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MINUTES
BROOKTRAILS TOWNSHIP COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
BROOKTRAILS COMMUNITY CENTER
24850 Birch Street, Willits, CA 95490
May 24, 2005 |
The Board of Directors of Brooktrails Township Community Services District met in regular session May 24, 2005 at 7:00 p.m. in Brooktrails Community Center.
A. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
B. ROLL CALL
Roll call showed the following Directors present: Ziady, Horrick, Pohlson, Skezas and Orth. Also present were General Manager Chapman and District Counsel Neary.
REPORT ON CLOSED SESSION
District Counsel Neary reported that the Board met on a matter of significant exposure to litigation and voted to authorize the General Manager to vote "no" on the proposed amendments to the Joint Powers Agreement with the District's workers compensation carrier, and also to take the earliest opportunity to withdraw from the Joint Powers Agreement by giving notice.
C. ADDITIONS/ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA
None.
D. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS
1. May 10, 2005 – Director Horrick moved to approve the minutes; Director Skezas seconded and the motion carried.
E. SPECIAL PRESENTATION
None.
F. PUBLIC HEARING
2. Public Hearing on Draft Ordinance 128 – Private Water Tanks. General Manager Chapman gave a cursory review of the Ordinance and stated that District Counsel had provided exclusionary language for certain properties which do not have a reservation of water rights to the Bank of America in their deeds. President Orth opened the public hearing at 7:07 p.m. and requested public comment. There being none, the public hearing was closed at 7:08 p.m.
G. PUBLIC COMMENTS
None.
H. CONSENT CALENDAR
3. Review of Accounts Payable Report and authorization to issue checks; Retroactive approval of checks for rates and fees mailer and to the Bank of Willits. Director Horrick moved to authorize payment of outstanding invoices listed on the report. Director Skezas seconded. The motion carried unanimously. Director Pohlson moved to retroactively approve the postage check for the rates and fees mailer (preapproved at the May 10th meeting) and a check to the Bank of Willits; Director Horrick seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
I. ACTION AGENDA
4. Consideration of revised Ord. 128 – Private Water Tanks. Director Skezas moved to waive further reading of Ordinance 128 as revised and to adopt said Ordinance; Director Pohlson seconded. There being no further discussion or questions, roll call vote was as follows:
AYES: Directors: Ziady, Horrick, Pohlson, Skezas, Orth
NOES: Directors: None
ABSENT: Directors: None
5. Request of Barbara Flynn for greenbelt/lot exchange. General Manager Chapman explained that the matter would be initially discussed at this meeting, followed by another meeting with a vote. He outlined a situation where Barbara Flynn and her neighbor, Lisa Austin, have adjacent properties on a steep hill with insufficient parking. Complicating the matter are: a road easement for Ms. Austin through Ms. Flynn's property; an extremely steep driveway/road with blind curves (with both property owners responsible for its maintenance); limited turnaround space combined with the need to exit face-first (especially propane trucks), to Madrone Drive due to the steepness of the driveway; and a history of problems between the two neighbors. For at least several decades, both lots have been using a 35' x 70' portion of greenbelt, which was graded for parking and turnaround by unknown parties. In the process of addressing complaints filed by the parties against each other, the District discovered this illegal parking arrangement.
Barbara Flynn has proposed a land exchange, where she would purchase a property on Ridge Road (est. 12,000 sq. ft.) and exchange it for the 35' x 70' (3,500 sq. ft.) section of greenbelt, which she would then merge with her property and use for parking and construction of a garage. She proposed to bear all costs of this procedure. However, removal of the ability to turn vehicles around would have serious consequences for Lisa Austin. Ms. Austin then proposed to share the costs of Ms. Flynn's land exchange proposal and for each party to take ownership of one-half of the greenbelt section. The steepness of the overall terrain, except for the already-graded parking area, limited the options available to solve the problem for both parties. Barbara Flynn then reiterated that because of the road easement she had no parking, and that Ms. Austin did have a parking area, albeit small. She also said she had been "prescriptively parking" on the greenbelt for 13 years; District Counsel Neary said you could not have a prescriptive easement on government property. Due to the unique problems spelled out, Mr. Chapman hoped that the District, via the Directors, could do something to help the situation.
Director Pohlson said that Kurt Ackermann was the owner of the Ridge lot proposed for the purchase, and asked whether the property was targeted for a certain use. Mr. Chapman said he inspected it and it was a typical 40% slope lot, about 60 yards away from Last Chance Trail. President Orth commented that the home below both the Flynn and Austin properties had been abandoned because of landslides. He said he believed the flat parking area had been constructed by the original builder at the time of putting in the driveway. He clarified with Ms. Austin that she has to back into the flat parking area in order to be able to exit down the driveway headfirst.
Ms. Flynn took the podium. She explained that the General Manager Chapman told her of the process whereby she could possibly purchase another lot and exchange it for a small portion of the greenbelt, although it would be a test case. She said she would pay for the lot and all associated costs. She referred to Ms. Austin's expressed concerns regarding service truck access and safety, and said she would not do anything to interfere with turnarounds. President Orth asked if she would allow an easement for Ms. Austin to back in to the parking area; Ms. Flynn said she would.
Ms. Austin took the podium and said she did not oppose working this out with Ms. Flynn having a garage, but she was concerned about the turnaround access. She added that the garage on her lot was not a real garage, but a motorcycle workshop. She did not want to build a garage herself on the parking area. She said if Ms. Flynn took possession of the parking area, she herself will be landlocked. She referred the directors to her handouts, one being a letter from the County Assessor's Office and the other from the former owner of her house.
Ms. Flynn then said she did not want to co-own anything with Ms. Austin, and felt that Ms. Austin does have some parking and a lot of vehicle traffic. President Orth stated they were not on a street that would support on-street parking. He felt that greenbelt slots could be appropriately used to provide parking like this, and suggested that the District Architect come up with a preliminary design for the two owners.
Director Pohlson said she would like to see if Kurt Ackermann had another lot that might accomplish access to the greenbelt, which was a goal of the District, and that this could then be an opportunity for the District, without costing any more money for the purchase. She suggested that the Architect define the existing parking on each parcel at this time, and then define the amount of space required for a turnaround, and whether that was sufficient for all parties.
Ms. Austin commented that if she did not have her own parking area, vehicles coming to her house could end up trespassing on Ms. Flynn's property. She also said Mark Tolbert of CDF had reviewed the situation and said they had to have that turnaround area. Director Ziady asked if the District could contact Mark Tolbert of CDF about Ms. Austin's representation that CDF could force the District to allow the greenbelt parking. President Orth commented that the solution sought would be not just for the benefit of Ms. Flynn and Ms. Austin, but a long range solution that would work for future property owners as well. Mr. Chapman said he would tentatively return with this at the first July meeting.
Bob Turner said the District should help to fix this situation, but also reiterated that a lot of Brooktrails homes have this similar problem of short, steep driveways. He commented that it should be worked out for all three homes there; directors commented that the third home is not even habitable.
Director Pohlson said that these exchanges were on a case-by-case basis, and that in other situations the District might not be willing to consider relinquishing a greenbelt parcel. Bill Barksdale, a Realtor representing Ms. Flynn, commented that much of the parking area on Ms. Austin's property had been taken up by the small garage, but that Ms. Flynn's property virtually had no parking. He said at this point anyone parking even a motorcycle could take away Ms. Flynn's ability to park. He said he believed she was asking to purchase the lot to get just enough land to have a place to park and have a garage; he thought the idea of “checkerboarding” (splitting the 3,500 sq. ft. in half and then attaching half to Ms. Flynn’s and Ms. Austin's lots) was something he had not seen done before, and would be setting a very dangerous precedent if the District started checkerboarding little parking spaces in other areas of the greenbelt. He said in many years he has never seen another situation like this, and he felt Ms. Flynn’s request was reasonable. President Orth opened the idea that the District could take the greenbelt strip out across both properties, thus satisfying both property owners' problems. General Manager Chapman said the part behind Ms. Austin's house would require very serious grading, but this could be a consideration, and the District Architect could address this latter possibility.
6. Lease vehicle - fire department – resolution required by lender. General Manager Chapman stated this lease was approved by the Board last fall, and this was the paperwork for the lease agreement from HTLF Capital. Director Horrick moved to adopt draft resolution 2005-6 to authorize the General Manager to execute the lease documents as required; Director Pohlson seconded. Roll-call vote was as follows:
AYES: Directors: Ziady, Horrick, Pohlson, Skezas, Orth
NOES: Directors: None
ABSENT: Directors: None
7. Loan closing documents for clearwell/backwash ponds project and associated resolutions. Mr. Chapman commented that the loan closing was now scheduled for June 13, 2005 for the $454,000.00 Certificate of Participation (or COP, a form of bond). Two different kinds of motions were needed, one to approve the COP and the other to approve the second loan for $200,000.00. Mr. Chapman then presented slides showing the difference between a COP and a loan. District Counsel Neary commented on the history of Jones Hall, the bond counsel for the COP. Director Horrick moved to approve Resolution 2005-7 authorizing and directing execution of the installment sale financing documents, and directing related actions by the General Manager regarding the $454,000.00 Certificate of Participation; Director Skezas seconded. Roll-call vote was as follows:
AYES: Directors: Ziady, Horrick, Pohlson, Skezas, Orth
NOES: Directors: None
ABSENT: Directors: None
Director Pohlson moved to approve Resolution 2005-8 approving the $200,000.00 loan agreement with the United States of America and authorizing its execution. Director Horrick seconded. Roll-call vote was as follows:
AYES: Directors: Ziady, Horrick, Pohlson, Skezas, Orth
NOES: Directors: None
ABSENT: Directors: None
General Manager Chapman commented that a welcome surprise in this process was receiving a 4.25% interest rate for the COP (previously 4.375%). This was a $15,500.00 savings.
8. Materials Holding Yard – Finalize CEQA procedures and approve project by resolution; consider contractor proposals and award contracts. District Counsel Neary stated he had a conflict in that he represented Mendocino Construction Services, one of the bidders on the project. General Manager Chapman instructed the procedures needed to be approved to begin proceeding with construction of this project. He cited the low proposals of $4,716.00 by Mendocino Construction Services for road improvement, and $8,880.62 by Arrow Fencing for security fencing and gates, and stated both bids were still valid. Director Skezas moved to adopt Resolution 2005-9 approving the Materials Holding Yard project, declaring the Mitigated Negative Declaration to be final and adopting same. Director Horrick seconded. Director Pohlson commented that staff has a lot of projects and she would like input about where this project sits in the priority list. General Manager Chapman said we are outsourcing part of this; there will have to be some brush removal with the backhoe, which should not take a long time. Roll-call vote was as follows:
AYES: Directors: Ziady, Horrick, Pohlson, Skezas, Orth
NOES: Directors: None
ABSENT: Directors: None
Director Horrick moved to approve the hiring of Arrow Fencing to install security fencing and gates for a price of $8,860.62 and Mendocino Construction Services to place an aggregate base on the access road for $4,716.00, and to authorize the General Manager to carry out the permitting process and execute all documents required for the construction of the project. Director Skezas seconded. Roll-call vote was as follows:
AYES: Directors: Ziady, Horrick, Pohlson, Skezas, Orth
NOES: Directors: None
ABSENT: Directors: None
J. ADDITIONS TO FUTURE AGENDAS.
None.
K. SPECIAL REPORTS
Directors: Director Pohlson said the Specific Plan Advisory Committee wanted to know whether the Board would like them to look into a lighting ordinance, since they understood that some people had taken it upon themselves to put street lights up at their own expense. The Board agreed that the committee undertake this project.
Director Ziady said the Recreation, Greenbelt & Conservation Committee had formed an ad hoc committee to address the guidelines for the watershed management plan. She announced there would be a sedimentation class sponsored by the Committee on June 11.
District Counsel: None.
General Manager Chapman: Mr. Chapman said Ross Walker of the City of Willits advised that Willits has received its USDA letter of conditions for the sewer project. Also, Richard Estabrook's report on water capacity would be delayed to June because of the high water level from recent rains.
L. PUBLIC COMMENTS
Bob Turner said that several of his associates in the real estate industry visited the forest demonstration site at the Par Course. They noted the size of trees being marked to fall, and felt most of those were redwoods. Mr. Turner asked why they were falling healthy redwoods when the goal was to remove the underbrush. He said they didn't see any great need to fall the demonstration forest. He said the thickness of the underbrush prevented people from getting into the site and this hampered visualization. He expected his group to write a letter regarding this input. Director Ziady thanked him and said the letter would be forwarded to the committee. Mr. Turner was advised there would be a public meeting on this issue scheduled for June 25, 2005.
M. ADJOURNMENT
Director Horrick moved to adjourn and President Orth declared the meeting of May 24, 2005 closed at 8:07 p.m.
CHARLES A. ORTH
President Orth
MICHAEL V. CHAPMAN
Secretary to the Board of Directors
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