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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1983-10-17 Public hearingE NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING TO CONSIDER THE PROPOSED VACATION AND DISPOSITION OF A PORTION OF THE DUBUQUE STREET RIGHT-OF-WAY LOCATED BETWEEN THE SOUTH RIGHT-OF-WAY LINE OF COLLEGE STREET AND THE SOUTH RIGHT-OF- WAY LINE OF THE ALLEY BETWEEN DUBUQUE AND CLINTON STREETS. Notice is hereby given that a public hearing will be held by the City Council of Iowa City, Iowa at 7:30 P.M. on the 17th day of October, 1983, in the Council Chambers in the Civic Center, Iowa City, Iowa; at which hearing the Council will consider the vacation and disposition of that portion of the Dubuque Street right-of-way located between the south i right-of-way line of College Street and approximately the south right-of-way line of the alley between Dubuque and Clinton Streets. (A legal description of the right-of-way to be vacated and disposed of is on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) This notice is given pursuant to Section 362.3 of the Code of Iowa, 1983. MARIAN KARR, ITY CLERK 0008 C7 0 STATEMENT OF RICHARD F. HANSEN IN OPPOSITION TO THE VACATION AND -CLOSURE OF THE PEDESTRIAN MALL (DUBUQUE STREET -COLLEGE TO BURLINGTON) - 10/17/83 Madam Mayor and Members of the Council: Mr. Hansen was going to deliver this statement, but since he is in Fort Worth, TX on business, I am going to read this statement, and I quote: "I expected to be here on this occasion to support the resolution which would provide for air rights over the pedestrian mall configured on Dubuque Street, but unfortunately we are here to discuss the closing of Dubuque Street pedestrian mall from -College to Burlington. First, I would like to see submitted to Plaza Centre One a statement indicating how fire trucks will access the east side of Plaza Centre i One. On the occasions that fire trucks have come to this location, (not I because of Plaza Centre One, but for other reasons), they have come from the south. I"believe the fire trucks would not be able to access the Dubuque mall from either the east or the west because turns at Lucas Square would not be possible by the trucks nor would it be possible from the alleys. if they were to come from the north, permanent vehicular obstacles would have to be removed for accessibility by such trucks. The Council may be aware, as I am sure Mr. Berlin is aware, that the Dubuque Street pedestrian right-of-way was paved as a street with bricks being laid on top of the paving in that right-of-way for such purpose as fire trucks, and also for the purpose that Dubuque Street could be reconfigured as a vehicular street if the pedoctrian m,ll .",fl -4 nnt" (and 1 f -2- I put in quotes) work out. I would like a plan of access by the fire department to Plaza Centre One so that it may be submitted to our insurance company for review. After learning of the potential configuration of the new hotel construction, l� on the afternoon of October 7, 1983, Mr. Lind and I reviewed the plans of the hotel project dated September 9, 1983 on file at the Building Inspector's office at the Civic Center. We assumed the plans were preliminary because all the aspects necessary for a building permit were f not there. The plans did not contain the name of a registered architct in the State of Iowa. A configuration in which a 10' corridor adjacent to the College Block Building which is covered by the hotel building and was also interrupted by pilasters of the College Block Building is the 1I l only access to Plaza Centre One from the south. The remainder of the Dubuque Street area and property was filled in with the building. There was a hotel lobby space with glass in it as well as a pedestrian dropoff for the hotel which meant that people accessing Plaza Centre One would apparently go through or look through the hotel lobby. There had been a previous plan dated August 12, 1983 that showed a double lobby in the hotel, presumably for public circulation through the hotel, but that has been eliminated. This configuration does not conform to the bid documents issued by the City and prepared by Mr. Zucchelli which required and showed an open air pedestrian way through the building on the approximate center of the Dubuque Street right-of-way. I suppose that the hotel people have said that the lobby would remain open to pedestrian traffic at all times. That we would find very difficult to believe as being arceptable for security of the hotel and, after a ca!^lc months of -3 - usage, we would expect that access to be denied because of the uncertainty of usage. Let me take some of your time to discuss a little history. The owners of Plaza Centre One individually and collectively through Hansen Lind Meyer have supported urban renewal from the beginning. While Hansen Lind Meyer has at times had differences of opinion with the City, in the final analysis we have alwbys supported the final direction that the City has taken. Hansen Lind Meyer has proposed designs on almost every urban renewal project and, although not successful on all of them, have been in support of them and are in support of the hotel project. But I must indicate as a property owner that we cannot support the present configuration. Plaza Centre One was the first building to be built as part of the urban renewal project and that was not without a great deal of problems. We received no grants, property tax abatement or other financing assistance from the City. The project was delayed for construction because we could not receive a building permit until all aspects of the project were approved by the Design Review Committee and by the building officials from Kansas City. In fact, we were denied the opportunity to start our foundations until such an approval was given. We felt that that delay cost us as much as $80,000 in construction time, delays, and inflation at that time, but we did not pursue any kind of litigation at that time. Further, the mall construction was delayed and completed much later than originally projected. That delay provided for a poor access to our o�f70 0 c Li -4- building for an extended period. Third, the parking ramp at Burlington and Dubuque Street was built at a later time than was expected. More recently, concerns about additional parking and a vehicular dropoff to the mall area have been urged by myself and such requests have gone unheeded. We understand that concessions for all the parking required by the hotel will be made available in the ramp. We cannot understand why such concessions are made for the hotel and no consideration is being given to Plaza Centre One for their needs. I feel that all of these have impacted the viability of Plaza Centre One and these reasons have been a primary cause of the slow occupancy of this building. It has been only in the last four months that we have gone over 80 percent occupancy of our -building. That is a long time in coming. Initially, as partial owners of Plaza Centre One, we supported the pedestrian mall concept and, while this denied us a direct vehicular access to our building, we felt that the humane aspects of a pedestrian mall overcame.,this liability. Vehicular access and lack of immediate parking are liabilities. We have been turned down by prospective tenants because we have been unable to "guarantee" parking for a portion of the people who would work in such an office space. Just this past year the Chamber attempted to locate a new employer in Iowa City. Plaza Centre One was the preferred location but no parking could be guaranteed and was finally rejected. It is an uphill battle to be located on a mall without direct vehicular access. 1 F -5- Plaza Centre One was developed in concert with a particular mall design and access to parking. Direct pedestrian access and visual access along that pedestrian mall is now being destroyed. Within the past year and one-half, Mr. Lind and myself acquired the remaining portion of Plaza Centre One. At this point in time the pedestrian malls were complete except in the area of the Public Library. We relied on the location and configuration of these malls and Lucas Square in determining to make a further substantial investment in downtown Iowa City. We believe that we will be damaged by the present plans of eliminating the i direct pedestrian functional as well as visual access of Plaza Centre One from parking and from vehicular dropoff. We believe that the tenants in our building will be similarly affected and know personally that Hansen Lind Meyer has close to 200 visits a day. All of these visits I are coming from people such as salesmen, contractors, and clients who do not walk to our office from other parts of the downtown area but park j itheir cars and come to Plaza Centre One. I am sure like numbers can be experienced by other tenants in our office space, particularly by those commercial elements located on the lower two floors of Plaza Centre One. - There is a large count of people who come to this building directly from the parking ramp to utilize the downtown area in their trips to our building. Tonight I am afraid that I must stand here and formally object to the vacation of the pedestrian mall along the Dubuque Street right-of-way as presently planned. I object to it: 0 88 .1 Gi 511 J (1) For the concern of the accessibility of fire department and emergency vehicles. (2) Because it denies a direct functional access to Plaza Centre One which was assured as part of the urban renewal project. It has been functioning as such for the past several years. A 10' corridor which will appear much as an alleyway and I am sure will also be a security problem is not an appropriate direct access to -our building or to Lucas Square. (3) Visual access through a lobby which is over 60' in depth and which will have furniture and people in it is not an appropriate visual.access from the parking or for any kind of dropoff to our building. (4) Viability of Lucas Square will be greatly diminished by the present configuration of the hotel building. The exciting part of being on a pedestrian mall is that during the day from 11:00 to 3:00 to experience the utilization of that mall by many people. The mall and its design and configuration has been extremely successful and Lucas Square is one of the better people spaces that I have had an opportunity to experience. But with the present layout and configuration of the hotel, it will be greatly diminished because at the time of the day that I just discussed, the sun will not shine on a portion of Lucas Square and the effectiveness will easily be cut in half. aoCO ,J J ,J -7- Mr. William H. Whyte, a nationally renowned student of public spaces, has demonstrated that public spaces are not utilized unless there is sunlight. Lucas Square and its basic environment was part of the urban renewal plan, and one of the reasons that Plaza Centre One accepted its position without vehicular access. The viability of that square was also one of the reasons that Mr. Lind and I acquired the remaining portion in Plaza Centre One. I don't believe that a building can be done without appropriately developing an environmental impact statement on an existing public space such as Lucas Square and I know of no such environmental impact statement made. I think Mr. Berlin and others on this Council are aware that numerous environmental impact studies were made when the mall was -built. i I urge you as a Council to take immediate steps to not vacate the pedestrian mall, to see that the building is properly reconfigured to allow for an appropriate direct and visual access to parking and vehicular access from the south to Lucas Square, Plaza Centre One, and the businesses already on the mall, to provide appropriate and safe access by emergency and fire vehicles, and to assure a proper configuration to allow for the continued use of Lucas Square as it enjoyed prior to the hotel project. It is my feeling that as an owner of Plaza Centre One, I have been damaged from a functional standpoint and that Plaza Centre One has been significantly reduced in value. 10 I as an architect would also like to raise another concern. The most recent plans that were on file as of October 7 indicated the exterior material was stucco. It is my understanding that final approval of exterior material has not been given by the Design Review Committee, but the foundation plan done by an engineer registered in the State of Iowa appears to be final. This plan confirms the configuration problems that I have expressed as does the activity on the site. These plans also confirm a lightweight material on the exterior of the building. If the material were to be heavier weight material such as concrete or brick, I would assume that the foundations would need to be stronger. While there are many different architectural expressions within the Lucas Square area and in fact in most of the remaining portion of downtown, there has been a unifying element of material. It is very difficult to make a building which must be built on a modest budget an architectural gem. Consequently, the buildings must take a background statement and support the activity of the ground level. This is true with Plaza Centre One as it was designed and configured to support Lucas Square. The materials were to be a.quiet demonstration and simple so it could blend in with the surrounding buildings and the landscape. Although this is an aesthetic issue, I do raise a concern as an occupant i on the Lucas Square area about the use of stucco as an appropriate material. Stucco is not known for its longevity or its extended overall maintenance in this climate. It would appear that since the foundations are going in, that decision is being matte without approval. ao�� I/ -9- We urge the Council to promptly review this matter and to review designs that are compatible with other structures that are part of the Urban Renewal Project. Very truly yours, Richard F. Hansen RFH:ji J rr_ 5 0 NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING TO CONSIDER THE PROPOSED 1983 ZONING ORDINANCE AND MAP. Notice is hereby given that a public hearing will be held by the City Council of Iowa City, Iowa, at 7:30 p.m. on the 17th and the 25th days of October, 1983, in the Council Chambers in the Civic Center, Iowa City, Iowa; at which hearing the Council will consider the proposed 1983 Zoning Ordinance and Map. This notice is given pursuant to Chapter 414.4 of the Code of Iowa, 1983. '/ t /�T2tG2x� 7S. 7�a.+�i MARIAN K. KARR, CITY CLERK v?o9/ 3 WILLIAM L.MEARDON WILLIAM F. SUEPPEL ROBERT N. DOWNER JAMES P. HAYES JAMES D. MCCARRAGHER THOMAS J. CILEK i MARK T. HAMER THOMAS D. HOBART MARGARET T. LAINSON ANGELA M. RYAN DOUGLAS D. RUPPERT 1 MEARDON, SUEPPEL, DOWNER & HAYES LAWYERS 122 SOUTH LINN STREET TELEPHONE IOWA CITY, IOWA 52240 338-9222 AREA CODE 019 The Honorable Mayor and Manbers of the City Council City of Iowa City Civic Center 410 East Washington Street Iowa City, Iowa 52240 Re: Christian Retirement Services, Inc. October 13, 1983 OCT 17 1983 CIN CLERK Dear Mayor Neuhauser, Ms. Dickson and Gentlemen: our office represents Christian Retirement Services, Inc. of Iowa City, the non-profit corporation which owns and operates the Oaknoll Retirement Residence at the address locally known as 701 Oaknoll Drive in Iowa City. The total property owned by Christian Retirement Services, Inc. at that address is outlined in red on the enclosed zoning map. At various times since 1966 there have been constructed on this property a total of more than 130 apartment units and a 48 bed licensed health care facility. In this complex, facing George Street, are two duplexes located on Lots 1 and 2, Grandview Manor, Second Addition. As with the City of Iava City, Oaknoll has had its own camrehensive expansion plan which has been developed over the last several years. The first phase of the plan was recently completed and involved the construction of an additional 28 apartment units at a cost , for land and structure, of in excess of three million dollars. The next phase of this plan involves the expansion of the licensed health care facility, located in the northwest corner of the complex and imediately east of the two duplexes. Due to an expansion of the health care facility which occurred approximately ten years ago, a portion of the driveways and parking area serving that portion of the complex actually cover a portion of Lots 1 and 2. It is the plan, when the health care center expansion occurs, to move the two duplexes and expand the health center to the west onto Lots 1 and 2, Grandview Manor, Second Addition. As you may be aware, when Oaknoll executes contracts with its residents, it agrees to provide then with all health care services which the resident may reasonably require except for care which may require hospitalization. Mayor and City Council City of Iowa City October 13, 1983 page 2 Because of the recent expansion of the apartment residence area of Oaknoll, it is anticipated that, based upon past experience, this addition to the health care center will be necessary to fulfill the commitments made to those residents. Because of the general "Younger" age of the residents of the new addition, Oaknoll's experience has been that such residents do not generally require nursing care for srnetime after admission. This is the reason why the expansion of the health center did not occur at the same time ex the construction been of leted all additional illresidences. locatted in one building expansion has been comp and will be part of one overall facility. For the above and foregoing reasons, it is respectfully requested that Lots 1 and 2, Grandview Manor Second Addition be reclassified to the FM -44 zoning classification from the RS 8 zoning classification so that the entire contiguous Oaknoll canplex might have the same zoning classification and the requested expansion might be possible. i Construction having an inflation-adjusted cost of well in excess of ten million dollars has occurredon this site whwithin the ve servedseventtee years, brought about by tea group qualityretirement facilities to Iowa without - city on no in an attempt to bring hopeful City on a non-profit basis. we are hopeful that this relatively minor i modification in the zoning classification of a small portion of this property can occur so as to enable this corporation to further serve its present at large. and future residents as well as the cortmwaity y Yo Enc. cc: Mrs. Felicia Hope Mr. M.D. Hartwig Mr. John D. Benz ao9� C7 h October 13, 1983 City Council Civic Center Iowa City, Iowa 52240 RE: Proposed Zoning Ordinance Councilors: July of this year I purchased a home located at 928 Davenport St - a location currently zoned as Two Family. One of the reasons I purchased this home is because of its basement, which with some modifications, could be made into an apartment - hence income could be derived from this property which i increases the value of the home. The proposed zoning ordinance places my home just two blocks north and 23t, blocks west of a RM -12, low density multi -family rating. Unfortunately, the proposed ordinance rezones my home to a RS -8, medium density single family rating. Because the value of ray home is affected by this change, I ask that you consider zoning my neighborhood R11-12. I Th yo . P yllis A. Williams OC"f 13 19B3 MARIAN K. KARR CITY CLERK (3) 0 -1