HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-11-27 Transcription
November 27,2006
City Council Work Session
Page I
November 27,2006
City Council Work Session
6:30 PM
Council:
Bailey, Correia, Elliott, O'Donnell, Wilburn, Vanderhoef
Staff:
Atkins, Boothroy, Dilkes, Franklin, Helling, Karr, Robinson
TAPE: 06-86, Sides I and 2
Plannin!! and ZoniD!! Items
a) CONSIDER A MOTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING FOR
DECEMBER 12 ON AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE ZONING CODE
TO AllOW A MINOR MODIFICATION IN CASES WHERE THERE ARE
PRACTICAL DIFFICULTIES MEETING THE STANDARDS FOR
STRUCTURED PARKING FACiliTIES WHEN RETROFITTING SUCH
FACILITIES WITHIN EXISTING BUilDINGS.
Franklin:
Public hearing on an ordinance amendment, which will allow someone to have, it will
allow some flexibility in terms of the streetscape and how many garage openings you can
have.
b) CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CERTAIN SPECIFIC
PROVISIONS WITHIN TITLE 14, ZONING CODE, CHAPTER 2, BASE
ZONES; CHAPTER 3 OVERLAY ZONES; CHAPTER 4, USE
REGULATIONS; CHAPTER 5, SITE DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS;
CHAPTER 7, ADMINISTRATION; CHAPTER 8, REVIEW AND
APPROVAL PROCEDURES; CHAPTER 9, DEFINITIONS. (SECOND
CONSIDERATION)
Franklin: The second one is second consideration on those 33 amendments that we put before you
before. And I'm done.
Bailey: Really!
Wilburn: Anyone want to ask any questions, put that out there?
Vanderhoef: Oh, just recite all of those amendments. I sort offorgot them.
Bailey: I don't fully understand those.
Franklin: I think you do.
O'Donnell: We'll talk later. Thank you.
Franklin: And I don't intend to come tomorrow evening, unless you think it's absolutely necessary.
Elliott: Oh dear.
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City Council Work Session
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Bailey: Oh, that's-
Vanderhoef: Take the night off.
Wilburn: Have fun.
Franklin: Ok. Thank you.
Elliott: Karin, one, one question. You knew you wouldn't get out. On Sa, is the item prepared by
Karen Howard, with all the wherases, is?
Franklin: Yeah. Is that totally incomprehensible?
Elliott: Ok. Sometime could we do things without all the whereases and just write plain what we
want to do and what we don't want to? 19 whereases.
Wilburn: Don't you want to know why, though?
Franklin: Oh, that's, that's Sb, not Sa, I think.
Bailey: Right.
Wilburn: Don't you want to know why, Bob?
Bailey: We don't have any whereases in Sa.
Elliott: No. Ijust don't like to see it.
Franklin: The wherases are the purpose and intent behind any of the changes, and they're there for
legal reasons in case we're challenged. That's what the whereases are.
Elliott: I'm so tired of whereas.
O'Donnell: Whereas we have to do it.
Franklin: They do have a purpose.
Elliott: Ok. That's all.
Council Annointments
Wilburn:
Thanks Karin. Ah, Council appointtnents. I believe the only one is the Youth Advisory
Commission, and Amy, did you have a recommendation for us?
Correia:
Say it again?
Wilburn:
Youth Advisory Commission? I believe that's the only appointment we have.
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Correia:
Bailey:
Correia:
Bailey:
Correia:
Elliott:
Correia:
O'Donnell:
Wilburn:
Elliott:
Karr:
Correia:
Karr:
Wilburn:
Boat House
Wilburn:
Barry:
Well, I recommend Michael for, Michael Nelson, he's applying for renewal. I am
recommending Lin Weeks and David Segar. The two Davids are both involved in Student
Senate at West High, and we have other Student Senate representatives. And Lin Weeks
is not involved in Student Senate but (can't hear).
Cool. I thought it was a tough choice, so.
Very tough choice.
I'm glad we-
Any of them would be good.
What kind of school representations does that get?
3 West High and I City High, which is actually what the current representation is right
now, with the 2 students going off are West High students as well.
Good.
Folks ok with those?
Thanks for your recommendation.
I'm sorry - could you repeat which David? I'm sorry, I'm not hearing.
Segar.
Segar. Thank you.
Lin Weeks, David Segar and Michael Nelson. Ok.
Boat House at Terrill Mill Park. You're on. Join us.
Good evening. My name is Hugh Barry, and I'm an engineer with Facilities Management
at the University ofIowa, and we're here tonight to talk to you about a proposed rowing
facility for the University. I want to thank you for the opportunity to present this evening.
This is a group effort, so I do want to introduce other people in our group this evening
that will also speak. Jane Meyer is sitting behind Dee there. She's the associate athletic
director for the athletic program. And Harry Ostrander, with Rec. Services, and also
Kevin Monson and Tim Schroeder with Neurnan Monson Architects of Iowa City will
also talk to you. We are very early in the planning process of this particular project. But
in order for us to proceed any further into any sort of detailed planning, we do need a site
to build a facility on, so that's why we're here. Ultimately, the University ofIowa will be
seeking approval from Iowa City to design and construct a rowing facility on a portion of
Terrill Mill Park. But in order for you to have as much information and make an
informed decision on that, we want to share with you as much information that we have
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City Council Work Session
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to date on this type of facility in order for you to make an informed decision. So, that
being said, Jane will talk a little about things from an athletic perspective, a little bit of
background information, and need for the project, and then Harry has some information
to share also on recreation and community youth. So, Jane-
Meyer:
Hi. Thanks again for the opportunity. I've got some pictures I'm gonna share with you as
well. Let me give you a little background of why this is really important to us from an
intercollegiate and athletics program. Rowing is our largest women's sport. On our team,
we carry about 65-80 women on this facility, on this particular sport. We have a novice
team, where we actually go through the admissions line and pick out women who look
athletic and say "you know what, come, we're going to teach you how to row." And then
we also have varsity where we go out and actually recruit student athletes to row for our
program. So that encompasses about 65-80 women. With that they get 20 scholarships.
This is what's called an equivalency sport, so we don't have what's called a head count
sport, which is with our men's and women's basketball teams and volleyball, that you
come and get a full ride. We take these equivalencies and you break them up. So they get
20 scholarships for these 65-80 women, and like I said, the novice team, they pull them
out and teach them how to row, and so this is our only varsity team that has no training
facility.
Right now we're using the Technology facility north ofthe Union, simply to serve as a
storing of our shells, and then they go to the Fieldhouse, to work on the ergometers, and
then they come over to Carver Hawkeye to train, from a weight training perspective. So
what we're trying to do is how do you consolidate all these facilities like the rest of our
intercollegiate and athletics teams, to be fair and equitable, which is something we know
is needed with our program. And so part of that is we need access to the River. And so
that's why we're coming to you, to say "can we partner with the City to make this thing
work?" We need this design to be very functional. The ease of getting the shells in and
out of the water. An eight, where you have eight women in the boat, is 60 feet long, and
so you can't do lots of turns. Right now you're coming out of the Technical, excuse me,
the Technology Building, you're making a huge 90-degree turn and then you have to
angle down to the River. Ideally you want to open right up onto that River and come out
with those long shells. Currently our women don't have access to a locker room for their
practices. If they need a toilet facility, they go into the Union. So these are things that we
know we need to do, it's part of our plan to take care of our women athletes, and we want
to make sure they have the opportunity to have rest rooms, shower facilities, all those -
they've always been part of our planning, but we've just been getting to the point where
we need to actually get that plan into action. I've talked about the efficiency of it. And
the other thing is, we don't have enough room to store all of our shells. We currently
have about 3-5 of them off site somewhere else. And to find space for 60 feet, to store an
eight, is a tough thing to do, and so then they go and pick them up for competitions, and
they're simply racing shells. So it's an important thing to have that all-in-one facility,
make our women very efficient.
What we've done so far from a background perspective is we did a site tour, because
we're not experts in these rowing facilities either, and so we went out to the East Coast
and toured 9 boathouses in 2 days. And we just made our mark, say ok, where are they?
And I'm going to show you some of those things, to help better educate you what we're
sort of looking for. Even though we're going to show you designs, we're not saying
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(laughter)
Meyer:
they're going to look like this. But it's to give you some background as well. But it was
mainly to educate us as a team on what we've got. So, someone else is going to talk about
this particular site, but let me just share with you, this is Boston University's, ok? It's a
beautiful site; it's on the Charles. We have no idea if this facility is going to be one-story,
two-story, three-story. Our, you know, we haven't started designing because we don't
know what the site is yet, but this is just to give you a sense of these wonderful facilities.
This is also probably a 10 million plus facility. We don't have those kinds of resources to
build this. We think what we can get done is probably half that amount, but we don't
know yet, because we haven't designed the facility. This is Harvard's - a hundred years
old. A grand facility. I actually had the opportunity to have dinner there one night for a
special function. It's a wonderful facility. But let me point out a couple of things. See the
big doors? Those are called bay doors, and that's where you actually pull the shelves out
and then you can actually bring them down to the river. This is one where I don't think
we're going to build something. This is a Division 3 program, a non-scholarship program
- it looks like a big old bam. Well that's not something that we want to design, because
we don't think it would be useful for our purpose. But you can see the big doors, where
these shells are 6 to 7 feet wide and 60 feet long, and then they decrease in size if they go
to a four, to a pair, or to a single. This is Tufts University, a two and a half million dollar
facility that just opened up this past fall. Another Division 3 program, where you can see
their entrance from upstairs, it's considered an ergometer room. Oh, my point - ['m
dangerous with this. I promise not to shine it in any of your eyes.
But another exterior. We don't know what ours is going to look like, but there it is: this is
a dock area. Let me see - there we go. Notice the dock, where the bay doors are right in
this area, and they can come right here at 90 degree angles, and then they actually put the
shells in the water along here. This area right here is very important because these are
considered launches. They accompany the boats and the shells out on the water, and they
are a safety feature, in case anyone goes in. Again, this is Yale, another unique design.
The problem with this particular facility is it's 40 minutes from campus, so from an
efficiency perspective, they bus everybody out here. But again, you can see, these are
launches, and then of course they have to take their shells clear up here to a parking lot to
actually load them onto a trailer. Another example oflaunches at a different facility. This
is what, where, it's considered a bay. And these are the shells, how they are stored. These
are racks that pull out, and then again, this is where you have to have about 80 to 85 feet
long - the width from here to this pole is about 20-25 feet wide, because ideally you want
to get eights out, two eights out and be able to walk between them, to make this the most
efficient, so that's the kind of space that we're talking about to store these shells. Another
way that they have stored these shells, different sizes as well.
This is a repair bay, where you actually have to take these shells if they happen to run
into a tree. You repair them; they're fiberglass - an eight shell, to give you a perspective
is free-throw line to free-throw line on a basketball court - that gives you the perspective
how long they are. They're made of fiberglass, and they weigh about 200 - 250 pounds.
And then a single is much shorter, and they weigh about 25 to 30 pounds. So that's how,
what they do is they put them up on their shoulder and they carry them in and out, and
then again, this looks like a pair that they are working on, where you can see the sets of
shoes in there? There's two sets in there, two rowers are in there propelling down the
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river. An ergometer room. This is another important feature that our student athletes will
use. And this is where they do their winder training, and they get their cardiovascular up.
These are rowing machines. Technically called an ergometer. Put the feet in here, there's
a bar here, and they pull against the chain, and resistance. They need to get so many yards
in so they're ready to go out and row on the river. Right now we only have a facility that
can accommodate about 25-30 athletes at one time. We need that to be about 40 to 50,
and so we need about one and a halftimes that facility, to make sure, if you think about
from an efficiency perspective. Those are just the ergometers stood up on end, so what
happens is that becomes a stretching area.
So if you can see, I'm trying to get a very functional type offacility here, very efficient
use of space. This is called a rowing tank, and this is where you teach people how to row
without taking them out onto the river. This is a two-feet deep body of water. You have
the rigger, where the oar goes in, and then you have the seat. They put their feet in here,
the seat, and you simply slide back and forth pulling against the resistance on the water.
The mirrors are very important so they can watch form, very similar to weight lifting and
weight training, to make sure that they can understand and see what they are doing
correctly or incorrectly. And then again, this is just another empty tank where they have
the rowing on both sides. So we are looking at building a tank. Again, it's only 2 feet
deep of water, but if we have novices that we're pulling out of the admissions line, which
every rowing program does, you have to teach them how to row. And so what you do is
you put them on this water, where they can't tip, teach them the actual strokes, then you
have them work up their cardiovascular with different types of training and on an
ergometer, and then you put them out on the water. And sometimes what you'll do is
you'll take two of those eights and hook them together, and they call it a barge. Then it's
much more safe, so they don't tip, and then you teach those.
And then those are also used in our learn to row programs as well, that Harry will talk
about a little bit more. So I think it's important that what we're talking about is we need
bays to store the shells, we need a repair bay, we need an ergometer room for them to
row, for about 50 people, a rowing tank, we need a locker room, and then the biggest
thing then is to also store the launches. So that's what we are looking from a very
functional perspective. I think the other thing that is important to us is a partnership that
we can work with you. We're aware of some needs that have come to our attention.
We're aWare of the need for permanent rest rooms in Terrill Mill, and we see that as a
strong possibility that we'd like to work with you on providing those for the park users
and the skate park users, whether that's part of the building or whether it's a separate
facility, we don't know, but that's something that we know is a need in that particular
park. Also we're aware of the need to store a launch, a safety launch, with the fire
department, and between the dams. They don't have any place where they can store a
safety launch. Either they use one of ours or we store theirs, depending on the equipment
that's needed. We think that would be a good need. Enhancing that parking lot, whether
we enlarge it, or enhance it, so it's more user friendly for those particular park users, and
hopefully not the Mayflower people, because I know you have issues with that as well.
But I think those are things that we can work together on to say can we help in that
particular area.
And I guess, lastly, you know, I can look and say, ok, what do we do from an athletics
perspective in working with the City that I think are good uses of our joint ventures. I
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Wilburn:
Meyer:
Wilburn:
Meyer:
Wilburn:
Meyer:
Wilburn:
Ostrander:
mean, on a football Saturday, when we bring 70,000 of our closest mends to Iowa City,
we work very closely with the police and the other safety entities that I think is a good,
useful relationship. The economic impact of those 70,000 closest friends of each one of
us, you know, that comes to the community as well, is important. Carver Hawkeye is
used by our high schools to have their graduations, because they need a large gathering
space. I think the Head of the Iowa rowing regatta is a beautiful thing on a weekend that
graces our River, that I think is wonderful for lots of people from the Mid West that come
out for the rowing regatta, and we plan to continue to have that. And lastly, I really just
see this as another means for us to partner with you, and that's what we're hoping to talk
about tonight and answer your questions that you have regarding our program, all right?
And so I'll be available to answer your questions. Next, Harry, the floor is yours.
Ah, just quickly, has the NCAA identified this as a gender equity facility for you, or?
No, the NCAA would not do that?
This is more club, kind of?
What would happen, Ross, is that if someone were to file a complaint against us, they
could site us for that, because it is the federal government that would do that. However, it
is in our NCAA certification plan that we need to build a boathouse within the next few
years because we recognize it as a need for our female athletes.
Ok.
So it depends on, we hope no one files a complaint. But our goal is to take care of the
need before that issue arises. Ok?
Ok.
Well, since the proposed site is City ofIowa City propertY, I think it's important that I
talk to you about community use of this facility. Because there's a, one of the bays will
be designed for recreational use, and within that bay we have a number of program
offerings that we will be offering that will be available to community members as well as
University ofIowa community members. But starting with our club program, our club
program is a co-ed program, very active club. Currently very active and sharing the
Technology Building with the intercollegiate team. And only 51 % of those members
need to be University connected, so we already have community people involved with
our club program. But in addition to that, we have a very active youth, high school
rowing program currently in existence that we would expand upon. And also an adult
rowing program open to community members, which again we would expand upon that.
Another possibility, and depending on the site and our ability to size it, there's also the
possibility that if there' s community people that have their own shells and they want to
store them in this facility for a nominal rental fee and we have the room to do so, we
would consider that a possibility also. We have a similar relationship with the City of
Iowa City kind oftumed around from what we're talking about. But the University of
Iowa Hawkeye Softball complex is one we share with the City now. The City conducts
their adult softball leagues on our facility out there and that's been a partnership that's
worked very well for, I think over 10 years now. But I think it's important that you know
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philosophically, recreation in this community, in University recreation facilities, have
always been open to the community. Philosophically, you people, not you people
specifically, are to blame for that. But Steve, you probably don't even know this, way
back when, I used to be the Assistant Superintendent for Recreation for the City ofIowa
City for a couple of years, and it was right at the time that we built
Atkins: Terry told me all about that.
Ostrander: He did tell you that?
O'Donnell: I remember that.
Ostrander: You remember that. Dee probably remembers.
Vanderhoef: I remember. Oh yeah.
Ostrander: But it was right at the time we built the new Recreation Center on Gilbert Street and I
was Bob Lee's assistant, and I had the task of having to enforce, because this was the
policy at the time, that if you were not a resident ofthe City ofIowa City you could not
use this facility. So I was having to tell friends of mine from North Liberty, University
Heights that you can't come in here, and I hated it. And when I became the director of
Recreational Services at the University, I made my mind up right there that what is
recreation for individuals is being able to participate with people that you enjoy being
with. So we are very unique. Our University facility is open to the community and has
always been open to the community. And I've been challenged a few times by vice
presidents, presidents, but I've always been able to make that case, and I can assure you
that this facility will be actively a community facility as well as a University facility.
Thank you.
Barry: We have one more short presentation by Neuman Munson and then we'll conclude and
answer any questions that we can, to the best of our ability. So, we doing ok on time,
Steve?
Atkins: Yeah - one thing I really want, I'm assuming you're going to show them that location,
ok, you're going to do that? Ok.
Schroeder: Wanted to show this history of the park, knowing that it is so odd for us to see this
information, it was very curious, so we wanted to share it with you. Actually, the path of
the River had a much different force back in the 1800s. Terrill Mill Park is actually over
there, in the middle of Dubuque Street between the medians. It was built in 1843, and that
was the 1" dam across the Iowa River, and a flood in 1881 actually changed the force of
the river, washed out this area, took the waters away from the dam itself, so the dam was
pretty useless at that point. But actually, the rights to have this dam on the river were
donated by the daughter, Mary Sanders, daughter of Terrill, and were donated to the
University, along with $6900.00 to build the current dam down on Burlington Street. So,
a little bit of information just to show you what this looked like back in 1800. You can
see some pictures of the old mill itself. But the site, we're actually talking about-
Wilburn: I'm sorry, before you go on, can you pull that mic towards you a little bit? There you go.
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Shroder: You can see the skateboard park over to the east, existing parking area, the site we'd be
talking about, close to the river here, on the other side from, you know, Dubuque Street
out here. So we're on the other side of these mature trees out here on this open mode area
right on the River. So, just to make sure we're talking about the same site, that's all the
information we have.
Vanderhoef: Is that area controlled at all by Corps of Engineers and flood plain?
Shroder: We need to look more into this, but the actual flood way, which is what the Corps would
be concerned about, is halfway up this bank. So that is what they're concerned about; as
far as building in the flood way, that is a problem, but building out of the flood way is not
considered a problem typically with the Corps of Engineers.
Vanderhoef: The hundred-year flood plain?
Shroder: In the hundred-year flood plain, we would need to make sure and be one foot above the
flood plain.
Vanderhoef: Yeah, and that's why I wondered if this was in that hundred-year flood plain.
Shroder: Yes, it is.
Vanderhoef: So it would have to be way high, lifted up.
Barry: Well, as I understand it, any occupied portion of the building would have to be one foot
above the hundred-year flood plain. We could elect, and we may do this, that the lower
portion could potentially be in the flood plain, and some of these facilities are designed
where they are subjected to flooding, they recognize it, and they design the facilities
accordingly.
Wilburn: Then you just have to tip the boat over off the
Barry: Well, yeah, the boats float, and everything else goes to the ceiling.
(laughter)
Barry:
I guess, in summary, we feel the project really is a win-win project for the University of
Iowa and the Iowa City community, and really, we're here to ask for your support of the
project. Some additional items, in addition to what Jane had mentioned as far as
enhancements, we really feel that the facility will be an enhancement to the Iowa River
corridor through the Iowa City area, which has always been a priority for the University
and I believe with the City ofIowa City, so we look at that as a positive element should
we get approval for the facility at this location. And, in addition to that, I think, and
lastly, that the facility will help promote the sport of rowing in Iowa City and the
University ofIowa and provide opportunities for Iowa women interested in the sport of
rowing and for others from a recreational perspective. That concludes our formal
presentation. We would open it up for questions - hope ifI can't answer, others in the
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Wilburn:
Barry:
Wilburn:
Elliott:
Barry:
Atkins:
Elliott:
Atkins:
Elliott:
Atkins:
Elliott:
Dilkes:
O'Donnell:
Barry:
group may, and Steve, if you have any concluding remarks on your end, it would be
appreciated.
Just as a reminder, of someone else gets called up, you'll have to come up and speak into
a microphone before you give an answer. And I imagine what you all need to hear from
us is just what, answer our questions, but it's more, at least in terms of the concept, if a
majority of us are not in favor of the concept of this down here, then they'll know where
to go, but otherwise, at a minimum, just a general approval of the concept.
Right. That would allow us to proceed with our design with ultimately the final
agreement going to Council at a later date for approval.
Questions?
You would be asking for title to the land?
You know, I don't know the details of the, as far as the actual land, whether it's a lease or
title, we haven't worked that out, but probably - I don't think so - it could be a lease
arrangement, but I don't believe we would be asking for title to the land, no. It could be a
long-term lease.
I'm not very sure what there is to gain by, to both being public agencies. I would assume
some long-term 99-year lease or something such as that, at the very least, we would work
out.
Then there's no problem with the City owning. In fact, University-
Well the building would likely be, Eleanor could help me on the legal question - the
building would be owned by the University, the underlying ground could be owned by,
yeah.
Building - University's, property,
City.
City. Ok.
Well I, we'll have to work through those details, but I think a long-term lease is the most
likely, likely concept, and that the agreement would address liability and all those issues,
so.
You know, I came tonight with 2 questions and they were both answered. One was the
rest rooms and the use for skate boarders. That addresses the safety issue for me, for the
kids going across the street into the Mayflower. And also the parking lot enhancement,
you've addressed that. I think the safety launch for the fire department is a bonus. I like
the whole idea, I do agree, it's a win-win situation. I wasn't aware of the club programs,
high school and adult. I think it's a great project. And I also learned what an ergometer is.
You know, I did too. I actually got to use one, for a very small time.
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Wilburn: Questions? Comments?
Vanderhoef: Other sites that you looked at?
Barry: I know that we have, and I think maybe Jane might be able to talk a little bit more about
that than I can.
Meyer: Dee, we have looked at other sites. There's, we looked at other sites in City Park, and in
our previous conversations and working with Terry Trueblood, we looked, you know, do
you go back to the back of City Park, because of the access? We have to be between the
two dams, and we talked to the City of Coralville as a possible location, but from a
timing perspective, it doesn't get us in access to the site. Near the cement plant, south of
Iowa River Power, but we can't get access to that for over 5 years and from a timing
perspective that doesn't help us any. And we looked at some University areas, but
because of how they are designed, certain areas like the arts area over by Hancher, they
are looking at those areas for future facilities from an arts perspective and for some
reason they don't see rowing as very artistic. I don't get it, but I think all sport is.
Vanderhoef: I look at it that this is an entryway to the City, and from the road, to block off any more
view of the River is worrisome to me. I think we've blocked some things off with some
University buildings along the east side of the River and this is our one big one and of
course it's a highlight to drive in and see Hancher lit up at night, and putting more height
in there, so.
Meyer: Dee, we looked at that. Where this is tucked in, potentially at that site, if you are driving
south on Dubuque Street, that row of trees - this row of trees, actually blocks it. Because
we're not talking about a real east to west depth. We're talking more north to south. And
you will see it when you come north on Dubuque, but we would see that as being sort of
a very appealing sight, and then the same view when you look at it from City Park can be
very appealing as well. But actually, as an entryway into the City, it's not as visible as
one would think.
Vanderhoef: Ah, I'll drive and take a look. l'lllook at it.
Meyer: Yeah, please do.
Vanderhoef: And the enlargement of the parking, like how much are you talking?
Meyer: You know what, I don't know the answer to that, because I think what it would, what we
have to answer if from a user perspective, how many are going to be there and then, from
our student athlete, not all 80 of them, I guarantee you, have vehicles, but we would be
bringing more vehicular traffic there in the morning and then in the afternoon during their
practice times, and then the question is we still want to make sure there's enough parking
there for the park users who are going to be there potentially at the same time. So I don't
have an answer until we actually design it and figure out.
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Vanderhoef: Well and that's another thing that bothers me about the entryway and what it does to
present our city with a big parking lot and closing off some of the river, so I'll reserve
judgement until I get a little further down the road and see what I can see.
Bailey: I share those concerns that Dee has brought up about our entryway. The nice thing about
our river, and I've been very proud of it is we have good public access and good
visibility. So what kind of, I mean, I still don't have a sense of mass. I mean, those
buildings looked very large to me. Can you give me a concept of square footage? I mean
Meyer: Twenty thousand square foot, and that is total, whether it's one level or two level or one
and a halflevels.
Bailey: Ok. And then, given that this is an entryway to the City, I think the design ofthis building
is very important. What kind of relationship or what kind of design signoff will the City
have on your final design specs? I mean, if you're gonna say "Oh yeah, we're gonna
build Boston" that was a very beautiful building.
Meyer: You're ok with that?
Bailey: Yeah, I think I would be generally ok with that.
Vanderhoef: Make it look that way on both sides.
Bailey: Yes, yes.
Barry: Well, we would be willing to come back and share some design, when we get further
along, but we didn't want necessarily to be held up with that as an issue in terms of
approval. We see this, and Kevin can probably talk a little more intelligently about the
architecture of the structure and what we see and how it fits contextually within the site,
and to make sure it doesn't dominate the site and fits in. But we certainly share your same
concerns, and we do not want to design and construct a facility that does not fit the site.
Bailey: Ok.
Vanderhoef: Just looking at that diagram, if it's all up to scale, it's, everything from the road through
the skate park almost down to the river is almost the length that you're talking about then
going the other way.
Barry: Is that really, I don't, is that pretty close to scale?
Vanderhoef: I'mjust eyeballing it.
Bailey: Is that scale?
Shroder: 20 thousand square feet - rectangle.
Wilburn: 20 thousand square feet - rectangle. If you're going
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Bailey: One level. Got it.
Shrader: That's the worst case.
Vanderhoef: Well, but I'm trying to compare it to what's already built down there, that if! walk down
there and looked at all the skate park area, all the concrete pieces and up to the road, it
appears that it's about the same length as what you're putting into that red length.
Wilburn: Ah, Kevin, I had a couple questions, one question, anyways. Would you mind coming up
forward? I know that there's no design yet, but what are the types of, whether it's
building material or scale or shape that helps facilities blend into a more natural, what
type of things, just to help us get our arms around that?
Munson: Well, our preference would be, obviously, to make this a permanent structure, so it will
take the forces of nature and fit into it's very natural setting, so we're really looking at
materials that take very little maintenance, so our preference would be to be stone, brick,
a very permanent structure, versus the barn shape form that we showed - that one image
- that is not what we're looking at. You know we thought in our interview process for the
University, we should take some clues from Terrill Mill itself. But after seeing Terrill
Mill, the visuals, I don't think we want to go that way.
(laughter)
Munson:
That was a different era, and so we're thinking of a very permanent building. And as the
images showed you, there's quite a bit of variety in style, from the Harvard's Women's'
hundred year old very classical form to Yale's, which was very sympathetic to the river
but much more of a modem thing. We're not gonna be able to afford to build to that
extent, but we do think that this will actually be a very popular facility and a draw rather
than to be a negative, we think it's a huge positive to have this kind of a structure. When
you think about it, what community in Iowa can have a rowing facility on the river
between two darns, which is very controlled water to rowan, and the opportunities for
our youth and our community to have access to such a facility is just outstanding. It's
another plus in our Iowa City community to have those facilities available for our youth.
So we're really, you know, we really hope this will be an icon for our community, one
you would see in our Chamber of Commerce ads for why corne to Iowa City, because we
have this iconic structure. And we really think it's very important to what it looks like
from City Park, because probably the most this facility will ever be seen will be from
City Park, from the south side of the river. That's where it's going to be seen the most.
Because of the mature tree stand that we have actually in the park and where we're
proposing it, when you're coming into town, we don't think you're going to be even
aware of the facility. At least we hope you're not, because if you were, you're probably
not going to still be on the road, if you were. Because it's tucked in there so well and
we've got that mature stand of trees, which we definitely want to preserve.
So one of the issues that we're going to be dealing with very early on is how high the
building is and at worst I think we're talking about a two-story building. Ifwe stay out of
the flood plain with the rowing storage, which we don't need to do by any kind of
regulation, that would put us a little bit higher. If we do as many of the boat facilities that
we saw actually allow a building to sit lower, it's easier to get access to the river, but
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Elliott:
Ostrander:
Elliott:
Ostrander:
O'Donnell:
Wilburn:
Ostrander:
there's also that potential of flooding. But because we have such good control with the
Coralville dam, other than '93, we've had great control of the Coralville darn, we think
we can do that very sympathetically and keep it somewhat smaller in scale. We don't
want this to be a dominating thing, but I think, as you can imagine, from City Park,
having this kind of lantern on the other side of the river would be very attractive. And I
think also, from an aerial, this site looks like it has a lot of facilities on it, but from the
ground, the skate park really is very much a non-event, because it's so low and it's
bermed up and you really don't see much ofa structure there at all. It's there, but it's so
bermed that from pedestrian and from car traffic, it really doesn't look like much of a
structure at all. You really have to study it to see that there's something built there,
because it is bermed up, and the shell itself, with the concrete, is very much hidden,
which I think is a great idea, by the way. Does that help you a little bit? And we would be
very happy to bring back our final designs and I think you'll be extremely happy with it.
Our intent is that this would be a very signature piece for the City as well as the
University.
I don't know if Harry needs to answer this or not, but what about canoeing, canoe rentals,
that sort of thing? Yes. Kayaks, my friend says.
Kayaks. Yes. That possibility exists. We used to, if you remember in the old Canoe
House, we had canoes there for years and years and the regulations of the river
fluctuating so much up and down required to kind of give that up, because about the time
that would be popular the water level would be high, and if it's too swift, with the dam
there, it makes it a little dangerous, but certainly that is something we intend to take a
hard look at in terms of, and in particular with this location, you've got us away from the
dam far enough that I think we can conduct canoeing in a safe manner. We were a little
close to that darn in the old WP A Canoe House that we operated out of and we had a few
occasions when we got a little too close to the darn, but now there is some more safety
issues, I mean, equipment, that's been installed there. So we'll take a look at that, yes.
Is that portion of the river, are there still motor boats, motorized boats that can and do use
that portion? Is that a problem with the increase that you might see in the rowing?
I don't think so. I mean, I drive by that every day on my way home and other than two
pontoon boats, I hardly see much, I mean, I was mentioning to someone earlier I used to
water ski in that river and I never see that anymore; in fact, I don't know if that's legal
anymore. So I don't see speedboats with the reservoir, or anything like that. I see a few
slow-moving pontoon boats and a few fishing boats maybe, so I don't think that's a
problem.
I've never seen any.
And I'm sorry, I wasn't actually aware that you all had some youth program going on
with this. Can you paint a picture of what you, how you envision, is it state-wide camps
bringing folks to town, that sort of thing, or more of our local, trying to build some
programs with our high school system? What do you?
It's, the high school program is already in existence. We would just try and enhance it.
And it's fluctuated over the years. Sometimes the numbers have been really high,
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sometimes not quite so high, and I think with a facility like this, it will be able to
maintain a high level of participation both on a high school level and on an adult level.
We've had a lot of requests from adults that wanted to row, too, but in our existing
facility, the Technology facility, there's just not a lot of room there, and we're cramped in
there, sharing the space with Intercollegiate Athletics in what is basically one bay, and
now we're talking three bays in the new facility, so we should be able to accommodate a
lot of community use. And we'll do regattas, age group regattas and things like this.
We'll promote a lot of use ofthe river with this facility.
Wilburn: I guess I'll just ask the Council, any further questions about the concept and then we
should probably give some indications - the concept at this site.
Elliott: I like what I've heard. I think the thing that is very important, some of you are more
interested in the appearance and profile and looks of the building; I would be more
interested in the community participation, the fact that there would be rest rooms and
facilities for people who use the skateboard park. I would certainly be in favor of moving
forward at this time.
Vanderhoef: [' m going to reserve judgement until I walk around out there. Another location that I
wondered about was off of the Peninsula, so go out past the Elks, because we own a
whole lot of the land out there and that has potential for not blocking this view. It has
potential for parking that is not nearly so obvious as this would be in this particular
location.
Barry: That's not a question?
Vanderhoef: I'm just asking if you even looked at that?
Atkins: Dee, that was one of, the staff looked at that, and our initial concern was we're going to
draw traffic through that new neighborhood, and we've already gotten complaints, sad
but true, but the dog park is so popular we're getting complaints from the neighbors.
Yeah - I know - can't stand our own popularity.
Elliott: Popularity is hell.
Wilburn: Other comments from Council? Other Council members haven't said much yet.
Correia: The potential seems exciting to me. I like the potential for the partnership with the rest
rooms and the safety launch for the fire department and the parking lot. It seems like, I
think it's important to have staff involvement, Council involvement with the design, 1
don't know ifthat, the design itself, or bringing designs to us, I don't know how,
(cut off - end of tape)
Atkins:
So, you'll resolve, you know, work out whatever communications would have to be
involved, but I'd want Terry to have this on his plate.
Correia:
It seems like a good site from both the perspective of the University, with being close to
campus, I mean, you can get there on foot or on the bus for students, and that
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accessibility for the public as well. Again, I never notice that site when I'm driving this
side. I think, there are the trees. I never go to that park because I don't skateboard or have
a skateboard, but I could see getting involved, so I think it would promote rec.
involvement in a different activity. It's not a team sport, for folks that want to be active in
a different capacity, so I think it's an exciting opportunity.
Bailey: No, I'm generally supportive of the concept. I think I've voiced my concerns about the
design. I always notice that park, because I always check out how busy the Skateboard
Park is. I always notice that site, so that's a concern. I like seeing the river, and so that's a
concern for me. But I think rowing is an attractor. I also notice when there's a shell on the
river, and I think it's one of the most beautiful sports, so I'm kind of excited that we
could expand it and have some adult programs. Maybe I could actually learn how to do
that. I doubt it, but.
Wilburn: Yeah, I'm, I'm supportive of this location, as well. And along with you, Bob, I think that
community participation is something. Not like, only for our local residents, but you're
right Regenia, it is a fascinating thing that I think will pull people to
Bailey: I hope so.
Wilburn: I don't remember which presenter mentioned it, it might have been Kevin, but it would
be kind of a highlight and a hallmark that would, another signature, you know, only in
Iowa City type thing that would be a positive. So, it looks like you've got the, at least
with a majority of Council, with this location, and you've heard some of the concerns.
Did you have another concern that you wanted to?
Vanderhoef: I just wondered. I read about these dragon boats, and races and so forth, that are
community celebration and attractors and so forth?
Atkins: But to foolish adults you mean going out and playing on the river?
Vanderhoef: No, they're regular racing boats.
Wilburn: Cedar Rapids has that. And Des Moines and Grey's Lake.
Meyer: And so does Des Moines and Grey's Lake.
Vanderhoef: Well, since we're working on it and we just paid extra money into the CVB for this sports
authority and
Bailey: Mmm hmm. I think this would provide a facility that they could market.
Atkins: Yeah, yeah.
Vanderhoef: The launch site could be used for dragon boats? I don't know anything about them! I'm
just asking crazy questions.
Meyer: I don't know the answer.
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Atkins: I don't know if you could use it, Dee, but it certainly wouldn't obstruct the process. I
mean, really all, as I understand those dragon boats, they just need a launching site.
Meyer: You need a dock, is all I understand. I've only seen 'em, so the question is, is it access
from this site or is it access from the City Park side, where you have a boat ramp and a
dock there as well.
Atkins: Because we gotta tote the boat in anyway, the dragon boat.
Bailey: Tote n' boat.
Meyer: So I don't have the answer on that one. If you started talking to me about cardboard
boats, then I'd be more concerned.
Vanderhoef: Cardboard boats is not what I'm thinking about.
Meyer: I know what you're talking about. It's the one with the big curves on 'em. I think it is
access to a dock or a boat ramp.
Vanderhoef: Well, if we're trying to promote new things and economic development-
Wilburn: Well, yeah, and I think the sports authority would be pretty excited about this.
Bailey: I think so.
Wilburn: And there's, you have representation with the sports authority, on the sports authority, so.
O'Donnell: It's a great project.
Meyer: Thank you so much.
Elliott: Thank you.
Meyer: Thanks for your time.
A!!enda Items
Wilburn:
Agenda items.
Atkins:
Just so you know, Doug and, I think, and Steve are both here if you have any questions if
you have any questions about the Housing Authority programs, in particular, because we
have a hearing tomorrow night.
Correia:
Steve, can you walk us through? I wonder, this is related to that item. I know that this
memo, or this item says a staff memo containing the information was included in
November 14"'? Is that something that we always can just include the November, like the
memo setting a public hearing in the packet when we're actually - could that have been
an attachment to this agenda item this week? You see what I'm saying?
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Atkins: No, I'm not real sure.
Karr: I believe if I'm understanding you Amy, and I think this is why we try and put all the
material in at the time the public hearing is held and not when it's set for that very reason.
Correia: Ok.
Karr: So that a person looking at attending the meeting and speaking at the hearing would have
all of it at the time of the hearing rather than having to refer back to a time when we set it.
Correia: Right.
Elliott: I, I do understand, Amy, because 1 was sitting at home thinking I wonder what book that
was in, November 30th.
Vanderhoef: It said. It told us, in the memo.
Elliott: Yeah. It says included in November 30th.
Correia: Right.
Elliott: Or November 14th.
Vanderhoef: 14"'. Yeah. So I'd tom that out and filed it.
Elliott: Yeab. That's helpful.
Karr: Duly noted - we'll talk about that.
Correia: Ok.
ITEM 6. TO ADOPT THE IOWA CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY'S AMENDED HOUSING
CHOICE VOUCHER (HCV) ADMINISTRATIVE PLAN.
ITEM 7. TO ADOPT THE IOWA CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY'S AMENDED PUBLIC
HOUSING ADMISSIONS AND CONTINUED OCCUPANCY PLAN (ACOP).
Rackis: Ok. What we have before you is hopefully not a yearly exercise. We try to, you know,
lump this together only when we have substantial changes to the plan, but we are
recommending some changes to our administrative plan for the Section 8 program and
the admissions and continued occupancy plan for public housing. And the one item that
effects both plans is a residency preference. And we're primarily looking at that from a
budgetary perspective, in that our lease-up rates are approximately 93-95%. In the last 10
months we've gone through two years of our waiting lease and we still have the same
lease-up rates of roughly about 1100 families. It has cost us from going to high-
performance status to standard performance status, primarily because we got 0 points in
the evaluation for the lease-up. Weare still high performer in public housing. The second
aspect that is of budgetary concern are the rising costs of portability, and our feeling is
that the quickest way to lease people up is to target people that are currently here. People
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Elliott:
Rackis:
Correia:
Rackis:
Elliott:
Correia:
Elliott:
that are living within the community or living within Johnson County tend to lease-up in
the unit that they are residing in, certainly not at the time of application but certainly at
the time that we're calling them to the top of the list. So again, people have a unit, people
tend to lease-up in that unity, the processing times are shorter. So our thought is going
after people that are already here, we can rapidly increase our lease-up rates. The second
aspect of that equation is people that are living here, that have been living here long term,
tend to not exercise their portability rights. In reality, they're not asking to port that
assistance anywhere else. They're using it here in Johnson County primarily. And again,
half the program are elderly, disabled families. They really don't exercise those rights
much. So the residency preference is primarily again a budgetary concern for us. Do you
want me to just walk through each one and then corne back to questions, or see if you
have questions on each individual one?
Walking through the a,b,c,d,e - is that what you're?
Sure, or, yeah. So again, in looking at the preferences, in reality, the only thing that we
changed from the current plan, we still have displaced individuals. In other words, if
there is a federally declared disaster like Hurricane Katrina, those people immediately
corne to the top of the list. That does not change. In reality, again, the only thing we have
changed is, our primary preferences right now are elderly, disabled, and families with
children under 18. The only change we're making is saying if you're elderly, disabled,
and families with children under 18 and you live in our jurisdiction, you are at the top of
the list. Second would be elderly, disabled, and families with children under 18. Third
then becomes families that do not have dependent children that are living here, and then
so on and so forth. Sort of counter, going back and forth, where we're still targeting at the
top of the list the elderly, disabled, and families with children under 18. So that's the only
distinction, is if you're in that category and you live here, you're now at the top of the
list.
What's the definition of a legal domicile?
Well, we have a memo, but ifmy memory serves, it is a permanent residence with the
intent to remain. So it is somebody that is living in a permanent residence, they have a
lease perhaps, and they intend to remain, meaning they're not sort of moving about. Now
I have had discussions with Shelter House and DVll', where there are certain other tests.
If somebody does not have a lease and they are claiming residency status, Legal has
provided us with a series of questions that we could utilize to determine whether
somebody is a resident or not a resident. Some examples are: Where are your children
enrolled in school?; Where's your driver's license?; Do you have a state LD.?; Did you
vote? Where?; Where did you file income taxes?; Are you working?; Where are you
working? So there is a series of questions that we could utilize to establish residency if
somebody didn't have that lease.
Did you bring that -
That would be a -
Excuse me.
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Dilkes:
Correia:
Dilkes:
Correia:
Rackis:
Correia:
Rackis:
Dilkes:
Elliott:
Bailey:
Correia:
It's not length of residency, it's residency. And so.
So if, so if somebody is staying at Shelter House, their children are emolled in the Iowa
City schools, would they be a family with children under the age of 18 who have a
residence?
I don't think you can make that decision based on two factors. We will have a series of
questions that we will ask them to answer and based on the answers to those questions we
will have to make a determination as to whether they are a legal resident. It's gonna be a
time-consuming process.
Well that, I mean that's kind of a big shift going from when homelessness used to be a
federal preference to now having to.
It really does, I mean, people in the homeless shelter - again, to be in the top of the list
now you have to be elderly, disabled, and families with children under 18. It's a case by
case. This would become a case by case determination of somebody's eligibility, which is
what we're doing with every family now that comes to the top of the waiting list.
Certainly when somebody applies, they say they're disabled - we don't say prove it until
they come to the top of the list. Same thing with children, same thing with age. So again,
somebody comes to the top of the list, they're going to have to prove it at that point.
Right, but in order to, at the time of application, in order for you to know whether they
are preferenced or not, you'd have to make the determination at the time of application.
And as Eleanor mentioned, we would have questions incorporated into our preliminary
application to make that initial determination. Then, in keeping with the program, people
are required to submit any change in writing, so as people's address change, and their
family composition changes, they are required to notifY us. So somebody's status on the
waiting list can change over time, and it does now.
We did a memo back in 2000 to the Section 8 coordinator which basically gives the legal
principles of residency or domicile and sets forth a list of questions that we will probably
add to at this point, but you are certainly free to get a copy of that memo if you want.
I have a copy of that memo. I had a nice conversation with Steve this afternoon and my
question was whether or not we could use as one of the criteria how long they had been
resident here, and that was, I was told that's not the case. But I was pleased to see this
series of questions that could be asked, not anyone of which would be a determinant but
over a series if they, based on their, as you said, individual case, based on their responses
to those questions provides a priority ability. I like that.
Amy do you have a concern about these preferences?
Well, I mean, I don't, I guess. -I don't have a concern, I mean I have. Steve and I talked
last week. I hadn't thought about the issue of, I mean I read this before, the legal domicile
not including residing at the shelter and thinking that, you know, those most in need of a
voucher, well, there's a variety of ways to determine that, but certainly our folks that
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Dilkes:
Correia:
Rackis:
Correia:
Rackis:
Elliott:
Bailey:
Rackis:
Bailey:
Rackis:
aren't in any unit at all and are here and you know, I guess, I'm concerned at creating
more hoops for people who have a lot of hoops to jump through.
I just want to make sure we're clear. These questions don't apply just to people living at
the shelter. The shelter address is not a factor. All these questions will be asked of
everyone.
The. Ok. Ok.
Yeah. I don't see no matter what we do that our wait for assistance will be reduced to 90
days or less.
Right.
Somebody going into the shelter is only going to be in the shelter for 90 days. So if they
hit the shelter and make application, there's still going to be that wait for assistance.
Their status should and will change. The other aspect to this, and it's sort of buried in the
regulation, that if we establish a residency preference, we have to give that residency
preference to people that have a bona fide offer of employment. So there's another test
besides just the residency. If somebody is saying I'm moving there because I got ajob
offer or I'm working, that becomes another aspect. It's like one sentence in the reg. So
we're not doing a working family preference, but there is that stipulation within the reg.
But again, 90 days in the homeless shelter, many of those people are engaged in the
STAR program, where they may be transitioning into a job, into an apartment
somewhere, and so at the time they come to the top of the waiting list, and we're actually
determining their eligibility, their status has changed.
I guess I just liked the idea that this enhances the possibility that the people will basically
be from the Iowa City area as opposed to coming in from Dallas or Milwaukee or
Chicago or whatever.
Not necessarily, I mean, because if they come here and establish - I mean, how long is
the wait.
Our current wait for assistance is approximately two years.
So I could come here and get on the list and wouldn't necessarily be quote from here. But
this reduces the likelihood; will it reduce some ofthe portability?
I believe it will, because we typically see people that will pick themselves up and move
here or to any community, they're moving for a reason and they're moving with that
intent, to be in that community. And we don't see people typically who are from our
jurisdiction exercising their portability rights. If they are, it's because they've gotten ajob
somewhere else, like perhaps Cedar Rapids or Dubuque or Davenport. That's when
they're exercising their portability. So yes, you're correct. People that are moving here
with the intent ofliving here and becoming a resident will be afforded the same
preference as someone that's lived here their entire life.
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Bailey:
Rackis:
Bailey:
Elliott:
Correia:
Rackis:
Correia:
Raclos:
Correia:
Bailey:
Correia:
Rados:
Because by the time they come to the top of the list, chances are they are quote living
here -
Established.
Yeah, established. And meet most of those criteria.
And I was just talking about someone corning from say, Chicago, and here. Because I
was thinking as I told Steve this afternoon in talking with R.J. when he was still Chief
here, and I think it had to do with they needed to get fingerprints, so you come to the
police station to get fingerprints, the woman called R.J. and said what do I need to do to
get fingerprinted and she said, well, that's not very helpful to me because I live in
Chicago. That's what I'm trying to get away from someone who just drives in from
Chicago, picks up an application, drives back and waits 'til something opens up. That
means that the person is going to, at least there's the possibility if not probability that it
will be someone who has some sort of anchor in this area.
But that, all the money for this program are federal dollars, and anybody has the right to
be on the waiting list.
Yes.
So somebody can be on the waiting list anywhere in the country. They could put their
name on the waiting list and they remain on the waiting list until it comes to the top. In
this situation, they're not going to be preferenced. Their name will continue to move up
on the list.
Well, they'll be, they'll be slotted by preference and then date and time of application.
Date and time, right, right.
So-
So they would have the opportunity at one point to get a voucher, but you have to live
here for 12 months to be able to port.
For portability, urn, there's, and that's really where the memo had its early life is, if you
are a resident of our jurisdiction at time of application, you can exercise your portability
rights immediately. If you are, say you apply and are living in Cedar Rapids at the time of
application, then you would have to exercise a twelve-month lease in our jurisdiction
before you could exercise your portability. And those are many of the costs that we've
become concerned about, because we can no longer make the determination that the
payment standard, the standard by which a housing authority determines how much a two
bedroom voucher is worth for a particular family - we can't just simply compare San
Antonio, Texas's payment standard to ours and say two bedroom is 900, ours is 5, you
can't port. HUD has told us we can no longer do that. That no longer meets the definition
of a higher cost. Essentially they're telling us that we have to be canceling contracts, we
have to be out of money before we can say no.
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Correia: Ok.
Vanderhoef: And what are they really accomplishing by doing that?
Correia: Doing what?
Vanderhoef: Well, by saying that we have to port them, but yet the dollars that come into our housing
authority does not change. So what we're saying is that if the housing authority in San
Antonio, this is their standard of living, and that City receives dollars from the feds for
those folks living in that area, then we can use our dollars will be eaten up by the higher
rent from other people who port in.
Correia: Well, they're federal dollars, they're the voucher holders' dollars.
Vanderhoef: The point is the dollars don't come in to follow the voucher wherever it gets (can't hear)
Correia: But once that person, if that person meets full rent, wherever they are, then that voucher
comes back to the Iowa City Housing Authority.
Rackis: If that family is absorbed into that program or yes, if in fact they reach full rent. But
again, we don't have any control as to whether somebody ports to a housing authority
without a self-sufficiency program, they may not.
Correia: But they could. Does that happen?
Rackis: They could, yes. I don't know. We have had some families that have ported their
assistance in 2003 and we're still paying, essentially, the full rent for those families. As a
matter of fact, our costs for the calendar year are $220,000.00. So essentially that's
$20,000.00 that could be spent here but is being spent somewhere else.
Elliott: Meaning we could help maybe 4 people here for the amount of money it takes to support
3 people in San Antonio.
Rackis: Our average costs on the portable, we're only talking 27 families, costs us $220,000.00.
And the average is $751.00. The remaining you know, 1,100 families that we have on the
program that we're serving in our jurisdiction, are average costs are $380.00. So
essentially for every one family that ports we could serve two here.
Correia: I understand, but I guess the philosophy of the program is that once somebody's eligible,
that assistance is their assistance. It's, they're eligible, it's their assistance. It's federal
dollars, the assistance is designed to help that family, so if what is helping that family.
It's a philosophy and I understand that people have different beliefs in whether that-
Vanderhoef: Well this isn't about philosophy, it's about how the feds pay us. If the feds would pay us
the difference between what our average is per family in our area and what it costs to port
to port that one to another area, if they'd add that to ours it would be a whole lot more.
Correia: Well I understand what you're saying, Dee, but, they're not-
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Vanderhoef: It isn't the family's fault, it is the regs ofthe feds.
Correia: Sure. That's why there's also problems with HUD, that's why families in urban centers
where they're tearing down the developments are having a problem, because they're not
replacing those homes one for one. So that, I mean, that's a whole problem for HUD
policies nationwide.
Wilburn: Any other questions about this before?
Rackis: Second one is real quick, assignment of bedroom sizes, and that's just simply, we've
created somewhat of a bottleneck for families that would qualify for two bedroom units.
We're trying to actually qualify more families for two bedroom units, which would then
increase our lease-up rates, because families are finding difficulty. One bedroom unit is
not big enough, two bedroom units they can't afford, so we're just, again, just tweaking
how we assign bedroom sizes to qualify more families for a two bedroom. And the last
one is a change that HUD made last year regarding student eligibility in Section 8
programs. That includes all of basically HUD programs except for public housing. And
we were required by that new federal regulation to put the new student guidelines into
our administrative plan, and essentially what it becomes is, when a family comes to the
program or a family member goes to school, we now have to look at that family
composition and determine 1) is that family member going to school? If that family
member is going to school, what is the family composition in terms of whether the
financial aid they receive is counted or not. So this is simply how we're gonna approach
that. It's not our opinion on how to approach it as exactly the way HUD wants us to
administer students that are also on Section 8 and how we determine that. Essentially, if
you're over 24 and have dependent children, none of the guidelines count. If you are a
family member of a Section 8 family and you're living at home, they don't count. So if
you're under 24 and single, we're going to count all of the financial aid, subtracting out
the loans, and those are essentially the 3 basic categories.
Elliott: And it's HUD's requirement that the loan does not count as income?
Rackis: Yes. Correct. Presumably, it gets paid back, so it's not counted as income.
Correia: Oh, I see. Ok. Because that would be like scholarships? Would be counted as, that you
don't have to pay back. Anything you don't have to pay back.
Rackis: Yes. So Pell Grants, private sources. The only things you don't count, essentially, are
Perkins Loans, Stafford Loans, and PLUS Loans. Everything else counts.
Elliott: But full rides count as income.
Rackis: Yes.
Correia: Yeah.
Rackis: Unless you're excluded from the calculation.
Wilburn: Thank you. Other agenda items?
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ITEM 11. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE
CITY CLERK TO ATTEST AN IOWA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
AGREEMENT FOR TRANSFER OF PUBLIC ROAD JURISDICTION, TJ-1-
5(84)--2M-52.
Bailey: I have a question about # 11. I've never seen this kind of thing before, so could you talk a
little about this?
Correia: Yeah, what is this?
Atkins: Oh, it's not uncommon.
Vanderhoef: Which one?
Bailey: Item 11.
Atkins: I don't know how to, other than lOOT wants the road-
Bailey: The question is why?
Atkins: And they want it transferred to their responsibilities and they can do this.
Correia: Forever?
Elliott: Does that mean they have more say over what we do with those streets?
Atkins: Not forever. Yes, oh, absolutely. Yeah. They're in charge. They maintain them.
Vanderhoef: Yeah.
Elliott: We maintain them.
Atkins: No, they maintain them.
Vanderhoef: We have to bring it up to the level.
Elliott: We do not plow snow on those streets?
Atkins: We would not, unless they do it by contract with us. It will be individual circumstances
where it just simply makes good sense for us to do it.
Bailey: Why are they interested in it now?
O'Donnell: Oh, they always have been.
Atkins: Yeah, they've always been, it's part oftheir state system. I could find out more for you
tomorrow.
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Bailey: Well, I mean, do we really have a choice here?
Atkins: Ah - no.
Correia: So we're not gonna plow Burlington?
Vanderhoef: The Highway I alignment changed?
Bailey: Yeah, that's one of the -
Atkins: Think I'd have to have some kind of authority to negotiate that if you wanted to do that.
Vanderhoef: Mmm hmm. We want to get the traffic off of Burlington, could we work a deal with you?
Atkins: Jotting it down.
Correia: So we're not
O'Donnell: Go ahead.
Correia: Ijust want to be clear with the question about the plowing.
Atkins: Yeah.
Correia: So we're not going to be plowing?
Atkins: I will confirm that for you whether we intend to plow with our crews by contract or
whether they would do it. For example, Riverside Drive.
Correia: How can we not plow?
Bailey: State ofIowa could plow.
Atkins: Oh, no, it'll get plowed.
Correia: When?
Bailey: Right. This is the state.
(laughter)
Correia: It's one of our major streets.
Atkins: I'll confirm all of that for you tomorrow.
Vanderhoef: Is there any rush on this?
Atkins: That I don't know either. I'm sorry Rick couldn't be here.
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Vanderhoef: I, I would like to defer.
Bailey: I would like to defer this. I really don't have a full understanding of this, and I'm-
Atkins: Let me confirm that - if it appears to be no problem than I'll recommend a deferral for
you tomorrow night.
Wilburn: Just find out ifthere's (can't hear)
Atkins: Yeah.
Elliott: It is going to happen though, correct?
Atkins: I would be very surprised ifit doesn't, unless there's some miraculous change of heart.
Bailey: Well I'm just interested in knowing why they would be interested in taking on more? I
mean, the state seems overburdened as it is.
Atkins: Well, it's part of the federal urban aid system, they get federal moneys.
Dilkes: It was my understanding that it related to the amount of miles and to increase their
mileage for federal money.
Atkins: That's, that's what I'm saying. The federal urban aid system.
Correia: Give them some other street.
Vanderhoef: (can't hear) Come on!
Bailey: Can we talk about other streets? Can we negotiate?
Atkins: I'll do better tomorrow night.
Wilburn: I can guess what the answer's gonna be. Other agenda items?
Vanderhoef: Why do you think I laugh?
Bailey: They don't have a militia, do they?
ITEM 8. APPROVING PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS, FORM OF CONTRACT, AND
ESTIMATE OF COST OF CONSTRUCTION OF TWO DUPLEX HOMES
UNDER THE AFFORDABLE DREAM HOME OPPORTUNITIES PROGRAM
LOCATED ON LONGFELLOW PLACE, ESTABLISHING AMOUNT OF BID
SECURITY TO ACCOMPANY EACH BID, DIRECTING THE CITY CLERK TO
PUBLISH ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS, AND FIXING TIME AND PLACE FOR
RECIPT OF BIDS.
Elliott: I talked with Doug this afternoon about item 8 and came away feeling much better about
it. I like the designs for the structures. It's going to be a zero lot line type situation. And
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Atkins:
Correia:
Atkins:
Correia:
Bootbroy:
Correia:
Bootbroy:
Correia:
Bootbroy:
Correia:
Bootbroy:
Correia:
Boothroy:
near the end of our discussion, ! pointed out that recently!' d gotten information that at a
point in time, I presume some time this summer, there were, I believe the real estate
association told me there were 166 houses in either Iowa City or the Iowa City/Coralville
area that were for sale at the time available at prices ranging from $80,000.00 to
$140,000.00. And one of the things that I like that we're starting to look at is rather than
spending $150,000.00 to build a new house, buy a home for say $90,000.00 or
$100,000.00, spend $25,000.00 to update it and bring it up to code and do that. So I just
like some of the things that are going on here.
I would only caution you on that. A number of years ago we were doing something
similar to that and the local real estate folks were not the least bit happy that we were
buying up properties that they would be selling to their clients. We have to be cautious
about it.
But their might, well their might be ways of doing a program like that, a project that
would involve the real estate association that would meet the needs of homes that are
sitting, you see a lot of homes that are sitting on the market.
Right. Just want you to be careful about that.
Right. So it think they're-
That was in the 90s and I bough, oh, one winter I bought 10 houses and ! think that there
was a concern raises about the amount. We were thinking about coming back with a
proposal dealing with this same kind of an issue, but we would be looking at one or two
houses a yea, substantially less than the 10 houses I bought in the month of December
back in '92, so I don't think that that kind of an impact is going to be an issue at all. But
we'll have to address that at that time.
But that's not related to this item.
It has nothing to do with this item.
Because we're building something here, right?
Bob opened the door and so I was just mentioning that we are thinking about that because
it does stretch out dollars better.
Right. Well and so this, what we're doing here isjust talking about the bids for building.
We're going to be bidding it out
Bidding it out to build this duplex?
Frantz Construction Company and the people that built the last duplex, Regal, have both
approached me and told me that they do want to bid on this particular project. We're
doing two buildings, so ! believe that our bid will be more competitive because it's a
bigger project and they can manage both at the same time. So ! would be very
disappointed if the bids come in higher than what I've estimated.
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Vanderhoef: So we're getting 4 units.
Correia: Right.
Boothroy: 4 units, and one of them is pre-sold.
Correia: That's what I was just going to ask. 4 homes and one has been-
Boothroy: One has already been sold.
Correia: And is there, I know the Housing Authority is just finishing up or maybe has just finished
up another joint homeownership class with the real estate association.
Boothroy: Yes. We just finished that. We had a great turnout.
Correia: There may be more folks that might be?
Boothroy: We have another one in the spring. I don't know the schedule for it - go ahead, Steve,
you can, but the program has really taken off. We got an award for it last year. I think that
it should be something that all individuals that are looking at home ownership that are
low income should participate in, because I think it gives them a lot of good information
and tools and people sometimes don't know all of the ins and outs, and if for some reason
you get into that class and decide this is not for me, this is a good time to find out.
Vanderhoef: Doug, before you go away, just, moving on from what Amy said about purchasing
houses, is there a way we can design something that a house off of the open market could
somehow go directly into an Affordable Dream Home, if and when our waiting list of
approved buyers?
Boothroy: We'll come back with a proposal for you and spell that out. What I would, what I
preliminarily, and I've talked to HUD about this, would like to do, is leverage what HUD
gives to public housing, which is CAP funds so we can identifY a house, use the CAP
funds to improve it as a public housing, and then turn around and sell that house for home
ownership. And they would allow - we just have to make sure that we have the proper
paperwork in place with HUD. And, but they have given us a nod that that's perfectly
acceptable way of dealing with that, so.
Vanderhoef: Ok, so
Boothroy: So it may be a way ofleveraging outside funds.
Wilburn: I'm sorry, we're, I've tried to extend the courtesy
Boothroy: We're going too far? I'll come back with a memo.
Wilburn: But we're going long.
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Rackis; Yeah, the home ownership classes that we're partnering with the Association of Realtors,
the plan with them is to do two a year, spring and fall. The United States Department of
Agriculture has or will be adding people participating in their program to the joint class,
and we're also looking, some other lending institutions have approached us in terms of
adding some of the people that they're looking. So we're looking to, even as we just
finished our second class, to perhaps expand the partnership, look at maybe some DVD
or internet type of presentation testing or application of that. But the numbers of people
that, at least lenders and other agencies that are trying to come on board is growing. So
Deb's going to actually talk to the realtors about the possibility ofa third class or some
other opportunities.
Atkins; How about a memo on that too, so you don't get me in any more trouble.
Bailey; Cause we don't have enough memos.
Vanderhoef: While we're-
Atkins; No you don't.
Bailey; More, more. More paper.
Wilburn; We're on agenda items. Ok.
ITEM 12. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION RESCINDING RESOLUTION NO. 05-67,
DELEGATING RESPONSIBILITY TO PARTICULAR PERSONS HOLDING
SPECIFIED POSITIONS TO IMPLEMENT THE REQUIREMENTS OF
CHAPTER 22, IOWA'S PUBLIC RECORDS STATUTE, AND ADOPTING A
PUBLIC RECORDS POLICY.
ITEM 13. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION RESCINDING RESOLUTION NO. 02-192 AND
ESTABLISHING FEES FOR SPECIFIC POLICE DEPARTMENT SERVICES.
Elliott; Could we have examples of the DVD costs, item 13 and probably 12?
O'Donnell; $15, wasn't it?
Correia; $15 - the one people bought?
Dilkes; It's just establishing a $15 fee for all DVD reproductions.
Elliott: Yeah, when would they, what would be a typical request, how would we respond to it,
what information is on a DVD?
Dilkes; Oh, a tape from a bus, tape from a patrol car, those kinds of things.
Correia: Can people ask for a DVD of like a Council meeting?
Bailey; They really should.
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Karr:
They can. We have a price established by resolution, just like this.
Elliott:
Oh, ok. Good.
Correia:
Oh, ok. Or other show or something.
Wilburn:
Other agenda items?
Correia:
It's a short meeting.
Bailey:
Yeah.
Council Time
Wilburn: Council time?
Elliott: Yes.
Vanderhoef: Yes.
Elliott: Cruel and unusual punishment. I'm sitting here all night with these cupcakes in front of
me. I haven't touched a one, and that is, that is.
Bailey: Is your arm broken?
Correia: Have a cupcake Bob.
O'Donnell: He can't figure out how to get the wrapper off.
(laughter)
Bailey: Eat it if you're really that hungry.
Wilburn: Anyone else Council time?
V anderhoef: Yes. This is a new research brief on critical housing needs. Chris Heaney and Christine
MacFarland from the NLC research institute has put it out. I'll put itin the packet if you
guys didn't receive it.
Bailey: Is it online?
Vanderhoef: It might be on the NLC line.
Bailey: That would be great.
Vanderhoef: I don't know for sure whether it's up there yet or not, and you have to go to the research
institute part if it's there. And the other is Building Partnerships for a Stronger
Community - it's a NLC leadership-training institute in California in January 25 through
27th.
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Bailey: Good time to go to California.
Elliott: Better not be too many.
Vanderhoef: Santa Monica, if anybody's interested. I'll leave that one in Marian's office for anybody
to take a look at.
Wilburn: See you tomorrow night.
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