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2. Proclamations
Throgmorton: Okay, so we have several proclamations to read tonight. So ... in order to save my
voice and save you the (laughs) the difficulty of listening to me read six
proclamations, I'm gonna ask Mayor Pro tem Pauline Taylor to read three of them
and I'll read the other three. She's gonna read the first one and then I'll read the
second, her the third, and so on. So the first is Domestic Violence Awareness.
Pauline?
2.a. Domestic Violence Awareness
Taylor: Okay. (reads proclamation) Is someone here in the audience to accept the
proclamation? Elias or Andy? (applause) (mumbled)
Ortiz: I feel like I almost had a nice moment with all of you guys! (laughter) Well,
Iowa City Council Members, public, thank you very much for having me up here.
My name is Elias, I'm the Director of Shelter and Youth Services for DVIP and I,
like I said, our work as difficult as it is, um, and, um, the families, individuals that
we serve, one thing that I know is that we wouldn't be able to do this work in
supporting victims of domestic violence whether human trafficking, whether it is,
um, sexual assault, whether it is any (mumbled) of violence, we wouldn't be able
to do the things that we can do without the community support. So we really
appreciate the recognition. Um, we really appreciate that this community takes
the resources to go ahead and support victims and most importantly believing
their situation and their story, and I think this is the big reason why these
proclamations are very important to us is that victims get to be heard on many
different levels, but ... I guess that .... that's why we are very excited to always be up
here and we're always appreciative of, um, our community support, whether the
diapers that we receive for our sh... for Shelter, which will be happening this
Saturday, whether it is a child who during the holidays will receive, um, a new
toy, um, whether it is a pacifier, all these things come into play from the
community support to, um, help, um, you know, families who have experienced
violence have some normalcy in their lives. So, thank you very much and thank
you for your support. (applause)
2.b. Fire Prevention Week
Throgmorton: Okay, our next proclamation has to do with Fire Prevention Week. (reads
proclamation) Is there anybody here to accept the proclamation, and indeed there
is! (applause)
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Humston: My name is Captain Humston, and Mayor, City Council, City Manager's office,
thank you so much for this proclamation and this opportunity. I know it takes a
lot of support from the City and the public to provide us with the financial
resources and personnel to put on our, uh, Fire Prevention activities this week. So
although we do practice fire prevention all year, it is nice to have the spotlight on
it this week as we go about and give our education. Thank you. (applause)
Throgmorton: Great! Thank you. (applause continues)
2.c. Indigenous People's Day
Throgmorton: Okay, the next proclamation is for Indigenous People's Day.
Taylor: (reads proclamation) Is there someone here to accept? (applause) Joe!
Coulter: I'm Joe Coulter (unable to understand) my friends. The, uh (clears throat) on
behalf our our native community here in Iowa City, uh, and at the University of
Iowa, I wanna thank you, uh, for this proclamation. The, uh, actual day of
Indigenous People's Day is next Monday, the 2nd Monday of October, uh, believe
that's the 14th. Uh, at noon there will be a, uh.... uh, ceremony and a get together
up on the Pentacrest, uh, with a number of our local native, uh, people, and uh,
again, I wanna thank you, uh, City Council, uh, and all of you (unable to
understand) Great, thanks! (applause)
2.d. National Community Planning Month and World Planning Day
Throgmorton: Okay the next proclamation is National Community Planning Month and World
Planning Day. (reads proclamation) Is there anyone here to accept this
proclamation? (applause)
Laurian: Thank you. I'm Lucie Laurian in the School of Urban Regional Planning, so our..
our work has been acknowledged in the proclamation, thank you. Um, I'm very
proud of actually what Iowa City has been doing over the years. I've been here
about 15 years, uh, and I'm very proud of all of your accomplishments and your
predecessors as well, and I think of our parks, our rec services, our swim lessons,
um, Terry Trueblood, uh, what we've done around the lake and a new lake, and a
new park at Riverside Crossing .... Riverfront Crossing, sorry. Um, soccer
facilities, baseball, little league, I mean it's just amazing what you provide. I also
think about flood management and how we've been trying to think about how to
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live with the river, rather than against it. Um, I think about recycling, composting
— incredible progress in our composting services in the last 10 years, uh, thanks to
Planning students and .... and some of your staff as well ... after that. I think about
your recent attempt to support affordable housing. Um, these are really important
issues that deal with social justice, racial justice, um, where people live, and what
kind of opportunities they get based on that. Um, I think about urban growth,
how fast we're growing, how vertically and horizontally we're growing. The
relationship with the University, that's very complicated. Affects rents, it affects
what kind of properties we have in our town. So there's so much going on, and
what planning says to me is this is not happening in a haphazard way. It is
actually thought through, by you, by citizens, by people in the audience —
developers, planners, staff— every day. Uh, so I understand we need to make
more progress and some people may be a bit dissatisfied things are slow, it's a
hard, uh, machine to change, we need to push for more climate change mitigation,
renewable energies, bike (mumbled) share. I understand there's progress to be
made, um, but if we think of what we've accomplished, it's clear that the key
actors are the Planning staff and the City Council and all the residents coming
together. So I want to thank everyone who's been working so hard, before and in
the future, uh, on planning issues. Um, it's hard because we work hard yesterday,
we work hard tomorrow, and we know there's future challenges as well in the very
long term. So thank you to, you know, all of you, thank you for Planning staff
and everyone who's committed any of their time and energy to thinking about
planning issues and Happy National Planning Month and World Planning Day!
(applause)
2.e. National Disability Employment Awareness Month
Throgmorton: Okay, our fifth proclamation has to do with National Disability Employment
Awareness Month.
Taylor: (reads proclamation) I know there's a group of individuals that would like to
accept this proclamation! (applause) ...come forward! (applause continues)
(talking in background) (applause)
Hoenig: After 26 years of working here, it's about time I show up at City Hall! (laughter)
Um, thank you so much. My name is Mike Hoenig. I'm a Program Coordinator
at the University of Iowa, Center for Disabilities and Development. Um, I would
like to thank, uh, Mayor Throgmorton, Mayor Pro tem Taylor, City Council
Members, and I especially shout out to Simon for all the great work he does as,
uh, ADA Coordinator for the City. Um, as I mentioned, I'm a program
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coordinator at the Center for Disabilities and Development. I've .... I've been in
that position, or in a position at CDD for 26 years. Um, from the very beginning
of that process, my employer was extremely supportive of any accommodations
that I needed to do my job, and so I have felt Iowa City has been a wonderful
place for me and others with disabilities to really grow our .... our, um, our ability
to work, to earn our own living, uh, and just to feel a general part of the Iowa City
community. Uh, I .... I believe very firmly that your ongoing commitment to
accessibility here in Iowa City and to barrier removal, uh, make it an ideal place
for people with disabilities to obtain and maintain gainful employment, and I look
forward to working with .... we have a strong employment team over at the Center
and we're going to be continuing our work in, uh, connection with the Council to,
uh, to continue the growth of employment of people with disabilities here in Iowa
City! So, with that I would like to turn it over to my colleague Patty Barr. Thank
you again so much!
Throgmorton: Thank you. (applause)
Barr: Hi, I'm Patty Barr. I have the privilege of working with Mike over at the Council
for Disability and Development, and I too would like to thank you, and I'd like to
remind you that, uh, 96% of disabilities are hidden. So many of us are walking
around with disabilities that you may not realize that we .... we have disabilities,
and uh, as we age about a third of us will have disabilities. So, um, it's not a
matter.... it's sometimes just a matter of time before, uh, many of us have
disabilities. But, uh, I'd like to thank you for this proclamation and for your work
to, uh, include people with disabilities in the workforce. Thank you. (applause)
Throgmorton: Many years ago a friend of mine said to me, Jim, what you don't understand is
that people are ... you are temporarily able and that at some point in the future
you're likely to be disabled in certain kinds of ways that you can't really predict!
He was right. So, thank you all!
2.f. United Way of Johnson & Washington Counties Day
Throgmorton: One more proclamation and this has to do with United Way of Johnson and
Washington Counties Day. (reads proclamation) Is anyone here to accept the
proclamation? (applause)
Krumm: Thank you. My name is Tim Krumm. My wife and I, uh, are co-chairs of the
100 -year celebration for United Way, and because of that it's my pleasure, the
pleasure falls on me to thank you for this proclamation, uh, recognizing United
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Way for 100 years of service in our community, and I do so on behalf of United
Way's board of directors, staff, Katie Knight and Trisha Smith and, uh, Terri
Anderson are here with us tonight, and other staff members, uh, and of course a
community of volunteers, both past and present, and donors that, uh, that have
gotten us to this point. As we reflect on a hundred years, uh, it's not so much the
accomplishments that we've been reflecting on, but the how, and how .... how have
we endured and .... and gotten to this point, and of course it is because of scores of
volunteers and donors and supporters, and it's also because of critical
partnerships, and none more critical than the partnership that United Way's
enjoyed with the City of Iowa City, uh, with many of you as individuals and
certainly the employees of the City, uh, and we've partnered in so many ways.
Uh, most recently, we're celebrating the 100 years through various events
throughout the year. The most recent was a .... a tree planting at Terry Trueblood,
uh, in partnership with the City. So we're very grateful for that and grateful to
Eleanor for her leadership of that event. So, again I just wanna thank you all, uh,
for the .... the continuous support, a hundred years of partnership. I mean that's
really something to .... to think about, and, uh, know that .... that the success that
we have together in meeting the most critical needs in our community will depend
on our continued collaboration, continued partnership. So thank you again.
(applause)
Throgmorton: Thank you, Tim. (applause continues) All right, we're gonna move on to our
Consent Calendar, but I imagine some people would like to get up, so please feel
free to leave.
Cole: You're welcome to stay too! (laughter)
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3-8. Beginning of Consent Calendar — Consider adoption of the Consent Calendar
as presented or amended
Throgmorton: Could I have a motion please?
Salih: Move.
Cole: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Salih, seconded by Cole. Discussion?
Mims: Were we pulling out 6.b. and 6.c.?
Throgmorton: No, we weren't pulling them out (several talking)
Salih: I'm not pulling it.
Throgmorton: Yeah, they're not bein' pulled.
Mims: Okay, I misunderstood.
Throgmorton: We're just in discussion now, so please.
6.b. Amending Budgeted Positions - Animal Services Resolution amending
the budgeted positions in the Animal Services Division of the Police
Department and the AFSCME pay plan by adding .26 FTE to the budgeted
Animal Center Assistant position and adding one full-time Animal Center
Assistant II position.
6.c. Budgeted Positions - Engineering Resolution amending the budgeted
positions in the Engineering Division of the Public Works Department and
the AFSCME pay plan by adding one full-time Public Works Aide position.
8.k. Spencer Herman: Introduction to Boxcar - Parking Solution
8.m. Mary Gravitt: A plumber for Iowa City Public Library
Salih: Yes, I really, what I wanna discuss is that first I have a question, um, my question
will be the .... (mumbled) I just wanna ask if, uh, part or all of the cost of the
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Animal Service and the Engineering positions can be paid from fees and from the
health benefit, which I mean like the benefit levy.
Fruin: Yeah, so the employee benefit levy can pay the benefits, not the salary. Um, the
fees, we're not suggesting an increase in fees of. ... of, in either Engineering or
Animal Services, to pay for, uh, any component of those personnel costs.
Salih: I see. And my other thing I wanna highlight, uh, we hiring two position on the
Animals.... Services, and two position on the Engineering. Uh, when we discuss
this it was around six position and we come up with the idea that we gonna ... we
approve three position to transfer them to permanent. And if all you remember
the .... nine position was 39 people in those position and we make them seven
position. That's why it become 37 people on the seven position.... six position I
mean, and after that it will be approve three position. I .... I'm not against
approving those two position to become full time, because if up to me, I want all
of them to be, I mean permanent not full time. I want all of them to be
permanent, but just think about .... we have six position. We choose only three.
And now we choose the three that have only four people out of the 36 people
waiting to be .... now we have three position left. The three position have 33
people on those position, and the other three position have only four. I just wanna
highlight that the City choose the three... even after we like (laughs) on this and
we come (unable to understand) make three position out of the six, permanent.
We choose the position have least employee, which is only four. I hope we still
have one more position to make it permanent. I hope the City will think really
carefully and (unable to understand) position where (mumbled) we have a lot
people on that position out of the 36 people that left, because this is really
ridiculous. That's all I wanna say about this item. But I have another item. We
can go now to 8.k., uh, Boxcar parking solution. I just think this is really, really
good idea that will solve a lot of maybe parking problems, and I .... I don't know
exactly, is this just to inform us about their ideas, or this is something like (unable
to understand) Council are interesting on that or like .... I really just wanna have
input in that, but this is really I think this good idea and I wanna see if is
interesting you too. I thinks, Jim, you said you wanna talk about that. Maybe this
is a good time to.....
Throgmorton: Yeah, in our work session I mentioned that I thought it sounded like a good idea,
and imagined that the staff would look into it and consider whether it's viable or
not. And I'm confident that the staff will do that. (mumbled) the public can
possibly know what we're talking about here, but it's a letter, or an email we
received from a member of the public, or from a business (both talking)
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Salih: ...business (both talking)
Throgmorton: ... business indicating, uh... um, a .... a, the possibility of providing, this is the park
and ride thing, isn't it?
Salih: It is a (unable to understand) parking solution.
Throgmorton: Oh yeah, it's about using an app to .... to enable people who .... who are looking for
parking to be able to use private, uh..... um, street level parking spaces, with the
collaboration of the owner of that private space. So, there's a possibility that
something could be developed there, and this person was asking us to take a look
at it, and I .... I think it's meritorious to look at it. Yeah.
Salih: Yeah, I just also thought this is really a good idea. We should look into it.
Number 8.m., a letter from Mary Gravitt. She just indicating that there is none
working sink and toilet in the Library and I don't know if you respond to her.
Fruin: Uh, I know the Library staff has responded. Um, there are working sinks, there
are working toilets. They have a full facilities team, uh.... uh, at the Library, um,
during the operations and even after the Library closes. Um, so I know they're on
top of it. Yes, like any other facility there have been problems. You may recall a
few weeks ago they had a water valve break in one of the restrooms, which....
which closed it down and caused some .... some damage to the second floor at the
Library. Um, occasionally paper towels will run out before staff can fill it, but
um, all in all there's.... there is, uh, I certainly have no worries and I don't think
the Library Director does, uh, as well, although I know he's taken Mary's
complaints very seriously and doing extra checks to make sure that the facilities
are kept up to the .... to the standards that the public expects.
Salih: Okay, great! Uh, that's all I have.
Throgmorton: Okay. Any further discussion? Hearing none, roll call please. Motion carries 7-
0.
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9. Community Comment (items not on the agenda)
Throgmorton: This is a moment when anyone who wants to address the City Council on any
topic that is not on the formal meeting agenda should please feel free to come up
and speak your mind, take not more than five minutes, and when you come up,
please state your name. And write it (both talking)
Ross: Hi, my name is Brandon Ross, um .... and I come here to, uh, to talk about
tasering, uh, and tasers. And, um .... some years ago I was .... I was witness to a
tasering of a young Afro-American man, uh, he might have been 19, he might
have been 20, uh, he might have been 21. There were five at least policemen, uh,
that were there. Uh, I think there might have been a sixth policeman, and I saw it,
and the person was, uh, who was being tasered was screaming, and uh, he was
screaming and screaming, and I was running up to get my daughter something
from the Ree Center so she could play soccer, and uh, I just wanna say, uh, that in
the .... in that moment that was probably only 20 seconds and I asked somebody
what was going on, and I was told, uh, that the person had acted out, uh, and I saw
these five or six policemen, uh, trying to subdue this one man, and I just wanna
say these things. First of all, I wanna say that, uh, I was negligent because I could
of probably stepped in, and I .... I go back and forth with that between feeling
negligent and feeling like a coward. And that .... that young man was being
tortured, and I will never, ever in my whole life forget that .... that scene, and that
happened here, in this city. Uh, I'm not going to go into great detail because it's
probably on record, but I wanna say something about tasers. First of all we have
banned the electric chair, have we not, a long time ago. Why? Because sending
electric current into people, even if they're on death row, which probably they
shouldn't be on, is torture. So to have tasering is torture. There are over 1,100
people who have died from tasering, okay? Uh, 1,100 people is what's reported,
but police stations don't often report, uh, tasering. So we don't know exactly.
Um .... police are asked to carry around, uh, these weapons. The City and State
pay for them. Corporations make money from them. It's not about safety. It's
about control. Uh, these things are not very effective protectors of police, if in
fact they are, uh, being charged or threatened, uh, where the club or the gun is
faster and more effective. Not that I want anybody shot. Uh, black people, uh,
also Latino and indigenous people are more likely to be tasered, uh, or shot, four
times, as much as four times for Afro-American people. Uh, in this city, uh,
although we .... we believe we're enlightened and we're against domestic violence
and we're for indigenous people and we want fire prevention, we still allow
tasering, uh, which is torture and violent, within our city limits. Um .... handicap
people are tasered and sometimes it results in .... in death. Uh, we .... we talked
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today about handicap people. Police do not know when a person is handicapped
or not, yet they have been tasered. Also, psychologically, tasering takes a long
time to recover from. Uh, it's like being tortured or in other circumstances, it's
like rape. It can take years. A person may never get over that. And it's also a
class situation. It's meant for compliance and control. We don't see Jeffrey
Epstein or Bernie Madoff or Ken Lay or white collar, white people being tasered
or shot. We see black people shot. We see Latino people shot. We see
indigenous people shot. And it's a sign of an unfair society, and I think the least I
can do, the least I can do, is to bring this up, to bring up my experience and to
bring up the knowledge that tasering is wrong. It's wrong! We're not a barbarian
society. Stop it, please, City Council! City Council, managers, the .... the Citizen
Police Board, and the .... the Commissioner of Police, please .... it's not necessary!
It's not even helpful. It's a waste of money and lives, and it's torture, and it's
violence. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Brandon. Anyone else? Good evening.
Curnick: Hi, good evening, uh, my name is Jackie Curnick and I live in Iowa City. Um, I'm
here today to talk about the climate crisis. Uh, I understand that there is an item
on the agenda about it, but I would like to talk more generally about climate
change. Um, I came from Florida. I'm a Floridian and my community, um, is on
the coast. So when I talk to people in Florida about climate change and sea level
rise, they, um, think that maybe in 50 years they'll have to move one mile inland.
They don't seem to understand the systemic change that is occurring, and the great
danger that it is. So then I came to Iowa a year ago and I was so excited for the
cold weather, and today is October 1st, and it was a balmy 86 degrees. Um, and
that was shocking, but maybe that's normal here. My gut is that it's not normal.
And I really appreciate what the City has done. I know that you guys are
progressive, um, on your climate policies and acknowledge it, unlike, uh, the state
of Florida (laughs) They couldn't even talk about climate change in an open way.
Um, but I would like to point out to the strategic plan that's listed here. I didn't
even know this would be up, but almost every single one of these goals I can draw
an immediate reference to climate change. But yet they're not listed there. And I
think the first thing we have to do, if we're going to be really serious, um, for our
young people about the climate crisis is to call it at every chance we can, and to
say that it's not sustainability. It's a crisis because our climate is changing and we
can no longer sustain these actions if we want to continue to live in this world.
I'm also married, um, I'm 27 -years -old, uh, my mother had me when she was 27.
I'm not sure if I should have children. I really, really don't know what kind of
world they're going to live in, and so with all of these things to keep in mind, I
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want us to not do fake solutions on climate change. Um, when we talk about Mid
American Energy, I was so excited to know about how much wind, uh, comes
from Iowa. We actually moved here so that my husband could study wind energy
at Kirkwood Community College, but what I didn't know is that all of the wind
energy that is, um, made by Mid American is actually shipped to other states. It's
not kept in Iowa. So the actual energy that's powering this building and our
homes is likely, um, non-renewable energy, like coal or natural gas, which is
actually not a solution. We say that natural gas is a solution or something that can
transition us, but methane is 10 times, at least 10 times more dangerous than CO2.
So when we're thinking about climate action, I .... I encourage us to not look at
false solutions, and I encourage us to be very bold. I was also really happy when
I moved to Iowa City to find that there's such, um, refugee populations here in
Iowa City. It's amazing to see all of the people that have come from, uh, war tom
places, uh, places that weren't viable for them, and have made Iowa City their
home. So I encourage us to declare a climate crisis and to say that we are taking
climate refugees, and to understand what that means. A climate refugee might be
a farmer that's only 20 miles outside of Iowa City, because their livelihood is no
longer viable with the weather patterns that are happening. So, again, I thank you
guys and I encourage strong action. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Jackie. (light applause) Good evening.
Hammel: Is this where I put that sticker?
Throgmorton: Yes, and when you speak, please speak into the microphone. State your name
when you begin.
Hammel: Hi, um, my name is Grace Hammel. I'm a registered nurse at the University of
Iowa. Um .... I come to you today, I've never attended a City Council meeting, but
I feel the need that I .... need to speak up. Um, I was recently in Washington, D.C.
at Capital Hill where cannabis law reformation is a really huge topic. Um, the
reason why I think we need to be concerned about it is, um, it's here. It's not
going anywhere. Um, with Illinois just recently legalizing, I think that we're going
to see an increase of incarcerated students who are trying to come to the
University of Iowa to better their lives and their futures. Um, I want to point out
that the Safe Bank Act was recently passed with a 321 to 103 vote, showing that,
um, legalization and regulation of cannabis is superior, uh, to public policy versus
prohibition and criminalization. My goal as a registered nurse who have .... I work
in the operating room, um, and I see a lot of patients come in, trauma patients,
from motor vehicle accidents or whatever that are prescribed opioids, and I'm sure
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everyone in this room can attest to being affected by someone they know, um, that
has suffered an opioid death or overdose or in some type of addiction or .... or way
of that. Um, I had to watch my favorite trauma, um, surgeon cry because he
recently learned of a patient of his that, um, we had put his leg back together.
Anyways he was prescribed an opioid and took it incorrectly, um, and died from
that, and it's .... it's an issue. It's .... it's a real issue. You had mentioned earlier with
talking about the Metro Coalition. I'm not sure what that is, but um .... any type of
awareness and education. I think education is what our community needs, and I
think that the University of Iowa being a leader in innovation and research would
be the prime place to have this education instilled in our curriculum. Um,
Washington state, as well as other states that have legalized fully, um, are
including this in their, um, curriculum. I think that it needs to start with education
and as a healthcare professional I owe it to all of you as the public, and our public,
to be educated on new medicine that's coming out, um, because we can't just keep
putting the blinders up or it's going to be detrimental to our society. Um, I think
that there are a lot of these, urn .... the seven goals where cannabis could actually
help that. I think that if we could bring in education and, um, maybe allow for the
MORE Act, which is the marijuana opportunity and reinvestment and
expungement act that would alleviate, um, a lot of people that have been charged
with a simple cannabis misdemeanors back into the voting society. I think that
would strengthen the relationship between law enforcement in our community,
which seems to be an issue here with it being a college town. Um, there are a lot
of college members, students here that, um, I mean they .... they want to find a
safe, effective way to alleviate their anxiety, to help them focus for studying, to
help them with migraines or pain or whatever the situation may be, that cannabis
has proven to have a place in medicine, um, and they're going to continue to do
that. We're going to continue to lose tax dollars that could be used in the state as
resources, um .... uh, to maintain a solid financial foundation. That's something
that cannabis could help. The young lady that spoke earlier about, um, our
environment, um, cannabis is ..... reproduces at four times for a crop season. Once
a tree is cut down, that tree can't be .... can't grow again, whereas cannabis can go
through four crop cycles. Hemp specifically, excuse me, hemp specifically, um,
and that can clean our soils with us being an agricultural state. I just, um, there's a
lot of buzz going on right now in Davenport, with more and more CBD shops
opening. There's rumor that a restaurant that's going to have CBD -infused, uh,
plates is going to be, um, started as well, and I think.... instead of putting up the
blinders because we're not a fully legal state, I think that we need to take action,
um, and start with education, because .... the University of Iowa, like I said, being
the leaders in research and innovation, we should be on top of this and providing,
um, education and safety and awareness to our public, our healthcare
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professionals — we should, it's, um .... sorry! (laughs) There's a lot that goes into
this. Um .... uh...... I also think that, um, it could help maybe with some of these
housing budget issues that were being discussed earlier, because, um, if we started
a lab that could create testing for safety and efficacy, um, that would help create
jobs. There's ... it's a huge multi -billion dollar industry that for whatever reason
Iowa isn't capitalizing on and I'm not really quite sure why is... We're the leaders
of research. We're the first caucusing state. We have a lot of respect. Me not
knowing anything about politics and going to D.C., I had immediate respect
walking in there. Everyone wanted to talk to me because I'm from Iowa. And I
think that says a lot about our state, and I think that we could really help not just
our state, but our neighboring states, but also like our nation, and um, I would like
to start with education at the University. I'm a certified cannabis nurse. I've taken
the extra steps to get extra education and I've attended several co ... conferences
across the nation to be able to safely, urn ... uh, and factually provide information
and to teach. Sorry (both talking)
Throgmorton: Thank you, Grace, but you've gone over five minutes (both talking)
Hammel: I'm sorry! (laughs)
Throgmorton: And thanks for coming down too.
Hammel: Thank you!
Throgmorton: Yeah.
Hammel: What do I do next? (laughter)
Throgmorton: You just....sit and wa... listen to the rest of the meeting or go home! (laughter)
Hammel: Sorry for taking up (mumbled)
Kay: (speaking away from mic) Hi, everybody! Um, this is also my first City Council
meeting. Uh, I've lived in Iowa City for three years.
Throgmorton: Could you please state your name please?
Kay: ON Yeah, my name is Erin Kay. I'm the walk manager for NAMI Johnson
County. If you guys are unfamiliar with NAMI, we're the National Alliance on
Mental Illness of Johnson County. We provide education, advocacy, and support
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for people experiencing mental illness in Johnson and Linn County. I do
fundraising and development. I've raised over $350,000 for people experiencing
mental illness in Johnson County. But that's not why I'm here! (laughs) I'm here
to talk about Disabilities Employment Awareness Month. I'm super -excited about
you guys have this proclamation, uh, that's amazing! I'm one of the lucky ones.
I'm employed in Johnson County, but there's lots of PWD's, people with
disabilities, who don't get the opportunities to be in the workforce. So ... 20% of
the United States' workforce identifies as having some kind of a disability. The
rest, 69%, is able-bodied. Um, like Mike was saying earlier, we're here, we're
capable, um, we can get the job done. I think the slogan for Disability
Employment Awareness Month is like we can do it and we can do it right, uh, take
a chance on a person with a disability. Unfortunately there's still a lot of
discrimination out there for people with disabilities. When I roll into a room and
I'm literally rolling into a room, am I right? I can't pass as an able-bodied person,
and I don't want to. My disability, I have cerebral palsy. It's a critical part of who
I am, but that doesn't make me any less professional. That doesn't make me any
less capable, and please consider employing people with disabilities, whether it's
invi.... whether it's very visible, like mine, or it's invisible. Please consider it! We
wanna be out in the community working. We wanna be helping our communities
in so many ways. Please give us that chance. Thanks! (laughs)
Throgmorton: Thank you (both talking)
Kay: (laughing) Yeah! Cool!
Throgmorton: Thank you for coming, Erin.
Kay: Yeah, no problem!
Stigge: Hi, uh, name's Christian Stigge. Uh, last week you guys were discussing two
things, one at the work session which was parking on Dodge Street and the other
one was like, uh, Tamarack Trail discussion, and about new roads being put in and
you guys brought up the thing of...in the work session, about how hying to plan
bike lanes and bike friendliness after the fact is hard. Um, and then Tamarack
Trail, you discussed about building a new road. Why not whenever we build new
roads we automatically put bike lanes on them in the sense that even if they don't
have bike capability at the time, down the road when everything gets more bike
friendly, they're already there and we're not trying to redevelop old systems that
could have been handled, you know, now so 20 years, 15 years, five years,
however long it takes to connect to them, they're already there and we're not
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having to re-engineer what we literally could have done before it was even done.
So, that's just something I want you to think about.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Lee. Anyone else? Okay, I don't see anyone else so we'll move to
Item 10 (noise on mic) sorry! Item 10.a., Planning and Zoning Matters.
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10. Planning and Zoning Matters
10.a. Regulating Plan Amendment — 625 S. Gilbert Street — Ordinance
amending the Riverfront Crossings regulating plan to include the property
located at 625 S. Gilbert Street in the Central Crossing Subdistrict. (ZCA19-
03)
Public Hearing
Throgmorton: I'll open the public hearing. (bangs gavel) And turn things over to Danielle. Hi,
Danielle.
Sitzman: Good evening, Mayor and Council. Danielle Sitzman, NDS. Um, this is the first
of two items related to the potential redevelopment of this property by Capstone
Collegiate Properties LLC, represented by Davis Maxwell and including Mike
Welch from Axiom Consultants. I'm gonna present, uh, both of them kind of
simultaneously to you since they contain sort of similar, um, criteria for
evaluation. Um, then.... there'll be two different opportunities for votes, and I
believe Legal counsel has advised you as to the status of the, um, CZA so.... To
start with we're talking about the, um, changes to the zoning code, the regulating
plan contained in the zoning code, uh, havin' to do with the form based code for
one property at 625 S. Gilbert Street. Um, there is as I said another case tonight
for a rezoning. The proposed development is an eight -story residential building
and has undergone the good neighbor, uh, meeting process for that rezoning. Um,
the .... property is located, uh, just north of the railroad, just west of Gilbert, along
Prentiss Street. Um, shown here in the outlined white dashed, um, there are two,
uh, properties, uh, two different subdistricts so the form based code involved in
this. The rezoning involves, uh, changing two different zoning districts to a
Riverfront Crossing designation of one sort or another. The two current zoning
districts are shown on this map in red and gray. They include, um, intensive
commercial and CC -2 rezoning. This is the concept plan that was presented, uh,
to the Planning Commission. This is just a preliminary concept plan, not, uh,
necessarily the site plan that we would be reviewing. Um, it shows an eight -story
building, as I mentioned, approximately 178 dwelling units. Uh, the concept
currently shows three lower levels for parking and five upper levels for dwelling
units. Um, that type of concept would require a bonus height, uh, request to be
made, uh, under the rezoning. That would likely involve the City Council, so it
would be more than the, uh, ability of staff to approve under the, uh, code
requirements. Um, the concept plan also does show improvements along Ralston
Creek and pedestrian connections to South Gilbert Street. For orientation,
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Prentiss Street is along the north here and the building stretches along Ralston
Creek, which is along its western perimeter. Um, the property does fall within the
Downtown and Riverfront Crossings master plan, um, it falls within two
subdistricts of the form based code. That would be, uh, currently, uh, shown in
pink and yellow here. The yellow district is the Gilbert subdistrict, um, the
southern portion of the subject property is currently designated for future rezoning
to South Gilbert District, and the pink district along the north is Central Crossings
subdistrict, and uh, like I said also intended for Riverfront Crossings rezoning to
that subdistrict. Um, the regulating plan amendment asked to include all of the
property into one, uh, subdistrict rather than have it split between those two, and
they've requested to be, uh, have the map, uh, in the form based code changed so
that they would both .... the entire subject property would fall into Central
Crossings. Um, the two districts.... subdistricts, have distinctive objectives,
regulations,and standards. Um, this table compares kind of the most critical ones
of that. The uses are very similar across all of Riverfront Crossings subdistricts
very, uh, somewhat in some of their descriptions and their character. The most
important difference here though is the base and a bonus height maximums,
which are shown in this table. Central Crossings has a higher number of stories
allowed and a higher number of bonus height stories that would ... we then would
be allowed in the Gilbert subdistrict. So the review criteria that staff uses both for
this case and the next one are very similar. Uh, they're both related to zoning
code changes or changes to the zoning designation, and we look at conformance
with the comprehensive plan and the compatibility with existing neighborhoods.
So I'll just go through all of those criteria in one go, uh, with one presentation for
you right here. As far as compliance with the conseq ... comprehensive plan, as I
said it is located in the Downtown and Riverfront master, Crossings master plan,
and is envisioned to be, uh, a mix of residential, commercial uses. The red outline
shows again the proposed, uh, redevelopment site. The black dashed line shows
you the current, uh.... boundary between the different subdistricts. And the white,
uh, outline of the buildings and the beige outline of the buildings, uh, indicated in
the master planning process which properties were envisioned for future
redevelopment. Um, in this, uh, drawing you'll see the property, the building to
the north is white, and that was contemplated by the master plan for
redevelopment. The building to the south is, uh, shown in beige and was not, uh,
really anticipated to redevelop. In comparing the two subdistricts, um, the Central
Crossing subdistrict is more focused on moderate scale residential del....
development to address the need for housing close to downtown. The Gilbert
subdistrict, which is, uh, mostly built -out to the north of rail ... of the rail line calls
for no major transformations and envisions the area south of the railroad to
develop at a lower intensity to maintain smaller scale and lower intensity of uses.
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The subject property, however, as I pointed out is north of that rail line, um, and
....and, um, falls on the northern side there and therefore not really part of the...
what the master plan envisioned redevelopment occurring in this .... in the Gilbert
subdistrict. So therefore, um, and also due to the proximity to Ralston Creek,
both subdistricts have objectives to restore and enhance the conditions along
Ralston Creek. The Central Crossing district goes a little farther and has goals
related to, uh, returning the creek to an asset to the community and stimulating
development along its banks. Um, this proposal will encourage new, uh, this...
improvements to the creek is intended to encourage new residential development
in the area. Um, so .... by rezoning the subject property into a zone that allows
residential uses, um, redevelopment is encouraged along the creek. Um, staff has
proposed some conditions on the rezoning that I'll get to in, uh, a little ... when we
talk about rezonings specifically, uh, basically to encourage and formalize those,
uh, improvements to the creek, including removal of invasive species, stream
bank stabilization, and tree planting, subject to City Forester review. Um, the
second review criteria, again, is compatibility with existing neighborhoods. So
we'll go through that just quickly here. Um, the existing neighborhood is largely,
uh, seeing redevelopment happening in multi -story residential format, anywhere
from three to five stories, uh, to the north, east, and west. Um, there is a railroad
with a raised overpass immediately to the south. The applicant did provide
massing studies as part of their app ... their application, to kind of demonstrate
what their potential eight -story building could look like. There's a bit of elevation
difference, uh, from Dubuque Street down to Ralston Creek and then back up to
Prentiss. Um, the site is lo .... located adjacent to the creek, so it's kind of in that,
uh, valley between the two roadways. Um, these are the massing studies images
showing, uh, on the left the view from Dubuque Street, looking east. The white
building in the background is the proposed, uh, po.... potential form of an eight -
story building. Again the image on the right, the white massing, would be as if
looking from, uh, north of Gilbert Street. These images again show it from other
views, um, as .... as it is at a lower elevation than Gilbert Street. Um, it does not
end up being that much taller than the buildings around it. (mumbled) the
applicant is here tonight, so they can certainly speak to the massing study, if you
have questions about that. Staff did review.... review traffic implications and
access. Um, much of the site is accessed from, or proposed to be accessed from
property that is not a public right-of-way, and so those agreements would need to
be negotiated with the surrounding property owners. Those are details that would
be worked out as the final site plan is developed. Um, staff is aware of those, uh,
the need for those agreements to be in place and that could certainly impact final
design for the applicant, depending on whether they're able to secure those access
agreements. Um, staff has included conditions on the rezoning for acquisition of
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additional public right-of-way along Gilbert Street to, uh, allow for the sidewalk
to be, uh, located farther away from the busy street, to improve pedestrian
connections throughout the neighborhood. There is flood plain in the vicinity of
this development. Um, and the applicant would need to comply with all the City's
flood plain management regulations for flood proofing and minimum floor
elevations as they proceed with their design, uh, formulation. We also look at
environmentally sensitive areas, uh, including Ralston Creek and the 30 -foot
buffer around Ralston Creek that would be required, and the need for storm water
control. As far as next steps goes, this shows in blue the step we're currently
talking about with the first application, which is the zoning code text change. The
next agenda item for you would be that rezoning, which is the next step down. If
the bonus height request exceeds staffs ability to make a determination, then the
applicant's case would come back to you again for bonus height discussion and a
level two design review. There also would be a form based code design review
conducted by staff and sinal... final, uh, site plan review by staff as well. Uh, so
based on review for compliance with applicable criteria and standards, staff
recommended approval of the proposed zoning code text change to alter the
regulating plan of the Riverfront Crossings form based code to include the
property, uh, located at 625 S. Gilbert Street in the Central Crossing subdistrict.
At their September 5th meeting, the Planning and Zoning Commission voted 6-0
to also recommend that to you tonight with no conditions on the text change. Um,
like I said, the rezoning case would come next and there are some conditions there
that I could explain when we get to that. I think that concludes my staff report for
this one.
Throgmorton: Thanks, Danielle. Do any of you have any questions?
Teague: I have a question about the, urn .... the access agreements with the neighbors. Do
you anticipate there bein' any push -back or .... or will there be....
Sitzman: It's.....until they have an agreement, they don't have an agreement. The applicant
can talk to you about their progress in negotiating that. Um, it's just something
that we need to be aware of as we review. We don't wanna make assumptions
until there's actually formal agreements made.
Cole: If you could just briefly elaborate on what the, sort of the public benefits are, to
get the bonus height provisions.
Sitzman: So bonus height, there's several ways to apply for bonus height. In this case
they're looking at public art, uh, donation or fee in lieu for public art, and then, uh,
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also invoking the ability to make, uh, energy efficiency or certain environmental
improvements. So they've discussed, uh, energy efficiency in their building, and
also improvements to Ralston Creek to improve the function of the creek as a
natural, uh, both drainage and .... and eco -system.
Cole: Thank you.
Taylor: I believe you mentioned something about a good neighbor meeting, but I couldn't
see in the notes that they had had one.
Sitzman: They did have one, um, not a large turnout for the meeting. Uh, the applicant
could talk to you about their ...the feedback they did receive from the
neighborhood, but they did conduct one because of the rezoning.
Taylor: Okay.
Throgmorton: Danielle, I wanna ask about the trans .... the parking and traffic implications, uh,
first. So if I understand correctly, the building, if it's.... eight stories and so on,
would have 259 residential parking spaces. Uh.... as far as I know that would be
the second largest.... building, uh, we would have .... we would be approving in the
Riverfront Crossings District, other than The Rise, which is actually two
buildings, uh, and it has a lot more parking than, at least I think it does, than this
building does. So I'm wondering about the traffic implications associated with the
parking spaces and the use of the parking. I wonder....I.....I didn't see anything
in the staff report about that. I wonder if you could comment on the staffs
assessment of traffic implications.
Sitzman: Sure. So the parking numbers are based on the unit count and the number of
bedrooms. So they would be complying with our code. Um, depending on the
mix of one and two, or three-bedroom units, the parking numbers could change.
Um, the pri .... parking is required on site so that it doesn't impact the
neighborhood, so that there's adequate place for the residents of that building to
store their vehicles, and when they travel in their vehicles, um, that's when they
hit the road. Um, this particular site is adjacent to an arterial street. So there
would not be a long, um, connection route for traffic to travel from, uh, the
resident's dwelling to wherever they may be going for the day by vehicle. So, um,
staff did not, uh.....did not have concern about traffic generated from this site
because of the placement in proximity to existing street networks.
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Throgmorton: I asked the question in part because we are anticipating a four to three -lane
conversion on Gilbert Street, going down to Kirkwood, uh, with bike trails, or
bike lanes, on either side of that four to three -lane conversion, and I'm a bit
concerned about the amount of traffic that would be generated by this particular
development. But I simply wanted to ask the question to get somethin' on the
record about it.
Sitzman: I know Kent Ralston's spoken to you in the past about the volumes that a four to
three -lane conversion could handle, and I don't know if, uh, you'd .... we'd wanna
check with him if the .... if this roadway is nearing that capacity and if this would
make an impact. But he has .... is aware of the application. So....
Throgmorton: Okay. And I have a .... a related question, which doesn't have anything directly to
do with traffic, but has to do with the building. So .... uh, the proposal is
ultimately to build an eight -story building..... with parking on the first three floors,
is that correct?
Sitzman: That's correct.
Throgmorton: So .... what effect would a large, eight -story building with three floors of parking
at the base have on the pedestrian friendliness, the walkable character of the, uh,
of that part of the Riverfront Crossings District, and when I ask the question I'm
knowing that one of the purposes of the Riverfront Crossings District is to create a
more walkable and diverse environment, a more urban kind of environment. So I
wonder, uh, what the staffs thoughts are about that.
Sitzman: Well the form based code does have regulations in it, as for the experi ... for the
exterior of the building and those lower three floors. So what would not be
allowed would be a blank -faced wall three stories high, immediately adjacent to
the street front. The intention of the form based code is that regardless of what's
happening in the building, the pedestrians experience from the exterior is much
the same. So whether you have parking in there or residential units in there, or a
commercial use in there. Um, my hope would be that the form based code could
handle that. Um .... we've had consultants talk to us in the past about the .... the
importance of the interaction of the ground floor with the pedestrian realm, um, so
we're certainly aware that that's a concern, and when we do design review, that's
something that we do look at and scrutinize.
Mims: When I look at .... and this, what I'm looking at now is in the developer's, um,
piece that was in here. And even looking at what you've presented to us, Danielle,
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very little, if I'm looking at this right, very little of the building is going to be
adjacent to Gilbert Street, just the very south end of it, like adjacent to the railroad
track......
Sitzman: Right....
Mims: ...is the only place it's gonna come out to South Gilbert. So .... and the only other
place its .... it would be adjacent to an existing street would be along East Prentiss
Street. So it....it would seem to me that .... rather than potentially having a
negative impact on the pedestrian experience, the fact that there's gonna be...
would appear to be a trail along the south side of the building and kind of a
meandering trail close to Ralston Creek. It has the potential to actually improve
the pedestrian experience with the improvement of Ralston Creek and a trail along
there.
Sitzman: That's a fair statement.
Mims: Thank you.
Throgmorton: Any other questions for Danielle?
Thomas: Uh, Danielle, what's the height of the, um, on the west side of Ralston Creek
there's some new development going in and .... (both talking) what's the height of
that?
Sitzman: That's a four-story building. I don't have the exact height in feet, but it's regulated
by stories.
Thomas: Uh huh.
Fruin: It's a .... the applicant has submitted something on page 184 of your packet. Um,
that property is 225 Prentiss and they have that listed at 710 -feet with their
proposal, uh, for the eight -story building on the subject property being at 742 -feet.
So approximately 32 -feet taller than what's built.... what's being built currently
across the creek.
Thomas: That ... so that elevation.... is the .... the top of the building, elevation above sea
level? Is that.... what.... what is the 740?
Fruin: I'd have ... have the developer's team answer that.
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Throgmorton: It's above sea level.
Thomas: Yeah.
Throgmorton: Were you gonna follow up any (both talking)
Thomas: No, I ... I .... I just, the height of the building relative to the ground that it sits on is
three stories you said, correct?
Sitzman: For the adjacent building?
Thomas: The one on the west side.
Sitzman: ...the west side, that's a four-story building.
Thomas: Four-story (both talking)
Sitzman: Yeah.
Throgmorton: So, with regard to that, the building right across the street houses Trumpet
Blossom, and Trumpet Blossom is a one-story building. So I've walked all around
that site. I did it yesterday, on foot, and the pedestrian experience walking around
the buildings is very, very different from the renderings that we see in the
submittal. Or in the application. So, uh, this concerns me, and the, uh, the fairly
new building directly across the street on Prentiss is, if I remember rightly, a five -
story building. So, uh, I have concerns. We'll get into 'em a little bit more later
on in this discussion. Any other questions for Danielle?
Cole: Nope!
Throgmorton: Okay, thank you, Danielle. I don't k now if anybody else would like to speak, and
if you do, please do, but I would like to hear from the developer. I personally
have some questions I would like to ask the developer.
Welch: Good evening, uh, Mike Welch with Axiom Consultants, and I'm here
representing the developer. Um, Davis Maxwell with Capstone Collegiate
Communities is also here as well, so we can maybe kind of alternate and get all
your questions answered, I would think. Um, I guess I'll start, uh, just kind of on
that regulating plan and maybe kind of working backwards, taking some of the
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things you talked about most recently first. Um, John, just to answer your
question, that top of the building is 742 feet above sea level. Uh, for comparison,
the 500 -year flood plain elevation on Ralston Creek there is, um .... (mumbled)
657 feet above sea level, so we're looking at total maximum building height of 85 -
feet, which'd kind of be a code in building code maximum for that type of
building. Um, and I think we did talk about the building at 225 Prentiss Street
(mumbled) that Hodge built, and that was in 710 feet. That's five stories. The
thing that we looked at, um, I think it's really important to point out is at the
comer of Dubuque and Prentiss we have the other Hodge building, the first one
that they built, and the top of that building is at 736 feet. So our building,
proposed, is only six feet higher than that.....that structure. (mumbled) hill
on ... on Prentiss Street is really .... a really important part that helps this .... this
building at eight stories fit into that .... that space. Um, Mayor Throgmorton, I
think your concern about how Trumpet Blossom fits and we're across the street at
eight stories, um, the building next to Trumpet Blossom is five stories and it's a...
it's a big five story building. So I think if you look on the .... on the document that
Geoff referred to, in it there's kind of a dashed line, you can see that.... that height
comparison of that building. Um, we do not have that .... that eave height of that
building, we can get that for you and kind of help. I think when we get to the, you
know, if rezoning goes through and we get to the design stage, we obviously will
....can look at that, and I think also produce some renderings that.... that kind of
maybe address your concern of when you're a pedestrian on Prentiss Street, how
do those building heights compare and how does that ... how do those relationships
work. Um, at this stage our thought was ... was when we looked, you know, at
other buildings, other tall buildings in Iowa City, a lot of'em you can really see
from around other parts of the city, um, or you know, further away, and for us in
looking at this one, it really was unique how .... how this building sits down in the
valley, along Ralston Creek. Um .... I think other things to point out, I know
during our .... our P&Z meeting, one of the concerns was .... was in changing the
regulating plan, you know, how .... how that changes to that property, the 625 S.
Gilbert Street, and .... and why should we make that change, or should we make
that change. Um, we really look at it .... lookin' at the master plan and the intent of
the master plan and the thought process in the master plan, I think, is really
important to note that it didn't consider 625 redeveloping. It really was lookin' at
the two properties on Prentiss Street, the City Electric properties, um, and so I
think when we look at, if you are doing all three properties, it's hard to imagine
what a property that's next to the railroad track that's limited to three stories, what
that would look like when the railroad tracks are 17 -feet above with the finished
floor elevation that's there, and so when you do a three-story building, you're kind
of at the top of that building (mumbled) much higher than the tracks, and scale -
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wise that just doesn't seem, um, to be consistent with .... with the intent of
Riverfront Crossings, if you would consider 625 redeveloping. Um, I think in...
in the .... in the context of this whole property redeveloping, um, when you look
at....at the changes to Prentiss Street, right now it's one continuous curb cut across
the front of this property and there are buildings right up to the right-of-way, or
the property line of Ralston Creek. Um, part of this redeveloping would be
changing that streetscape to make it more pedestrian friendly, and be pulling that
building back to get that 30 -foot flood plain buffer in there plus the five-foot set-
back from that buffer. Um, so I think when you imagine standing there at Rals...
at Ralston Creek on Prentiss Street, looking south down Ralston Creek, it really
would open up that .... that stream corridor, um, and that's part of the process too is
we looked at the site of how .... how we can get that height bonus, but also how the
developer can take this .... this building and take that required 30 -foot buffer and
turn that into an amenity, not only for its ... the residents of the building, but also in
working with the City to find a way to improve Ralston Creek and hopefully
make it kind of a connection point and the starting of. ... of changes to Ralston
Creek from here going south to the park and really make that a .... over time, a
corridor that actually attracts pedestrians to the creek, rather than putting everyone
on Gilbert Street. Um, I think the other aspects that we can talk about probably
relate more to the ... the overall rezoning and less to the regulating plan change.
Um, and I guess the one last thing I would say is .... is with the shared access
easement, I know that came up. Currently there's that alley is being .... is being
shared, but it is private property. Um .... we've, the developer and .... and the
current property owner have reached out to the neighbor, uh, they kinda started
those conversations, but I think really until we get through this process, it's hard
to have serious conversations and really decide what that agreement might or
might not look like.
Cole: I'm curious if you could talk about, in particular, the public amenities along
Ralston Creek. What, just for the audience's benefit, what specifically are you
intending to do there? How will that be improved if this is authorized?
Welch: Yeah, I think, um, I believe it was in your packet too, there's kind of a black and
white sketch of, you know, a concept of what that could look like. Um, but a big
part of what we've discussed to this point is finding a way to take, um, like most
portions of Ralston Creek right now are either really brushy and kind of like with
the invasive plants, or urn .... or have been stabilized with either concrete, rip -rap,
tile like the current.....we did have a wetland investigation done on Ralston, that
portion of Ralston Creek, as part of this project, and um, I don't know if you've
looked at that, but the entire bottom of the creek is .... has concrete tile in it, that
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was put in, um, years ago. So we're lookin' at things like that, how do we ... how
do we make Ralston Creek actually a natural creek again, with a natural bottom,
um ... less susceptible to that flashy flooding that Ralston Creek sees, and how do
we incorporate that in a way that incorporates native plants or .... or vegetation of
some sort, instead oi..instead of rip -rap and armored banks, and then part of that
too is ... we have a trail there, um, typically we like to put our trails up nice and
high so they don't get inundated in floods. Are there opportunities to give people
a place to .... to actually interact with the creek, you know, is there a chance in the
future that this becomes a point you can launch a kayak or small craft and .... and
paddle down Ralston Creek. Obviously that's... that's a big .... a big if and would
take a lot of work with City and Public Works to work that out, but I think those
are the types of ways that .... that we're lookin' at it, and as I said, urn .... in talking
to the .... the developer and their team, they really do see that space on the west
side of the building as an amenity for the residents of their building (mumbled)
from some of the other large buildings that are in urban centers that are curb -to -
curb building. Um, they do have an opportunity to see that as a .... as a .... an
amenity, and I think it's important to note too that Ralston Creek is actually in
City right-of-way, so in addition to the 30 -feet on their property, there's a 60 -foot
right-of-way on Ralston Creek, plus the 30 -foot buffer on the opposite side. So in
working with the City, there does seem to be many options to, for how to make
those things happen (both talking)
Cole: (both talking) ....public access, okay. Yep, perfect.
Throgmorton: I like that feature a lot! Yeah. Uh, I wanna clarify one point, you were just
describing the southern portion, that part that's down by the railroad tracks.
Welch: Yes!
Throgmorton: And you described how a three-story building there would .... uh, sort of be
looking at the .... the.....the railroad tracks (laughs) and you know the....
Welch: Yep!
Throgmorton: ... elevated part that it's on, uh, but there's also a possibility for a two-story of
height bonus for the zone that it could... that it would be rezoned to, the Riverfront
Crossing zone, that it would be rezoned to if it were, uh (both talking)
Welch: Correct (both talking) if it stayed in South Gilbert?
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Throgmorton: Yeah, so it would be a five -story building down there, instead of a three-story
building, right?
Welch: It could, yep, um (both talking)
Throgmorton: Just in principle, right?
Welch: Yes, and I think the other part that we looked at in looking at how to develop this
piece is, um, again if you look at the master plan, it kind of shows a lot of surface
parking and a small building, and we really looked at this being at this point in
downtown, we're .... we're just, what, 1,200 feet from campus, um, that ... that that
surface parking probably isn't, in our opinion at least, the best use for a property
this close to downtown, that doing something with structured parking and kind of
maximizing that .... that footprint is .... is, in our opinion, kind of beneficial,
especially when you consider that you do have that 30 -foot flood plain buffer, so
you do have some green space on there, and overall, um, the project would reduce
the impervious area on those three parcels from what's there today, as proposed.
Throgmorton: Okay. I .... I wanna ask a series of questions that will sound a bit aggressive, um
(both talking)
Welch: (laughing) Thank you for (both talking)
Throgmorton: ... that's our job, to .... to really make sure we're makin' a good decision. So I am
repeatedly asked by owners of apartment complexes, managers of rental property,
and residents of this city why are we building all these new apartment buildings
when the vacancy rates are so high and many store front spaces are going empty.
I hear it all the time. So, my questions to you are several actually. What
persuades you, meaning the developer, what persuades you that an eight -story
building, apartment building, is a wise market investment at this time? Uh, and
I'll just kep.... keep goin' because you'll understand how these flow together.
What do you project the vacancy rates to become, no. What data do you have
about current vacancy rates in rental apartments? What do you project the rates to
become in the near-term future? What gives you confidence that the occupancy
rates in this proposed ... in the proposed building will be sufficient, from a market
point of view? From an investor's point of view. And, have you considered
possible changes over the next few years with regard to enrollments at the
University of Iowa and the possibility of the University requiring second -year
students to live on the campus? In other words, the last thing I wanna see is a
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very large half -empty new apartment building, or some others that have also
recently been built. So, help me out!
Welch: I'm gonna defer to Davis on like every one of those questions (laughs)
Maxwell: Thank you.
Throgmorton: How ya doin'?
Maxwell: Doin' well! Uh, Mayor and Council, my name's Davis Maxwell. I am, uh, the
developer, Capstone Collegiate Communities, um, is the company I work for and
represent, and thank you, um, on behalf of knowing me, but also the Boyd family
to get up here and let my team present. Uh, Mr. Mayor, uh, you know, you asked
a series of those questions and .... and I totally understand your .... your concern.
Um, we develop and manage student housing all across the country, and, um, this
is one market that we, um .... we would love to be in. We, uh, have looked at, uh,
this site. The eight -story building is roughly 400 beds, and when we look at all of
our (mumbled) um, in the immediate surrounding area, um, specifically The....
The Rise, um, you know, they're pushing 100%, um, occupancy. Uh, as it relates
to, you know, vacancy rates, uh, in the immediate area, vacancy rates from our
market study. We have a market consultant out of Ohio, who, um, goes out.
They.... present these market studies to Capstone to give us a level of confidence
that vacancy rates in this immediate area are .... are low. Um, we feel strong about
the market. We feel strong about enrollment growth at the University of Iowa.
Um ... how does .... how does, uh, the University .... (mumbled) they require a
second -year live -on requirement, how does that affect, um, Capstone, and the
development. That is .... that is something of concern. However, we feel that by
providing a quality class -A student housing development, that's highly
amenitized, that's going to help pull residents out of surrounding neighborhoods
to get them closer to school, get 'em closer to campus, get 'em closer to downtown
to enjoy their college experience. Any.... anything else? To be more specific?
Throgmorton: I think I wanna go over just a little bit of that.
Maxwell: Okay, go ahead!
Throgmorton: You said you have a mark.... marketing, market consultant and I'm not surprised
to hear that.
Maxwell: Sure!
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Throgmorton: Uh.... and if I heard you correctly, the market consultant has looked carefully at
rental vacancy rates in Iowa City, or at least the core part of Iowa City?
Maxwell: That is correct. Uh, we actually had a .... um, it's a group called Danner and
Associates. They're out of Columbus, Ohio.
Throgmorton: Uh huh.
Maxwell: They're our market consultant and I have one report dated as of February 27,
2019. They were actually in the market last week. I should have the updated
report. It should be back this week as well.
Throgmorton: Can you share that with us, or at least the .... the data? Maybe not the report, cause
that would be .... I don't know, private property.
Maxwell: Um, that's somethin' that I'd be happy to do. I don't have a problem doin' that.
Throgmorton: Good! Uh, and .... so, and Danner and Associates looked at our rental market and
concluded that the vacancy rates are, what, 6%? 7%? 8%? 10%? What?
Maxwell: Um, Mr. Mayor, uh, in the ... in the report, um, we'll have to review the report, but
the vacancy rates that they projected for the immediate area are less than 5%.
Throgmorton: Okay.
Maxwell: And there's, you know, we .... we look at not only just the purpose-built student
housing, you know, you have Rise, you have Latitude, you have... Quarters,
Hawks Ridge, uh, you also have the shadow market, which is a lot of what we see
around town, um, but also market -rate apartments as well. And from his report
and his findings, the majority of all of the market rate.... developments here
around Iowa City are occupied by residents who attend the University of Iowa.
So .... that's factual and in the report, that I'll be happy to share with you guys. Uh,
the majority of those housing units for market rate, workforce housing, they're...
they are housing students who attend the University of Iowa. So if we can
provide a quality class -A development, adjacent to ... the college, University of
Iowa, downtown, and Riverfront Crossing, that'll give, you know, us the ability to
pull residents out of surrounding neighborhoods, to where families, uh, people in
the workforce, millennials that are living to come and enjoy a college experience
that's adjacent to downtown. And I think .... this immediate area where we are
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right now, vacancy rates are gonna be less than 5%. They're probably gonna be
closer to 2%, if not less.
Throgmorton: Okay. I'll ask one more follow up question and then I'm sure other people might
wanna ask you questions too, so I don't wanna monopolize things. Uh, with
regard to the University of Iowa, uh, we don't know what they're gonna do with
regard to second -year students. I don't know, you don't know, but there's
uncertainty there, okay. But with regard to enrollments, again I have no facts
about this, but I can tell you that I've heard conversations, on the campus, from
people involved in the University, about risks associated with declining
enrollments and I think this is true for public universities .... uh, nationwide. I
think it is, and you should know, right, I mean because this is kind of your work,
uh, and this has to do with, uh, somethin' havin' to do with demographics and, I
don't know, the 2008 recession. I don't know the details. So .... could you
elaborate briefly on your assessment of that risk and how it affects .... uh, the
developer's thinking about investing in an eight -story building in this site?
Maxwell: Um, that is a valid concern, and you hear articles all the time with smaller
universities, uh, you know, enrollment's declining. Um, major universities, we
don't know the future of what's going to happen at the University of Iowa. But we
do know this is a class, a tier one, university. We know that you have, uh,
residents that continue or you have students that continue to come to the
University of Iowa, because of all the great.... curriculums that they have to offer.
I feel that this location, the proximity to campus, the .... the proximity to
downtown, regardless of what enrollment does in the future, if not stays flat, I
think this will be a very successful development, in order to pull residents from
their homes, the commuters, um, the people that are....the potential resident base
that is .... is traveling from far away. I feel that by providing them a quality
development .... in this particular location.... regardless of what happens to
enrollment, I think that students will always wanna live closest to campus because
of the accessibility that the development will have to offer to the resident that will
be occupyin' the unit.
Throgmorton: Okay. Thank you, Davis. Do any of the rest of you have questions for Davis?
Salih: I just wanna ask you, you said this is mainly student housing?
Maxwell: Uh, actually.... our target market, uh, we have 12 -month leases, and anybody can
live at our development, but we lease by the bedroom, so if you have a two or
three-bedroom unit, that you stand alone financially from your roommate, in the
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event of whatever happens. So you're responsible for your bedroom. You share
the common area. Um....
Salih: Is this furnished you mean?
Maxwell: I'm sorry?
Salih: It will be furnished?
Maxwell: These units would be fully furnished. Um....and, uh, anybody can live there. So,
but we require, as a management company, not only are we the developer but
we're also our own management company as well. Um, we require one head per
bed is what we like to look at it. So if you and your boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse,
um, any .... anybody can live here, but if you're a couple, we want you to have one
person per bed. So we're not discriminating against who can live there. You can
live there. I can live there. Anybody can live there; however, our target market
that we will go after and aggressively market will be the students who attend the
University of Iowa.
Salih: I know you can say you don't discriminate against, but the way that you lay it out
is really for student. Uh, like if a household of like, uh, wife and husband and one
child, they're not gonna rent like one bedroom for the child for this price
(mumbled)
Maxwell: (both talking) ...that would be accurate. We would .... we would require you to
lease a three-bedroom unit, and that's our standard and that's what we do all across
the country, and that will be the policy that we would have here for the residents
who would like to live there. But we're .... we're gonna request that you sign a 12 -
month lease, and it's one head per bed, so it might be not, you know, economically
feasible or practical for you to live in a three-bedroom unit if it's husband, wife,
and an infant.
Salih: It still gonna be very expensive because it is room by room. Anyway I guess my
point is ... (both talking)
Maxwell: I'm sorry?
Salih: Nothing against the student, I love them, but .... it feel like any developer come for
Riverfront Crossing, they do something for student, and suddenly one day we
gonna see all the Riverfront Crossing, all the new development, will be only for
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students. Like the rest of the community, they don't have any like the .... I don't
know what to say, but you know is less of the community that they don't have the
opportunity to live in that area because any developer would come and do the
same thing that you do. All about money. And make it very hard for the student.
Yes, that's what I think.
Taylor: Could you elaborate a little bit on .... on the description, kind of on the lines of
what, uh, Councilwoman Salih is getting at. You mentioned that they would share
the common area. So are they just bedroom units or .... describe the....
Maxwell: (both talking) Uh, we would offer bed .... let's start with a two-bedroom unit, or a
three-bedroom unit. So all of our .... all of our units, you would walk in, you
would have one big common area. You would have a kitchen, um, you would
have a living room seating area. It'd all be one big open room, and then within
each bedroom, whether it's a one, two, or three, you would enter off the common
area to get into your bedroom. In each bedroom would have its own walk-in
closet, as well as private bath. So we're gonna individually lock each one of those
rooms. So you might lease unit, for example, unit 101 and you're gonna be
bedroom A. I might be bedroom B. So we share that common area, but you're
leasing that bedroom.
Salih: Same thing like The Rise. Basically. I tour The Rise and it was like that. You...
you just rent the room, one bedroom. You have your own bathroom, and you
have everything, and you share the kitchen and the living room.
Maxwell: Yeah, like you would be .... like if you would have a roommate, right?
Salih: Just like you have a roommate, yeah!
Maxwell: But you stand alone financially in case somebody defaults on their rent. It's not
your responsibility.... (both talking)
Salih: Exactly!
Maxwell: ...guarantor is, guaranteeing that lease amount.
Taylor: Thank you.
Salih: Yeah. And to tell you, just .... just for the audience to know, so I can really tell you
that no family can live there, The Rise, if the one bedroom there is around 740 -
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something, and .... no, 80 -something, and the affordable 10% affordable is the
different 40, 740 and the other one is 780. The affordable and the not affordable,
the difference only like $40. I just said that because I wanna tell you bow ... how
(mumbled) expensive it will be. Because it's furnished also.
Throgmorton: Are there any other questions for Davis?
Salih: Thank you.
Throgmorton: No other questions? Thanks! There might be some follow up questions (both
talking) Would anybody else like to address this topic?
Stigge: Hi, my name's Christian again. Um, so I used to live in Kennedy Plaza, which is
actually across the railroad street and across the street from it. And I have real
kinda concerns with putting an eight -story building right next to a railroad track,
as somebody who lived in those apartments. That's not a fun thing to do, living in
a .... right by that railroad track, that gets worked on all times of the day. So
somethin' to think about, do we really wanna put something that close to the
railroad station, that's gonna house these students? Plus, this is going from a two
commercial building that housed, you know, fairly commercialized area to no
commercial space. Like we are taking away commercial space in a very
commercialized area. Um, I, you know, question whether or not that's a good
idea. So....
Throgmorton: Thank you. Hey, Austin!
Wu: Hello there. Austin Wu, UISG City Liaison. Um, let's see, for this development I
think there's some things that are pretty neat. Um.....the potential restoration to
Ralston Creek are pretty nice, I think everyone, uh, everyone can agree with that.
It doesn't look so great right now. Uh, the addition of additional housing options,
as well as the possibility for, uh..... improvements to the pedestrian streetscape on
Gilbert would all be welcomed if they were to take place. Uh, however, I do have
some concerns with the nature of this development. Um, already the Riverfront
Crossings area is a predominantly student and renter occupied, uh, part of the city,
but um, all too often seen with a lot of the new construction as seen here, uh, new
construction and new developments, they're made too expensive for residents,
including students, and seem to remain so for the foreseeable future. Uh, for this
development, uh, I hear some of these buzz words, like amenities and private
bathrooms and walk-in closets. The things that students might not necessarily
need or even want, uh, that ultimately only serve to drive up the cost of housing.
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Um, the .... let's see, it was expressly mentioned, uh, multiple stories for
underground parking could also be a significant contributor to, uh, an increase in
the cost of construction and by extension rents, especially in an area that is close
to campus and is on Prentiss and Bowery Streets, uh, areas that are outlined to
become bicycle boulevards under the City's bicycle master plan. Uh, so .... I know
that tonight we're only going over the rezoning, but in approving new construction
on this lot, uh, I ask Council to be mindful of the initial costs, um, that would be
born on new residents of this building, and to, um, take that in mind for all.....
approving all new construction in the city going forward. Thanks!
Throgmorton: Thank you, Austin. Do you have (mumbled)
Taylor: Austin brought up a question, uh, I don't know if, uh, the young man, the
developer, could answer this or not, uh, in relation to the parking. So many of the
apartment complexes, I've been shocked in this community, by the fact that, uh,
it's.....it's provided as an amenity, but there's an additional cost. So obviously
we've talked about the rent is going to be fairly high. Is there going to be an
additional charge to park in the unit?
Maxwell: Uh, there will be an additional charge to park for the unit, and that will be in line
with market.
Throgmorton: Okay, thanks. Would anybody else like to address this topic? And by this topic I
mean the, uh, amending the regulating plan and considering the rezoning.
Though we'll discuss the rezoning later. Okay, I don't see anyone else. So I'm
gonna close the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Could I have a motion to give first
consideration please?
2. Consider an Ordinance (First Consideration)
Mims: So moved.
Cole: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Cole. Discussion?
Mims: Well I'm in favor of changing the regulating plan. Um, I think it makes sense
with, you know, the ability to kind of consolidate these two units together, or
these two properties together. Um, it makes sense to have it under, obviously
under the same regulating plan and I think when, you know, the original plans
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were done, not everything in the future could be foreseen in terms of what would
be redeveloped and what would not be redeveloped. Um, there's still obviously
details with the rezoning and the site and everything, but I think the .... the changes
to the regulating plan, urn .... make sense to me.
Throgmorton: Well just to get a little bit of conflict in the way here, uh, so we can have a
thorough discussion. I support rezoning the properties to Riverfront Crossings
districts. I have no objection whatsoever to redevelopment of the site. I think it's
a good idea. I ... and I would greatly like to see Ralston Creek enhanced. So
there're pluses that I see. But I do not support amending the regulating plan. Nor
do I support the rezoning as proposed, which we'll get into in a minute, a long
minute, for the south portion of the site or the height bonuses the applicant intends
to apply for. Uh, I think an eight -story structure on Gilbert Street, just north of
the railroad bridge, would be far out of scale with other buildings on Gilbert. Uh,
and my general sense is that the .... a single eight -story structure with parking on
the first three floors is substantially inconsistent with the original purpose of the
Riverfront Crossings District part of the comprehensive plan. So I can elaborate
on these points, but they really get more deeply into the rezoning and height
bonuses thing. I .... I see, I can see .... um, amending.....the, uh, the regulating plan
to make both of. ... portions of the site, uh, into Riverfront Crossing District zones,
but I don't think the southern part of it needs to be ... uh, rezoned, uh, to, uh, what
is it, Central Crossings. I think it can remain, what is it, Gilbert Street, is that
what the .... the name of that subdistrict is? So, anyhow .... I could elaborate, but
that ... I'll get that point out there.
Cole: Geoff, what are we talking about in terms of a dollar figure on this total project?
Do we have any sense of that?
Fruin: I don't have a sense.
Cole: Okay, but it's millions of dollars.
Fruin: Sure.
Cole: Um, I'm 100% in favor of this. First, I wanna address the issue that you brought
up, Mayor, related to, uh, essentially forecasting of aggreg.... aggregate demand. I
do not think that that is a function of what we're here to do in terms of our own
ability to predict future aggregate demand. The whole field of econo.... of macro-
economics is rife with uncertainty as to making those sorts of forecasts. I think
our role is to make a consistent, predictable plan in which developers can with
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certainty make decisions as to the sorts of investments that we're making. I think
we place way too much weight on one, two, and three stories in this particular
district. I certainly love family -friendly neighborhoods. I want family -friendly
neighborhoods, but 25 years ago we made a decision to close Sabin School. Uh,
there have not been large numbers of families in this particular district. Um, we
have an opportunity for market-based solutions to address a housing need that we
have. It's in close proximity to the University of Iowa. Uh, the other thing relates
to price. You know I wish in ... in my ideal world everything would be free and we
would not have to charge what we do. New construction is extremely expensive.
I don't think we're going to get any developers who are going to, um, essentially
do an investment where they're not getting a return on their investment. They do
these particular plans with, uh, careful decision making, and I think quite frankly
we do great damage, um, when we have this particular Riverfront Crossings,
which as I see it, Jim .... Mayor, you were around earlier than I was, but the whole
concept of the height bonus, the amenities in exchange for the height bonus, I
view it as a linchpin of this particular district, and I think insofar it is a student -
centered district, I think that's a good thing. It is in close proximity to the
University of Iowa, and it makes a ton of sense for .... for me to get this project
moving so that we can get this particular district developed, and I do think it's
important that we talk about the challenges of allowing more living opportunities
in our adjacent neighborhoods, to get our families closer downtown in our
traditional residential neighborhoods. I think that is absolutely a good thing, but
when a solution is presented to us, to address this .... this issue, we .... we don't take
it. Um, and in terms of the affordability of it, I ... I do believe that this sort of
growth is what allows us to make these sorts of investments. I'm 100% in favor
of it and, um, I think we need to move forward with it.
Thomas: Well I'll be .... I'll be supporting the .... the.....the change, this particular ordinance
that we're discussing at the moment. Uh, I ... I do have, uh, concerns, um, along
the lines of some of what Jim was mentioning, in terms of the scale of the project.
Um .... I'll reserve those to, uh, the reading of the second item, but urn .... that....
that aspect of it is a concern to me. One of the .... the market issues that I'm
concerned with, with the student housing market is when I hear descriptions of
projects, like this one, uh, where ... uh, you know, they're designed really
exclusively for .... for students in the sense that you have, uh, you know, the lease
is by the room, each bedroom has a bath .... a bathroom. So ... so they're really kind
of locked in, it seems to me, to that .... that segment of the market. If there should
be a failure in the market, um, you know, the .... the preferred solution I would like
to see is that the housing we build could adapt to a non -student population.
This... this is less likely to do that, because of the .... it seems to me. Maybe the
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developer could explain plan B should there be a collapse of the student housing
market, but it seems that this particular building type with the way it's.... it's.... it's
designed internally, um, is not as flexible as a building which could more easily
adapt to a non -student population. So that's one reason I am concerned with, if
we should over shoot with our student housing market, what's the back-up plan?
Teague: There's a huge, uh, need for one -bedroom units, uh, throughout the regular
market, or affordable markets for individuals, and so I do think that poten... (both
talking)
Thomas: Depending on how many there are of the one -bedroom.
Teague: Yeah, so I ... I do think that it, the building would be used, if the market should
change. And it's not going to be for student housin'. I think that's something the
developers or .... and other landlords would have to determine, what they're gonna
do to get income into their buildin'. So the .... of course the rents are really
expensive, for the student market. I don't like that one bit, um, but I do think that
that's a choice that the .... the developer is makin', the risk that the ... the developer
is gonna take. Um, our students can remain right where they are, wherever they're
livin', um, within the outskirts or move to Riverfront Crossing. I am gonna
support the, um, regulating plan and, urn .... the two properties, makin'em one,
you know, makes a lot of sense to me, especially if we're going to .... I mean, the
height bonus, um, of eight stories. I really did .... I really would like to see more
of a ... commercial space on the bottom. Um.....I think that neigh .... or somethin'
that would be, uh, accessible to the community, uh, because that is, we're talkin'
about makin' sure that people are active and stayin' in the community, walkable,
and so I would love to see that .... of course when I hear that there's gonna be, um,
a fee for parking, um, you know, that just, again, um, kind of pickles and dime,
and I think, um, there should be some type of a regulation where .... some, I don't
know how you do it, but some .... it shouldn't all just be fee, fee, fee, fee, fee, but
again, I am going to support, um, the regulatin' plan right now. Um, and rezonin'
it to Riverfront Crossin', uh, that's not an issue for me.
Taylor: I think what we're looking at is whether or not we, uh, agree with the, um,
changing, um, of the zoning and .... it seems appropriate to do that. Um, but I
would like to express concerns, some of which have already, uh, been mentioned.
Um, one of which I think I heard something that's a major assumption, uh, that I
don't think is entirely accurate, that it's going to pull residents, uh, out of
surrounding neighborhoods, and I .... and I don't think that's true because I know
that there are a lot of parents out there that, uh, are buying single-family homes
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for their students, uh, to live in, because they'd rather have them have that .... that
home kind of atmosphere. Uh, I live in a residential district on the west side, and
there are three within a two -block radius of myself and, uh, they're great
neighbors. I wouldn't even know that it's students there, except for the extra
scooters and extra cars that are parked in their driveway. So that's a quite obvious
sign that it's students that are living there. And they are good neighbors, but I
think that, uh, that is on the rise, because that's only been in the last couple years
in my neighborhood that that's happened. So, uh, I .... I think that perhaps they
prefer to live away from campus rather than that close to campus, uh, perh... you
know, except for maybe the younger ones. I think that that's a major assumption
that we can't count on, um, because I .... I, like Jim, I .... I am concerned that we're
overshooting the demand. I hear that from a lot of people, even my 12 -year-old
grandson says that, you know, why do we keep building these apartments, uh, and
that I think is a major question, and I would question that 5%, uh, vacancy rate,
um, on that, and we talked a lot about, uh, the height, 750 versus 725 and I don't
think that's really the question here. I think, uh, another big, urn .... issue with this
building is that, um, it's got such a large footprint. It's one large, uh, building. I
think how did, uh, Danielle describe it as a .... that it stretches, it stretches along
the creek. And it does indeed. Stretches refers to a very long building, and it
does. It goes along the creek and it's long. I would prefer to see maybe a distinct
break in the buildings rather than one long continuous footage of building. Uh, I
think that, uh, might help with the walkability of the area and even the appearance
of the buildings. Um, cause that is a .... it's massive, it's a massive building, um, so
that's a concern of mine. Um, there are things that I appreciate. I appreciate the
fact that you're willing to look at the creek, but I would think as .... as a, uh, good
steward of that property, that would just be part of ..you know, we shouldn't have
to give you credit for that. I think that should be part of something that .... that you
should do anyway, if that's neighboring your property, that you should, uh.... uh,
take care of that, uh, help us take care of that creek. Urn .... let's see, what else do
I have to say. Oh, urn.... another statement was that.... question the compatibility
with the surrounding neighborhood, and it said multi .... multi -story residential
buildings to the northeast are three to five stories, and that this is compatible with
that, but that's... eight stories. We're talking three more stories in addition. So I ... I
...I don't think that's, uh, comparable to three to five stories. Um, it ... it's, I
disagree with the fact that it says they're not much taller than the surrounding
buildings, only because it goes down into the valley. There's still a tall, massive
building. Um... A.....think that's all I have to say.
Throgmorton: Any other comments?
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Salih: Um .... I'm not really objecting the regulation of the plan amendment, at all. I'm
just .... I'm concerned, yes I have a concern about, I don't know, this is gonna come
on the rezoning because as I know this is only just, uh, the regulating of the plan
amendment. I'm gonna support that. But I'm really concerning about.... making
this eight -story building, just having this area to be predominant students housing,
and uh, the way that even the student housing being built on furniture, rent by
room, and charge for parking, and make, you know, all this kind of things is really
concerning me. But for now, just for the .... to the amendment, I'm for it.
Throgmorton: Okay, I wanna mention one other thing briefly, and then we can move on. We
adopted our Riverfront Crossings plan in 2013. Susan and I were on the Council
then. So when we adopted that plan, I understood that we were seeking to build a
diverse, mixed-use, walkable neighborhood. That's what I understand that plan to
be all about. And, uh, I don't think this proposed project will contribute to a
diverse mixed-use neighborhood, and I worry about its effects on the, sort of the
walkability, even though I really like the Ralston Creek part of the project. Okay.
So .... I think we could go ahead and vote. I think people have expressed their
views. So .... without objection, roll call please. Motion carries 6-1.
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10.b. Rezoning at 305 and 315 E. Prentiss Street and 625 S. Gilbert Street —
Ordinance conditionally rezoning approximately 1.6 acres of land located at
305 and 315 East Prentiss Street and 625 South Gilbert Street, from Intensive
Commercial (CI -1) to Riverfront Crossings — Central Crossings (RFC -CX).
(REZ19-07)
1. Public Hearing
Throgmorton: I'll open the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Danielle!
Sitzman: Thank you, Mayor. As promised this is the rezoning that follows the, uh, change
to the zoning code. Um, shown here in blue is the next step. Um, again we did
review based on those criteria that I presented earlier, um .... the Planning
Commission did recommend, uh.... uh, approval of this application, with four
conditions. Let me walk you through those conditions. Uh, the first relates to
dedication of right-of-way along the west side of South Gilbert Street. That's to
accommodate improvements to the pedestrian, uh, connection of sidewalks.
Second provision of an access easement for City waste water division vehicles to
access a .... a manhole for a trunk sewer already located on the southwest corner of
the property. Uh, third an access for a sanitary sewer line. Again for City access,
uh, to the property for that, uh, utility. Uh, four, improvements specific to Ralston
Creek, including removal of invasive trees, a stream bank sta.... stabilization, um,
planting of trees, um, dedication of a temporary construction easement, um, and
then, urn .... all of that to occur in a certain timeframe. And finally the execution
of affordable housing agreement. Again that's somewhat redundant, since our
code does require affordable housing, but it ... in the Riverfront Crossings District
it is something we've put in there explicitly to draw attention to it. So those are
the four conditions that are attached to this. Um, we had prepared our conditional
zoning agreement, but it has not yet been signed. Staff is continuing to work with
the applicant on their concerns with the CZA.
Cole: I'm a little confused. Is there going to be a public trail adjacent to Ralston Creek?
Is that .... is that something that's going to be done?
Sitzman: That is what they were requesting for their bonus height consideration, but that is
a detail to be worked out, the specifics of. Looking at their concept plan, that
what they ...what we anticipate them proposing, but that's just their concept at this
point.
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Cole: Okay.
Throgmorton: Any further questions for Danielle?
Mims: Just one clarification for us and for the public, voting .... one we're not going to
vote tonight, correct, cause there's not a CZA signed, but .... the rezoning.... the
approval of the bonus heights will be separate from the rezoning.
Sitzman: Right. The rezoning would establish the zoning district and then set the rules for
how many stories of base height would be allowed by right, and then what, uh,
threshold would be required to go through what level of design review.
Mims: Thank you.
Throgmorton: Any other questions for Danielle?
Fruin: No, if I could add, Mayor. Um, I appreciate the applicant's, um, forwardness with
their bonus height intentions, and while you're not going to take that up with this
rezoning, I would certainly encourage the Council in your future discussions
during the rezoning to .... to try to be as clear as you can on your expectations for
bonus height. Uh, as you know, if the rezoning proceeds, they would have four
stories by right. Um, staff can approve an additional two stories. If they propose
a seven or eight -story building though it will come back to you, and that is a
subject of review. Uh, so while we have criteria, you'll need to clearly articulate
what your expectations are, uh, for that, and that's gonna help the applicant, uh,
and their team not only save a lot of time, but save a lot of money as well. So,
kind of keep that in mind. You ... you went through that a little bit with 12 East
Court, where you had to think of the rezoning in terms of your vote, but you also
had to kind of project your expectations for a future bonus height application. I
just encourage you to be thinkin' about that, um, for the future readings of this
rezoning.
Throgmorton: Would anybody else like to address this topic? Austin!
Wu: Hello there again. Uh, see, I would like to open up this set of comments with, um,
a quote from Thomas Carl Redding. He's someone from a campus architectural
firm. He was quoted in the Atlantic on a .... article about college student housing.
He's quoted as saying in the article, 'If you can get the cost down, students will
live in a closet.' Um, I found .... I find this line to be, um, largely true. Uh, that
when students are looking for housing, they are not necessarily looking for a
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living experience or amenities or, you know, bells and whistles and tricks and
gadgets. What they're looking for is they're looking for somewhere safe,
somewhere affordable, somewhere convenient, and that they're first and foremost
looking for simply space to put all their stuff and space where they can sleep at
night safe and sound. Um, to that end, um, I don't think that this particular
rezoning is bad. It's like .... it's, uh.....I welcome the potential for increased
housing supply, but we should be cognizant that increased housing supply does
not necessarily translate to affordability, and the concept of new buildings aging
into affordability over time does not happen at a realistic time scale for people
right now. Um, I am concerned about some of the, um .... some of the specifies
outlined tonight in this, uh, development that will follow the rezoning, that
um ... (mumbled) like some of the other developments that have taken place around
the city that are student -centric, they place too much emphasis on amenities or
luxuries or...other .... other accessory pieces at the expense of affordability, and
that it...it is actually, that contrary to the claims presented by developers, it is
actually not affordable to most students. So I just ask that the Council take that
into account, not for the rezoning, but more so when, uh, additional proposals
come down the line. Thanks!
Throgmorton: Thank you, Austin. Good evening.
Schaefer: Good evening. Hi, my name's Rachel Schaefer and I've been a student here at
Iowa for five years now, going into my fifth year. I was an undergrad student and
now I am a master student in urban regional planning. Um, going off of what
you've brought up and others here, um, I just wanted to talk about the fact that
there are not just undergrads here that we're here to serve with student housing.
There's also the graduate population. I'm currently on a student stipend, which is
less than $1,000 a month and places like these aren't even on my radar when it
comes to searching for housing. I'm way over off of Keokuk Street, across the
highway, so I guess when it comes to thinking about your master and PhD.
students who are on a very tight budget and are a big part of our population here
in Iowa City, just to consider that and our use of that space, it .... isn't useful, it
won't be on my radar in the future, and I'm sure other graduate students (laughs)
uh, can attest to that. So, um .... building that building won't be useful to me and
my peers, so .... thank you!
Throgmorton: Thank you. Anyone else? Good evening.
Dietz: Good evening. Um, my name is Clarissa Dietz. (both talking)
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Throgmorton: Could you say your name again please?
Dietz: Clarissa Dietz.
Throgmorton: Thank you.
Dietz: Um, I just wanted to throw my two cents in. Um, and....the room is spinning,
give me a second. (laughs) I stood up really fast (laughs) Um .... I would like to
recommend that the City looks at tying, um, electrification into all requests for
rezoning and other favors. Um, climate change is a huge urgent issue and the
more buildings we can electrify, the better we will be moving forward. So we
won't have to backtrack and remake buildings that we could of just made right in
the first place. Um, and I would also like to recommend that the City revise its
energy and environmental design provision in the Riverfront Crossings District.
Um, right now the language is kind of vague and when developers say, you know,
we're gonna think about energy efficiency, there's not a clear standard for what
that means. Um, so they can make a lot of promises and not technically break
them, um .... but still not do a whole lot for the City's carbon footprint. So .... thank
you.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Clara. Anyone else? Okay, seeing no one else, we cannot close the
public hearing. Um .... can we have preliminary discussion? Can we, uh.... (both
talking)
Dilkes: You can have a preliminary discussion. Ultimately you're going to have to
continue the public hearing and defer first consideration to October 15th.
Throgmorton: Yeah. Okay. So it'd be best to speak in terms of inclination, I suppose, instead of
definitive statements about these things. So .... since the, uh, the Council has
approved the amending, the ... or is in the process of approving amendment to the
regulating plan, it would only make sense to rezone the .... both parts to Central
Crossings. So I'm not gonna oppose the .... the rezoning itself. But there's various
things I don't favor, and I wanna draw attention to my thinking right now about
height bonuses. I think Clara was spot-on for well over a year I've tried to get us
to .... to consider revisions to the height bonus revisions and .... and what justifies
height bonuses in the Riverfront Crossings District. It's on our pending work
session list. We haven't been able to get to it. And that's.... that's onus. I'm not
blaming anybody for that. But, uh, I think we need to do that. So .... I do not
favor the idea of enabling the applicant, the developer, to build one large building.
I think that's inconsistent with the overall intentions of the Riverfront Crossings
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plan. I think a four-story bonus is untimely and unnecessary. And I thunk the
LEED request, as stated in the material we've seen so far is inadequate. Instead I
think the bonus should be limited to two stories, not four but two, and if any
bonus is approved, even for two stories, which are ... would only require staff
review and approval, the bonus should help us achieve our climate action goals.
I'll be damned if I'll vote for this, if the .... if our.....if we don't expect the
developer to help us achieve our climate action goals with regard to reducing
carbon emissions. So what we have in our code right now is woefully inadequate,
concerning LEED and .... and environmental stuff. So if we ... if we get to the point
where we .... we agree that we'd only approve a two-story bonus, I would say we
should direct the staff to ensure that .... the bonus goes for, uh, helping us achieve
our climate action goal. If it's four stories, if that's what the majority does, again,
emphasis has to be placed on that. So what do the rest of you think?
Thomas: Well I'll speak, uh, partly because I can build on .... on your comments. You know,
I .... I.....I did look at, um, in some detail the Riverfront Crossings plan and what
the ... the vision and development character that, uh, was anticipated there, and you
know, staff made recommen.... a reference to the moderate scale for this particular
area. The .... the moderate scale basically.... based on my reading of the building
height diagram, ub, essentially translates to buildings four to six stories in height.
Uh, and what I find interesting is this is one district in Riverfront Crossings where
there's been a fair share of development. So you see along Dubuque Street a
number of buildings from the parking ramp south and then there's some
development on Prentiss that's under construction. All of that is pretty consistent
with the Riverfront Crossings plan. It's in the three to five -story building height
range, and so we have some evidence on the ground that we can, you know, you
can walk around the district and get a sense of the feel of that streetscape
character that, uh, is referred to in the plan, how friendly is it, is it a pleasant
experience, and .... and my observation having walked it over the last week or so is
that it has been successful. Uh, it seems to me the scale and the intent of the
Riverfront Crossings plan, um, has been achieved to the degree it's been
redeveloped. Uh, so .... so my inclination, um, based on .... on that experience and
the vision of the plan is to support a .... four to six -story building, uh, with this
project. Partly because I .... I would need much deeper, uh.... uh, you know,
articulation of what exactly is gonna be built if it's eight stories, than what we saw
in this submittal, um, for me to feel comfortable with .... with anything over six
stories. Uh.... I ..... I think particularly since the .... the length of the building faces,
uh, Ralston Creek, I'd really like to get a better idea of what that relationship is,
in terms of building height to that creek corridor. Uh, the buildings on the, that
are under construction on .... on the west side of the creek are four stories. You
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know some sense of symmetry with respect to the building heights, uh, on both
sides of the creek, I think, is something to consider, and as we've seen in other
proposals recently, that, you know, that could possibly be developed through step -
backs and .... and other means if. ... if one were to consider it. Um, but I ... I agree
with Jim in that the focus, if we're going to be talking about the bonus heights, the
focus should be on, uh.... you know, reduce.... making the building as energy
efficient as possible, uh, that.... that's, I think, probably our greatest priority as a
city now with new development is to bring it into alignment with our climate
response. Um, and then again secondarily, um, you know, the vision of the plan
was to create subdistricts with different qualities and characters and, uh, you
know, this is one district where there seems to be some foundation for that, that I
think has been successful. So I would need to be convinced that anything beyond
that six -story height limit would be appropriate in that location.
Taylor: I wanna, uh, elaborate a little bit on ... on what Jim talked about and .... and Clara
very, uh, clearly talked about, as far as reducing our carbon emissions. Um,
gonna go just a little bit different road as far as it really, uh, concerns me that it's
going to provide 259 residential parking spaces. That's a lot of automobiles, and a
lot of carbon emissions. That's ridiculous and it only is that many because they're
proposing the 178 dwelling units, which comes from the eight stories. Um, so I
think in ... in one respect perhaps we have to revisit our off-street parking
requirements, or most importantly, um, reduce the height of this building so there
aren't as many units and wouldn't require 259 parking spaces!
Mims: Well I guess to (mumbled) since we seem to be following up on each other. Um,
to follow up on that, if you make the assumption, and I think I heard the developer
say 400 beds approximately. Um, if you assume that those, and they're renting by
the bedroom, if you assume that there, those 400 people are going to live
somewhere in this community, and the same proportion of them are gonna have
cars, whether they live in this building or anywhere else in the community, you're
not adding any cars to the community. You're just moving the cars around, and in
fact if you get students closer to the campus, you may have fewer students that
feel a need to have a car because they're easily on the bus line, easily bikable,
easily walkable to the University campus. So the developer is putting in the 259
parking spaces because of our regulations, and I agree with you, Pauline, that, you
know, that's something we've talked about potentially revisiting. But it ... but I do
disagree with you from the standpoint that .... by building this we're adding cars to
the community. Um, all we're doing is moving the people around, depending on
where people are going to live, and again as I said earlier, I think the closer we
can get students to campus, the more likely we are to have students who feel that
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they don't actually need a car, or at least use it less. Um, number one, if you're a
student you know that it's virtually impossible to park on the University campus
during the daytime. Um, so you're parking on surrounding residential streets.
Well, if you're this close, you're probably not going to try and drive any closer to
campus than you already are. Like I say, you're gonna hop on your bike, you're
gonna walk, you're gonna grab, uh, the bus. Urn .... I think one of the things that's
really important in looking at the bonus height on this is the context of the site,
and for me looking at this right down by Ralston Creek, and looking at that, um,
diagram that .... that is in our packet, on .... what page was it? 184 .... um, I think
that .... so when we talk about like eight stories on this one versus, I don't know if
it's three or four stores, or five stories, for the 620 Dubuque Street building, that
doesn't resonate with me because this is sitting at the bottom of that hill, and if
you've ever driven Prentiss, you know how steep that hill is between South
Gilbert and Dubuque Street. And so when you're siting this building down at the
bottom, in the lowest part of that valley, then to go up eight stories is not like
you're starting at the top of the hill on Dubuque Street and going up eight stories.
So for me .... I don't see it as being, um, I don't see that as being problematic when
you look at it relative to the surrounding buildings with it being sited, um, at the
very bottom. There've been a lot of comments, and Rockne, um, I'll give you
credit for a number of things that you commented on. You know, we can't predict
aggregate demand. We can't and that's not relevant for us. It is .... it is up to the
developers to decide if they are going to take that risk in terms of developing
within our community. Urn.... in general I would agree this is not an area that
we're going to see a lot of, um, families. There's not a school real close to there.
Um, I ... I actually applaud the developer, and more and more student housing
developers are doing this, in terms of renting by the bedroom. I mean I remember
for I don't know how many years that my four kids went through college, and they
were all two years apart. Ten or 12 years, let me tell ya, I had my fingers crossed
that no roommate moved out in the middle of the year. Because I knew what my
liability was or my daughter or my sons' liability was if they had a roommate
move out and default on their lease. We had to pick up that difference. Because
those apartments back in those days were not rented by the bedroom. You rented
as one of three or four roommates and you were all liable for the entire amount of
that lease. And so I think this is a change that is actually a very positive change
for students. They're only liable for their own bedroom. Um, makes a huge
difference to those individuals and to those families. Um, I like the fact that more
developers of student housing are providing fully famished units. You talk about
carbon emissions, um, obviously there's lots .... a lot of other issues, but think
about what that does in terms of move -in and move -out, every July 31 st, August
1st. It is students coming with one car probably and their suitcases and bringing
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in, you know, all those personal items. They're not having to move in and out
fumitures. Think about what that does for our landfill. Think about what that
does for Rummage in the Ramp. I mean all of a sudden you are starting to have
thousands upon thousands of units now that are not being changed out with all
those furnishings every summer, and so I think those are important things as well.
Um ...... I do believe that as we see more development close to the University, I
don't think there's any way that we can't be pulling some students out of the close -
in neighborhoods. Um .... I hope that eventually we start seeing families come
into some of those single-family homes, like in the Northside, etc., but if the
University doesn't grow a lot in terms of their student population, and buildings
like The Rise and this building and Augusta Place, etc., fill up, where do you
think those students are coming from? They're coming from the outlying
neighborhoods. And so that is going to .... to free those up. So, um, I'm not saying
this is a perfect development. I ... I will make one other comment. People have
commented about the size of the building and the length of the building. I think,
and obviously we're gonna wanna see more details in terms of. ... of, um, not just
the footprint but renderings, etc., but I think the terraces that they have facing, uh,
Ralston Creek, and the fact that, um, one whole side of this is along an alley really
mitigates the .... the length of the building, in terms of. ... there's not really
anywhere that the "general public" is gonna see the mass or the length of this
building, um, because of the location. So, I think there's a lot of positives here,
um. .... I... A.......I understand it, am not in disagreement with people who wanna
see, um, more efforts towards our climate goals, in terms of the eight stories, but
in general, um, I would say that I'm very supportive, um, of the project and of the
four bonus stories.
Cole: Um, I'm inclined to support this. Uh, you know we've had a lot of discussions
about climate change. As far as I can tell, the greatest thing that we can do for
climate change is population density. If you look at carbon emission per person,
New York City is one of the greenest cities in the United States. If you wanna
talk about some of the .... the most environmentally detrimental areas of the United
States, they're in the bluest, and by the way I love rural areas, so I'm not ... this isn't
against rural. I love rural. Love farmers, love ya! But ... if you talking about
residential development in the outlying areas, that is some of the, um, worst
impacts in terms of climate change. So as far as I can tell, um, if we're talking... I
would commend you too (mumbled) Trimnph of the City by Edward Glaeser talks
about this precise phenomena. There's another book called Green City, uh, that is
also very important, because I think we can all have a lot of opinions, but we need
to have data, and the data tells us that the greenest places are Chicago, New York,
Iowa City — if you would do a carbon emission map. Density is gonna mean good
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for the environment. As to this discussion of height, I don't think the issue is four,
six, or eight. I think the issue is is two, and that is to say if we are in agreement
that six is okay, are we really willing to compromise this sort of investment for
two stories? I do not think that an additional two stories is gonna transform
(mumbled) a six -story building, and an eight -story is gonna cause a deleterious
impact on adjacent neighborhoods. I just don't think that that's true. Um, third
thing is is relating to Riverfront Crossings, this is .... this plan that we have is the
Cadillac of urban plans that we have in this city. Our margin of error in this
particular district is significant, and that is because of all of the hours that
community members put into play, um, City Council put into play, out staff put
into play, in terns of making this the premiere urban plan that we have in our
community, and uh, you know, in terms of this height issue, the bonus provisions
in terms of implementing the Riverfront Crossings plan came almost immediately
after the Riverfront Crossings plan. So to say that this was something that wasn't
foreseen or not intended, I cannot reconcile that, and I think our view as I see it is
not to substitute our view for the vision of the people that actually passed it, the
community members that went to town halls, uh, the staff who put in all that time,
people that did these studies. Um, the only thing that I want, and I'd really like to
get, um, for our conditional zoning agreement is a trail along Riverfr...uh, the
Ralston Creek. I think that in terms of bikeability, walkability, this is gonna be a
very dynamic district, and the greener that we can make it, the more, uh,
pedestrian -friendly we can make it, the better. Um, in terms of parking, I have
somewhat different view. Um, I think that this notion that we have free parking or
that we gotta have low-cost parking I think is wrong. I think if you're talking
about carbon emissions, uh, what is the big problem with carbon emissions, it's
free parking. That is that every single thing you do is designed for free parking.
So I think frankly the fact that parking is more of a scarce commodity and people
have to pay for it, I think is a ... is a good thing, and I also think that it starts us
looking for alternative transportation options. So, I am in supportive of this.
Now if we were talking about downtown in height, I would share in complete
view, um, views of some of my colleagues, but here I think it's a major mistake to
slow down projects like this. We need to get this sort of development, and I think,
you know, we are a university town. I don't think there's anything wrong, we
should not apologize for having a student -friendly district. For the students that
wanna live in our neighborhoods, you are welcome. We love you too, we want
you in the neighborhoods. But for the students who want a more student -friendly
environment, where they can, you know, do what students do, uh, I think that
that's a good thing too. So I am inclined to support this. I think this is a project
that we need to get moving, at eight stories.
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Throgmorton: I'd like to clarify one point, not to disagree (both talking) you referred to, uh, if we
can agree that six stories is a reasonable height, then what's the .... why have a big
tussle over another two stories. So what I wanna be clear about is that the
Riverfront Crossings Central Crossings subdistrict has a maximum base height of
four floors, and a maximum height bonus of four more floors. So, we're starting
at four, okay, not at six. So ... anybody else have any comments?
Teague: I mean, you all have said a lot and so, um, I .... what I would love is for the day
when, um, some of the things that we're talkin' about that we would love to see,
um, is for developers to come (laughs) offerin' it from the beginning, climate
control, you know, climate action from the beginning, where that's somethin' that
we're not even asking for. Um, affordable, you know, rents for those individuals
that kinda, um, want to live, um, in a student environment that is affordable. I,
you know, Rockne, you talkin' about, um, low cost parking, or .... or fee for
parking. Um, it will, you know, definitely decrease or have people thinkin'
....thinkin' about should they buy a car or should they park their car and stuff like
that. Um, but again that is at, um, the developer that gets that money, and so
I .... I, yes, it is a .... it is a deterrent from, um .... the use of vehicles, but ... and you
know, the height bonuses, um, again I believe that we need to have that
conversation, um, and talk about what is by right, because, you know, us .... talkin'
about the height bonuses, I do think that it's the two that we're usin' right now, and
I hope that we get some things that, you know, there's been a few things
mentioned about, um, what would really be a public benefit with that height
bonus, and so, um, for me I think overall there's a lot of good things about this
project. Definitely I get what Susan's talking about, uh, when a roommate moves
out and the cost burden it can put on families. Um, that's definitely a positive.
Um, I am not too concerned overall about, um, the market. I think the market will
at some point determine what it'll do itself, um, if this buildin' and other buildins'
are successful. Um, I believe ultimately, um, as we go down the road and I think
Austin talked about, immediately, you know, it .... the cost will be kinda high. It's
down the road where costs may shift, where if we have a high vacancy, we'll see
within, um, the Riverfront Crossin' and even other parts of Iowa City where those
rents will .... become more affordable potentially, if ...if the market doesn't, uh,
stand as people anticipated. Um, so, yeah, I .... I just long for the day when people
will come and developers, which I totally welcome development and developers,
uh, to our city, uh, to come and help us with our needs because we need
developers to help us, um, meet some of our goals here in our city, for our
residents, and so, um, I just hope, um, that you've heard us tonight and look
forward to, uh, future things with your rezoning.
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Salih: Okay. I just wanna talk about, if we gonna talk about the carbon emission and all
this and I'm 100% for like reducing the carbon emission and everything, and also
I would like .... I just recommend or I can be supporting for anything that we as a
Council requested from the developer, so he can help us achieve our climate
action plan, no doubt! But height! I don't mind height, you know, I can go up to
eight story. But where, in Riverfront Crossing? Okay. No problem! But my
main concern will be affordable housing there. My concern because Riverfront
Crossing by the law you have to have 10% affordable, and as I give you example
early, affordable to who? And how much when we say affordable, how much is
it? My experience by just doing, go to The Rise and see how much affordable,
and none affordable because I guess it's 80% of the (mumbled) right? It have to
be affordable on 80% or below of the area median income?
Fruin: The Rise was at 80%. That was before the inclusionary zoning ordinance was
passed. The inclusionary zoning ordinance requires below 60%.
Salih: Okay. Even 60%, you know, I .... I really think this is .... 60% out of the furnished
that expensive with own bathroom, it's really expensive, and I don't know this
gonna be affordable to whom? I can agree to a height like eight story, no
problem, if -the developer provide really excellent affordable housing plan, or
pay fee in lieu, you know, for those so we can build somewhere else, use it
somewhere else to build like, you know, affordable housing that affordable
forever, not 10 years. That what I'm gonna be really for. If, you know, I'm not,
height, it's okay with me, but I have to get something in exchange. That's all.
Throgmorton: Okay, I think we've all had a chance to speak, haven't we? Get a sense of what
we're all thinking. So I need a motion to continue the public hearing and defer
first consideration to October the 15th.
Mims: So moved.
Cole: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Cole. Discussion? Okay, hearing none, roll call
please (both talking)
Dilkes: ....voice vote.
Throgmorton: All in favor say aye. Opposed. Motion carries. All right, thank you!
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11. Bike and Electric Device Fines — Ordinance amending Title 3, entitled
"Finances, Taxation and Fees," and Title 9, entitled "Motor Vehicles and
Traffic," to provide uniform fines for bicycle and electric device code
violations. (Second Consideration)
Throgmorton: This is second consideration, but staff has requested expedited action.
Mims: I move that the rule requiring that ordinances must be considered and voted on for
passage at two Council meetings prior to the meeting at which it is to be finally
passed be suspended, that the second consideration and vote be waived, and that
the ordinance be voted on for final passage at this time.
Salih: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Salih. Discussion? Hearing none, roll call please.
Oh, does anybody in the room wanna talk about this? No, apparently not. Okay!
Teague: Ithink so. You wanna speak?
Throgmorton: Sorry, my bad! Again! State your name again please.
Stigge: Hi, Christian. I just wanted to bring up one question somebody asked last time
about the legal fees associated with it and somebody was going to look into those?
Dilkes: Yeah, there's a memo in the packet.
Stigge: Okay, I might have missed that.
Dilkes: I think the amount was....
Mims: About $80 total I think.
Dilkes: Yeah, about $80 total, and we don't have any control over that.
Throgmorton: Okay, I don't see anybody else. So let's see now, we're ready to do roll call, right?
Roll call please. Motion carnes 7-0.
Mims: Move final adoption.
Thomas: Second.
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Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Thomas. Discussion?
Cole: The only thing I wanna say related to this topic is that, um, I am noticing a lot of
electric skateboards and scooters downtown, so I think this is a really timely
issue, and I think in terms of enforcement, education to the public, I've seen a lot
of people really zooming in the public, so I think education's gonna be really
huge, cause I'm really concerned about a collision.
Throgmorton: Any further discussion? Hearing none, roll call please. Motion carries 7-0.
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12. Purchase of 2129 Taylor Drive — Resolution approving a purchase agreement
for a duplex property located at 2129 Taylor Drive for the South District
Home Investment Partnership Program.
Throgmorton: Could I have a motion to approve please?
Salih: Move.
Cole: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Salih, seconded by...Cole. Is that right? Yeah. Hey, Erica, hi!
Kubly: Hi, Erika Kubly with Neighborhood Services. The City is proposing to purchase
2129 Taylor for the South District Home Investment Partnership Program. The
duplex is located on Taylor Drive between Tracy Lane and Sandusky Drive. Each
unit has two bedrooms and one bathroom, with additional space in the basement
and a walk -out basement. Um, the property was owner -occupied, where the
owner lived in one unit and rented out the other unit. Um, however the rental unit
has been vacant for several months. Um, the purchase price for the entire duplex
will be about 130,000. Uh, for each unit we have 35,000 in local funds, plus
25,000 in federal Home funds for renovations and downpayment assistance for
the buyers. Um, prior to property acquisition we don't typically have a full scope
of work developed for the renovation, so I included the Housing Rehab and
Energy Efficiency and Sustainability Guide in your packet to show you elements
that we may incorporate into the project, depending on the scope of work and the
budget availability. Um, we use these guidelines for all of our housing rehab
projects, including UniverCity, GRIP, owner -occupied rehab, and we'll use it for
our new rental rehab program. Um, we don't necessarily do every single item on
the list, but uh, based on the budget and the scope of work, we try to incorporate
them. Um, other updates about the program, the other duplex that we purchased
on Sandusky is under renovation. It'll be about another month or two before we
complete that and it's ready for a buyer. Um, the home buyer application is now
live on the web site for, um, interested buyers. Um, we did, uh, we recently
mailed the letter to all the renters within the South District project area, notifying
them about the home ownership opportunity, and then we're also working with
Horizons for home buyer education. So one of our next steps is to try and
coordinate a home ownership informational session, um, hopefully with Horizons,
then the neighborhood residents, so that people can attend and get more
information and determine if buying a home is right for them. That's all I had.
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Throgmorton: Great! Thanks. Uh, any questions for Erika?
Salih: I just wanna ask you, the order that you have the home buyer guide (mumbled)
especially for preference for purchasing unit shall be A, B, C, D. Is that in order
or .... like if you find somebody who really (unable to understand) to buy. I know
this duplex is empty, but um, just like that for example, because it said existing, or
former tenant.
Kubly: Right, so the .... the, um, previous property.... the property we purchased on
Sandusky, there is a tenant who lived there before the fire, so we wanted to give
priority to that person if they wanted to move back to the neighborhood.
Salih: They already outside the neighborhood?
Kubly: Yeah, they were displaced with the fire, prior to (both talking)
Salih: ....it's not their own choice. Okay! (both talking) ...own choice why we should
do that but .... if they been displaced, that's good, and after that if you don't find
this person or they said no, you gonna go to the second one. Like they have to be
living in Taylor. If not (both talking)
Kubly: ...current residents of Taylor and Davis.
Salih: (both talking) ...you will open it to the South District.
Kubly: Yep!
Salih: Yeah, and also number five, I really wanna ask you question, how will these
home, you know .... buying opportunity will be marketed to the resident on Taylor
and Davis Street. If you can tell me what you have in mind, how you gonna
market this?
Kubly: Um, so as I mentioned, we already did a mailing to the whole project area, not
just Taylor and Davis. We sent it to everyone at the same time. Um, I think we'll
have staff do some door-to-door, um, speaking with residents. Um, one of our
staff members mentioned he would do that. Then we'll also try to work with the
neighborhood association and see if they can be a resource for us.
Salih: Yeah, because you know I really wanna tell you that if I receive a mail, telling me
there is home that, you know, from the City, this home, you can buy this home,
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without even going to the details and everything, I would just think that if I cannot
buy like, you know, I'm not going to think that really I can buy that house,
because I been trying to buy, maybe I cannot. I know my situation, but here is
differently. We have assistance. Are you highlighting all this to people you
sending out to, you tell them we have 35,000, 25,000, we can assist you, we can
teach you, all this. I like really, really highlighting that on the letters or....
Kubly: Yeah, so what we highlighted were the education opportunities for home
ownership, the rehab funds that we're using to renovate the unit, and then the
downpayment assistance, and then kind of just our contact information, about
how to ... to get in touch with City staff.
Salih: And I really like the idea that City staff can go there and tell the people, because
this is will make the people say, oh, this real. You know? And they .... they will
trust that .... they will do whatever they can, so they can be a home owner or
whatever, and urn ... the 130 is for the duplex, both of them together or each one is
130? Like 130. The price.
Kubly: Both of them together. (both talking) ...just price for the buyer will be half of that
plus carrying costs.
Salih: Okay, will be like 7 .... uh, 65? 65, and uh.... I really think that the 65 is really
reasonable.
Kubly: That's before any downpayment assistance (both talking)
Salih: (both talking) ...that why I really encourage you to go (mumbled) so you can tell
people. You gonna find lot people interesting on this. Thank you for all this good
work!
Throgmorton: Any other questions for Erika? Guess not. Thank you. Does anybody else want
to address this topic? Okay, seeing no one else, uh.... discussion among Council
Members?
Taylor: I, uh, was very excited and supportive of this project when it was first presented
to us. I thought it sounded like a really great idea for that neighborhood, and then
I was, uh, disappointed at first when, uh, it looked like there were not going to be
any properties available, uh, but now this is the second one. So it .... it's very
exciting and I just wish it, uh, the best of success in finding potential owners, and
uh, and redeveloping and finding even more!
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Salih: Yes!
Teague: So this was my entry into Council (laughs) um, when this was proposed, and of
course I didn't understand how all this worked, and .... today this is somethin' that
I'm very proud of, um, to see that, um, an idea that came from the community,
came from staff, is here .... in operation, um, and happening. Um, and of course,
like you said, we thought for a minute there it wasn't gonna take place, and we
were even thinkin' what do we do now? And then staff persistence, um, have
found a way to make this happen, and so, um, thanks to staff for listening, uh, to
the community, and for even comin' up with some of the ideas of how this
program can work. Um, this is awesome, and amazin', and I'm very excited about
it.
Cole: What do you really think, Bruce? (laughs) Um, I also wanna give a big shout -out
to Royceann Porter, Supervisor Royceann Porter, as well as the residents
themselves. I think this really provides the best illustration of collaborative
governance with our .... with our residents, with our staff, with our other
government entil ... entities, where the first sort of proposal that we had wasn't
quite right. It had a lot of good intention, um, but I think the proposal that we
have now I think reflects our values, it reflects the neighborhood's values, but I
think we really got it right. So I'm really hoping we can use this as a template to
expand future home ownership opportunities throughout the community. So
let ... let's, uh, let's get .... let's get started. So....
Salih: Sure. This is, yeah, I really exciting, and to your point, Bruce, I remember this
very well, in the day of your .... the election (both talking)
Teague: Yes! (laughs)
Salih: ...celebrating that you been ... you won; we here, we voted this down. I remember
this, and after that Council come together, like member of the community reach
out, and thank you for Royceann Porter and her group. We come out and now I
just see this like bein' approved now and all the Council put their, you know, ideas
and how we can make this really working, and the cooperation that all of us come
together, after we start sitting down and discuss with the help, of course, of the,
you know, of the staff. Thank you so much, you done a lot good job on this. I
really appreciate it. I'm very excited about this project because really I thought
this not gonna happen, but finally it does. Thank you for everyone who like really
been involve in this.
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Throgmorton: Any other discussion? I .... I just support everything everybody said. So, bravo!
(several talking in background) Okay, roll call please. Motion carries 7-0.
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13. Establish Climate Action Commission — Resolution establishing a Climate
Action Commission.
Throgmorton: Could I have a motion to approve please?
Mims: So moved.
Teague: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Maim .... Mims, seconded by Teague. Discussion? Would anybody in
the audience like to say anything about this? Okay. How about Council
discussion?
Thomas: Well it's really nice to see this move forward. It was a big, you know, it was a big
step in terms of our response to climate action. So, uh.... looking forward to
approving this and moving forward.
Throgmorton: Yeah, it's a good, uh, major step and in a few minutes we will be appointing six
active advisory board members to this commission. So....
Cole: It's a true day to celebrate, because, you know, climate action is ... it's protest,
getting the word out, but it's also the day-to-day management of trying to get the
carbon emission reductions to work in practice. So I think this is gonna be a
fantastic board. I'm really excited about that. And, um, looking forward to seeing
what we have in store for it.
Taylor: I know it's coming up in a couple items yet with the appointments, but I was glad
to see that, uh, active members were going to seek reappointment to this. That'll
be great.
Throgmorton: Okay, no further discussion? Roll call please. Motion carries 7-0.
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14. Assessment Schedule—Appeal for 1220 Louise St— Resolution adopting an
assessment schedule of unpaid mowing, clean-up of property, snow removal,
sidewalk repair, and stop box repair charges and directing the Clerk to
certify the same to the Johnson County Treasurer for collection in the same
manner as property taxes.
Throgmorton: Could I have a motion to approve please?
Thomas: So moved.
Cole: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Thomas, seconded by Cole. Discussion? Is there anybody in the
audience who would like to address this?
Fruehling: We did get a letter that was in the late handouts.
Throgmorton: Yeah. I did not have (both talking) I did not have time to read the letter. So...
Dilkes: He .... he did indicate in the letter, um, that ... he wouldn't be able to be here tonight.
Throgmorton: Okay, any Council discussion? My recollection from, I .... I guess a previous
version, a hand-written version of it, that, uh, the individual was saying he doesn't
have any objection to paying the fine, but he wants us to be cleaning up the street,
getting the snow off the street.
Fruin: That's correct.
Dilkes: I think he objected to paying the fine on the grounds that we hadn't cleaned up the
street.
Throgmorton: Right. So....
Thomas: So he was asking if we would waive the fine, since we didn't do (both talking)
Throgmorton: I ... I think we can't do that. My street doesn't get snow off of it immediately either
so (both talking)
Dilkes: ...if you do that (several talking in background)
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Throgmorton: Okay, any.... discussion at all about this?
Teague: I .... I do think at some point we need to just, um, talk about snow removal and
some of those things (mumbled) future agenda item. But, that....
Mims: Been there, done that, Bruce!
Teague: but this isn't (laughter) this isn't (several talking) No, this doesn't relate to that.
Throgmorton: You'll get a solid chance to do that in another month and a half or two (laughter)
Teague: Yeah, probably when you're gone, right? (laughs)
Fruin: You'll get a chance before then! Council had requested before the winter season,
uh, this coming winter season that staff review (mumbled) review with you our
snow removal practices and our snow removal policies, uh, particularly focused
on sidewalks and intersections downtown. So we're close to presenting that in a
information packet and I suspect you'll wanna look at that and offer any thoughts
to us before.... before winter hits here in a few more months!
Throgmorton: Good deal! Hearing no further discussion, roll call please. Motion carries 7-0.
Could I have a motion to accept correspondence please?
Teague: So moved.
Salih: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Teague, seconded by Salih. All in favor say aye. Opposed. Motion
carries.
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15. Council Appointments
15.a. Board of Adjustment
Throgmorton: We have one applicant for that position, his name is Gene Chrischilles, and Gene
served a five-year term, ending on December the 31 st of last year. So ... uh....
Mims: (both talking)
Throgmorton: He's still eligible, is he not? I mean, cause he's been off the commission for ...nine
months.
Dilkes: I can't remember how that resolution reads.
Mims: I think we could, but I think our intent has been to try to give new people an
opportunity when we've had somebody who's served a long period of time, we've
typically have kind of tried to wait and see if we can get some other applicants, to
give other people an opportunity. So, I would suggest that we not appoint tonight.
Um, I don't know if that means that we need to do another advertising for this or
not, but .... I, my concern is that we end up, particularly on some of these that are,
if you will, not as popular, um, commissions that you, we end up getting the same
people serving over and over, cause other people just aren't as aware of them,
aren't.... really don't know what they are involved with, and I think we need to
make that effort with all of our commissions, to kind of rotate different
community members.
Throgmorton: So if we readvertised, uh, the advertisement would go out when?
Fruehling: Um ... technically when we start counting days, it's from when Council announces,
uh, but it'd probably get in the paper by...Monday at the latest, Monday, Tuesday.
Throgmorton: Typically there's how much time (both talking)
Fruehling: (both talking) ...30 days.
Throgmorton: Thirty days ... okay, so (both talking) All right, so we'd have ... what is it, six weeks
or somethin' like that.
Fruehling: Probably put it back on for appointment November 4th if there's applications.
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Throgmorton: All right. So, uh, would y'all prefer to defer action on this and to re .... readvertise
and, uh, consider the applications, at....at the (noise on mic, difficult to hear
speaker)
Thomas: Not for too long though (several talking)
Throgmorton: Yeah, yeah we don't want the Board of Adjustment to be a four -person Board of
Adjustment, cause (both talking)
Taylor: We could reconsider him if we don't get any other applicants, cause he .... he really
only served the one term, which it's been a year since that term is over, so ... uh,
I....
Mims: How long are the terms on there?
Throgmorton: Five (several talking)
Salih: And we been giving people, even after I just being seen you k now when we get
more applicant you give that person another chance. Why would we just go ahead
and (both talking)
Throgmorton:... few times for sure (several talking)
Salih: If we do it for other applicant, we should do it for this one. You already put his
application and we should do it.
Throgmorton: And .... and I think the, you know, our policy does not prohibit one reappointment,
or you know, one .... a second term, right? So we do have a choice. So .... we
could do what Susan has suggested, and which I just repeated, or do what you're
advocating, Maz. So, how many favor what Maz (both talking)
Thomas: Well if it's only one term that he's served, then I think, you know, we've talked
about not serving more than two consecutive. It's only the one then .... I think we
could appoint him now.
Throgmorton: All right, there are two people, so....
Salih: Three.
Cole: I'll support him.
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Throgmorton: Four.
Salih: Four. That's it!
Teague: I think, you know .... to Susan's point, we have .... tried to get new, you know,
people on these boards and commissions, and I agree with that system. I think
right now, um, what Maz is saying is, you know, we've done it in the past. I ... I
mean I'll go ahead and support this guy, but um....
Salih: We done it especial for Human Right Commission. We have a lot of new
applicant, lot of new people interesting, and you guys choosin' to appoint another
person for re-election. Then if we can do that for one person, we can do it for the
rest.
Teague: Yeah. So I'll support it. You know, I would have wished there had been more
applicants, and we don't wanna just choose an applicant. We want someone who
is, um, that definitely seems interested and uh, has the ability to be on whatever
they're applying for, but I'll go ahead and support this.
Throgmorton: Okay, so it's clear there's a majority preferrin' to do that. So could I have a motion
to appoint Gene Chrischilles to the Board of Adjustment, effective immediately
upon appointment. Yeah.
Salih: Okay, move.
Teague: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Salih, seconded by Teague. All in favor say aye. Opposed. Motion
carries.
15.b. Climate Action Commission
Throgmorton: We're gonna, uh, the motion is to appoint six active Climate Action Advisory
members in accord with the resolution establishing the Climate Action
Commission, Item 13. (both talking)
Mims: Can I ask .... I'm sorry!
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Throgmorton:... to the following terms. So three would be appointed for two years with terms
ending at the end of 2021, and three would be appointed for one-year terms,
ending 2020, the end of 2020. And the ... the latter set of three members may be
appointed, well no. Those, yeah those ... the latter group of three members could
be appointed for two additional three-year terms, according to this. And the terms
take effect immediately. Sorry, so....
Mims: No, I didn't mean to interrupt you, I'm sorry! I didn't find that in my packet
anywhere. And I've gone back online.
Fruehling: It's just a ... on the agenda. Cause it's current members that are interested (both
talking)
Mims: Okay.
Fruehling: My understanding is, I think Brenda's gonna have the appointed positions fill out
applications so that we have (both talking) demographics for the three other
positions that will be coming up.
Mims: Okay.
Throgmorton: I wanna clarify... sorry, were you finished?
Mims: No, I just (mumbled) just clicking through on each of the things so I didn't see it,
that's why. Okay! Thank you.
Throgmorton: Need clarification on one point. I just read this sentence: These three members
may be appointed for two additional three-year terms. So that would be the three
members who would be appointed for one-year term initially. Is that ... is that the
intent, right? (several responding) And there's no objection to that, right, cause
that's equivalent to being able to serve no more than two consecutive terms. Yeah.
Salih: (unable to understand)
Monroe: Right. So there are, having these members being appointed and having them have
the experience of being on the initial steering committee, they may opt for a one-
year term or they may choose to .... to reapply and be reappointed, for one or more
terms.
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Taylor: And then somebody started to ... uh, ask as far as the three others, cause didn't we
propose nine members?
Dilkes: You're gonna advertise (both talking)
Taylor: Oh, that's right! Climate Action Committee, very good. Thank you.
Throgmorton: I wanna name the individuals, cause we typically do name people who are being
appointed. So the .... the active members seeking appointment, and who would be
appointed if we approve this, are Matt Krieger, John Fraser, Eric Tate, Katie
Sarsfield, G.T. Karr, and Grace Holbrook. So, could I have a motion to approve
these six people to the Climate Action Commission?
Salih: Move!
Mims: Move.
Throgmorton: Moved by..Salih, seconded by Mims. All in favor say aye. Opposed. Motion
carries.
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17. Announcement of Vacancies — Previous
Salih: I just wanna say something about (mumbled) one second. I know that there is one
position now on the Human Right Commission. If there is a way for people who
apply to be contacted before we reject them, if there is a way they can know about
this?
Fruehling: Um, if their application is within that one year from when they applied. They do
get notification that there is an opening and if they no longer wanna be in the
applicant pool they can just reply to that email and we'll take'em off the list.
Salih: Okay. Thank you. Yeah.
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18. Community Comment
Throgmorton: Go ahead, Austin!
Wu: Hello there again, um, Austin Wu, UISG City Liaison. Uh, let's see the only thing
I have of note is that first round of mid -terms are in full swing, so uh, good luck to
everyone stuck with those. Uh, myself included! Uh, there is one event, uh, I'd
like to bring up. Um, the University of Iowa student gardeners will be hosting
their fall open house this Saturday, um, 5 October from 1:00 to 3:00 P.M. Um, it
will be at the student garden on Hawkeye Park Road by the tennis/recreation
complex. You can take the Hawkeye (mumbled) bus there. Uh, according to the
Facebook event it will be, uh, there will be yard games, scarecrow mini -pumpkin
making, scavenger hunts, and snacks, uh, it just looks really wholesome and, uh,
especially with all the sustainability, and of course in terms of local food
production and promoting (mumbled) pushing for a garden on the east side, close
to campus by (mumbled) So, uh, I'd recommend checkin' it out. It seems pretty
neat. That's all I have.
Throgmorton: Great, thanks, Austin.
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19. City Council Information
Throgmorton: Could we start with Susan and move to the right.
Mims: I have nothing.
Throgmorton: Pauline?
Taylor: Uh, I don't really have anything either and I would like to actually defer. There
are a couple of really exciting events coming up this weekend and I'm going to
defer to,uh, when it's Mazahir's turn, for her to talk about them.
Teague: Um, on the 19th of September, um, Bob Welsh was honored by the Johnson
County Board of Supervisors as just bein' someone that has been a hero for, uh,
various populations, includin' the, uh, elderly, disabilities community, and Bob
Welsh is just a .... a guy that has been in our community, really supportin' a lot of
people. Uh, it was a great event. I know that the Mayor was there, as well as, uh,
Mayor Pro tem, Pauline Taylor. It was awesome to ... to witness that day, uh,
honorin' Bob. On the 24th, um, somethin' that Bob orchestrated, um, I was able to
go to .... and drive seven individuals in a 15 -passenger van (laughs) um, elderly
individuals down to the State capitol and we were in the Council chambers and,
um, it was with OIL. OIL is Older Iowa's Legislators, and they go into chambers
and they leave with some priorities that they submit, um, for our legislators,
advocating for elderly people. That was really great to witness and be a part of.
There .... there are going to be some great things that have been suggested. Um, I
also last ... uh, Thursday and Friday had the opportunity to go to, um, Dubuque,
Iowa, where it was the Iowa League of Cities, and the Mayor mentioned a little
bit earlier about that. That was a great experience. There were lots and lots of,
um, cities and city, um, council, city mayors, city staff, uh, that was there. It was
great to witness. Um, some of the things that we take for granted, um, some of
these cities are actually strugglin' with. There was a, um, a seminar that I attended
and I thought, you know, maybe I'll be able to learn something. But it was really
about .... I don't have the official title of the seminar, but it talked about how to
start.... rental building codes. So there's some communities out there that don't
have, you know, they have some real struggles with how to start the rental
agreements and the rental codes within their community, as well as some
determinant, well what is considered a rental? You know, someone owns the
property. So it was a great event. I loved every minute of it. Met a lot of people.
And hope to go back in the future!
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Salih: Okay! I have only two really exciting event, as Pauline Taylor said. Uh, one of
them is on the 5th, which is Saturday, at 5:30. We have, CWJ have the annual
fundraising event, The Gala, at uh.... Un ... Unitarian University Society Church,
and I guess, uh, this is on (unable to understand) in, uh, Coralville. This event is
really nice event. We have a lot of good activity and food and different kind of
food from different countries, uh, which is really great. The ticket is $50 and you
are not (unable to understand) money because the, beside you are helping low
wage worker, you know, empowering the low wage workers so they can identify
issues in the community and organize around them and solve it. You also gonna
eat very nice food there! And Sudanese food and Mexican, a lot good food there!
And this is on Saturday. On Sunday we have this really event called Connecting
Iowa to Sudan. Since we have really growing population of Sudanese here in
Iowa City, and also there is many thing going in Sudan right now as a country, but
there is exciting (unable to understand) first time in 65 year now they transferring
the government from military to civilian, and we have this speaker who's coming
all the way from Sudan and he choose three state, one of them is Iowa! He
choose to go to Washington, D.C., California, and Iowa, which is exciting. He
will come to speak on that day, would like to connect with the Sudanese
community and with Iowans, talk to them about what happen. This is really will
be an awesome event. It's free for the public. We encourage everyone to come.
We will have just like (unable to understand) immigrants, this is a way we can
connect those people together and build one community. Usually this happen
when you understand the culture for other people, which is gonna be through art
and music and dance. We have a lot of good exciting things, plus you gonna learn
more about Sudan! I encourage everyone to come to this event. It's at St. Patrick
Church, on the 6th of October, Sunday, which is at 6:00, from 6:00 to 9:00. You
can leave at any time, but come at 6:00, and that's all. I encourage everyone to
come over! It's free and (mumbled) Yeah!
Cole: I'm just gonna reemphasize it's the Iowa City Book Festival, from October 2nd
through October 6th. So there's a lot of good events to check out, um, the
lowaCityCityofLiterature.org and urn .... even though this is not our assigned
boards and commissions, I just wanna indicate that our Mobile Home Task Force
is continuing to meet, and um, we're gonna meet on Monday, uh, October 14th, to
come up with a final set of recommendations relatively soon. So ... stay tuned!
Thomas: I just have (clears throat) one previous event, back in September on the 20th, uh,
the ... DVIP had their 40th anniversary, uh, in Coralville, celebration and uh, Deb
Tallon gave the keynote, which is probably one of the more moving keystones I
have ever heard. Of course, you know, the subject matter is a very emotional one,
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uh, but she was just remarkable, and uh, Linda McGuire gave a wonderful,
entertaining history of the organization as well. So it was a .... a very impressive
event for a very impressive organization within our community.
Throgmorton: (several talking) ...started this, right? All right, I'll just mention a couple things,
and then I have .... I have a little surprise for people here so .... hang loose! At the
Iowa League of Cities meeting, one of the things I had a chance to do was attend a
workshop titled "Strategies for High -Achieving Women in Local Government
Leadership." And I found it really very useful and informative and inspiring. The
room was packed, mostly with women. I think there were, I don't know, four or
five men in the room, and the speaker provided all sorts of advice and engaged in
discussion with people about how to be more effective, how to, you know, how to
play the leadership role, uh, if. ... if you are, what you are, a high -achieving
woman. How .... how to do that best. And I .... I, it might be worthwhile to ask her
to come down here, but we have a lot of effective, high -achieving women here
(laughs) so I don't know. It was a really very good workshop. And, uh, I don't
know .... I'll mention one other thing. Uh, the Iowa, as I said in the proclamation I
read earlier, the Iowa Chapter of the American Planning Association is going ... is
holding its annual conference here later this, you know, next week. So they're... I
think it starts, I think it starts Wednesday and runs through Thursday, and maybe
Friday, I'm a little confused about exactly when it starts but later next week, and
there are like 30 sessions that will be part of that event. But, for me personally,
gotta be personal sometimes, the big news for me was: to da! ! The birth of my
second grandchild (several giving congratulations, applause) Isabelle Elaina
Throgmorton, and she is now seven days old. I was very excited (laughter) sure
you folks had a chance to (mumbled) (several talking in background)
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20. City Staff Report
Throgmorton: We could tum to Geoff.
Fruin: Can't top that, Mayor! I'll pass! (laughter and several talking in background)
Throgmorton: Ashley? (mumbled)
Monroe: (several talking)
Throgmorton: Full disclosure, I purchased this at the yogurt place on the ped mall, at the
intersection of Dubuque and College Street. Oh I wanted this to go out in the
audience, yeah (several talking) It's a community endeavor. (several talking and
laughing) Ashley, do you have anything to say?
Monroe: I .... I can't top that. Congratulations!
Throgmorton: Eleanor?
Dilkes: Congratulations, I'm jealous!
Throgmorton: Thank you! Kellie?
Fruehling: It doesn't top that, but since I have a captive audience, um, I (several talking and
laughing) I ... I wanna make sure that ... I'm still trying to pin down a date for the
listening post. Does it still work...
Mims: Let me look at what you sent. I'll get back to you tomorrow.
Fruehling: It does take about three days to hear back from the District on the room, so .... it
kind of messes up (both talking) Okay, and Maz, you'll check .... I sent an email
about the listening post?
Salih: What?
Fruehling: About the listening post, if you could check the dates and....
Salih: I send you (both talking)
Fruehling: I sent it again this week (several talking in background)
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Salih: I will see it, but you know 6:00 work better for me.
Fruehling: Okay! (both talking) Okay. (several talking)
Throgmorton: Okay, folks, I think we're done. Could I have a motion to ddjourn please?
Teague: So moved.
Salih: Move.
Throgmorton: Moved by Teague, seconded by .... Salih. All in favor say aye. Opposed. Motion
carries.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council
regular formal meeting of October 1, 2019.