APPRO-2024-32 : Requesting an appropriation from Free Cash in the amount of $80,000 (Eighty Thousand Dollars) to Public Works Accounts (#422) as set forth herein and for the Laurel/Burnett FEMA Project City Match

Transcript (~6 min @ 2:02:08)

Speakers identified by voice; unnamed voices are numbered within this recording. Auto-caption text — verify against the video.

▶ 2:01:56 Speaker 5: Vice Chair Williams? Yes. Councillor Gepe? Yes. Councillor Stewart? Yes. Councillor Reky. Yes. Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Vandiver. Yes. Councillor Romanul? Yes. Councillor naca? Yes. President Elli? Yes. And Chair Jamal Dean? Yes. Motion passes the unanimously.

▶ 2:02:12 Maya Jamaleddine: Great. Thank you. Uh, we have next appropriation 2024 dash 32. Uh, requesting an appropriation from free cash in the amount of $80,000 to public works. Uh, accounts number 4 22 as set forth rain. Um, and for the Laurel Burnett FEMA project City Match.

▶ 2:02:41 Speaker 6: Do you want a little background On Yes, please. What that Is. Okay. Um, so this is, uh, goes along with the grant request that is next on the agenda. The grant is for $251,685 and the city's match component is $80,000. Um, this project is a planning, permitting design and land acquisition project. So this doesn't, this money doesn't actually build the, the ultimate project that we're trying to build. But, um, you might be familiar with, there are some properties in the lots behind Laurel Street and Burnett that are privately owned. They're wet, they're not buildable lots. They're undevelopable. And it's an area where we have chronic flooding issues and we'd like to use that property as part of a storm water solution where we can, um, put some natural features. There is a, there's a brook that flows through there. Um, that used to be one of the many rivers flowing through Mel Melrose that have been, um, have changed course or been put underground. And so we want to restore that to floodplain area as it should be. We, we have very little area in the city that is real floodplain, where when it rains too much, there's a place for the water to go. Um, so that's the intent of this project. But in order to do that, that it tends to be fairly complex in terms of design and permitting, because there's a lot of hoops to jump through with, um, state and federal permitting to, um, sort of reinstate wetlands in areas that are already within Wetlands Protection Act jurisdiction. Um, so that is the goal of this project. We would acquire the property at very low cost. I wanna say the whole property acquisition was under 25,000. Um, and then we would design and permit the whole project, and then we would seek grant funding for the implementation. We think it's also a very advantageous project to get grant funding for the, for the construction, because it would be like a, a nature-based stormwater solution, which the grant programs love

▶ 2:04:45 Maya Jamaleddine: Councillor Romanul.

▶ 2:04:46 Devin Romanul: Um, no, thanks so much for this. Um, super interesting. I wanted to get a sense if you think there are other sites in the city that, for this, uh, for which this could potentially be a model, um, or is this unique in that

▶ 2:04:57 Speaker 6: Regard? Um, you know, interestingly, we were just working on with the consultant on the Lebanon and Sylvan drainage issue. We're getting an earmark from the federal government for a million dollars toward that project. Um, and we're using our prior free cash right now to, to try to move forward with a little bit of the preliminary design and modeling. And the big issue with that project is similarly, we need places to store the water in that sort of flash flooding period. And so for that one, there are no good parcels in that area. So we're looking at underground, can we put something, I don't know, under parking lots, under roads, under who knows? Um, ball fields, whatever we can find in the area to put storage under it. So, um, this is sort of a rare opportunity to have an actual site where you can have open water, which is the best solution because then you actually have, you know, habitat and other environmental benefits of an open water

▶ 2:05:54 Speaker 1: Course. Excellent. Thank you.

▶ 2:06:00 Maya Jamaleddine: Any other, uh, consortium? Uh, vice Chair Williams.

▶ 2:06:04 Speaker 1: Thank you. Um,

▶ 2:06:08 Ryan Williams: is there any consideration to public access to the site?

▶ 2:06:16 Speaker 6: So the, um, there is one site in the front that is still privately owned and we'd be seeking an easement over that, that land. Um, so it would be, it would be tricky to have public access. Um, I think I'm remembering that correctly, that the, the site at the front would still be private property, so we would have easement access to get to the back to be able to do what we need to do to create the wetland areas and everything. But in terms of, um, public access, there's our existing parcel that's on the corner. Mm-Hmm. I think of Burnett. I can't

▶ 2:06:50 Speaker 1: Remember what it's Burnett and Burnett.

▶ 2:06:52 Speaker 6: Okay. That parcel. We could have some, we have talked about having some sort of public ed, you know, maybe you have a little path through there where people can walk and see some displays of like, this is what a, you know, uh, floodplain should look like, what the habitat should look like, that sort of thing. So we, that was actually part of our grant application, was to do some public education, but it can only be on that one property.

▶ 2:07:15 Ryan Williams: Am I misremembering this or was this not a location where there was a lot for sale? I think I'm misremembering. This is somewhere else inward six closer to Mount Hood.

▶ 2:07:27 Speaker 6: We have talked before about acquiring this property probably a year and a half ago. Um, and then we applied for another grant that we didn't get. And so that's why that didn't go anywhere. So that might be what you're thinking of. Okay.

▶ 2:07:42 Ryan Williams: Alright. This is a great project. It, it sounds great. Thank you very much.

▶ 2:07:46 Maya Jamaleddine: Great. Any other question? Okay.

▶ 2:07:53 Robb Stewart: Councillor Stewart. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, I think this is a great opportunity, so thank you for bringing this forward and, and finding the grant money. Uh, I'll make a motion to recommend to the full council.

▶ 2:08:03 Maya Jamaleddine: Second, we have a motion to recommend, uh, made by Councillor Stewart, seconded by Councillor Romanul. On discussion. Seeing none, Mr. Clerk,

▶ 2:08:13 Speaker 5: Vice Chair Williams? Yes. Councilor Repe? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councillor Reky. Yes. Councilor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Vandiver? Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes.