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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-BPW-1990-08-22BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE August 22, 1990 4:00 pm Common Council Chambers NOTES Present: Commissioners Berg, Connor, Cox, Reeves, (Cannon excused) Mayor Nichols; Supt. Thadani, Acting Asst. Supt. Carpenter, City Engr. Gray, Asst. City Atty. Kennedy. Commissioner Reeves chaired the meeting. The following were additions to the Agenda: Parking Permits for Woolworths Lot (contractor parking). Decommissioning of Lake Avenue between Adams and Route 13 - Doug Foster present. Andrew Yale from the Ithaca Bicycle Commission present to discuss possibility of Liaison from Board of Public Works. Request for Expungement of late penalty on Water and Sewer bill for 211 Williams Street - Debbie Parsons present. CNG Transmissions Easement - review of map and property descriptions. The following were deletions to the Agenda: Elmira Road Sidewalks. Central School Parking. Deposit fee for Ithaca Festival vendors - Mike Cannon. Criteria for sidewalk inspections. Request for four -way stop at Jay and Utica Streets - discussion tabled from July 25, 1990 meeting. Time schedule and review of job description for hiring of Transit System Manager. Alcohol consumption in City parks - possible discussion of rules and regulations. Parking ramps: reserved spaces - ruling from Asst. City Atty. Staff Reports: C) Golf Course Shelter - Bill Gray. d) Bus shelters - possible restoration of heaters - Bernie Carpenter. e) Cornell Transit Study - park and ride lot at East Hill Plaza - Bernie Carpenter. City Energy Coordinator - possible new position. Center Ithaca parking lot - complaints regarding entrance - memo from Asst. City Atty. BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS Committee of the Whole August 22, 1990 Letter from Lucy Bergstrom regarding idling vehicles on State and Aurora Streets. 1. Stewart Park Entranceway Plans. Dan Schmohe, City Forester, was present for discussion on the proposed plans for a Stewart Park Entranceway and showed the BPW a drawing of the proposed entranceway. He noted that these plans were prepared with the help of the Interim Parks Commission and the Shade Tree Advisory Committee. This will be funded with leftover funds from the Centennial Commission. Discussion followed about the proposed bicycle path. City Engr. Gray felt that the bicycle path as proposed may cause major confusion to both bicycles and vehicles. Dan noted that this proposed plan is a great improvement over the current situation, and is intended to slow vehicles down. Discussion followed about the committee who worked on this plan. The BPW decided to approve this plan once the City Engr. has reviewed it more thoroughly. 2. Traffic light at Court and Cayuga Streets. Guy Gerard was present for this topic, as he questioned the timing of the lights on Court Street and brought it to the attention of the BPW. City Engr. Gray noted that there are problems with two lights on Court Street and that the DPW has ordered a piece of equipment to correct this. 3. Ramy parking fees: possible restoration of first hour free. Commissioner Reeves gave the BPW some background on this request, since it was a part of the Parking Management Committee discussion. Many merchants are concerned with charging for the first hour of parking and wish to have free first hour parking. Alderperson Daley noted that members of DII are aware that other revenue is needed to restore the first hour free parking. DII has done a report on this and will furnish the BPW with a copy of this report. Discussion followed about the Parking Management Committee, and Commissioner Berg noted that the charge of this committee is very limited in scope. Stuart Lewis, a member of DII, felt that it is extremely important to the downtown businesses to restore free first hour parking and has already seen the negative impact from this. He further noted he met with officials from McCurdys and they also urge that this situation be rectified. Mayor Nichols noted that the BPW needed some firm numbers regarding lost revenue and personnel figures before agreeing to restore the first hour free. Several merchants spoke in favor of restoring the first hour free parking and also asked for better signage for the parking garages. The BPW decided to Page - 2 BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS Committee of the Whole CW August 22, 1990 recommend that a committee be formed to look at restoring the first hour free parking in the City -owned lots and requested that the City Controller and Building Systems Supervisor be members of this committee. 4. Parking Permits for Woolworths Lot (contractor parking). Stu Stein from the Tompkins Co. Board of Representatives and also a member of the Mental Health Building Committee, was present to request obtaining parking permits for the contractors working on the Mental Health Building. He noted that he met with Supt. Thadani, Susan Blumenthal and the job foreman at the site to discuss this. He further noted that there are about 35 +/- workers at this building now, and that the building is scheduled to be finished in December, 1990. Supt. Thadani discussed the proposal he is suggesting to accommodate the workers. He suggests that the workers be granted 15 permits for the 3rd floor of the Green Street Parking Garage, as many of the workers are currently taking up the prime spots in the Woolworths lot. Discussion followed. Commissioner Cox asked if we will still have these parking problems once the employees move in. It was discussed that there is an agreement between the County and the City for parking arrangements for County employees. Commissioner Connor suggested the workers try car pooling. Mr. Stein noted that it is very frustrating to stand in line for permits, while Commissioner Reeves noted that the BPW has received other requests similar to this one and never granted them because it may set a precedent. Discussion followed. The BPW denied the request for parking permits in the Green Street Ramp for the contractors working on the Mental Health Building. 5. Ithaca Bicvcle Commission request for Liaison from Board of Public Works. Andrew Yale from the Ithaca Bicycle Commission, was present to request that a liaison be appointed from the BPW to the Bicycle Commission. He noted that the next meeting for the Bicycle Commission is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 21 at 4:30 pm. He also noted that the Bicycle Commission would consider sending a regular representative to the BPW meetings each week. 6. Decommissioning of Lake Avenue between Adams and Route 13. Doug Foster from the Planning and Development Dept. was present for discussion. He noted that plans are being made to build a park in this area, and he showed the BPW a map of the proposed area. He asked the BPW to study the concept of decommissioning two blocks of Lake Avenue for this purpose. It was noted that decommissioning means that the street is no longer a City street. Commissioner Cox noted that sewage goes through this area and there could be other utilities in these two blocks. As this is a Page - 3 BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS Committee of the Whole August 22, 1990 very preliminary review, staff will investigate this further and report back to the BPW, as will Council Liaison Blanchard. 7. Request for Exnungement of late penalty on Water and Sewer bill. Debbie Parsons, City Chamberlain, was present to discuss this request from Mary Yaple, owner of the property at 211 Williams St. Ms. Yaple states that although her bill was due on August 15th, she never received it until August 15th. Debbie noted that all water and sewer bills are mailed out on the last business day of July and must have been lost in the mail. Discussion followed about whose fault this may be. The BPW will vote on a resolution regarding this at their next meeting. a. Tioga Street - review of options. Alderperson Peterson was present for this discussion. Discussion followed about the recommendations of the Traffic Engineer regarding short -term improvements to the intersection of Farm and Tioga Streets and the improvements already made to this intersection to improve the line of vision. Asst. City Atty. Kennedy asked City Engr. Gray if he felt a traffic light would improve this intersection. City Engr. Gray felt it would not reroute the traffic. Discussion followed about the money needed to improve this intersection. The BPW directed staff to reimplement the short -term improvements at this intersection and will review this topic again at the Sept. 19th COW meeting. 9. Encroachment request at 405 Marshall St. Asst. City Atty. Kennedy noted that this request is very basic - the stoop encroaches 1.2' onto the City right -of -way. The encroachment agreement is needed for a property transfer. The BPW did not see a problem with this request and will vote on a resolution regarding this at their next meeting. 10. State Street bricks. Commissioner Reeves reminded the BPW that there was a request at the last BPW meeting to acquire these bricks and noted that Common Council has a policy regarding this. City Engr. Gray noted the report that Lynne Gifford did regarding bricks. Bill further noted that in some cases of bricks, the Landmarks Preservation Committee should be consulted. The BPW asked staff to contact the person requesting bricks and let him know the City's policy. Page - 4 BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS Committee of the Whole August 22, 1990 (W 11. CNG Transmissions Easement. Asst. City Atty. Kennedy noted that she has more information regarding this agreement and this will be reviewed at the next BPW meeting, along with the history of this agreement. 12. Review of Job description for Asst. Supt. of Public Works. Commissioner Reeves gave the BPW the background of this item. She noted that the City had advertised for this position and selected about 10 applications to review, while 2 of these applications declined to be interviewed. Of the remaining 8 applicants left, the Selection Committee did not feel that any of the applicants could fill this position adequately. Supt. Thadani suggested changing the qualifications on this to only allow applicants with a 4 year engineering degree to apply. Commissioner Reeves noted that she spoke with the Personnel Administrator and that this job description was already changed in the last 6 months, and that it was highly unlikely that Civil Service would want to change it again. Discussion followed about Supt. Thadani's suggestion which the BPW did not agree with. Commissioner Reeves felt this would be in violation of the Fair Labor Practice. Supt. Thadani noted that the advertisement for this position would be on a nation -wide basis, as will the position of Transit System Manager. Discussion followed about the cost of advertising on a nation -wide basis, and Supt. Thadani noted that there is no money in the 1990 budget for this. The BPW decided to direct staff to review the 1990 budget for funds for advertising this position and to check with the City Controller for obtaining his authorization to shift funds. 13. Third Street sidewalk procedures review. Asst. City Atty. Kennedy noted that there may be some problems with this item, as there has been an attorney looking through their files, as residents in this area felt that inadequate or no notice was given regarding the installation of sidewalks in this area. City Engr. Gray will look into this matter. Meeting adjourned at 6:05 pm. Notes by Lisa Cornell Administrative Secretary Page - 5