[MissoulaGov] Committee Update 12-2-09

[Jeff Smith]

Bob,

There are definite parallels between the proposed Higgins Street
improvements and the Trempers Shopping Center renovation.  Similar to
Higgins, the Trempers projects improved accessibility, lighting,
landscaping, and provided a major aesthetic upgrade.  

In being involved with the project and from discussions with the owners
of the center, the improvements have been a great benefit to the center.
Sales increased pretty much across the board as the result of the
exterior improvements and the interior remodels that they encouraged.
Both the Book Exchange and Albertson's completed substantial renovations
due to the exterior remodel (I would suspect that the Higgins work could
have a similar affect on some of the businesses in the area as far as
interior remodels).  Without digging too deeply into the sales figures
of the stores at Trempers, I know that some of the stores have seen
double digit increases in sales after the renovations.  I don't remember
the line being quite so long outside of Paul's every weekend before the
project...  I've also heard that the ACE store at Tremper's is one of
the most productive ACE locations (per square foot) in the nation.  

There are definite hurdles with the construction of this type of
project.  The impact of the construction on sales at Trempers was
reduced by staging the work so that the impacts to certain businesses
were lessened during particular times of day and times of year.  There
was also quite a bit of interest with what was being done at the center,
so during construction Missoulians were coming to the center to check
out the progress and shop at the stores (some stores saw increases in
customers during construction).  All in all, the impacts the stores at
the center from construction was moderate and has proven more than worth
it with increased sales at most, if not all of the stores.  The Russell
Street improvements at Trempers are underway and should be completed by
next Fall.  This work will add landscaping, improve access, and give a
facelift to the Russell Street side of Trempers.  The impacts to
customer access should be pretty minor during this part of the project.

The Trempers projects have definitely been a benefit to sales and to the
shopping experience at the center.  More Missoulians are visiting
Trempers than ever. 

Thanks Bob for the always informative posts,

Jeff Smith, PE
WGM Group, Inc



----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 2 Dec 2009 22:40:55 -0700
From: Bob Jaffe <BJaffe at ci.missoula.mt.us>
Subject: [MissoulaGov] Committee Update 12-2-09
To: "missoulagov at cmslists.com" <missoulagov at cmslists.com>
Message-ID:
	
<19A25C7C0336974B8751A91F13C7B8E10459110F0A at Mailserver09.ci.missoula.mt.
us>
	
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Greetings,
This morning in Public Safety we met with representatives from Montana
Rail Link. The first item of discussion was the herbicide spray along
the tracks adjacent to the bike trails. The railroad sprays something
that completely sterilizes the ground 11 feet on either side from
centerline of the tracks. The area outside of that gets sprayed with
more run of the mill herbicide tailored to whatever weeds are growing.
The MRL Chief Engineer, Richard Keller, read a prepared statement about
all the reasons they have to control the weeds and how they are
complying with the law. I explained that my reason for bringing this up
was not to take issue with their weed program. My desire was to come up
with some way for MRL to work with our parks department so we could
notify the public when the areas adjacent to the bike trail were getting
sprayed. People don't necessarily want to breath that stuff or have
their dogs walking in grass freshly soaked in poison.  Mr. Keller
expressed concern  about the complexities of all the points of access
that would need to be posted and the uncertainties involved in spraying.
Depending on weather conditions and other factors, it is hard to predict
exactly when the job will get done. Marilyn explained how they do it on
the University lands and how the parks department does it. This is a
problem that has been solved. She also suggested that the parks
department could coordinate with MRL to spray the other side of the
trails at the same time. In the end it was agreed upon that even though
they are a large industrial operation, and have no legal obligation to
talk to us, because it is important to them to be a good corporate
neighbor, they would discuss the possibility of making a courtesy call
to the parks department to let us know when they would be spraying.
The next issue had to do with the diesel emissions at the switch yard.
The health department is partnering with MRL to get a grant to pay for
installing idle reduction equipment on the 30 or so engines in the MRL
fleet that still need upgrades. In the last six years MRL has spent more
than $30 million upgrading the other half of the fleet. These upgrades
include purchasing 16 new locomotives costing $1.9 million each.
The Missoula rail yard generally has six engines running 24/7/365.
These engines consume about five gallons of diesel per hour when idling.
With the new $35,000 auxiliary engines they will only use about half a
gallon per hour when idling. I don't really know the numbers but let's
say they idle for half the time. The difference in fuel use in a year
works out to 118,000 gallons. Figure they get a good deal and only pay
$2 per gallon. The $210,000 investment saves $236,000 in the first year.
My assumptions about how much the trains idle must be wrong, otherwise I
don't see why the upgrades would be dependant on the County coming up
with a federal grant. Whatever the reason, everyone is thrilled to see
MRL taking this step to reduce diesel emissions at the switch yard.

Next, in Conservation, we got a review on where we have invested in open
space lands. Here is a link to some of the information:
http://www.ci.missoula.mt.us/DocumentView.aspx?DID=2695
So far that program is going really well. The open space bonds have been
a really good investment for the community.

In PAZ we covered a couple of plat extensions and a floodplain variance.
All three passed unanimously and made it on the consent agenda.

In A&F we passed a resolution supporting the Community Access
Preservation Act of 2009. In trade for letting the cable companies run
their wires in the right of way, they provide us with Community Access
Television.  All over the country the cable companies have negotiated
agreements with the local governments where they operate. At some point
the cable companies started to get into offering telephone service. So
then the phone companies started to offer cable service.  The phone
companies have a long history of entitlement and were not so interested
in providing community access and have been fighting to weaken the
requirements. Another dynamic is the consolidation of media companies.
As the cable companies have been absorbed into gigantic corporations,
all of these local agreements have become bothersome. They have been
going state by state appealing to the legislatures to pass laws that
normalize the rules for community access throughout the state. Almost
without exception  , the local communities and their community access
stations lose in the deal and in many places the stations close.  This
has not happened in Montana yet but there is a national effort to get
national legislation passed to stop this practice before it is too late.

I missed a bunch of Public Works but made it back for the end of the
last item which was the discussion of the North Higgins reconstruction
project.  They now have design documents and the projects will be going
out to bid soon. If all goes well construction will start next spring.
The design calls for large bulb out corners and raised cross walks. The
bike lanes will be on the sidewalk side of the parked cars. The bike
lane will be at sidewalk level and will be paved with asphalt. At the
corners the bike lanes come back out next to the driving lane. There are
markings indicating where the bike lane continues through the
intersection. There will be a number of new trees planted and
improvements to lighting and street furniture. There will be a loss of
only three parking spots. I think it will be a great improvement to
downtown.
This makes me want to ask a question of the folks out at the Trempers
shopping center. In the last few years they have made a major investment
into making that place more aesthetically pleasing. We still have the
same stores, but the place looks a whole lot nicer.  Has this translated
into better sales? Of course the economy has been down but there should
be ways to know this. Both Albertsons and Ace have other locations to
compare trends against. Maybe some of the WGM folks reading this who
have been involved in the project can look into it.

Thanks for your interest,


Bob Jaffe
Missoula City Council, Ward 3
1225 South 2nd West
Missoula, MT 59801
(406) 728-1052