Minutes of the DDA meeting on July 9, 2007
Scio Township Hall
827 North Zeeb Road
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48103
Chairman Upton called the meeting to order at 12:07 P.M.
Members Present: Arbour, Cornish, Fox, Mayo, Nielsen and Upton
Members absent: Holland, Luckhardt and Weaver
Others present: Del Vecchio, Fecho and Hedberg
Cornish moved and Arbour seconded a motion to approve the minutes of June 11, 2007. The motion passed by a vote of all of the members present.
Notes from the Road Subcommittee meeting of June 28, 2007 were received and filed.
Washtenaw County Road Commission Report:
Del Vecchio passed out a report, which was prepared by Siddall, about the projects and costs to repair Jackson Road feeder roads. There are 8 of these roads. Listed from east to west, they are: Jackson Plaza, Aprill Drive, Parkland Plaza, Little Lake Drive, Jackson Industrial Drive, Metty Drive, Enterprise Drive, and Dino Drive). A copy of the report is attached. He summarized the information. Siddall will be at the next Road Subcommittee meeting and can answer any questions about the report at that time. Upton mentioned that Fecho had told the Road Subcommittee that the Township has $50,000 available for road projects in 2007. Upton suggested we try to get Aprill Drive done this year using DDA funds and the funds the Township has available. After this year, we could plan to do Jackson Plaza next year. Parkland Plaza could be done next year or the following year. Upton said we should combine the Little Lake and Parkland Plaza work. The other four roads are all in or near the Jackson Road Phase III area, and it would be best not to do those until Phase III is completed, as doing them while Phase III is under construction will just compound traffic problems. After Aprill Drive, the other feeder roads could be done using a combination of DDA funds and SAD funds. Fecho discussed why there could be a problem with the plan Upton proposed, if the first project was done without forming an SAD and the others were. He said it is hard to “give one road away” and charge other property owners for repairs. He also explained the two ways that an SAD can be initiated. Fecho believes that we do need SADs for these projects for two reasons: first, the total to be spent on all these feeder roads would strain the DDA budget, and second, all of these roads (except Jackson Plaza) are cul de sacs. Because they serve just those local properties, and don’t aid traffic flow in the whole DDA District, it is appropriate to ask the benefiting property owners to share in the expense of resurfacing them. In an ideal world, the WCRC would be able to entirely fund repair projects like these, but the WCRC doesn’t have the funds to do that. Fecho discussed what some other counties have done to finance road repairs. The DDA could help with the upcoming projects by loaning money to SADs. This would be similar to how the DDA helped with the Baker/Truck stop SAD, by lending money up front and allowing the work to be done without bonding. Fecho asked if the Road Commission could contribute to some of the projects. Del Vecchio said this type of work is not in the WCRC budget this year. Fecho discussed the pros and cons of approaches to SADs and funding. Arbour asked what the priorities are for the projects on the list. Del Vecchio said it is prioritized by putting those at the top of the list which could be done least expensively, if done soon. Aprill Drive and Jackson Plaza, if done within the next couple of years, could be repaired with simple overlays. The other roads all need to be pulverized and resurfaced. Upton said that Jackson Plaza was the most urgent; however, it would not be a good idea to do Jackson Plaza this year, while Wagner Road is under construction. That is why he suggested Aprill Drive be the one done this year, if we do one this year. Upton said he thought Fecho had raised good points, and he asked if we want to do Aprill Drive in 2007. The consensus was that we should not. Del Vecchio suggested that the Road Subcommittee discuss this and come up with a plan at the next meeting. Fecho said that we need a cost per linear foot for each project to calculate SAD costs. There was a lot more general discussion.
Del Vecchio then passed out copies of the Parcel Acquisition report and described the progress since the last DDA Board meeting. He discussed parcels 33-35 (Ypsi Ann Realty Co.) in detail. There had been quite a bit of negotiation with that property owner over the past few weeks, and an agreement has been reached that the WCRC Board will be acting on at its next meeting.
Del Vecchio said that time is growing short with the remaining parcels. If agreements with them are not reached fairly quickly, it will be necessary to move into condemnation. He explained the intricacies of doing appraisals on the sites requiring mitigation. The appraisers prefer to do before-and-after appraisals, but if any of these properties end up in condemnation the courts will require that mitigation be considered in the appraisal process. Del Vecchio believes that the ROW will be in hand by fall. We will try to solve the utilities by October. July 17th has been set for the grade inspection meeting with MDOT.
Upton summarized the acquisition progress:
Agreements Reached 47
Easement Only 1
In Process 20
Total 68
Landscape Consultant’s Report:
Hedberg had two landscaping items:
1. Loch of OHM has supplied landscape prints.
2. The Boulevard median is dry and we need rain.
Hedberg went on to say that “gator bags” have been placed on critical trees. The bags have been filled for a second time. She mentioned the areas where the bags have been placed. Damage has been done to some trees. More bags will be put on trees next week. We may need to get more bags.
Hedberg described what had taken place at the MDOT and Federal Highway Administration pedestrian seminar. She displayed a copy of the “Pedestrian Safety Action Plan” booklet. She briefly reviewed the contents. She said there is a CD available that describes where funding is available. Hedberg told about the walking tour around the Wayne State area. She said it was a well-presented seminar.
Mayo asked if Hedberg would come to the Planning Commission workshop on August 13th, as crossings could be a Township issue. Upton remarked that the subject of crossovers feeds into the bus service issue. They are connected. If we have bus service, crossovers are needed.
Chairman’s Report:
Upton asked if we should be constructing Phase III to prepare for bus service. Fecho made some comments about the future needs for bus service. Upton said we need to decide in the next few months where pedestrian crossovers might be needed. There is a corridor report that discusses the needs for crossovers. OHM can design for grading and conduit for future crossovers. We are looking at 3 or 4 potential crossover locations in Phase III. Upton asked if we should ask Loch to work with Lewan to determine the precise location of these crossovers and include the proper grades and conduit locations in the Phase III plans. The Board was in favor of doing this. Upton will e-mail Loch and cc Lewan asking them to discuss this. If this work involves additional engineering expense, he will ask Loch to present an estimate of those expenses at the next Road Subcommittee meeting. Upton’s expectation is that, if there are additional expenses, they should be fairly small.
Township Manager’s Report:
Fecho said that the Township has a little money that can be used for public easements.
He suggested that it would be nice if some DDA members could come to the August 13th Scio Planning Fair. It was asked when the Master Plan would be completed. Mayo said probably late fall.
Executive Director’s Report:
Financial reports for the fiscal year through June 2007 were included with the June agenda. DeLong asked if there were any questions. There were none.
Other Reports:
During the conversation on crossovers and bus service, Mayo presented and discussed the findings in the transportation and roadway section of the Planning Commission survey. There was too much detail in the report to be included in these minutes, but the entire report can be viewed on the web or at the Township Hall. Mayo did an excellent job of presenting the information to the meeting. There was considerable general discussion with much of it focused on buses and crossovers.
Upton summarized the findings of the survey as being: 1) a substantial majority of Township residents favor having bus service on Jackson Road, 2) some people living in the Jackson Road corridor would use bus service regularly, 3) very few people living outside the corridor would use bus service, and 4) a substantial majority of Township residents do not favor using property tax dollars to pay for bus service. The challenge implied by these findings is that we need to figure out how to provide bus service (or some form of public transportation) without funding it with property taxes.
Old Business: None
New Business:
Invoices:
WCRC $720,401.90
WCRC $57,008.07
Hedberg Associates $820.00
Richard A. DeLong $800.00
Total $779,029.97
Arbour moved and Nielsen seconded a motion to pay the invoices.
Arbour yes, Cornish yes, Fox yes, Holland absent, Luckhardt absent, Mayo yes, Nielsen yes, Upton yes, Weaver absent. The motion passed.
DeLong said that CDAA7-10-07 and CDAA7-11-07 are both maturing this week. The amounts of the CD’s are included in the financial report section of the agenda. Ann Arbor Commerce Bank, where these CD’s are held has offered to renew them for periods of from 30 days to 12 months at 5.5% annual rate.
Since our immediate cash flow cannot be predicted due to various factors, such as the amount and timing of ROW costs, DeLong recommended that we reinvest one CD for 30 days and the other for three months.
Arbour moved and Mayo seconded a motion to reinvest CDAA7-10-07 for 30 days and CDAA7-11-07 for three months with Ann Arbor Commerce Bank at 5.5% annual rate.
Arbour yes, Cornish yes, Fox yes, Holland absent, Luckhardt absent, Mayo yes, Nielsen yes, Upton yes, Weaver absent. The motion passed.
Fecho said that the DDA could bond this year, as the Township is not ready. Upton said that it made sense for the DDA to bond this year, as the same factors are in place today as were in place a year ago which would make bonding this year advantageous. The Township can bond next year. There was some further discussion about potential bonding.
Discussion and audience participation: None
Adjournment: Nielsen moved to adjourn the meeting at 2:10 P.M. Mayo seconded the motion. The motion passed by a yes vote of all the members present.
