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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-02-19 Bd Comm minutes3b 1 MINUTES APPROVED PUBLIC ART ADVISORY COMMITTEE THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2008 LOBBY CONFERENCE ROOM, CITY HALL Members Present: Mark Seabold, DaLayne Williamson, Patrick Carney, Terry Trueblood, Rick Fosse, Jan Finlayson, Barbara Nicknish Members Absent: None Staff Present: Marcia Klingaman, Jeff Davidson CALL TO ORDER Seabold called the meeting to order at 3:07 PM. RECOMMENDATIONS TO CITY COUNCIL Recommendation that the installation and lighting costs for the 6 J Katz artwork for the Robert A Lee Recreation Center Pool wall not exceed $15,000. Moved by Finlayson. Seconded by Trueblood. Motion passed 7:0. Recommendation to approve BJ Katz' proposed budget. Moved by Finlayson, Seconded by Terry. Motion passed 7:0. PUBLIC DISCUSSION OF ANY ITEM NOT ON THE AGENDA None. CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES OF THE NOVEMBER 1, 2007 MEETING MOTION: Rick moved to approve the minutes with minor corrections; Mark seconded. The motion passed 7:0. DISCUSSION ON REVISED PROPOSAL AND BUDGET FOR BJ KATZ PROPOSAL Marcia requested that the Committee review and approve the budget for BJ Katz' proposal prior to the January 25~h City Council meeting. She noted that the installation and lighting costs were undetermined at this point. The piece would be lit with halogen down lighting and a potential bumper system installed to protect the glass from breaking if it hit the wall. One member questioned if the City would be liable for any injuries resulting from broken glass. It was clarified that the City would be liable. Jan asked how this piece would be mounted. After consulting with engineers, it was decided that the piece will be hung from the ceiling rather than mounted on the wall. The panels will be hung out of reach of the public. The Committee discussed the appropriate fee for installation and lighting. The Committee determined that installation and lighting costs should not exceed $15,000. Jan moved that installation and lighting should not exceed $15,000. Terry seconded. Motion passed 7:0. Jan moved to approve BJ Katz' proposed budget. Terry seconded. Motion passed 7:0. BJ Katz will entrust the task of installation to the Committee. It is possible that Parks and Recreation may be able to lend a hand in the installation process. Mark suggested Jake Henkel or Dave Ray with Shive Hattery in Cedar Rapids as potential contractors. The Committee noted that they should first check with Eleanor before hiring the contractor. Terry indicated that he does not want installation to interrupt swim. lessons scheduled to begin in mid June. The Committee agreed that installation could be done prior to swim lessons, potentially during the first week of June. The Committee also discussed installation prior to Arts Fest with a public dedication during Arts Fest. Some publicity will be done for the dedication. BJ Katz recently titled the piece "Dancing Water." BJ Katz would like to travel to Iowa City to supervise installation and to speak to the public about the piece and art in general. She would also like to make a presentation to students. DISCUSSION REGARDING FUTURE PROJECTS OF PUBLIC ART PROGRAM Marcia indicated that if $80,000 is reserved for the Katz project, then $52,000 will be left over. An additional $50,000 will be made available at the beginning of the next fiscal year. Marcia indicated that two neighborhood art projects have yet to be funded. The Melrose Neighborhood has proposed a historic marker project similar to Longfellow's. Washington Hills Neighborhood sent a preliminary proposal for an art/playground project for Pheasant Hill Park. This project is not likely to be ready for funding before the summer of 2008. These projects should not exceed $15,000 each. Terry noted that he thinks the Washington Hills art project is a neat idea; however, special safety consideration needs to be taken if the art is to be used as playground equipment. The creator of the art at the new transportation center is interested in creating a concept plan for a sculpture garden in Iowa City. The Committee discussed installing the old downtown fountain sculpture at Chauncey Swan Park. This had been discussed in previous years. At that time the City Manager had wanted to install the fountain component which was slated to cost $120,000. As an alternative the Committee discussed the possibility of having light flow through the sculpture to simulate water flow. This would dramatically decrease the cost compared to installing the water feature. It was noted that this piece will probably need some refinishing. It was also clarified that the brick portion is not part of the sculpture. There have been no updates from Tom Awad or Tony Carter regarding their mural proposal. A Committee member indicated that a request for proposal may be in order for future murals. Rick noted that murals can potentially be obstacles for future development opportunities. Terry indicated that Parks and Recreation has submitted a Community Attraction and Tourism (CAT) grant for the future Sand Lake Park. The CAT Committee looks more favorably on projects that include public art components. Terry is looking into ways to raise money for a public art piece in this park. He is seeking support from the Public Art Committee in this endeavor, but not necessarily monetary support. Terry also noted that the park in the Northside Neighborhood could use to add a public art piece. Terry presented a map of all the public art pieces in Iowa City parks. The east side of town is deficient in public art in the parks. If the Washington Hills Neighborhood receives funding for their project, their project will fill some of this void. Mark asked the Committee to consider performance arts or possibly an event for future funding opportunities. The Committee will check the bylaws to determine if this is possible. The Committee asked Marcia for an update on the "archways" lighting project that was proposed for the alleyways a few years back. She indicated that nothing has been happening with that. Marcia noted that the Art Off The Wall event during Arts Fest last year was of marginal success. Two of the three projectors were not powerful enough and the locations somewhat poor to make this event successful. However, it did serve to make the public more aware of the Public Art Committee. The Kids Tent was a big success last year. The calligrapher was highly popular. Marcia offered the suggestion of offering a venue in the alleys for artists without a large inventory or a booth during Arts Fest. Terry presented a "utility box" art pamphlet. Patrick suggested an idea of using old cigarette machines to create vending art. This was done in Kansas City. Rick suggested decorative parking meters to support non-profits and address the pan handler issue downtown. This was done in Nashville. In Chicago "plant art" was woven onto metal frames and placed in planters. COMMITTEE TIME/UPDATES Marcia reported that one of the Northside Street signs was stolen. Someone had sawed through the metal post. This is the 2nd Northside houses to be taken. At this time there is nothing to replace it. Marcia asked that the Committee consider whether these should be replaced or not. The street signs had to be configured to accommodate the art by using double the signage. In the mean time, Marcia needs to let the Streets Department know if they should replace the sign with one that is configured for the art of if they should replace it with a regular street sign. John Coyne is still in the area and has the molds to make replacements. According to Marcia he is ready and willing to make replacements. She is awaiting a cost estimate from John. Rick and Jeff indicated that they would like to see the signs configured for the art put up. Marcia reported the artist of the piece on the pedestrian bridge at the corner of Iowa Avenue and Riverside Drive would like the City to assume ownership of the artwork. He lives in Colorado now and does not want to continue to obtain a permit from the Iowa Department of Transportation to keep the piece in place. The Committee will check with IDOT on the permit terms for future art pieces in this location. Poetry in Public is underway. Submissions are due on Friday, February 1St. Emily Carter-Walsh served on the selection committee last year. Marcia will need a replacement for her to review the submissions in mid March. ADJOURNMENT Finlayson moved to adjourn; Carney seconded. Meeting adjourned at 4:12 pm. Next meeting scheduled for February 7, 2008. Minutes submitted by Brandy Howe a~ a> .r O L u V ~ ~~,~// L W 00 .~ u ~ ~ C N •b CeS C i iu.+ u .., a ..... ~ ~, '--~ ~ .-~ O ~ .-r ~--~ ~ .--~ .-~ ~ .-.. O ~ ~ 0 0 0 0 0 X ~ ~ ~ -~ ~ --~ ~ -r ~ --~ W . O , O . O . O . O C O S ~ ~ ' v~ C •'" ~ e~ ~ ~ ^~ u O O u ' O o i ~ z ~ -° ~ ~ ~ ~ ,~ ~ V ~ ~- ~ ~ z aa A ~ ~ w w H b N U X C ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Q II II II ~~COO 3b 2 MINUTES PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION JANUARY 17, 2008-7:30 PM EMMA J. HARVAT HALL, CITY HALL APPROVED MEMBERS PRESENT: Elizabeth Koppes, Wally Plahutnik, Ann Freerks, Dean Shannon, Charles Eastham MEMBERS EXCUSED: Robert Brooks, Terry Smith STAFF PRESENT: Bob Miklo, Tim Weitzel, Sara Greenwood OTHERS PRESENT: Cecile Kuenzli, Eric Gidal, Judith Pascoe, Claire Sponsler, Jeanalie Swan RECOMMENDATION TO CITY COUNCIL (to become effective only after separate Council action): Recommended approval, by a vote of 4-1 (Eastham in the negative, Brook and Smith absent). An amendment to the Comprehensive Plan to include the Historic Preservation Plan, which contains policies and recommendations for the identification, preservation and regulation of historic landmarks, properties and neighborhoods. CALL TO ORDER: Freerks called the meeting to order at 7:33 p.m. PUBLIC DISCUSSION OF ANY ITEM NOT ON THE AGENDA: There was none. COMPREHENSIVE PLAN ITEM: An amendment to the Comprehensive Plan to include the 2007 Historic Preservation Plan, which contains policies and recommendations for the identification, preservation and regulation of historic landmarks, properties and neighborhoods. Miklo discussed the ways in which the wording of the Historic Preservation Plan had been changed to better represent the intent of the Neighborhood Stabilization proposal. He advised the Commission that they were being asked if the Plan should be incorporated into the overall Comprehensive Plan to guide the City Council, Planning and Zoning Commission, Board of Adjustment, Historic Preservation Commission, and the Parks and Recreation Commission in their dealing with historic properties. Eastham questioned the Commission's role in considering amendment to the Comprehensive Plan. Greenwood said the bylaws contain information about the Commission's role in amending the Comprehensive Plan. Eastham asked if it was Greenwood's view if the Council could amend the Comprehensive Plan without the recommendation of the Commission. She said modifications to the Plan begin with the Planning and Zoning Commission. Miklo added that if the Commission does not make a recommendation, or recommends against an amendment to the Council, it takes a super majority for the Council to amend the Plan. Eastham asked Staff the revised language to objective ten of the Plan, specifically the description of a home ownership incentive program. He asked if it was the Staff's opinion Planning and Zoning Commission January 17, 2008 Page 2 that an increase in owner-occupied properties would result in a decrease in rental properties in already established neighborhoods. Miklo said that might be the case. Eastham also asked about the availability of the Housing and Community Development Vision TARP housing survey, and Miklo said it was not yet publicly available, but he would make it available once the report was finalized and reproducible. Public discussion was opened Cecile Kuenzli, 705 S. Summit Street, said the evening's discussion reminded her of a conversation she had years ago when citizens of Iowa City were just beginning to think about historic preservation. Kuenzli said Marlys Svendsen said, "Folks, you've got to realize historic preservation starts with the zoning. You can't save anything if the zoning isn't correct." Kuenzli mentioned that while the bookstore recently, she was glancing through a book, "A Thousand Places to See Before You Die," and while it cited Iowa locales including the Villages of Van Buren and Amana, it did not include Iowa City. She said Iowa City needs the Plan to help save some of what it has left before it is all gone. Eric Gidal, 328 Brown Street, said he saw historic preservation and affordable housing as going hand-in-hand because he sees the way to create affordable housing is to maintain the vitality of a city, and to invest in ways of creating affordable housing within neighborhoods in which people want to live. He said if the City does not create the legislation to protect the City's historic neighborhoods, it would hasten the effects of urban decay, and the downgrading of the downtown area and inner neighborhoods. Judith Pascoe, 317 Fairchild Street, said she has lived in Goosetown for several years and now lives in the Northside and is the coordinator for the Northside Neighborhood Association. She said she agreed with the revised wording of the Plan, and thought that it didn't alienate any members of historic neighborhoods-owners, renters, or landlords. She acknowledged Eastham's concern over a potential decrease in lower cost apartments, but said she felt the Plan was necessary to attempt some sort of counter balance with the economic market forces to convert houses into rentals, or tear them down and build apartment buildings. She also mentioned that many times landlords of rental properties in historic neighborhoods are not locals, maybe not even be Iowans, and as a result, there is often not a lot of incentive for them to invest time and money into the upkeep of the property, which results in the property's decline at a faster rate than the surrounding area. Claire Sponsler, 413 Gilbert Street, said she saw the Plan as an opportunity for good planning and good government to make a difference, and provide a blueprint for the City's future. Ginalie Swaim, 1024 Woodlawn Avenue, reminded the Commission about the positive effect historic conservation districts could have by citing the aftermath of the tornado. She said many of the properties towards the end of Iowa Avenue are rentals, but because of the conservation district in that area, landlords were required to rebuild according to certain standards, and now the area is in better shape than it was before the storm. Freerks closed public discussion and opened discussion to the Commission. Planning and Zoning Commission January 17, 2008 Page 3 Eastham asked if the Commission would consider postponing the vote until the next meeting when more Commission members would be present. He said he would like to have the Council receive the benefit of all Commission members vote before it gets sent on. Miklo reported that Terry Smith said he will be on vacation at the time of the next meeting. Freerks said the decision to defer would be up to the Commission. Koppes said she felt the Commission had discussed the matter enough. Motion: Koppes made a motion to approve the amendment to the Comprehensive Plan to include the Historic Preservation Plan with the amended language pertaining to Goal 10 Neighborhood Strategies that was present in the memo from Weitzel and Miklo. Dean seconded the motion. Eastham offered an additional amendment to modify to Goal 10 (pages 63-66) of the Plan. He said his concerns centered on language in the Plan that reached beyond historic neighborhoods and into older neighborhoods in general. He said he did not think the Plan was a good place to do general neighborhood stabilization. Freerks said she thought the intent of the Plan was to focus on historic and conservation districts and neighborhoods, and asked for specific areas where Eastham felt the wording was inaccurate. He quoted areas in the plan where "older residential neighborhoods" were referenced. Weitzel said the intent of the wording, in such instances, would be irrelevant, because the Historic Preservation Commission can't act until an area is a historic or conservation district. Plahutnik said it was important to acknowledge the natural progression of a neighborhood from simply a place with some older homes, into an area that people recognize the value of, and want to preserve. He said he felt the language of "older residential neighborhoods" acknowledged the value of such places and left the door open for those places to transition into a historic or conservation district at some point in the future. He said Eastham's focus on affordable housing was at the loss of city history. He said there was a need to balance both. Eastham said he shared Plahutnik's goal of having citizens look back 50 years from now and appreciate the work the Commission did by carefully drafting a Comprehensive Plan that includes everybody in the city. Eastham also said he wanted to correct the perception that he was primarily interested in affordable housing, but rather that he was interested in continuing housing opportunities for all members of the community- including owners and renters. Eastham said, according to his calculations, there are 600 to 700 rental residents within the historic and conservation districts, and those people makeup a significant percentage of the total residents of those areas. Freerks said she felt the current language of the Plan was good and that it offered some relief from the constant pressure to turn property into rentals that close-in areas experience, while at the same time, fostering healthy neighborhoods. Eastham said the primary amendment to the amended Plan he would like considered related to goal ten of the Home Ownership Incentive Program (p. 65-66). He suggested the program be expanded and redefined so that a wider range or reinvestment programs could be utilized and directed at existing home ownership, new home ownership, existing rental ownership, and new rental ownership. Freerks said she was not interested in exploring the topic, and asked the Commission if there were four people who would be interested in making such a change. No one expressed interest. Planning and Zoning Commission January 17, 2008 Page 4 Eastham questioned Greenwood about using the Home Ownership Incentive Program as a tool to increase home ownership at the expense of rental units in certain areas in relation to the legality of the City decreasing rental occupancy in certain neighborhoods. Greenwood said she didn't see the program as such, and said it was not a direct Land Use Regulation. She added that there was a large difference between the City regulating rental occupancy and it being an indirect consequence of a program. Eastham asked if it was the City's legal department's opinion that what the City could not do through ordinances, it could do through offering money. Greenwood said that what the Commission does through creating zones affects land use regulation, and incentivizing this type of program is a policy. Miklo gave an example of a similar program in Pennsylvania, near Penn, where the City had identified an area in need of improvement. He said there is slow-interest loan program that is funded by the University for owners buying in the area. He said he did not believe that program, or any similar to it, have been legally challenged. Koppes and Freerks asked for Eastham to offer a specific amendment. He said he would like to change the wording of number one of the Home Ownership Incentive Program (p 65) to, "...consider the primary goal for such a program as improvements in historic and conservation districts where housing conditions indicate a need for additional private and public investment" (removing language about neighborhood stabilization by encouraging an increase in owner occupied properties). Freerks asked for a second to support the language change motion. There was none. Eastham said he would also like to change the language in point number three to read, "...target the program to renter and owner occupied residences in historic and conservation districts where housing conditions indicate a need for reinvestment. Design the program to avoid displacing current residents, and from having a disparate impact on protected minority classes." Freerks asked for a second on the motion. There was none. Freerks called for any further discussion on the topic. Koppes thanked the Historic Preservation Board and community members for all their hard work on the project. Freerks spoke of discussing historic preservation with someone from Waverly, and she said urged him to use historic preservation as an overlay to the existing zoning because he will only be a steward of his property for a little while. She said she views zoning as all we have to keep historic areas intact and preserve the qualities in them that separate them out as special places. Eastham said he is in agreement with nine out of the ten goals of the Plan, but he does not agree with the last goal and its purpose of changing the balance of owner and rental occupancy in historic and conservation districts, which he does not feel keeps with the purpose of the City's overall Comprehensive Plan. Freerks called for a vote. The motion carried 4:1 (Eastham in the negative, Smith and Brooks absent). OTHER: Miklo said a draft of the Subdivision Regulations was complete, and it was being distributed to some area interest groups, such as the Homebuilders Association. He said Planning and Zoning Commission January 17, 2008 Page 5 before a public hearing is scheduled, he would like to schedule work-sessions with the Commission to cover the document. CONSIDERATION OF MEETING MINUTES December 20, 2007 and January 2, 2008 Motion: Eastham made a motion for approval of both minutes. Plahutnik seconded the motion. The motion carried 5:0 (Smith and Brooks absent). ADJOURNMENT: Motion: Koppes made a motion to adjourn, and Shannon seconded it. The motion carried 5:0 (Smith and Brooks absent). 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