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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes CC - 02/10/2014 - MINS 02 10 14 WS (Migrated from Optiview)Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, February 10,2014 at 6:00 pm Page 1 of7 This summary is provided as a convenience and service to the public, media, and staff. It is not the intent to transcribe proceedings verbatim. Any reproduction of this summary must include this notice. Public comments are noted and heard by Council, but not quoted This document includes limited presentation by Council and invited speakers in summary form . This is an official record ofthe Milton City Council Meeting proceedings. Official Meetings are audio and video recorded The Work Session of the Mayor and Council of the City of Milton was held on February 10,2014 at 6:00 PM. Councilmembers Present: Councilmember Karen Thunnan, Councilmember Matt Kunz, Councilmember Bill Lusk, Council member Rick Mohrig and Councilmember Joe Longoria. Councilmembers Absent: Councilmember Burt Hewitt Mayor Joe Lockwood: • Work Sessions are an informal setting to update Council on business items. • No votes will be taken during these sessions. • There are four (4) items on our Agenda tonight. • Public comment is allowed that is gennane to an Agenda Item. • If you wish to speak you are required to fill out a comment card and turn it into the City Clerk staff. • Public comment will be allowed for a total of 10 minutes per agenda item and no more than 2 minutes per person. • Public comment will be heard at the beginning of each Item . • Once the item is called, no other comment cards will be accepted. Agenda Item #1 was read. 1. Discussion of the Construction Project at the Hopewell House. (Pres ented by Carter Lucas, Public Works Director) Carter Lucas, Public Works Director We have now completed the construction documents and I wanted to give you an update on the progress of the renovation of the Hopewell House. You have the site plan in front of you which shows the connection to Hopewell Road and the new driveway which will be approximately 20 feet. The plan also shows the parking turn around in the front of the building and the septic system in the back. This site plan gives you an overall view of the project with the proposed impacts from the Hopewell House renovation as well as the intersection improvement project. You also have the grading plan in front of you. Additional grading has been added on the north side of the property in order to establish the driveway which will involve some land disturbance. We will have to re-vegetate the slope to get some of the tree canopy back in there . Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday , February 10, 2014 at 6 :00 pm Page 2 of7 The floor plan would include activities on the first floor such as the North Fulton Senior Center and Community Center. The front entrance would be at the existing front door/entrance way. The current back bedroom would become the kitchen. There will also be a special events room in the back as well as administrative offices. When we started this project, we were working from a $700,000 budget for design and construction. So far we have spent $79,490 on the original concept study done by Precision Planning and $75,500 for the construction documents prepared by Wiley Wilson. We have a construction cost estimate for the renovations of a little over $60 I ,000. Construction administration assistance from Wiley Wilson would be $40,000. Some alternative construction costs which would include a bathroom facility for the special events room, furniture, fixtures , etc. would be a little over $59,000. We may be able to include those renovations with this contract or find some alternative funding sources. The current cost estimate contains a 10% contingency which is a little over $66,000. So, from our original base budget for design and construction of $700,000, presently through construction documents, we are looking at a total projected budget of $846,947. At this point, we are ready to take these documents out to bid to get some hard construction numbers on this project. After the bidding process, we would bring the proposals back to you for your approval. Mayor Lockwood Have the construction documents been completed? Carter Lucas Yes. Mayor Lockwood If you add together the cost for the construction documents and the administration assistance fee ($75,500 and $40,000 respectively) it totals about 20% of the total construction cost. Can you explain that because it seems high on a percentage basis of a project? Carter Lucas It really has to do with the nature of the project and the structure as it exists today. In order to convert this very old residential building into a commercial facility that would support the Senior Center, we had to take into consideration accessibility issues which tend to be more complex. A lot of work went into understanding the existing structure taking into consideration the age of it and trying to figure out what was usable versus not usable . We looked at it on an hourly rate basis which could be used only on an as needed basis. The number could be lower if we could possibly use in-house resources, etc. We will know more once renovation begins. We wanted to include more funds than we might need in case we ran into any unexpected circumstances on a structure this old. Mayor Lockwood What about the actual construction cost estimate? Is that based on ballpark quotes you obtained? Carter Lucas Throughout this process, we have been doing some cost estimates along the way. While we are probably a little over the original cost estimates , we have been pretty much in line with where we are now. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, February 10,2014 at 6:00 pm Page 3 of7 Gary Watkins, Wiley Wilson I was looking at the original concept plan that was prepared by another firm and there were some required items that were not included in that plan. For example, an entirely new septic system is needed. The size of the septic system was adequate when the building was used for residential purposes but not for a commercial use. In addition, the driveway re-configuration including additional earth work, etc. was not included. There has to be adequate space for emergency vehicles such as fire trucks and ambulances to get to the building. In addition, my firm included a fire sprinkler system which was not included in the original plan but is certainly a requirement of a commercial building. These are some issues that were not included in the original concept plan. These additional costs are reflected in the plan you have in front of you tonight. Councilmember Thurman To be honest, at this point in time I do not think this is the best use of $850,000 of the city's money. Until we get our parks taken care of, I can't support spending this much money on something that will have 20 parking spaces and may not get as much use. Councilmember Lusk I toured the property with Carter and I thought we could anticipate some cost savings by using a different approach. I don't know if those have been incorporated in this estimate. Carter Lucas This estimate does reflect some of those different approaches that we discussed but it does not reflect a complete reconstruction of the floor system. Councilmember Kunz I want to concur with what Karen said. The house has been designated historic. We own the house and we need to do something with it but from a priority perspective I agree with Karen. This is not the time to put that much money into it. Councilmember Longoria With the exception of Rick and Matt, we all voted to support the acquisition of the property. We all supported it because we all had something in mind in terms of what we wanted to do with it. I think it is difficult for us to challenge the city staff to inch along blindly in terms of what they should be doing, what can't they do, how much money can they spend, how much is too much, etc. I think we need to give staff better guidance than just saying we can't support this. City Manager Lagerbloom If you look at where we are today, we own the house and we have made some steps in starting a Senior Service Center in Milton which is presently located in a temporary location. We will eventually have to move that program to a permanent location. The answer that we need from you tonight is, now that we have construction documents, do we go to bid or not? We are currently funded at $659,000 so it is not as though this project is unfunded and we are trying to find $846,000 and asking for your support. If you give us permission to go to bid, then we will apply that toward the funds that we have already budgeted for two years. If we choose not to move forward with this project then I will seek direction from the council on possibly selling the property. We could open it as a historic landmark but if it is not going to add value to Milton then it is probably better to sell it. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, February 10,2014 at 6:00 pm Page 4 of7 Mayor Lockwood We have already spent $79,490 on the concept study and it will not cost us anything to put the project out to bid. Councilmember Lusk I am in favor of putting it out to bid. We have already announced to the community that the house will be renovated to be used as a senior services center. We have already budgeted $659,000 for it. The project is just as important as parks and will serve the community in many ways as well. Mayor Lockwood I think we should send it out to bid so that we will have real and actual numbers to discuss. The numbers presented to us tonight are best educated guesses as to the cost of the project. A bidding process would give us more accurate amounts to discuss. Councilmember Mohrig I agree that we should send it out to bid if it will not cost us anything; however, I still feel that our parks and recreation projects are a top priority because the enhancement and building of parks is something that everyone in the community can use. Councilmember Kunz I agree that we could send it out to bid since there is no additional cost in doing that, however, I think the $659,000 that we have budgeted for this project could be used elsewhere in the city such as for sidewalks, etc. There is always a trade off in everything we do and I just think these funds could be used toward higher priorities. Councilmember Thurman I was not comfortable with the $659,000 cost so I am certainly not comfortable with the $800,000 plus number. I am okay with sending it out to bid but we will have to make a very tough decision when the real numbers are presented to us for the cost of this project. I am in favor of keeping the property but I just don't think it is as high of a priority right now as some of our other needs. It could be a long term planning goal to renovate this house in the future. Councilmember Longoria I supported the purchase of this property and I have continued to support renovating it into a senior services center. I think this is a good use of our funds. City Manager Lagerbloom I do not think that moving forward with this project will have any impact on our park projects that will begin in the spring. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, February 10,2014 at 6:00 pm Page 5 of7 Agenda Item #2 was read. 2. Discussion with Council on Conservation Subdivisions. (Presented by Kathleen Field, Community Development Director) Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager Conservation subdivisions change development patterns and tracks of land by taking density that might otherwise be spread out and you cluster it therefore preserving green space. In February 2009, we had a lengthy presentation about conservation subdivisions which was presented to us by a man who wrote the book, Rural by Design. In 2009, conservation subdivisions were not largely supported by the council that existed at that time. We have done an extensive amount of research on conservation subdivisions so we have reached the point that I wanted to open up dialogue about how they could benefit Milton. Kathy, Carter, and I had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Harris who is the Director of the Department of Health to talk about the different options that the county has with respect to onsite septic/sewage type facilities and whether or not they could exist in some type of a community septic. Fulton County only regulates systems that have a capacity of 10,000 per day or less. Based upon the house sizes in Milton, that means a community septic system could handle somewhere between 7 and 10 homes. That is not a very large conservation subdivision. I would like to get your feedback tonight on whether or not you are interested in this concept and if you would like for staff to obtain additional information regarding conservation subdivisions. Mayor Lockwood I would support putting more time and effort into exploring how we can create conservation subdivisions in the future. Councilmember Kunz I agree. Councilmember Longoria I'm not sure I understand the link between conservation subdivisions and sewer. Mayor Lockwood Since conservation subdivisions preserve green space, they either need sewer service (septic systems have to have a minimum of one acre per house) or a community septic system which in Milton would serve 7-10 homes. Councilmember Thurman I agree. We need to continue to research conservation subdivisions. Conservation subdivisions are one tool that we can use to maintain the rural character of Milton. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, February 10, 2014 at 6:00 pm Page 6 of7 PUBLIC COMMENT Walter Rekuc, 615 Scarlet Oak Trail, Milton, Georgia 30004 I am probably one of the few people you will meet who actually developed a conservation subdivision. I was presented with a national award for best design and planning. I have offered the planning staff the opportunity to look at the property I developed which is located in Suwanee. Over 30% of the property has been left as open space. However, on any project that a developer expects to make a profit, it must make financial sense or the project won't be completed. The property I developed is located in Gwinnett County which allows conservation subdivisions. I was on the board that helped organize conservation subdivisions. However, we started with one set of ideas and ended up with a completely different product. As a result, there have not been any conservation subdivisions built in about ten years. So, you really have to understand what makes conservation subdivisions work. One thing that you will probably discover is that any land that will really work for a conservation subdivision needs to be at least 100 acres. You really need to look at what you have now. How much of your AG-l is actually getting cleared? Another issue is that you have to allow a large enough land area for the sewer fields and the cost of the sewer lines. You may also need a pump station based upon the land terrain. Also, Georgia law only allows the open space to be owned by a Homeowner's Association for 20 years. So, after 20 years a new entity has to be created to maintain the open space. Keep in mind that the property I developed consisted of 365 acres so there was a lot of opportunity to be creative. It is difficult to find property that size in Milton. It has become more challenging to assemble large pieces of property. Land is getting harder to find and money is getting tighter. I am in favor of conservation subdivisions in Milton but you will have the challenge of finding sizable acreage to develop them. The following Agenda Item was deferred to the February 19, 2014 published Staff Report. 3. Discussion of Public -Private Partnerships. (Presented by Chris Lagerbloom , City Manager) The following Agenda Item was moved to Executive Session. 4. Discussion of City Hall Property. (Presented by Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager) Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, February 10, 2014 at 6:00 pm Page 7 of7 After no further discussion, the Work Session adjourned at 7: 18 p.m. Date Approved: March 3, 2014.