[MissoulaGov] committee update 12-10-08

[Marilyn Marler]

Thanks Bob for the weekly updates.  

A clarification on the Conservation Committee- we did not approve the new Parks fee schedule.  We just set a public hearing for January 12th.  So people can comment on it before we approve it. Also, I think it's worth mentioning that some folks from the swim team community were there and they spoke in favor of the new 50 m pool rental fees. It's nice that there has been some improvement in communication between Parks and the swimmers, and everyone seems happy.

Also, I'd like to hear from cyclists about their positions on the $10 for 4 years ($15/family) bike license. How do you think we (as the city) could encourage more cyclists to purchase bike licenses? What we came up with in committee as suggestions were:
-Make available on the new city website
-Give out freebies or Bike Benefits stickers with the license
-Have the summer Bike Ambasssadors sell them occasionally
-Better marketing of how the proceeds are spent (on programs that benefit cyclists)
-Make the license more expensive (like $20) but have it be permanent
-Work with local non-profits to spread the word to their memberships and audiences

Email me off list if you like, marler at bigsky.net, or send ideas to all of council at council at ci.missoula.mt.us  And if you don't already have a bike license, maybe you should go get one! Although it's a little inconvenient- you have to physically go to the Treasurer's Office on the 2nd floor of city hall.

Thanks again, Marilyn Marler




  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Bob Jaffe 
  To: missoulagov at cmslists.com 
  Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 11:23 PM
  Subject: [MissoulaGov] committee update 12-10-08


  Greetings,

  This morning I found out we have a cat ordinance.  We were amending it to limit the number of cats a person can own to 5. If you want more you are supposed to get a cat breeders license. We also considered revisions to the dog ordinance. The only one I really wanted to see more discussion on was the part about doggy day care facilities. In the past these types of businesses were not addressed by any of our ordinances. The zoning office had made the interpretation that they were the equivalent of vet clinics. The new ordinance defines doggy day care and exempts it from the nuisance barking rule. I'm not so sure I am in favor of this.  We have one down the street from us on second. It is in a D zone along the tracks but is very close to a number of homes and other businesses. I have received complaints about the barking but they have been exempt from the rule that says you can't let your dogs bark all day. That may be changing soon. The public hearing will be on 12/22.

   

  In Conservation we covered a few items. We approved an agreement where the County pays us about $65,000 per year to maintain fort Missoula park. Once you subtract out all the fees we collect for use of the park it ends up costing the city about an additional $35,000 to run that park.

  We also approved an easement for Northwest Energy to put in a Cathodic Well along a pipe line in the north hills.  That is a deal to help the steel pipe from rusting by changing the way electrolysis would naturally work against the pipe.

  We also approved the new parks fee schedule. Everything is going up a few percent.

   

  In PAZ we took up the Clark Fork Terrace number one subdivision. CFT #2 is the one where we are being sued for asking the developer to put in trails.  There were two issues that came up in the discussion. The trail easement and the SID waiver for off-site improvements. Parks would like to assure that we will secure a trail easement along the southern edge of the property that parallels the Milwaukee trail. If we can't get an easement on the actual old rail line we want to at least get something parallel to it. Considering the likelihood of  litigation I probably shouldn't say any more about the project outside of the public meeting.

  We were also planning to have an update on the zoning rewrite but our consultant got stuck somewhere do to the weather.

   

  In A&F we made a modification to our agreement on the repayment of the brownfield revolving loan fund for the millsite project. The $1.25 million loan is supposed to be paid back from tax increment from the project over a number of years. During the interim period while the clean up is happening MRA has been paying interest only on the loan. There was a clause in the agreement that said that if the property isn't closed on by 1/1/09 then principal payments need to start. It was assumed that if the deal didn't go down by then that the options to purchase would expire and the deal would be dead. But as we have it we are still waiting for DEQ signoff on the clean up. The property can not be financed and purchased until this is done. The Millsite people have negotiated another extension on the option and DEQ approval is expected this winter.  So we took out the 1/1/09 deadline from the agreement.

   

  We also had an interesting discussion about our bike license ordinance. We did some housekeeping on the language and then discussed how we could make the bike license program effective. Phil Smith, our bike ped coordinator was extremely pessimistic about the possibility that licensing bikes would ever be embraced by the community and the whole thing was a big waste of time. It was tried 10 or 15 years ago and was a lot of work and never really took off.  I'm a little more hopeful that folks can get behind the idea of paying a small fee that would go towards supporting bicycle programs in the city. The current fee is $10 for four years. $15 for families and $5 for children. Bikes with wheels under 24" do not need to be registered. I'm thinking the cycling community in Missoula has a high level of civic engagement and would eventually be supportive of this program. There could also be incentives thrown in to get it going. We will also want to work with the retailers to find a way to make the program work for them.

   

  The other A&F item we discussed was the sewer rate increase. The general consensus was that we wanted to wait to approve any rate increase until the study on flow based billing was complete. I will be more comfortable voting for the rate increase if it is combined with the new billing based on usage. That way the low users of the system will hopefully see a rate decrease. It is possible we will have the information needed some time this spring.

   

  In Public Works we approved the request to make changes to our rules on deicer. We removed the restrictions on corrosiveness and we now allow solid products.  The argument was that our streets department will do everything possible to find the best solutions and we shouldn't tie his hands. Stacy and I voted for an amendment that would make the change sunset next fall but that failed. 

     

  Thank you for your interest,

   

  Bob Jaffe

  Missoula City Council, Ward 3

  bjaffe at ci.missoula.mt.us

  406-728-1052



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