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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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 2 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, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 3 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 4 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 5 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 6 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 7 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 8 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 9 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 10 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 11 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 12 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 13 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 14 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 15 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 16 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 17 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, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 18 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 19 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 20 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 21 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 22 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 23 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 24 '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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 25 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 26 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 27 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 28 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 29 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 30 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 12, 2023 Page 31 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