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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWeekly Newsletter Date: February 19, 2010 To: Mayor & City Council From: Mark A. Rohloff, City Manager WEEKLY NEWSLETTER Subject: CITY TO RECEIVE ENVIRONMENTAL SETTLEMENT FUNDS 1.: As you may have read in the newspapers, Utica Energy entered into a settlement agreement with the Clean Water Action Council of Northeast Wisconsin (CWAC) regarding a lawsuit filed by CWAC against Utica. As part of the settlement, Utica Energy is required to make a $25,000 payment to the City of Oshkosh for environmental damage tha t may have been caused to Sawyer Creek. The city was not party to this lawsuit, nor did we participate in any negotiations that resulted in this settlement. The intent of the settlement is to provide the city with some funds that they may use for storm w ater quality improvements in the Sawyer Creek watershed, which is where Utica Energy had been accused of improperly dumping into the stream. As the attached agreement indicates, the projects to be done with these settlement funds have to meet criteria to improve water quality, reduce the runoff of pollutants, or reduce flooding within Sawyer Creek. As the Council is aware, the city is proposing to undertake a variety of storm water quality and flooding improvements in the Sawyer Creek watershed. These fu nds can be used for any of these proposed projects. In order for the city to receive these funds, we must sign an agreement, which is enclosed for your review. As a result, this proposed agreement will be forwarded to the Storm Water Utility Committee for their review prior to the Council reviewing it for their approval. After that time, we may sign the agreement and will receive the funds at a date determined in the settlement agreement and by the court. While $25,000 is a relatively small amount when compared to the costs of some of our storm water improvements, it certainly will be put to good use as we will be constructing several projects in the Sawyer Creek watershed in the coming years. If you have any questions regarding this settlement or agreement, please contact Public Works Director Dave Patek. CONVENTION CENTER LIQUOR LICENSE 2.: I had an opportunity this week to meet with representatives of the Convention & Visitors Bureau Board of Directors. As you know, the CVB currently manages the Co nvention Center under a contract with the city. Although this is not something that the CVB had ever planned to do, the CVB recognized that it was necessary to have some entity manage the Convention Center until such time as we find a permanent manager fo r the facility. During this period, the Council had agreed to transfer a liquor license assigned to the Supple Restaurant Group in the Marion Road project area to be used for the Convention Center until such time as a perament solution was found for the Convention Center. Weekly Newsletter February 19, 2010 Page 2 Given the continued uncertainty over the future of Convention Center management, staff has continued to look for ways to provide a liquor license for the Convention Center during this interim period so that the Supple's liquor license may be returned to the Marion Road project area as initially directed by Council. As we have looked for alternatives to providing a liquor license to the Convention Center, Attorney Lorenson conducted additional legal research and found a provision in the statutes that allows the city to apply for a liquor license for a Convention Center-type facility and assign the license to the city's designated concessionnaire. What this means is that, in effect, the cit y may acquire a liquor license that is reserved exclusively for the Convention Center. The only action required by the city would be to designate the concessionnaire by resolution and submit this resolution to the State Department of Revenue for issuance of the license. We confirmed with the Department of Revenue that this was possible. As a result, we will be working with the CVB to acquire this license for whomever we wish to designate as the concessionnaire. What this means is that we will soon be able to return the original liquor license back to the Marion Road project area. If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact City Attorney Lorenson. PREPARATIONS FOR MAIN STREET RECONSTRUCTION 3.: As I've previously reported, the Wisconsin DOT plans to begin construction of Main Street, from the Fox River to th Irving Avenue, the week of March 15. We are currently trying to work with DOT officials to schedule a groundbreaking ceremony, which may or may not coincide with the State of the City address that same evening. As you will notice from Tuesday's Agenda, the BID will be making a brief presentation at Tuesday's Council Meeting to go over preparations to accommodate businesses who may be impacted during the construction project. Meanwhile, the DOT will be th conducting a meeting with affected property owners on Friday, March 5, here a t City Hall. Please find enclosed a letter from Vinton Construction regarding this matter. Staff also met this week to identify potential properties that are owned by the Redevelopment Authority (RDA) that may be used for interim parking during the construction process. Some of these parking uses may require review by the Plan Commission and/or City Council. We will be bringing this to you in the coming weeks so that we may get authorization to use some of these properties as interim parking lots. If you have any questions regarding any aspects of these projects, please contact Public Works Director Dave Patek or me. IDAHO STREET ASSESSMENTS 4.: Please f ind enclosed a copy of a petition that we received late Thursday from property owners along Idaho Street regarding their special assessments. These residents are under the belief that their special assessments should be reduced because of Public Works traffic on Idaho Street. I certainly acknowledge that we need to impress upon our staff that they need to take specific routes to or from the Public Works garage and Parks garage on a designated route that does not include Idaho Street. However, the suggestion that the city pay for part of the special assessments does not address the major issue. The construction of Idaho Street is not designed to handle commercial traffic, as it is designated th and designed as a residential street. As I stated at the Febru ary 9 Council Meeting, the appropriate action to take if we wanted to accommodate these residents would be to upgrade the construction standards on Idaho Street and assume all of the incremental costs of the additional construction. Weekly Newsletter February 19, 2010 Page 3 However, if we were to upgrade Idaho Street, we would, in effect, be designating Idaho Street as a truck route for city crews and other commercial traffic. This is not something that we want th to encourage, so we will continue to work with our employees to direct them to 4 Avenue. Meanwhile, staff does not believe that it would be appropriate to break with policy and reduce their special assessments and encourage truck traffic on a designated, residential street. This rd petition arrived too late to place on the February 23 Agenda, so I will place this on the March th 9 Agenda for the Council's official review and filing. TEMPORARY BUSINESS SIGNAGE TURING HIGHWAY #41 CONSTRUCTION 5.: This week, staff met with representatives of the DOT, the West Side Association (WSA), and other west side businesses regarding signage accommodations that we will need to make for area businesses over the next few years as a result of the U. S. Highway #41 construction project. The affected businesses indicated that they wanted to see if the city could be flexible in placing signage along right-of-way to direct vehicles to their businesses. Staff indicated that we needed to develop rules that could be applied consistently so that there was no appearance of favoritism for one business or the other. Overall, it was a very productive discussion in which we discussed the possibility of amending our municipal code slightly to provide a provision specifically designed for signage during major road con struction projects, or some type of accommodation through a policy change. We will work with WSA and the DOT to identify potential areas where signage may be necessary throughout the construction projects over the next few years. Staff will also review code and policy changes that may be necessary. Meanwhile, West Side Association will work with its member businesses to work on signage plans that they may submit to the city for review. The first priorities will be for businesses that th will be impacted by the 20 Avenue and Witzel Avenue construction this year. Future reviews will be done for the other subsequent projects that will occur over the next few years, as well as signage changes that may be necessary during the course of these construction proj ects. I believe that this advanced planning will assist us in minimizing the negative impact that construction projects can place on these businesses, as well as residents and businesses who are trying to reach these destinations. TRANSIT SYSTEM ANNOUNCES NEW ROUTES DUE TO RECONSTRUCTION OF 6. TH th 20 AVENUE OVERPASS : The reconstruction of the 20 Avenue overpass calls for the adjustment of a couple of transit routes (Routes 9 and 11). Through the adjustments made by the Transit System, they will be able to continue to serve the customers on the east side of U. S. Highway #41. On the west side, changes will mean that Route 9 is going to drive on some residential streets not normally used. I am enclosing a map that shows the detour for Route 9. th Currently, the route goes west on 20 Avenue over U. S. Highway #41, up to Lennox, east on Maricopa Drive to Allerton, north on Covington and back to Maricopa. The detour spends a lot more time on Maricopa. The Transit System is putting up notices in their buses an d at their stops, and also on their Facebook site. They normally have not done press releases with bus route detours since in some cases (i.e., Main Street), they may change from week to week. This th detour will be in effect until 20 Avenue is re-opened. If you have any questions concerning this issue, please contact Transportation Director Chris Strong. DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS & UPDATES 7.: The only other items I have to send along to th you today are the minutes of the February 9 Traffic Review Advisory Boa rd meeting and Museum Director Brad Larson's weekly memo to the Museum Board. Weekly Newsletter February 19, 2010 Page 4 nd UPCOMING MEETINGS 8.: Meetings I have scheduled for the week of February 22 include the following: On Monday, at 9:00 a.m., I will be meeting with Media Services staff to work th on my State of the City address for March 15. At 3:00 p.m. on Monday, I will be meeting with UW-Oshkosh Vice Chancellor Tom Sonnleitner and other University representatives regarding parking issues in an d around the University. At 5:30 p.m. on Monday, I will be attending the kick-off meeting of the Taking Root campaign that has been developed by the Community Foundation, along with city staff, to implement a city-wide tree program and gateway landscaping throughout the city. The public is welcome to attend this meeting. At rd 12:00 noon on Tuesday, February 23, I will be meeting with the Oshkosh Northwestern Editorial Board to touch base on issues of general interest in the city. At 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, I will be meeting with County Executive Mark Harris to review work done to-date by county and city staff regarding the potential merger of health departments. If you have any questions regarding these meetings, please do not hesitate to contact me. MAR/jdc