HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-12-12 Transcription Page 1
Council Present: Alter,Bergus,Harmsen, Salih, Taylor, Teague, Thomas
Staff Present: From,Jones, Goers, Grace, Platz,Havel, Sovers,Kilburg,Hightshoe,
Sitzman,Russett
P&Z Comm: Hensch, Craig,Elliot, Townsend
Others Present: LeFevre,USG
1. Joint meeting with the Planning& Zoning Commission
Teague: All right,well,we want to bring this meeting to order for the City of Iowa city work
session on December 12, 2023 is just after 4:00 PM. And our fust agenda item,well,
welcome to your City Hall,to everyone in the room. Uh,the fust agenda item is a joint
meeting with the Planning and Zoning commission. So, I see four of them before us
today, so welcome to each of you. Yes. And then,um, I know that the-um,the-the topic
that we're talking about is of interest to a lot of people in the room here as well. Uh,
maybe we'll just start,uh,just by once,just going around introducing all of the
commissioners. Just giving us your name.
Elliott: Maggie Elliott.
Craig: Susan Craig.
Townsend: Billie Townsend.
Hensch: And Mike Hensch.
Teague: Great. And from the Council,we really appreciate the work that you all doing.No-
realize that this is an extra, um,time that you all are serving the public even now so thank
you for that.Now,you-you're probably fully aware that the council wanted to have a
discussion and,um, I didn't know if any of you wanted to maybe start us out just to have,
um, sure.
Hensch: Why was in the minority it was a 4-3 vote and so I believe,uh, Commissioner Craig was
in the majority. So if you want to start off.
Craig: Um,you know,we had a long discussion about this. We had a lot of public input at the
meeting about it. Um,the staff recommendation was not to change the height limit. I
thought their arguments were persuasive. I think that if I can get this right, RNS-12 zone
has protections built into it that I feel were put there to protect the integrity of the
neighborhoods and that if used- if they use the tool they have,you're not gonna end up
with a building that is so out of keeping with the overall look and feel of the
neighborhood that it's put into. If you look at the,um, all the single family residential
zoning options,they're all at 35 feet. And I didn't think it was a compelling argument to
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say,well, if we put this at 27, it's going to save the neighborhood,which is the message I
felt I was getting from people. I- I feel that that designation already has tools built into it
for that purpose, and we didn't need to make the zoning code more complicated than it is
already. And I feel that those are the arguments that the people who-the four of us who
voted that way,that why put something to fix something that we have another tool to fix
and make it more complicated for all the people who have to enforce the zoning code.
Wade: And I voted for the 27 height limit,uh, for two reasons. One, I think it stabilizes the
neighborhood that there are,uh, a few- a sub-well, a few houses within the neighborhood
that aren't covered by the conservation or the historic district. So they will have no
protection. They have no protection. So that was,uh, I think that the older neighborhoods
are fragile and,um, a few- a few bigger buildings in the area will really destabilize the
neighborhood. So that was one of the reasons. The other reason was I think the height
limitation actually helps our goal of affordable housing. That it,uh,removes the incentive
for developers, speci- specifically real estate developers, for the university folks,um,to
come into the neighborhood. So I thought it helped us with affordable housing.
Townsend: Yeah. And I guess my vote not to change it from 27 to 35 is because that's an older
neighborhood,there are a lot of rentals in that neighborhood. Um,homes that could be
bought and torn down and turned into huge rentals,um,which would not be affordable.
The houses there now are rela- Iowa City is not affordable,period, so let's not fool
ourselves with that. But the things there are considerably reasonable. Um,but if we
leave- if we give that 35 foot hike to that neighborhood, I think it leaves you open to
more contractors coming in,buying up the homes, and putting in big units.
Hensch: Um, I actually have my notes I wrote the night of the-the meeting on this one. So,just a
little bit of background about R-um,RNS-12 zones. The issue is-the question was to
reduce maximum allowable height in RNS-12 zones from 35 to 27 feet. And the purpose
of the RNS-12 zones is to stabilize the single family residential character of those- of
neighborhoods, and it allows for single family in duplexes within those zones. RNS-12
zones were created in 1993 and the boundaries largely have not changed since 2007. And
there's really four primary reasons why I voted against,um,why I'm in favor of reducing
from 35 to 27 feet. Currently,properties within an historic or conservation overlay zone,
um, are largely protected from,uh, due to the regulations of the Iowa City Historic
Preservation Handbook on demolition and new construction. The new structures that are
created are limited to 1 1/2 and 2 stories and this protects the neighborhood from the 35
foot height in the super majority of the citywide RNS-12 zones. If you look at the
numbers,the tables,most of the RNS-12 zones or fall within a historic or conservation or
zone. So that is a question of consistency with me,that the majority of the homes, I mean
the minority of the homes,will have to be following the same rules as the majority of the
homes. Also, I believe homeowners should enjoy some predictability in their
fundamental,uh,neighborhood integrity, in its character. And also, if you'll look on the
north side, in particular,the lots are much narrower than throughout the rest of the
community. Another thing that was a really big issue with me is,uh,Bob Miklo,Robert
Miklo,he's our retired senior planner. And in 2005, during the zoning code rewrite,um,
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he-uh,that's when their RNS-12 zone was re-examined. And he said we chose not to
propose a reduction in the maximum height so as not to hinder walk out basements on
sloping lots. There's just very few numbers of properties,parcels where that would be an
issue. So it looks like that was seriously considered reducing the height a long time ago.
And because of those very few exceptions,the 35 foot was maintained. Uh, I think he
regrets that recommendation at this time. And also the recently approved South District
form based code restricts houses to two-and-a-half stories, so that largely parallels to 27
feet. So again, it's a question of consistency. Because of the historic and conservation
overlay zones,the South District form based code zones,they're all currently essentially
limited to that 27 feet. So it's a consistency issue. And then lastly,the S in RNS-12 is the
word stabilizes. The purpose is to stabilize and stabilize the number of owner occupied
affordable homes,um, in the north side, in particular that neighborhood. The character of
that is there's affordable homes largely at this time, although the trend is going against
that of having owner occupied homes within walking distance of downtown.And so we
want to stabilize the neighborhood,the character,the fundamental integrity of that
neighborhood. So we do have a neighborhood where it all doesn't turn into just
development, speculation and rental homes, and those are my reasons for,uh,voting for
the reduction from 35 to 27 feet.
Teague: Thank you all for your,uh,responses. Appreciated that. I just want to remind the
council that this is item Number 8A,uh, at our formal meeting tonight and we'll be taking
a vote at that time. So certainly we can engage in conversation,but,um, as always,we
will want to wait for the public to come before us before we make our final decision. So I
just wanted to make mention of,uh, if people are ready to give a position statement,we
know that we're going to be hearing from others in the community,but this is an
opportunity if anyone has any questions for our Commissioners, certainly we-we can ask
those at this time.
Alter: This might be me going into the weeds a little bit and creating a pop quiz,but I'm trying
to,um, clarify my own notes. Um, from the memo it looks like there are 47 North side
properties not protected by historic or conservation overlay. Does that sound?
Hensch: It's a very low number, so that's-
Alter: It's a very low number.
Hensch: It's like 15 percent.
Alter: Right- okay,that-
Hensch: Either community wide or north side neighborhood wide, I'm not sure where I got that
15%but it's a very small number.
Alter: Okay,thank you. Yeah that's-that ties with what I have.
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Teague: What I will say is that, um, I actually watched your video, so a lot of the conversation
that you all had, I- I appreciated,you know,kind of the dialogue that you all,um,
engaged in. I- I really don't have any questions because you all made your points very
clear as to why you were supporting,uh, or not supporting and it's kind of complicated
because supporting 35 feet or supporting 27 feet,um, our agenda item is a little
complicated. But I think at the end of the day,you know, I hear,uh,the arguments for
and against and when I hear you say Mike, about the,you know,the South district form
based code of course predictability is something that I think happens in the South district,
um, and the form based code is what,you know,we're somewhat been leaning towards
throughout the entire community and predictability for not only the residents but the,um,
developers, staff, council members and commissioners is something that we talked about
when it came down to form based code, so they'll definitely be a few questions that I'll be
asking staff later today,um,but I appreciate you all coming and sharing this time with us
today.
Alter: Thank you.
Craig: Thank you.
Hensch: Thank you everybody. Goodnight.
Teague: Thank you.
2. Review of Chauncey and RISE processes to inform future 21 S. Linn plans
Teague: The next item on the agenda is review of Chauncey and Rise processes to inform future
21 South Linn plans. And I see Rachel Kilburg before us. Welcome.
Kilburg: I'm gonna get settled a little bit.
Teague: Okay. Great.
Kilburg: Okay. Well, good evening Mayor and City Council,uh,Rachel Kilburg Varley
Economic Development Coordinator. Uh, I'm going to be leading presentation tonight,
uh,but we'll invite Geoff to jump in if he has additional comments as we kind of go
through this. So, as you all know,we the City acquired 21 South Linn Street in August
with the intent to facilitate private redevelopment,uh, at that site, so really our goal just
in today's work session, is to kind of kick off this,uh,redevelopment process just by
reviewing,um,past projects that we have had experience facilitating that kind of
development. The Chauncey and Rise buildings are two of those examples of past public,
private redevelopments that we've engaged in, so those are two examples that we're
gonna focus on today. But first we'll kinda review the history of the 21-kinda the recent
history of the 21 South Linn site and how we came to acquire it. Um,talk a little bit about
what you might expect during that developer selection process and then we'll move into
reviewing those past project processes for The Rise and The Chauncey,uh,before we
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talk a little bit about moving forward and what the process might look like for 21 South
Linn. So just to kind of orientate you again and remind you of the site that we're talking
about, 21 South Linn is the now vacant lot at the corner of Washington and Linn Street,
so directly across from the Senior Center on the Linn Street side and then across from
kind of Daydream Comics, Chop House, The Englert on that Washington Street side.
This is just a street level view,you can see it kind of backs the Studio 13 entrance in that
alley and then adjacent to some of those smaller retail businesses on the west side.
Actually Redmond is making a cameo in this Google image screen shot,which is kind of
funny. Uh,but funny enough this 21 South Linn was actually home of the former City
Hall building so that's where City Hall stood,very cool looking buildings until 1962,uh,
when it was demolished and then it served as drive through banking, I think a number of
institutions or at least a couple perhaps had operated there but then in more recent years it
really just served as a surface parking lot for the downtown area. Just a quick review of
how again we came to acquire the site, so in October of 2021,um,US Bank was selling
the lot and CA Ventures which is a national student housing developer purchased the
property,um,they moved to demolish that existing building and the surface lot in
February of 2022 to get it prepped for their development in communicating with them at
this time, it was clear to the city that they didn't intend to request any sort of financial
incentives from us for their redevelopment project,uh,there was no rezoning, so really,
um, didn't anticipate a heavy level of involvement from the city. Uh,by September of 22,
they had a site plan approved for a mixed use 13 story building, about 266 student
housing units with some ground level retail and commercial space,uh, approved and,uh,
then that project, seemingly ready to move forward just never did,um,by the spring we
heard that they did not intend to move forward with the project and actually we're going
to be seeking to sell the-,uh,both the property and the building pla-building plan. So at
that time,um, then the ci-the city sought to acquire- acquire that property,you all City
Council approved that purchase agreement in July of 2023, and then we officially closed
on the property in August of 2023. So just thinking about,uh,the future of the site in the
short term,um, did want to mention that we do have a couple of major reconstruction
projects happening in the downtown this coming spring so the Dubuque Street
Reconstruction Project,um,kind of all within this block and then we'll be beginning
those exterior improvements on the Senior Center,uh, around that same time period.
Obviously,both have the potential to kind of disrupt some of the downtown traffic flow
parking and just those businesses, so we could anticipate that-that this kind of vacant lot
as it stands now might be a good staging area for some of those projects just to help
mitigate some of those traffic and parking impacts,um, at least in the short term and then
of course over the long term,um,the job before us is to-to kinda identify what that future
development will be and what the future use at that site will be. That brings me to,um,
just,uh,what we see as maybe that general overview for redevelopment process for 21
South Linn,uh,we're kicking things off tonight with just again reviewing how we've
approached private,uh,redevelopment projects in the past on land that we've owned,uh,
after this evening discussion,then we anticipate that we'd be able to start to develop a
public engagement plan,um, get that approved by you all,uh, execute that plan, compile
the feedback,bring it back to you,um, and hopefully have that wrapped up by the
summer so that we can really move into that phase of goal setting and identifying what
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we want in that RFP. Again getting some city council final approval on that RFP with a
goal of getting that issued,um,by September, October of 2024 and then of course, after
that we would move in to-to actually reviewing those RFP responses,um, and any
additional public input that might be needed at that time. So as we kind of start to get into
some of these examples,uh, one thing that I just wanted to maybe put on your radar is
just to think a little bit about,um,what that balance might be. And you'll see this in the
examples that we'll talk about ahead. Um,but what that balance is between making sure
that we're obtaining sufficient detail as we move through the redevelopment process
from,um,the-the respondents to the RFP, and also,um, ensuring that,you know,what
we're asking of them at that phase is appropriate for the phase that we're in. So,um, it's
really reasonable to expect or to-this kind of inverted triangle,uh, attempts to show that,
as that uh, developer- as the field of developer candidates kinda narrows,those proposals
will likely become more detailed,more refined as we move through the process. So you'll
see in these examples ahead that,um,many of these developers probably spent thousands
of dollars putting their initial proposals together. Um,they do have some skin in the game
too. And,uh, again, it's- it's important that we have the information that we need to make
decisions,uh,while also recommending,you know,recognizing what we're-we're asking
of them at that time. Maybe just a quick example to kind of demonstrate this. Um, so let's
say,uh, it's a sustainability,um, uh, feature that we're talking about in the initial RFP
response. The respondent may say these are some of the lead standards that we would
strive to include in our project. Then as you move into that finalist stage,they might,um,
decide to- or they may then commit to a certain lead certification that they would obtain.
And then by the time you reach that development agreement,um, it should be really
clearly laid out if- if they intend to obtain that lead certification and even maybe what
specific points they would anticipate scoring in that. So just to kind of give you an idea,
you'll see more examples ahead. Um, so that brings us to our fust example which is,uh,
The Rise. Um, so the RFP for this project was included in your information packet
entitled as the Court and Linn Street Project because that's the site which now of course
holds The Rise Student Housing and Hyatt Hotel. Um, so a s we go through this, I'm just
going to call it The Rise RFP, simply because that is,um,what-what we now know it as.
And,um,hopefully then everyone knows what we're talking about. So quick review of
that timeline. Um, so for The Rise that RFP was issued in May of 2014 and then
responses were due in July of 2014. Um, after those responses were received, in which
six proposals were received,um, a review committee,uh,reviewed those and selected
three that they then recommended to City Council. Um, and then in October of November
of 2014, council approved those three recommended proposals,plus they pulled in one
additional proposal from those six that the review committee hadn't recommended. Um,
and then all of those four semi finalists were invited to present and do a little Q&A with
the City Council at a work session in November of 2014. So following those
presentations,um,the City Council narrowed the-the field down to two finalists. And
then at that point,they actually requested a refined proposal from those two finalists. So,
um, staff kind of provided some feedback to those finalists. They were asked to submit a
revised proposal given a couple months to do that. And then again,the review committee
came back in,um,to help review those revised proposals and,um, develop a preferred
proposal recommendation for City Council. Um, so that came back to City Council in
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March of 2015. And then at that point, City Council went ahead and approved that
preferred proposal, and they also selected a runner up at that time. Um, and then after that
point,uh,they moved into developing,uh, and approving the development agreement,
making that land transfer,um, and then the developer was able to secure their building
permits,uh, get- get their site plans approved, all the typical,um, steps that they needed
to-to get to the point of beginning construction. So what we're focusing on today is just
what I have outlined in that red box,really just that developer selection process. Um, so
as I mentioned that RFP for The Rise is included in your information packet,um,but here
are just a couple,uh, of,uh,pages that might be of interest as you kind of think about
what an RFP might look like. So, um, I'll go over a lot of these examples over the next
several slides,but just wanted to identify a few of these,um, in case you wish to refer
back to them. So fust up, this is an example,um, of just some general community goals
that,uh,the council had identified in that Rise,RFP. So as you can see,these are high
level. They provide the overarching guiding direction for the applicants. Um, and this
would-these kind of goals would be established during that RFP development phase, so
you would kind of identify what objectives you hope to achieve um, and include those
general guiding goals as well as more specific,um,project goals. So,um, this is an
example of the,uh,project goals that were included in The Rise RFP. Um, and again,
these just provide a little bit more detail for those,um,RFP respondents to kind of help
craft their proposal and hopefully meet one or more,um,well,meet as many of these
goals as they can. So I won't go through all of these,but just a couple of examples that I'll
maybe call out. So that fust one there,um,just ide-just identifies that the proposal be
consistent with established master plans. In this case,the Downtown and Riverfront
Crossings master plan. It's linked in there so that,um, the applicants can review that and
make sure that what they're putting forward is in line with that broader vision. Um,
jumping down to number 5. Um,here they identify a minimum amount of office space
square footage that they'd like to see in the proposal. Um, and then in 6-8,they get into
any parameters that they have for residential uses that would be proposed. So they
identify that they'd like to target permanent residents. They kind of identify that desired
mix of workforce housing and affordable units,um, and just a couple other details in
there. Um, so then on page 9-10 of that Rise,RFP,you would find information that was
included about the zoning parameters for this site. So again,this is just to help
respondents understand upfront what are-what uses are allowed there and then any
important requirements that would be required alongside such uses. So here you can see
the photo on the left,uh, give examples of,um,uses that would be allowed with the C135,
it provides for a wide variety which are listed there. Um, and then you just give some
quick bullet points on,uh,the setback building height requirements, including the density
bonus in this district,um, and then any anticipated parking requirements. So all of this
information would be provided by staff based on that zone- current zoning designation.
Again,just so,uh,the respondents understand kind of upfront,uh,what would be
allowed here. Um, so also as,um,they would be developing that RFP,um, council would
need to establish kind of a review process. Um, and this should just be kind of a general
guiding framework for how projects,um, or proposals would be evaluated. So,um,really
the goal of this is just so that,um,both the council staff as well as the respondents,the
community, any other stakeholders,um,just have a transparent, consistent process that
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they can rely on moving forward. So this is an example of the review process that was
included in The Rise RFP,you'll see they kind of,um,built in a little bit of flexibility for
themselves,um,while maintaining,um,that guiding framework for how the review
would work going forward. Also recognizing until you see the quantity and quality of
what those proposals are,um,you may not necessarily know exactly how that review will
go going forward. Um, and then this RFP had actually also included scoring criteria,um,
pretty specific scoring criteria. So I'll show that on the next couple slides,um. That fust
one simply gets to the fact that they've submitted everything they need to. Uh,the second
one, developer experience and capabilities. Um, you can see this criteria gets to helping,
uh,the-the staff and council understand what types of projects the developer has
executed in the past. Um,what's their approach,their philosophy?Do they have the
ability to pull off the type of redevelopment they're proposing?Um, and then as we move
into number three,market and economic viability of the project. Um,these criteria kind
should demonstrate that the developer understands the landscape,the goals of the site.
They may be done their due diligence just to ensure that their proposal,um, is a good fit
and would succeed in our local market, and then just that they have a sound financial
standing and a realistic financing plan. Um,the next two,uh, long term fiscal benefits, so
this includes things like that initial proposed purchase price,uh,projected tax revenue,
other revenue they might generate,uh,jobs created. Uh,then that last one there is,um,
whether there would be any negative impact on adjacent properties. And then the fifth
one is,uh,whether the project further city goals. So here they hearken back to those
master-that Downtown Riverfront Crossings master plan that had been referenced earlier
in the RFP. And I think generally, as you look at these criteria,they-they did a good job
of,um,maintaining consistency with the other goals, objectives, and site requirements
that were,um, identified earlier in the RFP. So you kind of see that continuity and I think
it's- it's just a good practice example. Um, and then that last one is just a little bit of a
catch all. Um,but you can see here they even included the scoring at this stage,uh, in
the- in the RFP. And then-Uh, this is just a summary of the submittal requirements that
were requested in The Rise RFP so,um, if you want to see the more detailed list I'd point
you to page 12 of that RFP. Um, again,that was included in your information packet but
this list should just give you a good idea of what in general,um, is both important to ask
for in the RFP and again,reasonable to expect would be included in initial proposal. Um,
so again,this would be something that you all would approve during that RFP,kind of,
development stage in the process. Um, so,just a couple of things,um,you know
obviously description about,uh,that development group,you know,what their past
experiences,their financial capacity,um, details about the project,uh,the financing plan,
um,budget and some conceptual visualizations. We'll get into, uh, some examples that
show you,uh,what this actually looks like when they submit their proposal. So that's,
kind of,uh, a look at what that RFP,uh, or that request for proposals might look like.
Um, and then this is,uh,how that review process went in the case of The Rise. So,um,
that RFP was issued May 30 of 2014 and then it was due back July 14th of 2014. So
that's about a 45 day response period,um,which we think is probably a minimum a good
number. Um, after those proposals were received in which case as I mentioned there were
six received a review committee went ahead,reviewed those,they recommended three
semi finalists to present to City Council, City Council,uh, approved those three,brought
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in one more,um, and then,uh, a month later those four semi finalists were invited in.
They presented to City Council, did a little bit of Q&A,um, and then the City Council
was able to narrow the field down from those 4-2 finalists in December of 2014. Again at
that time they requested refined proposals. Staff,uh,provided feedback to those two
finalists,uh, in order to develop that refined proposal,um, given a couple months to do
that, and then in February of 2015,um,that review committee came back,reviewed those
refined proposals,recommended a preferred proposal,um,which city council approved
in March of 2015. So as you,kind of, look at this review process you can see,uh, at
which stages,um,you know, council,uh, consideration and approvals were happening.
And at which stages staff was,kind of,working with or facilitating with the developer to
help,kind of,move them to that next phase of consideration. Um, in the next couple of
slides, I'm going to actually get into examples of what an actual response to the RFP
looked like. So, in this case, I'm just going to show examples from The Rise,um,
proposal which was actually submitted by CA Ventures since that was,uh,the successful
proposal. Um, and again in this process since,uh, six applicants submitted their initial
proposal and if you were later asked to submit,uh, a more refined version I'm actually
going to show examples of kind of that,uh, initial verse revised to see-you can kind of
see again how that changed over the course of the process. So this is an example, I don't
expect you to be able to read all of this or,um, or anything like that but just to kind of I'll
just call out a few things just again, give you a general overarching idea. So on the left
hand side is what was,uh, some screenshots from their initial proposal and there you get
some,kind of,narrative descriptions of the project. You get some high level descriptions
of uses that would be,uh, included in the project. Um, and then in this case they,uh,plan
to have a hotel incorporated in the project and so they had some letters of interest from
hotels who might be interested,uh, in partnering. Um, and then on the right hand side the
revised proposal that's where you really start to see those details kind of sharpen up. So,
um,here they've included specific square footage allocations between the different uses,
retail, office,uh, residential,hotel, and then,uh,they have the residential units broken out
by unit mix, 1, 2, 3 bedroom and,um, affordability. And then they have a more refined
list of hotels,hotel operators, and other project partners who they expect to engage. So,
obviously,you know,there's still some changes from that revised proposal to what is
included in a final development agreement but again this just gives you kind of a general
idea of what you can expect as you move through the process. Um,here's another
example,uh, like I gave earlier on sustainability features. So,um, in that initial proposal
in this example,uh, The Rise developers had proposed using certain lead practices,um,
and described how their project would,uh, encourage pedestrian mobility. But then by the
time they,uh, got to that revised proposal you see a much more detailed list of energy
efficiency sustainability features, and then a stronger commitment,uh,to obtain a lead
silver,uh,rating and then it's,kind of, cut off in the photo but they actually include,kind
of,that rating scorecard and where they anticipate the point allocation would be. Um,
concept renderings are also,kind of,where you're more likely to see that detail get
refined as you go on. So,um,here in that initial proposal you get a generally good idea of
what the building form and scale will be,but then as you move into the revised proposal,
you get kind of that prettier picture. You get a better idea of what the architectural
features will be, and in general,just how the development would fit into that surrounding
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environment. Here's just another example from the aerial. Again,you can,kind of, see
how it shapes up into more of what actually came to fruition,uh,with the project we have
today. And then this is an example,uh,just from their initial proposal,uh, on The Rise.
These are just some general site layouts that they had included. They have some
conceptual square footages. Um, so to compare and contrast in this middle photo they
show a typical floor plan with unit sizes and it just shows residential and hotel units. Um,
but then by that refined proposal,uh,which you can see on this slide then you actually
get a floor plan for each floor. So then they start to bring in and show how those different
commercial office,uh,residential amenity spaces would also be incorporated,um, on
those floor plans. And then,uh, on the site layout you start to get a little bit more detail
with proposed setbacks. Um, and again,just a more refined concept that obviously is
more similar to what we have today. Um, so in the case of The Rise,uh,the developer
was not seeking any city financial assistance. So there was not a gap financing request,
uh, in this proposal,uh,but they were able to include an estimated budget pro forma.
They had included,uh,what they expected to generate in terms of tax revenue. Um,you
can see,uh, in that project summary screenshot,um,they,uh, included kind of what their
proposed,uh,uses would be in terms of hotel rooms and units and,uh, about 3,500
square foot for retail. We'll compare that with the next slide,um,where then you start to
get a lot more detailed version. So here they have much more refined square footage
numbers,you know,they double the amount that they're allocating to retail. You see that
25,000 come in for office space,um, and then they're able to even provide,uh,what they
anticipate the commercial lease rates and the hotel rates would be as well as on the
residential side they have that unit mix and affordability mix,uh,more fully fleshed out.
So you start to get a better picture here that helps their numbers sharpen up,um, and then
one of the big differences here too between that initial and refined proposal was,uh,they
had initially,uh,proposed a purchase offer of$5,000,000, and then in the refined they
bumped that up to 6.5 million. Uh,here's just one more example of how that,uh,tax
projection,uh, and analysis may be refined as that proposal itself is refined. So of course
as they understand more better what their uses are going to be. Um,that- so those are
kind of examples of the proposal responses. So you've seen what the RFP might look
like,what the responses might look like. Um,kind of,we already reviewed what that
review process looks like, and then really after that developer is selected,uh,you move
into that more,um, I don't know what the word is like traditional redevelopment phase.
So again, in this case,they hadn't,um,requested any TIF, so,um, they were able to move
much more quickly from that developer selection process to a development agreement.
So you can see at the bottom there the total time from when that RFP was issued to when
they selected a developer was about 10 months. And then from when the RFP was issued
to the development agreement was about 14 months. So that's pretty quick turnaround.
Um, and after that development agreement was approved a land transfer was,uh,
completed,uh,building site plans approved. In this case,they sought a density bonus in
the Riverfront Costings district,um, and then were able to pull their permits and begin
construction. Um,but just kind of keeping in mind and providing a little context about
you know what that timeline is going to look like it does take a long time. Um, and here
you see even in this case where they were able to quickly move to a development
agreement,but from when the RP was issued to when the construction was completed it
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was still a five year process. And,um, I- almost all process will probably have
unanticipated delays at one point or another. So uh,just keeping in mind that it is a little
bit longer of a process. So that's,uh, The Rise. And then we're going to move into our
second example which is The Chauncey. Um, so in your- again,this is included in your
information packet,uh, as The College in Gilbert Street redevelopment. Just like The
Rise I'm just going to call it The Chauncey RFP just so we all know what we're talking
about. So again,here's just a quick breakdown on that timeline. August of 20, 2012,the
RFPs were issued. They were due back about a month later in September. So here you get
a little bit shorter of a response period. Um, again, a review committee was involved, 10
proposals were received. And they of those 10,that review committee recommended five
to come and present to City Council. Um, those presentations occurred in November of
2012,um, and then kind of around that same time,the City had hired the National
Development Council, or NDC,uh,which is a third party entity, to,um, do a bit of
preliminary financial analysis on those semifinalist proposals that were received. Um,
based on all of that and the presentations of public input,then council was able to narrow
that field down to three finalists. Um, and then at that time,they didn't request full, um,
refined second versions of proposals,but they just asked staff to go back and- and get a
little more information on questions or gaps that they saw in those. Um, and then in
January of 2013, Council evaluated those three finalists and selected a preferred proposal.
So after that stage,um, again in this project,there was City financial Incentives involved.
So,um,we brought NDC back in to help conduct er, some financial analysis and
technical assistance. Um,just negotiations on that development agreement occurred. Um,
and then because they were requesting that Tiff it moved through the City Council
Economic Development Committee. Um,by June of 2015, city council had approved that
development agreement,um, and then the building permits were issued and construction
began in October of 2017. So just like The Rise, um,kinda just that area that circled in
red, er, is what we're going to talk about today,which is the developer selection piece.
Again,here are just a few, er, kind of pages of interest from that RFP. We're going to
review a lot of these in the coming slides,um,but just as a reference, if- if you would like
to go back and- and look at any of those in the actual,uh,RFP document. Um, so just like
The Rise,uh, in that RFP development stage,the staff and council had identified goals,
both general kind of overarching community goals as well as project goals. So this is an
example of what they included,um, for kind of downtown goals. Um, and again,this is
just so that those respondents would understand,um,you know,how it was envisioned
that this project would fit in with that larger downtown,uh, environment. So just an
example that I circled here. Um,the-the council sought to encourage projects which
would really draw people downtown. They gave examples like housing,uh,hotels, arts
and entertainment venues. And so when you look at these goals and then look at the-the
development that we end up with,uh, it's nice to see that-that those goals kind of came
through. So again,here's an example of the project goals which are just a little bit more
specific to what they'd like to see in those proposals. Um so a few, again, I'll just call it a
few examples. That second bullet point there,um,they specifically Class A office space
was identified as a priority. So that's specifically called out. Um, the third bullet point
down they just note that it is a high visibility location. So a bit more elevated
architectural quality was,um, desired there. Uh, and then in those last couple bullet
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points as well,you see where they,um, outline their desires for residential mix and
affordability levels if there are any residential uses proposed in the project. Um, so just
like The Rise in The Chauncey RFP,they had also identified,um,uh, a general review
process, so,um,the-the proposal respondents could,uh, anticipate how their proposal
would be evaluated going forward. Um,you'll remember in The Rise,they included that
really specific,uh, evaluation criteria, less specific here,um,but still again provided that
criteria,uh, against which proposals would be judged. Um, and again I think as much- as
much as you include here,uh,until you receive,uh,those proposals and see what
quantity and quality is,um,there's probably needs to be a little bit of flexibility,um,uh,
in that process. Um, so again,the submittal requirements,this is just a summary. You can
find that full detail beginning on Page 16 of The Chauncey RFP that was included in
your information packet. Um,this is very similar to what was included in that Rise RFP,
um. But,uh, should give you an idea of- of what's asked of the-the respondents to
include,um, and,uh, I would anticipate is probably pretty similar to what we might ask
for in 21 South Linn. Um, so just like The Rise, I've included a couple slides that,uh,will
go through a little bit more quickly since you've seen one example. Um,but these are just
kinda screenshots of what was included,um, in the proposal submitted by The Chauncey
developers. Um, I will note,you'll remember back that there was only a 30 day response
period for this project. And so as you see some of these screenshots and then look out the
window, it's kind of amazing to see just how similar,um, the project really was based on
this initial 30 day proposal. So,um,whether that's typical, I- I guess, I don't know,uh,
but just something I thought I'd point out. Uh, so here,you see they kind of include
narrative description of just how that development,um,what the project is, um, and how
it would integrate into its surroundings. They include a little bit of a architectural
description. They provide the high brea-the high level breakdown of uses,um, and then
some concept renderings to help illustrate what-what they envisioned for the project. Just
a couple more,um, screenshots of some of those,uh-uh,renderings that were included
site layouts. So,um, again,these-these were included in the initial proposal,really
similar to that final design. One key difference that I'll point out,uh,you'll see on the left
picture,that initial proposal proposed a 20 story building. Um, and then,uh,the-the final
product I think is 15 story so,um,was a little bit of a change in that way. Just another
example of,uh,uh, on the left is,uh, a layout that was included in that initial proposal in
2012. And then,uh, on the right is,um,uh,building plans that were approved in 2016. So
for the most part,very similar, some minor differences. Um, I think,you know,just
looking at it,you can see that space for Fix isn't quite carved out here. Maybe the use of
that room just to the north of- of SpareMe, is a little bit different between them,but,um,
for the most part,this is an example in which there wasn't a ton of tweaking and changes,
um, from that initial proposal. Uh,here's just an example of what-how you might see
maybe,uh,kinda those conceptual square footage shown. So they break down,you know,
what they anticipate for parking,retail office,uh,uh,hotel,residential. Here's an example
on of- of their estimated timeline. Looks like about 3.5 years they had anticipated. Took a
little bit longer,but um, gives you an idea. And then,um, in this project, Tiff was
requested. So they,uh,had requested that-that gap financing amount. Um, I believe,uh,
in this project they had requested 13- looks like 13.4 million,uh, in this initial proposal.
Uh,the final development agreement was 12 million. So I'm guessing with those stories
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being shaved off the top,that maybe impacted that total project costs and some of that,
um,but,uh, in general just that it, is getting refined over time. Um, so we already talked
through,um,what that review process looked like again for The Chauncey,so I won't
review this in depth,uh,but just a reminder,you know,they had a 30 day response
period. Ten received review committee recommended five. They had those semifinalists
present to council. Um, they did do,hire a third party to do a little bit of analysis on
those. Um, and then using that information, council narrowed to three finalists and then
ultimately,uh, selected a preferred proposal. This just shows you,um, at this time that
council had really dedicated November,December, early January meetings to just
working through this evaluation. Um, again, in public work session settings,um,
evaluating those finalists and ultimately reaching their decision about a preferred
proposal. Uh, similarly,they had incorporated,uh, several opportunities for public input
throughout the process. So,uh,they had made those proposals available online for public
review. Uh,they encouraged comment through email,uh,mail, typical correspondence
channels, and then all of that was routinely forwarded to the City Council as it was
received, so that,um,the public input gathering was almost ongoing. Um, and then,uh,
of course, at that November 2012 work session is when they invited those semifinalists to
give those presentations, do a bit of Q&A with the City Council,um, all of that was live
streamed. Um, and then they had a special,uh, agenda item at a meeting in December of
2012, in which they had scheduled to solicit verbal public input based on,uh,those
presentations that had occurred the meeting prior. Uh, as I mentioned in this example,uh,
the City had hired the National Development Council to do an independent third party
financial analysis of those five semifinalists. Um,just some benefits of this is that it is an
independent third party who doesn't have a stake in the project,um, and also they have
that expertise to provide technical assistance on the financial analysis that maybe we
don't have in house. Um, so in this case,uh,NDC actually advised that at the stage that
they had been initially,um, engaged,um,they couldn't really provide a super meaningful
depth of analysis,but they were able to at least,um,provide enough feedback that council
could continue to narrow. And then they also were able to provide guidance on,hey,
here's the things you might want to be asking of these developers as you continue this
evaluation process. Um, so as we move into thinking about 21 South Linn,the option to
contract with NDC or a similar uh, firm,uh would certainly be a possibility. Again, I
think it will just depend on,um,um,what's received in terms of proposals and just how
that evaluation process unfolds.
Alter: Can I ask a quick question?Um, is there some rationale for why NDC wasn't contracted
for the,um, The Rise? I just wonder is this- is this standard best practice or-
Fruin: Um, we-we typically-have typically used the NDC to assist with Tiff agreements,not
just The Chauncey,but multiple Tiff agreements. Um,we didn't necessarily anticipate
Tiff with Rise, I think we went in thinking it was going to be more of a sale and the City's
goal was to maximize that sale price and that future property tax. Uh, so we didn't feel
like we needed NDC especially at that early stage of The Rise.
Alter: Thanks.
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Kilburg: Um, so,uh, for The Chauncey,then after that preferred proposal was selected, again,
those,um, traditional redevelopment steps that you're probably more familiar with began,
um, so again we had- as Geoff mentioned,we brought in NDC to assist with-with their
financial analysis for the Tiff portion. um,just got into the negotiations with the
developer and then ultimately were able to develop that development agreement, get it
approved by the City Council and make the land transfers so that they could,uh,move in
to construction. So in this case,um,the time from when that RFP was issued to when a
preferred proposal was selected was about six months. Here you see,you'll remember last
time in The Rise,very quick turnaround to that development agreement here, a little bit
longer,um,partially because,uh,they were requesting some city financial incentives.
Um, and then the time from when the RFP was issued to complete construction is eight
years. As I mentioned, always some level of unanticipated delay,but in general, it's
important to just maintain that,uh, context of how long these processes can be. And this
is just another visual of what that looks like. So uh,with those examples in front of you,
then we thought we'd move into discussing just the 21 South Linn Street process. So
really,my goal is just to kinda introduce a general process for moving forward,um, on
the 21 South Linn developer selection. So a couple of,um, objectives that we viewed as
important. First,uh, it's very important that we establish a transparent,predictable
process,this is important not just for those who are responding to the RFP,but for staff,
for council, for the public, and for any other stakeholders who are involved. Um,we
intend to incorporate meaningful stakeholder and public involvement throughout the
process,um, and then, of course,the ultimate goal is to obtain some,um, sort of public
private partnership which incorporates significant public benefits of which would be
defined and prioritized by you all. Um, so here is an outline or a timeline of- of,um,how
we would like to move forward with 21 South Linn. So,um, that first phase,uh,which
would begin after today's meeting,would,um, involve uh us going back kind of putting
together a public engagement plan. We would bring that back to you for approval,um,
and then,uh,to just get the, go ahead to,um, go out and execute that we anticipate. We'd
probably work closely with,you know,the Iowa City Downtown District, Greater Iowa
City, some of those direct stakeholders,um, and then also try to make this,uh, an
inclusive public engagement process to kinda hear from some of those diverse cross
sections of the community who maybe haven't been involved,uh, in a development
process like this before, or,um, at least been asked to share their ideas. Um, and then,uh,
we would compile all of those again,bring them back to-to city council,um, and present
those to you. So,um,we envision that you all city council would help inform what you'd
like to see out of the public engagement process. I'm sure there will be opportunities for
you to be involved in a listening session or something similar,um,but it probably would
involve a mix of in person, online,um,types of engagement. Um, so we anticipate that
that could be wrapped up by summer,um,that kinda whole develop a public engagement
plan, execute and compile the results. Um, and then in the summer,we could hopefully in
June,kinda August range,we could kinda move into setting those goals. Um, so again,
this would likely happen in a public work session where you develop those goals,you
develop a review process,um, and then,um,we can start to identify what we'd like that
RFP to look like. Um, so,um,here is kind of where you might,uh, identify any specific
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public benefits, specific mixes of uses, sustainability features, affordable housing,
anything like that but that would be important for us to include and for the developers,
uh,who are responding to know. Um, and I also anticipate those goals would be based on
probably the public input that we heard and then any established master plans like the
downtown or your strategic plan,um, as well,just to maintain continuity there. Um, so at
this stage,you'd also identify that review process,um, and evaluation criteria, again,kind
of as a guiding framework for- for how,um,proposals would move through that
evaluation process. Um, and then based on that direction,uh, staff would go ahead
develop that RFP. We'd get the green light,um,uh, on that final before it's issued,but our
goal would be that by September or October we could look to actually issue that RFP.
Um, and then we anticipate kind of 45, 60 day response period. And then of course, after
all those RFP responses are received,we could move into that review process that was
previously established. Um, so this is exactly what I just showed you,but just calling out
again,um, so you understand where that city council,um, demand might be.Um, of
course, it ebbs and flows through the process. In some cases, staff might do a little more
legwork to kind of move things forward,then it comes back to council,um, and- and so
on. But in that public engagement phase,um,really, I think you'll have an opportunity to,
again, let us know what you'd like to see during public engagement. Um,you would kind
of approve that final public engagement plan,um,be involved, of course, in it, and
hearing from the public,um, and then we would present any results to you. Um, in that
Phase 2,kind of RFP development stage, of course,we would use a work session or a,
um, couple work sessions,whatever,to set goals and so that you can provide guidance
and priorities that you'd like included in that RFP. Um, and then we would again,want to
get the green light from you before a final version of the RFP was issued,um, and then,
uh, it kind of be on staffs backs to then actually handle issuing that RFP and accepting
the responses before we move into that review phase. Um, so the showing the exact same
thing but with some of the public input opportunities published, like some of the past
processes. I think there obviously is going to need to be multiple points of,um,public
engagement opportunities any time, of course,the items on the work session agenda,they
would have those public input opportunities through their traditional correspondence or
public comment periods,um, similar to The Chauncey. We would want to be making
those proposals available online with kind of a dedicated feedback channel,um,whether
that's an a mail or whatever it is. And then making sure we're keeping that updated as
those proposals aren't narrowed and- and refined. So that being said,um,this is what we
might see as next steps following this presentation today. So,um,we, um, if this process
that we've kind of outlined feels comfortable with you all,we would go ahead, go back,
prepare that public engagement plan to bring back to you in maybe February or early
March. Um, and then,um,uh,we would have you just approve of that public engagement
plan again, give us that, go ahead to-to execute.
Harmsen: First of all, thank you. Quite- quite a presentation, quite a job, compiling the materials
in the packet. So thank you to staff for that. Um, one of the things that I appreciate but
then wonder how well it worked,the scoring system that was used in some of the
previous. Um, looks good on paper. Um, I don't remember exactly. Some of this stuff
was before I was really engaged in city politics. How did it work?Like di- did it meet the
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goals that we had hoped? Or-was was there some slippage? I would imagine there would
be some,but just kind of how-how well it worked. I don't know Geoff if you were.
Fruin: Well, it probably depends on who you ask,to be honest. Um,there was-there would be
some that say it worked fine and there'd be some that probably disagreed depending on
which side of the argument they may have been on. Um, I think it's very important to be
clear to the community and the -and the-the developers that are proposing on what
criteria they're going to be looking,wha-what criteria we're going to be judging them on
whether you want to put in specific points or not. Um, I think there's debates you know
you can kind of fall on either side of that. Um, the scoring system in The Chauncey was
hotly debated and that's still a point of contention with-with some that recall that process.
But I think it's most important just to focus on that exact kind of criteria that you're going
to be looking at. I wouldn't be so focused on the waiting system itself.
Harmsen: Thank you.
Salih: For the public engagement since it's going to be the fust step that the staff will be
preparing for us. Can you just give us like what kind of questions or is this a survey
you're going to ask the public?How you're going to engage with them, like what
previously has been done,how you reach out to the community?Because from my
experience, I see like certain people in this community make the decision, especially
when you come to downtown. You know, I don't think it's like being reached out to all
the people in this community. I especially, everything is in English at the end of the day.
So can you tell me what you think will be before us to discuss it?Because we don't want
to just like make you do everything and come to us here. And after that we say, oh,you
should have done this and this and this. If you can give us some ideas about normally
what kind of public engagement you do. Is this a survey questionnaire what it is.
Kilburg: Sure,um, a concern if Geoff has other thoughts. Um, so we-we haven't given a ton of
thought to that yet because that's the next step in the process. But I would anticipate, like
I mentioned, it's probably a number of ways. So we would do uh,maybe a couple in
person kind of listening sessions and we could be strategic about where those are located
and you know how we're promoting those. And then of course,there would be some sort
of online digital based form of feedback. So whether that's a survey or whether it's some
prompting questions and an email,um, I do think you're right,just making sure that we
are providing the public some level of background. So they're not just going into this like
what's going on here. And then maybe providing some guiding questions to help spark
their ideas and help them think about what they would like to see uh, at that corner.
Salih: Yes, yeah, I guess would like to be creative this time. So I think,you know, I would love
to see the whole community participate. And even we don't have to put something online
and just wait for the community to come and just like fill out those questionnaires or
maybe tell us what they want to see it. Do you know that there's some people in this
community even they don't know that they have this power. They can come and tell you
what to do there. So I think,you know, let's talk about this more and writing engage the
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whole community even if we can go where they're at to do like information session about
it or something like that.
Kilburge: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Thanks for the feedback.
Teague: Scoring is always a hard thing to do and I appreciated that question that you brought up,
Councilor Harmsen. One of the- as you were talking and I was looking about- looking at
the scoring. One thing that I didn't see and I don't know where it is if it's even possible,
but subcontractors will be used on a lot of these projects. Um, and I wonder if there's any
type of scoring opportunities for people who use,um, like targeted small businesses,
which is for minorities. Which is a wide scale,um,who-who fits in that definition. So, I
wonder if there's any opportunities within the scoring to kind of take that into account. I
know Davis Bacon is something that we often have to do for the city,but if that- and I
know that drives up the cost,but if those are some of the considerations that we can have
in the scoring process, I think it might be advantageous.
Kilburg: Yeah. Sorry. Again,we just wanted to kind of show you examples today of like what
has been done in the past. Hopefully that provides you a starting point. But then once we
get to that phase of deciding what's in the RFP is probably where we'd want to have those
detailed conversations. If that's something you'd want to include or what other criteria
you'd want to include in the scoring.
Fruin: Yeah,the one thing I would just point out at the RFP stage, it's probably not realistic to-to
think that the developers are going to have their full construction team assembled. They
might not even have a general contractor identified,uh, at that stage. So you typically
would get into those types of details at a development agreement phase. Um, and
unfortunately,you're going to be swimming uphill with state law on the city being able to
dictate contractor terms, even if we have financial incentives in there. We can-we can
cover all that down the road. But I just think at that RFP stage,you're going to be hard
pressed to have development proposals that are prepared to go into that level of detail.
Teague: And it was Number 2 that I was looking at,the developer experience and capabilities.
Thomas: So Rachel,this public engagement, since we've been discussing it since- after the
presentation,there was some indication that we would be talking about programming and
vision for the building. That's the aspect of this opportunity that I'm really interested in.
What's the vision we have as a community for this project so that we frame it in such a
way that it is welcoming this idea that this is a community vision and the programming
would flow from that vision. The process of engagement be structured to try to elicit what
that vision is.
Kilburg: Sure. So when we acquired the property,um I think the-the idea or the vis-,kind of
high level vision,was that some sort of mixed use building at this corner would be
important. Just knowing City Council's goals,um, some of our partner's goals like the
Downtown District, a residential component,maybe some ground floor, couple uh,
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ground level,um, floors of retail or commercial space. Um, so I think we're open to
again,there's a wide variety of uses allowed in that zoning designation. So,um, again,
just evaluating what the top priorities are as we move through this,both for the City
Council,the public, and stakeholders.
Fruin: I think that's going to be part of the job. Through this process,the council is going to have
a number of very difficult decisions. And you should expect that through the public input
process,you are going to hear a lot of different ideas. Developing a consensus may not be
very easy. You'll hear everything from leave it as is, and build a park. You know,build
an entertainment use to a hotel,to all affordable housing. you gonna have -you're going
to have the gamut there and you're going to have to make that difficult decision. But that's
the -that's the hope in the RFP is that we can get to a point where we feel good about
articulating those goals. And I think the example that Rachel shared with The Chauncey
was really good. There were some high level goals in there about,um, arts and
entertainment uses, about,uh, attracting more visitors and- and lodging. The council was
able to kind of focus in and say,these are four or five uses that we think are needed
downtown. Either they don't exist or maybe aren't are under served, so to speak. I use the
example of the hotel. You may look at downtown now and think,well,there's-there's
plenty of hotels. Well at the time The Chauncey RFP was issued,the Hilton Garden Inn
hadn't been built and we didn't have the-the Element and the Hyatt. And there was a lot
of that missing. So that was a goal at the time. I- I don't necessarily predict that will be
the-the same priority for the council this go around so we'll do our best to solicit those
ideas,make sure we're hitting that cross section in the community and- and-and- and
work through the goal setting with you. But to your point, Councilor Thomas, I hope we
can get to that um, clear vision um, on- on what we hope for other side.
Bergus: I appreciate what you just said, Geoff, about,um,knowing that we're going to be
hearing so many different points of view and recommendations. And I remember I paid
the most attention to The Chauncey process at the time, and less so to The Rise. But, um,
can you give us a sense, if you know of, at the different decision points for the council
knowing consensus was hard to get. And I remember still, again, I remember a lot of
those controversies. But were the decisions along the way typically split votes
unanimous?Like, do you have a sense of sort of where,where those,how that fell out?
Fruin: I couldn't recall each- each individual kind of stage,but there's a- I think it's fair to say
there was difference of opinions throughout the-through out the process. Yeah.
Teague: One good thing is we'll have individuals like Mayor Throgmorton that sit in the
audience to kind of jog some memories on some of these.
Fruin: Were particularly with The Chauncey. There was quite a number of contentious-
contentious meetings.
Goers: Right. At one point there was a sitting council member who was engaged in active
litigation against the city regarding the height and the shadow that would be cast from
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The Chauncey. So I- I think Geoff is probably understating a little bit about the
contentiousness that was present at some parts of that discussion.
Bergus: That's what we're signing up for. Hopefully not that specifically. Hopefully not that.
Goers: I'd love to have no council members actively engaged in litigation against the city.
Bergus: It seems like a threshold we can reach. Okay.
Thomas: I'm also a really- and I haven't really looked into this concept of a model in a what- in
terms of trying to help. Think about what this building could be,to look for models. You
know,the- somewhere out there there may be some projects,you know,we've seen some
that were in Iowa City as references that,um,may offer some trigger inspiration with
regard to the vision for our projects,you know,that have a mix of uses that really just
work magic in terms of,uh, creating that sense of place and community. Um, and I know
that's very possible on certain types of projects. I'm not as familiar with mixed-mixed use
development uh, like this. Um,but that's something I would be very interested in is what-
there's-there's gotta be examples out there that kind of check all the boxes in terms of
equity and,uh, energy efficiency and creating the right mix of common spaces- common
public spaces, and commercial activity and so forth that,um, I- I would love to explore
that personally. I think there- it would be a lot of fun thinking about the possibilities that
it would offer.
Harmsen: I think too,with all the,uh, comments about,you know,the-the challenges that face
us. Um, and maybe this is just because this is-uh, and still this is my last meeting as a
member of the freshman class on the council. See you in January,Josh. Um, so maybe
I'm still have that-that optimism,but I'm actually really excited about this. I think we've
got a lot of challenges. We'll hear a lot of input,but the potential for this project still is
something that- like this is-this is-to me when I see this on the agenda this is something
that really gets me excited because I know we can do a lot of good things with this,that
were-weren't possibilities that we thought were even on- on our radar possible a year
ago. So that's- it's kind of a cool thing that's developed this year that I think has got such
great potential. Um, and I'm personally very excited about that and I appreciate the work
that's been done so far to get us to this point.
Thomas: I mean,this is, in my mind, ground zero in the downtown, I mean it. And it's former
city hall site. It has- it's clearly a power site. Um, so on The Chauncey, The Rise,we're
not at the center of things in the- in the way that this lot is. And it doesn't have the history
is,you know,that-that-that Linn Street there was the civic center of Iowa City. You had
the library,the,um, city hall. Um, what else? There was-
Harmsen: Post office.
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Thomas: -the post office. So- so that-that was the civic corridor right there. So there is-you
know,the-that resonates still in my view. That that particular location,um, is a very
special location.
Taylor: For all those things that Councilor Thomas just said I think I see this is like a really
important location and that we-we really have to make sure, as somebody had
mentioned,the boxes are all checked and that we-that we do it right and that we do
utilize the public input and- and do the right thing and- and get it right the first time.
Alter: Um, actually, I was tip to this because of all of the conversations that we've,um,that
council has brought up,um, in terms of public input,not necessarily that we would go the
same route as,um,the master plan for Parks and Rec and for the pools. However,that
kind of outreach and that methodology of sort of finding different focus groups and that
kind of that effort, I think, ended up being so successful that that might be a way to sort
of do an overlay,um,wi-without necessarily incurring the same expense and- and the
length of time that it takes to do all of that, but that could be used to-to borrow Councilor
Thomas's language. That could be a model for how outreach could happen to get input
from a much more diverse,um, sections of the community. So it's just a to- food for
thought. Thanks.
Bergus: That,uh,prompts the question about staff capacity. I was thinking about how we often
have consultants who assist in those aspects of a- a project of scale and importance. Is
that something that we're considering here?
Frain: Yeah. I think,uh,uh,we would wait until after the goal setting is- is done and- and kind
of understand where-where council is going. If there's a significant- if it appears that
there's going to be a significant demand for,um,public benefit,right? The-the-the- or
the programming-programming components of the building that aren't going to pay the
bills, so to speak,then we're probably gonna want to get the-the NDC or,uh, another
firm on to-to help us with some of the financial analysis,uh,because it's probably gonna
require some sort of tax increment financing. If on the other hand,the goals,um,uh, are-
are more focused on private programming and we don't necessarily think that,uh,um,
city subsidy may be needed then-then we may not. So I- I think ask that again,uh, in- in
June and July,we'll probably have a clearer answer.
Teague: All right. Thank you.
Kilburg: Yes,thank you all. So we'll go ahead and- and get to work on a public engagement plan.
Uh,you've all provided some helpful feedback and- and bring it back to you. Thank you.
Alter: Thanks.
Kilburg: Thank you.
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3. USG Presentation of Renter's Guide
Teague: All right. We're gonna move on to USG Presentation of Renters Guide.
LeFevre: Good evening council.
Teague: Good evening.
LeFevre: We'll pull up the meeting notes here quick. On a setup.
Teague: Flash from the pass.
Zeimet: It's great to see y'all again.
Teague: Yes.
LeFevre: I had to-to dig him out of the grave for this. Present button. Do you know where the
present button is? I go crazy.
Zeimet: A present button.
LeFevre: Can you full screen that? Oh,we can't even present.
Zeimet: What?
LeFevere:No present right here. There you go. Go all the way back. There you go. Awesome.
Well, we'll finally get to this. Um, I know it's usually presented sometimes earlier,
sometimes later. Luckily,we got it done right in the time for the end of the year. Um, so
this is the 2023 Renters Guide. Um, it took Keaton and Matthew and I a long while. Uh,
coding is not really my thing and so luckily,Keaton and Matthew kind of understood it a
lot better. So they really helped me with this. Um, but I mean,yeah,we'll get right into it.
Let me see. Here we go. Awesome. So a lot of the data that you guys will be seeing
tonight,um,this one's a really wordy slide, sorry,but we'll try to keep following along
with it. Um, so out of the-the methodology and how we did this was,we took 50 percent
of the responses, so everyone who filled out the form more than 50 percent of the way got
their actual data into most of these statistics.Now the fust slide is mostly,um,non-
refined, so this is anyone and everyone who just filled out at least one question really.
Um, and so you'll see some stats,uh,hopefully through this, of how many percentages,
uh, inside the actual published Renters Guide,not just this presentation. They will have
the,uh,unrefined data and then the refined data later. So you guys are basically just
getting the refined data which has the most important points in my opinion,because these
are the people that actually filled out at least more than a majority of the Renters Guide
itself. Um, so that's just really important to know. Overall,we had 603 respondents,just-
just anyone who answered one,um,but about 71 percent actually filled out more than
half the questions. There were about 38 questions in total. Um,not all of them were
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required but more than that. Um, so yeah. Keaton, if you would like to take away the fust
part of the methodology here.
Zeimet: Yeah. So, um, for data to be considered or otherwise omitted, a landlord property
management,um, company had to have at least five responses to be included in the actual
visual data, as you'll see in the columns that we're gonna have presented later. And then,
um, 91.82 percent,um,were undergraduates and 8 percent were graduate or professional
students. And then a total- in total, a quarter of responses identified as fust-generation,
non-traditional, international,veteran or transfer students,which is really good. And then,
um,many of these students are between the ages of 19 and 24. And then
disproportionately responses were from white respondents verse BIPOC,um, students.
Um,we saw 81.24 percent white students this year, comparatively to last year there were
74.9 percent.
LeFevre:No, actually, sorry- sorry, that one was-this is not our year again. Actually this year we
only saw about 75 percent. Um,uh,where white compared to last year's we're 81,well
no.No never mind. You were correct, I'm sorry. I'm getting my data mixed up. There's a
later point in the actual Renters Guide,um, about the differences. But sorry, my
apologies. I'm sorry, I got confused.
Zeimet: All right then of responses from- sorry,where were we at?
LeFevre: Oh, it was the outreach basically.
Zeimet;Um, we're planning to outreach to more BIPOC communities,um, in a continued goal of
USG and then the,uh,the data on income expenditures on housing vary greatly. Uh,this
is a messy data set that could be missing some accuracy,but nearly 48 percent of the 361
respondents with a 30 percent variation in the normal response rate. And then,um,
landlords,uh,trust is a perpetual issue that we're seeing, and many respondents claim,uh,
they would not recommend their landlord or leasing agency to a friend. And then we had
mixed responses on if the respondent would rent from the owner again.
LeFevre: Yeah. I mean,the responses from the general data were really,um, I'm going to go
back actually. Um,we really crazy to me,uh, especially because there was such high
standard deviations. So the percentage from,um, so 48%was our average for everyone
who responded to that question. So it was 361 people. I think it's really important to note
that that's more than half your income really goes to rent on average,um,because there
are people that are paying 70%but there are also people paying about 10%of their
income. And so it really generates the,this really good question of where different
students are. Because,you know, I think of a student that's living in Rise of luxury
apartments versus one who is on the very outskirts of town in a really small duplex with
like six roommates. Um,my girlfriend last year was that way. Uh, I don't know anyone
living in Rise,but I can imagine that there's probably a really big difference, especially
when you go to the same public university here. Um, it's just I don't know. It's a really
good question to ponder for who we represent as a student body. Um, and this also goes
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down to the same thing of landlord trust. You know,uh,you would expect that the more
money you pay,the more you can trust your landlord. That's just a simple common logic
thing. Um, as you kind of get going through these- some of these graphs, especially in the
published data with,uh,where it's like unrefined,there are a lot of people not really
willing to,but then those from the refined data were more willing to. Um, it's a lot of
mixed responses in this where you can kinda see the lines if you parsed it all out. Um,but
that hits us with the most important question I believe tonight. Uh,what is the average
rent for those respondents? So the average rent this year was about $652.08 per month.
So,um,you can see the breakdown here on the right,um,you can see, I believe it is. Rise
at Riverfront Crossing is the most expensive. It far surpasses anyone else. But you can
also see,uh rentals, Iowa City, the Quarters,Watts Group, all of those are on the very far
end. So later in the alphabet you see the higher up you get weirdly enough. But,um,
compared to last year's data,which actually there were more responses than last year's
data. But this year,kind of last year's data had a $40 difference. So that means on annual
it was about $500 ish in general going up. Uh,this is a lot of money for a student. Uh, I
know, I do not have $500 sitting around just,uh, for that each year. That's for sure. Yeah.
If you would like to cover maintenance.
Zeimet: Yep. So for the frequency of emergency maintenance requests, it seems as though there
are a couple of parties that stand out,um, in the visual- in the visual quite significantly
have a higher frequency of emergencies, as you can see in the graphs. And then it's
important,um,to observe which agencies have more,um, emergency maintenance
requests. And additionally,um,perspective tenants advocate to be shown,um,the unit
they are interested in renting if possible prior to signing. We have a graph up there for
that.
LeFevre: Yeah. I mean,that's kind of on that one. So landlord responsiveness. So obviously as
you live in an apartment or anywhere,you are going to have,uh, incidents happen
whether they're just like a broken light bulb or,you know,your kitchen sink is flooding
everywhere. Um,we kind of noticed on this one that their results were, They gen- some
of them did actually have like pretty decent response time to emergency ones,but a lot of
them are pretty similar, if not sometimes slower on average. Uh, it is important to note
that the emergency one only goes up to four days responses,whereas the left one only for
general purpose,yeah, general medicine emergency- general responses goes up to five in
total. Um, so that is important to note,uh,just the differences because it can look like the
one on the right is higher. Um,but overall,both of them were just on average, about the
same. So whether responsiveness wasn't that high of a priority, I would like to have seen
more,uh,responsiveness, especially during emergency ones. But yeah, I think that's
overall. And then let's see. Yeah. Go say it on that. Oh, I can cover this one too. Sorry.
This is one that we kind of threw together. On the actual renters guide itself, you'll see
that the red bar ones are just the unrefined data. Um,there's a whole bunch of those in
there. Um,but one of our big questions this year was recycling,um, and stuff like that.
It's just another way of being sustainability. It's one of our main goals in US and we have
an entire committee committed to it. Um,we are seeing that there are some places with
100%but each place, each respondent had a recycling unit,but there are still some in the
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'40s,uh, and kinda in the '60s too which isn't good because rent, I mean,not renting
recycling should just be a standard across Iowa City, and I believe it is as well. There are
forms to fill that out,but I don't know if students know too well about that. So we're
working on how to kind of tackle this issue. Another big one that I wanted to know now
and then look at later in the future when Matthew does this is transportation. So we saw
that walking is one of our biggest ways of transportation across campus. I mean,
obviously Iowa City and the University of Iowa are like right next to each other. But we
also saw private car usage really high. And Cambus usage though,was also our third
highest ranking one,which is awesome. We love that. But I want to put a pin on that
because I want to see Iowa City buses go up to that too. Um,you can see that the Iowa
City buses one was our fifth highest response. But we're really hoping that it can get up to
the third or fourth. Um,but we'd also love to see bicycling go up as well. Basically, our
biggest one for student government is to have driving go down. We have a really close
campus. A lot of people do live somewhat close to town. We want to have alternative
methods, and so we're here to advocate for that as well. Oh,yeah, if you want to. Okay.
Yeah,you can hit the conclusion.
Zeimet: All right. Then to kind of wrap up everything. Um,unaffordable,housing is a major
issue in Iowa City,um, in the Iowa City area in general,with many respondents reporting
financial strain due to high living expenses. And then,um,many respondents-
respondents also noted that problems in their rental property were inadequately
addressed. In many cases,this has resulted in partial to no return in their security deposits
and landlords engaged in predatory financial actions. Um, student renters do not have the
same voice as City and University officials. The City and University leaders should
vocalize shared tenant concerns and work to increase the public barriers,um, of renters
by clarifying policy and engaging in more discourse about landlords and property
requirements.
LeFevre: Yeah. We would love any questions,but to kind of hammer home the points is that,
um, at the end of the renters guide, I put in,um, quite a few quotes that were given back
from respondents. They were allowed to put in anything they would like. Um, security
deposit,uh,return. They didn't have,we didn't have good enough data to properly
quantify breakdown per,uh, security deposit returns. But there are some really good uh,
unrefined data as well as, I believe the one graph that is refined. Um,we will obviously
send out the published version. Once it's done, it should be sent out tonight. I'm sending
out the comms-request,but you guys get the fust to look at it. Um, overall, the quotes I
believe in it. If you look through them,there are some of them that are very damning with
what students live with. Um, one of the big ones I kept saying always is that they didn't
even know their landlord. They never met him. They never even talked to him. Maybe
got a text or an email,but never saw them. One person lived with bats living right next to
their house,not in their house, sorry, in their ceiling the whole time.No response for an
entire year. I mean,this, the predatory financial actions come through students being
viewed as this migratory body. Um, it can be said about many students,you know,many
students come here from who knows where and stay for four years, if not even shorter.
And then we even never think about Iowa City besides a party city that's here. But there
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are many-many great things about Iowa City. And I think that the living situation can
make or break what Iowa City means to them. Ultimately,the conditions that students
can live in- students live in outside of the dorms is unique per place. Uh,there's no like
single bad guy here in this situation. All of these places do not have their high points.
Some of these places do have a lot of high points. Um, and there are a couple of quotes in
there that are not only damning. There are some that are like,hey,my rental company
does this really well or does that really well,um,but there a lot of them that are-that not
so great. Um, it's- it's hard for students also to advocate because they are a migratory
body,they feel like they don't really have that connection. Um, so that's kind of our role
here is to,by presenting this renters guide,we're hoping to get it out as soon as possible.
Many renters sign their leases or- like either resign or sign leases in October and
November and I'm kind of upset I didn't get it there. I know I had to sign my lease in
October with two guys that I'd lived with for two months at most, you know,and luckily,
I love my roommates,but I know many people don't have that same experience or else
live in bigger apartments and need more roommates and more stuff, and ultimately the
costs come down on them. Um,not everyone has a really-really well off family. Um, so
it's just really important, I will send out a copy to every single councilor current and
previous here today, so it's just very important to note. We'd love any questions.
Zeimet: Cool.
LeFevre: If there is anything.
Harmsen: Thank you so much for doing this. This is great work. Um, I do a couple of quick
questions for you. I was gonna ask about getting the data,but you're going to send that to
us.
LeFevre: Yes.
Harmsen: That's an easy answer. You'd mentioned that the average rent was $652?
LeFevre: Yes.
Harmsen: Was that including-was that for like a person with a single apartment average, or you
could be six people with sharing,basically paying for a bedroom?
LeFevre: Basically paying for a bedroom is kind of the way we-we-we were able to break it
down. We weren't able to- one way that I'm trying to figure out is for next year, I have a
couple future questions, and I would love any if anyone has any future questions to be put
on the renters guide, I would love those as well. I'm thinking about adding in one about
laundry because clean clothes are really important. Uh,this is just basically just for
bedrooms,you know,this could be- $652 could be one dude living in a house of 12
people,but it could also be one person living in a single studio bedroom downtown
somewhere.
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Harmsen: Sure.
LeFevre: Basically, anywhere in between.
Harmsen: Yeah. And you-you have some longitudinal data from last-the year previous to this
year. One thing, and I think we've talked about this before, is if you have,um, data going
back over multiple years, any of these trend lines,that that would be something that when
you talk about students not having a voice,um,you can certainly go back to USG and
say,this information is really important for members of this council and this is actually a
great way to have data to back up stuff, and the more longitudinal that data is over
multiple years, I think the more powerful that is for us to come up with-paints a much
clearer picture of the situation, so thank you for all of this work.
LeFevre: Of course,we're going to try pushing out our next one, obviously by May,to have that
done over the summer like we did this year. Um,we're really hoping to get some actual
data like to compare years and years and years here so.
Harmsen: Thank you.
Taylor: Thank you for collecting all those data. I love the graphs. I love to see graphs because
you really can see the ups and the downs. But one thing I'm noticing, especially on this
graph on the average monthly rent, and you'd mentioned that some renters have never
seen their landlord. But looking at this list of apartments, it seems as though a lot of those
are, I hesitate to call them predatory,but it's outside companies,that not even the Iowa
City area or even in Iowa that own these buildings, so it's no wonder that they're invisible
landlords. I don't know if there's any way that you can kind of capture that data in the
future,that how many of those are actually like local. Because we do have some local
landlords that are reputable that have housing complexes here. But noticing a lot of these,
I think quite a few of those are ones that are not local.
LeFevre: Yeah, and I will say I believe I have some of the quotes too,but there was a whole- it
was in the mainly unrefined data,but there was,um, like the other category which was
usually- so I only- if you're rental,not your- if the rental company is up there, it had five
or more responses in total, so there were a lot that only had like four or three,but a lot of
them were smaller landlord companies or like my friends' roommates' dad or something
like that. It's something like crazy like that,um,but there were some really good ones.
Mainly small and local ones were actually pretty caring. Um,but I think that going
forward,we should probably look into where these companies originate or have bases
and stuff like that. I think that's a good point. Thank you.
Bergus: Thank you very much. Something you mentioned was like the advocacy part,that we
can use our voices and other leaders can use their voices. Thinking about the individual
advocacy for students who have issues with their landlords, does the guide separate out
things that are actually like violations of the law that they should go to student legal
services or potentially,you know,that there was an Iowa Legal Aid partnership so that
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they can get like, for example,withholding parts of the security deposit often not lawful.
Um,the entering without 24 hours notice when it's not an emergency,not lawful. Are
there mechanisms for that?
LeFevre: I do. We have a,um, info slide on there about,uh, student legal services,that was one
of our greatest assets,uh, for, I mean, literally the university, I guess, and renting most
specifically. Um, I should probably look into more the legality of all- of this. I don't know
if it's illegal to enter 24 hours before,but if it is, I would like to look into it. Is it?
Zemit: Yeah.
LeFevre: Oh, I didn't know that. I'm sorry.
Zemit: Unless it's specified in the contract.
LeFevre: Unless it's specified in the contract.
Bergus: Maybe in the future just kind of like a know your rights aspect to it of like,this data we
saw these,you know,really when you're talking about predatory practices.
LeFevre: One of the parts I did look into legally was the,um, how much they were allowed to
charge you for your security deposit, and it is legally up to two months of the security
deposit,which is a crazy one because in the raw data it had,maybe even in the,uh,the
refined data itself it had,there was a graph of what percentage you got back. That'll be in
the published report, I forgot to add that to this, but,um, it was-most of them were no
more than 40-50%, I believe,which I believe that the mysterious nature of getting your
security deposit back away to many quotes that I didn't put in really questioning that and
asking a lot on that. But yeah, I'll look into the legality more of that and I would love to
continue that.
Bergus: Thank you.
Thomas: Thank you for the work. This is very impressive. Have you thought- are you planning
to send it to the university administration,perhaps the regents? I mean,this is a really
important issue that all public entities should be aware of and I think it is under-reported
and not understood and yet, as you were saying, it's kind of foundational to the university
experience and it's sort of this hidden- it's hidden from view.
LeFevre: Keaton,you know more about the Board of Regents. Would it be possible to send it to
them?What would you recommend doing as GR Director?
Zemit: So with that,we actually at our first Board of Regents student leadership breakfast that
we had, I think during the summer, I think it was. We actually talked about some of these
things, so like well being and like student accessibility. I'd love to bring that back up.
Right now we're talking about a lot of things going on on that aspect. But I'd love for us
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to composite the annually reports as mentioned by Councilor Harmsen. I think that data is
showing the increase over time, especially like post COVID,how much everything's
increased. It would be very educational to bring forward to them.
Thomas: I also have some magnets for-to give to you.
LeFevre: We still have like a whole bunch in the office too,but I would love to take them back
because I kind of want to get those back out and about. I know I have multiple of them in
my apartment.
Teague: Well,thanks to both of you for coming to do this presentation,very informative. So
thank you so much.
LeFevre: Of course,thank you.
Teague: Yes.
Alter: I'd love to give them the opportunity to do that.
4. Clarification of Agenda Items
Teague: All right. We're going to move on to item Number 4, Clarification of agenda items.
Bergus: Mayor, I- I failed to write it down,but I'll be recusing myself on the consent agenda. I-
not the- I don't think it's a consent agenda,the,um,mobile home park item,just to let you
know on that one.
Teague: So we will separate that one out.
Bergus: Yeah. Thank you.
Teague: Okay. Anything else from the formal agenda?Hearing nothing in this Item 5G.
Bergus: Thank you.
5. Information Packet Discussion [November 22,November 30,December 71
Teague: Great. Uh,we're going to move on to information packets November 22nd and this is,
um, item Number 5 on our agenda.November 30th and no- and December 7. So I do
have one,um, from there,there's probably two. Um,but IP 6,that's the memo from our
Climate Action Coordinator,um, on the whole Home Electrification Housing choice,
voucher program. This will be for landlords. This is a phenomenal opportunity. I think,
um, as you read the,the IP, it talked about some of the benefits of doing this program.
Um, I think the greatest benefit is really allowing landlords to understand the importance
of climate action and what they can do, and I think these incentives allow for that. In
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addition, it also will increase housing choice voucher,um,users to- I think it will entice
landlords to,um,participate in that program or enhance their participation. So this is
really great. It's going to be,um,talking about heat pumps for some of the landlords to
learn more about that,because I think a lot of people don't understand what the heat
pump water heater is, or the heat pump for,um,heaters and some electrical,uh,water
pumps,um. So it's going to be a great opportunity. I also want to mention that,um, our
climate action team is making headway across the nation. Um, so many of you know that
the city of Iowa City is involved with the Mayor's innovation project,um,that happens,
um,throughout the entire,um,year,having different programs. And this January,we
were invited to-Jen,uh,to Washington,DC. And,um, our wonderful coordinator,uh,
Sarah has agreed to go and speak on,uh, some of the things that we're doing here. And so
this just goes to show that,uh,we're doing great things where people are looking. And
there are mayors that are wanting to know more about what Iowa City is doing,uh,to
electrify and, and to decarbonize,uh,within our, our community.
Bergus: Mayor? I did have a item that's kind of with our,uh, assigned commission's update,but
also just to come to a pending work session topic. Um, as I'm serving on the JECC board,
and they're talking about the,um, different ways in which now that they have more
staffing of dispatchers and different kinds of response and that sort of thing. So you and I
had talked recently about maybe having a conversation relating to the different types of
response and what can be dispatched. So I talked with Geoff about this as well, so just
wondering if there's,uh, enough councilors who might be interested in having an update
on different types of crisis response, and what's available in the community,um, in the
next couple of months.
Teague: We have sufficient, so we'll put it on a future work session. Thank you.
Bergus: Okay. Thank you.
Teague: Yes. Any other items from information packet December 7th? I will just note that, and I
don't know which,uh, information packet it is about the Ashton House. That's going to be
great. What's going to be happening there, so thanks to the Parks and Rec Commission,
that,um, foresee,uh, a great opportunity,um,bringing,uh, great- greater programs
happening in that house.
6. University of Iowa Student Government(USG) Updates
Teague: We're going to move on to item,Number 6,which is University of Iowa,uh,updates
USG students, government?
LeFevre: Long time no, see.
Teague: Yes.
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LeFevre: Yeah, so Matthew will be coming joint later tonight. He has an Asian Religions final
right now. Um,best of luck to him on that. Um,thank you again for the renter's guide
presentation that finally got done, and we'll hopefully come out here not too long. It
depends on how long our comms team can get to it. Um, and we are planning on sending
it to now the Board of Regents Administration. Basically anyone and everyone we can,
um, I'm even thinking about maybe giving a pre-the same similar,uh,presentation to
student government if need be. Cause I would really like them to also pay attention to
that more. Um, so Keaton's here, of course,but,um,Keaton just recently got back from
DC the other day,uh,with our Vice President and President himself Uh, and they were
talking to multiple elected reps,uh,trying to understand what the,uh, Iowa
representatives want from this-uh, from the university really and mental health,um, and
all kinds of-the renters' checklist I don't think is going to be coming back sadly,um but a
whole bunch of advocacy there. Um, in fun news,uh, Iowa football is going to be going
to,uh,the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on Jan 1st. Um, you know,hopefully you're going to win
against Tennessee after,uh,the Big 10 championship that we don't talk about. Um.
Harmsen: And the marching band is back.
LeFevre: That's true. That's awesome. We love to see the shout-out,uh,by Metallica as well.
That was a whole-yeah, I don't know why,why they don't like your marching band.
They're really good. I know multiple of them. Um, if I seem a little,uh, scattered brained
out of it, it is finals week.
Harmsen: It is.
LeFevre: We are in full swing. I have a Native American,uh, law policy paper due tonight,um,
in multiple finals all the way up til Friday. I'm one of the unlucky few. Um, but that
doesn't take away that winter break is still coming up, and so it'll be great. Uh, I'll be
heading back to Kansas for a little bit, but that doesn't really inflict you guys. But I will
still be,uh, checking my emails,uh, doing any student government work. Uh,Matthew
and I's main priorities over winter break is still working on the Narcan campaign. We're
working really close with community and family resources,uh,Kayla Brooks,
specifically,to hopefully get people to get going. We have a couple of leads with a Sports
Column,Mesa Pizza, and we're going to be working with Donnelly's here soon because
the owners on the Iowa City Downtown District and seemed really receptive to the idea.
Um, and then I will also be working on planning town hall,uh, like last year. We'll
probably be having it at Old Cap, um,more details to come though,but just giving you
all a heads-up because we would love to have you all there. Uh, it was really good last
year, and I know that a lot of people that didn't even know the City Councilors were like,
oh, I really liked so and so, and we really had good points there. So I'm really,really
excited for the, for the future here. Um, I just wanted to wish you all happy holidays and,
uh, see you next year, I guess.
Teague: Okay. Thank you.
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LeFevre: Thanks.
Harmsen: Good luck this week.
LeFevre: Yeah.
7. Council updates on assigned boards,commissions, and committees
Teague: Yes,we're going to move on to item Number 7, Council updates on assigned boards,
commissions and committees.
Alter: Give us a break for December.
Teague: Yeah,yeah. Hearing nothing,we are adjourned on our work session, and we'll be back
at 06:00 P.M. for our formal agenda.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of December 12, 2023