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ITEM 3. COMMUNITY COMMENT (ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA)
Throgmorton: So if anybody would like to address the Council on any topic that's not on the
formal meeting agenda, please feel free to do so now. When you come up, please
state your name and take not more than five minutes to make your comment, and
then we'll move on from there. Uh, before anybody speaks though, I'd like to
welcome all of you to City Hall. It's your City Hall! We're glad you're here. It's
been a pretty good day. There's my friend Dick. Hi, Dick! And also two friends
out there, but anyhow.....uh, it's been a good day and now we'll have a good
evening. So, anybody want to address us? Good evening, Adil!
Adams: Uh.... this time I would like us to talk about the .... the ordinance. Despite, uh, I
did not renew my taxi company, but uh, the ordinance, uh, they talk all the time
about, uh, we have to change some stuff, which is unfair, and uh, last week I
come to City Clerk to renew my license and, uh, they told me subjects 5-2-2, there
is deadline for .... for, uh, apply for new license, for taxi license. It is good to
organize our city, but without hurting anybody. If somebody come to the City
and say they want to make business, we suppose to let him do it. In America we
learn there is competition and (mumbled) there is no discrimination between
businesses, so if you go .... if you warm open liquor or any other business, I don't
think there is limit or, uh, there is deadline to open business. But, this
ordinance... I talk a lot of. ... couple of times about (mumbled) unfair rules here.
It is unfair. If I want to open my business any time, and shut my business any
time, I don't think this is a problem. And also the .... if you wanna continue
business, you have to have at least four vehicles. A long time ago we make
money. Every week at least make 500, 600. Now every week, if you make $100
a week, you are lucky! So the business shrink and is dying, but still the same
ordinance. Like me, I can't continue to support vehicles. Their insurance is
1,200, every month, and there is no business. Why.....four vehicle? Why not two
vehicles? Because when I start this business, I used to start with two vehicles.
But here, now you have to have four vehicles, even if there is no business, you
have to keep four .... you have to lose more money, more money. Even if the
businesses shrink and there is Uber. There is Lyft. There is other companies
enter the market and the taxi become, uh, unprofitable. So .... last time when I talk
I said please, try to fix this ordinance, so we can enjoy our life here. Like now we
want to .... I wanna renew my license! (mumbled) They told me no because
there's deadline. Why there is deadline? Said because there is ... there is, we
(mumbled) put deadline, this what, uh, Julie said to me. People they leave after
the game. I told her okay, why do they leave? (mumbled) okay, you
can .... there's other companies. So .... so this is, this rule is not fair for the
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businesses. So want the City Council just to look at this rules and see which one
is fair or which one is unfair or ... you can send it to the Human Rights
Commission, to discuss .... to see if there is anything not fair. Just like.... because
if you treat business differently, that (mumbled) the business. If you treat
somebody differently, that.... discriminate the individual. So now the
discrimination (mumbled) ordinance. So I hope ... the City Council ... uh, let me
renew my license again and not stop anybody for doing his business in Iowa,
because Iowa has competition and the U.S. economy depend on competition and
don't put any tie to people. If you want to do the business now, do it. You can
open .... if I want to renew my license, you say renew! If after three months I want
to quit, then I can quit! If you don't want to quit, make it easy for me to stay, but
don't say you have to have four vehicles, and there is no business. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Adil. Uh, Geoff and, uh, maybe Kellie, cause .... cause you're
responsible for some aspects of this. Maybe you could look into this and if
there's anything that ... that in your judgment we could reasonably change, um,
please give us some feedback.
Fruin: Okay!
Throgmorton: Good evening, Bob!
Oppliger: (noises on mic) ....left-hand friendly. My name's Bob Oppliger. I'm the
Education Advocacy Coordinator for Bicyclists of Iowa City, and I wanted to,
um, make a couple different comments. First, uh, I hope I'm not premature in
thanking you for, uh, passing the new master bike plan. I think the, uh.....
Throgmorton: (both talking) ...jump right on by it, because we're gonna be discussing it later on.
Oppliger: Okay! Um, I think the, uh.... team you, consulting team that you hired, couldn't
have been any better. Al .... Alta is one of the best groups in the country and
Marty Shukert is equally as good. Um, I met Marty at a book festival in Iowa
City, a number of years ago. I don't know if that came out, that he's a book
junkie.
Throgmorton: Bob, this is a topic on the formal meeting agenda.
Oppliger: All right. I'll get off that then. Um, so ... so par .... my second point was that, um, I
attended the work session a couple weeks ago and, um, I want to—talk.—I sensed
some trepidation about taking on the challenge of the cold, friendly community,
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and in my mind the platinum level, and I wanted to make the point that this is
truly a community effort. So that, uh, you folks who were involved with the
engineering aspects of it, clearly with the enforcement aspects of it, but there's
also an education component to it and there's also an encouragement component.
One of the things that was not in the, uh, draft proposal until after the meeting was
the fact that the Iowa City School Board, um, agreed last April to install a
comprehensive, uh, bike education program. Um.....the biking community has
raised money to finance the, uh, writing of the program. Uh, one of the things
that it will speak to is the idea of a biking, um, driving interaction so that high
school students will get some, um.....instruction on that idea. The second part of
it that I think will be a hoot is that we're gonna teach all second graders how to
ride a bike in five hours, and that'll be a lot of fun. Um.....there's a lot of interest
in this. We've already got a waiting list of schools and .... and principals who
want to ... to be involved with the pilot study. Um, we also have been doing some
education beyond the schools. Del Holland and I taught a class of senior citizens,
who hadn't been on a bike for a number of years, and they truly hadn't. We were
shocked. We didn't know what to quite do, to get them involved, but it was a
success. We have a waiting list for the next time we wanna do it. So the
education part of it is gonna be critical, and then finally there's an encouragement
aspect and one of the strengths of our application will be the encouragement
aspect of it. Someone on the Council made the comment that we're holding....
hosting these world class cyclo -cross championships for the second time in two
years. We're the only city in the whole United States, the whole North America,
that can make that claim, so it's pretty ... a novel experience. Um, one of the
aspects of it is that some of us host riders, and I received word in the last two days
that I'm gonna be hosting a couple from Great Britain. The woman is British
world ... or British national cycling champion. So it'll be an interesting experience
for me, and it reflects the fact that we are getting .... last year we had (mumbled)
15 different nations coming in for the, uh, bike championships. Um, the last point
I wanted to bring up, you should of received in your packet, either electronically
or in hard copy, a, uh, copy of our Slow Roll schedule, and if you looked at it, you
noticed that we've been hosting one in each of the communities around Johnson
County this spring and summer. The last one comes up in two weeks. It starts in
City Park, goes down to Trueblood Park on the bike trail, and come back, and
we'd like to invite you to join us. If you don't wanna ride we'll put you to work
as a volunteer! So with that, unless there's a question, I'll thank you again for
approving the .... bike plan and, uh.....
Throgmorton: Bob, when is that Slow Roll from City Park (both talking)
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Oppliger: It's gonna be on .... August 16`h, which is a Wednesday, and it'll start at 5:45 or
thereabouts, at, uh, City Park, the largest pavilion, the one with the green tin roof
on it. And it'll be all on trails. We've had great support from Geoff s group in
getting cooperation and then, uh.... um, Chad Dyson, with, uh, Ree Department
has also been exceptionally helpful in getting us .... pulling this together.
Throgmorton: Good deal! Thank you.
Oppliger: Yep!
Throgmorton: Anyone else? Hi, Mike!
Tharp: Hello! Good evening. Just, uh, real briefly. I know I've got something else on
the agenda later, but uh, wanted to invite everybody to the .... oh, uh, Michael
Tharp. I'm the Airport Operations Specialist. Sorry! Uh.... wanted to invite
everybody to the annual pancake breakfast. This year it's gonna be August 20ffi,
from 7:00 to noon, and it is being sponsored by the Iowa City Optimist Club. Uh,
used to be sponsored by the Sertoma club, uh, but they have since merged
together, under the Optimist flag, so.....thanks and .... good evening!
Throgmorton: Thanks (both talking)
Botchway: Wait a second, is that a Sunday?
Throgmorton: Yep! (several talking)
Botchway: What time?
Throgmorton: Noon.
Dickens: 7 to 1, I think.
Throgmorton: What .... what time, Mike?
Dickens: 7 to 1 or....
Tharp: 7 to noon!
Dickens: I bought tickets already! (several talking in background)
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Throgmorton: All right, anybody else?
Fruehling: Jim, we need to accept correspondence from Adil.
Botchway: So moved.
Dickens: Second.
Tbrogmorton: Moved by Botchway, seconded by Dickens. All in favor say aye. Opposed.
Motion carries. All right, so I don't see anybody else who wants to speak to us,
uh, so we'll turn to Item #4, Planning and Zoning Matters.
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Item 4. Planning and Zoning Matters
Item 4c Rezoning (Stone Bridge Estates - Thames Drive and Huntington
Drive) - Ordinance rezoning 1.59 acres of property from Medium Density
Single -Family, RS -8, zone to Low Density Multi -Family, RM -12, zone located
west of Taft Avenue and east of Huntington Drive. (REZ17- 00011/SUB17-
00008) (First Consideration)
a) Public Hearing
Throgmorton: This is first consideration, and again I need to know if there are any ex parte
disclosures that need to be made. Seeing none, I'm going to open the public
hearing. (bangs gavel)
Yapp: Uh, good evening, Mayor, Members of Council. Uh.... I'll show you some
images, both from the requested rezoning as well as the subdivision. The only
thing on your agenda tonight is the rezoning. Uh, we'll bring the subdivision to
you with the third reading, uh, of the zoning. Uh, the property's located north of
Huntington Drive and west of Taft Avenue. Uh, the very far east side of Iowa
City. Uh, the current zoning is RS -8, medium density, uh, single-family. Uh, the
applicant has requested an area in the southeast corner, uh, of the property be
zoned to low-density, multi -family, consistent with the property to the south. Uh,
this is near the intersection of Huntington Drive and Court Street. Uh, this is a
view of, uh, Taft Avenue, adjacent to the .... to the property. And this is an image
of the multi -family buildings already existing and bordering, uh, the property to
the south. Uh, the multi -family lot under consideration is lot 147, uh, at the .... at
the southeast corner. The multi -family zoning would allow eight townhouse
units. Uh.... the larger subdivision would include an extension of Huntington
Drive to the north property line, an extension of Thames, uh, Avenue to Taft
Avenue. Uh, duplex lots are proposed at the intersection. Uh, that is allowed
under the single-family zoning. Uh, the applicant did have a good neighbor
meeting, and uh, their previous concept had townhouses, uh, on the west side of
Huntington Drive, where my mouse is now. As a result of that good neighbor
meeting, they, uh, changed that to single-family lots. This is an image of the, uh,
townhouse elevations, uh, submitted by the applicant. Similar but not exactly the
same as the other townhouses in the neighborhood. Uh, one of the, uh, conditions
recommended is consistency with the landscaping plan that was developed in
2009, uh, for this property to have a landscape buffer planted along Taft Avenue,
uh, so that if and when Taft Avenue becomes more of a major arterial, that
landscaping will have been in place for .... for many years. Uh, staff recommends
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approval, subject to dedication of right-of-way and construction easements; uh,
conformance with the concept plan in terms of street layout; compliance with the
landscaping plan I just referenced; and compliance with the elevations for the
multi -family buildings. Uh, Planning and Zoning Commission also recommended
approval.
Throgmorton: It was unanimous too, right?
Yapp: It was, yeah.
Throgmorton: Any questions for John? Thanks, John! All right, uh, so anybody else like to
address this topic? Good evenin'!
Moreland: Hi, Jim! Uh, John Moreland, and um, I'm the developer and have been for the
last (clears throat) 25 years there, and basically all we're doin' is an extension of
what we've been doin' for the last 20 years, where we have decided to mix, uh,
higher -end homes with, you know, lower -end condos and, uh, we're just doin' the
same thing here, so .... I'd like to get a vote tonight if I could. Thank you!
Throgmorton: Thank you, John! Okay, anybody else want to address us on this topic? Seeing
no one, uh.... I need to know whether any, um, anybody's inclined to vote
contrary to what the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended. Okay, I'm
going to close the public bearing. (bangs gavel)
b) Consider an Ordinance
Dickens: Move the first consideration.
Botchway: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Dickens, seconded by Botchway. Discussion?
Dickens: It's a nice in -fill project. It's finishing off up to the, I think up to the next, where
the farm is at the far end there, uh, I've been in some of those condos in that area,
uh, he does a great job. They're very nicely made and that, uh, whole area is a
really good mix of condos, single-family, duplexes...it...it gives you a wide
variety of different prices in that range. So I think it's a big plus for us.
Cole: Yeah, I'd echo Terry's comments, I mean obviously single -family's a foundation
of a lot of our stable neighborhoods, but urn.... additional housing var... a variety
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of housing types is extremely important as well, and I think this.... addresses
precisely what we'd like to .... to focus on.
Dickens: And it has a park, new park gonna be goin' at the top of the hill there so (both
talking)
Throgmorton:.... some work's taking place on that, uh (both talking) literally is just starting,
yeah! Yeah.... could.... John, could I ask you a question? I ... I don't remember
how far away the nearest school is.
Moreland: Urn .... Lemme might be the closest. But now the new one, the new one'll be
(both talking)
Throgmorton:... that's what, uh, the ... the (both talking)
Moreland: ....won't go there until after the first two years.
Throgmorton: Right!
Moreland: ....Court Street's a boundary, south of Court is Longfellow, and north of Court is
Lemme. But just, uh, one more tidbit. I practice what I preach. I live in a larger
home out there. My son and his family live in a smaller home out there, and my
daughter and her family live in a condo, and we're all within walking distance.
Throgmorton: Good deal! Thanks! Okay, any further discussion? Hearing none, roll call.
Motion carries 7-0.
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Item 6. Water Treatment Plant Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)
Upgrade - Resolution approving plans, specifications, form of agreement,
and estimate of cost for the construction of the Water Treatment Plant
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Upgrade Project,
establishing amount of bid security to accompany each bid, directing City
Clerk to post notice to bidders, and fixing time and place for receipt of bids
a) Public Hearing
Throgmorton: I'll open the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Ron, did you intend to talk about this?
You didn't, you're just gonna sit there (laughter) Okay! Does nobody else want
to talk about it? Nobody wants to talk about our stuff tonight (laughter) What's
that all about?
Mims: They want to get the meeting done!
Fruin: If you have a question about what it is and how it's integral to the water system,
Ron can come up and talk to you, but it's essentially the backbone communication
system between, uh, our plant and all the other water infrastructure that we have
out in the community.
Throgmorton: Yeah. All right. Good deal! Okay, seeing no one I'm gonna co ... close the public
hearing. (bangs gavel)
b) Consider a Resolution
Dickens: Move the resolution.
Throgmorton: I heard two voices (several talking and laughing) Move .... moved by Dickens,
seconded by Cole. Is that right? (several talking) Discussion? Hearing none, roll
call. Motion carries 7-0.
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Item 8. School Speed Zone - Horace Mann Elementary School. Ordinance amending
title 9, entitled "Motor Vehicles and Traffic," chapter 3, entitled "Rules of
the Road," section 6, entitled "Speed Restrictions," subsection C, entitled
"School Speed Zones" to establish a 20 mph school speed zone for Horace
Mann Elementary School effective for certain time periods. (First
Consideration)
Thomas: Move first consideration.
Dickens: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Thomas, seconded by, uh, seconded by Dickens. Discussion?
Dickens: Just glad to see the State finally let us (several talking) put this in! (several
talking) It needed to be done!
Throgmorton: Glad to see it, and I'm sure the parents who try to cross that street, uh, during
school days will greatly appreciate it. Uh, any further discussion? Hearing none,
roll call. Motion carries 7-0.
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ITEM 9. Poor Farm Water Well - Ordinance amending Title 16, "Public Works",
Chapter 3, "City Utilities", Article C, "Potable Water Use and Service",
Section 10, "Private Wells Restricted" to allow private wells to be installed
by governmental entities within city limits if determined by the City to be in
the public interest and to clarify that geothermal wells are not private water
wells for purposes of this section of the City Code. (Second Consideration)
Tbrogmorton: This is second consideration, but again, staff requests expedited action.
Mims: I move that the rule requiring that ordinances must be considered and voted on for
passage at two Council meetings prior to the meeting at which it is to be finally
passed be suspended, and that the second consideration and vote be waived, and
that the ordinance be voted on for final passage at this time.
Taylor: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Thomas. Discussion? I'm sorry, Taylor, uh,
discussion? Hearing none, roll call. Motion carries 7-0.
Mims: Move final adoption at this time.
Dickens: Second.
Tbrogmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Dickens. Discussion? (unable to hear person
speaking from audience) Yes, sir, please.... please come up! It's easy for us to
get into a rhythm. I'm glad you stood up! Yeah! (unable to hear person
speaking from audience) Yeah, pie ... please (both talking) state your name
and ... and (both talking)
Kruse: My name is Duane Kruse. I'm a property owner on 965 Slothower Avenue.
Throgmorton: Yep!
Kruse: And we have some questions and concerns about this project. One is, if this is
granted, if the City grants a well, what kind of impact does this have on the water
table out there, if it's gonna be used for ... and what is the well going to be used
for? We'd like to know what the well's going to be specifically used for. Um,
who's paying for this well?
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Throgmorton: Good questions! Uh, Ron, I don't know, are you the person who could best
answer that .... those questions?
Knoche: The .... the main, um, impetus for the change in the City code was the request from
the County to be able to put a well in at the Poor Farm, to be able to use that for
irrigation of the .... the crops out there. Um, so that .... if.....if there were a well put
in on a private .... on a public entity's property, it would be that public entity who
would pay that, you know, would pay for that ... that well installation. Um, we
would review it, from our standpoint, as ... if it would impact our water system,
um, and that's when ... when we would go through and do the review on it, you
know, from a .... from that process, you know, we would make sure it wouldn't
affect our potable system or our well fields that we have, um, in .... in our system.
Throgmorton: Okay, I think that answers a couple of your questions, uh, Duane, but uh, do we
know anything about the water table?
Knoche: Um, that would be something as .... so .... so basically what happens in the process
currently as it stands, the .... Johnson County is the one that does the permitting on
the wells. So .... they then pass on that recommendation to the DNR. So
ultimately the DNR's the one that has the control, um, of...of authorizing a new
well to be constructed. Um, you know, in regards to water tables, you know I
know that we have done, you know, water table studies in regards to the Landfill,
which is close in that area, um, but nothing from the standpoint of. ... of water
wells.
Cruz: And so I would just say, you know, one of our concerns are if we're gonna start
irrigatin' which is right now I believe two or three acres that they're farming out
there, and if they start farming more, they're irrigating 40, 50 acres, uh, what kind
of impact does that do for just on Slothower Avenue, uh, which there's three
existing wells, but.....that water table is the ... much larger surface in the rural
setting out there, which ... you know, could be a pretty big deal I guess overall as
far as water concerns are going, and then two, I guess would say why did you put
City water, or they ran water out to this farm and all of a sudden they need a well
to irrigate, why .... why are they doing both things? Why are we spending public
money for one we ran water out there. They have water there. The City paid for
that water main, which is a huge water main, um, but now we've gotta drill a well,
which.....why?
Throgmorton: Well I, yeah (both talking)
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Frain: It's at the County's request. So I think the County's best suited to answer the
why. My understanding is they do not wish to irrigate with treated water.
Kruse: Cost .... the cost of the water?
Frain: Uh, cost and I think just the, uh... the way in which they want to go about and
grow the fru .... grow food without the treated chemicals in the, uh, City's water
supply.
Kruse: Well I think that answers some of the questions. Thanks for your time.
Throgmorton: Thank you, Duane! Okay, we .... we have a motion on the floor, do we not?
Frain: Right!
Throgmorton: Uh, any further discussion? Roll call, please. Motion carries 7-0. It'd be good to
follow up with the County on, uh, you know, getting responses to those questions,
and Duane, could you leave your, uh, your contact information with .... maybe
with, uh (both talking)
Frain: With Simon!
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Item 10. Small Cell Antennae in ROW - Ordinance amending Title 16, entitled
"Public Works," Chapter 1, entitled "Streets, Sidewalks and Public Right of
Way," to establish a permit process for placement of small cell antennae in
the right of way. (First Consideration)
Mims: Move first consideration.
Thomas: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Thomas. Discussion? Geoff or .... can somebody
explain (several talking)
Dilkes: Um, so as .... as is stated in the memo, this is State legislation that passed, which,
um, limits a city's ability to, uh, prevent these private companies from putting
these small cell antennae on our light poles and traffic poles that are in the right-
of-way. Um, there's only certain grounds on which the City can deny, um, the
placement of those, um (mumbled) includes the placement of them on our poles,
but the placement of additional poles in the right-of-way. And the memo has the
list of, um.....uh, criteria on which you could deny, um, an additional pole for the
small cell antennae or the placement of the small sina... cell antennae on one of
our poles and it's actually quite limited, but it does include, um, reasonably
matching the aesthetics of the existing poles, um.....can't interfere with the
operation of the street, um, some ... some fairly limited criteria. The importance of
getting this ordinance in effect now is that as of September l'`, once an
application is made, um, if it's not acted on within 20 days ... or within 90 days
pers.... pursuant to a permit process that we have in place, which this will do, um,
then it's automatically granted. So.....
Fruin: This was an overlooked aspect of the .... the session, this past session we talked a
lot about local control and that we lost some local control. We didn't focus much
on this, but this is clearly a .... a loss of local control that we previously had to ... to
manage our right-of-way when it came .... when it comes to these types of, uh,
add-on infrastructure pieces from the private sector.
Throgmorton: So how large are these small antennae?
Fruin: Um .... Ron, do you recall the dimensions?
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Knoche: The ... they were, it was based kinda on volume, so I think it's like six .... six cubic
feet is what they're allowed to have, um, and then along with an 18" antennae that
goes along with it. So they're not large, but they're gonna be noticeable.
Fruin: Prior to this legislation, we had taken a stance where we weren't going to permit
these on our .... our decorative poles. For instance, the ones we have downtown
and .... as Eleanor stated, we don't have that ability to just blanket reject these.
Matter of fact there's.... there's very little room to reject them, um, at this point.
So, we'll start to see `em pop up because the ... the areas that are most in need from
the service standpoint, from the cellular companies standpoint, they're gonna be
the areas with the most people. So downtown, campus, uh, Kinnick Stadium,
Carver, uh, tends to be the same area where we have decorative poles and... and
we try to do our best to clean up the right-of-way and present ourselves in a ... in a
clean fashion, uh, by removing as much as we can from the ... the right-of-way.
Dilkes: It will be, um, a .... as noted in the memo, there will be a zoning code amendment
that'll work its way through Planning and Zoning up to you. There is some
limited zoning, or ability, to limit these in, um, residential areas.
Throgmorton: Uh, thank you, Ron, for comin' up. Uh, so when people start seeing these small
antennae and .... and are mad.....
Dickens: Look west! (laughter)
Throgmorton: Okay! Any further discussion? Hearing none, roll call. Motion carries 7-0.
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ITEM 11. Alcohol in parks - Ordinance amending Title 4, entitled "Alcoholic
Beverages" and Title 10, entitled "Public Ways and Property," to allow
alcohol in park shelters. (First Consideration)
Mims: Move first consideration.
Dickens: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Dickens. Discussion? Well, does anybody want to
address this topic? No? Discussion?
Cole: I thought we were gonna require a permit and that they would have to have
insurance. Is that still here? Am I not understanding that correctly?
Frain: No, that's not part of it (several talking)
Seydell Johnson: We looked into that, we considered it, um, through discussions through our
staff committee and the City Attorney.... Assistant City Attorney decided that it
wasn't really necessary with the open shelter reservations, the, um .... so the extra
permit, um, we decided there wouldn't be any extra .... there would not be the
oversight of the extra staff time to require the .... the additional costs that would go
with that permit. So, urn .... basically it goes with any shelter rental. So all shelter
rentals would be .... could be checked for alcohol use at that time. Any time
there's any shelter rental, rather than having a separate permit for it.
Cole: So there will be no insurance then that they would have (both talking)
Seydell Johnson: There's a security deposit on each of `em and any damage that would be done,
from the alcohol use (mumbled) same amount that a typical shelter rental has now
with, um ..... (mumbled) go with it.
Frain: The cost of the permit would have to ra... relate directly to the extra service or
the ... the administrative costs that staff provides, and some of the comparable
cities you've seen $10 or $12, $15 permit fees. We just....we didn't think it was
necessary to ... to charge that for the.... the.... really there wasn't much extra work
on our end. Um, one of the concerns that Juli pointed out to me, and I believe is
in your memo, that we currently do, urn .... most of the shelter renter... rental's
online now, and if we were to create a separate permit, that would require folks to,
uh, move from, uh, the online venue of reserving these to .... to inverse and then,
again, it just was an extra step that we didn't feel was necessary.
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Seydell Johnson: I would add, the Park Commission had concerns about the additional fees, um,
the insurance being about $100 per event and then additional fees. They thought
that that would just deter people from actually getting the alcohol permit and they
would probably continue (mumbled)
Throgmorton: I'd like to ask ya a couple questions. So, in your, uh, Council action report, you
state that `a resident recently sent a request to City Council asking.... asking the
City to reconsider policies, uh, relating to alcohol consumption during park shel...
park shelter rentals.' So ..... I think, uh, a reasonable person might ask ... one
resident?
Seydell Johnson: There was one official request to you as a Council. I would tell you it's one of
the most popular questions that we get with shelter rentals, is people wondering
what the alcohol policy is.
Throgmorton: Okay! So it's not just one person (both talking)
Seydell Johnson: ... and there were residents that spoke at the Commission meeting as well in
favor of the change and of allowing the alcohol use in the parks.
Throgmorton: Okay, so there's.... strong multiple.... strong, if you will, support for doing this,
right? What are the limitations with regard to, um, the kind of alcohol or amount
of alcohol, etc., that could be, uh.....
Seydell Johnson: Sure (both talking) only within the boundary.... only within the shelter structure
itself. So it does not extend anywhere outside into the park, even walking away
from the shelters, say, to the playground or something. Um, so it's only
underneath the shelter that's rented with .... with a rental permit. Wine and beer
only, uh, beer up to the .... I forget the ounces, and the small pony -keg size, and
the reason for that was we had several residents request for either...they're doing
home -brewing that they want to bring to their events or some of the micro -brews
aren't available in the individual containers. Um, so up to the equivalent of 82
12 -ounce cans would be allowed.
Throgmorton: Okay. Thanks! Uh, I knew that from reading your (both talking)
Seydell Johnson: (both talking) No glass containers will be added as an administrative rule.
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Throginorton: I just wanted clarification really for the public, whoever's watching this, so they
understood what ... what we're deciding about. Any other questions for Juli?
Thank you! So we have a motion on the floor. Discussion?
Mims: I'm supportive of trying this. I think, you know, I think there's been a lot of
interest. We did have that one formal request that came to us, and I think the one
formal one that came to us I know, you know, they were having like a small
wedding reception or something and they wanted to use, you know, one of the
park shelters. Um, I think the restrictions that ... that staff has put in here and the
Parks and Rec Commission, just beer and wine, limiting the amounts, etc., um,
and has to be within the shelter, uh, are a good way to start. I think it's something
that, you know, like with any new policy, we may have to come back and review,
depending upon compliance with it, as we go forward, um, but I think you see an
awful lot of people who are, you know, drinking alcohol in a social setting, very
responsibly, and I think that that makes our parks more attractive and usable by
people, um, who want to be responsible with it. I certainly think it's worth a try.
Thomas: Something (several talking) something to watch though. I ... I (several talking)
Throgmorton: How can we monitor this? I mean....
Mims: I think it's gonna be kind (both talking) complaint based (both talking)
Frain: Yeah, first of all we have Park maintenance staff that, um, check the ... the shelter
rentals, you know, each day to make sure that the .... the facility's ready to go.
They also clean up after these events, so certainly if we notice problems with litter
or damage to shelters, something along those lines, we'll be able to identify that
quickly. Um, if there's disturbances in the park, if other people are, say, on a ... on
a playground and they're disturbed with what may be happening in a shelter, um,
we will either hear that directly through the Police Department who would get a
call, or those people would likely come to a venue like this or more, uh, contact
Juli and the Park's team and express their displeasure at whatever experience they
had. So, I .... I'm not too worried about figuring out if this works or not. I think
it'll be pretty clear, um, when there's problems and we may have to come back to
you and ask for some changes or, uh, in the administrative rules put in some
additional restrictions.
Botchway: I guess from my, um, kind of understanding, what's the difference between what
we're currently doing from a permitting process? So we're able to do the permit
now.
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Seydell Johnson: Currently the only alcohol use in parks is at Terry Trueblood Lodge and the
Ashton House, uh, it's technically not allowed out in the parks. We've done
maybe a few special event (both talking) larger events. Um (laughter) I would tell
you in reality, it's, I mean, we .... we clean out the garbage cans every night
(laughs) so.....
Botchway: Well I guess .... well, I didn't know that (laughter) and I don't necessarily
(mumbled) knew that as well, um, so I guess were there any issues ... prior to this
that have maybe highlighted why we wouldn't go down this road?
Seydell Johnson: No, uh, you know, we have assorted noise issues occasionally from rentals.
We have other behavior issues, but I can't think of any since I've come that have
been alcohol related. And not even at Terry Trueblood or Ashton House, where
we've allowed it. So....
Fruin: And I would add on, Juli and her staff checked with, uh, some comparable cities
that are listed in your report that ... that do allow alcohol in parks, so we're
not .... we're not gonna be the first ones to do this. As a matter of fact, we're
probably in the minority in not doing it, but those cities did not report any issues,
um, with their alcohol policies, and ours largely mirrors.... it's kind of a
combination of all these.
Botchway: Yeah so I would say for a friend who's been to multiple gatherings at parks, it
seems to be okay. So, urn .... I would, I mean, I can say we can watch closely, but
I think people are responsible, especially when it comes to the usage of the park
and I don't necessarily know that there'd be a significant change but I think we
should watch it. Yeah.
Thomas: One .... one scenario just came to my mind. Let's say there... there's a park shelter
that's not being rented. And ... I'm out at the park and I'm thinking of having a
beer. Can I use the shelter?
Seydell Johnson: Not unless you have a permit (both talking)
Thomas: Okay!
Seydell Johnson: And it would be complaint -based. (mumbled) ...complained about you and the
police came (both talking)
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Thomas: So ... so that raises for me the ... the idea that perhaps some signage at the parks,
helping to, um, clarify some, you know, how alcohol use is permitted might be
something to consider.
Seydell Johnson: I think there's information on the permits, like there's a board on each shelter
where we put the current reservations. I think that actually has the rules, or it
could, um (both talking)
Thomas: Right, what I'm saying is there may be people coming to just... coming to a
park ... I ... I've gone to a park and, um, I was coming home from the market and I
had a six-pack of beer (laughs) and .... (several talking and laughing) so I, you
know, I thought, gosh, it's such a nice day. I think I'll just have a beer and... it's
not permitted, urn .... even under the new rules. I didn't even know it wasn't
permitted (several talking and laughing)
Seydell Johnson: I think we just want to be careful of the amount of signage we have out in the
parks though, cause we don't currently have signs for everything you can't do in
the parks right now either, so .... but it is public education, so .... what's allowed
(both talking)
Thomas: Yeah, I ... I, personally I think park rules, this could just be one rule, um, that could
be added to a park rule sign, but....
Botchway: Basically I'm hearing watch John. (laughter) Constant surveillance! (laughs)
Throgmorton: All right, any further discussion?
Cole: I guess I'd just like to make one comment. I ... I'm not gonna support this, because
I think that we should hook our permitting process to special events, um, it's my
understanding this was generated by a graduation party, um, and I understand
that, um, you know .... there are various complications associated with this, but I
really felt that we should have a permitting process in place for special events,
and I do think there should be the liability insurance. So, um, I'm not supportive
of this particular proposal.
Throgmorton: Okie dokie. Any further discussion? Hearing none, roll call please. Motion
carries 6-1.
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ITEM 12. Bicycle Master Plan Adoption - Resolution adopting the 2017 Iowa City
Bicycle Master Plan
Mims: Move the resolution.
Botchway: Second.
Throgmorton: I'm song, who moved?
Mims: I did.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Botchway. Discussion? Uh....
Fruin: We did not plan .... because you had the work session (both talking)
Throgmorton: Right!
Fruin: ...didn't plan to present it, but Sarah Walz, who led the planning effort, is here to
answer any questions you may have about the plan.
Throgmorton: Okay.
Botchway/ So I have a question/comment. Um .... so, you know, um, I was away last week at a
work conference and I was able to call in to KXIC and I was.... articulated I think
the element that, um, I think Terry had mentioned during our work session,
around kind of that return on investment discussion. You know, and I want to be
clear, you know, I'm not .... not opposed to the bike master plan. I just want to
ensure that if we're saying $14 million, which .... on the presentation was
unfunded projects, and so I think it still has to go through our budgeting process
to ensure that we're gonna fund those projects. I know there's still separate
consideration that has to occur. That the goal that we're .... we're striving for to
me is not high enough, and I mean I'm not saying that this isn't good work. I
mean I guess I should have started off with the sandwich approach and saying this
is amazing, cause it is an amazing plan, but I guess I'm .... I'm just worried from
the perspective of we're gonna spend $14 million for 5%, and one of my
comments were during that session was that if that's .... if we're gonna spend $14
million, which I'm not opposed to because I think it goes to the complete
neighborhoods. It goes to healthy living. Can we make that goal 20 or 30%?
And again, that's maybe outside of the realm of kind of this particular bike plan,
but .... how do we do that, within kind of...I guess it's not out of the realm. How
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do we do that within this kind of current construction, cause a lot of work went
into that, but I also think a lot of money is being requested that doesn't
necessarily, for me, match up to what we're stating that we want to see. Does that
make sense?
Walz: Yeah, I think the number that you're talking about, um, the commuter rate
that's... that we get from the U.S. Census. There's a lot of debate about that
information, because people are responding to what they've done recently, right
before the census. So it's a very inaccurate way to capture information. It's only
capturing the one .... the one person in the household, and it's not capturing all the
people who may be bicycling, maybe not to go to work but for other trips, not
capturing children at all, not capturing, you know, the non -head of household. So
I'm not sure that's the way to measure it. We've been looking at, um, some other
ways. Right now, um, for the last several years, I think 10 years, um, we've been
doing, um, annual counts on bike trails and sort of tracking those over time.
We're gonna continue doing that. Um, we're also talking about doing some, uh,
in-person counts. We've picked some sort of key intersection where pieces of
infr ... um, infrastructure would come together, various bike lanes or, um, streets
that are well traveled by bikes to do in-person counts there, and then I think
another, um, very easy place to do counts is at the schools, because everybody
comes at the same time, pretty much everybody leaves at the same time. One big
bike rack. They're easy to count. And so it would be easier for us to measure
from that point, and so we have baseline information for the trails. We can start
capturing information with new infrastructure before and after infrastructure is ... is
built, and then the schools, that's something that we could start in the coming year
and track that over time, to see how we're improving. I think that would be more
accurate, frankly, than.... there're a lot of problems with the way that the census,
um, captures bicycle commuting. It's just not a ... it's not a .... it's not an accurate
picture of who's biking and for what reason.
Botchway: We get that information prior to the next budget session?
Walz: I mean we can get, uh, certain kinds of baseline counts but then we would ... we
would .... we would track over time, and obviously with bicycling, you know, we
go the .... through this with our, um, our automatic counters on the trails. You
know, if you get a ... urn, a spring like the year of the flood where it's raining every
day, your counts are really low, and then the next year when .... so we sort of, you
know, year over year you maybe don't see a trend, but over three to five years you
see the trend growing. So.....
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Throgmorton: Sarah, could you say a few words about the $14.6 million price tag? Here's what
I mean, I'm lookin' at notes that I took from our meeting two weeks ago. And it
says the total cost of all recommended bikeways, 66.4 miles, is four .... about
$14.6 million, but the recom... but the plan recommends phased implementation,
which spreads that cost over several years. And my recollection is that some
portion of that is just kind of out there. It's not like we're.... we're, I mean, you
know.... well into the future and....
Walz: Yeah!
Throgmorton:.... about .... about that and .... but some other portion was more determinant, it was
more clear about when it ... that that kind of funding might occur and how much it
was, how much it would be. Do you happen to remember what .... what portion of
that 14.6 was kind of..kind of pinned down, even though it's not literally in our
capital improvements program?
Walz: I am not sure that I do, but I could get back to you on that. Um .... what I would
say is, a lot of the, um, there are some bigger ticket items in here. Those are
associated with some of the things that we get TAP funding for, the
Transportation Alternative Program, which is going through some changes itself.
So those are... larger projects like your pedestrian type bridges, things like that.
Um, I think one of the things that Alta did a really good job with was a lot of this
is looking at infrastructure that we already have, roadways, and looking for space
on that roadway to carve out a safe space for bikes. So I think it's wise use of
money in that sense. Um, you're not seeing a lot of, um.....I think in here you're
not seeing a lot of high.....ticket infrastructure. It's really making a place on the
road ... on the roadways that already exist, not major reconstruction of roadways.
Um, you'll get other infrastructure then as we, for example, um, with the new
road that'll go in on American Legion re ... reconstruction that we have to do, um,
cause we're extending the road out to the new school. You'll get a roadway that
has bike lanes on it and that has the side path to one side, which is what we've
been doing on all of our arterial streets. The really obvious example most
recently would be the extension of Sycamore Street. So....
Fruin: The other thing I'll mention is ... is one of the challenges we'll have as staff just
making sure that we're opportunistic and we're strategic with.... with.... um, the
timing of these projects and so you all know we have an annual street resurfacing
program. is ... is making sure that when the .... when a street is picked for
resurfacing, that we're consulting with the bike plan to make sure that we're
restriping it at that time and ... and not restriping it a year or two before that, uh,
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road is gonna be resurfaced anyway. So, um, that's somethin' I know we're
havin' a lot of discussions with internally. Uh, you mentioned Governor and
Dodge. That's a good example. The State informed us they're gonna, uh, move
forward with resurfacing of Governor. Well, now's the time to do that restriping.
So, um, I think that's... that's one of the benefits of this plan is it...it clearly lays
out the preferred network, and we can adjust some of these other programs that
we already have in place, um, to .... to tackle these projects with really little extra
added cost. So some of that unfunded amount you see may actually be picked up
through other budget line items that weren't necessarily accounted for.
Cole: Sarah, one mindset that I'm tryin' to change is that, you know, what's good for
bikes must therefore be bad for cars, and in particular I want to talk about
community safety. Um, have you been able to do some projections, I mean
essentially we're going to get more bike -friendly streets. Some of the streets may
have a little bit lower speed limit. Uh, we may have some narrower streets. A
little bit less space for cars, but have you been able to do any projections in terms
of the anticipated reduction in crashes that we're likely to anticipate as a result of
implementing these changes?
Walz: No, we have not done any projections (both talking)
Cole: Okay. Okay!
Walz: But one of the things I'd like to say, when we ... and it's obvious because, you
know, cost, we want to be really wise when it comes to cost, because we all know,
you know, resources are finite, but one of the things that doesn't get enough
attention and I think Bob Oppliger did a nice job mentioning it in his comments
were, um, the programming aspects. Um, those are opportunities that are
relatively low cost, to really help people get on bikes and biking safely. You
know, so anything from working with senior citizens to obviously working with
youth, and I think that's an important thing right now, especially with all the
changes that we're seeing in the schools, concern about activity buses after
school, be ... kids being able to participate in all the things. You know
that's... that's a real opportunity here that's not a real expensive opportunity and,
you know, kids are a great place to change behavior patterns, because they
haven't developed all the, you know, quirks that we have. I was speaking with
the Optimists this morning. One of the things I said was, you know, I didn't own
a car until I was 30. I didn't have a need for one, and then later I had a .... then my
husband got a job out of town and we had a kid and like suddenly your schedule
changes and you've got, you know, you've got doctor's appointments and you're
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trying to work it in with your work schedule and it becomes much harder, but you
know until I was 30, I lived in cities all over the country and I .... didn't take the
bus. I biked and walked, and it worked fine for me. So, um, I think, you know,
and it was because I grew up in a place where people biked ... to a lot of places that
they went and so I think getting those good behaviors when people are young,
teaching them good bike safety, how to find the best routes to where they're going
— those are things that aren't big ticket items that can really help people, and
advance the idea of getting more people on bikes.
Botchway: So .... you and Geoff have kind of answered my questions about funding, so I feel
better about that. The other piece that .... you're kind of talking about when you
talking about culture, and I think Rockne also mentioned it, or has kind of touched
on it a little bit with the community safety part is .... if we.....is this a culture shift
though away from .... you know, that complete .... I don't know, John I think has
used this before, but.... complete road or.....(several responding) Complete
streets, because you know .... part of, you know, I moved from the west side to the
east side and I'm going down Friendship a lot more to go to work, and so people
ride their bike on Friendship. Um, I think we discussed this a little bit before
when I was talking about community ... or safety in general, about the passing, and
so there's just not enough space on that street with cars and some of the other
things to pass a bike, you know, effectively, and so you just wait, and that's a part
of the culture that I had to kind of be, you know, assimilated into when I moved to
the east side. I'm not sayin' it doesn't happen on the west side. I just mean that I
wasn't ... I didn't necessarily have to deal with that when I was in my car and so
from that perspective, is the plan accounting for that, cause we're .... we're now
funding situations or items where we're saying that we want to have kind of
this .... this buffer or even some lines or space, um, there for bicycles to .... to use
effectively, but why aren't we still advocating, or are we advocating for enough
the fact that you know just use the road. The other part of it is is I know this is
kind of the pedestrian/bicycle piece of this, but we have some larger sidewalks.
From a safety perspective, isn't.... wouldn't it be, I mean, I know that I ... when I
ride my bike, which is rare!
Walz: Right!
Botchway: Um, I use the sidewalks, because I just feel more comfortable, even if it was on
the street from a buffer standpoint, I just feel better. Are we .... are we shifting in
the right way, I mean are we .... are we moving away from that complete street,
that I think is an important piece of what I would feel like would be a more
comfortable transition to a bikeable community and doing more kind of
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infrastructure when we should be focusing more on the educational/accessibility
piece?
Walz: So, um, things like bike lanes, that kind of striping, you're only going to see on
more of your collector arterial streets. Those are not intended for every street. So
a low volume street, um, is not gonna have bike lanes on it. Um, a lot of people
do feel, um, comfortable riding on sidewalks, are not ready to ride to the street,
but there's a certain point at which you start moving quickly and often
comfortably enough that you realize the street is the more efficient way to get to
where you're going, and there.... there are some safety concerns with riding on the
sidewalks, but with that in mind, with our ... the way we do arterial streets, we
create that .... we've called it a wide sidewalk. It's called a side path, and people
are allowed to use that, but once people start feeling, um.....more comfortable on
the street, or more comfortable riding their bike, the shift to the street is better.
See I wouldn't consider riding my bicycle on the sidewalk, I mean it's just ... it's
not as efficient. I can't get there as quickly. I ride with traffic. I'm comfortable,
but that's, you know, that's a process that people go through. So the, um, League
of American Bicyclists talks about the different comfort levels that people have,
and there's this huge pers ... percentage of the population. I forget the exact
number, but it's something like 60 to 70% of people are really interested in
bicycling but they're not quite there yet. So we have a lot of people that feel
really great about riding on bike trails, and bike trails are great, but they don't get
you everywhere you want to go. We have this great bike trail system that's great
for recreation. It gets you down the river. It gets you out on the edges of our
community, but people who want to commute in for things, whether it be the
Farmers Market, going to the Library, going to the work, whatever.... that trail
system isn't going to get you everywhere that you want to go. So it's a matter of
sort of gradation and moving.... some people are just gonna stay exclusively on
the trails, but then again, they have to get to the trails! So how do they get to
them, and in some places it might be a sidewalk. In other places the safer place to
ride is going to be the street.
Throgmorton: So I'm thinking about return on investment. So what .... I have a scenario in mind,
and that scenario is imagine a person who has a choice, to either drive say
downtown from wherever this person lives, or ride a bike. If that person goes
downtown, that person may end up parking in a .... in an underground garage or in
a garage structure. And last I knew that cost about $26,000 per space to build. If
I'm wrong about the number, somebody can tell me. Conversely if that person
chooses to ride a bike, that person can, uh, park it in one of those, uh.... bike
parking stations or whatever one calls them, uh, and just wrap the lock around the
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thing and walk away and it costs, I don't know, what do those things cost, per
space? We don't know, but it's a lot less than $26,000 per space! (several
talking) Per space? I doubt it, Terry, but I don't know! (laughter) So anyhow,
en ... encouraging biking and making it safe and, uh, practical for people to use
bikes more frequently is a way of reducing the demand and need for additional
parking facilities that in some cases are very costly, especially in relation to what
it would cost to park a bike.
Botchway: To that point, if we can clearly articulate that, I'd feel better. I mean cause that's
a great point. I didn't .... I just didn't think about it. Just when that number of $14
million was kind of glaring at me when we were talking about that certain
percentage that it was shared, that would have been a different argument, but I
didn't necessarily .... I wasn't able to think through kind of when we were talking
about it at the work session, but I think that would be a .... that's a good point! I
think that's a good point to have or share that data analysis on.
Thomas: Yeah... yeah, I would also bring up. In fact I would of, in some ways, preferred if
this plan had been a pedestrian/bike master plan, because in my view those are the
two means of active transportation that we're trying to promote, and .... I .... I tend
to look at it as a safety issue and also an equity issue. There are many people in
this community who either cannot drive because of their age, whether they're too
young or too old (laughs) uh, or they can't afford an automobile! What are they
gonna do? You know, their .... their ability to move through Iowa City is
extremely limited. So .... I feel just on the equity standpoint, the .... the economics
of it, um, speak as .... as Jim just mentioned, I ... I really see that as the only
direction we can move. I mean, plus ... you know, we ... we have, as we've noted,
the ... the roadway.... we're not talking generally about projects that require major
changes to our infrastructure. We simply have, uh, the roadway ca ... from a .... a
right-of-way width, the capacity to accommodate more users. So, uh, you know, I
think the focus on bicycling can be misleading, because I really feel that there are
a lot of other issues tied to this that .... we .... we can forget about, and only be
thinking about, oh, there are only 3% of our population that ride a bicycle!
Why .... why we doing this? (laughs) Um, well .... the idea is to move in the ... in
another direction and we are kind of ahead of the .... the curve I would say for the
state of Iowa, uh, so it's gonna be a cultural shift and it's gonna take time, but I
think we will see the benefits of it. In terms of green house gas emissions, there's
a wonderful book called Draw Down where it lists the 100 best ways we can draw
down CO2. Bicycle infrastructure is 59. So .... I think we need to move forward.
I understand the economics, you know, some of these larger projects, you know,
we may need to think carefully about, but I think it's a great concept.
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Taylor: I think the whole safety aspect of...of it, uh, again even with the pedestrians, as
you said, and the bicycles, I think that's a major element of it. And important!
Mims: No I think it's a great plan and I think .... I agree with what, you know, Terry and
Kingsley have said. I'm concerned about the money aspect and I think we've
gotta look carefully at all of our competing priorities as we're, you know,
budgeting, take advantage of other, uh.... other funding streams coming whether
from the State or feds, and .... and building this in as part of those projects, where
then it may cost us less, but um .... you know, as somebody who hadn't biked
since I was a kid and, you know, really got started this spring, um, to the
expen... to the extent that I rode six of the seven days of RAGBRAI, um,
past .... this past week. Um, you know as I've ridden more around town and on the
trails and stuff, then you ... you really do start seeing, you know, where these gaps
are, um, and where you're comfortable and where you're not comfortable, um, in
terms of the traffic, and I'll tell ya, Kingsley, the more you get on your bike, the
more miles you put in, the more comfortable you start getting. Um....
Botchway: It's that thigh burn that gets me though! (laughter)
Mims: By day six I was there! (laughs) Um .... but again, I think it's .... I think it's a great
plan. I think, John, I think you make a good point that it's .... in a way it's not just
about the bikes. It's about just that active way of people being able to get around
and that equity. You know, you talked earlier, Pauline, I think about the .... the
transit and the routes. I mean we just, as a city, cannot financially have bus routes
that hit every part of the city every half hour, you know, to make it really
convenient (both talking)
Thomas: We don't have the density, right? (both talking)
Mims: We don't have the density and we don't have the money, I mean, just to, you
know, to run those kinds of bus routes that really make it convenient for
everybody in the city to use transit for all of their transportation and we'll never
be able to do that financially. So, to have other reasonable alternatives for people,
where, um, you know, the crosswalks, the biking, those kinds of things are easier,
more comfortable, feel safe, um ... you know, again, I just think it's .... it's
matching up those plans with what can we actually afford as we move forward.
So, I'm certainly supportive of the plan. I .... we're just gonna have to look year -
by -year how can we fit pieces into the budget with the other competing priorities
and move forward with it.
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Throgmorton: Any other discussion? Well I guess one last thing..... thank you, Sarah! Yeah.
Uh, I ... I'm very happy to support the plan. I think it's a major step forward. Uh,
it, uh, will be good for our city in the long run, but I think Susan's point is clearly
correct — we cannot do everything at once, uh, it has .... these investments have to
be spread out over time, and it's best to figure out ways to, as Geoff said, do two
things at once, maximize the benefit for the .... for the action. Uh, but it's also
important to see action take place. We don't wanna have a plan sit on the shelf.
So .... one last thing, I'd like to thank Diana Harris and Feather Lacey for, uh,
providing written comments to us. They were way in the back at the end of the
plan and pretty hard to even learn they were there, uh, but they are and they're
pretty thoughtful comments from .... people who ride all the time and really know
this .... know the city, know the streets, etc. So I hope their comments can be
taken into account. Okay. Any further discussion? Hearing none, roll call
please. Oops, sorry! (unable to hear person speaking from audience) Oh, yes,
I'm song! Excuse me! (unable to hear person speaking from audience) Yeah!
Yeah, excuse me. I should have done that! Why ... it's Dick! Hi! (laughs)
Dorsweiler: I'm Dick Dorsweiler and uh, I'm a recreational bicyclist, but I love the work
Sarah and everybody's been doing, and like Susan I'm beginning to ride more as I
see the opportunity, and what I specifically stopped in Fort Collins, Colorado after
coming back from a wedding to look at .... there may be a few years ahead of us
but the people there tell me, you know, it's a culture that changes slowly and
Kingsley, like you find new streets. The new trail map I just got that's out is very
helpful, because it not only has the specific bike and pedestrian trails on it, but
bike friendly roads. So that a combination of using those to commute to work.
Burlington Street's not bike friendly. College Street's much friendlier, you know,
and so you might say, well, duh, everybody knows that, but not everybody.... this
education process is long-term, so I'm really excited that Iowa City's moving in
this direction and uh, I'm part of the change. I'm learning and getting better at
this and I think a big section of the population will get our numbers up from a
couple percent to a much higher, as it's part of the Iowa City culture. So, glad to
see you guys workin' on this, so thanks!
Throgmorton: Thanks, Dick! Howdy!
Stewart: Hi, how are you guys doin'? Commuting to .... oh, my name is Gustave Stewart,
um, from the University. Commuting to and throughout campus is one of the
most fundamental things a student has to do every day. Students have to get to
class, work, and various other activities that surround the community, um, and are
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located outside and inside campus. There are many times that students can feel
confined to the University downtown area and may not be aware of the
surrounding opportunities that lie outside it. While cars can be costly,
unsustainable, and sometimes just a hassle, biking can increase the affordability,
and the acces... accessibility to great .... to the greater Iowa City area. In many
places biking is not safe, as you guys said. Students have to face the fact that they
have to bike with speeding cars and are sometimes cramped in with pedestrians,
getting at that pedestrian issue. Commuting across the river is difficult and
dangerous at times. That can add additional stress that is simply unnecessary.
Through my time working at the University of Iowa Bicycling Advisory
Committee I've noticed that safe routes have been a constant issue that needs to
be fixed. There are many times when I'm riding on the right side of the road and
some cars may proceed to only pass me by .... a minimal distance. This is a story
that many cyclists can empathize with. So we are glad to see, uh, the master plan
taking steps to address these dangerous routes and issues. In order to promote an
affordable, healthy, and sustainable way to get around the Iowa City area, we
need to encourage bicycle infrastructure that creates safe routes and tie into the
University and impact zone. The Iowa City bike master plan is a great start to this
endeavor. It increases bicycling infrastructure by enormous amounts and
recommends internal changes that will ultimately lead to lasting changes for
biking in the area. There's one thing I want to emphasize though. The work has
just begun. It is important that this process is not merely a plan, but this plan is
taken into action. Only with action can we experience the change for the
University and the community. Whether it's putting bike lanes on Clinton,
Washington, or Burlington, or having internal changes through, uh, having an
active transportation coordinator or a bicycle advisory committee, so
conversations can be continual and long lasting. There needs to be that in...
inpu... implementation (laughs) UISG is in support of getting the University and
the City (mumbled) gold bicycle -friendly status. By increasing biking networks
and education, students can have a better access to campus and ultimately feel
safer. This plan will ultimately benefit all people and all modes of transportation,
and we're excited to see what's to come. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thanks, Gustave. Hi, Nancy, how are you?
Carlson: (laughing) ...changed the agenda (laughing) Um, I'm here to support this. Uh,
10 years ago the Central District initiated a Central District Plan. One of the
things that was discussed was bicycle facilities, and I quote from this.
"Improving facilities for bicyclists was a major topic of discussion at the Central
District Planning workshop and focus group meetings." It is now 10 years later,
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and so it goes on to ... gives some ideas as to how to improve bicycling in the
Central District. I read through it. I found it very interesting because basically it
is a.....a, um .... summary.....of what we .... of the new bicycle plan. And very
little in the 10 years since this came up, and I went to those meetings. I was part
of the thing. I remember the enthusiasm, the excitement of the people who
participated in the bicycle thing, and I'm thinking .... I wonder after 10 years how
they feel about having gone to these meetings, about having put input in ... and
what do they get for it? And now 10 years later we're sort of discussing the same
thing. Only in much more detail. Uh, I went to the meet .... I went to a couple of
the meetings, uh, this winter for the thing. I saw the same enthusiasm. I saw the
same excitement, and I'm going so in 10 years, what are these people going to
say? I went to these meetings in faith. I put forth what I was interested in, and I
had thought that my city would listen to me and help me to .... so that I could have
a better bicycling experience. Ten years has passed and what has happened? So I
would like to see this .... plan enacted but I want to make sure that we do
something for it. You know, all too often in the past when we've plas... passed
plans, and Jim, you've talked about this, uh, I must have left it (mumbled) This is
an inspirational plan and so with an inspirational plan it's what is .... what we
would like to see happen, but unless we have something to make it happen, it
becomes a .... ends up on the shelf. And I have seen too many plans that people
have put their time and effort into, and the City has paid money for, uh, people to
come in .... and we put them on the shelf. So if we are going to do these things, I
want to see us move forward on it. I realize this is not going to happen over night,
but if you see a movement .... it gives you hope and the next time the City asks
you to come forward and give information and participate in a plan for the city,
you're more willing to do that, because in the past when you did that, they
listened to you! They felt that you .... what you had to say was important and they
felt that you were a citizen of the city that should be ... uh, taken of importance.
Uh.....right now the past number of years I've had health problems and so I have
not been riding my bicycle. Uh, as a result, I don't go downtown. Because it was
much easier when I could ride my bicycle. I could hop on my bicycle, zip
downtown, find a place to stick it, tie it up, and go on about my business. If I
wanted to go down for 10 minutes or 20 minutes or half an hour, it was not a big
deal. With a car I've gotta go down, I've gotta go into one of the parking ramps
or I've got to find a parking place. I just don't go downtown! And I miss that
part, but I .... driving a car downtown is not something that I enjoy doing. And so
that is part of my life that has disappeared. Uh, my bicycling experience up until
the .... for the most part, I did not commute! I did lawn and .... I do lawn care. I
have a lawnmower and all these tools. Commuting is (mumbled) something I
could do, but I did ride my bicycle every day, for errands or for pleasure or to go
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see people or whatever. So there are a lot of people that I know that do not ride
their bicycle for commuting. If you determine.... the use of, uh, the number of
bicycles by who commutes, you're cutting out and you're missing out on an awful
lot of population who ride their bicycles, on a continuing basis. So I hope that
you pass this. I also hope that if you pass this, you provide money. It doesn't
have to be all done at once, but that you move forward so that when people can
look at this plan and say, okay .... next year they're going to do this, the year after
they're going to do this. But if they co .... but if they ask me to come and speak
again on a topic, I'm more willing to do that, because last time I did that they
listened to me and they did do something. Thank you.
Throgmorton: Thanks for coming and speaking, Nancy. Anybody else? Okay. Uh, any further
discussion on Council? Roll call, please. Motion carries 7-0. Motion to accept
correspondence, please.
Botchway: So moved!
Dickens: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Botchway, seconded by Dickens. All in favor say aye. Opposed.
Motion carries.
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ITEM 13. Housing Trust Fund Contribution - Resolution authorizing the City Manager
to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Housing Trust Fund of
Johnson County for the contribution and use of $325,000 for affordable
housing
Mims: (both talking)
Botchway: (both talking) ....second!
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Botchway. Discussion? Tracy, would you like to
speak about this? You don't have to. Would you like to? (unable to hear
response from audience) (laughter) Say your name, please!
Achenbach: Tracey Achenbach, Executive Director of the Housing Trust Fund of Johnson
County. I, um ... just want to say thanks for continuing to dedicate funds to help
us try and create more opportunity for affordable housing in Iowa City. Um ... I
know that you get reports that Tracy Hightshoe forwards to you that I send in to
her, um, quarterly I believe, so you are up to date on .... on how we have obligated
some funds and we just made funding available in June and awarded the funds in
July. Um, the project that we funded in July was, uh, the FUSE project that is
going up. As you know, the FUSE initiative, which tomorrow morning I'm
attending, um, an IFA board meeting about the application to the State. So that's
exciting, I think, for all of us. Um, and then we of course will be having.....we
will be accepting applications again, um, because we still have funding available
and, um, we'll be taking applications in Septem.... they'll be due in September,
and we'll be awarding it in October, and we anticipate, we've had some
developers contact us who plan to do larger projects, so we anticipate some
applications. So, just thank you a lot cause on behalf of the, uh, people in the
community who need affordable housing. Thanks!
Throgmorton: Great! Thank you, Tracey! Geoff, did you want to have anybody else speak
about this?
Fruin: No, I just .... as a reminder, um, the Council last year adopted a formula on how to
distribute the affordable housing funds and um ..... uh, the Housing Trust Fund is
50% of that allocation.
Throgmorton: Okay. Council discussion?
Botchway: Great work! Keep going!
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Throgmorton: Yep! Glad to see it. Roll call, please. Motion carnes 7-0.
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ITEM 14. Land Banking Guidelines - Resolution Adopting Land Banking Guidelines
Botchway: Move resolution.
Thomas: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Botchway, seconded by, uh, Thomas. Uh, Geoff, would you or
someone else, just a .... briefly explain land banking, uh (both talking) I don't
know if the public really understands (both talking)
Fruin: Sure, um, and .... and, uh, this work is being done by our, uh, Neighborhood
Services Division, uh, in particular Tracy Hightshoe and Chris Ackerson have
been leadin' the effort on this, but when we, uh....uh, decided on the Affordable
Housing Action Plan ... you all adopted that plan, one of the key components was,
uh, land banking, which is essentially the City, um, purchasing property in the
community and strategically using that property to .... to bring on more affordable
units and that can be done in a number of different ways. Um, it can be done, uh,
strategically to .... to try to target a tax credit project or as annexations occur or
subdivisions come on line, we could use those funds to, again, strategically
purchase a property so that we could further affordable housing goals. It's a
strategy used by, um, a number of cities, particularly larger cities that are doing
some of the more progressive work in the affordable housing arena. Uh, the
formula that was adopted is, uh, a 25%, uh, for land banking. So, uh, in fiscal
year 17, that was $250,000. Uh, you'll recall in that particular year we had the
million from the Court/Linn project. FY18, which is the current fiscal year that
we're in, uh, we set aside $650,000 for the affordable housing, uh.... uh, fund.
That was general fund dollars, and that, uh, 25% of that is $162,500. Um, the
HCDC is also going to be considering, um, a recommendation on how to use
some unallocated funds from last year and potentially this year, and so that
number, um, could increase, uh, to as much as about $428,000 right now that
would be available for land banking. Um, we're .... we're gettin' close to that
point where we think that we can actively start to go out and ... and look for
property, um, to ... to purchase. But before we want ... before we do that, we wanted
to make sure that, uh, there was a general framework for how we evaluate
property. So the land bank guidelines were ... were developed, uh, by staff. We
looked at, uh.... uh, some policies in other cities. I think notably Madison,
Wisconsin, which .... which has been doing this for several years, and then we
vetted that through the HCDC commission. Um, I want to be clear, it's not a hard
scoring system. We're not gonna go out and identify properties and rank them.
Um, there's just, you know, identifying properties is .... you have to be a little
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more strategic in how you do that. Um, a lot of the properties that we may target
may not be on the market, so to speak. Um, so what we wanted was some
Council buy -in to the types of vetting that we do. So you'll see a series of
questions on the land banking guidelines. Ultimately we ... we'll use those to
develop a recommendation for you and then when it comes to purchasing proper
...property, our plan would be to hold an executive session with you, uh, to get
your concurrence on, uh, what the offer parameters might be and—and whether
this is a .... a piece, a parcel that makes sense, and then ultimately the purchase
happens in open session where the public can comment on, um, the purchase
proposal.
Throgmorton: Great! Thanks, Geoff. Uh, so, Council Members, questions or .... discussion?
Botchway: So I'm excited. I have one.... question/issue. It's with the last, um, consideration
that would disqualify a property from consideration: "If the site is not in
compliance with affordable housing location model." My issue isn't with that,
um, consideration. It's more from the fact that it will immediately disqualify a
property from consideration. I don't feel comfortable with that. I mean, I'm not
saying that .... I understand the affordable housing model. I get why we're doing
it, that we want to disperse affordable housing throughout, um, the city, but I
don't want to immediately disqualify any property. I mean if a fabulous property
comes on board, um, that we could potentially purchase, I don't want to
immediately disqualify it. So it's really, I mean, literally.....I mean, of all the
questions I think they have a good analysis. Um, I think with respect to, uh, not
only zoning but also to transportation and some of those ne.... needs from that
standpoint. It was just that particular piece worried me a little bit, and if I'm
not ... if I'm thinking correctly, the affordable housing model does not incorporate
the University area.
Frain: Riverfront Crossings area is exempt, because of the inclusionary zoning ordinance
(both talking)
Botchway: ....what about the University (both talking)
Frain: ....just the Riverfront Crossings (both talking)
Botchway: Never mind .... but still.... that's a concern. It's just, again, not saying that it
wouldn't be disqualified after it went through the vetting process. It's just that
immediately... that immediate disqualification from consideration would worry
me.
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Mims: Yeah, but from my perspective, Kingsley, when we .... when we looked at that and
we've tweaked that model, I mean we had some pretty strong goals in terms of
making sure that we disperse affordable housing for lots of reasons that have been
documented nationally, you know, for years of why it's better to .... to disperse
that housing, and so with the idea that with land banking, um, you know, we're
coming in with the specific goal of putting in affordable housing and that model is
saying these are areas in which we already have a certain amount of affordable
housing, based on .... you know, location with schools and free and reduced lunch
and all those other things that feed into that model, and ... and I would assume that
we will continue to tweak that model periodically every two to three years or five
years or something. Um ... I think it makes sense that we .... if it doesn't fit within
that model, that's not land that we should be looking at to .... to put more
affordable housing on, so I'm ... I'm comfortable with that as it stands.
Fruin: And I would add, just so everybody's aware, that same stipulation has been
passed along to the Housing Trust Fund for the dollars that you just allocated to
them and then as we go through the dispersement of our, uh, Home and CDBG
funds, that's an al ... that's also contingent. So it's not just our ability to purchase,
um, that's impacted by the model. It's the funds that we're providing to non-
profit or for-profit developers for affordable housing that are also impacted by
that model.
Throgmorton: I .... I don't see how we can let ourselves get into a situation where we tell other
people, non -profits, for -profits, they cannot build within certain parts, as ... as
determined by that affordable housing location model, but we ... can make a
different choice. That doesn't make any sense to me. I think we need to be
consistent. Any further discussion? Well of course I'm very glad to see this and I
want to thank the staff for its, uh, fine role in developing, uh, these guidelines.
But I also want to acknowledge the role that the Housing and Community
Development Commission has played in this. I'm really excited to see that they
had an opportunity to help shape these guidelines. It's a ... it's important for
people on that commission to know that they in fact have an important role to
play, that it's not narrowly constrained by what the commission used to do, uh,
several years ago. Uh, I also note that, uh, the nine factors that "will be
considered," uh, like Geoff was suggesting are not ones that kind of result in
a .... an equation that says this is gonna be top, this other thing's gonna be #2 and
soon. So there's a lot of judgment involved in that, uh, deliberation about
whether to ... propose purchasing a specific site. Yeah. Okay. Any further
discussion? Hearing none, roll call please. Motion carries 7-0.
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ITEM 15. Augusta Place Design Changes - Consider a Resolution Approving Changes
to the Design of Augusta Place
Mims: Move the resolution.
Botchway: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Botchway. Discussion? Uh, Simon, are you....
Fruin: I'm gonna lead it and Simon's gonna help me with some of the, uh, illustrations
that are included in your packet, uh, but we wanted to show `em for the public
benefit too. Um, Augusta Place, uh, refers to the development, uh, behind City
Hall here, on the City -owned parking lot. Uh, the Council entered into a
development agreement, uh, earlier this year for the development of that property
and, uh, we are working towards the closing of the property so that, um, the
developer can get started on that project. Um, the development agreement calls
for any, uh, substantial deviation from the concept plans, uh, that were approved
at the time of the development agreement, uh, to come back to Council, and so
that's why we're here, uh.... uh, tonight. Uh, we do think that there's been some
changes that would, um, meet that substantial deviation standard. Um, so
essentially what had happened is when we were going through the, uh, financial
analysis portion of this, that led to the execution of the development agreement,
um, what we failed to do as staff is ... is do a check on the design review piece, and
so when we started to get into design review, urn, we note .... we noted that there
needed to be a .... a step -back, uh, on the east side, uh, of the, um, of the multi-
family building. Uh, it was a .... proposed to be a seven -story building with no
step -back on the upper floors and we felt that that step -back, uh, was ... was
important because at that, um, location on Van Buren Street, you're really starting
to transition into a .... a residential area. Um, the .... the developer, um, was, uh...
fairly far along with his, uh, concepts and so, um, he went back with the
developed team.... development team and brought forward a proposal that, um,
exceeded our step -back requirements, but made sense for ... for his development,
and that was a .... to incorporate a 25 -foot step -back, urn ..... uh, on the upper
floors. Typically we require a 10, uh, when .... when feasible, but for design
reasons it was .... it was easier to accommodate the.....the, um, the, uh, 25 -foot
step -back. At the same time, staff, um, had been working with the, uh, developer
to see if there was a way to better secure our parking area on the ground floor.
Um, if you recall, the, uh, development agreement calls for us to, um, own the
bottom portion of that parking facility, approximately 60 spaces, and that that
would all be Public Safety parking. So, right now we have a mixture of public
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safety and non-public safety parking in our surface parking lot. When this
project's complete it would be all Public Safety parking. Uh, for a variety of
reasons, the Police would prefer that the residential traffic is not moving through,
um, their portion of the parking deck. Um.....so we worked with the design team,
uh, they came up with a .... a solution that we felt was really good, to give the,
um .... uh, the residential a, uh, folks a separate entrance off of Van Buren, up into
that second story of the parking deck. Um ... that change did not impact the
number of spaces, um, that we would receive. It's still anticipated that there'd be
60 non -compact spaces for Public Safety, but it did change the configuration of
those spaces. So what you have before you are changes to, uh, two exhibits in
the, urn .... uh, in the development agreement. Um, that would be exhibits D and
E. D is, uh, the narrative of the minimum improvements, so some of the changes
are spelled out there, and then E is the design review, uh, portion of that. With
both of the changes I .... I just described, the step -back and the parking, uh, there
was a displacement of units that were previously proposed in those locations.
Obviously you move the building back 25 -feet, you're losing some residential
units on those top floors. Similarly, if you're creating an entrance off of Van
Buren for a .... a new parking entrance, you're gonna lose a townhome, uh, I
believe two townhome units there. So, we had to work with the developer to
replace those units on site, in a way that didn't, um, really detract from the, uh,
original concept and .... and we'll step through that today. The developer's here
and can answer questions as well. The image that you see on the screen is, uh,
showing, uh, the lower level parking area. And .... bring it up on mine here too.
You will see that a .... a second entry has been created on Van Buren, kind of in
the middle of, uh, four townhomes, uh, there. Uh, so Van Buren would .... would
be to the right of the screen there, or the east side of that. Uh, you can see the, uh,
the new entryway that's a ramp up for the, um, again the residential, uh,
components there. Simon, if you wanna scroll through, um, we'll get to, uh,
one .... once you go one more, um, this image here shows, urn .... the,
um.....courtyard. Uh, previously there was a, um, a courtyard and let me .... pull
those dimensions real quick. Um .... there was a large courtyard on top of the
parking facility. Um, in order to accommodate the lost units, we're proposing
shrinking that, uh, courtyard. So previously that courtyard was 187 -feet by 62 -
feet, and it's really the white space in between the .... the blue units there. It
shrinks to a space of, uh, 170 -feet by, uh, 30 -feet, which we think is still a pretty
generous space, um, it's kind of an outdoor open space for, uh, the tenants of this
facility, but that is one thing that is being sacrificed by the ... by the two design
issues that I mentioned. I think we have some exterior renderings here that we'll
show you as well to give you a .... a view of the ... the aesthetics here. So from this
vantage point, um, what you can see a ... above the church, you see the, to the left
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of the church there, to the east, are the four-story townhomes. The additional
units are built behind those, so that building is .... is deeper at those upper levels
than .... than it was previously proposed. And that's.... that's where we're pickin'
up, um, those units. So the... the back of that building is extending further on to
the courtyard. Oh, and this is just a, the townhomes, nothing significant there.
But this would be standing at the corner, uh, on the credit union property, um, you
have Iowa Avenue there down to your right and Van Buren, uh, to your left there,
and you can see the second entrance on the ... of the parking deck, um, between
the .... between the townhomes right there where Simon has his cursor. Um, that
would be the residential entrance to Augusta Place Development. The Police
entrance would remain where they currently enter the parking lot, um, with the
existing curb cut, uh, at City Hall there, and they would take an interior route to
that first floor. Again that's a summary of the design changes. Um, I can answer
any questions and the developer's also here to answer any questions, uh, that you
have with these changes.
Throgmorton: Okay! Any questions, folks?
Thomas: You don't happen to have images of the previous proposal .... by any chance?
Fruin: I .... I do not. No.
Throgmorton: What are you wonderin' about, John?
Thomas: Just the ... to compare, you know, what it looked like, the original proposal.
Fruin: One thing I'll say on the Van Buren side and .... and, um, Jesse can jump in if I
have my dimensions wrong, but it's because of the flood plain issue. That first
floor starts at about seven feet off the ground. Jesse, is that, uh, is that accurate?
More or less seven feet off the ground. So getting that entrance into the ... the....
the parking ramp was a little easier than it normally would be because the floor's
already elevated a little bit, and you can .... you can see that reflected in the design
of the .... of the townhomes as you.....as you look on Iowa and Van Buren. That's
why we have the stairs going up to the entry units there is because of that .... that
flood plain issue and having to build those units, um, above that level. I would
say certainly, urn .... in most cases, um, the fewer curb cuts you can have on a
residential street, on a street like this, the better. Um, in this case, uh, with the...
with the design work that, uh.... uh, Neumann Monson did and ... and Jesse's... has
proposed here, I think this curb cut works well and, uh, I think the public safety
benefits of keeping our lot secure and .... and off limits to, um, walk-through or
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drive-through traffic is .... is worth, um.....um.... the.....the.....the change in
design that you're seein' here.
Throgmorton: It looks like a reasonable adjustment to me. Uh, the set -back, or step -back
actually, makes a lot of sense in that location. And I understand what you just
said about ensuring proper control of, uh, our Public Safety vehicles and so on.
And that requires some adjustment.
Thomas: Oh, yeah, I think they're both improvements.
Throgmorton: Any further discussion? Hearing none, roll call, please. Well I should, uh, sorry!
Does anybody else want to address this topic? Yeah, seeing no one, uh, roll call,
please. Motion carries 7-0.
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ITEM 16. Purchase of 881 Park Place- Resolution approving the purchase agreement
for 881 Park Place
Throgmorton: Is there a motion?
Mims: So moved.
Botchway: Second.
Throgmorton: Moved by Mims, seconded by Botchway. Discussion?
Fruin: I'm also gonna walk you through this, uh, purchase proposal. Uh, I think you're
all aware that, uh, after the 2008, um, flood, the City initiated a buy-out program.
Uh, to date we have acquired or in ... or in the process of...of acquiring 100 homes
through that program, the vast majority of which are located in the Parkview
Terrace, uh, neighborhood, which is, uh, shown on the image above. Um, all of
the acquisitions to date have been, uh, aided by State and federal dollars that
we've received. Uh, each time we receive dollars we put a call out to the eligible
properties to see who is, uh, who might be a willing seller and, uh, over the years
we've been able to, urn .... uh, continue to ... to purchase properties. Uh, we are at a
point right now where there are no, uh, State or federal funds available at this
moment. It's likely that they will become available again in the future. Um, a lot
of that depends on the federal disaster money that's coming in to the State of Iowa
and how the State of Iowa divvies that up but.....um, suffice to say that the .... the
hundred purchases that I've, uh, I've talked about were all aided to some degree,
um, by those State and federal funds. In most cases, if not all cases, there has
been a local match of some sort, but the State and federal funds pay the vast
majority of those costs. This particular owner, uh, contacted us and indicated, uh,
his desire to, um, leave the property and to sell it in a pretty short period of time.
Um, you can see the red outline of 881 Park Place there. This is one of three
remaining properties whose, uh, which back yard bleeds into City Park here and
this particular property, uh, happens to be on the, uh, entry.... entrance into City
Park, um, and Simon, if you wouldn't mind scrolling down to that bottom half
image, you can see City Park overlaid there. There's actually a small parking
area, um, off that entryway, uh, that serves some of the ... the ballfields there.
It's... it's, again, a small parking area, but it's a .... um, certainly an entrance into
the park there. Um, normally when we've had owners contact us, um, about a
sale and there has not been available federal funds, we've just said .... we're not in
a position to purchase right now, um, and that we'll contact you if and when those
funds become available. Um, I feel differently about this particular parcel, again
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because of its adjacency to City Park. Um, I believe that there was an urgency, or
there is an urgency for the .... for the owner to .... to move and it's a situation which
if we don't, um, obtain this property now, it's likely that someone else could buy
it, a private, uh, household could.... could take ownership of it, and it may be
several decades. It may not be, but it may be several decades before that, uh,
opportunity to purchase comes up again and while that's not a, uh, a huge deal in
my mind, in most parts of this neighborhood, again, the adjacency to City Park
makes this, um, a .... a little unique. So I'm recommending the purchase of this
property. Um .... we have negotiated a purchase agreement subject to your
approval here, uh, tonight. Uh, that proposed price is $220,438 and that's at
112% of the current assessed value. That is the same standard that we've been
using for the other purchases in this neighborhood. Um, any time we acquire a
property, our intention is to demo that property and you can expect about another
$25,000 in demolition costs, um ..... uh, to go along with that. So you're lookin'
about $250,000 for this purchase. I'm recommending that the funding come from
our emergency reserve fund. Um, as you know we've been building that reserve
fund for a variety of reasons. There's.... there's various uses of those .... of those
dollars. Uh, the fund was primarily established to help with sudden losses of
revenue due to back -fill removal or spikes in pension or healthcare, um, but one
of the stated uses of those funds is also disaster mitigation, and we would consider
this, uh, a disaster mitigation by removing a .... a structure, uh, from the flood
plain here. Uh, that reserve, uh, currently for FYI 8 sits at just over $5 million, so
it's a relatively small, uh, overall piece of. ... of, uh, that fund. I would note that
this would be the first time that we would tap into the fund since it was
established a few years ago. Simon, there's one more picture if you wouldn't
mind scrolling down. We have .... kind of the street view. You can see the
entrance to City Park there on ... on your left and .... and, uh, the home, right in
front of you.
Cole: This then becomes part of City Park or what would the plan for it be?
Fruin: Yeah, it would be demolished and treated like the other, uh, pieces of the, you
know, that neighborhood. So it'd become green space. In some cases we've
established, uh, some prairie, um, in other cases we've just left it, um, kind of a
traditional grass. Um, at this particular area of City Park behind there, um, is
open now. There's a small trail loop that goes back there. Um, the master plan
that the City co .... uh, completed several years ago calls for the Park maintenance
building, uh, that's currently in central City Park, uh, to be moved, uh, to the area
right behind, uh, where this home is, kind of tucked away in a back corner of the
lot. Um, so.....I would view it certainly as a part of City Park, but it won't
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necessarily be programmed with, uh, play equipment or anything like that. We
wouldn't have a .... immediate desire to expand a parking lot or .... (mumbled)
space.
Throgmorton: So, Geoff, I know you and I talked about this briefly, uh, a little while ago. Uh, at
the time though I didn't think to ask a specific question. I support the idea of
purchasing the property, but I'm wondering about demolition, and I know we
dem ... demo'd all the other buildings, but the question is why not move it,
and... sorry.... why not move it instead of demolish it?
Fruin: Um .... I .... I don't know whether the, you know, what the structure, um, if it could
be moved, what kind of condition it's in. Um .... uh.... I would say the cost of
moving and... and having to move it outside of this neighborhood would be a
pretty steep cost for the ... for the unit itself. Um, we could certainly cost that out,
but at the end of the day I'd .... I don't know that it would be a great fit. I mean I
think you're lookin' at a lot higher costs.
Mims: Geoff, before it's demolished, will we have anybody come in and salvage
anything out of there that's.... salvageable?
Fruin: Yeah, we do salvage, uh, we've used salvaged materials for UniverCity and other
rehab programs. Um, certainly if there's anything, uh, that can be used at the
Salvage Barn we would... that's.... that's, um, certainly something we check. Um,
and then the Police Department and Fire Department will be able to train in that
facility, um, before it's demolished as well.
Mims: Thank you!
Cole: What are the regulations that govern the use of the emergency ro.... emergency
fund? Is that a .... by ordinance, are those federal regulations or ... how do we
define "emergency" for purposes .... I mean obviously this was in 2008. What are
the standards we use to ... to (both talking)
Fruin: It's a local standard, that's a fund that we've created with ... with all local funds.
Essentially it's been, uh, surplus dollars from previous budgets, uh, that have gone
into this reserve. So you're parry to the financial policies that you've adopted,
including the emergency reserve fund. Um, again, it's really primarily intended
for the sudden loss in revenue so that really we don't have the `backs are against
the wall' type of cuts that are .... that are hard for an organization to ... to withstand,
really to buy us time, uh, to ..... to smooth out any losses in revenue. We did put
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disaster mitigation, uh, in there, knowing that, um, that's a key priority for the
City. Ultimately it's Council's discretion how you use those dollars. Um, you
can use those in any way you see fit, within the constraints of the policy, and if at
any time you think the policy needs to be reconsidered or additional uses need to
be, uh, incorporated into that policy, that's, uh, your sole decision. There's no
state or federal involvement in that.
Botchway: Geoff, along those lines as well, I mean I guess, you know, I'm supportive of this.
I just, you know, that's a $250,000 project, um, with the acquisition and then the
demolition of the structure, but in the event, you know, four houses were then to
come online as far as potential properties to purchase, um, we would be using
emergency reserve funds for that?
Fruin: No, I really, uh, L....I think it's, um, I think it's a pretty unique situation here.
Um, for the vast majority of other homes in this neighborhood that still exist, I
would not recommend using local funds. I think we stay the course on that.
There are two other houses, uh, left on this stretch, uh, that do, um, you can see in
that map there's one to the south and one to the north. Uh, their back yards do,
uh, also move into City Park there and, um, depending on the circumstances at
which point those might come on sale, I might have a similar recommendation,
but as you move further, um, east ... or I'm sorry, west and to the neighborhood, I
wouldn't recommend using local funds. I think we continue to rely on the State
and federal funds that come in, and they've come in, um, maybe not every year,
but it seems like they're comin' in fairly frequently and we .... we can, um, you
know, chip away a house or two a year if we're ..... if we're fortunate enough to
get those funds.
Cole: Could we get reimbursed in the future if they come in at a future time?
Fruin: No.
Cole: Okay.
Throgmorton: Any further questions of Geoff? Would anybody else like to address this topic?
Council discussion? Hearing none, roll call please. And, Rockne, you said no,
right?
Cole: Yep!
Throgmorton: Uh, motion carries 6-1.
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ITEM 20. COUNCIL INFORMATION
Throgmorton: Uh, I don't know where we start .... started last time. Does anybody remember?
Botchway: It was me.
Throgmorton: It was you, seriously? Okay! John, why don't we start with you.
Thomas: Okay. Well I just wanted to mention, uh, going .... well, I wasn't going to this
event but I .... I happened upon it. It was, um.....Special Kids Day in the ped mall.
I don't know if any of you saw that. Um .... it was, uh, sponsored by the, uh,
Downtown District and the Iowa City Fire Department. Um .... where they had all
kinds of splash events. It was splash, The Splash With Summer on the Ped Mall
was the name it was given. It was a rocking event! (laughs) I mean I was really
impressed with, um ... what I saw going on down in the ped mall. So,
congratulations to that collaborative effort. It was .... it really spoke to me just as
the .... the, um .... the, uh, block party, downtown block party, that it's all about
programming really. I mean these were really simple things that were set up by
the Fire Department and the kids were having a ball.
Throgmorton: Pauline?
Taylor: Uh, there's a ... we talked all about parks today. Party in the Park this Thursday at
Wetherby, 5:30. So I encourage people to go to that. Hopefully the weather'll
hold out. There's rain predicted but maybe not by that evening, and they're really
fun events! Uh, also Labor Day's coming up. Uh, the Iowa City Federation of
Laborers' having its annual Labor Day picnic. Everybody is welcome to that!
Um, that's on Labor Day, Monday September.... what is that? Third? Sixth! Uh,
from noon to 4:00, Upper Iowa City, City Park. Everybody's welcome to come.
Meat and table service provided. Bring a dish to share (several talking)
Throgmorton: Fourth (both talking)
Taylor: Fourth, it is the 4a'! Okay!
Throgmorton: Uh, Rockne?
Cole: I don't know if this should come up during the packets, but I just wanted to bring
up IP4, for my request for funding for the Dubuque conference this fall. Should I
wait until the packet discussion on that, Jim?
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Throgmorton: I think you should go.
Cole: Okay, just wanted to bring that up.
Taylor: I wanted to talk about that, I was going to bring that up cause I (both talking)
Cole: ...um, I looked at the .... I wasn't actually planning on going to it but it just has a
ton of topics that are really directly related to what we're doing, and I'm really
excited in terms of what .... seeing what Dubuque is doing. Um .... maybe just sort
of more a work session issue. You know I guess in terms of the budget review
process, I think what I .... what I was sort of anticipating was that we would
essentially be able to avoid essentially meetings after the budget comes up before
us in January. Um, so I .... I guess for my point of view, I don't think we really
narrowed down the issues enough to give staff sufficient direction in terms of
what our priorities are. We sort of left it hanging a little bit. Um, so I .... I .... I
would suggest that we at least designate one other work session of at least some
period of time where we could go through that process of winnowing down these
projects and then with the expectation that these would not be final decisions, but
they would become part of the competing priorities that would come back to us in
January. I don't know what people think about that but I would really .... I think
that process that we did in the past was incredibly productive, and we did things
like for example the diversity initiatives that we did, $25,000 grant program. I
think that process yielded a local foods, um, grants that we've talked about, um,
so is that something that people would want to explore at all, because I think we
need to sort of winnow down what we had actually talked about because, um, I
don't know that we really had sufficient focus, um, going forward.
Mims: I think it's kinda hard until we see what comes back from staff really because, I
mean they've got to factor in, you know, the raises, you know, for personnel,
which is a huge part of the budget for the City. Um, you know, other things that
we've already kind of programmed in to CIP and what that's doing in terms of
our debt level. So what that does to our, uh, our debt levy, that's where we were
able to reduce our .... our overall tax levy considerably this past year was in that
debt levy and stuff, so .... I guess.....for me, I think staff has done a really good job
in the past of kind of taking some of that general information and taking more the
concrete stuff that we don't have a whole lot of flexibility with and kind of
funneling that together and then .... I really don't think there's any way of avoiding
those January meetings. I mean I ... I think (both talking) I think we have to let
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staff put that stuff together and then we kind of see where, you know, where that
flexibility is.
Cole: Uh huh.
Mims: Um, in terms of those priorities that, you know, all the projects that people
mentioned tonight, um, and then just kind of figure out, you know, what do we
really have for dollars that we can play with, above and beyond what's really
already programmed in and then kind of make those decisions in January.
Throgmorton: So I agree with Susan, but I think you point at a good direction, Rockne. It'd be
very good for us to get, uh.... um, I don't know, a written version of the notes you
took, Ashley, and you know, lookin' at the transcript and whatever else you need
to do, uh, so that we all can see what we recommended instead of relying on our
feeble memories. Or .... imperfect memories. Uh, that'll help us in making
judgments down the line. Uh, okay, anything else, Rockne?
Cole: Nothing else.
Throgmorton: Yeah. (mumbled)
Botchway: Um, so I wouldn't say I have a perfect memory. I don't think it's imperfect, or
feeble (laughs) but (several talking) All right! Couple things, uh, you are talking
to a prime time 2017 champion, um, I don't want to make a big deal about it but
(laughter) um, on a funny note, Voltron Season 3 is coming out. I'm a huge
anime fan. Um, Soul Fest, on a big note from a city standpoint, is corning this
weekend. Um, so if you have a chance, get out there. Particularly the gospel
Sunday dinner is going to be huge. I know that, um, Barbara Hawk and Diana
Henry have really put .... I mean there's other folks as well, but they really put a
lot of time and effort into it, so I'm really excited about what they're going to
spring forth, and .... um, the Liberty High School ribbon cup ... ribbon cutting
is .... two Saturdays from now, not this Saturday but the next Saturday, I believe,
August 12a'. (both talking) Think it's on the 12a'. (several talking) Be there!
Throgmorton: All right! Susan?
Mims: Um ... just ... I had mentioned this earlier but I'll just mention it as part of this.
Um, as I said ... said, I haven't done a whole lot of biking since I was a kid, and so
this spring kind of decided that I was going to try and do RAGBRAI this year, so
really, you know, went out and got a new bike, got on my bike this year, and did a
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lot of miles. People who talk about RAGBRAI do not exaggerate what kind of an
event that is. I mean it is really a showcase for the State of Iowa. There are
people there from all 50 states. I think from 18 or more different countries. Um,
as I was riding on .... I think it was Friday, so it was up Decorah area, starting to
get into some of the hill.... hillier areas of Iowa. It was really interesting to listen
to people who were riding along with some of the bluffs and people like, Oh! I
didn't know Iowa had bluffs like this! I mean, people who are not from the state
of Iowa or who haven't traveled around the state really do not have a concept of
how beautiful the state of Iowa is. I mean they really think of it as a, kind of a
flat, fly -over state. Um, but let me tell you, as you .... as you ride and .... and this
time of year and the weather that we've had, riding in all the way from the
northwest part of Iowa, the beautiful, absolutely gorgeous, um, countryside and
the farm fields with, you know, the soybeans and the corn, looking just as lush
and green as could be, to getting to the eastern, northeastern part of the state and
getting into those hills, which got a little challenging at times, um, it's beautiful!
It's absolutely gorgeous, and let me tell you, these small towns, you talk about an
economic boon for them, when you have 10,000 people, plus all the support
people associated with it, um, coming in. There are vendors all over the place and
they .... they just relish having everybody there. They areas friendly and
welcoming as you could possibly imagine, and so it is ... it is an incredible event
for the state of Iowa, and it is known not only all across the country, but um, it's
known internationally, and I think, uh, as I was getting ready and reading more
and more about it, I think .... I think one of the newspapers said it was the
longest.... longest running, longest, uh..... mileage -wise ongoing bicycle event
maybe in the world. Um, and so it's ... it's quite an event. So if you ever get the
bug, uh, would encourage you to do plenty of miles, get your seat ready (laughter)
um, because by the end of the week you'll feel it (laughs) but it is ... it's a neat
event, and I really enjoyed it, so .... it was fun!
Throgmorton: Well I'm really impressed, Susan, that you started training in April, is that what
you said?
Mims: Yep!
Throgmorton: After not having ridden your bike for quite a while?
Mims? Forty -plus years.
Throgmorton: Yeah, and you did RAGBRAI after that! That's really impressive!
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Mims: Eleanor was there. She (several talking and laughing) she did the full seven days.
I did six. I had to get back for a wedding, and we had a number of other City staff
that were on the trip as well, so....
Dickens: Somebody can take my ashes on RAGBRAI some day (several talking and
laughing)
Throgmorton: ... when you start ridin' your bike! (laughter) Yeah! Okay, um.....
Mims: There's plenty of really good food, Kingsley.
Botchway: That is the enticing thing I have head about! (laughter) How you eat and
continue to ride the next day!
Mims: The same day! (laughs)
Dilkes: And you get to eat a lot!
Throgmorton: And you need to! I suppose. So I'm not gonna mention anything. There are a
couple things in the works though, which .... one of which you all know about and
uh, there's another thing that's pretty exciting, but .... hold off ....there'll be news
comin' about ... these, both of these things, but I don't want to talk about it publicly
right now. Uh, so I noticed that (several talking and laughing) ...set out a teaser!
So, Kurt, I know you've been sittin' out there with your neighbor. Uh, did you all
want to speak as part of community comment or anything? (unable to hear person
speaking from audience) Yeah. Okay. (unable to hear person speaking from
audience) (laughter) Yeah, I'm sure it is!
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