HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_GTAB_11.09.2018' Minutes of the Meeting of the
Georgetown Transportation Advisory Board and the
Governing Body of the City of Georgetown, Texas
- - - - - -- -November 09 -2018- - - -
The City of Georgetown is committed to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA). If you require assistance in participation at a public meeting due to a disability, as
defined under the ADA, reasonable assistance, adaptations, or accommodations will be
provided upon request. Please contact the City at least three (3) days prior to the scheduled
meeting date, at (512)930-3652 or City Hall at 113 East 81h Street for additional information: TTY
users route through Relay Texas at 711.
Board Members Present: Ron Bindas - Vice Chair, Donna Courtney - Secretary, Dan Jones,
Robert Redoutey, Sheila Mills, Doug Noble, Troy Hellmann, John Hesser
Board Members Absent: John Marler - Board Chair
Staff Present: Wes Wright, Octavio Garza, Jim Briggs, Emily Koontz, Michael Hallmark, Mike
Babin
Others Present: $Catherine Bindas, Gary Reed, Carl Norris -ACC, John Milford, Trae Sutton -
KPA Engineering, Josh Crawford, Wendy Dew -ACC, Douglas Haegebarth, Brad Lamb-GTU Jet,
Douglas Ragsdale, Virginia Ragsdale
Regular Session
A. Call to Order: Meeting called to order by Ron Bindas at 10:00am
Georgetown Transportation Advisory Board may, at any time, recess the Regular Session to
Convene an Executive Session at the request of the Chair, a Board Member, The City Manager,
Assistant City Manager, General Manager of Utilities, City Council Member, or legal counsel for
any purpose authorized by the Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code Chapter 551, and
are subject to action in the Regular Session that follows.
B. Introduction of Visitors: All visitors and staff were introduced.
C. Industry/CAMPO/TxDOT/Transit Updates: Octavio Garza and Ed Polasek gave
updates. Last night was the meeting with TxDOT about the diverging diamond
intersection on Williams Dr. and IH-35/Austin Ave. There were some written comments
from the public. Since it was an open meeting, TxDOT will document those comments
and send them back to city staff for review. Polasek just came from a meeting with
TxDOT where they were scheduling out the Leander Rd. construction project. The
project has the CAMPO bond money coming in so the city will be getting $4.5 million
for construction of the city's portion of this project. Garza announced that Polasek is
retiring and board members thanked Polasek for his good work.
D. Airport Monthly Update: Octavio Garza gave updates. All reports included in the
packet. The Airport Master Plan has been approved and adopted, the last remaining
piece is the layout plan which has already gone to the FAA and TxDOT who just need to
finish processing it. The city successfully received the grant for the runway
rehabilitation project. TxDOT is in the process of awarding the construction contract for
that project and the city can expect the contractor to be on board in January in 2019 and
construction to start shortly after. The schedule for the construction is projected to be
less than ninety days. During that time, there will be a two week timeframe in which the
runway will be closed. Still looking for an airport manager and staff will report back
when a decision has been reached. Jones asked and Garza replied that they are still
considering candidates. Bindas asked and Garza affirmed that the airport ended the
fiscal year in the black. Bindas asked and Garza confirmed that the January 2019 start
date for the contractor is part of the contract.
Citizens Wishing to Address the Board: The following people with the Airport
Concerned Citizens (ACC) signed up to speak to the Board on Item D:
Carl Norris — 6 minutes (extra 3 minutes donated by Wendy Dew)
E. November 2018 GTAB Updates: Wright gave updates. All updates included in the
packet. Hesser asked and Wright responded that they are working on sending out an
official communication next week to Sun City residents in regard to the weather -related
delays on project. Bindas asked and Wright confirmed that the funding for the Sun City
projects is still available.
Legislative Regular Agenda
F. Consideration and possible approval of the Minutes from the September 14, 2018
Meeting — Emily Koontz — Board Liaison. MOTION by Hellmann, second by Noble to
approve the minutes as presented. APPROVED 8-0-1(Marler — absent)
G. Consideration and possible recommendation to award a contract to MA Smith
Contracting Co, Inc. of Austin, Texas for the 101h and 11's @ Austin Ave Sidewalk
Improvements project in the amount of $745,195.00 — Wesley Wright, P.E., Systems
Engineering Director/Michael Hallmark, CIP Manger. This is a street maintenance
project that was included in the FY18 budget. It was intended to be simple street rehab
for lOw and 111s between Rock St. and Austin Ave. However, ADA requirements require
the city to address accessibility and downtown overlay requirements regarding those
accessibilities. Proposing to resurface the road - lOw and llw between Rock St. and Main
St. and also proposing to enhance the accessibility of the handicap ramps at the Austin
Ave. intersection. On 1111, there is some additional sidewalk going in. A portion of the
sidewalk is going to be put in by the CVS in front of their parking lot. At 1011, street there
is going to be a landscape island that matches the landscape island next to it. There is a
little bit of drainage, sidewalk, and street maintenance, but fund are in the capital
budget for that and the city is ready to move forward with the project. Hellmann asks
about the difference between the high bids and low bids. Wright responds that Smith is
a great company that we have worked with before and the city has been working with
them and they are confident that Smith has considered everything in their proposal.
Bindas asked and Wright confirmed that construction on this project would not start
until after the new year. Bindas asked about problem with traffic in that area and Wright
responded that they will keep at least one lane open in each direction. MOTION by
Noble, second by Jones. APPROVED 8-0-1(Marler — absent)
H. Consideration and possible recommendation to award a contract to Patin Construction,
LLC of Taylor, Texas for the construction of the Austin Ave Sidewalk project in the
amount of $492,300.00 — Wesley Wright, P.E., Systems Engineering Director/Michael
Hallmark CIP Manager. This is another sidewalk project. The Sidewalk Master Plan has
identified some gaps and deficiencies in this area. As it connects to downtown, it was
one of the priority one sidewalks included in the 2015 road bond election - $10 million in
overall sidewalk money was included in there to address priority one sidewalks. This
was an FY2018 project. Proposing to dramatically improve accessibility including
adding sidewalks where there are none and adding ramps where they are needed. One
area in particular that will be enhanced is the northwest comer of Austin Ave. and
Leander Rd. — there is a gas station there and cars can back out on Austin Ave. and
pedestrians have a long gap to cross there. The city is working with the property owner
to realign parking with some angled parking spots and an island that will perpetuate
safe movement of vehicles and pedestrians. The rest of the project is filling in sidewalk
gaps and repairing damaged sidewalks. Patton does a lot of work for the city, it was a
competitive bid. Hesser asked and Wright responded that this is FY18 money and they
delay was a result of the fact that each small section of the sidewalk was on different
properties and they had to work with many property owners. Sidewalk projects also
have many ADA specifics that require time and attention. Also had to make sure they
went around many heritage trees. MOTION by Courtney, second by Hellmann.
APPROVED 8-0-1 (Marler — absent)
GTAB STATEMENT
NOVEMBER 09, 2018
AGENDA ITEM "D"
AIRPORT MONTHLY REPORT
Good morning Mr. Chairman, and members of the GTAB. My name is Hugh C. Norris, Jr. My
residence is 4400 Luna Trail, Georgetown, Texas. I am a member of the Airport Concerned
Citizens (ACC). The ACC is a major community public interest stakeholder group demanding
compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for all federal and state taxpayer
funded grants for the Georgetown Municipal Airport. This is the 88th presentation by ACC
members to the city council and GTAB since January 14, 2014. My comments this
morning address two items of Agenda Item "D": (1) Airport Master Plan Report and (2) the
Runway Rehabilitation Project Report.
The federal taxpayer funded Airport Master Plan is a defective document totally devoid of
development input and participation by representative members of the generalpublic who
differed or had other alternate views from the select few representing special interests
appointed to the plan's Planning Advisory Committee (PAC). The general public was allowed to
view developed plan documents only after development completion. Public concerns and
objections were submitted. None were ever acknowledged. The plan's defects included
documented non-compliance with six chapters of FAA AC 150/5070.613 that controls
development of such plans. No public comments for plan amendments were considered by the
PAC.
In haste by city leaders and TxDOT to ensure approval of the plan within fiscal year 2018 and
prior to the September 27, 2018 meeting of the Texas Transportation Commission (TTC) for its
$5 Million construction grant for "Runway 18-36 Rehabilitation", 1814GRGTN, and the plan's
inclusion in the city's comprehensive plan and city charter, city staff assured the GTAB, the City
Planning and Zoning Commission, and the City Council that the plan had been approved by
federal and state authorities. This assurance was not true. Those approvals including the
approval of the Airport Layout Plan which incorporates the proposed 52 projects, $60 Million
PROGRAM of new airport capital improvement improvements remain pending by FAA and
TxDOT. The general public remains waiting for any comprehensive response from FAA and/or
TxDOT regarding its submitted plan comments and why they were apparently deemed
irrelevant.
The Runway Rehabilitation Project refers to the "Runway 18-36 Rehabilitation" project and its
$5 Million construction grant.award by the TTC on September 27, 2018. As this board knows,
the ACC has protested this project since May 2015. The protests have never been the
resurfacing of the runway to protect its FAA published aircraft weight strength, but to protest
the city's request that the runway's strength be doubled from 30,000 to 60,000 lb Single Wheel
Load design. Increasing the strength of this primary runway changes the environmental
character of the entire airport by accommodation of a whole new fleet of heavier, noisier
aircraft.
The TTC approval was based on testimony by city officials of the city's approval of the Airport
Master Plan and the project and testimony of Mr. Ben Guttery, FAA Manager of Texas airports.
Mr. Guttery's testimony assured the Commission of FAA's approval of the project's design and
environmental clearance . By such approval, Mr. Guttery dismissed documented ACC concerns
including but not limited to: (1) use of Garver LLC's 1314GRGTN design contract for contract
design of this project based on a project future work scope in the request for qualifications and
selection process that limited the runway's surface treatment similar to that for Runway 11-29
later described in the city's request to double the runway's strength, (2) city and airport tower
operators allowing on a routine basis aircraft of near double the design strength of the runway
to use and destroy its useful life. This may be the basis for staff's refusal to justify the project.,
(3) lack of engineer documentation for corroboration of TxDOT officials' statements of no
change in the published strength of the runway, (4) segmenting this interconnected project out
of a $60 Million PROGRAM for expansion of based aircraft from 318 to over 500 and operations
from 267 up to 764 per day, and (5) illicit determination by TxDOT staff of a Categorical
Exclusion for the project thereby avoiding a required EIS and the NEPA with no regard for
documented Extraordinary Circumstances.
Mr.Chairman, the ACC will continue to oppose this project in communications to federal
authorities. We also recommend this board host a fully scoped public hearing on this project
prior to any consideration for approval of its construction contract.
Adjournment
Motion by Hellmann, second by Hesser. APPROVED 8-0-1(Marler - absent)
Meeting was Adjourned at 10:40 AM
Approved:
J Marler - Chair r/ ro*=
Attested:
1/nl�t
Donna Courtney - Secretary
Emily Koontz AB Board U ison