The Road Standards Committee Meeting was called to order by Chair Kurt Marquardt at 6:30 p m on December 16, 2003 in the Council Chambers at 491 E Pioneer Avenue, Homer, Alaska.

Present: Chair Kurt Marquardt, Member Mike Yourkowski, Member Steve Smith

Deputy City Clerk Deena Benson, City Planner Beth McKibben, Public Works Director Carey Meyer

Absent: Member Lane Chesley

AGENDA APPROVAL

The agenda was approved by consensus as presented.

SYNOPSIS APPROVAL

A. Synopsis of November 25, 2003

Mike Yourkowski advised that the Mayor told him the 10% match could be used on roads the City takes over from the state. There was some discussion on what streets/roads would qualify.

Kurt Marquardt advised that he agreed with the decision not to give away alleyway corridors when the potential for it is not known.

The synopsis approved by consensus as is.

NEW BUSINESS

A. 1999 Traffic Study and 2001 Homer Area Transportation Plan

1. Presentation of topographical maps by Public Works Director

Public Works Director gave a presentation regarding the transportation plan using various maps of the City of Homer he had prepared. He reviewed public comments on the transportation plan saying that the most comments pertained to the area regarding the bluff above the golf course and that he had no topographical maps of that area available for the meeting.

The committee agreed that the focus of the Transportation Plan was not to detail every alignment and exactly where it would go. They agreed that this is a “big picture” document and would try to develop corridors and connections that seem to make sense, knowing that five years from now it may be obsolete. The committee looked at creating a plan looking 20-25 years into the future and acknowledged that this could include areas outside current city limits. Looking ahead and making sure what they proposed was doable was stressed.

The committee studied the wetlands maps of the area east of Beluga Lake. They discussed the future necessity of a connecting road between the airport road and East End Road through high value wetlands and moose critical habitat Aspects discussed were -

• residential and commercial development along East End Road will become dense and another access to the Spit/Airport would be needed.
• very difficult/nearly impossible to obtain access through moose habitat that is a wetland and designated critical habitat.
• discussed human needs/community needs versus retaining critical habitat
• a corridor will be needed for moose to access the habitat in the future
• is building an access through there doable?

After looking closely at the area between the airport and Early Spring Street the committee concluded that they had a consensus to take this access proposal out of the Transportation Plan.

The committee talked about the advantages of having requirements for road right-of-ways in advance versus the expense of buying easements and/or right- of-ways later or even having to move whole neighborhoods. They talked about the need to plan ahead and allow for plenty of room. Everyone agreed that having a city policy carries lots of weight when presenting plats to the borough versus an opinion of the Public Works Dept, etc. There was no objection to a 20 year plan. All agreed that would be good.

The committee divided the City into three (3) main areas. The areas are:

Heath Street

Beluga/East End

Soundview/Fairview.

Each area would be looked at individually. It was decided that the Soundview-Fairview section was the highest priority. While consulting the maps the committee discussed various issues regarding the Soundview-Fairview section including:

• City owned parcels that were foreclosed on in the Lillian Walli Estates.
• A need to require subdivisions to connect with other subdivisions in the plat process.
• Carey Meyer showed the committee what is going on with the Hillside Acres water and sewer LID on the map. He pointed out where the sewer is coming in and the original intent to build a water tank. He stated that rather than build a tank they decided to take a waterline from the end of Fairview and bring it across to serve that area. He is currently working on easements with Mike Gordon and John Hansen, which would create a 60’ wide easement for utilities to connect the area. Mr. Meyer drew on the map what roads were connecting in the developments for the committee to review. It was suggested that a trail be connected in the area for pedestrians. It was noted that areas was not a very steep grade and the plans were doable. The committee decided that the plan should reflect a road through this area to alleviate congestion on the Sterling and Pioneer Avenue especially during school hours. Mr. Meyer advised that he held an electronic version of the map and would insert what the committee came up with, as a sense of opinion, to create a final version to present to the council. All agreed to focus on modeled extensions as they are the most critical because they are considered necessary to alleviate congestion in the area.

There was some discussion regarding the Borough action recently in the Spruceview area. There has been a vacation of either right-of-way or easement and an arrangement made between the City and the Borough to maintain utilities in the area.

There was a short discussion regarding Heath Street. It was noted how much the Heath Street access has alleviated congestion at the High School and suggested that another access to the Soundview School was needed for the same reason. Mr. Meyer reported on the extensive amount of time Public Works spends maintaining Heath Street. He said he felt it needed to be paved. Some committee members felt just paving it would not be adequate - that sidewalks were a necessity. There were further comments on the congestion at the schools and the need for at least two intersection accesses to a school – a way to get in and a way to get out.

The committee discussed their time line for completing the recommendations saying they would like to get something to the council by the end of the winter season, get public input in the spring and have their final recommendation “blessed” prior to fall. They acknowledged that the Planning Commission would need to look at the recommendations prior to going to Council.

They noted that the Homer Police Department says more accidents are occurring at Heath and Bypass than at other intersections. The committee agreed adding that Main and Bypass is also bad.

The committee continued their discussion and consulting of the maps in the Fairview/Soundview section noting the change in ownership of the Barnett property to Tony Neal. Development of the area was to include a house and a 32 unit condominium. A comment was made that there would be single family residences in this area. The topography (slopes and gully) was noted and a bridge and the need for drainages was looked at and discussed. A comment was made that whatever the committee decided upon as a recommendation, it needed to be doable. Mr. Meyer commented that he would not allow more than a 15 % grade and that would be only for short distances. He thought that with fill and cuts they could get 15% with 7% in between. The committee looked at the topography in the area of Rainbow and Heath Street.

Mr. Meyer went over the City’s updated technical new resources for providing more detailed information to the committee on the areas they are studying, ie Lidar which would provide more up-to-date and more detail topographical maps. He also advised that the transportation plan and the water/sewer plan are sharing resources to save money.

A suggestion was made and all agreed to ask Tony Neal to attend a meeting of the Road Standards Committee. They want to get his input on the committee’s ideas for the Fairview section as he is a large land holder/developer in that area. The possibility of talking with John Hansen was mentioned also. They discussed the advantages of working together with Mr. Neal on the plan. Worse case scenario, if something can’t be worked out the committee would show more than one route on the recommendation. Mr. Meyer agreed to contact Mr. Neal to possibly make arrangements for a meeting with him. The committee agreed to wait to schedule the next meeting to see when Mr. Neal would be available.

The committee returned to discussion of the access through the critical habitat area and further discussed the problems with that. They concluded that it could not be justified at this time. They discussed various possible options for obtaining permission for development and the ever possible/probable flat denial. There was again consensus by the committee to remove this recommendation from the plan. Mr. Smith discussed briefly some history on the creation of the habitat. Access to the habitat is something the planning department needs to keep in mind when developing around it. The fact that terns are found in the habitat came up in the discussion and it was noted that the moose population is very dense in the area above Triton Court. Mr. Smith reported that at one time 79 moose were seen in the habitat area.

During the last ten minutes of the meeting, the committee reviewed their discussions and commented on future discussions:

• Need to connect with Tony Neal at next meeting.
• Habitat is a mute issue
• Leave East Trunk in the plan - Mr. Meyer will look at it and prepare a recommendation.
• Need to explore two plans for the Hazel access surrounding the library location. The committee briefly looked at the pros and cons of Hazel Street being a through street.

It was noted that the City Manager was going to meet with Homer Electric Association on Thursday regarding right of way issues so the Hockey rink can move forward.

The committee commented on wanting as much additional east/west access as possible. They talked about possibilities of different accesses in the Town Center.

City Planner McKibben suggested the committee review the written goals and the current plan to make sure they are saying what you want them to say. She reminded them to pull back and make sure the policies are there to back what they want to have happen.

B. HARP (Homer Accelerated Roads Program)-for Discussion Time Permitting

1. Harp Road Repaving

2. Recommended Fee per Front Foot for Repaving Projects

This item was not discussed.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

There were none.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 p.m. The chair will call the next meeting.

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DEENA BENSON, DEPUTY CITY CLERK

Approved:____________________________