Item 3C: Resolution Forming LID for River Avenue

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Several participants asked about the parking that was planned for the east end of the project, close to the bike path. Principal Engineer Michelle Cahill responded that a parking bay had been designed after discussions with individuals of the stakeholders group. The design work led to creating a parking bay for three vehicles. Ms. Cahill also indicated that, while it was not a part of the project there might be additional parking added later, depending on the nature and success of grant applications. A question was asked concerning the proposed phasing of the project. Principal Engineer Cahill indicated that the expectation was that the work would proceed in phases. This year the first phase would concentrate on preliminary work, site preparation, storm drainage work and so forth. The second phase next year would involve the final paving and other completion work. A question was asked concerning the assessments proposed for properties where a portion of the street was already developed. Principal Engineer Cahill acknowledged that there were portions of the proposed district where there were already curbs in place. For those properties the cost of curb construction was deducted from proposed assessment. Another question was asked about the end of River Avenue which was apparently in good shape. The questioner suggested that improvement was not necessary because of the remaining quality of the street. Ms. Cahill acknowledged that the City had investigated the matter, but was unable to find information related to the date or manner of the improvements. Because the City lacked the information necessary to evaluate the potential for future quality, the City decided that is was necessary to replace the street even where it had not yet started to deteriorate. Ms. Sue W olling of the Bicycle Coalition indicated that the Coalition was grateful to have been included in the stakeholder group discussion. Ms. WoIling said that the Coalition felt that the project was a valuable addition to the City, and that the Coalition looked forward to working with the City and the neighborhood on future projects. Discussion of the possible extension of the bicycle trail prompted Mr. Meeker to ask about continued access to the boat launching area in the event the bike trail was extended. Ms. Cahill responded that this was outside the focus of the current project, so she could not speculate on what might happen elsewhere. Ms. Cahill did acknowledge the widespread use of the launching point. She pointed out that it was not an official launch, and that there had been some concerns about the safety of the launching place. Ms. Patt Meeker asked about the possible movement of the electric poles along River Avenue. Principal Engineer Cahill responded that the new design had created some conflict between the electric poles and the street trees. EWEB had declined to pay to move the poles across the street. The result is that the electric and street light poles will be moved somewhat, but not across the street. This prompted Mr. Paul Spain to ask about anchoring the electrical connection to his business. His experience was that movement of the electrical poles resulted in an increased weight of electrical wires. This sometimes requires extraordinary responses, which EWEB will not provide withoutgcharge. Ms. Cahill' acknowledged that she was not familiar with EWEB's position on this