Admin Committee notes Aug 20, 2013, Public Works Committee Cnx

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Here are some of the notes I took from the Administration Committee yesterday 20 Aug 2013

The Music Center project manager started the meeting showing council some renderings (pictures) of some of the architectural features.  I missed the absolute beginning of the presentation so I wasn't in the meeting when it was stated definitively but I gather from subsequent comments that the plan is to lower the floor below the natural surface.  I believe this is being done to lower the noise impact both to the public and the music center.  As one of our readers suggested the noise from the highway is a concern.  The developers realize this as well and are planning to build a concrete barrier between the highway and the music center.  This concrete barrier will be built with aesthetics in mind as well.

The acoustic engineer for the project went out to the PNC to do noise level measurements.  From his calculations if there were nothing in between the Music Center and the nearest houses to the Music Center then the noise level from the Huber Height Music center would be about 70 to 75 decibels at their porches.  This equates to about as noisy as people set their volume when they watch TV or a vacuum cleaner.  

The request for qualifications for the building package was sent out and there were 5 respondents.  All 5 respondents were considered qualified to bid on this portion of the project.  The report by the project manager was that it was obvious that all 5 packages were prepared by qualified architects.  An interesting point that came out in this discussion was that the insurance requirement the builder had to meet was $10 million.  I was glad to here the project manager state that the RFQ was posted on Dodge and in the Plan Room.  I was disappointed that it appears that none of the council members confirmed before hand the RFQ would be widely posted by asking for a list.  Nor did any of them ask for a copy of any of the ads.  To me advertising the RFQ seemed like an important aspect of the bidding procedure.  Back in June it appeared that a good advertisement was important to at least one of the council members also.  As a side note when the city decided to advertise the RFQ for the early site work one of the places they did this was on the city's website on the Music Center page.  It appears as if they did not use this resource for the building package.



Another interesting item - the bid package is 150 pages long.  Expect the bids to arrive the first week of September.  

Good Sports is in the architectural design phase.  There is no formal city / Good Sports agreement in place.  Good Sports has not yet submitted a zoning permit application.  Their private funding efforts are schedule to close in the next couple of weeks.  Besides our project they are looking to raise enough capital to build 6 other projects.  

Other things I learned during the meeting;  425 feet of sewer line costs approximately $24,000.  When a business applies for a liquor permit the state will send it to the city for approval or objection.  If the State doesn't hear from the city within 30 days then the State will consider this as approval from the city.  

If you include me there were 3 everyday citizens at the meeting.  I think the rest of you are missing out. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Original post
This week there are Administration Committee (Aug 20), Arts and Beautification Committee and Property Maintenance  Review Board Committee (Aug 22) meetings.  The Public Works Committee meeting was canceled.

I've reposted the Admin Committee agenda but notice there is no read ahead for the three high interest items on the agenda; Music Center, The Heights Development Center and Carriage Trails.  There are a couple items that could be discussed: 
  •   The city expected a written commitment from Good Sports a couple of months ago to building their complex.  That had not been completed as of last Tuesday.  City staff keeps telling council members it is close. 
  • The project manager for the Music Center had qualified certain companies to bid on the next phase of the Music Center.  I believe the solicitation of bids was sent out and we should learn about those bids.
    • As a side note I was at the admin meeting when the project manager informed council members the site work bid packages were submitted and he had evaluated and chosen the winning company.  At that meeting not one council member asked to see any of the bids or the details behind the bids.  I looked at the minutes of that meeting (July 16) and see that those documents are not appended to the minutes.  

Hope to see you Tuesday.
1.        
Name of Body: Administration Committee
 
2.        
Date: August 20, 2013
 
3.        
Time: 6:00 PM
 
4.        
Place: City Hall – 6131 Taylorsville Road –  City Council Conference Room
 
 
5.         Topics of Discussion:
 
          -  Music Center
 
          -  The Heights Development
 
          -  Carriage Trails
 
        -  Special Assessments - Ohio Valley District Christian Alliance
 
        -  Not To Exceed Amount - Bond Counsel
 
        -  Liquor Permit #8200121 - Las Piramides - 6290 Chambersburg Road




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