by Richard Uhlhorn
City Council met on Tuesday, September 26 to discuss and make decisions on a number of issues facing the community.
- September 26 – Chelan City Council:
Boundary Line Adjustment amendment:
After a Public Hearing the City Council approved the adoption of Ordinance No. 2023-1612 regarding Boundary Line Adjustments.
Madhulika Gadde and Raja Venugopal, developers of Chelan Butte argued against the new ordinance and told the Council that the update to the BLA and Land Division has circumvented its legally available provisions to achieve what they believe is what the community wants to see on the Butte.
The developers dream is to help build affordable housing (worker force) housing on 109 acres on the eastern end of the Private holdings that is zoned Rural Residential. Despite the setback to the development on the Butte, Mr. Venugopal told the Councl, “We will go forward from here. After nine months, we still have the same commitment.”
In their letter to the staff, council and administration, the couple stated; We intend to keep moving forward and hope for more cooperation from the City to preserve a portion of this private land (up to 50 % into Trust Land), build recreational facilities on the preserved land (two public trails; one urban and the other remote across the property), provide affordable and workforce housing for essential workers, and develop infrastructure and market price houses with minimal visual impacts that pays for the land, infrastructure, preservation recreation and affordable housing.
Chelan has been through these development battles before on private land, i.e. the Three Fingers. It will be interesting to see how the Chelan Planning Department continues to work with the developers wishes to create a Rural Housing Development of 10 and 20 acre lots instead of a potential subdivision costing millions. - Records Management:
Public Records requests have long been a time-consuming problem with the City Clerk. To alleviate that problem, the City retained Megan Gregor of MG Consulting and help the City digitize the relevant records. “Because of her (Peri Gallucci) work, it made my work go fast, which saved you guys (the City) lots of money,” explained Gregor.
The goals of the records management project is to make records available for the public without requiring hours of labor and getting rid of records that the City no longer needs. “If you don’t get rid of records at the right time, you could be held liable.” Gregor told Council members that 122 boxes of old records were destroyed and 20 boxes were sent to the archivest.
The biggest issue was to make sure records can be found by the public through the City’s website. “The records need to be properly searchable. It will be a couple of more years before everything is on track,” stated Gregor. - Traffic Analysis Findings:
Public Works Director Jake Youngren reported that the Transportation Analysis conducted by Transpo Group USA has been completed. The group looked at different configurations to help relieve increasing traffic congestion in Chelan. These included converting Woodin Avenue Bridge back to two-way traffic; A seasonal factors study on Traffic Volume; and development of a Level of Service Policy. “I want Council to digest these findings,” said Youngren.
“There are different levels of traffic depending on the season.” It is recognized that the summer traffic months are more than double Fall, Winter and Spring months.
Everyone understands that returning the bridge to two-way could bring some benefit to the ever growing transportation dilemma. Peter Jamtgaard remarked that people don’t like going all the way to the Dan Gordon Bridge. “The mayor is spot on to make it go both directions.”
- Imagine Downtown Chelan update:
Tom Beckworth, Beckworth Consulting presented an update on the group’s work for the HDCA (Historic Downtown Chelan Association). He told the Council that they had 95 survey responses and he planned on leaving the survey open.
He ranked the survey results from high to moderate high rankings. “More and more tourists will be coming,” said Beckworth. “We are not making more Leavenworth’s, Winthrop’s and Chelan’s.”
Sidewalk widths still remain an issue with most people fine with the current 12 foot width. Fourteen foot width is still in the mix, but 16 foot width is out. Outdoor cafe’s continue to be high priority for residents and visitors.
Beckworth thinks the Farmer’s Market needs to be inside Riverwalk Park. New restrooms are also being considered as high priority.
At the end of October, Beckworth will be back for a final review of the HDCA’s Downtown Revitalization Program. - Mayor/Council comments:
Chris Baker remarked that even though the Woodin Avenue Bridge is an emotional subject, he doesn’t see anything changing for four to five years.
John Olson reported that Campbell’s has resubmitted an application for 16 townhouses on the south side of the Chelan River above Riverwalk Park. Olson also told the Council that water availability is a serious issue. Ecology will let us know in December how much water is available. At this juncture, only 4,000+ acres is listed. “If you haven’t gotten your water right now, you are (probably) not going to get one.”
Mark Ericks stated that the City’s website works really well. “Ive been using it a lot lately.”
Travis Denham gave an Ecology update and said they are considering an 80% grant ($7 million) for a public works sewer project. “We won’t know until July.”
Mayor Goedde commented on the Memorandum of Understanding between Chelan Fruit and the City for an easement for a utility line through their property. “We need to make sure they understand how much we appreciate it. He also reported that LINK had its biggest month yet in August.
The City is beginning its Budget Hearings.
The next City Council meeting will be held on October 10 at 6 p.m. in Council Chambers.
All Things Lake Chelan 