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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-11-27 Transcription #2 ITEM 2 Wilburn: Karr: O'Malley: Wilburn: O'Malley: Page 1 SPECIAL PRESENTATION. a) Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for 2006 I believe that'd by Fiscal Year 2007. Is that right, Kevin? Yep! Here to accept it is Kevin O'Malley, City Finance Director. (applause) Honorable Mayor and Esteemed Council Members, I'm happy to be here tonight to accept this award from the GFOA, for the Certificate of Achievement in Excellence in Financial Reporting. As you may recall, this.. . our financial report has two independent auditor opinions. The first opinion is on the presentation of our financial statements, and we got another clean opinion on that, and I owe the credit to that preparation to our Accounting Department, namely Controller Robin Marshall, Assistant Controller Sara Sproule, Internal Auditor Nick Schaul, he's only been on the job about three months but I'll give him credit anyway. Uh, Payroll Accountant Chris Hurlbert, Senior Account Clerk.. . Senior Account Payable Clerk Joan Kramer, Accounts Payable Clerk Michelle Cook, and our two Accounting Interns, Marta Laskowska and Teran Pegump. The second, uh, opinion by our auditors is on our conformance with internal control policies. And those are the policies that we adhere to, the federal, state, and city policies. We got another clean opinion... that's one I always worry about. I don't worry too much about our Accounting Division in their preparation, but I worry about the other one because I have to give credit to my colleagues and their staff. Some.. .some people I can't control. In any event, they did another good job and they deserve the credit, and lastly, I'd like to thank you for taking the time tonight to recognize the efforts of all City staff. Thank you. Well, Kevin, we have put you in there, as well, and we want to thank all of the, urn, Financial staff for their reporting, and helping keeping us in compliance, both externally and internally. It's a testament to your leadership, and the cooperative relationship that we have, uh, amongst the department heads and within each department. So, thank you again for, uh, this achievement. Thank you again. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of November 27, 2007. #3 ITEM 3 Wilburn: Karr: Wilburn: Herro: Greimann: Grace: Page 2 OUTSTANDING STUDENT CITIZENSHIP AWARDS - Shimek Elementary If the students from Shimek Elementary could join me. And also here to assist, representing the Youth Advisory Commission is Chair Audrey Keranen. Well, good evening, and welcome to all of you. This is a very special time for us on the Council, and for those watching at home and those, uh, adults who are present. It's a great time for us to hear about the work that you all have been doing, and we're eager to hear your presentations, and I'll hand you the microphone. If you could just read your statement and make sure you state.. . state your name, and you're all from Shimek, right? Okay, great. Hi, my name is Abigail Herro. I want to thank you for this award. It's a very nice honor to be recognized as a Good Citizenship in Shimek Elementary. I believe I was selected by my teachers to receive this award because of my involvement. First, as a Safety Patrol guard, which I'm assigned responsibilities both before and after school to insure students get to and from school safely. I'm also Ambassador of Shimek, which requires me to show visitors around our school, and last, as a sixth grader, I help kindergarten students with Shimek's Reads Program activities. Again, thank you for this award. (applause) Hi, my name is Emma Greimann, and I believe I was chosen for this award with...because of my work with the ECSC kids, Early Childhood Special Education. Every day, Ruth Grace and I go down to their room and play with them at recess, P.E., and at other times we help them learn shapes, colors, numbers, and many more forms of basic knowledge. Every time we walk in, they always give us hugs and say, 'Hi, guys!' And whenever we leave, they always say, 'Bye,' and wave. Helping these kids is very rewarding to me. Knowing that I help them makes me feel good about myself. Thank you for this reward. ( applause) Hi, I'm Ruth Grace. This year I was picked for Iowa City Citizenship Awards. I believe I was picked for this award because every Monday through Thursday, Emma and I work in the ECSC room, Early Childhood Special Education, where we help the preschoolers during recess and for classroom work. I also am part of the school Safety Patrol where I help kids cross the streets and make sure they obey traffic laws. At home, I do chores to help my parents and if someone needs help, I would carry their books for them. Thank you for the award. ( applause) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of November 27, 2007. #3 Wilburn: Page 3 Well, great job, and.. . and thank you all. I mean, obviously your parents and grandparents are proud of you, but it's important for all of us to hear about the work that you've been doing. It may not seem like much to you, and obviously you get something rewarding out of it, but, uh, the people that you are helping out in your community, they really appreciate it and it's a nice, urn, gesture for you to reach out to them to help them, and again, you may not think much about it, but you'll find years down the road that, uh, you may have touched the life of someone else, that they will, I guess, kind of pass it on and pay it forward, they will reach out and help others in the community, and that makes it a stronger community. So thanks for setting a nice example for all of us. We have, uh, some certificates. I will read the certificate that you will get, uh, for being an Outstanding Student Citizen, uh, they all say the same thing except they have your own names on them. And they say: for their outstanding qualities of leadership within Shimek Elementary, as well as the community, and for their sense of responsibility and helpfulness to others, we recognize you as an Outstanding Student Citizen. Your community is proud of you, presented by the Iowa City City Council, and Abigail, there you go, congratulations. ( applause) Emma. ( applause) Ruth. ( applause) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of November 27, 2007. M P~4 ITEM 4 CONSIDER ADOPTION OF THE CONSENT CALENDAR AS PRESENTED OR AMENDED. Correia: Move adoption. Wilburn: Moved by Correia. Vanderhoef: Second. Wilburn: Seconded by Vanderhoef. Discussion? In the Consent Calendar, we are setting a public hearing on December 11 th on plans, specification, form of contract, and estimate of cost for construction of the Court Hill Trail Project, and directing City Clerk, urn, to publish notice about the hearing, and engineer to publish the specifications. Any other comments about.. .the Consent Calendar? Vanderhoef: I'm just so happy to have Court Hill, 00, finally ready to roll. It's been along haul getting it there, and thanks to the people who worked cooperatively with the City to make sure that that trail could be completed, and give our east side residents some, uh, opportunities to reach the major trails, from near their home. Wilburn: We received a nice bit of correspondence from Council Member Dan Rice and the City of Ames, about Abbie Volland's participation at the National League of Cities conference in New Orleans that Dee Vanderhoef went with, as well. So, good job. You impressed some folks down there it sounds like, and I think you'll be saying something about the conference a little bit later. Roll call, please. . Item carries 6-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of November 27, 2007. #5 ITEM 5 Wilburn: Kinum: Page 5 COMMUNITY COMMENT. This is the time reserved on the agenda for people to address the Council and the public on items that do not appear on tonight's agenda. If you wish to speak to the Council, please step forward, state your name for the public record, and please limit your comments to five minutes or less. I'm Ronald Kinum. I'm a resident ofIowa City, and uh, in light of the terminated zoning request by the Big Ten Rentals, I would like to make three points on increasing height limits to new construction within our city. Ordinance change requests and what it does, it doubles...it was intended to double the height of the permitted downtown buildings, but we still face this in the future. Uh, with the exception of the unsightly sterile looking Sheraton Hotel, and the filing cabinet with windows look of the architecturally atrocious vetroHotel, no other modem structure in downtown Iowa City appears to exceed six stories in height. The fact that the eight-story Jefferson Building is both historic and has community compelling architecture makes it seem inconsequential. The present six- story height limitation zone represents a community preference that establishes downtown Iowa City as an intended small-town atmosphere zone, with neither the Chicago nor the City of Oz look that modem developers prefer to pursue. It increases the traffic density downtown. Regardless of the representations of the developers, every new tall building will increase motor vehicle, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic, each with its own consequences. Although it is preferable that, uh, increased mobility within our city be more pedestrian, there is no possibility to exclude commercial delivers, guests, and incidental visitors from driving motor vehicles to and parking at or near each multi-story building, which exponentially increases the surrounding city's traffic density in various ways, and it decreases the available sunshine and surround view of the neighboring buildings. A prime concern of all residents is not to have the rural small-town atmosphere be replaced by a growing miniature Chicago. The view even from the middle-most floor of a building next to a high-rise building is greatly affected in negative aspects, which have symbolic compounding effects on aesthetics. It negatively changes the social atmosphere and quality of life of existing nearby residents to increase the height limit. There is a prime sanctity in the atmosphere of a small-town city. Concrete canyons of multi-story caves isolates residents by divisive artificial barriers of imposing high-rise residences. Urban sprawl, of course, if another opposite bad effect. Yet the inability to see the weather, sample the view of a nearby surround community, all have a negative psychological perspective of the community that are critical, human, environmental concerns that have huge effects on personal and social well being, and it spurs city-wide rent increases. The development of taller and higher capacity buildings does not create lower rents due to the fact that the construction costs of a building must be captured in rent fees. This is This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of November 27, 2007. #5 Page 6 an encouragement for other rental units throughout the city to raise their rents, just to be as profitable as the bigger ones. It is a myth in developing cities that more new rental units create a surplus of vacant apartments, that influences lower rates. The new buildings would not have been constructed if the developers could not recover their construction costs through these higher rents. The second point is developer changes to our city and how it affects the development. Zone change is purely egocentric in the desire to enhance the revenue. The more a city is built up by large- scale development, the more that increases the development also incurred just consecutive larger revenue-oriented development to follow, in a vial and vicious assault on the community. It is an inconsideration that systematically changes selected parts of a community to become a less humane and more revenue-enhancing commercial environment and atmosphere, which is community incompatible as new revenue districts. The development proposal that we have just seen terminated to change our zoning laws is only one of many from over the years, each that have all been proposed with the developers looking forward to the future for increased revenues and profits, as the developers anticipate that the existing local community residents and local small businesses will be literally "run off' by the power and the intimidating influences of the mega-wealth of inspired encroachment of large-scale commercialization and grandiose development projects, with their power and influence of overwhelming resources. And there is a proposal inconsistent: with surrounding buildings that must be addressed. The residents cannot tolerate changes to the atmosphere of a less humanistic community realm, which does not fit in with the existing community atmosphere and imposes undesirable, unwanted changes in the community, changes that are not symbolic with the community lifestyle. These proposed changes to our community as an assault by mega-developments that will inherently alter society, by bringing an influx of counter-community lifestyles that do not respect the existing community values, and often which flaunts with a disregard for community lifestyles to the point of actually antagonizing the existing community, which leads to community deterioration in both lifestyle and physical appearance. The breakdown of the community results in social isolation among citizens who become besieged by a new culture which does not respect the existing community. The role that mega-development buildings play in that conflict is not to be slighted. And, more tightly-fit tall structures on small property is a problem. We citizens have a major problem with trying to create compact revenue- generating communities with community structures which Iowa City has so far successfully been able to counter to a variety of degrees. Landscaping that is not superficial with adequate open space must be formulated to address spatial effects of visual perspective, as well as physical habitation effects on mobility. There must be a universal city formula for geometric plane-space structural placement restrictions, that allow for reasonable and not excessive plane density of structure This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of November 27, 2007. #5 Wilburn: Kinum: Wilburn: Karr: Correia: Bailey: Wilburn: Volland: Page 7 placement within any given block. And the last point is the solution and how it can serve both the citizens and the developer. Maintain the existing ordinance to permit only a six story maximum structure. There is no reason any developers cannot make a decent profit from revenues that are derived from a community-compatible scale of construction. This has been proven in southern Saint Louis around Grand Avenue and Arsenal Street, where a bank and an apartment building were replaced with community compatible and actually very attractive structures, and on a large vacant lot, an apartment complex was created in the same way. Education is gravitating to distance learning using online courses, so costly student housing needs should be decreasing. And, after somewhat the top floors to appear more proportional to the shorter six -story building, um, the architecture often times is out of, urn, perspective. In light of a proposed building of the architectural style that was presented, the top floors of the new building were originally designed with a ten-story to twelve-story structure, and that scale is out of proportion to the appearance of a shorter building that complies with the six-story limit. This needs to be adjusted ifthere's anybody who's going to use that same project on a lower level. Urn... You're going to need to wrap this up. .. . okay, otherwise, the external appearance ofthat building would be quite acceptable in downtown Iowa City of the plan, whereas the building in Wisconsin that Big Ten showed is far less eye-appealing and looks arrogant. As a six-story building, the proposal for the proposed development of South Linn Street and West Court Street would be acceptable. Thanks for your comments. Motion to accept correspondence. So moved. Second. Moved by Correia, seconded by Bailey to accept correspondence. All those in favor say aye. Opposed same sign. Carries 6-0. Hi, I'm Abbie Volland. I'm the City Council Liaison. I just wanted to give you a little update on my trip to National League of Cities in New Orleans. I will be submitting some paperwork in your off-week information packet with more information, but I didn't want to crowd you with stuff with this busy week. Urn, I attended several leadership conferences. One was about leadership in a diverse community where we This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of November 27, 2007. #5 Page 8 talked about different people, ages, races, religions, and how to work with different people and ask them questions about where they're coming from. It was a great experience. Urn, I did one about inter generational communication which as a young person was very interesting when you're the youngest person in the room when it comes to local elected officials, and we talked about the different generations, how they communicate, how they view things. Urn, for your information, my generation doesn't like awards in paper. They like gift certificates. (laughter) Thought that was kind of funny! Urn, I did another one on contemporary trends in local government, where we talked about technology and trying to use that technology without separating the government from the people, and keeping those local connections. Urn, I also participated in Habitat for Humanity and helping at Musician's Village, which is a great project down there. It's coming along quite well, and if you're wondering, you don't have to be a musician to live there. It's just centered around a music center that will help the community. Urn, I also went to the Iowa Reception with Dee, and I met many wonderful people in Iowa, local officials representing us. Urn, I heard Mayor Bloomberg of New York talk about leadership, and some of the core values including independence, integrity, and honesty and courage. I also heard the campaign speaker for Hillary Clinton, as well as the campaign runner for, um, Bush and Cheney when they won, and that was very interesting, talking about what's going on in our national politic arena right now. Urn, I went on a housing and home1essness tour of what New Orleans is doing about their housing situations after Hurricane Katrina, which was pretty fascinating, including building buildings on blocks so that ifthere's a flood there's a whole section underneath there for floodwater to go so there's less damage, as well as the fact that they've addressed elderly housing first because of the low-income and fixed-income for elderly, which was quite interesting, and their hope is to rebuild with the fact that everyone, regardless of income status, will have better housing. So, I had some.. .I've talked to some people, I had some great playground systems I learned about, so I'll be talking to Terry about possibly getting some new playground equipment that's pretty state-of-the-art that was down there that caters to an older crowd, and I also talked with some no-smoking people and graffiti removers. I figured you all might be interested in that. There were some great state-of-the-art stuff from Australia, as well as becoming a playful city, and I will be submitting this next week for you to look at, and please let me know if you have any questions, and I'd also like to take the opportunity to thank you very much for letting me go and giving me that chance. Thank you. Wilburn: Well, thank you for representing Iowa City so well. Would anyone else care to address the Council on an item that does not appear on tonight's agenda? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of November 27, 2007. #6 ITEM 6 Wilburn: Davidson: Page 9 PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS. b) AMENDING A PREVIOUSLY APPROVED SENSITIVE AREAS DEVELOPMENT PLAN AND REZONING OF APPROXIMATELY 10.41 ACRES OF PROPERTY LOCATED EAST OF HIGHWAY 218 AND SOUTH OF MELROSE AVENUE. (REZ07-00015) 1. PUBLIC HEARING This is a public hearing. (pounds gavel) Public hearing is open. Uh, just quickly run through, 00, some items for, uh, this particular amendment of an approved sensitive areas development plan. Uh, the original sensitive areas rezoning, I mean, the first question you might have might be why is this sensitive areas rezoning. This is the cul-de-sac we're talking about on Galway Drive in Galway Hills Subdivision, and you can see here clearly the existence of the sensitive features. It was the existence of these sensitive features as well as the original developer's desire to increase the length of this cul-de-sac beyond what our zoning ordinance allows that necessitated the original sensitive areas rezoning, which was approved. Uh, the property has then been sold to a second developer who came in, uh, and asked, requested, the amendment, uh, due to the desire to accommodate some housing units that necessitated moving the construction limit line, 00, in order to accommodate those units. And the developer agreed that it would be possible to put smaller units on these lots, but he had some models that have worked in other existing subdivisions that, uh, it was desirable in his opinion to stay with those same units. That was how he preferred to market the property. Urn, the original request, and oh, before I forget. I did want to accommodate one thing, or clarify one thing. If you, uh, read the staff report to the Planning and Zoning Commission, uh, it was stated that the developer had not chosen to use the good neighbor policy - that is an optional policy. I did want to clarify that the developer has since contacted the neighborhood and had information, uh, discourse with the neighborhood back and forth, but at the time of the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting that had not yet occurred. Urn, the... the request then, 00, was to modify the construction limit line. Uh, it varies depending on the lots, and 1'11 quickly highlight that. Uh, overall the disturbance of critical slopes increases from 30 to 34%. Steep slopes from 62 to 63%. Woodlands from 33 to 37%. This is within what the sensitive areas ordinance allows. It exceeds the original conditional zoning agreement, but it is within what the sensitive areas ordinance allows. Uh, the developer originally requested modification of some lots that impacted protected slopes and protected slope buffers, and you can see those here. Uh, they are lots 10,00, 11, 13, 14, and 18 - just very minor impact to 18, but.. .but the protected slopes, the protected slope buffers, are obviously things that we take very This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of November 27, 2007. #6 Page 10 seriously, and we, 00, requested the developer, and the developer concurred to take those lots out of the request because those are basically the most significant, 00, environmental features that we wish to protect. So, the remaining, uh, lots that would have the modified construction limits line are 8, uh, and I won't highlight, you can see them there, 8, 9, 12, 15, 19,20,21 and 22. Urn, there was also.. . you may wish to have clarified.. .there had been, urn, there was an error made basically in where a construction limits line fence was placed. Some work was done in an area that was not to have been disturbed. Remediation efforts have been, uh, have taken place to the City's satisfaction, uh, to rectify those areas that construction, uh, limit line fence has been put in the correct locations, and the developer has said there will be no further disturbance. What we gain, uh.. . guess we'll stay with that one. ..what we gain in this are, uh, more compliance measures, and those are stipulated in the, 00, 00, the ordinance that you're being asked to consider. More what we are getting are additional compliance measures to soil quality in areas beyond the construction limits line. In other words, areas that will not be disturbed, as well as improvement to woodland management, beyond that same construction line. And we fee11ike that is a reasonable trade-off with respect to what's being requested here, urn, and.. . and as I say, you can. . . you can see those are stipulated in the items one through six, the compliance measures, and we also have built in to what you're being asked to approve, a means for verifying that the conditions have been complied with. So, before you continue your hearing, are there any questions about this for me? Okay, thank you. Wilburn: Urn, before I, uh, accept, uh, or invite public comment at the public hearing, 00, just. . . that this is an item where any Council Members who have any ex-parte communications with anyone from the public, now would be the time to disclose that. None? Okay. Hochstedler; Good evening everyone. My name is Kevin Hochstedler, and I'm here representing the applicant, urn, Prime Ventures Construction, and the reason I want to touch on that, urn, is because Prime Ventures is, or Dave.. .the original developer is listed on the application, as well as Prime Ventures, and having a little technical difficulty, Jeff. All right. There we go. Urn, we did host several neighborhood meetings and we found those to be very informative, productive, we learned a lot about the development, the entire neighborhood as it was developed previously, and this application is simply to request the adjustment of the construction limit line on certain specific lots. Prime Ventures plans to build some plans, some of their top selling plans on some of these lots. These have been very, uh, very well selling in other cities. They're affordable homes in today's market, and features zero-clearance entries, which means they're handicap accessible. So I want to also review landscaping berm and trees which we installed, as well. This shows the plat, Galway Hills This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of November 27,2007. #6 Page 11 Part Four, and the lots in question. The highlighted areas would be the areas where removing this construction limit line on most of them it's eight to ten feet, urn, but on lot 21 and 22, it's a little bit greater than that, and on lot 8, 00, we're asking to have that limit line just, 00, to be deleted, and I'll show you in a second, urn, this is the construction limit line as it stands on lot 8, and there are no sensitive features in that area. And on lot 21 and 22, the, uh, construction limit line goes just across a slope there, where I'm sure if during development this was altered, or uh, so, in those areas that looked reasonable to ask for an adjustment on those. Urn, the berm which, 00, we installed a berm along Highway 218. Uh, the City had required a landscape buffer, just certain trees in there, but we wanted to put a berm in and.. . and we went out and found the largest trees we could find, mature trees, to put in the area. You can see some employees of, uh, Pleasant Valley Landscaping standing there. They're approximately six foot tall so we got 20-foot plant material, and have a good buffer right along Highway 218. We also installed a double row of trees, the evergreen trees to the west, and the deciduous trees to the inner part of the subdivision. One of the reasons for our request, uh, on most of the homes we build, the decks and screened porches extend to the rear of the house, and this is, uh, a less invasive method of construction. The foundation doesn't actually come back there. We simply drill holes and fill them with concrete for the foundations for these decks and porches, and these are the ones that come close to these construction limit areas. As Jeffwent over, the critical slopes increase just slightly in all ofthese. Uh, the woodland disturbance went up. The City does allow a maximum of 50%, but we also went over and above on our tree requirements, not only large mature trees, urn, but we planted ten more evergreen trees, nineteen more deciduous trees than what was required, urn, to provide more trees for the development. Any questions? Champion: So some ofthe invasion into the sensitive area is actually just footings for porches and decks, is that what you mean? Hochstedler: That's correct. Champion: That's great, thanks. Wilburn: Did we get what we need.. .did we get a copy of this for archival purposes? Did we decide how to... Karr: Kevin assured me we would get one. Hochstedler: It's on the laptop. Wilburn: Any other questions from Council? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of November 27, 2007. #6 Correia: Page 12 Well, I certainly appreciate that you went back and did the good. . . the meetings with the neighbors - that's important. I know it's not a required part of the zoning code, but I think it's good practice. Hochstedler: We found it to be very helpful. The neighbors. . . we learned a lot. Correia: Uh-huh. Hochstedler: There we go... Pugh: Good evening, my name is Mike Pugh and I'm here as the Attorney for Prime Ventures Construction Inc., urn, who is the applicant and is, urn, urn, Jeff said and as Kevin said, we are, have a contract to purchase, uh, uh, all but I think one of these lots, uh, to... to build homes on, and I just, I want to make a few brief remarks and I'll answer any questions that you have, but I wanted to put, I guess, the context of our application, uh, give you a framework for it. The reason that we're before you for a rezoning is because the original, uh, sensitive areas development plan was a level two rezoning, for the reasons that Jeff stated is because of the extension of the cul-de-sac, and that was done really to accommodate this plan which is actually a very good plan because it...it puts the protected slopes in the outlots, which is one of the design criteria or design elements that the ordinance really emphasizes. So, the original sensitive areas development plan, urn, included those protected slopes, and therefore was a level two, and now since we're going back to amend the plan, urn, this happens, it has to be a rezoning, as well, but I want to put into context that really what we're changing, urn, the percentages wise and the modifications that we're asking for, if all we were doing is asking for those sensitive features to be changed, it would really be just a level one administrative review, because the critical slopes are changing, uh, by a total of 4%, steep slopes by a total of 1 %, and woodlands by a total of.. .of 4%, and all ofthose changes result in, urn, a disturbance of critical slopes, uh, with the modifications that we're requesting of 34%, which is under the, urn, the threshold level of a level two rezoning. Along with the woodlands area, the woodland retention requirement for RS-5, which is the underlying zoning for this area, is 50% and with the modifications that we're asking for, urn, we're only disturbing 37%. So, that kind of puts into context, uh, I think our application, and so really if you look at the design criteria for.. . for both regulated slopes and woodlands, uh, this plan, the original plan, met the design requirements, and a Mr. Davidson said, this modified plan also, uh, meets the design requirements, as well, and we have some additional protections. The City has some additional protections, I think, to protect those.. .those sensitive features. Urn, we feel this is really, the modification, is really sort of at the level of a level one review, administrative review. The staff has reviewed it and with their recommendations, uh, they support our application, urn, it was approved This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of November 27, 2007. #6 Page 13 by Planning and Zoning by a vote of 6 to 1, and we ask that you also approve our application, as well. So, 1'd be glad to answer any questions that you have. Wilburn: Thank you. Pugh: Thank you. Wilburn: Okay. (pounds gavel) Public hearing is closed. 2. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE (FIRST CONSIDERATION) Karr: Motion to accept correspondence. Vanderhoef: So moved. Wilburn: Moved by Vanderhoef. Correia: Second. Wilburn: Seconded by Correia. Discussion? All those in favor say aye. Opposed same sign. Carries 6-0. Bailey: Move first consideration. Champion: Second. Wilburn: Moved by Bailey, seconded by... was that Champion? By Champion. Discussion? Roll call. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of November 27, 2007. #7 ITEM 7 Wilburn: Page 14 APPROVING PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS, FORM OF CONTRACT, AND ESTIMATE OF COST OF CONSTRUCTION OF TWO DUPLEX HOMES UNDER THE AFFORDABLE DREAM HOME OPPORTUNITIES PROGRAM LOCATED ON LOTS 13 & 16, LONGFELLOW PLACE, ESTABLISHING AMOUNT OF BID SECURITY TO ACCOMPANY EACH BID, DIRECTING THE CITY CLERK TO PUBLISH ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS, AND FIXING TIME AND PLACE FOR RECEIPT OF BIDS. a) PUBLIC HEARING This is a public hearing. (pounds gavel) Public hearing is open. Anyone from the public? (pounds gavel) Public hearing is closed. b) CONSIDER A RESOLUTION O'Donnell: Move the resolution. Bailey: Move the resolution. Wilburn: Moved by O'Donnell, seconded by Bailey. Discussion? Vanderhoef: Jeff, do you know whether, uh, these are smaller than the previous ones? Oh, there's Doug. (several talking) He popped in. Boothroy: I was watching you on TV. (laughter) Uh, two of the units are on a smaller lot, so, urn, two of them are slightly smaller, and two of them are slightly larger. So, urn... Vanderhoef: So you're... Boothroy: They're.. .let's see, well, I can't give you the exact square footage off the top of my head, but one is 1,230 in square footage, I think, and the other is 1,360, and the ones we built last year were 1,320. So it's just kind this side of that one. Vanderhoef: So we're getting those built for $133,000? Boothroy: Last year, uh, they were a little under $133,000. We.. .the.. .we had, uh, I believe three bids, and the lowest bid went to Regal Construction and it was, uh, $86 and some change per square foot. Uh, I wou1d...I was very surprised with that bid last year. Uh, I, uh, I hope that we get that good of bid. Normally we're right around $100 a square foot, on average. So, uh, that's what that number kind of reflects is the average size of these units, and what I expect it to come in at. But anything under $100 square foot is a good bid. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of November 27, 2007. #7 Page 15 Vanderhoef: Yeah, for... for this. . . I was thinking we were about $140 last time, and that's why I... Boothroy: No, we.. .we had three bids. We've got, I had two, I've been in.. .two contractors interested in bidding, urn, two of the ones last time - Regal is interested in bidding again and Frantz Construction is interested in bidding. That's the only two that I've heard from. Uh, they were the two lowest bids last time. Regal was the lowest. Okay? Vanderhoef: Super! Boothroy: Thank you. Wilburn: Urn, any other comments? Did I close public hearing? Okay. (pounds gavel) Public hearing is closed. Bailey: Move the resolution. Correia: Second. Wilburn: Moved by Bailey, seconded by Correia. (several talking) I thought I had. Well, we just reclosed it. Discussion? Just reminder for the public, these, uh, funds come from, uh, the sale of other properties and uh, money that goes back into the program so the program can propagate itself, and we continue to expand affordable housing opportunities. Roll call. Item carries 6-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of November 27, 2007. #13 ITEM 13 Bailey: Wilburn: Correia: Wilburn: Bailey: Wilburn: Page 16 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION RESCINDING PRIOR RESOLUTION NO. 06-349 AND IN LIEU THEREOF SETTING FEES AND INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS WITH RESPECT TO THE ADMINISTRATION OF REGULATIONS FOR TAXICABS, BY INCREASING THE VEHICLE DECAL ISSUANCE AND REPLACEMENT FEE TO REFLECT INSPECTION COSTS. Move the resolution. Moved by Bailey. Second. Seconded by Correia. Discussion? I like that we're continuing to refine our taxi ordinances, and this is good. Roll call. Item carries 6-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of November 27, 2007. #14 Page 17 ITEM 14 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST A CHAPTER 28E AGREEMENT AMONG THE CITY OF IOWA CITY, JOHNSON COUNTY, THE CITY OF CORALVILLE, JOHNSON COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COMMISSION, AND THE CITY OF NORTH LIBERTY FOR JOINT EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES FOR JOHNSON COUNTY. Bailey: Move the resolution. Correia: Second. Wilburn: Moved by Bailey, seconded by Correia. Discussion? Bailey: Weare among the last to approve this, but I anticipate that it will be approved and we're moving forward. We met with the consultant today and the project continues to move forward in the design phase. It's exciting. Vanderhoef: I think this will be a great, uh, project, and I wholeheartedly support it, uh, I just think we need to make sure that we have our citizens' understanding that in this whole agreement there will be a change on the tax bill, that there will be a line item for, uh, emergency communication, that has not been on your tax bills previously, and it will be set by the County, urn, this frees up money, actually, in the General Fund of the Iowa City, uh, General Fund, and this is where, uh, there is discussion going on about using it to hire firefighters. This money cannot be moved from the General Fund now into the resolution for the Joint Communication. Wilburn: There's been lots of conversation over the years about regionalism, working together, partnering, and how we've done it with 28E agreements before, uh, this, uh, partnership can represent a significant, uh, change, progression in that direction, in terms of municipal services that, uh, that, urn, will benefit residents of the entire county, so we're hoping to see this.. .this come to fruition, eventually. Bailey: And I think that this also points the way for this metropolitan coalition. We worked hard with Scott County to get the change in legislation, and although the language adopted in the legislation was not our preferred language, it enabled us to move forward with joint communications, and the emergency management levy is the.. .wouldn't have previously been allowed to fund the Joint Communications Center, so there's that opportunity.. .we also worked with Scott County, so that was exciting as well. Wilburn: Roll call. Item carries 6-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of November 27, 2007. #16 Page 18 ITEM 16 COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS. Wilburn: There were two we discussed last night. One was for the Board of Appeals, Stephen Buckman, and the other for Historic Preservation Commission, unexpired plus three-year term ending March 29,2011,00, Lindsay Bunting-Eubanks, and there was informal agreement last night to approve those. I'll entertain a motion to accept those. Bailey: So moved. Correia: Second. Wilburn: Moved by Bailey, seconded by Correia. Discussion? All those in favor say aye. Opposed same sign. Carries 6-0. Item C is Human Services/Aid to Agencies. I will have a conflict of interest. I work for an organization that is an applicant, and I should not participate in appointing people to that commission. Bailey: I spoke with incoming Council Member Mike Wright and Connie Champion, and Abigail is interested in serving, so I would entertain a motion to appoint those people to the Aid to Agencies review. Correia: So moved. Karr: Can we.. .just one second.. .urn, these appointments are Council appointments. Typically they begin January 1. Mr. Wright doesn't take office until January 1. Bailey: But we did postpone this so we could involve a new Council Member. So... Karr: Well, then.. .then if the decision is to do that, then the.. .the duties would not start until after January 1 then. Vanderhoef: The old committee continues until January 1. Karr: Well, or the new committee doesn't convene until January 1. Champion: Oh, I think that would be all right. Vanderhoef: I do too. Bailey: You think that. . . okay. Correia: Because the members of the committee could review materials, all the materials are public record. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of November 27, 2007. #16 Page 19 Karr: Correct. Correia: Because I mean there's quite a packet of applications to review. And those are available now, I assume. Bailey: Okay. So do we have a motion? Champion: Just to clarify something. If the three of us wanted to get together, could we get together and discuss it, or would that be... Karr: No, you can get together and discuss it. Dilkes: You can get together and talk and...youjust can't, Mr. Wright just can't serve as the Council's representative to the... Champion: He could be an on-looker. A guest (several talking at once). Dilkes: He can be any of those things. Karr: So, the motion was made by... Bailey: Correia, and seconded by O'Donnell. Further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying aye. Motion carries.. .what are we? 5-0, with Wilburn abstaining due to conflict of interest. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of November 27, 2007. #18 ITEM 18 Wilburn: Correia: Volland: Correia: Volland: Correia: Volland: Correia: Volland: Correia: Page 20 CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION. Amy. Urn, I'd like to ask Abbie to come forward. We wanted to just do a brief, uh, update on the Task Force on violence against women. Uh, we convened the first meeting yesterday at 4:00 at the Iowa City Public Library. Uh, you had the, uh, Task Force meeting agenda packet in our packets that was available to you with the agenda and the.. .the supporting materials. It was, uh, a pretty concise meeting. We actually got done with business in about 45 minutes. It was our first organizational, uh, meeting. Uh, we reviewed, we, uh, the goals and objectives from our resolution creating a task force, looked at the public input received, urn, from the public meeting on "safe streets," as well as the petition from the students, urn, in September. And developed a strategy for moving forward. Abbie, if you wanted to. . . We had six areas of focus. You might have to help me - I don't remember them exactly. It was lighting, transportation, the, urn, wider effect of violence in our community, urn, what else do we have, Amy? Neighborhood.. .neighborhood watch. Neighborhood watch. Looking at police resources. Police resources, including looking at other university communities, and comparing them to our police staff. And targeting education. Oh, and an education campaign, possibly looking at education in the community on the issues that were presented. So we're starting there with those topics. We have, uh, we're meeting every three weeks to talk about them. We're going to focus there, and then on our last meeting we'll compile our recommendations to Council. A couple of things that came out of the meeting. One was, urn, wanting to make sure that we are promoting collaborations. There's a lot of work that's currently being done to address, urn, issues of violence against women and violence in our community, and promoting respect, and so wanting to very much be paying attention to what's currently going on, how to, urn, support those collaborations and strengthen those collaborations, and really keeping the word out, uh, in the community, and one piece of information that. .. that, uh, we talked about briefly, uh, that This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of November 27, 2007. #18 Page 21 Janet, County Attorney Janet Lyness, and.. . and urn, our Police Chief talked about, was that, at the public meeting, urn, that we had in September, there was some emphasis on, urn, the community being involved in looking out for each other, and if you see something suspicious to call.. . call the police, urn, and just that, uh, turns out that that community education, urn, increased calls to the police on other matters. So Sam said they had calls, urn, suspicious activity and, urn, burglaries in progress, and so I think that, urn, this, you know, focusing on some specific issues related to violence against women is going to increase safety, urn, I think overall as well. So.. .we had a good.. .good first meeting. So... Wilburn: Okay. Connie? Champion: I have nothing. Wilburn: Mike? O'Donnell: Nothing tonight. Wilburn: Dee? Vanderhoef: Well, since Abbie gave a report, I thought it might be interesting for people to hear what I attend when I go to a National, uh, Conference. I started offwith, uh, co-chairing the subcommittee on TIS, Transportation Infrastructure and Services Committee, where we are working on the reauthorization of the safety Saftea-Lu bill on, uh, finance for transportation. Uh, this will be up in 09 and we worked with, uh, the big five organizations - the governors, the mayors, uh, the transportation people - to help form this bill as it's being worked out with our congressional committees. The next day I chaired the transportation, uh, infrastructure and services, uh, committee, which is about 135 people from across the nation, and that's where they, uh, hear about our new resolutions and, uh, new policy language that we want inserted into the national policy. Uh, I followed that up by presenting the same material to the National Board of Directors for them to, uh, peruse, ask me questions, and for me to defend it and then they adopted those to be presented to the General Congress. Followed up with a public finance panel, which is a three-hour panel of about 30 people who have been doing research on public finance. I did get to attend this year. I had a break for about an hour that I could attend the University Cities Caucuses. Uh, this is where cities bring together their ides and work on, uh, solutions for similar problems that we all have in university cities, that are unique to, urn, the kinds of communities that we have. Uh, I attended both of the general sessions. Then I, uh, co-hosted a joint meeting between the transportation panel and the land use panel, and looking at how best practices will work This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of November 27, 2007. . #18 Page 22 to use transportation to, uh, also direct how land is...is planned around the transportation systems, uh, looking at, uh, several things that you folks have heard me talk about that you put multi-family housing and denser housing near the transportation routes. You also look at putting industry and, 00, commercial businesses close to the, 00, transportation route, so that, 00, you can direct the flow on the major areas and also support rail and trolley kind of activities. Urn, I also had to report to the Congress of Cities, so there were about 500, uh, people, voting members, at the Congress of Cities, and I had to, uh, defend, uh, a couple of our resolutions actually, uh, some people didn't like something that we had into it, so I had to explain that, and 00, call for the vote and all that good stuff. Uh, but, uh, we took care of it, and we, uh, passed our resolutions. We also, uh, inserted new language into the National League of Cities municipal code. For the fun things, I was invited to the Board of Directors dinner, 00, which was at a very, very nice restaurant in the French Quarter, so I enjoyed that, and Iowa League of Cities hosted, uh, a, 00, get-together for anyone, 00, elected official and their spouses, and, 00, followed that up with a dinner for all those folks that choose to go, so, we had a very fine time. It was a very busy time, and uh, I can't thank the Council enough for allowing me to participate in National League of Cities. It's been a...a real joy to me, and it.. .it made me feel good that you supported me in doing this. So, thank you. Wilburn: Well, thank you, Dee, for all your work with national, state league and sounds like you had a full docket down there. Vanderhoef: I did. Wilburn: Yeah, yeah, very good. Vanderhoef: Many of those meetings go two and three hours, so the workshops that Abbie talks about, I used to go to those, and now I seldom have time to go to those, because of the big blocks oftimes. Uh-huh. Wilburn: Regenia? Bailey: I brought, 00, the Convention and Visitors Bureau annual report from our meeting a couple of weeks ago, and 1'd just like to highlight a few things in it that I thought you would be interested in. Urn, there's a piece on the familiarization tour of a passenger rail, and I know that we're all excited about the opportunities that that presents in the corridor. There's an article on the Health Center U.S.A., and as we heard last night, a lot of our visitor traffic, especially in downtown Iowa City, is driven by healthcare, and Health Center U.S.A. is capitalizing on that, urn, creating an opportunity to, urn, welcome those visitors and acquaint them with the community for as long as they're here, and I think that that's a great initiative, and This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of November 27, 2007. #18 Page 23 something that is really important that the Visitors and Convention Bureau is taking on, and then there's a really nice piece about Summer of the Art, taking on another festival- the Land Locked Film Festival. It's really nice to see Surnmer of the Arts in a, just after a couple of years of joining those festivals together, growing and expanding into another, with another festival. The Land Lock has a, urn, a one-year track record and it was very successful last year, so I think that it will increase the success of Summer of the Arts. So, this is the annual report. Contact me if you have any questions, urn, Convention and Visitors Bureau, of course, urn, appreciates the support from Iowa City, and works hard to do, be the direct-marketing organization for our area, and I think is doing a really great job, bringing visitors, and also acquainting visitors with what we have to offer here in Iowa City. So... Wilburn: Thanks, Regenia. Bob couldn't be here this evening, but he did, urn, submit a letter that we received at our work session last night, asking, uh, Council to consider a resolution related to, urn, City staffing for public safety. Is there, are there three Council Members that would want to have, he's asking for it to be placed on the agenda at our December 11 th meeting. Are there three Council Members that would want to do that, or.. . and/or have, uh, well, for a place on the agenda. It could be discussed at the work session the night before. Vanderhoef: 1'd be interested. Correia: Me too. O'Donnell: (unable to hear) Bailey: I don't think it's...I think we're all committed to this. I don't know that a resolution would be appropriate way to go. Wilburn: Well, there are, uh, there are three. I agree with you, but there are three that are willing to, uh, do that, so, urn, he's got it drafted so again, make sure that that's on the agenda for the December 11 th meeting. Urn... Helling: You want that on the work session as well then? Wilburn: Yes, please. The only thing I have is, uh, just.. . speaking of our last scheduled meeting for the year, December 11 t\ that we will be having a reception prior to the Council meeting at 4:30, is that what you.. .at 4:30, to thank, uh, Dee and Bob for their service to Iowa City. So, I invite the public to come to that. And hang around for the meeting, if you wish to. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of November 27, 2007.