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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-11-2007TO: Members of the Sebasti ity Co cil FROM: AI Minner, City Mana RE: OUT -OF -OFFICE; N ON; AND, FLEMING STREET EXTENSION DATE: Friday, May 11, 20 OUT -OF -OFFICE As a reminder, I will be out of the office all next week. Kris and I are planning a get away for Monday and Tuesday. I will be back in Sebastian late on Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday I will be in Miami for the FCCMA Annual conference, which concludes on Saturday afternoon. So by Saturday evening I will be back in town and in the office Monday, May 21 st While I am out, Chief Davis will be in -charge. So if any critical issue(s) comes up, he will be available for you and the Department Heads. If you need me, I will have my cell phone. ANNEXATIONIISBA PROCESS At the Council meeting on Wednesday, Rich Stringer informed the Council about the "Stop -Gap" annexation agreement discussed for adoption prior to the ISBA process. This agreement was to be used to stop annexation, height and land use issues while the municipalities worked on the ISBA. The City of Vero Beach has submitted a draft of the document and Rich will be working on modifications next week. As we discussed Wednesday, because there may be an immediate, unforeseen need to annex areas, I was instructed to put together a preliminary annexation map. This is enclosed. For reference, the blue is Fellsmere City limits, while the Orange is Sebastian City limits. The red represents the annexation proposal by Fellsmere and the green represents potential Sebastian annexation areas. Please note, the FJV property Fellsmere wants to annex is not represented on this map. FLEMING STREET EXTENSION As you know, the County Commission met on Tuesday, May 8th and discussed purchasing issues associated with the approximately 162 acre Sebastian Harbor. As previously mentioned, this issue is being pushed because as the County goes to close the land acquisition, they are weighing whether to purchase the land with LAC bond monies and impact fees. At the County Commission meeting on Tuesday, May 8th, Commissioner O'Bryan informed the Commission that the Land Acquisition Committee was completely opposed to the purchase of the Fleming Street corridor. He also reminded the Commission that the LAC recommendation was not to construct Fleming Street through the preserve. In short, the County Commission asked me to address them as to the Sebastian position. I informed the Commission that a majority of the elected officials and residents I had spoken with concerning the topic opposed the Fleming Street extension because the need to protect the environmentally sensitive land was more important. As a result, the County Commission held off any decision on how to financially structure the acquisition deal until the Sebastian City Council announced their official position. This action by the County Commission seems to squarely put the Sebastian Council in the driver's seat on this issue. On May 23d, this issue will be before you. There are some different approaches, but the two basic avenues seem to be (1) removing Fleming form the long range plan and research other east -west options; or (2) purchase the property with LAC and impact fee money to reserve the Fleming Street corridor for future development. In addressing this issue, I would like to provide the following bullet points: 1. LAC is opposed to splitting the purchase of the Sebastian Harbor property. They recommend that the $13.7 million purchase be made completely with LAC funds, with the potential of receiving a $6.6 million grant from the FCT that will reimburse 48% of the purchase price to the LAC. Further, the LAC is'of the position that if the County splits the purchase between LAC and impact fees, purchasing the Fleming street corridor will place the FCT grant reimbursement in jeopardy. 2. Some of the property in the corridor east of Laurel Reserve owned by Mr. Richard Brown will be needed to be purchased to complete the Fleming corridor. Mr. Brown does not want to sell his properly for the extension. 3. Ocean Concrete representatives were at the May 8, 2007 County Commission meeting. and listened to, but did not speak about the Sebastian Harbor/Fleming Street issue. 4. City staff has been working to provide traffic and mapping data to show effects on major City thoroughfares in 2030 with and without a Fleming Street extension. At the time of this writing, that data, was still not available. Dave Fisher has been working on this with Phil Matson and it is hoped that additional preliminary data will be available by Monday. At any case, data will be ready for the meeting on May 23ro, and in your packets by Friday, May 18 . It is expected that Phil and other DOT representatives will be present to report on the data. 5. Lastly, attached are some a -mails which depict City staff work on the Fleming Street extension. In short, for the last six months, very little if any activity has occurred. There have been some verbal conversations with various members of Council and other governmental agencies. As your City Manager, I am clearly informing you that I will direct City staff in the majority direction that Council provides. If any of you have trouble opening the attached files, copies have been made and are in your mail boxes in the Clerk's office as of 4:30 PM on Friday, May 11, 2007. As always, if you have any questions concerning these or any other matters, please feel free to contact me at your earliest convenience. Page 1 of 2 Alfred Minner From: Rebecca Grohall Sent: Monday, May 07, 2007 9:06 AM To: Alfred Minner Subject: RE: Fleming st I have not done any work on the project, I had a very preliminary conversation with Trish about ways its possible on ANY roadway to mitigate impact to wildlife - other communities have done it and USFWS has ideas. I have done no furtther work on this topic so there is nothing to forward. From: Alfred Minner Sent: Monday, May 07, 2007 8:39 AM To: David Fisher; Rebecca Grohall Subject: FW: Fleming st Dave/Rebecca: As you know Councilmember Simchick has opposed the Fleming Street extension project for some time. At the April 25th meeting she requested this item to be placed on the agenda for Council discussion. I requested at the meeting that it be placed on the May 23rd agenda to provide some time for use to prepare some material. The primary information I still want and need are the modeling numbers Phil Matson is working on. Dave, please ensure that we get some type of data on this by May 10. This date is very critical. Below, please read Councilmember Simchick's request. She wants copies and information on all work staff has completed on this project. To date, I do not believe there is much. Dave you have been working on the modeling. Rebecca, I do not think you have completed anything of any significance on this project. Please report to me on this matter ASAP. Thanks. Al Minner City Manager City of Sebastian -----Original Message ----- From: Dale Simchick Sent: Monday, May 07, 2007 6:00 AM To: Alfred Minner Cc: Sally Maio Subject: FLeming st AI/Sally, May 23rd I would like to have Fleming street on the agenda. If it is on the agenda already I would like to have a section under that heading for me to make a presentation . Sally I do have back-up please advise when to turn it into you for our packets for that meeting. If it is not on the agenda as previously requested put it under my matters for that day. Al Please -provide me with ALL work the City has done in the last 6 months including Dave Fisher's 8 models he spoke about while I was in his office the other day. Also any plans Rebecca may have made after her discussion with Trish Adams after Jan23rd's purchase of the Preserve regarding environmental issues with the Road. Please provide these by Friday the 11 th. Thank You , Dale Simchick 5/7/2007 Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 10:50 AM To: Brian Grzeslak Cc: Alfred Minner; Jim Davis; Engineering Interns; Rebecca Grohall Subject: "To Do" Ust Brian -- Per our meeting this morning -- (1) Continue with the transportation i traffic flow modeling in conjunction with MPO on the follow basis: • Consider the prospective Fleming Street extension eastward to US 1 (or any other such street extension eastward) to be on the "back -burner" until further notice (long, long time). Gather and provide current traffic flow numbers for: • Fleming Street (south of CR-512) • Laconia Street • Barber Street • Periwinkle • Barber -Schumann intersection • [David Fisher] Powerline Road South (from Barber southward to CR-512). • Provide (with MPO model) the projected traffic flows for the following scenarios. (A) WITH the Fleming Street extension eastward to US 1: • Fleming (south of CR-512) • Laconia • Barber • Periwinkle • Barber -Schumann intersection • [David Fisher] Powerline Road South (from Barber southward to CR-512). (B) With NO eastward extension of any kind to US 1: • Fleming (south of CR-512) • Laconia • Barber • Periwinkle • Barber -Schumann intersection • [David Fisher] Powerline Road South (from Barber southward to CR-512). (2) Check with Al Minner and Chief Davis before proceeding further with the proposed revision to the PD parking situation. (3) Contact Chris Mora to follow up on looking at the Jackson Street i US 1 intersection situtation. (4) Make sure both Leonard Galbraith (Harris Drive) and Tammy Cutright (Mabry) know about our current approach of increased enforcement (instead of speed humps or tables) at those locations. Thanks. -- Dave 2 Alfred Minner From: David Fisher Sent: Monday, May 07, 2007 10:26 AM To: Alfred Minner Subject: Transportation / Traffic Flow Modeling Al -- Per our meeting earlier this morning, this is to advise / confirm the position and current activities of the City of Sebastian Engineering Department regarding the long -proposed Fleming Street Extension eastward to US 1. We are waiting on further modeling numbers / output from the MPO to further confirm our current working hypothesis as noted in previous recent email transmittals below, i.e.: • Consider the prospective Fleming Street extension eastward to US 1 (or any other such street extension eastward) to be on the "back -burner" until further notice (long, long time). Please note this position stops just short of requesting such extension be removed from the current and long-standing plan(s) calling for it as that is a decision that needs to be made by others (Council, IRC, MPO et al.). • Now direct primary focus, if warranted by the modeling results, on: • The proposed Laconia Street extension southward to CR-510 and connecting there for major routing southward. Reliance on the soon -to -be paved Powerline Road South from Barber Street southward to CR-510. Renovation / upgrading of the Barber / Schumann intersection that is a major north -south gateway for the City. As you know, the Engineering Department (at my instigation some months ago) has been gathering this and other related information so the City can make informed judgments regarding the best and most appropriate steps to take in providing transportation / traffic capital improvements. We are continuing to work as closely as possible with IRC and the MPO (Phil Matson et al.) in doing this. I personally know of no "pressure" or movement on the part of anyone to put the Fleming Street extension through at this time other than the implicit need to deal with previously mandated measures. Our activity has been confined to the gathering and analysis of information in order to determine priorities for.alternative course(s) of action to deal with traffic growth and congestion in the City. IRC and the MPO have been very helpful, at our request, in providing us assistance in this matter. -- Dave Fisher -----Original Message -- From: David Fisher Sent. Monday, May 07, 2007 9:42 AM To: Brian Grcestak Cc: Alfred Mlnner; Jim Davis; Engineering Interns; Rebecca Grohall Subject: RE: Addendum to List of Streets to Include in Modeling Exercise -- Add Powerline Road South (from Barber southward to CR-510) Brian -- Per our telecon moments ago, please add Powerline Road South (from Barber southward to CR-510) to the list of streets noted below for specific consideration in the modeling exercise. Thanks. -- Dave -----Original Message --- From: David Fisher