City Council - Regular Meeting

The council understands the agenda item, if you want, is only asking if council wants to extend the review period 180 days. So number three, on the 18th, I'm sorry, on the 18th. uh that may have been updated um yeah so i'm sorry um but i'll ask mr wadel our planning director to walk through that a little bit and outline council's options for that one yes sir so what's happened is that uh

There's been a new application submitted for demolition of the theater, and that triggers the opportunity for another review process. Per the code, the preservation planner has the option to implement a 30-day interim control on the demolition permit. That has occurred, so there's a 30-day window that started on July 27th. So in that timeframe, the council has the option to extend that interim control for another 180 days, and so that's what this item is. There are two ways that this item can come to the city council, essentially. One would be if the council chooses to hear it and discuss it. the applicant chooses to appeal in this case the applicant has not gone through the appeal process I'm not saying that they won't but they have not at this point so this is coming to you because council members have expressed interest in learning more about this so that is why it's coming to you again the action item is whether or not you want to extend the interim control up to 180 days And with that, I guess I'll stand for any questions.

Well, Mr. Whittle, you outlined the only thing the applicant can appeal is going the full 30 days. Is that correct?

That is my understanding. Yes, sir.

Just one point of clarification. Is it 180 days on top of the 30 days, or do they run concurrently?

My understanding, my recollection is that it would be 180 days. I don't know that they would run concurrent. So I would be more conservative now that I'm at the podium and I'll say it's just 180 days. But if we find out that it is in addition to the 30 days, I'll let you know.

Thank you. Thanks so much for being here. And I emailed you to give you a heads up. I have a few questions. What happens during that 180 days? I just want to make sure we're being very clear to the community what this means. So what does an interim control of 180 days actually do?

Sure. What it does is it provides time to determine whether or not the property, and time to determine whether it should be, and then time to actually do it if you wish to, to list it on a historic register. Now, with 180 days, there's probably not sufficient time to get it listed, even if someone wanted to, on the national register or on the state register. So it comes down to the Wichita Historic Register. For the Wichita Historic Register, essentially it boils down to there are about two entities that can get something listed, and that is either the property owner or the city council. Now, if it does get listed on the Wichita Register of Historic Places, it doesn't mean that the demolition can't proceed. What it means is that there's another review process that takes place, and as part of that review process, the outcome can be that the demolition permit is denied. And I will defer to legal if there's any corrections.

Thank you. And during that 30-day interim control, what is planning doing when they're reviewing the actual application? Are they engaging with the adjacent property owners to see the impact? Are you assessing where the cranes and the dumpsters would go to take the materials once the building is demolished? What is actually happening to assess whether or not this can move forward?

Sure. So by the municipal code, per the municipal code, the preservation planner is required to consult with the property owner to see if there are any alternatives to demolition. It doesn't mean that there needs to be really a dialogue or any kind of conversation that takes place. It's just that we need to try and engage with that individual. So we have sent a letter with some options to explore, but I don't know that we will hear back from the property owner.

When was that letter sent?

I believe it was sent earlier this week, either yesterday or the day before.

And because this building is attached to two separate buildings, are you all assessing that?

No, we're not so much involved in that. I'll defer to MABCD if they wish to address that one, but we're not involved in the structural portion of that. I assume that would be part of the demolition review.

Cool. I'll engage with them later or now, whichever you feel most comfortable with. Could I get you to repeat the question sir to make sure I've got absolutely and thanks so much for answering the question So the particular building that we're discussing right now it two buildings are actually attached to that building so when you're reviewing this demolition process, you know a lot of of my colleagues in the past when this has come up about a year ago, my predecessor was here, made mention of property rights. And I think what's unique about this particular case is that we have to consider the property rights of all of the business owners that are attached to that building. So I'm curious if you all are assessing how this demolition will impact those property owners that are attached to that building.

And by attached, there is a shared wall between this building and the building directly to the east. So part of the demolition or the wrecking permit application requires a plan to preserve that wall and how they would preserve and protect the neighboring property. So that is included in the application. It is one, just since we're there, one challenge at this point is that the property, the neighboring property owner has denied the contractor access to their roof and to their building at this point. So that will be something, depending on how this goes forward, that we'll need to work with both property owners to resolve that.

Will the 180 days added give you more time to be able to work with both property owners to obtain access to preserve that home?

It would inherently, but the processes are independent. So regardless of what happens with this, all of that will have to be done before a permit is issued. So much like building a structure, a wrecking permit for a commercial building is a process more so than an event to apply. So the process of disconnecting utilities, any safety and preservation actions such as this, etc. Those are all completed as part of the application process before we ever issue the actual permit.

Cool. I think it'd be better for me to read the application if I can have access to that and then maybe follow up with you via email to not belabor the point here. But I'm really trying to understand the assessment done from a safety component And knowing the density of the space, like how do you get a crane over there and dumpster? And what impact does that have on traffic flow? What impact does that have on the businesses in that corridor? So I think I would like to just read the application and maybe follow up with you to get some insight.

Absolutely, sir. And there will be, we would assume that there would be a lane closure for some time. But I would not expect that to go more than a day or two before they would get enough of it down. all on that property and in their own parking lot.

The other agenda item, so we'll make sure you had some information on that one since it's coming up, but also I know there's been some questions generated when you look at the planning agenda item number one, under item seven, number one, related to a conditional use request for scrap yard, basically. There's been questions, because there's been different recommendations between the Planning Commission the DAB and the staff, and so I wanted Mr. Wadelweiss here to speak to the staff recommendation or the agenda item overall.

Yes, sir. So for this one, it's a little bit unique. It's a challenging case. We've got a conditional use as requested just south of 37th Street and I-135. What they're requesting is a conditional use for wrecking and salvage yard. Now, in the zoning code, there are supplementary use regulations that automatically attach themselves to this type of case. The supplementary use regulations include, there are three of them, and one of them is that it would not be abutting to an arterial street or expressway or freeway. One is that it would not negatively affect the character of the neighborhood or the area around it. And the third is that it would be enclosed by a fence or wall at least eight feet tall. I mention that because you'll notice it's right adjacent to I-135. So keep that in mind. What's a little bit unique about this one is that the applicant is proposing to enclose the majority of the site. They would use an existing building, and then they would build, and if you look in the materials, you'll see an attachment, Exhibit B, They would create one of these kind of temporary fabric structures that would enclose quite a bit of the operations that would be taking place there, as well as using the building. And then they would have an open area where there would be more materials. This applicant specializes in aircraft parts, is my understanding. The area all around it, this property and the area all around it, are zoned general industrial. So it went to the MAPC. The MAPC recommended approval, and there are seven conditions that they recommended along with that. And the other thing, too, is that they recommended a waiver of the supplementary use regulation concerning the arterial street or freeway. So then it went to the district advisory board. The district advisory board recommended denial of the application. So then the protest period occurred. With the protests, the protests actually came in at first. We measured that it was 100% of the protest area. against the application that was then modified because we discovered that one of the signatures was not actually able to sign for the protest so that reduced it down to 80% but it is still well over the 20% threshold so so this is the case that will be presented on Tuesday it's a little bit unique and I'll stand for any questions

What's the area of the site? How many acres?

Yeah, let me look for that real quick. It's four? Four acres, yes, sir.

Maybe this is a question for Tuesday, but I am curious why I think this went on consent on MAPC. Is that right?

Let me check the minutes. It says no public comments, so there's a good chance that that was on consent. Yes, ma'am.

which I mean, I know that's just kind of how this one worked out, but I do think that is a little bit unfair that I don't know how the process quite works, but that it did just go on consent. So maybe didn't give the opportunity for, I mean, how does that work? Does somebody from the board just pull something if they want to or.

Excellent question. Um, so at the beginning of the meeting, the chairperson for the MAPC will go down the list for the agenda. and will ask if any of the commissioners want to hear an item or if any members of the public, anyone in attendance would like to hear the item. That also gives the applicant the opportunity to raise their hand or speak up if they'd like. So in this case, it does appear that it went consent, so no one spoke up that they wanted to hear the item.

Okay, awesome. I appreciate that. And then, so the idea of waiving the... arterial and fruit. Is that something typical that staff does? I know that was one of the main concerns, and we can talk about this Tuesday too, but I do think it's interesting that that is one of the main concerns for some of the people that spoke and that staff would recommend that. So I know it's kind of a unique case, but just curious if that happens often.

No, it does not, and I can actually think of a case down in District 3 that happened recently where our recommendation was for denial exactly for that reason. In this case, again, it was a difficult case, but part of our rationale with it when we considered it was that they are proposing to enclose a large portion of the operation in this structure, so we felt that that was substantial screening and would help mitigate the issue of being adjacent to the interstate.

Thank you.

And then the other agenda item, we do have a public hearing on the budget again on the 18th. And so we will have a presentation. I know there are questions submitted to the Director of Finance from different council members on budget related questions. We will have those answers probably out to you this afternoon. So you can have that in time to digest over the weekend for Tuesday. Looking ahead.

I have a question and this comes from my newness and perhaps this would be helpful for me too as I mobilize how this process actually works to community members. So we have several council members meeting with the director of finance about their specific priorities. Who decides what that looks like when we are making this presentation to the council of what actually gets added into the recommended budget? So I have priorities. Council Member Ho has priorities. Council Member Ballard, et cetera, et cetera. What's the process to... Is it on us to advocate and work with our colleagues to get to four to have those things in the budget? Or are you and Director of Finance creating a budget based on those recommendations?

No, it will take... Colleagues deciding what is on the 25th was going to be supported So right now is just the information sharing time. I said if you have questions for the budget director Submit those and we'll give you answers back and then however you all want to determine I know there's been conversations about Cuts or things to do and people fast me and I've said everyone if you want to make so I've made my budget recommendation this is how I think the organization with the amount of resources that we have can be structured and run based upon my recommended budget. If you want to make a change to that, I said we're in a good situation where we do have increased revenue. And so I have recommended some new revenue items, such as some new staffing positions, think about the police, the amount of money. They were able to put forward with libraries, dash cams, other things. So I would encourage all of you, if you want to make some budget adjustments, to start with the things that are new or added. But we also, as I said, we built in there the baseline for employee raises, covering inflation on some of our IT contracts, making our pension contributions and those other things that roll forward. And so I've got that recommended out there. If you all want to deviate from that, whatever you all want to by majority vote with some amendments and things is a process.

Okay. And I know that some of my colleagues requested maybe even the opportunity to review the rationale behind why requests were made and what impact it would have if those financial requests were not made. Did we receive that information? I'm very interested in knowing where departments are going to make this work or how they're going to make it work if they don't get their requests.

I'm not, we can talk specifics afterwards about.

There's not specifics. I'm just curious. Your department's made recommendations to you. You took those recommendations into consideration. You presented the recommended budget to us. If we don't necessarily agree with those recommendations or if we're trying to find a healthy compromise, What information do we have to lean on to understand from our own perspective what impact it would have whether we decide to cut from a specific area or maintain or sustain what they've requested?

I'm not sure where people are headed, so if you want to... Have your departments submitted to you recommended budgets for their... Yeah, that's, yes.

How do we see that?

We can share that, but if there's something specific, that's what I would like. Thank you. Yeah, because if you talk about a dash camera or something, that's something new, so the impact's different. If it's a new request, and so yeah, we have the requests submitted to finance, so we can share those if there's someone specific, because there's hundreds of requests across the organization. So happy to share those. So that will be the presentation on the 18th. And then any other questions on the 18th agenda before we look ahead to the 25th?

This isn't about the 18th, but I think I stepped out when I was actually grabbing a pen. What's the plan on actually having resources at some of these cooling stations? Understanding staff's capacity is very limited. Is there an opportunity to have staff present at these cooling stations?

So not necessarily staff. We have sent out a note earlier when this was raised to providers who were providing services to encourage them to go. But we have sent what usually the hot team uses is a list of all the services across the spectrum from housing. So we have information. sheets with contact information for whether it's city services or our provider network. And so all the cooling station staff should have that information as well for resources.

Thank you. I guess my concern, and we can talk about this offline, maybe in our one-on-one, is I had the opportunity to go through the cooling stations and I had the opportunity to speak to some of the folks there. I think this is an opportunity to meaningfully engage. I often think a brochure is a transactional step of saying, here's the information, use it if you like to, but I think it makes a world of a difference when we're making that one-to-one contact, having those meaningful conversations, building that relationship, and helping walk folks through that process as well.

Do we have any data as to which cooling stations have the most attendance of our unhoused population, our needy population, that we could focus resources on?

We haven't done an assessment yet. We will do that once. We don't utilize the cooling station, so we'll have that information about ridership, but also if we can track, it'll be anecdotal now about... who's coming to the different cooling stations.

But yeah, we'll do a little debrief on that. Yeah, I figure the resource centers, neighborhood resource centers, the CSRs might have more information on that. And then, of course, downtown, I figure the downtown library would probably be one of the hot spots there. Or we can just get out of the ivory tower and go and see for ourselves. Always an option. I did have a question on consent 15. Mark, I think I ask you every year about this one. What is our current retirement pension fund currently funded at? I know it's usually around 90% or so. Mr. Manning, the Director of Finance.

Questions about our pension level of support?

Yes, sir.

You're asking about the actuarial funding level of our pension systems. We have two, of course, one for our civilian employees and one for our police and fire employees. They are both funded right around 90%. I don't have the exact number. I can report that to you Tuesday, but right around 90%, which To give you a frame of reference, it's very, very good for public pension systems, many of which across the nation are funded in the 70 percentile.

Yeah, I appreciate that. I'd just like to check and make sure every year we're hanging around the right area there.

I'll send you the exact numbers.

Appreciate it. Thank you.

Okay. Are there? I just want to highlight three things I think for you. For the 25th, again, that is the budget adoption night. So if you want to have some conversations heading up to the 25th, that's adoption for CIP and operating budget, but also the adoption of the self-supporting municipal improvement district. I know there's been some Communication related to that and then on the 25th. There's also a few zoning change requests on there We did say last time thank you for the review of grant applications We still have I know there's I believe two others in the hopper that we said we've had some turnaround Challenges from when the federal government announced the grant to when they're due to when we get on a council agenda And so I know that there are still two housing grants are working at that we may have to submit before we get to city council. So I will let you know about those when we get them on the agenda. But that is what I've got identified for the 25th agenda. Any questions from the 25th agenda? Otherwise, that completes my portion of the meeting.

Is there any announcements from the council?

Vice Mayor, I don't have an announcement. I just have kudos and a question. So kudos, as always, to the staff. I always am amazed by both what's been assigned and what's been completed. And I know that we throw a lot at staff. expressing our collective gratitude i know we often express that i am curious though because i learned once i made an appointment i guess i didn't make an appointment i suggested making an appointment from the bench that ultimately was invalid because i learned that the sister cities board has a separate application process that also requires payment so who oversees that fund And why is that a separate process from what our normal boards and commissions do? And are our existing boards and commissions also able to add in a fee? I mean, especially as we talk about funding for these boards and whether or not they've been proactive or impactful, I was very shocked to hear that there's not only a separate application that's submitted directly to that board, but there's a cost

Let me get that detail in history. My understanding is that it's established as, I'm not sure if it's a 501c3, but it's established as a separate board, but we've been asked to make appointments to it. So it's not a city-created board, or it transitioned at some period in time. So let me work on that history. So that's why it's kind of a... city-connected, but not an official city board.

So that's why- Yeah, I guess my confusion comes from there are several boards that I've been asked to serve on that are not connected to the city, but they would like the city's perspective. and it's separate. I guess my concern is that we have this board where we're saying, hey, council members, choose who you feel is best to represent your district's voice, but we have a separate process and we're gonna charge you to review. I have a major problem with that and I also wonder what obligation are they held to to audit those finances? We'll follow up on that, thank you.

I would like to compliment everybody for going to Neighborhood Night Out. I think it's a great opportunity to network and hear residents' opinions and thoughts. So I really appreciate that. I went to six, but only a couple of them canceled. But I went to four, so it was nice. I enjoyed it.

Did you go down the water slide?

I did not go down the water slide. Council Member Ballard wanted a challenge. How many did you go to?

I went to five.

Okay, Council Member Hale-Eisel, nine out of nine. 10 out of 13. 8 out of 8. So you have the winner over here. Actually, you would be one of the most number.

To be fair, District 1 had the most, so it probably might get in.

No, two of them were as they were wrapping up.

Dennis, how many did you go to? I went to 6. So very enjoyable across the city. And it makes every district, I'm sorry, that I did have enjoyed. I thought the gathering in driveways and community centers and everything, it was great. So thanks to everyone who hosted.

I had a lot of feedback actually from every single one that I went to that we need to move it to like September or something like that. It was actually suggested to there's a Be a Good Neighbor Day September 28th, which is also my birthday, so that would be fabulous. But just I told them that I would pass that on to my colleagues that I think Neighborhood Night Out is actually always on election night. So we move it to the next week. So I think we could just scoot it a little bit further if the whole point is to mix and mingle with our neighbors. I think we would have an even better participation rate if it wasn't 110 degrees.

I heard that as well, and our CSR, Teresa, is the one who runs it, and she had talked about there being options. The state of Texas moves it to October, so it's a little cooler then, but it would also require buy-in from... If we did it on the state level, buy in from law enforcement and first responders and firefighters to move it there. But it's definitely something worth the conversation because I heard that as well. I heard the same thing. And it was also the day before school was back in session. Yeah. That actually helped in Plainview because we had 145 people at that national night out. It was a lot of kids coming over from meet the teacher, but pretty much every other one it was a barrier for people.

Guys, is this something we can all agree on?

I don't know.

I think we're missing some key players. We'll find out. Any other comments? Seeing none, we are adjourned. Thank you.