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HomeMy WebLinkAbout052107 Workshop CITY OF PORT TOWNSEND CITY COUNCIL MINUTES OF THE WORKSHOP MEETING OF MAY 21,2007 CALL TO ORDER AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The City Council of the City of Port Townsend met in workshop the twenty-first day of May 2007 at 7:55 p.m. in the Port Townsend City Council Chambers of City Hall, Mayor Mark Welch presiding. ROLL CALL Council members present at roll call were Laurie Medlicott, Geoff Masci, Catharine Robinson, Frank Benskin, George Randels and Mark Welch. Michelle Sandoval was excused. Staff members present were City Manager David Timmons, City Attorney John Watts, and Legal Assistant Joanna Sanders. PRE-MEETING - SCHOOL DISTRICT ISSUES Mayor Welch disclosed that he is an employee of the School District and as such he would not be voting on any motions but would participate in the discussion. Mr. Timmons led a discussion using the list of questions and issues raised at the March 20, 2007 joint workshop. There was Council interest in having a fact sheet for the next meeting with the School District. Is there a plan of action with the Quimper Foundation as lead and where does the pool fit in? This is in process. The County Parks Department was preparing a proposal to submit to the Quimper Foundation on a long-term strategy for the future of the pool at Mountain View. The status is uncertain, but the Quimper Foundation has agreed to entertain a proposal. The Foundation is a locally-based group of community leaders created by Jim Westall to invest locally and find ways to give back to the community. Is there a timeline for the decision? There is no current timeline, but would be primarily driven by the school district needs - over a three-year period. Is the City taking a "big bite" obtaining the Mountain View property alone? Should the City spend the next six months to a year involving all community organizations to develop potential partnerships? Council would need to provide direction on how it might want to move forward. If Council decided to move forward, it could take an option while City Council Workshop Session 1 May 21, 2007 it develops partnerships. This is how the idea of the Quimper Foundation came into play initially as a convener of the process and parties. One question was whether the Park District is a concept that would act as the financial resource to underwrite the capital investment by the different partnership. What parts of the process can happen concurrently? Several Councilors felt it was important to include higher education institutions, or other foundations in the initial discussions with the School Board. What are actual facts and figures regarding a possible land swap?" An appraisal has yet to be done that would answer the next question. Mr. Welch said he would assume this information would cost the City andlor the school district money to obtain. Council would need to decide whether there is enough interest to pursue it. Several questions were raised about the history of the City's involvement. Mr. Timmons explained that the school district, in looking at their long-range plan, made a decision to surplus the Mountain View school property which put the future of the pool facility in jeopardy. There was also discussion about utilizing the corner piece of the Mountain View property as a possible police station site. This led to discussions with the school board on whether there was mutual benefit to a property exchange to preserve the Mountain View site for community use. He believes they are willing to hold the property for three years. The main question Council needs to answer is should the City work with the School District to secure the option to maintain Mountain View in public ownership versus seeing it sold for private use. If so, then this would commit the City to exploring those options and building partnerships to come up with a master plan. It doesn't appear to be feasible to retrofit the existing facility. There was some discussion of current operating costs and about the City's previous study of pool costs. Mr. Timmons reviewed that the previous study was based on the old assessed value of $700 million, but now with the assessed value at $1.2 billion, the numbers would change. Previously, a .75 levy would fund about a $7M pool with some funds for operations, but those funds could not run the pool in addition to other parks facilities unless the boundaries were expanded to the County. If you pass a bond to build a pool, you would want to ensure the maintenance and operation costs were covered. Mr. Welch asked about assessed land values. Mr. Timmons said if there were a transaction between local governments we are not bound to a fair market value transaction, but it could be assessed at highest and best use. If the school district declared it surplus, the City would likely have to come up with a zoning plan for it. It is currently zoned public infrastructure. It might not make sense to build a new pool at this site, but to instead allow the school district to turn it over to the private sector because of its value. Another option is to consider a partial surplus, acquisition or trade with the City. If there were a full acquisition, a public/private partnership might be worth exploring. City Council Workshop Session 2 May 21, 2007 In reviewing the possible trade of 160 acres in Snow Creek with the 80 acres in the City, Mr. Timmons indicated legislative intervention might be necessary because it is not listed as a priority in the City's work plan. The concept of trading 80 acres for Mountain View was discussed in the context of not the entire 80, but an equivalent portion. The School Board wanted the ability to preserve land for the future and they were looking for 40 acres. The 80 acres are school resource lands, so monies from any sale of the timber go to the school capital funds at the state level. They cannot surplus or trade it unless they get an equivalent value in return. To make this work, the school would get their timber value, and the soil conditions on the 80 acres is low-value timber production land, the City's land has high value and timber on a portion of it, but a large portion is watershed preservation, which DNR needs as environmental protection of their other adjacent acreage. If the City acquires the 80 acres, then the question is whether there is interest by the City and the school district to preserve Mountain View. There was some Council interest in proceeding with the DNR trade on a parallel time line. Mr. Timmons sees there are two separate tracks. One is the exchange between the City and DNR. Another track is the City deciding whether or not to move forward in some manner with the school district. He believes that for the school to go to voters with a bond issue, they need to have some plan for Mountain View. Where the Quimper Foundation might come in is to look at keeping this property for some community needs (pool, indoor facilities, possibly an academic center, and/or police station site). The infrastructure is already present. Ms. Robinson explained that at the recent school district community meeting, several options were considered. Although at the joint meeting with school board, she heard strong interest in getting 80 acres for future building, she believes that has now turned around with a new focus on dealing with expanding the Grant Street property. The Mountain View school stays open until the new facility is built. At that point they could decide what to do with Mountain View and the High School. There was also a lot of discussion of consolidation with Chimacum, etc., and a lot of opinions. Mrs. Medlicott asked if Council would be discussing whether to continue in the pool business and whether to relocate the police station. Mr. Timmons responded that the capital facilities report for the Police Station would be coming forward to the Public Safety Committee soon, including the evaluation of four site alternatives. Mr. Masci inquired whether the Council Capital Facilities committee should be reconstituted. Mr. Timmons stated that the police and library capital facilities plans are each going to the Community Development and Land Use Committee and then they would both go to the Finance/Budget Committee for inclusion in the CIP budget. He reviewed past work of the capital facilities committee, which was specific to evaluating and assessing the City's properties for surplus purposes. In response to Council interest, Mr. Timmons offered to see if a Quimper Foundation representative and Deb Johnson could come to a joint meeting and see if the school is willing to delay any decision on Mountain View while they pursue their other facilities City Council Workshop Session 3 May 21,2007 and not to commit to, but work with the City on getting answers to questions and considering future opportunities. ADJOURN There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:21 p.m. Minutes by: Joanna Sanders Legal Assistant Attest: Grh cK~ Pam Kolacy, CMC City Clerk City Council Workshop Session 4 May 21, 2007