project.

Chuck Soules said, at the City Commission’s request, staff took a look at the pass through traffic.  He said two staff members were sent to that location between the hours of noon and 1:00 p.m. on 33^rd and 31^st Streets.  Staff wrote down every license plate that came in and out.  If they went out within the 5 minute interval, they were counted as pass through traffic.  He said these figures were conservative because if you took one of these timeframes, for instances, entering at noon, they would have until approximately 12:10 p.m. or they would be considered as through traffic because staff only counted in these increments.  He said if they entered and left within these 5 minute increments, but there were 10 minutes between the beginning and the end, then they were counted as pass through.  He said with these figures, it showed about 10% as pass through traffic.

Commissioner Henry asked Soules about the timeframe for these counts.

Soules said from noon to 1:00 p.m.

Martin Flory, Director of Real Estate for Aldi Foods, Olathe, Kansas, said they had a chance to meet with staff and appreciated the opportunity to go over the project.  He said there were two reasons he was there.  One reason was because they supported the traffic signal at 31^st and Nieder Road and Aldi’s wanted to contribute its fair share toward the cost of construction of the improvements. 

The other concern was that the project was not linked to the 31^st and Iowa intersection improvements.  They were already being asked to contribute additional right-of-way both on 31^st and Iowa Street that did not benefit them and in fact, run a median past their only full access entrance.  He thanked the City and staff for considering the stoplight at 31^st and Nieder Road. 

He said he had a concern about the amount of land they were being asked to contribute to the intersection improvements and the cost of the property.  They had property for sale on that corner and a portion of that property was going to be given away for these intersection improvements and they were not benefiting.  He said these improvements would financially affect them.  They had received some interest in that property, but now are being turned away because of the result of this improvement and the need to find out about access issues.  He said he felt that the amount and value of that land that they were asked to contribute in itself is enough of a contribution on behalf of Aldi to this entire development.  They are willing to participate any way they can in helping with the design that would work for Goodwill and Aldi’s to gain access to that light.    Flory said they felt like they were getting double hit when they are already contributing to the 31^st and Iowa intersection which he reiterated did not benefit them, and then to solve the problem that this intersection caused, asking them to contribute to the 31^st and Nieder Road stoplight.  He said they felt like they had already contributed by contributing the right-of-way.

Commissioner Rundle asked Flory to clarify if they were donating right-of-way at 31^st and Iowa and for the traffic light.

Flory said they were donating right-of-way for 31^st and Iowa and not for the stoplight.  He said there was 15 feet that was needed for additional right-of-way on Iowa Street and 10 feet additional right-of-way needed on the entire frontage on 31^st Street.  He said this was a considerable amount of land which was approximately 6500 square feet of land taken away from the corner.  When you consider both sides, at the current assessed value on the tax rolls, that is double the amount that they were being asked to contribute already for the traffic signal improvements. 

Pat Slabaugh, Executive Vice President of Douglas County Bank, said he would like to go on record, he stated the last time he came to the City Commission meeting, they were not opposed to this project, but had a couple of concerns.  He said most of his concerns were addressed in a letter that was written to the Mayor and the Commission in May.  He said they met with staff and talked about the left turn into Douglas County Bank and the left turn exiting Douglas County Bank on 31^st Street traveling west.  He said he disagreed with Flory in that he thought that the need for that stoplight is caused by the through traffic that enters that intersection which evidently has heavy traffic, but would be exceedingly heavy traffic once the Home Depot is constructed.  He said he was not aware until this evening that Douglas County Bank may have to give land on the west side of the bank for the Nieder Road movement to the east.  If that is going to lineup with Goodwill, it is probably not a lot of land.  He said they are also going to give land on the north along with the east side and this would cause them to have to move several signs.  He wanted to be sure about the traffic flow, proper signage, and the ability to get people into that bank location.  He said they were willing to pay their fair share, but hated to lose more land.  The lot on the west side is a saleable lot and someday could be used for development.

Jim Turrentine, Lawrence, said he has driven through this intersection many times to get into the shopping center.  He said he wanted to offer what he considered an alternate solution that would be better for everyone in the existing benefit district areas.  He suggested putting the entrance to the shopping center at Four Wheel Drive in order to go across a vacant piece of property.  He said there would be a lot more space for cars that would backup wanting to make left turns and would accommodate a much higher capacity of traffic.  He said he thought KDOT was concerned about the amount of traffic from the Home Depot over to the Target store and visa versa and that contributed to a bad situation at Nieder Road.  KDOT was also concerned about the timing of the lights and by putting the light at Four Wheel Drive it would be at the right distance to be synchronized with the other two intersection lights that would be on the other side and not at half block which would make it an engineering challenge to time.  Also, if the Four Wheel Drive entrance was chosen, the process could be restarted and would have a benefit district that would include the Target and Home Depot properties.  It would in effect benefit the flow of traffic from the shopping center to Home Depot and Target and visa versa.  He said there would be high numbers of traffic going through that intersection.  He said he wanted to give an opportunity for the City to have a selection that would divide the cost among more benefiting parties.  He said he was sure the people at Sonic and Backyard Burger would appreciate the road right next to them.  He said he thought it would be an improvement for everyone in the area and would be a win/win situation because the existing benefiting people would have their cost divided over more people and the flow of traffic could be accommodated at a higher rate and a safer manner.  He presented a diagram of his proposal to the City Commission.

Turrentine also said you would not have to tear up Nieder Road and disturb the traffic patterns while your doing the construction because you’ll be doing the construction on a new vacant lot and be out of the traffic flow pattern. 

Moved by Kennedy,             seconded by Rundle, to close the public hearing.  Motion carried unanimously.                                                  

Commissioner Kennedy asked Soules if this was the first time he has seen Turrentine’s drawing with the possibility of using Four Wheel Drive as the intersection rather than Nieder Road.

Soules said staff received this proposal by Turrentine this morning and did not have time to thoroughly review it.  It would be a substantially larger project.  He said if they had a crystal ball maybe that would be a better route to choose before all the development happened, but your still going to have access problems for east bound traffic to get to Aldi’s and Goodwill.

Commissioner Kennedy said there was a median all the way from Four Wheel Drive to Iowa.

Soules agreed and said that would create access issues and people to access back into the shopping area would need to get to Four Wheel Drive.

Corliss said the Commission would also have a question about the right-of-way to acquire on the south side of 31^st Street and there was no dedicated right-of-way to extend Four Wheel Drive.  He said he did not know if it was going to be one lot or multiple lots. 

Commissioner Rundle asked if Aldi’s had cross access with the Goodwill site.

Wildgen said yes, but it might be subject to design changes.

Vice Mayor Dunfield asked about the diagram of the proposal and whether the drives were private between Backyard Burger and Sonic.

Wildgen said yes.

Commissioner Kennedy said he had a concern about staff’s count on the cut through traffic.  He said he was amazed that the City has that much traffic that wants to avoid that intersection.  Knowing that the improvement for 31^st and Iowa would be coming, he said he knew this would improve the traffic flow and would probably negate a lot of cut through traffic at this time, but in the future it would come back again.   With the improvements at 31^st Street, he was in favor of establishing the benefit district, completing the design, and the traffic light at Nieder Road.      

Commissioner Henry concurred with Commissioner Kennedy.  He said they had been studying this intersection for quite some time and in the interest of serving the best interest of Douglas County Bank, Aldi’s and Goodwill, he thought this was the appropriate place for the light particularly since there is going to be a median already determined by KDOT which will deny some access to the bank.

Vice Mayor Dunfield said the public benefit was much clearer in terms of 31^st and Iowa because clearly that is a major intersection for the whole City.  He said he agreed with staff’s logic that 31^st and Nieder does benefit that group of properties and particularly the largest which was the Target Store.

Commissioner Rundle asked Soules if he understood Slabaugh’s concerns about traffic flow for Douglas County Bank and signage.

Soules said yes.  He said they did not have a specific design, but they did not want to impose on Douglas County Bank anymore than they had to and would do everything they could to not infringe upon their property along with Goodwill and Aldi’s properties.  He said he understood these issues and would work with them closely to make the best solution possible.

Moved by Kennedy, seconded by Henry, to adopt Resolution No. 6393, concerning the formation of a benefit district for 31^st Street and Nieder Road.  Motion carried unanimously.    (13)

During Public Comment, Greg Hickam, President of the Oread Neighborhood Association, read a letter to the City Commission.  The letter read:

“A week ago today, the University of Kansas announced that Chancellor Hemenway had filed an appeal with Governor Bill Graves regarding the March 15 SHPO decision prohibiting demolition of several 1300 Ohio Street houses.  The Kansas Statutes and Regulations set out no procedures or timelines for this appeal process.

On the day the appeal was filed, the Governor’s office stated that no time frame had been set for addressing or deciding the 1300 Ohio issue.  But information obtained this week through contact with the Governor’s Office indicates otherwise.  Although not announced or publicized, Trista Beadles (Legal Counsel to the Governor) indicated that a 2 week time period has been set for accepting public comment, and that this period began 1 week ago (on the day the appeal was filed) and will expire 1 week from today.  Ms. Beadles also indicated that she will make a recommendation to the Governor at the end of this week (prior to the end of the public comment period), and expects the Governor to issue his decision early next week.

It is important to note that when a historic preservation decision is appealed, the question under consideration changes.

Prior to appeal, historic review decisions focus on the question:  ‘Does the proposed project encroach upon, damage or destroy any historic property included in the National Register of Historic Places or the State Register of Historic Places or the environs of such property?’

After appeal, decision must focus on a different question:  ‘Is there no feasible and prudent alternative to the proposed project, and does the program include all possible planning to minimize harm?’

Since feasible and prudent alternatives have not been part of earlier historic review considerations, and since KU has not yet provided any construction plans, records from the Campus Historic Preservation Board, Lawrence Historic Resources Commission, and the State Historic Preservation Officer proceedings do not address these questions.

An appeal involving an individual, such as this appeal involving the Governor, is substantially different from an appeal involving a governing body or group (for example the Lawrence City Commission).  Since a governing group holds regular open public meetings and has defined procedures, due process is incorporated into that appeal process, since information presentation, public input, group discussion, and decision making occur in a public venue.  But an appeal involving the Governor requires intentional creation of public input and process to ensure that due process occurs.

The Oread Neighborhood Association feels that a public hearing regarding the 1300 Ohio project appeal is needed to ensure that information regarding feasible and prudent alternatives, and the lack of construction plans, is addressed.  ONA respectfully asks the City Commission to write the Governor requesting:

-clarification of the process

-provision of thorough public input, ideally through a public hearing before the Governor

-that information on feasible and prudent alternative be sought and considered

-that the time period for public comment be extended, and that the comment period and       

 methods be publicized.”

 

                        Pat Kehde, President of the Lawrence Preservation Alliance, said neither the Lawrence Preservation Alliance Executive Board nor the entire membership has had the chance to review K.U.’s appeal letter because the timeline has been extremely tight.  She said they only just learned yesterday that this matter was galloping forward.  As president of the alliance, they had worked hand and glove with Oread Neighborhood Association for the past 1 ½ years in this matter and had shared their concerns.  They had presented material to the various bodies and could not help to think that there was unanimous support.  However, since she could not fully say that without the voting of the board, she said she would say that Lawrence Preservation Alliance is deeply concerned about this issue and was particularly important that the distinction between what was discussed at the public hearing that lasted two hours at the court house in February and what the governor is having to think about and look at are almost two entirely different matters.  She said as far as she knew there has been no official research or searching out of matters to deal with feasible and prudent alternatives.  K.U. has submitted no plans, so a decision about whether a building or two buildings would mitigate anything that can be made because there was nothing in front of them.  The Preservation Alliance urges the City Commission to act on this matter to get clarification and an extension from the Governor.

            Terry Riordan, Lawrence, said this has been a dispute that has been going on and the City Commission and the City of Lawrence has been instrumental in allowing a process to occur and asked the Commission to continue to allow this process.  The dispute was settled initially by a well-defined process.  This situation creates potentially a political process and decision rather than a public decision.  He said as an Oread neighbor, it really doesn’t matter how you personally view what side of the fence you fall on this issue, he said he did not think that was the point.  The point was simply that we as citizens are asking for the City Commission, who represents us as citizens, to protect us from an arbitrary decision without adequate public input.  He said they were asking that the Governor delay the decision to simply allow adequate input so a sound decision could be made.  In the past, there were many hours of public comment and the public comment has been instrumental and helpful.  He said he thought both sides coming to the table to present their decisions and the things that they use to make those decisions are extremely helpful.  This process was not very well defined and had never been done before to his knowledge.  At this time he asked the City Commission that they vote to have adequate representation and allowed to present adequate information so the Governor can make a sound decision and not whether you think the decision is good or bad that has been made in the past.  Obviously it’s still on going even without the Governor’s input.                     

            Commissioner Rundle said he thought it was a reasonable request.  Many of us put our faith in the processes that we have established to mediate conflict whether that is citizen against citizen or citizen against the City.  He said he wanted to acknowledge that we have been working for quite sometime with a group of neighborhood representatives, the City Manager, himself, and the University to talk about the on-going relationship with K.U. and the City and trying to plan for the future to make sure we could both grow together with minimum conflict.  He said this is simply a request to make sure the process is fair and reasonable.  He supported the Mayor drafting a letter.

            Commissioner Kennedy asked if staff had any contact through the information that has been given through the Chancellor to the Governor in regards to overriding the State, HRC or SHPO to allow for demolition of these properties.

            Wildgen said he has talked to Beadles and she said she was accumulating the information in a report and was going to present it to the Governor with a recommendation, the first week in July.  The timetable outlined in the Oread Neighborhood Association’s letter was accurate.

            Commissioner Kennedy asked if there was written documentation of what the process has been through so far.

            Wildgen said he believed that’s what she was trying to accumulate.  He said she didn’t indicate that the Governor toured the area and didn’t indicate that the Governor wanted to have meetings himself, but that she was the liaison and staff member that was assigned to the issue and was putting that report together.      

            Corliss said the only contact he had was with Jim Pottorff, General Counsel at K.U., who indicated that the letter was being sent and he asked for a copy of the letter.  He said he has had no contact with anyone at the State level.

            Commissioner Henry said this was an interesting turn of events.  He said he was not aware the question changed when the appeal was filed, and he appreciated knowing this.  He said he does not personally feel that this is an unreasonable request.  He said he was in support of the letter to the Governor.

            Vice Mayor Dunfield wanted to clarify just what was being requested of the Commission.  It’s basically a request that the governor allow adequate time for public input and preferably including a public hearing on this matter.

            Commissioner Rundle said the bullet points at the end of the letter capture what is being requested.

            Commissioner Kennedy said he would not mind going along with this letter.  His only question was that were they telling the Governor or his liaison to come to some of these meetings.

            Vice Mayor Dunfield said what was being asked was for the Mayor to endorse the four bullet points at the end of the letter as Commissioner Rundle suggested.

            Wildgen said given the timing, he was wondering if the Vice Mayor could sign the letter rather than the Mayor because of the Mayor’s schedule.

            Moved by Rundle, seconded by Henry, to authorize the Vice Mayor to draft a letter to the Governor requesting, among other things, clarification of the appeal process and an opportunity for public input regarding the KU appeal of the State Historic Preservation Officer's decision prohibiting demolition of several 1300 Ohio Street houses.  Motion carried unanimously.

                                                                                                                                                      (14)

            Marci Francisco, Lawrence, said she wanted to address parking in the Oread Neighborhood.  She said Janet Gerstner, Secretary, Oread Neighborhood Association, wrote a letter to the Lawrence Zoning Advisory Committee in August of last year regarding some suggestions that they had for incorporating some changes to parking requirements for group living facilities such as sororities, fraternities, and dormitories.  These are facilities that can be built in the residential dormitory zoning in their neighborhood.  That process has been on going and said she did attend a number of meetings, but for some reason there has been some delay in the presentation of that information to the Planning Commission.  She said she was asking the City Commission to consider putting the change in parking requirements, particularly for a minimum of 1.5 spaces per 2 occupants rather than the 1 space for 2 occupants that presently exist, on a future agenda in the next week or two so that it could be discussed and perhaps forwarded to the Planning Commission.  If additional group residences were going to be developed in the residential dormitory area, they would like to have standards for the City that require appropriate parking.  The current Scholarship Halls, many of them built as early as 1954, were built without parking and so much of the parking for those halls is being provided on City streets.  The proposal they saw, although it was not an official plan, the request for review was for demolition of the houses, but the University did indicate that they had plans and the plans they presented showed 10 parking spaces for 100 residents.  She said they would at least have some discussion about what is an appropriate number of parking spaces in new development in their neighborhood.

            Commissioner Henry asked Francisco, if the requirement was currently 10 parking spaces and was she requesting 15 parking spaces.

            Francisco said no.  That was a plan the University had, right now, if you built to the requirements of residential dormitory zoning, it requires 1 space for every 2 occupants and they are saying a minimum of 1.5, perhaps they should consider 1 space per occupant, but they thought it was a reasonable discussion to have by the Planning Commission.  She said their letter was accepted by the Zoning Advisory Committee and thought that it was put in their recommendations, but it hasn’t been acted on.  She said it might be important to ask the Planning Commission to look at this.  She presented a copy of the August 23, 2001, Gerstner letter to the City Commission.

            Vice Mayor Dunfield said before the Commission placed this issue on the agenda, he would like to have some staff comment on where this stands in the process.

            Commissioner Henry said they were working with this issue with the Zoning Advisory Committee for quite sometime and thought they were getting close to bringing this issue to a conclusion.

            Wildgen said staff would get a report to the Commission before it was placed on the agenda.                                                                                                                                     (15)

            Jim Turrentine said the Kmart intersection currently is almost the same distance from Iowa on the east side as Nieder Road is on the west side.  If KDOT was objecting to having a traffic light that close to a State highway on the east side, would they have an objection to Nieder Road because the traffic waiting for a left turn at the anticipated levels would back up and cause rear end collisions and possibly into the intersection would have side way collisions and that would be a safety issue.  If that is so, he said he wondered how the City and their design for Nieder Road is going to alleviate that concern that KDOT expressed about intersections so close to highways that have anticipated high levels of traffic on them.

            Commissioner Henry said he was trying to recall, but did not recall that KDOT’s concern was the traffic light that close on the east side.  KDOT’s concern was having a break in the median which would back up traffic.  KDOT’s concern was left turn traffic to get into Kmart, but when you go across Iowa, westbound, then KDOT’s concern was that traffic would stop and trying to make a left turn into the bank would overflow into Iowa Street.  He said he did not think that was possible on the east side of 31^st Street.  He did not think that was KDOT’s concern.

            Soules said that was correct.  The possibility could exist that traffic would back up if someone was trying to make that left turn into the bank.  One of the suggestions presented to KDOT was to leave the bank entrance open until they signalize Nieder Road.  KDOT said go ahead and signalize Nieder because they were closing the bank entrance.  Soules said this is going to be a challenge with 4 signals so close together, but it should be able to be accomplished.  Timing would need to be set and monitored closely.          

            Turrentine said could the signals be so close that it would actually adversely affect the ability to time the 2 new intersections on the east side because it is at half the distance.

            Soules said staff hasn’t looked at the timing of all these signals at once.  He said he knew the timing for Iowa, Home Depot and Ousdahl were all coordinated at this time and that is why they wanted to do this now.  He said let’s get the signals timed and put in at the same time.  He said they also need to coordinate signalization up and down Iowa Street. 

            Turrentine expressed concern about how the City was going to configure the 31^st and Nieder intersection to allow for the many left turning vehicles for 31^st onto Nieder Road.

            Turrentine said there were 2 left turn lanes to accommodate traffic going north on Iowa and there did not appear to be any space to put in left turn lanes for the people who want o make a left turn going onto Nieder Road.

            Commissioner Rundle asked if that was the right-of-way from Aldi’s and Douglas County Bank in part are going to accommodate.

            Wildgen said Douglas County Bank was a right turn southbound and there is some widening on the Aldi’s side, but he did not know if it was for a left turn.  This was coming at the end of a full development, so we’re having to deal with existing situations.  He said this is a difficult engineering process.  He said they did not have an engineer yet.

            Vice Mayor Dunfield said as they get further into the process, those issues will become clearer and the answers to those questions will also become clearer.

            Turrentine said this was an alternative if it becomes insurmountable.                            (16)

            Moved by Kennedy, seconded by Henry, to adjourn at 7:45 p.m.  Motion carried unanimously.

 

 

                                                                                    APPROVED:

                                                                        _____________________________

Sue Hack, Mayor

ATTEST:

 

___________________________________                                                                        

Frank S. Reeb, City Clerk

COMMISSION MEETING JUNE 25, 2002

1.                  Bid       - Clinton  Pkwy & Lawrence Ave traffic signal improvements to J. Warren Co for $106,135.

 

2.                  Engineering Service Agreement – Delich Roth & Goodwillie to remove sanitary sewer pump station location at 621 Utah for $25,176.

 

3.                  Software Training – New Horizons Computer Learning Center for City employees for $590 per day.

 

4.                  Project Agreement – KS State Historic Preservation Office accept 2002 Historic Preservation Fund Grant for $42,432.

 

5.                  Ordinance No. 7537 – 1^st Reading, “no parking” S side of 9^th, from Tenn W to alley.

 

6.                  Ordinance No. 7538 – 1^st Reading, condemnation of easements and R-O-W at Malan Realty (31^st St. Improvements)

 

7.                  Ordinance No. 7539 – 1^st Reading, increase court cost from $20 to $22.50

 

8.                  Resolution No. 6394 – 6^th St, Eldridge Rd to Wakarusa Dr (KLINK)

 

9.                  Site Plan – (SP-05-36-02) building addition to Lawrence Indian United Methodist Church, 950 E 21^st.

 

10.              Art Work – Parks & Rec Advisory Board to receive art piece entitled “Emergence.”

 

11.              RFP – Parks & Rec Master Plan for property leased from the Corps of Engineers.

 

12.              Mortgage Release – 521 Indiana, Nicolas & Kristen Beck.

 

13.              Resolution No. 6393 –  Benefit District – Public Hearing 31^st & Nieder Rd.

 

14.              Oread Neighborhood – letter to the Governor discussion.

 

15.              Oread Neighborhood – parking requirements

 

16.              31^st & Nieder – Discussion of KDOT’s concerns (signalization)