HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-04-18 Transcription Page 1
Council Present: Alter,Bergus,Dunn,Harmsen,Taylor,Teague,Thomas
Planning& Zoning Commission: Craig,Elliot,Hensch,Townsend,Wade
Staff Present: Fruin,Jones,Kilburg, Goers,Fruehling,Platz,Knoche,Havel, Sovers, Seydell-
Johnson,Hightshoe,Morris,Nagle-Gamm,Fleagle
Others Present: Zeimet,USG Liasion,LeFevre,Alternate
1. Consultation with Planning& Zoning Commission Regarding JJR Davis Second Addition
and JJR Davis Fourth Addition Rezoning
Teague: Uh,welcome to the City of Iowa City work session for April 18,2023.And our first agenda item
is a consultation with the Planning and Zoning Commission regarding JJR Davis Second addition
and JJR Davis Fourth addition rezoning. So I want to welcome our P&Z commissioners,um,and
I'll just have you go around and just state your name,uh, for the record.
Townsend:Billie Townsend.
Hensch:Mike Hensch.
Elliot:Maggie Elliot.
Craig: Susan Craig.
Wade: Chad Wade.
Teague: All right,welcome to all of you. Super ha-happy that you were able to make it here with us
today.As you know,our last meeting council had a discussion while this was on our formal
agenda. And before I can close public-the closing of the public comment.Um,I asked the
question to council if they were inclined to vote with P&Z, and at that time,um,they were not
inclined to vote with P&Z,the majority of council,which allowed us to get to this opportunity to
talk to you all today. So,uh,typically,I think we just ask our P&Z to open up with some words
and then we'll go from there.
Hensch: I'll just go ahead and start.Uh, as I know you're aware of the Planning and Zoning Commission's
vote was unanimous in approval of the application. Our fimction is to ensure that the
comprehensive plan is followed,that the zoning ordinances are followed and the zoning-rezoning
is in the best interests of the City. And those are the three criteria we looked at. And unanimously,
we agreed that they were. As you're well aware of,this-this land has been rezoned several times
in the past,is only several years ago.It-it was formerly zoned. So this-what this is really doing is
just returning get to its former zoning. One thing that's very difficult about this is,um,the-part of
the family is opposed to this rezoning and part of the family are the applicants for this rezoning.
So it puts us in a very difficult and uncomfortable position, so I just think that needs to be
acknowledged. The current use of the land when you go out and drive there and of course,the
vista's spectacular.It's a great view.When you drive out there,you see the land currently is used
as residential. It's in agriculture production. There's raw crops that are planted there. And its
mowed turf. I don't-I don't see any signs of habitat or wildlife areas being developed. So I noted
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in some of the letters that were submitted that was an argument,but it's not currently being done
anyway. One con-another concern was about,um,the lighting certainly is a valid thing,but in
our ordinances,we have currently downcast lighting is required,and the council can- as a
condition to the rezoning,can make it more stringent for downcast lighting to eliminate even
more of that possibility,so that someday in the fixture,because keep in mind,there's no agreement
with the City that this will ever become a park,my understanding is,and since it's going to the
children and then the grandchildren,we could be talking decades before this happens. Then the
other area to con- consider is,is this consistent with the area,the uses in the area?And it certainly
is because there's intensive commercial to-well,everybody knows what's in that area. So
everything to the east,into the North. There's the airport there. And so this rezoning for intensive
commercial certainly makes consistent with the neighborhood and consistent with the uses that
would necessarily-that would be forecast to be around an airport to support an airport-airport
operation. So me as one person who voted for this,I think it was pretty easy vote for me.Um,I
think it's returning it to its former zoning. I don't even see this as a particularly difficult vote.I
thought it was pretty straightforward and that's just looking at,I understand you have to look at
things politically,we just look at it strictly what our charge is.But through our charge,I thought
it was pretty straightforward.And I voted for the rezoning last time and I support it again this
time because I've been on the commission long enough now that we've had this rezo-rezone this
a couple of times. And we've heard the same argument,uh, from people both times.But the
previous rezoning was proved by planning and zoning and was approved by City council. So
thank you very much.Billie.
Townsend:Well, and of course,I couldn't see a reason not to vote for it because of the location. You're
right by the airport.Uh,the only commercial property that's there's Pip Printing. Um,I just-I just
couldn't see any reason not to have other,um,commercial,uh,properties in that area.Um,it
seems like a waste of space since there's no-no homes in that area,on that land.
Elliot: Following up on Billie,I would say that since there is no developments, since Pip went in in 2007
and it was rezoned to COT,so leaving it as it is leaves the land undeveloped-not undeveloped,
but underdeveloped. Um,so.
Craig: It was an- it was a unanimous vote from the P&Z Commission. And I agree with everything that's
been said here. It just seems it was not a hard vote for me either.It just makes sense. The land
was one way it got rezoned,hoping for development to happen. Development did not happen.
Here's an opportunity to put it back the way it was and have development in the City of Iowa
City,which seems like a good thing to me.Um,I think you can-you know,I understand the
concern about the lighting and-and what may potentially someday be a public space that Iowa
City residents and others can go to.But the land is never gonna be owned by the City of Iowa
City,and all of that land was owned by one family. And as Mike said, some of them chose to sell
land and some of them have chosen not to up to this point.But I-I just-it makes- it was an easy
vote.
Wade:Um,in addition to what my other fellow chair people expressed,I mean,I understood the
stewardship of the land,by it being family ground. Um,but being out there,uh,it does have
great views,but also there is a drastic elevation change between the piece of ground that's getting,
uh,requested re-rezoned versus the surrounding area.But the surrounding area being a higher
elevation versus this,uh,this piece. So,uh,considering the use the neighborhood businesses
across the street,it seemed to make the best sense and opportunity to make it,uh,to develop it
into something.
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Teague: Thanks to all of you.As you may know,I did not close the public hearing,so we'll be hearing
from more of the public tonight,uh,on this matter. Council can certainly,um,ask any questions
of P&Z. I would just advise you,um,to maybe allow for the public to come forth before you state
your final positions.
Teague:But if anyone has any questions for our commissioners,now will be the opportunity to do it.
Alter: I know that it's in the paper. Sorry.Um,I know that it is,ah,in our memos,but can you repeat as
you started off,it was very helpful,the-the three considerations that you had?
Hensch: Um,our obligation is planning and zoning commission,because we don't look at things
politically,that's your folks'responsibility. So ours is-is this consistent with the comprehensive
plan that's been approved by planning and zoning in City council previously,which includes the-
the di-the sub-district plans,the district plans. Then is this rezoning application consistent with
the zoning ordinances as they are?And then lastly,is this in the best interests of the City-of the
City,as in total?Almost every rezoning neighbors have been doing this for eight years and
almost always the neighbors are opposed to it because it's a change there. This is not,no one
wants a change in their life. So you always have to look at is this better for this City? So those are
the three criteria we use.
Alter: Thank you.
Bergus:Mike,you had mentioned that you had heard these same arguments before and this has come
before you when you were seated on the commission twice.Wh-what specifically was that
rezoning?Was it other adjacent ground or when it went to?
Hensch: It was the same parcel of land,and it's been rezoned a several times, so we changed it to
commercial office.And now it's going back to commercial-intensive commercial,because now
there are more categories of permissible and,ah,possible uses under commercial-intensive
commercial.
Bergus: Can you just speak to the-the arguments that you were referencing that you would have heard at
that first-the rezoning at that point?
Hensch: They are pretty much the same and absolutely sympathetic to them that once upon-that once in-
in the fixture,we're hoping that this will become a City park. It's already been to the Iowa natural
heritage trust. I don't know if I have that right,the title, close enough.But that's going to be who
possesses the land,that eventually it'll become a City park.But it could also be a County park or
some other kind of park But it was really the same thing about lighting,about the view,and then
about recreational uses for that property in the fixture.
Bergus: Thank you.
Craig: And when you talk about the view,the view is going to be out over the airport and over the
lowlands by the river. You're not going to be looking behind you,which is the peak of where the
street is. The-you know,as Chad said,the elevation,you're-this piece is much lower. The slope
goes down quite a bit, so-
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Thomas: Are you saying that the principal views are to-toward the-toward the airport toward the east?Is
that-is that what you're-
Craig: Into the lowlands.You're not-you don't-you're not going to go down in a hole and look up at the
street.You're not going to look back that way,which would be to the west and-to the west,yeah,
and to the north,which is where-west and north is where all the development is right now.
Teague: Does anyone recall any discussion relating to,um,what is permitted and what's provisional or
special exceptions,um, for the intensive commercial use?Are there any discussions about what
might potentially be there and,um-
Craig: Staff- in our materials,staff put a great table to simplify it for us. There,Mike has it, so he can set-
and-and we're very good about answering just that question for us, so-
Hensch:Because one thing that's always a very strong concern because we feel like we've had a bait and
switch or two in the past where somebody will come propose a project for the rezoning. And we
got the understanding that they were going to follow through with that project when it was
rezoned, so now we're always very keen to pay attention to that.Anything that's allowable use
under that rezoning could go there,either immediately or some time in the future. So the intensive
commercial is a much more long- a much longer list than the off- commercial office.
Teague: And you-all had discussion and there was no,um-
Craig: That's correct.
Teague: Okay. Great. Thanks.
Townsend:I mean,my pick was going to be a restaurant,but,you know,it's not my property.
Hensch: If my memory is correct,the last time we rezoned that a number of years ago,it was going to be
for a medical office building or a medical warehouse or something for the University. You
weren't here yet,Ann,but that's what the project proposed was.And then that never came to
fruition. And so the concern was about trucks delivering supplies and equipment and then
lighting. Those are some issues brought up,um,by the neighbors.
Wade:I think in this case,like,the rough draft was more of kind of your automotive type use,ah,
considering their ownership of-of the property,but again,not limited to]o.
Harmsen: Since you have some historical background,I'm wondering so the proposed-the lo- for the
proposed change is to the,um,I guess, it would be kind of the Northwest of the George Dane
property,um,but there are the lots that are to the-more to the south and southwest are already
commercial intensive.Do you recall when- or does anybody was perhaps on the commission at
that time, ah,when those were changed to commercial intensive one,was there opposition to that
at that time,or is that too far back?
Hensch: I think that's too far back I've been on the longest and I don't have any knowledge of that.
Carig: I mean,it makes sense. It's a very commercial part of town.I mean,it is all commercial right in
there.
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Teague: Any final comments from commissioners or council?
Teague: I want to thank you-all for spending your early evening with us,and I'll wish you a great evening.
Thanks for coming.
Hensch: Thank you very much. And thank you for serving the citizens of Iowa City. Sometimes I'm sure
you're not told thank you and it feels kind of painful sometimes. So we do appreciate what you
do.
Teague: Thank you. And we appreciate what you-all do. That's-we know that that is heart work,not hard
work,but heart work. Thank you.
Townsend:And I hope we've answered the questions that you had.
Teague: I appreciate that. Thank you.
Teague: All right. And I am going to recess our work session. At this time,we will come back to it,um,
ah, a little later.Ah,I'm going to transition us to the City of Iowa City special executive session
on April 18,2023.
[Recess]
2. Clarification of Agenda Items
Teague: We're going to return back to our work session for April 18,2023.We had took a recess. We are
on to item number 2,which is clarification of agenda items.
3. Information Packet Disucssion (April 6,April 13I
Teague: We're going to move on to item number 3,which is Information packet April 6th.
Bergus: I just know IP2,which is the deer management annual report,I guess,if that's correct.Um,and
just,again,we've gotten several comments recently about the proliferation of deer in our
community. So reminding folks that we are prohibited from sharp shooting or really kind of
trying to limit the deer population in any proactive way,um,but I didn't know if staff had any
updates. I feel like every time we talk about this,it's what can we do?Where are we at?We've
got two more years on this.
Fruin:Ah,one more; is that correct. So we'll be meeting internally,ah,this-this summer to-to think
about our next application to the state and,ah,hopefully,working cooperatively with-with them
on-on,ah,um,another five-year plan that will help us get in front of the deer population a little
bit,but as it stands right now,we're doing one more year of-of bow hunting next year and hope
to build on the success we had this year. We did increase quite a bit,not enough to,ah,meet our
population control goals,but we-we did have some success in boosting our bow hunting numbers
this year.
Teague:Moving onto information packet April 13th.
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Bergus: I would just highlight the,uh,IP 5 the memo relating to,um,residential development and the
lack of,um,supply,I guess.I was gonna say-
Alter: Fairly alarming.
Bergus: Yeah.Yeah. So I think the takeaway is just for us to really keep that in mind when we're looking
at opportunities for adding supply.
Taylor: Sometimes,I think we as a council don't have a lot of control over that. It's what the developers
bringing to us and I would just encourage them to keep these-these data and mine too and bring
those things to us.
Alter: Actually,I have a question for staff. Is there- are there any additional thoughts or takeaways that
we should have in mind out in-in addition to the-the memo-what the memo outlines?
Fruin:Um,no,I-I think the memo does a good job of-of summarizing it,and you're right,we don't
always have control.We have-we have some significant areas in town in which we are fully
prepared from an infrastructure standpoint to serve more,uh,but you may have landowners that
just aren't ready to sell,right?Um,so some of it is within our control and some of it's not and it
does ebb and flow as you can see in some of those,uh,um,historical charts. Uh,but we also,
when you do get proposals in front of you,you have to kind of balance that need for supply,uh,
versus some of the other things that came up,which may be neighborhood objections,design,
housing mix,you know,and the pursuit of perfection. Sometimes,we can-uh,sometimes look
past those supply issues and-and those are-um,it's critical balance to-to keep in mind.And then
just that reminder,I think the memo does a good job of talking about this. We are in a regional
housing market and,um,uh,people do have choices outside of Iowa City. So if we're not
encouraging that supply and embracing that supply in the way we want to see our community
develop, and we just have to know that that demand is going to fmd,uh,paths and other
communities.
Alter: Thank you.
Bergus:Mayor on IP 4 there are pending work session topics,uh,couple of things I'm just wondering
about like timing of getting things on fixture work session agendas on the one relating to
opportunities to utilize the CRANDIC right-of-way. Um,I know we got,uh,responses to the RFP
for a study that the MPO-RFP that the MPO put out. So maybe I don't know if staff can kind of
keep an eye on that and see when we might be able to get even a really brief update on how those
came back,um,or if that's something that should just be at MPO,and we can talk about it there
and report out. That would be fine too,but just flagging that as maybe something upcoming.
Teague: Sure.Yeah I-I think you can-because you're on the MPO,you can give us an update and then
certainly if you feel like it's something we need to discuss as a body-
Bergus: Okay.
Teague: And we can make that determination at that time.
Bergus; Great.
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Fruin:A couple of things just so you know,where staffs mind is on-on pending. A couple of things we're
really working to try to get in front of you in the next month or two would be the zero fear
scenarios. Ideally,we're going to try to get that to you and your second meeting in May,we'll
have to kind of see if we can pull everything together. Um,the other one that I think,uh,um,
would be good,er,and just in terms of allowing staff to proceed with a pretty-pretty big effort is
on under other the-under the other topics category,excuse me,the lead private water service line
replacement.We'd like to present to you on that issue and talk about,uh,some proposals for
strategies to mitigate private,um,water lead-water service lines that may contain lead in our
community. So those are a couple of the bigger ones that we're trying to frame up for you. Of
course,you-you can prioritize as you as-as you see fit too.
Bergus: The only other one I wanted to ask about as far as timing was,um, after our budget discussion
last meeting,talking about the plan to restructure the police and bringing that back to the
forefront. I don't know when folks are willing to have that conversation?
Teague: Certainly,we plan to figure out our next couple of hours sessions. This one of course was filled
as you know,but we'll-
Begus: Yeah.
Teague:Make sure that we,um,kinda have that and have some presentation from information gathered
from staff before we bring that.
Bergus:Excellent. Thank you.
Teague: All right. Any other item from April 13th?
Alter: I just wanted to bring up,um,IP 6,which was the,um,results of the,uh, survey and the work that
LaTasha DeLoach did on the Senior Center.And,um,just to say what an amazing,uh,gathering
of information and to-to make it so digestible was-um,is much appreciated and,uh,I-I thank
everybody for- for taking the time to respond and,um,make their voices heard.
Teague: Great.
Alter: I think it's very interesting.
4. University of Iowa Student Government(USG)Updates
Teague: All right. We're going to move on to Item Number 4,which is the University of Iowa Student
Government Updates.
LeFevre: Hi council.
Teague: Hello.
LeFevre: Um,we have a statement we kinda prepared here about something going on here, so I'm not
sure how informed you all are on the current speaker coming to the University tomorrow evening.
His name is Matt Walsh,and as a self-proclaimed theocratic fascist via his Twitter bio,speaking
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on behalf of Young Americans for Freedom.Uh,we figured you would probably hear about this
either through the Daily Iowan or The Gazette or anyone like that. Um,multiple groups across
campus including the University Democrats, Student Advocates for Planned Parenthood,Mock
Trial and many,many more,uh,have launched numerous statements against his appearance and
condemning it as hate speech.Uh,UI Pride House is also hosting various events surrounding
transgender rights throughout the week Uh,USG is planning to release a statement,uh,here in
the near fixture.Uh,otherwise,the Undergraduate Student Government follows in tandem with
University of Iowa,where hate and prejudice is not accepted on our campus.In lighter news
though,we are having Josh Peck from the Nickelodeon show,Drake and Josh come to UIowa
tonight,part of the lecture committee, so he is a good speaker coming. And then there will be a
ne-a new deputy City Liaison hopefully by next week. So you guys will meet them probably very
soon. So-
Zeimet: All right.Just a couple of announcements left here. Uh,last Wednesday of USG and other
campus partners went to the Iowa capital to lobby on behalf of the University.And it was a great
event where we could meet our representatives and advocate with the University.And then kind
of like a final message from me,I want to express my sincere gratitude to the ci-to the City
council and City staff for the incredible opportunity to serve as the City Liaison this past year has
been an absolute pleasure to work with such talented and dedicated group of individuals. And
together we were able to accomplish some amazing things like town hall. I'd love to give
acknowledgment to both Noah and Ellie for the great,uh,work they've done in all though my
time at City Liaison is coming to an end. I'm excited to see the work of Noah as the fixture City
Liaison,and I have no doubt,uh,that he will continue to build upon the progress we have made
and make even greater strides in improving the lives of students in our City. Thank you again for
the incredible experience.Uh,I've learned so much,and we carry these lessons in the fixture.
Thank you.
Teague: Thank you. And Keaton,we really appreciate you. Today is his last day in this role here at
Council Work Session.And so I have a certificate that I would like to give to you,and it states
the City of Iowa City present a certificate of appreciation to Keaton Zeimet for the thoughtful
contributions during the 2022 through 2023 year of service as the City Council Liaison and
Alternate Liaison from the University of Iowa Undergraduate Student Government,and for
demonstrating commitment to student participation on this 18th day of April 2023. Thank you
Zeimet: Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure.
5. Council Updates on Assigned Boards,Commissions,and Committees
Teague: All right. And we're going to miss you. So thanks for all that you've done.All right,we're going
to move on to Item Number 5,which is Council Updates on Assigned Boards,Commissions,and
Committees.
Teague: Hearing none. We're going to adjourn,uh,until our 6:00 PM formal meeting.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of April 18, 2023.