HomeMy WebLinkAboutWeekly Newsletter
Date: July 8, 2011
To: Mayor & City Council
From: Mark A. Rohloff, City Manager
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
Subject:
CENTRAL GARAGE UPDATE
1.: As Council is aware, the development of a new central garage
has been in the city's Capital Improvements P rogram for a number of years. Two years ago, the
Council authorized the purchase of additional land adjacent to the central garage from the Oshkosh
Area School District to bank land for possible expansion of the central garage. I asked staff to
prepare a request for qualifications to solicit information from firms interested in doing facility
planning and possible design of a central garage facility. Public Works Director Patek, Assistant
Public Works Director Gohde, Street/Sanitation/Central Garage Superintendent Uhen and I will be
meeting with prospective architectural firms over the next couple of weeks to identify possible
firms. Once a firm is selected, the first step in the process will be to identify facility needs for a
possible central garage fa cility. I am also keeping in mind other field operations facilities that
may require expansion in the future, including parks, transit, and sanitary sewer operations. Based
upon our long term needs, the firm will help us identify if the Witzel Avenue sit e is sufficient for
future growth of some or all of these field operations. Based upon the information, staff will work
with the design firm to either identify additional potential sites or develop a proposal for design of
a central garage facility on Wit zel. At this time, all we are doing is interviewing prospective
firms. As we progress further into this process, I will brief Council at a future Council Meeting.
In the meantime, please feel free to contact me or Mr. Patek if you have any questions abo ut this
process.
STREET WIDTHS FROM A FIRE DEPARTMENT PERSPECTIVE
2.: In case you did not
see it, I am enclosing an article from this week's Northwestern in which Fire Departments across
the nation are also chiming in on their perspective on street widths. This offers yet another
perspective on why streets need to have a certain minimum width in order to accommodate Fire
Departments and their equipment. While most of our current streets can easily accommodate Fire
Department vehicles, the use of more versa tile equipment has required our fire apparatus to be
larger and require a larger turning radius on city streets. This, of course, needs to be balance d
against the issues that were brought up by the Sustainability Advisory Board regarding streets
widths. I am not recommending anything one way or another, but I thought you would find this
article another interesting perspective to consider.
Weekly Newsletter
July 8, 2011
Page 2
PEDESTRIAN AND BICYCLE CIRCULATION PLAN
3.: The Traffic Review Advisory Board
will be hosting a Workshop next Tuesday, July 12, 2011, for the presentation of the draft City of
Oshkosh Pedestrian and Bicycle Circulation Plan. The primary purpose of the Workshop is to
introduce the key concepts and recommendations included in the draft plan to the members of the
Sustainability Advisory Board, the Advisory Park Board, the Traffic Review Advisory Board, and
the Plan Commission, before it goes to the individual board/commission for formal presentation,
review and recommendations at their respective meetings in August. I am enclosing copies of the
plan for you today so that you have time to read and review this plan prior to the Workshop next
Tuesday. If you have any questions on the Bike and Ped Plan, please contact Planning Directo r
Darryn Burich.
NORTH SIDE QUIET ZONE UPDATE
4.: Because there have been several inquiries, I wanted
to provide Council with a status update on the process of instituting a new railroad quiet zone on
the far north side of Oshkosh. As you will recall, t he term "quiet zone" is an area designated by
the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) where by trains are not supposed to sound their horns
at crossings, except under certain conditions. In order to qualify as a quite zone, the FRA has to
be assured that there have been substantial safety measures undertaken to prevent drivers from
going around crossing gates. Funding for design and construction of this quiet zone was approved
by the Council as part of the 2011 Capital Improvements Program. Over the past several months,
city staff has been working with the FRA, the CN Railroad, the Wisconsin Department of
Transportation, and Winnebago County to design improvements at three crossings (Snell Road,
Butler Road, and County Highway Y) that would be sufficient to qualify the area for a quiet zone
designation. The city is working with a consulting firm to design the crossing improvements with
the intent or coordinating construction activities into an existing paving contract, thereby reducing
the time for construction.
Instituting the quiet zone is not merely a construction project, but is also an administrative process
that requires review and notification of numerous parties. The process works most quickly when
the applicant is able to implement standard imp rovements at the crossings. Unfortunately, the
standard improvements are not readily applicable to this area due to the narrow paved width of
Snell Road, and the short distance between the railroad and County Highway A. Consequently,
the city is working with the FRA not only to develop the notice of intent to establish a quiet zone,
but also to complete the applications required for these special design exceptions.
We are working to implement the construction improvements this year. However, we want t o
make sure that the improvements will satisfy FRA requirements so that we do not need to redo the
project at a future time. Therefore, we also need to make sure that the FRA is satisfied with the
proposed improvements, which is especially important given the design exceptions that are
involved. If you have any questions concerning this matter, please feel free to contact
Transportation Director Chris Strong.
Weekly Newsletter
July 8, 2011
Page 3
DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS & UPDATES
5.: Other item s I'm enclosing with today's
Newsletter include the latest issue of the FOCUS newsletter, published by the Wisconsin
Taxpayers Alliance, which features an article on civility. I am also enclosing the latest report on
the city's hotel/motel room tax. Insofar as minutes are concerned, I'm enclosing the following:
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The minutes of the June 21 Plan Commission meeting; the minutes of the Jun e 8 Board of
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Appeals meeting; the minutes of the June 1 Long Range Finance Committee meeting; and the
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minutes of the June 8 Landmarks Commission meeting.
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UPCOMING MEETINGS
6.: Meetings I have scheduled for the week of Ju ly 11 include the
following: On Monday, at 7:30 a.m., Mayor Tower and I are meeting to go over items for the
Wednesday Council Meeting. On Monday, at 10:30 a.m., I will be attending a Community
Foundation event, at the Community Pantry, at which time they will be making an announcement
about a donor. On Monday afternoon, Community Development Director Davis and I will be
going to Madison with Chamber President John Casper and OAEDC Director Rob Kleman to
meet with Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation Director Paul Jadin. You may recall
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that Mr. Jadin was previously Secretary of Commerce until the WEDC was created as of July 1.
We will be di scussing city issues and how WEDC may be able to help Oshkosh in economic
development efforts. On Tuesday, at 9:00 a.m., I will be attending a meeting of the South Shore
Redevelopment implementation group that Mr. Davis formed to discuss ways to begin
implementing some of the recommendations in the South Shore Redevelopment Plan. At 4:00
p.m. on Tuesday, I will be attending the joint meeting on the Pedestrian Bike Plan. On
Wednesday, at 1:30 p.m., I will be attending a meeting of the Economic Development Committee
for the East Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission. If you have any questions about
my attendance at any of these meetings, please do not hesitate to contact me.
MAR/jdc