HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-08-20 Transcription
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page I
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
6:30 P.M.
Council:
Bailey, Champion, Correia, Elliott, O'Donnell, Vanderhoef, Wilburn
Staff:
Helling, Dilkes, Karr, Davidson, Yapp, Morris, Jensen
Other:
Larry Wilson, University of Iowa
PLANNING AND ZONING:
Wilburn! Okay, Planning and Zoning items - a, b, i, k, 1, m. (several talking)
a) CONSIDER A MOTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING FOR
SEPTEMBER 4,2007 ON AN ORDINANCE VACATING A PORTION OF
COURT STREET, WEST OF MADISON STREET AND FRONT STREET,
SOUTH OF BURLINGTON STREET (V AC07-00004).
b) CONSIDER A MOTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING FOR
SEPTEMBER 4,20070 AN ORDINANCE VACATING A PORTION OF
THE ALLEY LOCATED IN BLOCK 102 EAST OF CLINTON STREET,
BETWEEN COURT AND BURLINGTON STREET (V AC07-00005)
Davidson! Thank you, Mr. Mayor; we do not have a ton to talk about tonight, no. Uh, the
first two items are setting hearings, both on vacations. The first one there is
for.. .portion of Court Street between Madison and Front, south of Burlington
Street. This is in conjunction with the University Rec Center project, and Item b
there is for vacation of a portion of the north-south alley, uh, located in
conjunction with Hieronymus Square projects, so we'll be just setting hearings.
Moving on then to Item i.
i) CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE PRELIMINARY PLAT
OF WHISPERING MEADOWS SUBDIVISION, PART 4, IOWA CITY,
IOWA (SUB06-00017)
Davidson! This is the preliminary plat of Whispering Meadows Subdivision, Part 4. I
believe I have a picture. That is the location of Whispering Meadows, Part 4, and
that is the plat. Uh, we did have extensive discussion, which.. .on the rezonings,
which we will handle tomorrow night. If you should collapse the readings and
pass and adopt the both rezonings tomorrow night then the plat is here for your
consideration. If you do not do that, then we would not consider the plat
tomorrow night. Urn, one thing that Eleanor and I did want to just bring up
regarding the plat was we have been, we had...I think both of us mentioned
during your consideration of the rezonings that the open space dedication would
be, urn, during the planning process, and that is technically true. However,
because you have a planned development rezoning, the plat is part of that. You're
essentially approving, you're considering a specific plat, which is this one, as part
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 2
of that, and so the way the open space dedication sits right now is the way we
outlined it for you, which is Outlot C, which is the connection to the Sycamore
Greenway, right.. .right there, that's the connection to the Sycamore Greenway,
plus 1.2 acres of property, a fee which will be at the time of the final plat,
determined for 1.82 acres, a fee in lieu of the remaining open space. There had
been some consideration of a portion of Outlot A. It is our understanding right
now in terms of what you will have presented to you, that that is off the table in
terms of both the developer and a majority of you. Ifthere is a majority of you
that want to consider that, then what you need to do is basically not pass that, uh,
final reading of the planned development rezoning, the second of the two, and say
we want to see a revised plat that reflects something different than this.
Elliott/ Is that the wooded area?
Davidson! Yeah, that's the wooded area up in...
Vanderhoef/ ...a road coming through it.
Elliott/ Then that would belong to a private individual. Is that correct?
Davidson! Right now Outlot A is all private open space. There was some discussion of a
portion of that being dedicated in lieu of the fee portion - it would not be the
whole thing, it would just be a portion of it, but the condition of it is such that the
Parks and Rec Commission has recommended against doing that. They are
comfortable with the way you have it presented to you here. So just kind of a
heads up for you. If there is a majority of Council that wants to con.. .reconsider
that open space dedication, you will need to not pass that third reading of the
rezoning and basically say we want to see a revised plat. Urn, any other questions
about this? We've had extensive discussion of it in terms of the plat. You can
see, most of the area here, here, and the cul-de-sac off ofIndigo.. .well, this cul-
de-sac right here, sorry about that, those are single-family dwellings. These are
townhomes, urn, which is again part of the rezoning that we can discuss tomorrow
night, but it is a mix of different types of dwelling units then. Urn, there are street
connections here, here. There will be one here, and of course the one that we had
the extensive discussion about here, and again, we don't want to discuss the
rezonings tonight. We can do that tomorrow night. Are there any questions about
the plat that you would like clarified?
Correia! All the open areas, that sensitive areas, back there...
Davidson! Yeah, this area right here is the main sensitive feature that's basically being
redone, as part of this. There's kind of a sort of poorly defined drainage way
based on some existing outlets in these areas from the, from the existing
subdivisions up north here. This is basically being reconstructed as a wetland
area, and according to the people that regulate those sorts of things, they're quite
satisfied with the way that's.. . anything else about the plat? Okay, again, if you
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 3
pass both readings of the rezonings tomorrow night then, if you collapse those and
have pass and adopt then you can consider this. Okay then. Next item is Item k.
k. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE VACATING A PORTION OF COURT
STREET RIGHT-OF-WAY BETWEEN CLINTON STREET AND
CAPITOL STREET. (V AC07-00003) (PASS AND ADOPT)
l. AUTHORIZING CONVEYANCE OF THE VACATED PORTION OF
COURT STREET RIGHT -OF-WAY BETWEEN CLINTON STREET AND
CAPITOL STREET
m. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE EXTRATERRITORIAL
PRELIMINARY AND FINAL PLAT OF NORTH FORTY FIRST
SUBDIVISION, JOHNSON COUNTY, IOWA (SUB07-00004/SUB07-00005)
Davidson! Pass and adopt for the vacation of, uh, a portion of Court Street between
Clinton and Capitol, discuss that, and then Item 1 is the conveyance, and I think
we explained to you that there's no money changing hands here. We're basically
swapping two small pieces of property to clean the right-of-way up there. Uh,
and then the final item is a.. . something I don't think you've seen before. It is a
extraterritorial, preliminary and final plat of North Forty, I think that's North
Forty, First Subdivision - not North Forty First Subdivision. (laughter) This is a
three-lot subdivision, just to orient you here. This is Melrose Avenue, this is
Kansas Avenue, there's the three-lot subdivision. This is Kansas Court will be
the new cul-de-sac, three-lots established. These will be in the county. This is
not in the city's growth area, but it is in extraterritorial review, the two-mile
review area. The.. .couple of things about this. The proposed cul-de-sac here is a
22-foot wide chip-seal street. Urn, it will have private wells and septic systems.
The only thing that's a little bit unusual about this that we were able to tie up
during the rezoning of this is that in the legal papers it will stipulate that should
the landfill, and I'll go back here, the landfill is in this area right here. At the
present time it is not within a thousand feet of the proposed subdivision here, but
should it.. . should property be added to the west of the landfill such that this
subdivision is within one thousand feet of the landfill, we could arrange, and they
would be required for it to go on municipal water if there were any issues with the
well being that close to the landfill. So that's tied up in the legal papers.
Elliott! Who would pay for that?
Davidson! Urn...
Dilkes/ You remember, I think it was the City.. .at the City's expense. Do you remember
this was negotiated as part of the Conditional Zoning Agreement.
Davidson! Yeah, basically it would be in our interest. . .
Dilkes/ .. .did the County rezoning, so that's already really a done deal, and will just be
referenced in the legal papers.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 4
Elliott/ Okay.
Bailey/ How close does muni water go? How close do we have it out there?
Davidson! Uh, I believe there's municipal water to the landfill, at the present time. And
again, it would be at our instigation. So...
Wilburn! Keep recycling!
Davidson! Pardon?
Wilburn! Keep recycling. (laughter)
Davidson! Uh, so that's the show. Any questions? Okay, thank you.
COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS:
Wilburn! Council appointments...I think we have Human Rights.
Vanderhoef/ Eric Kusiak.
Elliott/ Eric Kusiak. (several talking)
Champion! I want a male.
Vanderhoef/ I do too.
Bailey/ I think the gender balance needs a male.
Champion! And either male's fine with me.
Elliott! It's two and six right now.
Wilburn! I was going to say, Joan Black did.. .she'd applied last time, but it would
appear. There were two for.. .who was it?
Vanderhoef/ Eric.
Wilburn! Eric?
Champion! Eric's fine with me.
Wilburn! Okay. Eric it is.
UNIVERSITY - CITY WAYFINDING PROJECT:
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 5
Yapp/ Hello, I'm here with Larry Wilson from University ofIowa. Most of you know
Larry, I think. In my capacity as Transportation Planner, I've been part of a
University committee developing a wayfinding sign system for visitors to the
University ofIowa. This would be an upgrade and a replacement of many of the
wayfinding signs we have in the Dubuque Street corridor and some other
corridors in the campus currently. The most recent ones are the blue and black
signs that are on Dubuque Street, near Park Road for example, which were, are a
combined City and University wayfinding sign system. So, we feel it's been a
good cooperation. Uh, we are very early in the process as far as new specific
wayfinding sign plan in our most recent work, but we're far enough along in the
conceptual sign plans that we wanted to share it with you, raise awareness of this
project, see ifthere's any questions or concerns about what is being pursued. I
also wanted to broach the subject ofa possible, more kind of put a bug in your ear
of a possible wayfinding sign system for some of the larger City destinations off
campus, possibly looking at that in the future, once we're further along with this
plan right now. I'm going to turn it over to Larry who's been the, one of the
principal staff people behind this system, and see if you have any questions after
the presentation.
Wilson! Thank you, John, and thank the Council for the opportunity to present this
signing, wayfinding study at this early schematic design development.. . schematic
design stage of development. Urn, this study is an outgrowth of our campus
master plan that was completed last fall, and we were looking for a sign system
that would be.. .have a clear and consistent uniform identity, and have a unique
identity with the University ofIowa campus. Not something done in another city,
but relates to the campus itself. We also wanted to provide a favorable
impression for visitors as they arrive on campus. So we conducted a nationwide
search to find a firm that would provide us with the help to develop this system,
and we were looking for a firm that had experience in doing signing systems for a
large, complex university in an urban setting, like the University is. They needed
to have a strong background in text legibility and clarity of message - very
important, and they also had to have exceptional design ability. So this study, we
selected Cloud-Gehshan Associates out of Philadelphia. We established a
Steering Committee comprised of a broad cross-section of campus
representatives. The Iowa City is represented on the Steering Committee by John
Yapp, and Iowa City has therefore been involved from the very beginning of this
study, and (coughing) excuse me, the consultants have met with several campus
focus groups to get input as to what signing on the campus means, what it should
look like in general, and Rick Fosse and John Yapp represented the Iowa City in
these focus groups. I'm going to go now into the actual design recommendations.
They're concept designs. It's mainly for the appearance, and not the sign text at
this time, get an overall feel for what it might look like. You notice there will be
some options, so everything isn't settled at this time. We reviewed this with the
Steering Committee and they have provided input. We want to get your input.
We'll take this input from both groups and give it to our consultants and then they
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20,2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 6
will continue to develop the design concepts so there'll be more to see later. So
with that, let's jump into the goals of the study. We want to provide a clear and
consistent info for visitors. Partner with Iowa City to develop a mutually
acceptable sign system along routes to campus, which are on City streets. Provide
a clear indication of when one has arrived on campus. (talking and laughter)
Improve the visibility ofUI and cam.. . and City destinations for visitors, as well
as for students, staff, and faculty. Define simple routes to campus and parking
near destinations. Minimize unnecessary car traffic on and near campus. In other
words, focus on how to get to your destination, not wonder around campus and
get lost. Provide signing support for transit and non-motorized modes, and so it's
not all about cars. Provide information that helps faculty, staff, and students assist
others in finding their destination. So with that, urn, as I said earlier, we want this
campus signing system to be unique to the University of Iowa. So the first thing
the consultants did is take an environmental inventory. In other words, what
about the campus makes it a campus place. Now, there's a lot more that I'm
going to show you now, so I'll just show you a flavor of this environmental audit,
and a.. .this is a first impression they had when they arrived at campus, these
images. They looked at all of our signs and not to our surprise, they found we
have a lot of different signs, lot of different fonts, mixed messages, and that's why
we're doing this study. They also noticed we have a number of traditional
buildings, like Old Capitol, but at the same time, we have some modern buildings,
like Iowa Advanced Technology Laboratory. So we have all this mixture of
things, and how do we use that as inspiration for a signage system. Now, they'll
eventually look at all routes from the interstate to the campus, but this is called a
sample journey because it's to indicate what the other journeys might also look
like, and it suggests a route from Interstate 80 down Dubuque and to campus, and
they are suggesting locations for signs that would provide destinations to Iowa
City locations, as well as to the University. Notice, just for interest, that the
consultant suggested should enter campus on Church Street, and the reason for
this is they think that Clinton Street is more of a campus venue atmosphere, and
so you feel like you've arrived more on campus. As an interesting matter, our
Campus Master Plan Advisor suggested the same thing. So let's look at an
existing sign that we now have. This is what we want to update, is Iowa City on
top and University of Iowa on the bottom, and these are signs that might update
that. On the left is a sign to campus destinations only, and you notice there is
what we call a (can't hear), Old Capitol Dome. I'll be honest with you. Our
Steering Committee wasn't fond of that idea, so we've asked them to reconsider
that element, but notice the center sign has Iowa City destinations on top,
University destinations on the bottom, and this particular sign has logos for both
Iowa City and the University. The right sign is the same sign, but without the
logos. So there's a couple of options. Then we have vehicle directional signs
similarly. The one on the left is for campus destinations, is where it applies; the
one in the center is Iowa City and University destinations, without a logo; and the
one taller on the right then is the same thing with the logo. Now, the small one on
the far right is what's called a "trail blazer" sign, and it doesn't exactly provide
additional information, but it tells you you're still on the correct route to get
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 7
where you want to go. Then we arrive at campus, and you all know that we don't
have a clear demarcation, as somebody noted earlier, of where the campus starts.
So we have to rely on signs to indicate that, and the one on the far left would be
arrival points on campus, welcoming visitors. The next two are two types of
vehicle destination signs, directional signs, and then in the center you see a
proposed banner sign that would possibly announce festivals, but it would also
add a sense of excitement to the campus. These would be used sparingly and the
locations haven't been determined. In the center is a map station. Essentially it's
a "you are here" map that would have the location of where you're standing,
much like the ones on the Ped Mall. It would have a campus map so you can find
your way, and a directory of buildings that can help you locate. The next sign to
the right is a pedestrian oriented sign, then a building identification sign, and the
far right is also a building identification sign with additional information, such as
visitors and tours begin here, orientation. Another sign would announce the
arrival at a University parking ramp. It would indicate registration, in this case,
and tours begin here for visitors. The idea is once you park in this ramp, then you
have other signs and maps showing you how to transition from vehicle mode to a
pedestrian mode. Now those aren't worked out yet, but that's the idea, and then
there are three types of pedestrian oriented signs, on the right of that with a
pedestrian oriented trailblazer. So, again, that's the flavor of a sign, that's what
generally the look might be. So, don't consider the text at this time. That'll be
worked out. So what we want to do is hear your comments, and give it to our
consultants, who will blend all this information into a design development
recommendation. Thank you.
Vanderhoef/ Larry, how tall are they thinking in terms ofthat festival sign? (unable to
hear response)
Helling! You'll have to go back to the mic.
Wilson! Urn, it's not decided yet. Probably in the 12 to IS-foot range. In fact, I've asked
the consultant to put some dimensions on these images next time so it gives a
little better feel for height, rather than an image of a car or an image of a person.
O'Donnell/ How many different signs.. . designs of signs are we speaking of?
Wilson! Well, we're talking about a system, and what you've seen now are the primary
level of signs, the top level, and we'll take them all the way down to get
pedestrians to their destinations. Now, what we haven't included are parking lot
signs, and that will come later, and the reason why we haven't included those is
because our budget for fees ran a little bit short and so we had to make some
decisions on what we could do now.
Champion! I think it's a great idea to have all the signs look alike, and to somehow
incorporate Iowa City with the signs so we don't have so much sign pollution.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 8
There's signs everywhere, and I think the fact they're all different, all different
colors, people get confused.
Bailey/ Although I do like the difference, and the one you come into t he City - the City's
color is different than the black and gold. I mean, I like that distinction because it
separates what's campus and what's City. The Riverside FestivaL..
Champion! Oh, right, okay.
Bailey/ I do like that. That's a...
Vanderhoef/ Well, the other thing that I'd be concerned about is the size of the lettering,
so that it's really readable, because we truly do have lots of visitors, and they need
to be to read it and still keep driving, and uh, it gets pretty congested pretty fast,
so the height of the lettering is real important.
Wilson! (several talking) I might quickly mention, that's one reason why these
consultants were selected because they have a thorough understanding of lettering
heights, versus speed of vehicles, distance of the sign, and in fact, they have a
wayfinding expert on the staff that's helping with that.
Vanderhoef/ Make him aware that this town has, uh, a high population of senior citizens
whose eyesight may not be as acute as our young folks, and mine.
Wilson! And those with disabilities have to be considered, as well. And back to the color
that you mentioned, their suggestion was, and they know that currently there's
blue on top, their suggestion was that they use the color bars to add distinction,
the logo to add distinction, in other ways.
Yapp/ Our logo? Or any logo?
O'Donnelll I like that...
Bailey/ It's too busy. It's not clear.
Champion! It's too busy.
Yapp/ IfI can get back to Mike's comment. The signs, now.. . Larry, correct me if I'm
wrong, but these are different sign options. We wouldn't have all these.. .we
would select a theme, and carry that through.
O'Donnell/ .. . specific size sign and color. Right?
Y app/ Yes, for this type of sign.
Wilson! We're talking about themes at this point.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 9
Yapp/ Urn, on the logo issue, one of the things that I've noticed in thinking about this on
a possible city system in the future, is uh, the different City departments - Parks
and Rec Department, Transit Department - for example, there's no consistent
City logo.
Bailey/ Right, we have a lot of branding challenges in the City, when it comes to logo
and identification.
Yapp/ Urn, and sign clutter - I think that was Connie's statement. That's been one of my
comments also, that I think.. .one of our goals should be to replace some of the
existing signs that are out there, not just add new ones, and that's.. .we're well
aware of that.
Champion! And I think, I think that's great that we're working together on this because
we may be able to eliminate some signs, clean up the roadside.
Vanderhoef/ The fear I have, Connie, is to get all this information onto the signs, then
how big are they going to be to be readable?
Champion! Oh, I think they're fine. I think.. .you're going to have a sign that says
"downtown or campus" or "entertainment," and then the sign will get more
refined as you get towards, as you follow the sign, then you'll get more refined.
So I don't think that's...
Wilson! That's one of the things the consultant had talked about. They have thorough
knowledge on how far the signs should be apart to retain it in your memory that
the next sign is about the right place. That's why they're suggesting using
trailblazers in some places, rather than another sign - to simplify it.
Wilburn! Any other comments?
Bailey/ So do they have to be yellow and black?
Champion! Does what?
Bailey/ The signs. I mean, that's what we saw. (several talking)
O'Donnell/ We could do red and gold, but that's Iowa State. (laughter)
Yapp/ Uh, we do not need any specific action from Council at this time, but as this gets
more refined, would you like an update? (several responding) Okay.
Vanderhoef/ I think there's.. .bring us some ideas for.. . for color. I think there's going to
be some discussion about that.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 10
Wilson! The University Steering Committee has taken a very strong position that they
want two things. They want black and gold, not only here but out at Oakdale
Campus, and they want the logo on the sign. So, on campus, that's what they...
Champion! It's not really an identifying factor. You don't have to educate people on it.
Yapp/ Thank you.
Wilburn! Thank you.
ITEM 4e(2). CONSIDER A RESOLUTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING ON
SEPTEMBER 4, 2007, ON PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS, FORM OF
CONTRACT, AND ESTIMATE OF COST FOR THE
CONSTRUCTION OF THE FIRE STATION #2 DEMOLITION
AND CONSTRUCTION PROJECT, DIRECTING CITY CLERK
TO PUBLISH NOTICE OF SAID HEARING, AND DIRECTING
THE CITY ENGINEER TO PLACE SAID PLANS ON FILE FOR
PUBLIC INSPECTION.
Wilburn! Fire Station #2. Thanks, guys.
Morris/ I'm Kumi Morris, and I'm with the Engineering Division, and I'm going to be
presenting some drawings that you actually saw in April on the Fire Station 2, and
I'm just here to refresh your memories on where we were at, and it's on the
Consent Calendar for tomorrow night to set the public hearing for September 4th.
Roger Jensen is with me if you have any questions about operations, but I'll just
go through and talk about the architecture at this point, and as I said, you've seen
some of this last April. Urn, this was what you saw originally, making sure it's
the same thing, urn, last August, and it was the first iteration of that Fire Station
project, and as you can see, that's the existing station on the site, it's about 7,000
square feet, and here's an overlay outline of the existing building over the new
building; the existing building is the dotted line. You can see that it's a
substantially larger facility.
O'Donnell/ Just a quick second here.
Morris/ Sure!
O'Donnell/ We are going to elevate this thing to bring it out of that hole?
Morris/ That's correct, yes, and actually you can see by the, by the contour lines, which
are. . . this will show here. . . yes, okay, these lines are increments of one foot of
difference, so it's brought it substantially out of the ground, and actually, if you
can see in this area right here, right at the base of the, urn, of the garage, it's dead-
level there for the, for the firefighters. So when they actually back into the
station, they will have a much, much gentler slope than what they do have
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page II
presently. And there's the new building without the outline. And this is the floor
plan that, again, you saw last April, and urn, substantially we've kept most of
the... the floor plan that you see here, and that's what's going out to bid. What
we've been working on since last April is just, is urn, specific.. .looking at the
mechanical systems, working with an organization called the Weidt Group, which
is with Mid America to figure out bundling packages and how we want to use our
lead components to the best of our ability, and what kind of paybacks and systems
we decide to do. For example, the types of windows, the types oflighting
systems, urn, urinals - all those types of choices that are being made. One of the
discussions that went on was about whether or not we're going to use waterless
urinals versus low-flow urinals, and we've decided to go with low-flow, but
things like... those were the discussions that have been happening since that point,
and meeting with Fire staff to make those decisions. Urn, another.. .
Wilburn! We're not going to vote on urinals, right?
Morris/ No, you're not! You will have some other choices that you'll have to help us
decide on that are, that are about recycling. Urn, when we actually take the bids,
and I'll talk about that in a little bit here, but urn, but those were the types of
discussions that we're.. .that we had, and one of the major items that we were
discussing were about where the products were coming from, which products
were coming from within 500 miles. You get some lead points if you decide to
use products that are manufactured within 500 miles, urn, products that have
recycled components in it, and urn, you know, products that can be easily recycled
afterwards. There's a lot of.. .so those are the types of discussions we've been
having since April, and making those types of decisions within the staff, and
looking at, again, payback issues among those things. One of the things that we
decided to go with which is very exciting is a ground-source heat pump. Those
wells will be located.. .let's see ifI can get this.. . excuse me. There we go. Those
wells will be located on the north side of the station, and we were very careful to
locate them outside of the perimeter of the facility itself. And so that will be an
interesting component. One of the things that's very, that's excellent about using
a ground-source heat pump in a facility like this is that we'll be able to
compartmentalize the type of heating that we have, so they'll be able to have a lot
more control over the heating and cooling within the space, and also we'll be able
to do in-floor heating in the apparatus bay, which is much more direct heat and
also you have a lot less loss than a furnace-type of system within that bay, and it
will keep the units up to 60 degrees of temperature, which is what we need to
have that run. So, it's a very efficient system. It's on an up-front scale - it's a
high-end up-front cost, but we're looking at a 7 to 9 year payback on that system.
So that's.. .so eventually within, after that period, we'll have very low utility bills
in terms of heating and cooling for the facility.
Vanderhoef/ What's the life of the system?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 12
Morris/ The life of the system is, as long as it's properly maintained, for the life ofthe
building, and so unlike a furnace system where you'll have to replace it, you
know, what we look at life expectancy for a furnace is between 10 and 15 years
for something that runs on this scale and this operation of a facility, it's a win-
win. It's just a high first cost.
Elliott! And earlier, you indicated the life of the building is 50 years?
Morris/ We're looking at a 50-year building.
Elliott/ Which is rather disappointing that we're building something brand new to last
only 50 years.
Morris/ Well, that's... that's what we, generally when you think about. . .
Elliott! It just seems such a pity in this country that we build for such a short period of
time.
Champion! It'll last longer than that.
Morris/ And that's really the life expectancy of many of the, many ofthe materials that
we're selecting. We look at, you know, for one thing it has concrete panels, so
those, that's not something that will deteriorate. We're looking at a masonry
exterior. When we say 50.. .we have 50 plus is what we've asked our architect to
look at, at minimal. I mean, these are things that won't have, will have very little
if no maintenance. So, those are the types of things.
Elliott/ Yeah. I'm not complaining about.. .I'm just complaining about building in
general. Fifty years is a brief period of time.
Morris/ It is in the span when you think about architecture, yes, that's true, but even, I
mean, any facility that you see that has lasted that long, you know, or longer, will
require some type of maintenance after that point, urn, even when we look at
something like, not that I want to digress too much here, but for example...
Elliott! No, don't waste time on that, it's just.. .I just think it's a pity.
Morris/ All right. I'll go forward here, and this is the lower level. Urn, as we discussed
before, this is, urn, this is the basement level, primarily for storage, urn, we have a
closet space in here that we can eventually break out and do a, include an elevator
if we so chose, and also, this is an open floor plan at this point, and unfinished
space for whatever we decide we need it for to expand in the future. And again,
this is the east elevation, which is the elevation from Emerald Street, and we're
looking, and then below that is the north elevation, and that's what the, urn,
people driving by on Melrose would see. Urn, one of the things I'd like to point
out is the clear, what are called clear story windows, and these are the windows
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Wark Session
Page 13
above on, this is actually the hall; let rne see if I can go back a little bit here. This
hallway here is what we have about 18 feet of, urn, of height, and we have natural
light. And then these are the other elevations of the building. This, the west
elevation is the elevation that would be, urn, in the bedroom area, and urn,
facing. . .neighboring that would be apartrnent buildings up on the hill, and then
the south elevation, which is near the parking, urn, the parking area for the staff,
and as you can see, there's an ADA-accessible ramp then to the door that's
prirnarily probably will be used by staff, and to the garage bay. (unable to hear)
And, urn, that's the station on the site, and then this will probably give you a good
feel for how it raises with the new facility, and you can see the, this is what we're
looking at in terms of the slope, urn, and as you can see, it's.. .with engineered
soils, we'll be raising the facility quite a bit. And then let me just talk about a few
things just so that you know in terms of schedule and, urn, let's see, we are
looking at rnoving. ..the staff is going to be rnoving out about September 15th, urn,
to a temporary facility out at the equipment building. Basically, we purchased a
rnanufactured horne that the staff will be living in. It'll be crarnped quarters for
about a period of about a year. At that point, we'll be starting the first part, urn, of
a water main project on the site. We presently have two water rnains that run just
to the west of the building, which is the backside of the existing building, that we
will rework that goes to the ground storage reservoir on the hill up there, and so
we'll be reworking that so that we'll be able to fit this facility, urn, the new
facility on t he site. So that first work will begin at that point, urn, and then any
type of hazardous material clearing will occur right after that, and then we will
expect to take bids on this project, ifit goes.. .assurning that it all goes through, on
the 2ih of Septernber, and we hope to have a start date pending on contract
signing on October 15t\ and a completion date of July 8th. We're looking at a
current estimate, a refined estimate now, of$2,070,300. We have three iterns that
will be, urn, that will be alternates. One.. .the first is going to be, urn, having the
contractor look at deconstruction and recycling of existing fire station rnaterials,
and looking at ifthere's going to be an add for that, and the architects at this point
estimate about a $15,000 add for that, but then that's rnaterials that's not going
into the landfill, and rneaning that those rnaterials will be recycled into other types
of resources. Urn, and we'll see what happens when the actual bids corne in. The
second item that we're looking at is an aesthetic item, and that's a sandblasting
the exposed concrete foundation walls for aesthetic purposes, and we're looking
at about.. . anticipated costs are about $7,000 for that portion. Again, that's an
alternate. And the third one is to include.. .an alternate for including the street
panel replacernent on the exterior of the bay, probably. . .let me flip through this
here very quickly. Just on Emerald Street, right outside of the existing garage
bay, which is further north than what is at the new, with the new bay. There are
street panels on Emerald Street that have some, have some cracks and some
asphalt work that has taken place to patch it, and we're looking at, urn, possibly
including that work as part of the new project, but we wanted to include it as an
alternate because of the unexpected.. . the unanticipated costs when we started to
do the budget for this project. And so I think...
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 14
Vanderhoef/ So those costs would be.. . since there's street work, will they move over into
Road Use Tax, or still be out and bonded?
Morris/ I think it will still be out on bonding, because it would be included in this project,
but that's probably sornething I have to check on.
Elliott/ You have six bedroorns. How many staff will be there at anyone tirne?
Morris/ Three. So you're looking at future growth, possibly, if we ever have added
emergency services, such as EMS at this station.
Elliott/ And then where did you say the, the temporary location would be? You
mentioned that it would be in a house, but where will the men, where will the
firefighters be in location to where the equipment will be?
Morris/ The firefighters temporarily will be located at 1200 South Riverside Drive, and
that's where the Equipment and Transportation Center is. The equipment
building, where we have, urn, where we do some storage of. . .
Elliott! That's at the intersection there?
Morris/ That's correct.
Elliott! Okay.
Morris/ And so, we were looking for a location that would have easy access to I-80, and
also would still be within their zone.
Elliott! So the personnel and equipment would be there.
Morris/ That's correct.
Elliott/ Okay.
Morris/ Yeah, the truck's there, and it's actually a heated garage, so that was an irnportant
point to look for.
Wilburn! Any questions?
Vanderhoef/ You're putting buses out with the fire equipment in, or...
Morris/ I'm sorry, not at the Transportation Center. Not at the bus center, but actually in
the Equiprnent Building itself. It's on the, let's see, northwest portion of the
property where equipment is; it's Public Works. There's sorne corner facilities
there.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 15
Helling! My understanding is that we're actually rnoving other Public Works vehicles to
the area of the Fire Training Facility so that we can house the fire truck in one of
those bays, and heat it for that purpose, so we're shifting sorne things around.
Vanderhoef/ Fire Training building is over by the Anirnal Shelter.
Helling! The old wastewater treatrnent plant.
Correia! So what, what lead certification do we think we rnight get? Sounds like there's
been a lot of work.
Morris/ Sure. It looks like we would certainly.. .what the architects.. .their expectation is
that we will easily meet the certification, and urn, they're hoping for silver, but
we're waiting to see, yeah, what the final count is on the nurnbers here. Exactly.
We worked very extensively, like I said, with a group called the Weidt Group, it's
W-e-I-d-t, and generally, it was an interesting project for thern and for us, because
generally they work on, they work as a consultant to Mid America. Mid America
actually pays their consulting fees, and they generally only work on projects over
50,000 square feet, so this is... this is a very tiny project for, urn, for the amount of
work it takes to investigate all of these points of, urn, of savings and energy
efficiencies, and so forth, but we thought it would be a good practice to try, to
work with us at the City. As I said, we had no charge for their services, and urn,
also I think that the, the Mid America was very interested in having the City try
these bundling packages, which are different types of, where they look at different
energy efficiencies and different matches and systerns, and then the staff, fire, and
some other City staff work together with thern to pick out which of these bundling
packages made the most amount of sense, and which we have the best payback
for, and so it's been an interesting process for such a srnall facility for them, but it
was a, it was.. .urn, you know, it was very helpful for us to be able to corne up
with something like that and not have to pay for those services.
Correia! How many square feet is this?
Morris/ Let's see...! have it at 10,300 square feet at this tirne.
Correia! Then, in terms of the three different options that you presented, for the bids.
Morris/ Yes.
Correia! What is that? Can we discuss that.. . are we going to discuss that now, is that
(unable to hear).
Champion! (unable to hear)
Morris/ It'll come back to you, right. What we're, what we call that is alternate, so we
take, we have something called a base bid, where.. . are the things that we're
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 16
including as part of all of the components, and then we include certain things as
alternates because we don't know, depending on how the bids come in, we will
rnake sorne recornmendations or decisions on whether or not we want to go with
those at this time.
Wilburn! Thank you.
Morris/ Thank you.
AGENDA ITEMS:
Wilburn! Agenda iterns.
Bailey/ Can 1.. . skip to Council Tirne before Jeffhas to leave?
Wilburn! Sure. Is that okay with Council?
Davidson! I'rn going to stay for Agenda Items.
Bailey/ Oh, okay, okay, we can go on.
ITEM 4f(9). CONSIDER A RESOLUTION RESCINDING RESOLUTION NO.
07-210, WHICH SET PUBLIC HEARING FOR AUGUST 21, 2007,
ON A PROPOSAL TO CONVEY A SINGLE FAMILY HOME
LOCATED AT 960 LONGFELLOW PLACE.
Elliott! I have a question. Is there a duplication on the, uh, single- farnily horne that was
going to be purchased, but is not. It looks like it appears in the Consent Calendar
and on the agenda both. Is there a technicality that I don't catch?
Karr/ There were four public hearings set for four different properties. One property, urn,
we had the decision that it was not going to go through prior to publishing it.
Elliott! Uh-huh.
Karr/ So that address was deleted, or omitted, from the publication, and hence, the
resolution on the Consent Calendar.
Elliott! Okay, good.
Karr/ The other one was withdrawn at.. . after publication, so we left that on the main
agenda to be noted, but then we sent it as well. So you'll proceed with two sales.
Wilburn! Other agenda iterns?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 17
Item 42:(6) Scott and Renee V02:t: Recreation Center Summer Dav Camp
Bailey/ Ijust have a question about, urn, the letter that we received. It's 4 (g) 6 - it was
about the, concern about the day camp complaint.
Elliott/ Oh, the camp counselor, was that a City employee? (several talking)
Helling! There was extensive additional contact between Harry and this particular
individual, and urn, I think they sort of agreed to disagree at the end. Don't know
exactly what occurred, but, urn...
Correia! Agreed to disagree, what does that mean?
Helling! Well, means that we probably did everything we could do. There were some
problems, but, uh...
Correia! Did the counselor ever apologize to the son?
Helling/ I'm sorry?
Correia! Did the counselor ever apologize to their child? Either in person or in writing?
Helling! I don't know that. The counselor's no longer there.. .so...
Correia! I rnean, I think...! think that should have happened, whether that counselor
apologized in person or if that. . . there should have been a formaL..
Helling! Well, I know that... that Terry did apologize. I don't know whether the
counselor specifically did or. . .
Correia! Was there.. .what type ofreprirnand, or consequence, was there to that
counselor? Or to their supervisor?
Helling! Well, to cornplicate things a little bit, this sort of came about right at the end of
the season, and this was a temporary employee, so they were, they're gone from
employment.
Correia! They're all...! mean, they're ternporary for the sumrner.
Helling! Right.
Correia! Was that person there all sumrner long?
Helling! Was.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 18
Correia! Right, so will that person be ever hired back. . .I rnean, is there a, is it in their
file?
Helling! Oh, there's a record of all this, sure.
Elliott/ Yeah, I guess I was, my first concern was, did the situation occur as the parent
indicated it did. I think that's the first thing to, because if it did, then I think that
something really needed to be done.
Helling/ From what we could determine, there are some differences in perceptions, based
on what our counselors, other counselors said happened, versus what.. .so, you
can't go back and look at the whole thing again. You know, that's...
Elliott! We don't have it on videotape?
Helling! No, we don't. But, it just appeared that there may have, you know, been
differing perceptions, but the bottom line was that there was a problem with the
child who couldn't swim, and that's, you know, we acknowledge that that should
have been better taken care of, or urn, at least kept track of by the counselors. So
it was an unfortunate incident, but...
Correia! They said that they pulled their children out after that. Do you know how many
days?
Helling! I don't...I don't know how rnany days, but it was right toward the very end of
the session.
Correia! Can they be reimbursed for those days that they paid. . .
Helling/ I believe that was done.
Correia! Was that done?
Helling! I'll check on that to make sure.
Wilburn! Other items?
Item 42:(5) Kris Leesekamp: Marijuana Possession Fines
Vanderhoef/ There's a letter, which is (g) 5 on "Marijuana Possession." This is the
second letter that we have gotten that indicates that quotes "we are in the process"
of changing how rnarijuana possession is being held and that they aren't going to
jail, and I'm trying to figure out where that...
O'Donnell/ We aren't in the process, Dee. It's the Charter Mernber thing that we're
now.. .the amendments of the Charter.. .one of them is to lessen the penalty, or
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 19
change how we handle. (unable to hear) But that's in the Suprerne Court right
now. We didn't have a response to that yet. There were three Charter
arnendrnents. One was that, the other one was City Manager, Chief of Police
retention.
V anderhoef/ Yeah, those two.
O'Donnelll Sunset clause on Citizens Police Review Board.
Wilburn! People that know what's going on spin what's happening, and then this second,
third, fourth, fifth hand convolutes as with rnany other items what's actually
happening, and so. . .
Vanderhoef/ Well, this... this is kind of what I thought, but it was like, you know, some
place rnaybe a reply needs to be sent.
Wilburn! I attributed a similar to what happens every year when we get the block of
letters about smoking ban in restaurants.
Vanderhoef/ Oh, yeah.
Wilburn! And you can put out all the announcements...
Vanderhoef/ Just hit the reply button that is the form letter on the smoking one.
ITEM 15.
CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE HISTORIC
PRESERVATION COMMISSION TO FILE AN APPLICATION
FOR A CERTIFIED LOCAL GOVERNMENT (CLG) GRANT
FOR CONDUCTING AN INTENSIVE SURVEY OF THE NEAR
SOUTHSIDE AREA TO IDENTIFY, EVALUATE AND PREPARE
DOCUMENT ATION FOR THE HISTORIC PROPERTIES.
Elliott/ I have a question about Item 15. It looks like they're wanting to spend money to
survey an area regarding historic preservation, and I wonder what the property, if
the property owners in that area have been contacted and are supportive of it. It
seems to me that if they are, part of the cost of that should come from those
property owners.
Davidson! Now this is sornething, Bob, that was generated by the Historic Preservation
Commission.
Elliott! Right.
Davidson! It could lead to designation of buildings having landmark status, but that
would be a subsequent action, where there would be rnore interactions with the
property owners. I'rn not under the impression. . .I rnean, it could be that. . . that
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 20
the couple of individuals who own historic properties in the area that I have been
in contact with would not have pursued this themselves. I think it's come from
the Historic Preservation Comrnission, to do the inventory, and that's all that this
grant would do.
Elliott/ I guess I have problems with City spending money on sornething like this, when
we.. .yes we are. (several talking) When we don't know the feeling of the owners
of the properties in that area.
Bailey/ Part of the reason of doing a survey though is there's going to be a lot of
redevelopment, and it doesn't necessarily rnean that those buildings will be there
forever. I mean, it's part of the historic record of the cornmunity.
Elliott/ Yeah, but I, if I own property in that area and you're doing a survey on it, I
think.. .I'd certainly want you to contact me, and say am I in favor of that.
Champion! Why?
Elliott! Why? 'Cause it's my property!
Champion! But there's a lot of other property in that area.
Elliott/ Yeah, but I mean, if most of the property owners in that area aren't interested,
why are we doing it?
Champion! We're not doing anything. It'sjust...
Elliott! Why are we spending money on a survey then?
Charnpion! Just to identify and evaluate to see if it needs to be docurnented further.
Elliott/ Why?
Champion! Well, I suppose they'd like to have a designated district eventually.
Elliott! Yeah, but if I own property, well, anyway, I guess we're going to do it, but it
seems odd to me that.. .
Charnpion! How do you feel about it?
Elliott/ If you.. .no, I rnean, if the property owners want it, then I'd be very much in
favor, but if they are not wanting it, then it's a waste of money and it's an
infringernent on their rights as property owners.
Bailey/ How is it an infringernent on the right for the City to know you live in an historic
building?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 21
Elliott/ Because we'll have the same thing happen on the north side. City starts pushing
something and the property owners are the ones. . .
Correia! There were certain property owners in that neighborhood that (unable to hear).
Elliott/ I just like the way they did it in the Melrose area. It was the property owners that
got together, raised the money, and started the process going. That's the way to
do it. Pardon me?
Bailey/ There's no one way to do anything.
Elliott/ That's true!
Correia! Well, doesn't the Historic Preservation Commission include members of the
comrnunity?
Charnpion! Yes.
Correia! So that's a comrnunity group bringing forth an effort that this cornmunity group
thinks is important.
Elliott! Yeah, but what do the property owners think?
Champion! .. . everybody in town likes the decisions that you and I rnake on this Council
either. (several talking and laughter)
Wilburn! Other agenda items?
Item 42:(22) Christopher Merrill: UNESCO Creative Cities Network
Vanderhoef/ Uh, the Christopher Merrill on the Creative Cities Network, should we put
that on a work session to.. . to bring it forward? I think it certainly has sornething
to offer our city, as far as being creative thing and to help more of the branding
for arts for our cornmunity. So...
Correia! Yeah, I like the idea. That was rny.. .rny question was, are they asking for the
City to submit?
Wilburn! If you like the idea behind it, he's available to corne and speak briefly at the
public cornment portion of the rneeting tomorrow, and it would be, uh, just kind
of an informal nod for proceeding with the application.
Helling! Right. The rest of it would be that we will give them whatever assistance we can
in terms of gathering the information for their, for their application.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 22
Correia! They have a deadline? Is there an application deadline?
Helling! Urn, I don't know what the deadline is, but in speaking with him, he's very
comfortable that. . .he wanted the Council to be aware of it, and certainly the
City's cooperation and endorsement of the concept, uh, as he said to me, one of
the very nice things about it is we're not asking you for any money.
Correia! Yet!
Helling!So (laughter) it would just be some stafftirne to help thern update their stats and
as you may have seen in the application in the draft thus far, there's quite a bit
about the Library, so there'd be some involvement with the Library to finalize it.
Correia! Well, and that was the other thing was they had a list of proposed steering
cornmittee or board or something. I would think somebody from the Library
should be.. .the Iowa City Public Library, should be part of that.
Helling! That's what we would work with them wherever we can to make sure the
application is complete, and there may be in some point in time down the road,
I'm assuming that maybe a letter of support from the Mayor or sornething rnight
be part of that, although I don't know that for sure.
Vanderhoef/ .. .go in with the application, I bet you're right. I think we ought to at least
get this out for the community, and if Mr. Merrill would come and talk to us,
that's one way to get it out and be talked about in the cornmunity too, because
people do watch Council Time.
Helling! Right.
ITEM 13.
CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 16 OF THE
CITY CODE, ENTITLED "PUBLIC WORKS," CHAPTER 3,
ENTITLED, "CITY UTILITIES," ARTICLE G, ENTITLED
"STORM WATER COLLECTION, DISCHARGE AND RUNOFF,"
TO DELETE THE EXEMPTION FOR CONCRETE TRUCK
WASH OUT. (FIRST CONSIDERATION)
Vanderhoefi' Okay, Item 13, I don't know if you want it tonight or not. I had called with
some questions to, uh, Rick on this discharge thing because I had this huge idea of
these great big trucks and where were they dumping lots and lots of water, and
Rick isn't going to be able to be here tomorrow night, and I don't know if anyone
else is around to. . . to give this information, but it's a matter of EP A and DNR that
controls these kinds of things, and there is licensing on the big, uh, concrete
places, so that they have their places to dump their rinse water when they rise out
their trucks, but he said the best way to do it is to dump it into the ground, and
1...I just worry a little bit about what is being durnped in the ground because two
of the concrete places are very near the river, and he said it isn't the City's
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 23
purview on that. So, uh, the other thing that he said that they were looking at, at
our new facility, was to, it will go on the ground. The small units like from our
own workers, will be durnped on the ground, and the concrete rnakes a base
instead of an acid kind of soil, and he said, uh, they're looking at even hooking
that up to our sewer systern because they're always looking for ways to rnake that
process more basic rather than acidic.
Elliott! Are you interested in deferring this, because of the washout?
Vanderhoef/ No. I've got plenty of information, but I didn't know whether anybody else
had gotten any of this information. Maybe I was the only one that was a little
concerned about how to handle all this rinse water.
Wilburn! Well, it is first consideration. We can just make sure Rick is here for the next
work session.
Vanderhoef/ Okay.
Helling! At the work session?
Wilburn! Ifhe can't be here tomorrow.
Vanderhoef/ He can't. He's out of town.
Helling! Because he could be here at the next rneeting, depending on, you know, how
much explanation you want, he could do it at the second reading or we can put it
on a work session. Whatever you want to do.
Vanderhoef/ And ifnobody else wants some (several talking).
Elliott/ I think we need to know, you know, is there.. . are there problems, and is there
danger connecting with washout in just random spots.
Dilkes/ I think if you want that information, you should get it, but this really has to be
done because it's what the Federal Regulations require.
Vanderhoef/ Yeah, we have to change it, to be in compliance with the Feds' rules. That's
the whole thing that we're doing right now. So sometime when he's available,
maybe he can come and tell us about it.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 24
ITEM 14.
CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING FUNDING FOR
GLUTEN EVOLUTION, LLC FROM IOWA CITY'S
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT - ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT FUND AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY
MANAGER TO ACT AS CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER
AND SUBMIT ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTATION TO THE
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN
DEVELOPMENT.
Vanderhoef/ And the other one that I called to get more information on, uh, was on the
Gluten, CDBG, Economic Development process. I either missed the minutes, or I
just didn't find them to get quite as much information.
Elliott! If they've been out yet.
Vanderhoefi' Okay, well, that was probably it. So I asked, number one, how much
security will there be available, and uh, they think it's going to be about $35,000
out of that $50,000 will be secured debt, and I was clarifying that the 1.5, those
are new employees, so that does not include the owner, uh, and it may go as high
as two employees, and I didn't get anything sense of whether the packaging was
being done here or not, and it is not. The packaging is being done out in New
York and Michigan, and then they're sent back here and put into the warehouse,
and they're sold out of here. And this woman basically has a trademark on her,
uh, process, rather than doing a patent, which a patent she would have to disclose
her recipes, and so it's a trademark situation. So the distribution is...is the
potential right now for growth on this business, more than a lot of jobs for
production. If at some time in the future production gets moved here, but it
probably isn't economically feasible at this point in time.
Wilburn! If you're going to continue discussing I'll need to back away from the table, due
to a conflict of interest.
Bailey/ Did you have a question, specifically?
Vanderhoef/ These were questions that I called and asked Wendy, and she checked them
with, uh, Tracy - thank you - and then called me back with the answers to them.
Bailey/ And we're looking at our loan portfolio regarding secured, unsecured because
increasingly with this fund it's a challenge to get secure loans. I mean, with this
population.
Champion! (unable to hear)
Bailey/ Right, so we're benchmarking with some other comrnunities about what their
portfolios look like regarding secured and unsecured loans, and so the Cornrnittee
will have continuing discussions regarding that.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the lowaCity City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 25
Vanderhoef/ Okay, that's fine, but Ijust didn't know you were doing that, and so this was
the second one with this...
Bailey/ I think we'll see a lot more. I mean, we...! think Tracy works very hard to get
the level of secured loans that we can, but it's a challenge. I think at some point
we will determine what we want to carry - secure, unsecured.
Vanderhoef/ Has that been in the minutes?
Bailey/ There's been some discussion.
Elliott/ We've discussed it, yeah.
Vanderhoef/ Discussed some, but 1. . .
Bailey/ Our next meeting is September 13th...
Vanderhoef/ ...1 don't get that flavor from the minutes, you know, and that's. . .
Elliott! No, we've had sorne pretty decent discussions on secured and unsecured loans,
and even.. . and even when it's secured with a home, I can't see the City kicking
somebody out of their horne so usually what that would happen would be the City
would have the rights to that home, if and when it were sold, but if the person
stays in that home for another 30 years, the City would not get its money back
from the home. But we've had some pretty good discussions on that.
Bailey/ Do you have a question?
Correia! Ijust have a question on, urn, the determination of the interest, and I guess I'm
interested in going lower with the interest. I mean, these are funds that don't cost
us anything... they're Federal funds that don't cost us anything to loan.
Bailey/ We looked at the business success and the potential, and did. . . I mean, take that
into consideration. This is comparable to what we've done in the past. I think...
Correia! Yeah.
Vanderhoef/ We have a policy on percent.
Correia! I'm just wondering about...! mean, I know that we have had more applications
recently, and now that we haven't had.. ..we've been through a long period of
time where we haven't had, and given that we're trying to serve difficult, urn, you
know, businesses that have higher risk. Otherwise they would be going to a bank,
urn, and we certainly could provide grants. I mean, this is money that is not, urn, I
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 26
mean, just getting back the principle, I think, is good for re.. . you know, for
recycling the funds, urn. I'm just wondering...
Vanderhoef/ Part of our policy discussion that I recall about some of this was the fact that
we know that CDBG and Home Funds both are declining in amounts, and that we
were trying to bring back a little bit to keep more like a revolving fund. So...
Correia! Right, and even if we get the principle back, and actually, in the last two years I
imagine since we've had funds being held, not because we were holding them, but
because we weren't getting appropriate applications, we were receiving interest
on those dollars...I rnean, those were invested dollars, as well. So I mean we're
getting monies back while we're holding them, waiting for applications.
Bailey/ There's some regulation about interest on CDBG funds, but I don't know what it
IS.
Vanderhoef/ I know we have a policy.
Bailey/ There's also some Federal regulation about how we use the interest.
Correia! I'm sure we can use the. ..I'm just saying not only are we not, we don't have any
costs to lend this rnoney out - it's not bond, we don't have to pay any rnoney
back.
Bailey/ This is so far below what a bank loan would be, especially for this particular
business (several talking). I mean, this business is fairly successful and
experiencing some concerns with growth, and this will enable some growth,
reasonable growth, for the business, and 3% was deemed, I mean, they didn't
have a problem with it.
Vanderhoef/ I think it's pretty good policy to have a little bit of interest.
Correia! Yeah, 1 %.
Bailey/ We take that into consideration. I mean, it is a case-by-case, business case-by-
case situation. So.. . are there other questions about that item?
Wilburn! Other agenda items?
ITEM 10.
APPROVING AND AUTHORIZING EXECUTION OF AN
AGREEMENT FOR PRIVATE REDEVELOPMENT BY AND
BETWEEN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY AND ALPLA, INC.
Correia! Question about Itern #10. Urn, (unable to hear) because in the last, rnaybe the
last two TIP applications, they were also applying for the State Departrnent of
Economic Development money, and so we had a very lengthy application that had
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 27
a lot of information about jobs and the benefits, urn, salaries and that sort of thing,
that I didn't see, urn, as part of this agenda item. So Ijust have questions about
nurnbers of jobs, what...I rnean, I know there's sorne information about jobs at
$14.00 an hour. I'm familiar with folks that work for Alpla and generally they're
rnaking $8.00 an hour.
Bailey/ Wendy looked into that, and urn, I think her memo is an accurate reflection of
what she found out.
Correia! I guess 1.. . earlier when we were doing some, maybe a year and a half ago, we
talked about having an application when folks come in, and I guess when they're
coming in for.. . asking for a match for the State, we have all of that.
Bailey/ There was an application in the packet a couple.. .when was that?
Correia! ...in the minutes? I guess I'd like to have that, with the agenda item. And I was
also wondering about in the, in the...in the urn, agreement itself, I didn't see any
information there about the number of jobs and having.. .it's in the resolution, but
then it's not in the signed agreement, in terms of what happens if they don't
maintain that level of job growth, urn...
Elliott! They don't get the money (several talking at once).
Vanderhoef/ .. . apply every year for their rebate, and if they don't meet the qualifications,
then they don't get the rebate that year.
Correia! I didn't see that when I read this.
O'Donne11l I want to hear more about this 8 and 14. 1.. .$14.00 an hour jobs, and you
said Wendy looked into it, and...
Bailey/ There was some concern about, to what extent they were using temporary
workers, and some concern. . .
O'Donnell/ This is temporary workers?
Bailey/ Well, somebody called me about this, and I asked her to confirm that they did
have an average $14.00 per hour wage rate.
Correia! Did we get any documentation from them?
Bailey/ Yes, they.. .we get payroll information frorn thern because they're under our
current TIP agreement.
O'Donnelll Because that was my understanding. That $8.00 kind of threw me for a
minute, but that is temporary. . .
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Wark Session
Page 28
Bailey/ They do use temporary workers.
Correia! To what extent? Although my information is that, and this is folks that are
permanent.
Champion! I'm sure there are some permanent employees who are being paid $8.00 an
hour. (several talking)
Vanderhoef/ But they're keeping up their number of full time employees at that average.
So these are additional, above and beyond what. . .
Correia! Will Wendy be here tomorrow night?
Vanderhoef/ .,. they contracted to do. . .
Helling! Yes, she will be here.
Correia! I'd also like when we're doing the Hieronymus that we got the analysis about
the TIF with what we're getting, what we wouldn't...
Bailey/ Perhaps she can bring that tomorrow night.
Correia! I'm getting. . .
Wilburn! I thought my reading of it was it was similar terms to the other...
Dilkes/ Uh-huh, it's very similar terms.
Bailey/ If that's a presentation people want every time, I think that's easily enough done.
It's certainly done in the Economic Development Committee.
Wilburn! .. .on our computer, yeah.
Elliott! Well, I think especially with this one because this is such a positive situation for
Iowa City.
Dilkes/ Can Ijust note in response to your questions, Amy, Section 6.5, I think, deals
with the, urn, employment requirements, and then Article 8, which deals with the
giving of the grants, I think, in several places requires.. . allows for the
withholding of the rebates, ifthere's a default in any respect.
Wilburn! So in the example, or the situation you brought up, in Section 6.5 they agree
that on average an additional 25 new full time positions, but they may for
operational purposes carry a certain load of, of temp employees beyond that, but
at a minimum, this is the threshold they have to meet.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Wark Session
Page 29
Vanderhoef/ Payroll has to show that for them to qualify for the rebate.
Wilburn! But you say Wendy will be there tomorrow, right?
Helling! Right.
Wilburn! Okay. All right.
Elliott/ Ijust think it's good to let people know these kinds of things are happening, and
that.. .
Wilburn! That's fine.
Vanderhoef/ But to reiterate, ifthere's a conversation out there that somebody at least
called Regenia - thank God they called Regenia, that these are still above and
beyond what they contracted to do when they got their TIF and they won't get
their money. I think that's good to just keep putting that out there so people
understand.
Bailey/ Rebate arrangement I think works well for us.
Champion! Works very well.
Vanderhoef/ When they have to certify every year, that's...
Elliott! It's almost fail-safe.
Wilburn! Other agenda items?
ITEM 16.
CONSIDER A RESOLUTION NAMING THE ENTRY DRIVEWAY
TO THE IOWA CITY WATER TREATMENT PLANT ATKINS
DRIVE.
O'Donnell/ How about 16 - do we have the signs made up for Atkins Drive yet? Is
anybody interested in. .. there are many, many Atkins. I thought it'd be neat to
have Steve Atkins Drive. Anyone interested in that? (several talking) Steve
Atkins Drive - I think it's.. .21 years is and the contributions made to the City, I
think with that we can call it Steve Atkins Drive.
Karr/ You want it Stephen or Steve?
Elliott/ Steve.
O'Donnell/ Steve Atkins Drive.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 30
Champion! Yeah, ask him.
O'Donnell/ Yeah, ask hirn, that's good. I'd just like to personalize that rnore.
Elliott! You want a sign on your driveway saying...
O'Donnell/ I do have (several talking and laughing).
Wilburn! Regenia, you had an agenda item?
ITEM 20.
CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO
SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST AN AGREEMENT
BETWEEN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY AND JOHNSON
COUNTY, IOWA TO USE A PORTION OF CITY STREETS AND
PUBLIC RIGHTS-OF-WAY FOR THE INSTALLATION,
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF A FIBER OPTIC
NETWORK.
Bailey/ Well, it's Item 20, it's about this laying the fiber. I mean, does everybody need
their own fiber? I mean, is there anything that we can take advantage of? I
mean...
Vanderhoef/ I didn't tell them about that conversation! (laughter)
Bailey/ Oh, you've already had this conversation?
Vanderhoef/ Dale will tell you all about it!
Wilburn! Something tells me it's not necessarily...
Vanderhoef/ I spared you on that one!
Bailey/ And then, I see that they keep the map, but do we also keep some record of what
fiber is in the right-of-way, because I know there's a lot of that fiber.
Helling! Yes.
Bailey/ Okay, thanks.
Dilkes/ The agreement also requires them to join Iowa One Call.
Bailey/ Right, I saw that.
Vanderhoef/ Would there be any, uh, interest in, frorn Council, one of rny questions on
this fiber optic is how many times people go into our right-of-way, urn,
sometimes through our permanent paving and sometimes not through it, and it...it
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20,2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 31
bothers me a whole lot that they put it back like it was, but we know the
degradation of the infrastructure has been damaged, and that the life of that
concrete isn't going to be as long as it would have been ifit hadn't been dug into,
and so we were batting around today whether there's a way...
Champion! Who's we?
Vanderhoef/ Uh, Dale and I, to put a surcharge on for future maintenance, because the
rebuilding of that street is going to come more often, no matter who digs into it.
O'Donnell/ What time period would you put on that?
Vanderhoef/ It would be a percentage ofloss oftime, you know, Rick stands up here and
tells us that a normal concrete street lasts some place between 30 and 35 years
before it has to be replaced, but if you have to dig it up several times, you lose
years off of that.
O'Donnell/ Well, once again, do we put it 10, 20, or 30 years?
Vanderhoef/ I wasn't talking about years. What I was talking about was a surcharge for
degradation of the infrastructure.
Champion! No, it's all money out of our own pockets anyway.
Vanderhoef/ It doesn't encourage anyone to, uh, schedule their things at the same time
we're scheduling our things.
Champion! That's how life works.
Vanderhoef/ I mean, we lay down a new street one year and the next year somebody
comes and says we're going to dig it up again.
Elliott! Either the City does or somebody does it seems like. Dale, do we have a record
of the private cable that's laid throughout our City?
Helling! We should have, yeah, because we issue right-of-way permits...
Elliott/ .. . lays a cable from the north side to the southeast side, do we have a record
of.. .ofwhere that goes?
Helling! Ifwe know about it, and have issued a right-of-way permit...
Elliott/ Okay.
Helling! ... we would have a record, sure.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 32
Bailey/ I've been told that's a pretty spotty record though.
Helling! It rnay be. I mean, if we know about it. Short little stretches maybe, somebody
could put something in, and maybe some of the older ones that've been there a
long time. Not fiber, but other types of infrastructure that we wouldn't know
about, but if we've issued a permit.
Item 42:(14) Mark Vinin2:: Mailboxes of Iowa City
Correia! We had correspondence from the owner of the Mailboxes, Etc., an issue
regarding the parking. Yeah, is there...! mean, so if that business hadn't been
destroyed in the, the physical business, if the property hadn't been destroyed in
the tornado then their parking situation would have been maintained, but now that
there's been a rebuild, they're not allowed to have parking on that site. Is that
what I understand?
Helling! It probably would have been maintained because there was an agreement. I
can't rernernber the date - 1988 I think, urn, and in terms of the parking, that had
somewhat been changed gradually over the years and we weren't aware of it.
When we went back in after when they got their building permit to rebuild after
the tornado, then uh, that's when we looked at the file and found the agreement
and so forth, and so we required them at that time to comply with the original
agreement, which apparently they hadn't been doing for some time, and certainly
not during the time that this individual was a tenant there.
Correia! So, when we had that conversation was it with the property owner then or the, I
rnean, I guess...
Bailey/ I've heard a lot from the property owner that this has been a very difficult process
to bring that building back from the tornado, and.. . and it was my understanding
that the City had a commitment to help business owners and property owners to
get back on their feet after the tornado, but it's quite frankly been a nightmare. I
think I'm quoting her directly. (several talking) With us.
Champion! Why with the City?
Bailey/ Because of this parking, and because of other issues.
Correia! Yeah, and I think there's probably two issues for the owner of Mailboxes Etc.,
they don't own the building they're operating their business. If they had known
that they weren't going to have the amenities that they feel like they need in their
business, like parking, they rnay have found a new location.
Champion! It would seem to me that would be between the landlord and the tenant.
Correia! Yeah, I know, but you know how.. .I'm just saying that...
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 33
Champion! I agree with you, it would be difficult to have that business there without
parking.
Correia! Well, I think they're not going to be able to...I can't imagine how they're going
to be able to.
Champion! I can't remember the configuration that new building is.
Correia! I have.. . (several talking).. .on the same corner, and then they can't...
Vanderhoef/ You drive through from Burlington over onto Linn (several talking)
Champion! Is there room for parking?
Correia! Well, I haven't driven by there. I mean, there was room for parking, if they
rebuilt in the same configuration, I mean, I've parked there dropping off
packages.
Vanderhoefl' I'rn not sure. How rnany legal spaces for parking did the permit allow?
Correia! New permit doesn't allow any, based on rny understanding of the letter.
Helling/ No, it allows some. It's just the way it's configured, I think maybe there's one
less parking place and. . .
Champion! Maybe the people who own the business or the building may not be able to
park there. I mean, that's another question that needs to be asked. How many
customer parking places are there? And how many of those are you using?
That's a question...
Elliott! Good question, Connie.
Vanderhoef/ It used to be you could park along the edge on either side, and then drive on
through, and every once in a while somebody would clog it, but they ran in ran
out, and you just sort of did a flow-through.
Champion! I think they need parking, but that's the question I want answered. Who's
using the parking places you have?
Elliott/ Yeah, how many spaces do they have, and who's using...
Champion! Who's using them.
Helling! I can get that information. I think there are four, but I'rn not sure.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 34
Champion! Four would be plenty for that business.
Helling! In reading rny reply, because I hadn't looked at it for a while, this was a Board
of Adjustment. . .
Champion! No, I think that's good.
Helling! .. .back in 1981, so we don't have the authority just to ignore that.
Champion! So I hope that they will rescind their cornrnent about working with the City
being detrimental. I think maybe working with the landlord and tenant is
detrimental.. .if they're using those parking places.
Wilburn! My experience with some of the places that were, uh, damaged by the tornado,
there were a few nuances where someone wanted to, what they were.. .they
wanted to put something different in, and so, and so it really wasn't restored to the
way it was, and so you can't get what you want and so it's difficult to work with
the City, is my experience with a couple situations.
Dilkes/ My understanding of that situation is...
Wilburn! I wasn't talking about...
Dilkes/ No, no, I know. This particular situation is that. . . under the current code they
would have no parking or very little parking. Urn, under previous agreement that
they had, they have what they have now. It had been a non-conforming situation.
I mean, the best you can do from an enforcement perspective is give them the
exception that they had, or give them what you can give them under the existing
code, but we can't just say, you know, take whatever you want or what you had
the last time. It's just not going to...
Item 42:(9) Nhun2: Ta: Request for driveway
Correia! And then I'm also wondering, we have correspondence from Nhung Ta about
the driveway, which we have more correspondence about. I did drive by that
home today. It's a really difficult situation. There is absolutely.. .there's no
options. I mean, there's no alley because of the way everybody else around there
has some access to parking, except for that home because of the way the home
behind is situated there's no alley access, because there's alleys that run behind,
so most people have alley access.
O'Donnell/ Did you go in back? Did you drive...
Correia! I drove down the alley, yeah.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20,2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Wark Session
Page 35
O'Donnell/ Did it look to you like the one family sold off the back part of that lot in front
of the alley?
Correia! Maybe, I don't know. (several talking) So, if the tree, I mean, I certainly love
trees, but if it's the trees...I mean, we just tore down trees all down Gilbert Street
for the Bowery-Prentiss. I mean, it's not like the City doesn't take trees out.
Bailey/ Right, it's the property line too.
Correia! Well, but the neighbor agrees to it. I mean, I think that.. .I'm not versed in the
Ordinance, but it. . .
Elliott/ ...it would certainly be nice if there were something that could be done for the
owner and resident.
O'Donnelll Him, and the neighbor on the east, where they could built between there.
Correia! Well, the neighbor has already agreed to allow it to be closer than whatever... the
agreement with the abutting property owner. There's a letter. (several talking)
Well.. .
Dilkes/ The neighbor is.. .as I understand it, the neighbor is not willing to allow her use
of his driveway, which is what the ordinance refers to when it talks about a cross
easement.
O'Donnelll Which neighbor? The neighbor...
Correia! There's no driveway...
Dilkes/ No, behind him. Behind him. The neighbor to her.. . east, and I think one of the
things you have to, I mean, if you drive through the north side, there's a number
of places where you have this same issue.
Elliott/ It's a buyer beware situation.
Dilkes/ I mean, there are other places in town where you just cannot get a driveway to
your home.
Correia! Most places there's somewhere you can park.
Bailey/ People on the north side park on the street. I mean, her description of it is apt.
Correia! I know, I mean, I went around, especially today.
Elliott/ But she can park at the curb?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 36
Correia! Well, if there's a spot. It's every other day parking, and so today there's no
parking for blocks.
Bailey/ There was an indication that they talked about a loading zone in front.
Wilburn! Loading zone, or a handicap parking, yeah.
Vanderhoef/ For an elderly parent. It wasn't clear to me whether that elderly person was
still living in the residence or not, at the original time that they had applied for a
driveway there was an elderly, the father or the mother or something.
O'Donnelll Just seems to me, if you own a home, that you ought to have a parking spot.
If, I mean, it just kind of makes sense. (several talking)
Champion! If you live in the city, you're not guaranteed a parking place no matter how
many homes you own. But I do think, I mean, I think we should talk again about
neighborhood parking stickers.
Bailey/ Well, we asked Marsha to look into if anybody wants to. . .
Correia! I mean, I think this is an example of wanting to have diversity of home owners
or occupants in this neighborhood, so here's someone who converted a primarily
a student rental into a single-family horne, and I'm not sure how long that's going
to.. .
O'Donne11l I thought of calling them, Amy, and seeing ifmaybe that house directly to the
east couldn't do very similar to what you have, a shared driveway going in.
Vanderhoef/ But she wants a parking place.
O'Donne11l In the back. But.. .they could, off of Fairchild, between the houses, do a
shared driveway. They could probably get this accomplished. That's a very
difficult situation, but I still think if you own a home you ought to be able to park.
Vanderhoef/ Or buy a home that already has a driveway.
Elliott! But if you buy the home and know what it has and doesn't have.
O'Donnell/ I know that, I know that.
Elliott! I remember talking with a person when I was working at the Press-Citizen years
and years ago. He had just rnoved to town, bought a horne. He said there was a
nice little stream running through the backyard, and I said, "Wait a minute!
Where is it?" Turned out it was Ralston Creek, which would, therefore, flood his
basernent about two times every year. You just have to be aware, and that's a
really unfortunate...
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 37
Correia! Also, another thing about the correspondence in the packet, and not from today,
is that she was shuffled between a lot of, back and forth and back and forth, and
really felt like she was given the runaround, and I don't know how we streamline,
you know, well.. .she also seemed to have to go to five different departrnents.
Vanderhoef/ She didn't like the answer, perhaps, that she got at each one. So she kept
going to someone else.
Correia! .. . she was in Planning and Zoning, Public Works, Forester, Housing
Inspection.. . City Attorney.
O'Donnell! I'd really like to see her get a parking spot. If there's not three others,
then.. .it's just, it's a house that it's unfortunate and I understand the buyer beware
philosophy, Bob, and I probably wouldn't buy that house because it didn't have a
parking spot, but they did and now circumstances change.
Wilburn! .. . for the entire north side.
Elliott/ I wasn't just saying buyer beware and forget about it, but I do think that the buyer
has some responsibility, and I would like to see the City be as helpful as possible,
and you just brought up a situation which I would like to see the Council address
some time, is when people have a problem, not go to one department or one office
at a time. It would be nice if we could get people together and work as a team,
and say, this is one-stop shopping, but that's for another time. (several talking)
Vanderhoef/ This is the first really unusual one that I've been aware of for quite a while,
but it is a sticky ickit.
O'Donnelll And it's difficult if you look at the house, it's difficult, you're right. (unable
to hear) ...in some way.
IPS of 8/2 Mana2:ement Analvst: Parkin2: Impact Fee - Annual Report
Vanderhoefl' Something else that was in the Info Packet a week ago, I think it was. The
August 2nd packet. Uh, about the parking facility impact fees, and I called Kevin
O'Malley today just to double-check. Those impact fees are being paid for
parking, on the near south side. That's what it all started out to be, and so I was
double-checking it, and he called me back and said, "We can use these impact
fees to pay down the bonds on the Transportation Center."
Champion! Perfect!
Vanderhoef/ And I think rnaybe that's what we ought to talk about, at least. I'd like to
see it - pay them down because the first ones run out in February of 10, that's two
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Wark Session
Page 38
and a half years. We're not going to build any new parking facility between now
and 2010. Uh, that just doesn't appear on my radar at this point in time.
Elliott! When Regenia retires we're going to name one of the parking ramps after her.
(laughter and several talking)
Davidson! We're going to be getting back to you on that. (laughter) We're updating,
because of all the changes to the CB-l 0 zoning that's gone on and is anticipated
to go on south of Burlington Street, we need to update the demand numbers.
We're in the process of doing that right now. When we have done that, we will
get back to you with some recommendations on, you know, what we.. .the notion
of the impact fee is obviously that parking is then provided by the City in that area
so that we get the type of development that we want, where you don't have
individual parking lots...
Vanderhoef/ Oh, yeah.
Davidson! So, urn, I guess...
Vanderhoef/ Why would we hold this money back. . .
Wilburn! I'm sorry, excuse me for a sec.. .if this was an information packet to go...
Vanderhoef/ This is our first meeting. We had a long stretch.
Dilkes/ Well, I think the only way it's covered on the agenda is Council Time, so if you
want to talk about it in more depth. . .
Vanderhoef/ Well, when Jeff is ready, I guess. How soon?
Davidson! Probably two, three months.
Vanderhoef/ Oh!
Davidson! That soon enough?
Vanderhoef/ That isn't very soon!
Davidson! Oh!
Vanderhoef/ We have a bunch of money sitting there, let's think fast! (laughter) Let's
spend it!
Davidson! I think most of the money we have sitting there now, Dee, we have five years
to use, because we use that fund down when we, we used it on the Court Street
Transportation Center, so rnost of the rnoney there is new rnoney now. I'rn pretty
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Wark Session
Page 39
sure. Wasn't it like $240,000 or something like that? Expecting another.. .we're
going to have a half million here shortly, as I recall.
Champion! Peanuts!
Davidson! Well, it is peanuts now, but this is...
Dilkes/ This is the people's rnoney. Let's put it on the agenda if we want to talk about it.
Wilburn! You could put it on a work session. And ifthere are other items tonight that
were on the Info. . . prior Info Packet, if you could take a look or talk to me after
the meeting, we can talk about trying to get it on a work session, other than
tonight. Other agenda items.
Correia! Just a quick note about the proclamation that we're going to have tomorrow for
the Partnership for Working Towards Inclusive Communities, that's that National
League of Cities partnership, urn, that I've been involved in helping to plan, and
Stephanie Bowers, Sarah Baird, and the Human Rights Commission, we're doing
the, having the proclamation now, because you do the proclarnation, you send the
proclamation to the National League of Cities, and then they send you back a sign
that says you're working towards inclusive community, and then so the date of
the... to plan, the date that we're scheduling for that sort of, working towards an
inclusive community when we have that sign, sort of a dedication, is October 1 ih
at 6:00 P.M.
Wilburn! What date is that again?
Correia! 16th or the...
Vanderhoef/16th is, is a Tuesday night, Council meeting. (several talking) Okay, day
after.
Correia! 6:00 at Chauncey Swan. Farmer's Market will still be going on. Just sort of a
half hour, urn, thing, urn, with just sorne rernarks, a signed dedication, urn, that
sort of thing, and we'll be kicking off the Inclusive Communities Project that
would include highlighting what the City currently is doing to work towards
inclusive community. Stephanie Bowers is working on (unable to hear, noise on
mic) internal audit of diversity doing diversity training with staff, that sort of
thing, and then we also have, next Commission will be.. .the web site and other
forms, what the community thinks an inclusive community looks like, what
they're doing to foster inclusive community, what, you know, we could be doing
better, urn, and starting to do more spotlighting and developing recommendations,
urn, for how we can improve.
Wilburn! Very good.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20,2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Wark Session
Page 40
Vanderhoef/ Do you get Jim Hunt's update newsletter about every six weeks?
Correia! I don't. I rnean, I think Stephanie's clued into that, and I know diversity focus is
working with other communities to try and encourage them to, urn, get involved
with this partnership, and Stephanie did say she received something from the
State Department of Human Rights. They're working with Iowa League of Cities
on developing, urn, a state-wide partnership.
Vanderhoef/ Uh-huh. The inclusive communities was a year-long focus of Jim Hunt, but
Jim has kept going with it, and uh. . .
Correia! I think Davenport...
Wilburn! Find black and gold. Is the sign black and gold? (laughter)
Correia! I don't know!
V anderhoef/ You noticed the choice you had!
Wilburn! Any other agenda items?
COUNCIL TIME:
Bailey/ I just have a question about when we will see the Historic Preservation plan?
That's my question. I'm sorry! It's not a big deal, but we keep hearing about it in
the minutes.
Davidson! Yeah, we're anticipating, I mean, we got it back as a draft and then gave it
back to the consultant for sorne rather substantial edits. We're anticipating
getting that back in a week or two, and then it'll go through a 30-day public
comment period, uh, so, there will be plenty of opportunity for public comment
on that from your folks on the near south side. Urn, it'll then go through Historic
Preservation Commission and Planning and Zoning Commission, before it gets to
you, so obviously there'll be, maybe first of December, end of November, I think
probably to get to you.
O'Donnelll I had a couple things. .. .parking north side, panhandling. Saturday I went
down to Fin and Feather, well-known sport and probably one ofthe finest
outdoorsmen n the Midwest.
Elliott/ Out at the old. ..
O'Donnell/ Fin and Feather, yeah. But, uh, in coming back I was driving on the highway
and there were a group of people with buckets running between the cars, and
that's just extremely dangerous. I sat for a stop sign, and two of them could have
been hit very easily. And then, one day.. .later that afternoon I was corning down
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Wark Session
Page 41
Hawkins Drive and there was somebody sitting right on the bottom, by the sign,
and somebody stopped with a dollar or something, got up, fell down into the
traffic, picked.. .got up again, picked up the dollar, went back to sit down and fell
on the other side. And you know, folks, I think somebody's going to get hurt
doing this.
Wilburn! In my opinion, our existing, urn, ordinance can cover that if somebody calls law
enforcernent.
O'Donnell! It doesn't cover though people running between the cars, as they...
Wilburn! I think it does.
O'Donnell/ I don't think it does.
Wilburn! They're creating a. . .
Dilkes/ Yes, I mean, the police could stop that if they saw it, or they had a verified report
of it. I think the difficulty is you can't prevent it. You can, yeah, you can stop
that behavior when you see it, but you can't say stay out ofthe street.
O'Donnell/ I think we should prevent that, because somebody's going to get hurt doing
that.
Wilburn! You're referring to the earlier suggested ordinance, uh, again, you could stop it,
but I don't believe you'll prevent it, because someone still has to report, or it has
to be seen. So.. .but uh...is that your Council Tirne item?
O'Donnell/ That's rny Council Tirne.
Vanderhoef/ Okay, I have a request of Council. I would like a letter of support from the
Iowa City Council to include in my application for the National League of Cities
Board of Directors. That application has to be in, about the third week of
September, and for elections are in November, at League Conference. So I'm
requesting a letter. (several respond) Thank you.
Wilburn! Is there a suggested language that you want to.. .produce a couple points that we
should make sure we include in the letter, or.. . (several talking and laughter)
Vanderhoef/ It certainly, a letter of support is helpful in that they know that if I'm going
to be gone for a meeting which you've all been very generous about allowing me
to be gone for rneetings and work with rne when we change dates.
Wilburn! If there's a couple points to include, just write them down and get them to
Marian and we'll be able to...
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 42
Vanderhoef/ Okay, thank you.
Wilburn! Anyone else?
Correia! So, Ernma 1. Harvat is being inducted into the...
Wilburn! Women's Hall of Fame, that's correct.
Correia! Is there anybody from...
Bailey/ I'm accepting on behalf of the City. I was on that original group.
Elliott/ Is she going to be there?
V anderhoef/ Yeah! (laughter)
Bailey/ Emma is always with us!
Vanderhoef/ You're driving down?
Bailey/ Mary Bennett, Karen Kubby, urn, myself, perhaps Karin Mason, the group who
has been working on this since 2003.
Vanderhoef/ Yeah, well, I got the invitation from. . .
Bailey/ ...if you get an opportunity to attend, the Hall of Fame induction is a really nice
event.
Vanderhoef/ The League gets an invitation specifically from the Gov to come do it.
Wilburn! I believe we're also looking at some way to display more prominently here at
City Hall.
Bailey/ I think there will be some additional requests for recognition in the City.
Wilburn! Depends on what they are.
Bailey/ I think they're pretty easy.
Elliott! Are we going to do anything regarding the responses, the proposals, prior to the
time that is designated on our schedule for the search firms?
Champion! Well, next week.
Elliott/ Yeah, there's nothing before that? (several talking)
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20,2007.
August 20, 2007
City Council Work Session
Page 43
Karr/ Bob, next Tuesday's meeting is solely for that purpose.
Elliott! Yeah, but there's nothing prior to that. (several talking) Okay, that's what I was
asking. You want those, Marian?
Karr/ I want those, and I'll do a memo summarizing that for the packet that you may use
at your discretion.
Champion! We don't have to meet on Tuesday! (several talking and laughter)
Wilburn! We'll do that next week! See you tomorrow!
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of August 20, 2007.