May 06, 2019 City Council on 2019-05-06 12:00 PM

Welcome, everybody, to this meeting of the Denton City Council on May the 6th, 2019. It's 12.02 p.m. We do have a quorum. Currently, we have Council Member Armitage and Council Member Meltzer absent, but they may come in here shortly. We are going to move Agenda Item C up to where A is, just to get that one taken care of first, and also Agenda Item 1D, the Automated External Defibrillator Training, will be held down in the City Manager's conference room. Is that right? What is it? City Hall Conference Room, which I believe is the one downstairs when we complete Items A, B, and C. So, just wanted to make that announcement for the public and for the notification purposes. All right, so we'll move on to Agenda Item 1C, which is Receive a Report, Hold a Discussion, and Give Staff Direction for the Reauthorization of Denton's Bike Share Program, including Amending the Interlocal Agreement with the University of North Texas. Okay, yeah, before you get started, this is a UNT Bike Share Program. Good afternoon, Mayor, Members of the City Council. My name is Mark Oliphant. I'm the Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator for the City of Denton. I'm here to speak to you today about a successful bike share pilot program that we've been running for the past nine months or so. As part of this academic year, it's been in place at UNT and in downtown Denton. So, here's what we have currently. We have 250 bicycles on UNT through an interlocal agreement that we entered into with them last August. And we also have 100 bicycles based on the right-of-way of the city, so in downtown, so 350 total. And those two programs, because it's a pilot program, they will expire at the end of this month, 31 May. And so, I'm here to give you a report on that and also advocate for this program to be continued. There are two things that we're going to ask you for. One, UNT would like to have a few more bicycles on their campus. And second, we would like to recommend that this program become permanent rather than be a year-to-year pilot or something like that. So, let me tell you a little bit about it. You want to wait until the presentation or you want to ask a question now? Go ahead. Yeah. So, the increase in bikes to 500, would those bikes continue, would those be stored on UNT property as they are kind of now? Yeah, yeah, the increase would all be on UNT property, yep. Okay, thank you. Sure thing, yeah. I would say this has been, oh, another one? No, may I? Okay, I'm sorry. Okay, yes, sir. I think this has been a very successful pilot program. So, we've had more than 50,000 individual rides take place in the last nine months. 2,500 people are enrolled in it and that's more than 11,000 miles that have not been done in cars or something like that. 11,000 miles ridden on bicycles, I think that's impressive. And I'm very happy to report these numbers. Let me show you a little bit about where this goes on. One wonderful thing about using a bike share vendor that has GPS on their bicycles and so forth is we can get some really great data about where people are going, where they're riding and I think it's really fascinating. So here, this is paths, this is where people ride their bicycles. You can see all of UNT is heavily, heavily traveled. Downtown Denton also heavily traveled. Texas Women's University, that gets some attention. And then some other interesting routes up to the Discovery Park, which is kind of a satellite facility of UNT and some others to be expected, grocery store areas, things like that, your Walmarts up here. Where they get parked, here's where they get dropped off. Heavily, heavily concentrated on the UNT campus, although also downtown Denton is included. You can see down here, UNT has both a dorm and a satellite parking facility on the south side of 35 by the stadium, Apogee Stadium down there. And I know that was one of the original purposes of this, was to get people to park in those satellite areas and use the bicycle. They can go on the flyover from the stadium over to campus. They stay out of traffic and it's a great way to alleviate congestion on the campus. Over here on your right, that's just an outlier, that heavy red dot, that's there because that's where they store the bicycles and so they, of course, all pop up there. So our experience overall, I'm standing here representing the bicycle and pedestrian program for the city, but we also have representatives from UNT here. And I believe I speak for them as well, that we have all been very pleased with this pilot, especially. I wasn't here for the last bike share attempt, but compared to that, we are light years ahead. We really have a great program. You know, a few hiccups early on, getting the bicycles established, getting the bike corrals established. But otherwise, this has really been smooth. The provider has been prompt and responsive any time we needed something. They have full time staff, right, based right here in Denton, as well as some part time staff. So they employ students and things like that. And I'm very pleased to say that we impounded or collected an area, a bicycle for the entire duration of the program. So what our proposal is, is that we go up from 250 bicycles on UNT to 400 and we have done some research on this. We've looked at some other campuses and compared the student body size and the acreage of the campus. And we think it's appropriate to go up to more bicycles on that campus that it can it can use more there. But we're thinking for the city right of way, 100 has been a great number and we want to stick with that. So really just two changes that we're asking for is an increase in the number of bikes at UNT and that we no longer have a end date. That we discontinue the pilot portion of the program and make this a permanent part of Denton's transit offerings. And what that'll look like is just next steps. If you like this proposal on the 21st, we propose that we will bring to your consent agenda the updated ordinances with those small changes. And and they and then it can be continued beyond 31 May. Any questions? So when this comes back to us, will there be. And this is more into the weeds of the agreement saying that there's not an expiration date, but there will be some language allowing for termination given certain. Oh, yes, sir. Things such as that this isn't yeah. All right. Okay. Yeah, we have very clear parameters and they've been nowhere near violated or anything so far. But yes, if if if something were to go south, we absolutely have we have recourse where we could and yeah. So if you see a bike like are these is this from the same company? Yes, it's the same company. Same color of bikes and everything. Yeah, the turquoise right. So if you see one that's out and you see it in the same place for a couple of days, who do you report that to to have them take a look at that? Yeah. So the company is via ride on every bicycle. There's an email address and a phone number. Okay, good. Yeah. But hopefully that's not happening. Yes. So I'm in favor of this and just some clarification. So again, you said that the four hundred would generally be parked on campus. And so the same rules that were in the pilot or in the agreement would would apply. So if you know, and so but if they're the same bikes and they're the same color, how do they do they just do it by number? Yes, just by number. So wet weather, you know, bike serial number X, Y, Z is on the campus today or in the city tomorrow, as long as the numbers. Yep. OK, as the mayor asked that question, I kind of had the same question on how to divide that. So and the court, the corrals corrals, where are they now currently in the city? Yeah. So we have a few that the campus has they have done some corrals, typically at parking lots and so forth here in the city. We have co located them with existing bike racks, which works really well because the one thing that we hate is when bikes fall over. And so when we park them near bike racks, something to lean against, it really works well. So there is at the corner, let's say at the Wells Fargo corner, that's one of them next to rusty taco. We have kind of behind the dumpsters. There's a big long bike rack there. We have a numbered base there. There's two or three in front of Harvest House over. Where else am I? Oh, the parking lot across from what's the name of the tavern? Oak Street Tavern. Yeah, we've had a few there. Rusty Taco. Yes. Oh, and DCTA as well. And that has worked really well, actually. Yeah, folks get off the train and can jump on the bikes. And we're working with DCTA for a more permanent location there and an agreement with them. So I follow up. I like that you have the actual bike racks because it gives a destination or some place. And I don't like to see the bikes falling over. It's probably not good for the bikes either. So if somebody were to see one that wasn't near a bike rack that was just kind of left that someone wasn't in the process of using and called, then say one of our city of Denton, the people who work in the city would go get it and then bring it back to a bike. That is a possibility. So I infrequently, maybe once a month or something, I get a call. Hey, I saw a bike in a really strange spot. I mean, there was one in the middle of the median once randomly. And I called they arrived and within an hour they had it taken care of. And so we we keep the city employees out of it as much as we can. Just communication and and on the bikes is the phone number directly to them. And that's perfect. I would only I would like to request so that we have some kind of link or on the bike and pedestrian page or city and the website, maybe just a little blurb about it like these are our bike share. And if you use them, you know, try to return it to or, you know, there's a phone number on it just for information for the people who are searching through what our city has to offer. And they see we have a bike share. Then they could just kind of know what company and they could do some research. If possible. Yeah, we can easily. Thank you. Any other questions? Yes. Yeah, no, just saying I'm in favor. And as a matter of fact, I have that conversation with them directly regarding the the docking station at DCTA. That conversation was a suggestion from my appointee on the mobility committee in our traffic safety. Anyway, Dan, it mentioned it. And so that conversation went very well, very reactive. And I, too, have seen a lot of usage there, just kind of watching. And so it's been been fantastic. So thank you. And I'm in favor as well. I think this this program has worked a whole lot better than the first go around first around the bicycles that we had out there that weren't getting picked up properly. That's member. Yeah, all the disasters that I have seen in multiple places, it's really good to see that we have something that's totally under control. And I think you should be commended for setting up something like this that actually really works and is not really a hindrance to anybody. OK, so it seems like the consensus is to continue to move forward, bring back the necessary documents for council to have as an action item. Thanks, sir. You bet. Thank you. All right. If somebody wouldn't mind retrieving council member Amateur. We'll go ahead and start the next work session. Work session one, a receive a report from staff to hold a discussion, give staff direction regarding proposed amendments to the naming policy guidelines for city buildings, facilities, land or any portion thereof. OK, good afternoon, mayor council members. My name's Heather Gray. I'm the business manager for Parks and Recreation Department. And we're proposing a few minor amendments to the existing naming policy, and I'd like to go over those with you. First, I'd like to just start off by summarizing the existing policy, just kind of give you a recap the way it stands now. So the existing policy provides consistent citywide guidelines for naming after an individual or an organization, and it states that naming opportunities exist for city assets. It does not include the naming of streets, fire stations or police stations. It outlines the procedures to get naming approved. The existing policy also establishes the criteria for naming after an individual. Now, this slide covers an honor type situation. So naming after an individual in honor of that person, not to be confused with purchasing naming rights. The individual must have been deceased for five years, been a resident of the city of Denton and be of good moral character. The individual should have made exceptional contributions. The city asset may also be named in memory of individuals who died in the line of duty or while performing a heroic act. And the existing policy also covers naming after an organization. Again, this would be an honor type situation, not purchasing naming rights. The organization should have made exceptional contributions. The achievements should represent a lasting legacy to the city asset for which is being named. It may be named after an organization that makes a unique or extraordinary contribution for the asset being named. Okay. Still with the existing naming policy, it does cover purchasing naming rights. What the policy states is if an individual were to purchase naming rights, they must be of good moral character. Organizations wishing to purchase naming rights must be compliant with all applicable laws and rules. Contributions for a funded project can be accepted at any point during construction, whereas a non-funded project, the contributions must be in place prior to the start of the construction. Any donation contributed would be considered non-refundable. And then finally, the existing naming policy outlines the procedures for the naming process. So regardless if you are submitting in honor of someone or if you wanted to purchase naming rights, the applicant would start by submitting a nomination form to the city manager. The next, the city manager would refer that naming request to city council. City council may appoint a seven member ad hoc naming committee, which would review the request. At least two members of the ad hoc committee should be from a from a selected impact or an impacted advisory group or board. The naming committee would then provide a recommendation to city council and ultimately the final decision will rest with council. So finally, to the amendments that we are proposing and just for your reference, this policy was last updated in 2012. We have defined naming rights in the policy as it was not previously defined. We've clarified that naming rights can be purchased for a defined period of time and we specify that once the naming rights term has ended, the facility may be renamed. We've proposed an updated user friendly application form. It is now a fillable PDF form and provided in your backup as a red line version showing the suggested amendments. These amendments have already been reviewed and approved by legal. So the next steps, if recommended today with or without additional edits, we would place a resolution on the next available city council meeting for consideration and approval. And our hope is to utilize the updated policy to identify possible naming opportunities in the future. >> I was wondering if you could speak to whether there's a county or state policy on this issue and how that applies. We have it, one thing that comes to mind, we've got the Marion Jim Horn Government Center. I think that's the name and obviously we've got named after a living person. So how does, I guess as far as city policy goes, it would be grandfathered in. But what if any county and state policies are underscoring this city policy? >> I'm not familiar with any of the state or county policies that would, I guess, underlie this policy. >> Okay, if I could have just a note from legal or whoever, if there's any. >> Are you saying that we could preempt it or I'm not understanding your question. >> I was just wondering if there is a county- >> Naming rights policy. >> Naming rights policy that this policy would be enforcing. Obviously, we don't want to have anything that's contradicting. My understanding is that this would be just going along with other existing policies. I'm not sure of the details. >> No, this is, I mean, like the county building you mentioned, that's a county building. So whether they have their own naming rights policies or not, I'm not sure definitively. But we wouldn't have any overlap or any kind of conflict with any other naming rights policies because they would only be city-owned facilities. So none of them apply. >> Yeah, I understand. Sorry, I just threw that out as an example. Just to, I was just wondering what county or state policies exist, if any. That was my question. >> Okay. Just out of curiosity. >> Sure, okay. All right, any other questions? Everybody okay with moving forward on the edits and as presented? Okay, thank you very much. >> Thank you very much. >> All right, I like, these are going well. Yeah, these are going well. So the next one will be just as efficient. We already done C, so it's 1B now, which is Receive Report, Hold Discussion to Give Staff Direction Regarding the Proposed Options for the Hickory Creek Road Realignment Project. >> Good afternoon. >> Okay, so this is just for, this isn't going all the way to the highway, this is just our portion. >> Just the portion. >> Good afternoon, my name is Richam Deshmukh, Deputy City Engineer. And I'll be talking about the Hickory Creek Road Realignment Project. So just a quick background, back in February, the council let staff move forward with a consultant. We got HCR on board and we started two things. One was the feasibility study and a schematic for a full segment between I-35W and River Pass Drive. And the second component, it's about a four mile segment. The second component was a full design engineering drawings for a one mile short segment between River Pass and FM 1830. So these are the existing conditions. I'm going to focus on the portion that is currently under design. This is the city project. I want to point out the current constraints in this area. Hickory Creek that runs around, the current existing roadway is a two lane meandering roadway that runs along the edge of the creek. It lies within the existing 100 year floodplain. So every once in a while you have a bigger storm. It is underwater and we have to close it down. We are proposing an alignment that follows the red line where the dotted portion is a over crossing or a bridge. And I want to point out the constraints. We have residences on this side that will be receiving access when we start looking at this portion of Hickory Creek. Then you have the railroad that crosses through. Kansas City Southern crosses to this area. You have the actual creek, the floodplain, really expensive floodplain that encompasses almost half of this project. And then a connection here with a state route system. There's also a transmission line that goes through this. So when we're going up to get elevation above the floodplain, we have to make sure that we look at the transmission line that we're going to cross. So what's proposed? This is what's proposed as an interim condition. We're going to design this section as a four lane divided with a wider median. The total right of way take would be 135 feet. That will include sidewalks on the side and then two lanes on either side with a larger median. Ultimate cross section will be a six lane divided and then we'll just add travel lanes in the median area. So what I'm going to present are two alternas and we need direction from council. The first alternative is just a bridge over the floodplain, which is the pink area shown in here. There is also an add grade crossing on the Kansas City railroad line proposed for this option. So this is option number one. So we'll cross the railroad line at grade and then we'll go up to the bridge level, cross the floodplain and continue further on. The second option is grade separation of the Kansas City southern railroad line right here at one more bridge, obviously go over the floodplain with the bridge structure. And in doing so, I'll compare these two alternatives and give you pros and cons of both in the next slide. But these are the two alternatives we need direction on how to proceed which one is a better alternative. Just a quick start, what are the budget implications? If you focus on the construction cost, they're three million apart so with the grade separation at the tracks, it's three million dollars more than just an add grade. The overall project cost is about five million dollars more for the railroad crossing to be grade separated. What are the pros and cons? So safety, obviously there are safety implications on the add grade option but the grade separated eliminates completely the conflict points with the train. So it will eliminate any horns at the crossing, it will eliminate any safety related to vehicle and vehicles crossing this particular add grade. So right of way potential impacts, there are, if I want to go back, there are minimal impacts if you look at the cross section here, it's narrower than the add grade so the implications on these properties for right of way is lesser in the grade separated option. So that's why the right of way implications are lower in the grade separated. Access and connectivity, I think the main important thing to focus here is there will be flood closures will be minimized but there still may be a chance near the add grade crossing for having issues related to when it floods or has a storm event but if you have a grade separated facility that goes over both the railroad bridge, both the railroad as well as the flood plain, then it eliminates the flood closures completely. There's also a design and schedule implication. If we go with a grade, add grade crossing, Kansas City Southern has to design their own crossing which has serious implications on our schedule. So they will run their own schedule, they will design on their own time. So there are serious pros and cons there. So based on what I've discussed here, I'm sorry, I'll give you a brief update where we are. We went through the MAPO process, we met with the affected owners as far as the right of way acquisitions. We had a meeting back in March 26th. We sent out notices, meeting was April 11th at the elementary school. Five property owners attended the meeting, we had discussions with them. There are about eight property owners along this particular segment. We are continuing discussions with the remaining three and most of the owners understand that this is a required and necessary project. And we're moving forward discussing all the implications. So this is the schedule moving forward. This was similar to what we came-- we had presented back in February, the project started February. April 2020 is when the design and right of way will be completed for this first segment. Advertise and bid between April and July of next year. And then construction begins summer of next year which is July. >> Can I ask a question? >> Yeah, on the right of way, on the homeowners or property owners, will any of them be losing their home for this or just property, just land? >> I believe at this time this is just land and there might be some access implications, the driveways might be shifted. So if we go with option-- at great option, there are some barns and transmission towers that may be impacted but if we go with the great separate application, there are no structures that are impacted. >> Okay, thank you. >> Mayor Pro Tem. >> The transmission lines, is that DME or is it-- >> I will have to ask the consultant. Those are on-court transmission. >> On-court, okay. And do we know how many average daily trips are made on the Kansas City? >> I believe it's less than 10 but I want to confirm that. That is a really lower use line as compared to Union Pacific which has much higher use. >> Okay, thank you. >> Casimir Walter. >> See, if you could speak to just for anybody in the public who's watching what the plans are for connectivity on either side of the pedestrian and bike park trail across Hickory Creek. >> So you're looking at this particular segment right here? >> Yes. Yes, so we are looking at options. We're still in the preliminary design phases but we are working with Parks Department. I understand there are several trails that cross Hickory Creek and the connectivity. We want to maintain connectivity going through that so we'll look at some devices that would help provide a crossing that is safe, definitely. >> Thank you, thank you. >> It will be part of our design element. >> Thank you. >> So do we know what the differential cost is from the original interim, what do you call it, elevation or your four lanes to six lanes? Because my thought is if you're building it right now, how much does an extra lane cost on each side? >> So currently we will be building the bridges to six lanes, three lanes on each side. So the bridge structures will be built for the future. >> Right. >> As for the remainder, it will be four lanes for the remainder. >> Could you go back to this, the option two alignment? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Okay, hand it over. >> It's my last time. >> Yes. >> That's why I'm taking it. >> Yeah, so that's my question is, I mean, because most of that, I mean your cost is going to be fairly minimal compared to the cost of the project to add that extra lane. So my thought is why would we not do it now instead of waiting to do it later? I know it's extra money, but it's all already going to be out there. In fact, you just said the bridges are already being built to align. >> Right. >> So your only real difference is the asphalt or the grade portion of the paving. Why would we not just do that instead of waiting? I'm just curious. >> Yeah, so there are a couple of things. I think we're currently working on this segment of Hickory Creek and that's also similarly designed to go ahead with the four-lane divided piece. >> How far? >> All the way to 2181. >> 2181 is back east? >> Yeah, it's back east all the way to where it's-- >> OK. So-- >> So it ties into the cross section that's designed and under construction currently. >> OK. And I appreciate that. So how-- even though I know it would look sort of weird, but this area is probably one of the most explosive aspects of growth in our city. And so I understand about the four-lane which I think that's been in the works for a long time. I'm just still posed the question, why would we not-- >> Yes. Yeah, we can add that. >> Well, I just want to see the-- I mean, if it's an outrageous cost, I get it. But if it's like let's say 2 million bucks, I don't know why you wouldn't think about doing that because I wonder if doing that then, if we do get some cooperation with the county and with TxDOT moving to I-35, we can say, OK, why do we want to go from three-lane to back to four-lane in this little-- so it just-- I've never understood that sometimes when we're building things and it's such small-- potentially small incremental cost. But there might be a good answer for that. >> And so at times we go down this pathway because our 20-year projection on the traffic volumes doesn't warrant anything more than four lanes and we don't know that it will-- >> Right. >> -- beyond that. So it is kind of one of those things where we're looking at it from the standpoint of you want the capacity in case you ever needed it, so you don't have to come back and do the right-of-way adjustment again. In this case, what we could do is we could provide the cost increase, the marginal increase to get to six lanes and then we could also show what that would be all the way over to 2499 as well. >> Yeah. >> Just the marginal increase. >> Yeah, OK. All right. Yes, Council Member Duffield. >> Well, one thing you probably could count on if it-- if we do the six lanes later, the cost is going to go up. >> Correct. >> And, you know, it's-- >> Inflation. >> Well, we're still about 1% a month kind of thing. >> Yeah, the expensive part is the bridge-- are the bridges. >> Correct. >> I mean, that's-- I mean, if you're-- so, yeah, if you're doing those to the six lanes, yeah, that'd be-- I mean, that's a great-- that's a great idea there. Council Member Hudson. >> So that layout design you had for the streets, that's the entire span, so sidewalk, entire span, et cetera, et cetera. >> Correct. >> OK. So talk to me about life. Let's say it does not get extended, we're there at Country Club Road. I mean, that's one lane each way, right? >> Past Country Club? >> No, he says it dead ends at Country Club. Let's say you don't get-- you don't get any additional funding for the road going to 35. >> So this intersection, we are working with TxDOT. They are looking at widening FM 1830 Country Club, this portion. We are working with them for this particular design and how we tie it in. If it doesn't get any traffic that's coming off of Country Club from the south side, we'll continue coming in and using this portion to get into the city. There are a lot of folk that come from the south side on Country Club Drive. If it never materializes that this never goes further and connects to 35, which is definitely a regional connector and we need that eventually, but if it doesn't, then we still have enough demand to support this bridge to getting into our community. >> Yes, no, and I agree with that if I may. My concern also though is-- well, there's two components I'd ask you to speak to. One, just the increased traffic if Country Club Road is not expanded. So in its current state, we have the new throughput, you know, so there's increased traffic to that point. And then if that is not improved, your thoughts on that and then also your thoughts on I'm walking and I walk across great sidewalk and I get to Country Club where there's no sidewalk and then go, so those two components. >> So the first one is I think it's-- the demand is the other way around is there's already so much demand on 1830 to get into these communities, to get into the schools that Country-- Hickory Creek as well as Ryan Road both are backed up in the morning to get in and out of that area. So the demand already exist irrespective of whether we widen this or not. So we're trying to mitigate some of the existing congestion that already exist. To-- as far as the sidewalks and pedestrian paths, we will coordinate with TechStat and work on how these are designed. I think TechStat is interested in working with the city for this north segment to go north all the way to Hobson Lane and they're working on that particular design but yes, we will-- they're working on A4 lane divided facility as well. >> Yeah. So got it. Thank you for the traffic flow thing. That's helpful. On the walk path though, I really would-- as we get there, I mean obviously I'm OK going forward but I think that's a conversation to be had if we want to gate it, I mean, if things don't progress timely, I just am not comfortable, you know, saying, yeah, go ahead, you know, here's a great walkway and off you go. And if that road is not improved without, you know, maybe some temporary structure until they get there where it's just kind of, hey, this is a dead end, you know. But that's my thought. >> OK. Yes, Mayor Pro Tem. >> Yeah. I think one of the factors not included that you kind of worked your way around it, you've got-- if you go back to the cost factor slide. >> Yes. >> You've got two years worth of inflation on both of them. And if we have to work-- wait on the railroad for that grade crossing, you can probably add a year to that at least based on what I've seen happening in the past. So you're bringing those numbers closer together at that point. So I would say my preference would be to do the grade crossing and I would like to see the numbers to just go ahead and do this out to six lanes. It's not-- since we're-- probably over 50% of that is going to be bridges now that's already going to be set up for the six lanes. Doing those other small segments makes more sense to-- >> OK. Anybody have any objection to option two? OK. Hearing no objections? >> Move forward. >> Just in an informal staff report, those additional costs would be fine. >> OK. Perfect. Thank you. >> Wonderful. We're down to one item which is the item D which is conduct an automated external defibrillator and cardio pulmonary resuscitation CPR training class. That will be down in the city hall conference room which is downstairs because I thought we were going to have-- can we do it up here or you still want to do it down there? >> They've started setting up downstairs. >> OK. So we're ready to do that downstairs? >> Yeah. And it is-- it's totally optional. >> It's voluntary. So I'm going to go do it. So anybody who wants to, we will-- I guess we're not on a journey. We'll just move down to the city hall conference room and then we will close the meeting out from there once the training is completed.