City Council Minutes 2019 06 04 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes June 4 2019 Page 3 of 16 The estimate is now at $4M There are some soft costs that may be Tess than expected but nothing is final Council will need to determine how this new cost estimate affects the budget. Public Comments Elizabeth Henna, 889 Treece Street, stated this is incredibly frustrating They purchased their home in part because of the underpass promised by the builder and was told this would happen in 2014 She thinks it is important to complete this underpass and have access to the trails. The delays are frustrating and it feels we are at the mercy of BNSF Christoph Scholtes, 2272 Wynonna Court, stated he is also frustrated that nothing has happened since 2014 He asked why the design costs have gone up so much He stated in 2014 he was encouraged to be patient and now it seems other things have been prioritized ahead of this. There is no way to connect to the trail system without this. He asked if there anything we can do as citizens to work with BNSF Councilmember Keany stated he too is frustrated at the process. Unfortunately the railroad ranks much higher than the City in this process. We have continued to work on this but we are at the mercy of the railroad It has been the same working with BNSF on South Street underpass and the quiet zones. He clarified that none of the Takoda Metro District taxes go to the City; those taxes pay for the debt of the developer Steel Ranch residents pay the same City tax rate as any other resident. The $250K donation from the developer was from when the design was thought to be $500K. The cost has gotten to the point where it is hard to prioritize this over other things. Council will look for additional funding sources, and Council is frustrated by this as well Councilmember Leh agreed with Councilmember Keany He stated this is a project we all thought would be done by now He noted all of the projects we have that involve the railroad have had these issues. The new requirement to meet a 100-year flood event drove up the cost significantly He stated we want to make it work but this is a lot of money from our budget. Councilmember Maloney stated the reality is an additional $2 3M is needed The underpass is an important connector, but we have to weigh it with all of the other costs we have There is plenty we want to do but there is also what we need to do We need to understand the full budget for 2020 before making any final decisions and we will have to weigh it against areas where we have very high traffic and health and safety issues. Councilmember Stolzmann stated it would be nice if we can just say this is the highest priority but we don't have the funds identified She would have liked to have gotten this infrastructure put in from the developer She suggested the City Council package a list of all of the amenities residents want and ask the voters for additional funds. She reiterated it is not that Council is not acting on this, rather we just can't afford it currently