Laserfiche WebLink
Mr. Crow asked Mr. Poehler if the design phase was under or over budget at 4 million dollars. <br />Mr. Poehler stated that the original design grant was for 3.6 million dollars. However changes <br />made in the design increased that amount to approximately 3.8 million dollars. Mr. Crow stated <br />that the majority of Council has had access to very little information regarding this specific request <br />and he is just trying to determine the rationale behind the one paragraph explanation. <br /> <br />Mr. Walker stated that he does not believe that this particular instance is any different than any <br />other extension that has been proposed by staff on any other development when there have been <br />no changes. But given the fact that in the past Council has approved this project for the most part <br />without any disagreement staff’s recommendation was that Council extends the previously <br />approved C.U.P. for an additional six month period. Mr. Walker stated that if Council is <br />uncomfortable approving it for six months then perhaps it can be reduced to a month or two since <br />Mr. Poehler seems to be quite confident that the remainder of the funding is going to be <br />forthcoming. <br /> <br />Mr. Sharpe questioned whether the fact that the request for an extension had been made by a <br />different entity would cause any problems. Mr. Walker stated that Mr. Poehler is the authorized <br />agent to make the submission with respect to the extension of the C.U.P. Ms. Riganti concurred <br />and stated that such an act is permitted in the City’s Zoning Code. <br /> <br />Mr. Kraft asked if the permit is only needed until construction has commenced or if it was needed <br />for the entire length of the project. Ms. Riganti stated that the C.U.P. is good for one year and in <br />this case, construction should have commenced within that time frame. Mr. Kraft questioned <br />whether the permit dictates when a project must be completed. Ms. Riganti stated that it only <br />indicates that you have to begin construction within one year of the issue date. <br /> <br />Mr. Glickert questioned whether Council had the authority to extend the permit for 30 days, 90 days <br />or six months. Ms. Riganti stated that Council had the authority to grant any time up to an <br />additional year. However the request from Mr. Poehler is for six months and she does not believe <br />that 30 days would be a reasonable amount of time to advertise for construction services and <br />commence construction. <br /> <br />Mr. Crow stated that he is not sure that he would agree with staff’s comments about this being a <br />typical C.U.P. based on everything that occurred at the last Council meeting and the size of this <br />project. But in his opinion 180 days is too long and 30 days may be too short, so if consideration <br />could be given to 60 or 90 days his hope is that his colleagues would join him in saying that if there <br />needs to be another request for an extension that the TDD or the Trolley Company would be willing <br />to submit a little more substance than one paragraph. <br /> <br />Mr. Poehler stated that as he understands the requirements for the permit, the construction has to <br />commence. So assuming they are able to go out to bid in April, typically it takes a month to receive <br />the bids and several weeks to sign the contract and get everyone mobilized. Mr. Poehler stated <br />that the earliest date for construction to commence would probably be July, assuming there are no <br />issues with the bids. Therefore the best case scenario is 120 days, which is why they had asked <br />for 180 days. <br /> <br />Mr. Glickert stated that the Loop Trolley still does not even have the funding to start construction. <br />Mr. Poehler stated that they did have the funding although the construction funds have not been <br />released. Mr. Glickert asked when they anticipated the funds being released Mr. Poehler stated <br />that he anticipates that they should have the ability to release the funds within the next few weeks. <br />He stated that as he mentioned earlier, they had recently received the authority to release funds for <br />construction management services in anticipation of receiving the release of the construction funds. <br /> <br />Mr. Kraft questioned whether Council would be precluded from approving another extension of 60 <br />days if the construction had not commenced. Mr. Walker stated that Council would not be <br />precluded from doing so. In fact, in order to ensure that all of Council’s concerns are satisfied <br /> <br />