City Administrator’s Report for 1/27/2012

City Administrator’s Report
FROM: Mahesh Sharma, City Administrator

Community Development

The Planning & Zoning Commission will meet February 2nd to consider a rezoning application to rezone vacant property located at 9109 E. 63rd Street from Planned High Density Residential (RP-3) to Planned Neighborhood Commercial (NC-P). The rezoning is being sought for the purpose of allowing a retail store to be constructed on the property. The Commission will also consider a conditional use permit application that seeks to increase the number of children allowed to be cared for at a day care located at 9140 Highway 350 from 44 to 48. It is anticipated that both applications will come before the Board of Aldermen on February 14th and February 21st for the Board’s consideration.

A third house has been acquired through the NSP3 grant and located at 5428 Sterling Avenue. According to the City’s Housing Specialist, Builders Development Corporation, due to the structural condition of the existing house it will be demolished and a new home will be constructed on the property. The previous two homes under construction are located on the northwest corner of 55th Street and Laurel Avenue.

The next meeting of the First Suburbs Coalition will be held February 10th at 8:00 a.m. at the Grandview Community Center, 13500 Byars Road. The agenda will include a review of the First Suburbs Coalition video as well as a presentation of new demographic data on Raytown and the first suburbs as well as what the data means for first suburb communities. There will also be updates and discussions of the corridor planning work going on through Creating Sustainable Places, which includes the Rock Island corridor through Raytown and the new initiative to develop a sustainable code framework and conduct development code audits in eight first suburb communities. If you would care to attend please contact John Benson.

Public Works

The energy efficiency efforts undertaken by the city have resulted in significant savings. Staff has compared the cost to operate the traffic signals between December 2010 and December 2011 and realized a 7% savings. The savings would have been greater but a rate increase for electricity took affect during the year. Staff attributes the savings to replacing incandescent light bulbs in traffic signals with LED light sources and with replacing street lights with the new LED street lights. The new LED street lights were provided free of charge to the city as part of a grant project that the city has pursued.

The recently renovated public works facility has provided a functional facility for the crews and is also significantly more energy efficient. The public works facility utility costs were 59% less this year than the same month last year for a savings of $1,300. Granted the heating demand was 18% less this year compared to last year but the 59% savings far exceeded the lower demand.

The Department in cooperation with the Parks and Recreation received mowing bids this week. The city received 10 bids this year compared to 2 bidders received last year. The bids received will save the city money this year as 66% of the areas mowed will cost less to mow this year compared to last year. The remaining 34% will cost the exact same amount to mow this year compared to last year. This is a good example of how cooperation and combining efforts can save the city money.

Board, Committee and Commission Meetings, and Events

February 2 – Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting; Council Chambers, 7:00 p.m.