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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWeekly Newsletter Date: March 12, 2010 To: Mayor & City Council From: Mark A. Rohloff, City Manager WEEKLY NEWSLETTER Subject: MARION ROAD REDEVELOPMENT EFFORTS 1.: I wanted to provide the Council with some information concerning the status of the Marion Road Redevelopment Project. As you know, construction has begun on the Morton Pharmacy and Accu-Com buildings. The Dumke Group also submitted plans and received approvals for the senior housing project along the riverfront. We are pleased that the project, as approved by the Council, has been proceeding in a timely manner consistent with the Council's wishes. However, all developments are usually presented with scheduling issues, and this one is no different. The issue raised with respect to this project relates to the city's success in receiving a $600,000 grant from the Department of Natural Resources for environmental remediation on the site. The development agreement had anticipated that the city would convey the parcels to the Dumkes at the time they were ready to commence construction on the various projects. However, the grant requires that the city retain ownership of the development project property while the environmental work is being completed. As a result, we have yet to convey the property to the Dumke Group. The delay in conveying the property due to the grant requirements has caused staff to work closely with the developers and the project lenders to finalize all documents needed for the construction loans on those parcels to ensure that the project is completed. Because time was of the essence to ensure that the project moves forward and construction can be completed in a timely manner, I have executed documents which will lease the property so that construction can begin, as well as documents involving the lenders providing funds to the project to ensure that the developers can obtain the necessary financing to complete the construction as the Council had previously approved. Had we not facilitated the loan process, we would have had to surrender the grant, or the developers would have lost their tax credits. Neither of these options was desirable. I have consulted with staff and believe that while these lease-related documents were not originally contemplated, they are consistent with the development agreement and the intent of the Council. Because this issue was not anticipated, this situation was not specifically addressed in the development agreement. For this reason, I will be bringing this to the Council and the Redevelopment Authority, and asking you to ratify this action. If you have any questions concerning this issue, please feel free to contact me. Weekly Newsletter March 12, 2010 Page 2 400 BLOCK EAST ENGINEERING AGREEMENT 2.: In response to Council Member Buchholz's questions at the Council Meeting regarding the 400 Block East parking lot construction, I asked Transportation Director Chris Strong to provide me with information regarding this issue. According to Mr. Strong, the project's scheduled completion date, based upon the award date of the construction work, had limited schedule latitude in order for the contractor to have the lot complete (except for final landscaping) by the intended date. However, there were some unanticipated delays at different stages in the project, which required some adjustment of the schedule. These included initial delays to finalize some required DNR permitting, weather-related delays, and a delay to accommodate installation of a new private utility in the pedestrian mall. These delays caused the contractor to adjust his schedule so that grading and paving work could be completed in time for the lot to be open to the public as scheduled. Accelerating the pavement work meant that masonry work for the dumpster enclosures and walls was delayed until after the paving was complete. In addition, paving work was slightly delayed due to late changes in the design of the parking lot due to ongoing efforts to acquire easements from property owners. After the paving was complete, there was a failure in the underground electric utilities. Repairing this failure required opening the new pavement and re-paving it. After the lot was open to the public, the contractor continued to work on the dumpster enclosures and masonry walls until they were complete. All that remains on their work is the completion of the punch list to vertify that finished construction matches the specific design. Each of these unanticipated delays required work from the engineer that was not anticipated in the original scope of work. If you have any questions concerning this issue, please contact Transportation Director Chris Strong. LOCAL OFFICIALS SEEK CLARIFICATION ON U.S. HIGHWAY 41 SCHEDULE 3.: Over the past few weeks, local business and government leaders have been questioning the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) about conflicting answers to questions regarding the construction schedule for USH 41 at STH 21. It had been consistently represented to me by the DOT that the construction work at USH 41 and STH 21 would begin and completed entirely during the 2012 construction season. However, discussion that business leaders had with various DOT representatives indicated that that schedule may not be correct. In response to this, business leaders asked State Representatives Hintz and Spanbauer to jointly request a clarification from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. This effort did not initially prove beneficial, as DOT Secretary Busalacchi had sent a letter back to our State Representatives, indicating that construction of the ramps on and off northbound USH 41 would not be completed until July, 2013. This obviously upset many businesses along the STH 21 corridor, as they had been previously assured that construction would be done entirely in 2012. In response, Chamber President John Casper questioned regional DOT representatives, and DOT Northeast Regional Director Mike Berg indicated to Mr. Casper that construction would be able to be completed on all facets of the USH 41/STH 21 project in 2012. Our State Representatives stepped up again and have asked for a formal letter from Secretary Busalacchi to confirm the information that Mr. Berg shared with Mr. Casper. While I believe that we ultimately will receive formal confirmation that the work will be done entirely in 2012, you may hear of some conflicting reports until we get such confirmation. I wanted the Council to be aware of what was going on so that you were not confused. Once I get the confirmation letter from Secretary Busalacchi, I will share it with Council. Weekly Newsletter March 12, 2010 Page 3 UPDATE FROM WISCONSIN ALLIANCE OF CITIES 4.: I just returned from the quarterly meeting of the Wisconsin Alliance of Cities in Madison today. I wanted to update the Council on some of the items that were discussed. The first item concerns the Alliance's stand on various bills before the Legislature regarding Regional Transit Authorities (RTA). While there are no pieces of legislation regarding the formation of RTA that directly involve the City of Oshkosh, these items do have some indirect impact on the Oshkosh Transit System. Two municipal transit systems (Green Bay and Appleton) will soon be ineligible for Federal Urban Transit Assistance once their regional populations exceed 200,000, which both are anticipated once the 2010 census is validated. Due to the expected loss of federal transit dollars, the state transit fund distribution formula will be recalculated to factor in the loss of these dollars and their impact on Appleton and Green Bay. As a result, OTS will experience a significant drop in operating revenues, as all transit systems throughout the state will "share the hurt" that will be experienced by Green Bay and Appleton. As a result, OTS has an interest in what can be done to assist Appleton and Green Bay on the upcoming loss of federal transit funds. Both agencies have an interest in creating a Regional Transit Authority (RTA) that will give them the ability to raise funds locally for their local transit systems. Typically, these transit funds are raised through some type of regional sales tax. Oshkosh would not be impacted by any such tax. The Alliance has previously supported these efforts to allow local jurisdictions to form RTAs. Current legislation would not give Oshkosh any authority to create a regional RTA, nor do we have any plans to do so. The other matter concerning the city had to do with the Alliance's stand on seeking additional Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants (EECBG) funds from the federal government. Like Oshkosh, all of the entitlement cities (with a population of 30,000 or greater) have committed their allotment of EECBG funds. Like our fellow cities, we have more than committed the funds that we are planning to use. The resolution adopted by the Alliance asks that the federal government consider allocating EECBG funds to cities that have demonstrated additional needs for energy efficiency projects that will 1) create jobs; 2) fund much needed energy efficiency programs; and 3) create savings in operations costs due to said savings. Finally, the Wisconsin Alliance of Cities and the Wisconsin League of Municipalities took a giant step forward by voting to disband the Alliance effective January, 2011, and fold the Alliance into the Wisconsin League of Municipalities. This merger means that the Alliance of Cities will become a special committee within the League called the "Urban Alliance", which will consist of previous Alliance of Cities members, as well as open membership for other larger municipalities throughout the state. The purpose of this committee will remain to address issues for the larger municipalities throughout the state. It will also allow all municipalities in the state to speak with one voice. In addition to improved political clout, the new structure has been changed so that the city will actually be paying less in dues to the combined League/Alliance group than it had to the two groups separately. This merger still requires the approval of the League's Board of Directors, but that is expected to be approved easily. If you have any questions regarding any of the Alliance of Cities' efforts, please let me know. Weekly Newsletter March 12, 2010 Page 4 AMERICAN RECOVERY & REINVESTMENT ACT AWARDS 5.: Please find enclosed a listing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Awards to date for the city. With the approval of the ARRA reaching its one year anniversary, various groups and media outlets have been requesting updates on stimulus projects, so we updated our list. If you have any questions, please contact Finance Director Peggy Steeno. SINGLE STREAM RECYCLING REPORT 6.: Please find enclosed a memo from James Hintz, Sanitation Supervisor, which includes a comparison of how well our single stream recycling program is working. The comparison is for five months of completed collections since single stream started on October 5, 2009. As you can see from Mr. Hintz's memo, we experienced an average increase of almost 18% in recycling tonnage in five months. If you have any questions concerning this information, please feel free to contact Sanitation Supervisor Hintz. NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH PROGRAM 7.: Please find enclosed a letter from the Oshkosh Police Department, inviting community leaders to a Neighborhood Watch Program meeting on th Thursday, March 18, at 6:00 p.m., at Webster Stanley Elementary School. The OPD is hoping to involve local leaders to build a stronger sense of community and responsibility, which is the primary goal of the Neighborhood Watch Program. If you have any questions concerning this meeting or the Neighborhood Watch Program, please feel free to contact Crime Prevention Officer Joe Nichols. DEPARTMENT REPORTS & UPDATES 8.: Other items I'm enclosing with today's Newsletter include the Oshkosh Area Economic Development Progress Report for 2009. The message from Mayor Esslinger on the inside cover describes this report and its intended purpose. Insofar as minutes are concerned, I'm enclosing the following: The minutes of the ndth March 2 Plan Commission meeting; the minutes of the February 16 Downtown BID Board th meeting; the minutes of the February 4 Museum Board meeting; the meeting notice, agenda th and background material for the March 17 Transit Advisory Board meeting. The last item I'm enclosing is the weekly memo from Museum Director Brad Larson to the Museum Board, updating them on the Museum's activities over the past week. th UPCOMING MEETINGS 9.: Meetings I have scheduled for the week of March 15 include the th following: On Monday, March 15, at 7:30 a.m., I will be meeting with representatives of various local non-profit groups that are studying poverty issues in our community. On Monday, at 12:00 noon, I will be attending the quarterly meeting of the Winnebago County Conflict Resolution Council. As a reminder, on Monday, at 5:30 p.m., the groundbreaking for the Main Street reconstruction project will take place in front of the Convention Center, just prior to the State of the City event. I spoke with incoming Community Development Director Allen Davis and he will be able to attend Monday's State of the City event. Please be sure to visit me during the event so that I may introduce Mr. Davis to Council Members. On th Wednesday, March 17, at 1:30 p.m., Planning Director Darryn Burich and I will be meeting with Mr. Nash Gill to discuss his financial projections for the City Center Hotel project in anticipation of Mr. Gill eventually requesting city assistance, assuming that the financials indicate a need for such assistance. Weekly Newsletter March 12, 2010 Page 5 On Thursday, at 7:30 a.m., I will be attending the "Passport for Success" career planning event for middle school students throughout the area. On Friday, at 10:00 a.m., I will be meeting with city staff members and UW-O facilities representatives to discuss projects of mutual interest to both the city and the University. In my discussions with Vice Chancellor Sonnleitner, we agreed that periodic meetings on facilities planning would be good so that our efforts are coordinated. This is the first of what I see to be regular meetings on this subject. If you have any questions regarding these meetings, please do not hesitate to contact me. MAR/jdc