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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-09-1996 Joint Session MINUTES OF THE OCOEE CITY COMMISSION AND PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION JOINT WORKSHOP MEETING • HELD JULY 9, 1996 Mayor Vandergrift and Chairman Switzer called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m. in the Commission Chambers. There was a moment of silent prayer followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. The roll was called and a quorum was declared present for both boards. PRESENT: Mayor Vandergrift and Commissioners Gleason and Johnson; Planning and Zoning Commission Chairman Switzer, Vice-Chairman Bond, Members Hopkins, Jones, Landefeld and Miller (arrived 7:45 p.m.) and Alternate Members McKey and Williams. Also present were City Manager Shapiro, Planning Director Wagner, City Engineer Shira, Concurrency Analyst Resnik, Budget Analyst Carter, Planner Home, Building Official Flippen, PEC Engineering Consultant Hooper, City Clerk Grafton and Deputy City Clerk Green. ABSENT: Commissioners Anderson and Glass and Planning and Zoning Member Rhodus. DISCUSSION CHANGING THE LEVEL OF SERVICE FOR STATE AND COUNTY ROADS FROM LOS "D" TO LOS ,,E,, Planning Director Wagner stated the purpose of this meeting was to bring information with some thoughts on how it all related to the City's Capital Improvement Program, Comprehensive Plan, Road Impact Fee Ordinance and continuing Concurrency Management System. While there had been a general plan, there had not been a far-reaching look into the future. Staff was seeking guidance on developing a transportation action plan, that is, the integration of all these elements into a system that could be used later to develop all the roadways. Even though amounts had not been assigned, he felt it was apparent that multi-millions of dollars would be required, more money than the City alone could afford over the next 20 years. Obviously the City would have to look at other funding sources. Priorities would have to be established and direction given to the staff to revise the Traffic Circulation Element in the Comprehensive Plan and ultimately make changes to the Capital Improvements Program with a decision regarding which projects the City might want in the Road Impact Fee Ordinance. PEC Engineering Consultant Hooper talked about level of service. PEC had recommended that the City look at changing its level of service from "D" to "E." Six categories exist for levels of service, A to F, with the A the least volume of traffic and F the point of practically no movement. These categories are defined in a Highway Capacity Manual with three ways to look at level of service. One of the three ways is ADT, average daily trips, which are defined by tables. As new projects are added, trips are added. A second way is peak hour, which is a difficult measurement. PEC suggested the City get away from that since it is difficult and does not give a true picture of traffic throughout the day. The third method is travel time delay JOINT CITY COMMISSION AND PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION JULY 9, 1996 of service, A to F, with the A the least volume of traffic and F the point of practically no movement. These categories are defined in a Highway Capacity Manual with three ways to look at level of service. One of the three ways is ADT, average daily trips, which are defined by tables. As new projects are added, trips are added. A second way is peak hour, which is a difficult measurement. PEC suggested the City get away from that since it is difficult and does not give a true picture of traffic throughout the day. The third method is travel time delay studies, which involves measuring the amount of time it takes to negotiate a mile of road, and DOT has a standardized table to use. Everything in the City's jurisdiction is currently at level D. Roads that pass through the City under other jurisdictions are classified as level E. Historically the beginning classification was level C as mandated by the State since it was a transitional area. A petition was made to the MPO to get into the urbanized area, which was successful. With that came level D. Since that time, several projects had been vested, and the number of trips were at capacity on many of the roads, such as Maguire, State Road 50, Silver Star Road and Good Homes Road. The surrounding entities had changed to level E. Mr. Hooper said if something were not done, Ocoee would be the only city with level D while the surrounding areas were at level E. He said in that case, the City could find itself in a moratorium and not have approval of development while the surrounding cities on the same roads under the same conditions were approving to level E. Winter Garden is doing level E, and Orlando is doing levels E and F. Level F, constrained roads, is acceptable in a comprehensive plan. City Manager Shapiro explained the City is not a large community with a sphere of influence. He explained that the City's basic road pattern and bonding capacity was based upon 300 to 400 houses a year. The number of houses is not determined just by having a vacant piece of land. If the City became a moratorium city, the 400 house goal might not be reached. Consequently, there would have to be a rise in taxes. He stressed the economic impact of a moratorium. Mayor Vandergrift's understanding was that the City was matching the State in all cases, and Mr. Hooper concurred, explaining the City matches the County which matches the State, ultimately taking the city to match the State. Member Landefeld referred to the list of roads, indicating the improvements at the Kissimmee Avenue/Marshall Farms Road intersection and asking if it would bring it to level E. Mr. Hooper said it would. He said it is not an easy answer to say every time an improvement is done that it would make it levels D and E. When signals are added, the road goes from level C to level D, but it adds safety, a trade-off. He said the list would get at least a level E on all the major roads, and most of the City roads had gotten to a level D. 2 JOINT CITY COMMISSION AND PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION JULY 9, 1996 Future Transportation Projects Projects/Concurrency Analyst Resnik went over some of the projects on the lists gotten from different agencies. Expressway Authority - Western Beltway and movement of traffic on Silver Star Road as it jogs on West Franklin Street. The desire is for the interchange of the Western Beltway to incorporate the alignment of Silver Star Road. The City took a back seat to this, and the Expressway Authority is meeting with DOT since Silver Star Road is a state road. The City had also spoken with the Expressway Authority about the possibility of getting eastbound ramps on the East-West Expressway at Good Homes Road since the only way from Clermont to the mall and downtown is via State Road 50. The Authority agreed to do a feasibility study. There is the matter of time and coordination with the County regarding Good Homes Road and a consideration of widening that road to accommodate the traffic that would come off the ramp. Mayor Vandergrift asked why the ramp would not be at Clarke Road as opposed to Good Homes Road. Ms. Resnik said that was discussed, but because of the alignment of the roads and because the Turnpike is under a different authority, that option would be millions of dollars more. Mr. Wagner stated the project was estimated at $40-$50 million. It was never designed to accommodate that kind of movement. Discussion followed. Vice Chairman Bond asked if the study of Good Homes Road would be included in Part A of the Western Beltway, and Ms. Resnik stated it was totally separate from the Western Beltway. She said they were left with the impression that they understood this was something that would be needed right away, and at least they could tell the City what the study results were fairly quickly. Commissioner Johnson said the mall had said they would donate money to the County or whoever for the Good Homes Road and Old Winter Garden Road intersection. He asked if that could be tied in if they did that. Mr. Shapiro said he was not sure anyone was ever told about the offer other than that the mall went to the political group and made a statement that never went further. Discussion followed. Member Miller said the County was proceeding on the Good Homes Road intersection. Mr. Shapiro said they were told by the County that they were going to widen Good Homes Road. Mr. Wagner said the County was planning to widen Apopka-Vineland Road all the way to the Old Winter Garden Road. Design was underway for four-laning Old Winter Garden Road from Hiawassee to Apopka-Vineland. The City recommended that the County extend the contract on Old Winter Garden Road to continue to Good Homes Road and to Highway 50. That still is not on the program. Mr. Wagner also mentioned that according to the GRI, the County was going to receive 3 JOINT CITY COMMISSION AND PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION JULY 9, 1996 approximately $800,000 to $1 million a year in taxes from the mall. Mayor Vandergrift said at the time he was first introduced to the mall people and saw a larger- than-life map, it was obvious that the East-West Expressway and the Turnpike were just south of Highway 50. At that time, neither had much traffic on it. He suggested at that time that the mall people, the Turnpike people and the East-West Expressway people get together and direct that traffic off Highway 50 to the Turnpike and give tokens at the mall to use the East-West Expressway and the Turnpike. Mr. Shapiro said the City met with them and proffered it, but the Expressway Authority did not believe the mall would have a major impact. Mrs. Bond stated drivers would find alternate routes, which would impact the older streets. Ms. Resnik said a look at yearly traffic counts would show the changes that were made to A.D. Mims Road when Clarke Road opened between A.D. Mims Road and Silver Star Road. The list was not meant to be fixed. Within a year, Planning and Zoning is constantly looking at traffic movement. Ms. Resnik said staff felt the reception from the Expressway Authority was positive. They agreed to everything Mr. Wagner requested along the beltway alignment. The second list was the FDOT list which consisted of two projects. The first is Silver Star Road, which is on the State's five-year work program. It is the only road in the City that is on another agency's work program. Design was underway for the widening of Silver Star Road east of Clarke Road. New standards had been adopted so that the widening of Silver Star east from Clarke Road and west to Whittier would have a 22-foot grass raised median, five-foot sidewalks and other improvements. The road would be four lanes with tapering around the lake. The next step would be right-of-way acquisition with construction four to six years away. Discussion followed. Mr. Wagner said if the major roads are not improved, there will be more spill-over from the side roads. Mrs. Bond said one of her major concerns was the tremendous amount of runoff. She said the City had .had numerous opportunities to implement water retention. She felt the quality and preservation of Starke Lake was a low priority for the City. Mr. Shapiro stated in phase 2 of the bond issue there was the plan to capture the Center Street area runoff and treat runoff water from the trailer parks. Mr. Switzer said he felt this was off the issue and that engineering of any road construction would address this issue. Mrs. Bond wanted to be on record that she had sat on the board for almost 12 years, and probably six of those she 4 JOINT CITY COMMISSION AND PLANNING AND.ZONING COMMISSION JULY 9, 1996 had griped about the lake and various other things and was still waiting. She said six years from then when the lake was finally addressed and it was as bad as Lake Apopka, she would be back. Ms. Resnik said there were short term solutions to some of the traffic problems. One was upgrading the signals to turn signals at Silver Star and Clarke Road. Mr. Shira said the FDOT had requested data and projected traffic data. Discussion followed. Mr. Wagner stated that part of the problem was that the DOT had to operate under the rules of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, and in this case, there was a 2020 regional model, which did not have the mall data. Discussion followed. Mr. Shapiro said there is a willingness for the DOT to cooperate. He felt that as the City got better at what they were doing, the DOT was becoming more aware and would change their rules to help. Ms. Resnik said word had been received from FDOT that they were willing to do the intersection of Silver Star Road and Ocoee Hills Road ahead of the widening scheduled for west of Clarke Road. Within a year to 18 months maximum, that intersection would be upgraded and improved. Mr. Switzer asked what the projection was to extend Wurst Road to the west. Ms. Resnik said by looking at the City project list, it was 025. She said much of it would depend on what was developed in that area. The City had to balance what it could get a developer to pay for so that the City did not have to build the road. Mr. Switzer said the areas to the south of Highway 50 were reacting because of the mall. He was looking at the other side of Highway 50 for planning purposes. He thought planning should be on the books, subject to change, so the City could pinpoint its needs in a timely manner. Mr. Shapiro said traffic was looked at carefully ten to 12 years before, but when the growth came, the City stopped looking at it. He felt confident the City was back on track for long-term planning. Mayor Vandergrift said he understood there were plans at one time to four-lane from Apopka-Vineland to at least Clarcona Road and possibly through old Apopka Highway along the Wurst Road corridor. He said they were calling for a two-lane road, but part of the right-of-way had already been secured through the subdivision for a four-lane road. The explanation was that it was reasonable to request to fund two-laning, but when the traffic went to a certain level, there would need to be an upgrade. Mr. Wagner said the reasoning was based on current data,but the data is updated every year. Mayor Vandergrift said the future might not be supported by data. Commissioner Johnson said he would not particularly want to see the four-laning of Wurst Road. Discussion followed. 5 JOINT CITY COMMISSION AND PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION JULY 9, 1996 Member Miller stated the County was starting a preliminary design for Apopka-Vineland Road north to Highway 50 east of Lake Sherwood. Discussion had been had with Apopka about extending Clarke Road to Apopka. If they could get through the County area, the road could be built. Ms. Resnik said the FDOT had been asked what things could be done until the widening was scheduled. They put it in the lap of the City to come up with a median plan. Planning and Zoning was proposing to get median separators to restrict movement thus making traffic flow improve. The goals were to come up with the plans, get them adopted and work with DOT. As the developers come in, e.g.,the Zom developers paying for the median separator and upgrade of the signal at Blackwood, they would make the improvements. Mr. Shapiro said the State was pleased that the City was requiring developers to provide right-of-way on Highway 50. Looking at the County and City lists, the staff had prioritized the County roads so the County could see where the City's focus was. The staff was also working with the County on cost- sharing. The staff would also be looking to work with the County on some of the projects on the City's capital improvements list, i.e., the bridge on Maguire Road, the Kissimmee Avenue/Story Road intersection, Maguire Road. The desire is to keep the lines of communication open. Mr. Switzer asked what the priority was on the Kissimmee Avenue/Story Road intersection. Mr. Shapiro replied that the funds were available, and the City was almost ready to bid it out. When the City met with the County, there was a reminder that Commissioner Freeman had suggested that they might be able to help because much of the traffic at that intersection was bound for the County Service Center. The property acquisition phase was in progress. Ms. Resnik explained that many of the numbers might change in the event developers were ready to begin. There are a number of developer agreements that have developers making certain improvements. She used Professional Parkway and the agreement with Heller Bros. as an example. Financing of Future Projects Mr. Wagner said projects had primarily been funded out of road impact fees. As Mr. Shapiro had pointed out, the City had some obligations for some bond issues that were issued for Clarke Road, and undoubtedly, bonding would have to be used again to fund other projects. Other sources were local option gas tax, developer contributions and any State or County contributions. He explained how projects in conjunction with FDOT could sometimes be expedited and made less expensive. Mr. Shapiro said the State and County welcome partnerships. In that case, the status of the project goes up on the list. He added there was a blue ribbon committee that was discussing the possibility of additional gas tax money and what roads would be done with that money. There are no West Orange County roads listed. Commissioner Gleason asked about the bond and interest rates. Mr. Shapiro said the cost 6 JOINT CITY COMMISSION AND PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION JULY 9, 1996 associated with issuing a new bond is equal to the savings. Mayor Vandergrift asked if the lend lease program were new and wanted to know if the City participated. Mr. Shapiro said the County was interested only in sharing if they think the project is vital. Mr. Wagner stated historically the pressure has been more directly on the State or the County. Part of the program is to look at the cost allocation and available leverage. Mr. Shapiro said the City is getting richer and the tax base is getting larger. This would allow the City to look at other options. The State paid the City back for the intersection of Bluford and Geneva Street. Mayor Vandergrift suggested that any agreement.be stronger than the JPA. Mr. Wagner said unless there were comments, the Staff would proceed with details. Mr. Switzer had a question about prioritizing. He wanted to know why Maguire Road was such a high priority. Mr. Shapiro explained Maguire Road is a high growth area, and if the road is not improved, growth would have to cease. Commissioner Gleason asked about the uncertainty of gas tax revenue. Mr. Shapiro said the staff would look at the least dollar amount. Mr. Switzer asked if a motion-were needed, and Mr. Wagner said he did not believe any action could be taken at that time. He said he was looking for direction. When they started amending their comprehensive plan, much work would be involved. They would be utilizing their traffic consultants to a significant degree, and they wanted to know that everyone was in general agreement, etc. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 9:05 p.m. APPROVED Attest: City of Ocoee Marian Green, Deputy City Clerk . S. Scott Vandergrift, Mayor 7