[MissoulaGov] Committee Update 10-15-08

[Bob Jaffe]

Greetings,
This morning we had a three hour PAZ session.  We spent a lot of time looking at the annexation and zoning for the new Flynn ranch phase four subdivision.  We did this a couple of weeks ago but there was a mix up with notifying the developer. They wanted us to apply a different zoning upon annexation so they asked us to bring it back to committee.  The way the process works is we can apply zoning upon annexation so there is not a requirement to go through a separate zoning process.  This change in the law was actually initiated by Missoula and was for the purpose of bringing in properties that were not going to be going to planning board or subdividing. Mainly properties that were going on sewer and needed to annex. It was not intended to be a shortcut zoning process for large subdivisions.
Staff had tried to accommodate and zone the different parts as close to the request as they could justify under the law.  In the end the committee made some more concessions but it sounds like they will go through the rezoning process anyway to try for the rest.
In the future I don't think we should do that anymore. We should apply a base zone to the property when we annex just so it has something and do the rest during a formal rezone process.
 
Then we had the first pre-public hearing on the Stonybrook subdivision at Tower and Third. Much public opposition. We heard Staff, the developer, and the public. We didn't really have any discussion. We will take that up again next week.
 
Our last item was the proposed resolution developed by the Mayor's office supporting affordable housing.  The general idea is a bunch of whereas and therefores establishing we have an affordable housing problem and what some of our goals are. It then asks staff to work on bringing forward some actual policy and ordinance suggestions to address the problem. This one definitely ruffled some feathers. This wasn't a proposal to actually make any policy changes. Just to state that this is a priority and to advise staff to start looking at possible changes. Here is the link:
ftp://www.ci.missoula.mt.us/Packets/Council/2008/2008-10-06/Referrals/CHPreferral.pdf
 
In A&F we approved a new contract for computer purchases. We are switching over to thin client workstations and blade servers. The thin clients are tiny little computers that have no moving parts or storage drives. They just run a terminal services connection to the server. This means that the programs actually run on the server. The desktop computer is just a keyboard and screen letting you control what is going on at the server.  Its kind of like the old unix systems and dumb terminals from twenty years ago. The bottom line is that the machines are much cheaper and will only need to be replaced every eight years instead of every four. This is because the performance upgrades happen at the server. They also use substantially less power. 
I'm not sure exactly what a blade server is but I did catch that it uses a lot less power. The overall savings are something like $70,000.
 
In Public Works we discussed the issue with the right of way on Miller Creek road. I'm pretty sure this was covered in the paper the other day. In researching the right of way for the project it was discovered that there was an old right of way that had not been noticed for a very long time. It turns out it runs right through some homes and right up to some others on the west side of the road.  It was unclear if it belonged to the city or the county. The county sent us a letter that clearly stated they considered it to be ours and they wouldn't have anything to do with it. We need to figure out how much of it we need and how much to vacate back to the home owners. It is a bit of a sticky situation. Some very irate property owners were there to let us know what they think of the city of Missoula and our public works director. No decisions were made and it was clear we were going to need more information to decide how to handle this.
 
I wanted to give a special thanks to Brian Hensel in the Street Division. I've been annoyed for years about this one spot at the south west corner of Orange and Front. There is a bulge in the pavement that runs for about ten or fifteen feet right next to the gutter. When you are riding a bike there in traffic the road pinches off so you are forced to the side. But then there is this weird ridge of pavement that you can't really ride on. If you go to the left of it you are all the way out into the traffic lane. So you get stuck in this little shoot along the gutter for about fifteen feet. It has always been a very dangerous spot in my ride home.  So I finally thought to ask Brian directly about it last Thursday and he had it ground down level by Tuesday. I rode on it today and it was great.
 
Thanks,
 
Bob Jaffe
   
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