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Home My WebLink About1986-06-03 Correspondencethe episc pal diocese of Iowa The Chaplaincy at the University of Iowa The Reverend Ronald D. Osborne, Chaplain and Campus Vicar _ RECEIVED MAY o 8 1986 May 6, 1906 L P.D. DEPARTMENT Neiahborhood Historic Preservation Commission City of Iowa City Civic Center Iowa City, Iowa 52240 Dear commissioners, I was present the evening of April 23 for the public hearing on the proposed desionation of major parts of the north side of Iowa City as a historic preservation overlay zone. 1 listened carefully to the discussion. There were a couple of things which were not discussed which after further thought I would like to comment on. Preservation of historic neighborhoods with attention to esthetic judgments is a matter of public interest and public 000d. I do not dispute that. I am concerned, however, about how efforts to pursue this public good might conflict with other matters of public interest and public good. For instance, esthetic judgments may at times conflict with judgments about safety and health. Modifications to buildings which might enhance the safety of their Inhabitants could conflict with someone's judgment of esthetic value. Which value is to be weighed higher? Very few of the buildings in the zone are accessible to the handicapped. Efforts to make certain structures accessible could alter their appearance in a way which might offend someone's esthetic judgment. Which value is to be given higher priority? It seems to me that when esthetic values cannot be harmonized with safety, health, accessibtity and other humane considerations, the esthetic values should be of lesser importance. Encouraging solar heating is surely a public good. 1 would think that the city would not wish to discourage retrofitting of older structures to utilize this technology to conserve natural resources. It is predictable that someone's esthetic sense would be violated by the installation of a solar collector on a roof, or modifications to a structure which might make passive solar heating possible. How does the commission to propose reconciling these public goods? A church, agency, the Lutheran Campus Ministry, owns property in the proposed zone, property which may not always serve its needs as it presently is. Demolition, alteration, or change may be required both for it to serve its members and for it to make whatever visual statements it thinks consistent with its mission and meaning. Are esthetic judgments, which may be important but which are not protected constitutionally, to now take priority over consitutionally—protected rights for the free exercise of religion? 26 E. Market Street • Telephone (319) 351.2211 • Iowa City, Iowa 52240 9 Of t� It seems to me that free exercise includes not only rights to acquire and maintain physical facilities necessary for that religious institution to pursue its lawful purposes, but representation of religious values and beliefs in visual architectural forms. Are only those Kinds of facilities to be permitted, however nonfunctional they may be for the religious agencies, which meet someone's notions of the esthetic? Are only those visual forms which represent the religious expression of the 19th century to be permitted in this zone because of the esthetic Judgments of certain citizens? What if members on the commission obi ect to the public visual display of religious symbols altogether because of esthetic concerns? How does the commission propose to reconcile these competing claims to the good? I'm not sure the commission understands the full timplicattions zoning of requtor Fritschel's comments at the hearing. Because enormous land area for churches, 40,000 square feet, approximately half of a city block, and because such areas are simply unavailable near the campus, and because the campus ministries have to be near the campus to serve their constituents, campus ministries which need to modify their structures to serve their constituents in ways the commission Judoes unesthetic simply do not have the option to move elsewhere. They have the option only of restricting the exercise of their religion. One of the facts is that this zone will make it more complicated for entrepreneurs to provide housing to students close to the campus. Current zoning law regulates that whole matter considerably. Easy assurances have been offered that the esthetic concerns of the commission can be readily harmonized with the need to provide housing for this very large group of citizens. I'm unconvinced that this is the case. Unsafe and deteriorated housing will be considerably more difficult to replace. It seems to me that the all—embracing effort to assure 'esthetic neighborhood vistas" however laudable it may be in principle, if applied zealously, can represent serious public harm. And.1 would wonder about the consitutionality of certain provisions of the proposal, especially those which might inhibit the free exercise of religion. I strongly urge the commission to redraw the overlay zone, to restrict it to the low and to remove religious adjacentto the'tions from the zone, campus. RDO/ro/histcom/14 g ly yours, The Rev. Ronald Osborne, Episcooal University Chaplain f I P -Al Dir l The University of Iowa Iowa City. Iowa 52242 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (310) 353.3701 City Council 410 E. Washington Iowa City, Iowa 52240 Dear City Council Member: May 23, 1986 By vote of the Resources Conservation Commission, I have been asked to write a letter to the City Council on the subject of other speakers. The first speaker in our series on aspects of municipal utilities was highly successful. People have asked us why Iowa City doesn't have some of the conservation programs Wes Birdsall explained were part of the Osage Municipal Utility operation. Implementation of one of these was considered at our May meeting. However, we were disappointed that more of the City staff did not attend. No one from the City Council attended. We are now proposing to have a second speaker from either Fremont, Nebraska or Rock Rapids, Iowa. In both of these cities a municipal buy out of the utility has taken place within the last year. The purpose of a speaker from one of these cities would be to explain the actual mechanisms and details of a buy out. Again we would like to ask you for a grant to cover the expenses of this speaker. Though none of us has received any word on it, we understand that the report on the mill dam is due to be finished presently. Coordination of projects such as this would certainly be much easier with a municipal utility. In any case we would like to see a copy of the report when it is finished. Sincerely, V,74 Ron Vogel, Acting Chairman Resources Conservation Commission RV:clk 1047 fo? 1. CITY OF IOWA CITY CHIC CENTER 410 E. WASHNGTON ST. IOWA CITY. IOWA :2240 (319)356 -"COC) August 6, 1986 Mr. Gary L. Goodwin, Chairperson Resources Conservation commission 412 Bjaysville Lane Y3 Iowa City, Iowa 52240 Dear Gary: I have for acknowledgement a letter dated May 23, 1986, to the City Council from Acting Chairperson Ron Vogel requesting funding from Coun- cil for a speaker to address the issue of municipal buy-out of public utilities. Jim Schoenfelder and I have reviewed budget allocations for FY87 as well as final expenditure detail for FY86 and there is not sufficient money available in the budget absent approval of additional funding by the City Council. I have enclosed a copy of my April 2, 1986, letter to Mr. Vogel in which, in response to a similar request, I suggested that such requests be made as a part of your overallecomm nda ion It Council tothatvidthee funding for community-based energy Crmnssion is in the ti mei andI trust that psuch sfundi gs of � will �be atpart cof those�oreconmendans at s tions. You are encouraged to submit your recommendations to Council within the next six weeks so that they may be considered as a part of the upcoming FY88 budget discussions. If you have further questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely yours, Dale E. He11i g Assistant City Manager cc: City Council City Manager Jim Schoenfelder cQ Enc. bj3/6 g4�p t� U I Y UI 1UWA CITY CIVIC CENTER 410 E. WASHINGTON ST IOWA CITY, IOWA 52240 (319) 356-5000 April 2, 1986 Mr. Ron Vogel, Acting Chaiperson Iowa City Resources Conservation Commission 307 Third Avenue Iowa City, Iowa 52240 Re: April 9, 1986 Wes Birdsall Presentation Dear Ron: The Iowa City Energy Department, on this occasion only, will be able to absorb the $160 expenses for Wes Birdsall. We anticipate submitting this as in-kind services to the Iowa Energy Policy Council grant program with a possible reimbursement of 505. We will not be able to absorb such costs in the future since the FY87 budget is extremely tight. Since it is the intent of the RCC to request funding from Council for community focused energy activities, future commitments of this kind should not be made until a decision on such funding is made by Council. I am pleased that it is possible to accommodate your request at this time. I understand that Mr. Birdsall is a very interesting speaker. I hope this endeavor will be successful. g yours, ell ng 9 Acting City Manager bj3/3 cc: City Council =i� t' City of Iowa City MEMORANDUM Date: May 16, 1986 To: The Honorable Mayor and City Council From: James Brachtel, Traffic Engineer Re: Parking Meter Zone - East Side of the 500 Block of South Clinton Street As directed by Section 23-16 of the Municipal Code of Iowa City, this is to advise you of the following action: ACTION: Pursuant to Section 23-274 of the Municipal Code of Iowa City, the City Traffic Engineer will establish a parking meter zone on the east side of the 500 block of South Clinton Street. The meters shall provide for a maximum of two-hour parking. The meters will be installed when funding becomes available for the purchase of the meters. C014MENT: This action has been requested by the abutting commercial enterprise. Funding for new parking meters will become available in October of 1986. bdw5/7 cc: Rosemary Vitosh Joe Fowler F 0 L E 0 MAY 16 1986 MARIAN K. KARR CITY CLERK (1) 4fs0 r 3(.4)f) City of Iowa City MEMORANDUM Date: May 16, 1986 To: The Honorable Mayor and City Council From: James Brachtel, Traffic Engineer Re: Parking Meter Zone on the North Side of the 300 block of East Market Street As directed by Section 23-16 of the Municipal Code of Iowa City, this is to advise you of the following action: ACTION: Pursuant to Section 23-274 of the Municipal Code of Iowa City, the City Traffic Engineer will authorize a change of parking meters known as M-24, M-26, M-28, M-30, 14-32, M-34, and M-36 from ten-hour to two-hour parking. These meters are located on the north side of the 300 block of East Market Street. The meters will be converted when funding becomes available for the purchase of new meters. COMMENT: This action has been requested by the abutting commercial enterprises. Funding for new parking meters will become available in October 1986. bdw5/8 cc: Rosemary Vitosh Joe Fowler F o L MAY 16 1986 MARIAN K. I(ARR CITY CLERK (1) 9s� _A1