MANAGER’S REPORT                                                    For Council Meeting                                                    Tuesday October 2nd, 2007 

To: Mayor and Honorable Members of Belfast City Council 

From: Joseph J. Slocum 

Date:  Friday, September 28, 2007  

General Updates not related to this meeting: 

**Gateway #1: I met with Kathleen Fuller from DOT who is heading up this initiative. Also attending was Belfast Committee representative Pat Felton and Carol Morris who has been contracted by the State to facilitate this initiative. George Darling is Belfast’s other Committee Representative. I have heard a lot of confusing comments about Gateway 1 and I thought it was important to update everyone on what I understand it is so that we can   participate in it wisely.  

 Gateway 1 is the Sates effort to include local governments in the long term decision making process that appropriately blends local land use (zoning) to state transportation needs. 21 Towns from Brunswick to prospect participate through local representatives. They seek to put together a comprehensive plan that works for everyone so that growth and transportation needs do not result in bypasses around bypasses. In the next year or so they will issue dome draft proposals that these Committee  people have all had input on and they will be looking to have a “Municipal Response Panel” from each of the 21 Municipalities take a look and react to these proposals in each community. When that happens I am likely to ask you to refer these proposals the Belfast Comprehensive Planning Committee to perform this function. Route 1 does not start or stop in Belfast. I encourage everyone with comments on the future of this route to get their input to either Pat Felton or George Darling.  

**Vibrancy Report: An effort is underway to follow up on the Vibrancy Report with different goals and initiatives being assigned to different groups- public and private – to pursue and to report back to the entire community. This list is currently being typed up and will be distributed to you w as soon as it is available.  

**Harbor Matters: I did want you to know that since July we have taken a serious look at many possible future enhancements to the waterfront. This will be an ongoing matter for the Harbor Committee and the City overall as it works to preserve and enhance the working waterfront and also serves recreational needs as well. We seriously looked at going after the Federal Boating Infrastructure Grant awarded to the Stinson Seafood development but was more recently determined by Westport partners to be undesirable. Our thinking was not to let this grant money leave Town. It was over $300,000 but it called for matching funds. We were under great time pressures to recommend and decide and in the end the full time staff did not recommend any one of the potential options identified. The Harbor Committee has seen about 10 different options and I will get copies to you for your general information next week. Several different issues went into the decision not to proceed forward at this time. Some options left a lot of weather exposure and the grant requires the City to maintain the infrastructure for 20 years. Money was also a consideration. We are not willing to take the risk spending a million dollars over 5 years repairing something we built with a $300,000 grant. The details and the cost estimates really require a longer and more thorough review by everyone especially the Harbor Committee who really did not have enough time to reflect on all the information that has been developed. We also know that other grants will happen on an annual basis and everyone thought it prudent not to push any significant plan at this time. There is good news here. Opportunities were identified and pursued. The Harbor Committee and the Harbormaster now have an exceptional Marine Engineering consultant (Baker Design) for future analysis on all harbor related issues. Finally it is a smart thing to look at an opportunity and say we are not ready.   

**Library Roof Update: Scaffold will start to go up October 15^th. Roof work will start October 22.  

 Agenda Items October 2, 2007  

B: Discussion and Action on Fire Department Truck Bid:  Last year we actually bid out the replacement of the Fire Chief’s Truck. After some discussion we decided to get another year out of it. Now, with over 110,000 miles on our 2000 truck we thought it was prudent to replace this vehicle this year. It is important to remember that this is not just a passenger vehicle. It is often the first responding vehicle to many emergency situations and it often caries much needed support gear. It transports the Chief as incident commander to the emergency and enhances traffic control and safety measures at these scenes. This truck is also used as the plow for our emergency services. We bid out for Ford, GMC, Dodge and Chevy. 5 Bid requests were mailed out. Two responses were returned with about $32 separating the highest from the lowest. With the bids this close they are virtually equal. We then consider other factors such as the location of the seller for service convenience and saving time in keeping this emergency vehicle on the road. One bid is from Belfast the other is from Bangor. I recommend we accept the bids and award the bid to the local dealership: Dutch Chevrolet which includes the trade in for $24,242.23. The Fire Chief concurs with this recommendation and his letter sayi8ng so is attached. His letter notes that the cost of this vehicle will be split between the Fire Department and the Ambulance Department.   

C: 1 to 4:

Wayne will have attached documentation for this. I note that these four items contemplate a two step approach:
First:-the adoption of a broad scheme of amendments to both the Belfast Comprehensive Plan the City Code of Ordinances and the Zoning Ordinance permitting a zone and a mechanism by which one large retailer over 75,000 square feet, who deals in general merchandise and /or food, could apply to construct such a facility in Belfast through the Contract Zoning Process. Contract Zoning is different than regular zoning. In regular zoning the City allows a “use” if it is permitted in that area and if the standards outlined in the Zoning Ordinance are met.  Under Contract Zoning the “use” is not automatically permitted if standards are met and the City retains significant negotiating power in its dealings with the applicant such that the use is not permitted unless the City at the end of the process votes to permit it. Contract Zoning is used in Maine for non-typical or non-ordinary applications and uses. From what I have seen of the large retail dialogue this would seem to be a non-ordinary application and use. I again commend you for the hard work and compromise that each of you has put into this proposed legislation. Your good faith in giving text to your compromise should well serve any application that it may generate. 

Second: You are also contemplating one or two changes to these new Zoning amendments if you approve them. I understand that your goal is to get the amendments passed to permit the possibility of an application and then to tidy up one or two portions of these amendments. These changes will be discussed further at future dates in keeping with the timetables and rules for amending these ordinances. 

 D. Discussion and Action on a request from Belfast Boatyard to lease 16,280 square feet of City owned land and buildings on Front Street for a period of 9 years.

          I am attaching a request submitted by Alex Turner from Belfast Boatyard which includes a Map of the City owned property the Boatyard hopes to lease. I have not attempted to negotiate financial terms with Alex because I first need a policy determination from the Council on whether the City is generally interested in leasing all or a portion of this land to anyone for an extended period of years at this time. 
         Historically, the City was considering the rental of a large portion of this property to another Marine Services group who was thinking about developing a major portion of the Stinson Seafood property for a period of 9 years. That lease was not pursued because the Marine3 services company’s arrangement with the owners of the Stinson property did not occur. 
        Belfast Boat yard has an existing lease with the City for some of this land but it is for outside boat storage and that lease can be terminated by the City on 30 days notice.
       I have talked to some of you and generally understood that the City was not interested in tying up its property on Front street with a long term lease with anyone unless  it is tied to long term development of the other privately owned property- including but not limited to the Stinson Property. I understood that the City wanted to maintain the maximum flexibility to utilize this property to the best interests of the waterfront, downtown and the citizens. This is why we currently have leases that you can terminate in 30 days.
       Alex Turner indicates that his business is growing and could use the nearby space.
       I did refer this issue to the Harbor Committee who determined it was not within their jurisdiction as it was a land based issue. They did note that they do store the Harbormasters Boat in one of these buildings and wish to continue to do so and they were concerned about road access to Thompson’s Wharf. I will ask Dave Cassida to be at the meeting to answer any questions you may have about the Harbor Committee’s comments.    

E. Discussion and Possible Action on nominations to Performance/Conference Center Feasibility Committee: 

The Vibrancy report identified 10 Projects/initiatives and/or goals that were selected by participants in the Action Summit. That list is attached.  The Council appointed members to a Feasibility Committee to look into the issue of a Performance/Conference Center on May 15 and June 5^th. Recently follow up meetings have been held to discuss the Vibrancy Report to identify which groups or individuals would be following up on each of these items. Initiative # 2 was the Multiuse Community Performing Arts/Conference Center. Some people have suggested that the City appointed committee include someone with strong technical background in theatre design and function. I am putting this on the agenda for further discussion and possible action. 

F. Discussion and possible action to extend the concession contract one year with Frank Bruce at City Park.

We put this out to bid 2 years ago and got 2 bids. We put it out to bid last year and got one bid. We have received good service and I have found the quality to be fine. I discussed this with Jim bell and I would recommend we extend the contract one year with no increase in rent upon the condition that the food prices do not go up. I am attaching these prices for your consideration. I recommend we do what we can to provide low or reasonable prices at this location. I do not think the vendor is making a killing at this location. More importantly I think it is a service to the citizen who visits the park and may need some food or refreshment at a reasonable price without driving away to get it. I recommend we forego putting this out to bid at this time. Next year we can bid it out for 2 years.      

 Have a good weekend everyone.