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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-12-16 TranscriptionDecember 16, 2008 Special City Council Work Session _ Page 1 Council Present: Bailey, Champion, Correia, Hayek, O'Donnell, Wilburn, Wright Staff: Karr, Lombardo, Dilkes, Fosse, Helling, Davidson, Howard, Miklo Others: Gunn, UISG Planning and Zoning Items: d) CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 14, ZONING CODE, TO ESTABLISH A MINIMUM PARKING REQUIREMENT FOR HOUSEHOLD LIVING USES IN THE CENTRAL BUSINESS (CB-10) ZONE. Bailey/ All right. I think we're ready. Thanks. Davidson/ Ready to proceed, Madame Mayor? Bailey/ Yes, please. Davidson/ LTh, good evening, Madame Mayor and Members of Council. We have, uh, three Planning and Zoning items for the work session this evening. Items d, e, and f, uh, Item d is an item that we originally brought to you two City Council meetings ago. Uh, dealing with an amendment to the Zoning Code, specifically the, uh, Central Business District parking requirements. And, uh.. . Champion/ Can't hear you! (several talking) Davidson/ Excuse me - is that better? (several talking) Do Kneed to go back to the beginning? Okay. Um (several talking) yes, hopefully, dinner won't stifle the discussion or anything. Um, we have, uh, as I.indicated, uh, an item that we brought to you originally two Council meetings ago. You asked for some specific follow-up on some specific concerns that you had, uh, and we have done that, and I'm going to let, uh, Karen and Bob, uh, highlight for you the investigation and discussion of Planning and Zoning Commission and the, uh, recommendation from the Planning and Zoning Commission, but I did want to...I did want to emphasize sort of...and certainly we want to discuss any of the subtle nuances that you want to discuss in terms of your specific concerns, but just to reiterate, the big picture here is that the Central Business District zone is the only zone that does not have a parking requirement. And the reason for that historically has been that the downtown zone has not been a residential zone. It's been a commercial zone and it's been an office zone, and because of the type of development that we wanted to see downtown for those types of uses, the City has assumed the responsibility for parking in the downtown. And that, the existing zoning ordinance reflects that, that philosophy. What we now have in 2008 is a market which is supporting large-scale residential developments downtown, and what we want to be able to do is reflect that we feel differently about residential development, that it should not be entirely the City's responsibility to provide parking, that developers should be responsible for providing on- This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of December 16, 2008. December 16, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 2 site parking for their developments in order to take pressure off of the City's system, and to take pressure off of the surrounding neighborhoods around the downtown, uh, that are impacted by the fact that residential uses downtown will be apt to park, uh, in those areas. So, the...the goals here that you see quickly on the...on the first slide here. Manage the supply of downtown parking, um, prevent spillover parking in surrounding neighborhoods, reduce pressure on the public parking system, and level the playing field between projects that will attract long-term residents to downtown and those that are intended solely for short-term renters, aka students. Um, and what...what we mean by that is that you can build a residential building downtown, if it's just for students, and the market will accommodate not having parking in that building, but that is not the case for more permanent type residents. They will insist on having on-site parking, which then is a disincentive for that type of housing over student housing, which the market will accept without on-site parking. So, if I haven't said that clearly enough, Karen will say it much more clearly, um, any questions for me at this point? Howard/ Well, as Jeff said, you requested, um, had some concerns about the amendments as proposed and so, uh, we took those back to the Planning and Zoning Commission, and there were two main concerns that we heard from you, um, at your November 18th meeting -one that the parking requirements as proposed may discourage renovations of existing buildings. Um, apartments above existing commercial in the buildings that are downtown right now, um, and also that the parking requirement of one parking space per apartment, for efficiencies and one-bedrooms, may be...(several talking and laughing) maybe too high. And so with those things in mind, we took this back to the Planning and Zoning Commission and they have recommended reducing the parking requirement for efficiencies and one-bedrooms to .5 parking spaces per apartment, eliminating the parking requirements for the first ten bedrooms for renovations within existing buildings. So for example, you could do ten one-bedroom apartments without having a parking requirement. Um, allow special exception to provide 100% of the requirement in City parking facilities, regardless of the distance between the parking facility and the building where the residential is. There was a concern expressed that we've got parking facilities fairly conveniently located downtown for existing buildings, and right now, um, the requirements are that you have to be within, uh, 300 feet of a parking facility, um, to get 50% of your parking requirement, or within 600 feet, um, of the parking facility. I said that wrong. Within 600 feet to get, uh, 50% and within 300 feet to get 100% of your parking requirement, within a facility. Um, there were...was a concern that that was not needed downtown. So, we eliminated that requirement, um, there was a concern expressed that this would require a commitment to expand the City's parking system, as the downtown grows. There was a lot of discussion at the Planning and Zoning (mumbled) um, Commission about how this will effect the...the parking supply within the City's parking facilities. Um, and then finally, to ease the current restriction on above-ground structured parking; so for new projects downtown, it's very expensive to build parking underground. It's also quite expensive to build structured parking, but uh, less expensive than underground parking. Right now, we basically have a requirement that you can only build structured parking, um, above-ground, if the project has a...a floor area ratio of seven or above. Um, I'm not exactly sure how we arrived at that This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of December 16, 2008. December 16, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 3 number, when that was put into the Zoning Code, but we checked the floor area ratios of the existing buildings downtown, including Plaza Towers, and all the new projects, the taller buildings. We do not currently have any projects downtown that meet the seven...FAR. So basically it was preventing any above-ground structured parking. So we felt that that was really too strict, um, so the recommendation was to ease that restriction and allow above-ground structured parking, as long as it met certain parking requirements, um, these are...we were asked to elaborate on that, um, it would be allowed only by special exception. The front of the buildings, the first 50 feet, would be reserved for storefront uses, um, and the parking then would be located behind, uh, the vehicular access had to be from a rear alley, if feasible, and must be enclosed within the building...walls of the building. So you couldn't have a building that looked like it was on stilts. Um, and then there were certain measures in there to also protect pedestrians, um, so those things would have to go through the Board of Adjustment to...to then be approved, to do structured, above-ground structured parking. Correia/ And this would be only in the case of moving...meeting parking for residential use? Howard/ Right. Correia/ Wouldn't allow for a...above-ground parking structure to compete with City parking garages? You know what I'm saying? Howard/ Well, right now, um, does allow...the code does allow someone to request to build structured parking, um, on site, even for whatever use, whatever project you have. Correia/ Okay. Howard/ Um, so this would ease it for all projects. Wright/ Karen, is there anything that would, um, prevent, or at least, uh, discourage a property owner from building such parking, and then not making it available to his tenants, but making available to the public? Bailey/ For renting out the spaces, is that what you mean? Wright/ Yeah, to renting out the spaces. Howard/ I think technically, I mean, the only thing...you can't run a commercial parking facility unless you're the City, technically. By the zoning ordinance. Wright/ Okay, so basically, it would be disallowed... Howard/ We know that it happens, that people have extra parking spaces and they lease them out to...to other...other people, but as a commercial enterprise, you couldn't technically do that. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of December 16, 2008. December 16, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 4 Wright/ Technically no? Howard/ Technically no. Wright/ Okay. Thank you. O'Donnell/ You say...vehicular access must be from the rear alley, if feasible. And if it's not? Howard/ If it's not, um, it does allow the flexibility to have the access from the street, but the Board of Adjustment is given the criteria that they only should allow it from the street, if um, they have a finding that it will not impact the, um, pedestrian-oriented streetscape in the downtown. So, they do have to...to go through that, um, process...to prove that what they're proposing...number one, is not feasible from the rear, and number two, that they build, if they're going to get access from the street that it be built in a manner that will not interrupt the pedestrian, um, streetfront. LTh, an example, and this is not in the CB-10 zone, but for example the same, um, criteria applies in the CB-5 zone, um, the new building that's on the corner of Linn and Market in the Northside Market Place, they have some underground parking off the alley, one level, that goes down from the alley, and they also have a narrow driveway that comes from the street to provide parking directly from the street, but it's within the building, but there's storefronts along both sides, so it's still tucked behind the storefronts, but there is that narrow driveway, and they were allowed to do that as long as they kept that entrance in a fairly narrow, and only what they needed. Hayek/ One of the concerns I'd expressed a few weeks ago was related to small redevelopment sites with a... a physical footprint of the site is too small to even permit on-site parking. Has that...how does that play out under the revision? Um... Howard/ Well, you can request up to 100% of your required parking within a City parking facility. Hayek/ Okay, so...so for a, one of those sites where you just couldn't put parking on the site just because it's too small, you go through the off-site process. Howard/ Right. Hayek/ Okay. Correia/ And would you be eligible for the...can you go back a slide? Does that allow...eliminate for the first ten bedrooms? Howard/ Within existing buildings. Correia/ Right, for renovation. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of December 16, 2008. December 16, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 5 Howard/ So, if you had... Hayek/ If you...no, I'm talking about a redevelopment. Where you (several talking) you tear down and...you tear down a building and you start with an empty lot. Correia/ Right, okay. Howard/ For both one-bedroom, efficiencies and also for two-bedroom apartments, the requirement is .5 spaces per bedroom, and so you could build a fairly significant number of apartments that were one and two-bedrooms and have a fairly small parking requirement. That probably, you know, that the City might have capacity within their parking system to meet those needs. Miklo/ (mumbled) Something else to consider is that, um, there are options to... Bailey/ Bob, could you move closer...thank you. Miklo/ Rather than residential development, some of those might redevelop for commercial uses, retail on the ground floor and offices above. Um, I think it's a policy question, or something that we should be concerned about or be looking at is, do we want o displace commercial development downtown for residential. Do we want to make it...that could be making it too easy to do too much residential downtown. Bailey/ Other questions...on this item or discussion? - Hayek/ My recollection is two or three weeks ago the, um, as it relates to securing long-term parking in a municipal ramp that the status quo is that there's just not much available. Is...maybe I misspoke, but... Davidson/ A lot of that, Matt, depends on how you determine, how you define the word available. Um, the...the way that you're parking management staff manages the City parking system is to try and make sure there is always short-term parking available. And they do that by putting limitations on permits. And then there's things they do like over- sell, you know, I think they sell permits 120% in Chauncey Swan across the street here because they know on any given day there's a number of people that won't actually be...be using a space. So, there's a lot that goes into that, and you always have the option, as a matter of policy, to change those distinctions in order to basically free up spaces. What Chris O'Brien's indicated to us, that for modest, you know, if somebody has a 20-unit building and it's...and it's efficiencies and one-bedrooms and they need ten spaces, he can accommodate a request like that. Seventy-five spaces, that'd be more of a concern. Um, and he also would want us to reiterate that it does imply if downtown is going to grow that the City has to be committed to constructing additional parking, and of course you all know we have the next facility we're planning right now, but...but that This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the, Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of December 16, 2008. December 16, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 6 that's got to be part of agreeing to this, is that the City remains committed to providing parking. Hayek/ The concern from my perspective, first of all with respect to existing structures...I think that's a really great solution, to exempt the first ten bedrooms, and just, uh, in one fell swoop, help out all those older or existing structures that...that we were talking about the other day. My concern is with these small sites, um, I was hoping to see some sort of exemption for them, uh, there isn't, so that means they go into the special exception category, where they've got to secure off-site parking, and my concern there is, um, that's their only option and...and it's, the message I'm hearing is that there's...there's no guarantee or anything close to a guarantee that they can get long-term parking, even for a small structure, not a 75-parking site space, but a 10 or 15 or afive-parking site. Howard/ Um, as far as guarantee, I guess no, and that's the way it is right now. If somebody wants parking downtown and wants to build a building downtown, typically for residential buildings downtown that are trying to attract long-term residents, they need parking, and so right now, as it stands, they have to secure parking, if they have a small site within a City parking facility. So that's...that's the existing situation right now. Um, so that won't change. I mean, the parking demand will be there, regardless of...of whether there's a parking requirement or not. Um, and if what we want to do is attract long-term residents, we're going to need to accommodate that parking demand somewhere, whether it's on-site or within the City parking facilities. Davidson/ One other thing that...that Chris does now, and this was at direction of the City Council. I don't know if it was eight or ten years ago, um, when we...we, uh, discussed all the City's parking policies, is he holds back a certain number of spaces for economic development projects downtown -it's either 25 or 50 spaces. Now, that...up to this point has been for job creation basically, um, office uses and things like that that created jobs downtown, but needed to have parking permits. Um, you know, you could expand that to include economic development projects that created housing downtown, if...if you wished to do that. Hayek/ Well, and that...maybe we're starting sort of Council discussion that's more appropriate in the open, in the public meeting in an hour, but I mean, a concern I have is if we're forcing the small developers...the developers of the small sites to...to go that route, without thinking about the availability, whether it's a change in policy on what's set aside or something else, um, I have concerns about that being realistically viable route for a developer of that kind of site to take. Bailey/ Give me a sense of simply how many small sites you're...I mean, what...what are you, in your mind, what are we thinking about, or what is down there, what...who will potentially run into these road blocks? How many properties? I know Wells Fargo, we talked about that. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of December 16, 2008. December 16, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 7 Hayek/ That'd be an example, or...or I don't know how big the, uh, the West Bank footprint is. Maybe it's plenty big enough. I...I don't know, but I can see those kinds of.. . Bailey/ That seems like an area that almost could develop its own parking though, right there, the West Bank one. Hayek/ Like Vogel House. That was brought up a couple weeks ago. Bailey/ Right. Right. Hayek/ That's a very skinny, you know, the width is very small and...I don't know if you could get parking on there. Bailey/ Yeah, the only one that I'm thinking of is that one that Mark brought up, that's why I'm trying to think of how many, what would be the impact of this on smaller sites. Do you have a sense, Bob? Miklo/ And I apologize, we don't have the map, and we did do a study of the lots downtown, and the buildings, and the West Bank, for example, that area, um, Mark Moen is...is purchasing that, basically that half block. So that area along Burlington Street, on the periphery of downtown, those tend to be larger tracts, or the developers are amassing larger tracts, where they will be able to get under-ground, on-site parking and perhaps on- site, so those...those sites, I don't think, are a concern, and the core of downtown on Clinton Street, Washington Street, parts of Iowa Avenue -several of those are historic buildings so the question is do we really want to see those redeveloped? Do we want to provide an incentive to redevelop those? Um, so the one site that we had, staff had a concern about was the Dane Bosworth, or the Wells Fargo, building and that's why we put in the provision that makes it easier to get, um, parking in a public facility, that you only...there isn't a distance requirement, as long as there's parking available. Hayek/ Well, that Wel1s...Dane Bosworth, Wells Fargo building would be, I think, a prime example. Miklo/ Right, and I think that's the one where the solution for the special exception is...is a pretty good solution to that. Champion/ And, Matt, I totally agree with you, but I park in those ramps, I mean, you do too, but it's amazing how full they are. I mean, it is amazing how full they are. So we don't have a lot of room. We really don't, without building another ramp, and I'm think...what are you going to do in 10 years or 15 years when one of those parking ramps has to be replaced? Correial How...what percent of our parking, our permits that we sell to are being leased by the U? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of December 16, 2008. December 16, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 8 Davidson/ By the University? Um, I think it's somewhere right now between 350 and 450. What percentage that is of the total, Amy, I'm sorry I can't tell you, but it's about that order of magnitude. Correial Right. Davidson/ And all the, there's 350 in Court Street Transportation Center that are considered temporary. Basically, you know, the University is trying to plan some east, uh, some east side parking facilities, but they're hung up right now because of the Hospital discussion, and basically the Hospital needs to decide what they're going to do so the University knows what the west side parking commitment is, before they can deal with the east side. In the meantime, that's what they're using those permits for. They don't consider it, uh, a long-term need either. Correia/ Okay, so I mean, there is the ability to,1 mean, we're...we renew those types of leases on a yearly basis, correct? Davidson/ Actually, those can be taken away on 30 days. Correia/ Sure, but I mean, you know...generally do people... Davidson/ Yeah, generally. Right. Correia/ Okay. So, there would be the ability if we see, if we know that there's a large project coming on, their going for the special exception, there would be the ability to say...work with the City on the parking requirement. Davidson/ Oh, yeah, absolutely, yeah. Correia/ In terms of saying, you know, we know the University, you know, we're going to take back some of those spaces. Davidson/ Right. Hieronymus Square is a perfect example.- The University's been put on notice, if Hieronymus...Hieronymus Square comes on-line, they're going to lose permits because Hieronymus Square's going to get them. Correia/ Right. Wright/ Will the special exception process, um, require analysis of available spaces? Davidson/ Yeah. Those are case-by-case basis when they go through the Board of Adjustment. Wright/ So that should be part of it every time. Davidson/ Yeah, that would be part of every analysis. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of December 16, 2008. December 16, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 9 O'Donnell/ Jeff, we've talked a lot about the Wells Fargo building. Go farther south, uh, I don't know what's in there now, uh, is it a bar? Davidson/ Uh, oh, the block directly south of there? O'Donnell/ Yeah. Davidson/ Yeah, where the old Iowa Theater was, right. (several talking) O'Donnell/ Yeah, and, well, I'm talking specifically right across the alley from, um, from Wells Fargo. Davidson/ Yeah (mumbled) O'Donnell/ If you were to develop that, and...and I don't...I don't know if there's anything in the works for that or not, but how would you provide parking for that? Davidson/ Well, that's, you know, that's another example, Mike, of one where obviously the access is not good there because basically all off the alley, because you're...you're squeezed in by the...the Library and the Pedestrian Mall. So, again, you know, as Bob's indicated I think that would be a likely...now, you know, there's also the aspect of those being historic buildings and...and Bob can answer more specific questions about...about that, but you know, the City isn't necessarily encouraging historic buildings to be torn down. If there was a major redevelopment project like that, it might be a...again, a good candidate for the parking being provided in a City facility, because the access is just not adequate. You know, without looking at the specific dimensions of those lots though, Mike, you know, a lot of providing parking comes down to just the physical dimensions. Do you have room for a bay of parking, and an aisle and another bay of parking, and if you do then...then it can be provided on-site. O'Donnell/ Okay. Bailey/ Other...questions for the work session, or any... Hayek/ We11, I'm still hung up on the...on the expansion of the parking system, and is it...is it prudent to pursue this without answering the second part, which is - is the City committed to expanding our parking. Davidson/ You've...you've committed to 600 more spaces, because that's what we're planning for the St. Pat's School site right now, and you authorized us to purchase that property. Hayek/ Well, I get a fair, fair point, I guess I interpret that as saying a commitment above and beyond what we've already committed to. (mumbled) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of December 16, 2008. December 16, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 10 Davidson/ Oh, well you...yeah, I mean, generally if you look back the last 20 years, last 25 years, what we've done is about every five years add 500 or 600 spaces, generally. And I think that's...that's, as long as downtown keeps growing, that's probably a realistic trend. Bailey/ We have the economic development that we want to see in downtown, that's the trend that we should expect to commit to. Is that what you're saying? Miklo/ Also if you...if you don't pursue this or don't make some amendments now, the City has no influence on what happens to that parking development... apartments will be built, there will be a demand for parking, and they're fighting in our current system and on the public streets and in the neighborhoods for the parking that's available. What this does, it does give us the ability to provide some influence on how and where that parking's provided. Hayek/ I share...sorry (several talking) I share that perspective but I just want to make sure that we're not setting up, setting these developers up to fail, as it relates to the special exception process. It's got to be a hurdle that's surmountable. Um, I'm still not convinced that it is. I mean, that's...that's my one hang-up about this. Correia/ Well, I think that...one of our goals is to create a climate where we have mixed population downtown, um, which is what came out of our downtown market niche analysis, that then there are policy things that we need to do to create the climate to create an incentive for that type of development. And, I think that we can provide a message to our City departments, particularly then Parking, or Parking and Planning, to be working together when these projects come in. So if we see, I mean, these projects take a long time to develop, from concept to then actually shovels in the ground, so if we see that there's a project that is going to need 40 spaces or something, in a year, that that conversation gets started, because it seems to me that the special exception is, it will be granted if the City has space, and so if we're saying that we want the City to have space because we want this house...residential housing downtown, then we want Planning and Parking and the developer to be working together so when they get to that special exception hearing or whatever it's called, and they say....the City says, 'Yes we have those spaces,' and the developer says, 'Yes,' you know, and then it doesn't seem to me that that's...then that big of a hurdle. But, that's just my...assessment from hearing... Howard/ I just wanted to comment on...on your concern, Matt. There seems to be the impression that it's really difficult to get a special exception, um, to give an example - we've had, uh, special exception's been required for private parking downtown for many years, and we've had quite a few projects that have requested special exceptions, and as far as I'm aware, the Board of Adjustment granted it every time. So, they have certain criteria that people have to meet, and as long as they meet those criteria, um, it's not a real political thing. It's...it's if you've met these required criteria, the special exception's granted. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of December 16, 2008. December 16, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 11 Wright/ It's a pretty cut and dried process, once it hits the Board of Adjustment. Either it meets criteria or it does not. Hayek/ The only...I appreciate that, it's...it's the availability of the long-term parking that...that, it...which is something that if we don't have it, a special exception isn't going to work, because you can't just, you can't secure the lease. That's...the process itself, I...I uh, know is a fairly efficient one. Bailey/ (several talking) I think Amy's point is, that if this is our policy, we, I mean, this is all City-sort of controlled, that we will make sure that the parking is available, if we have these University permits that can be given notice. We shift them around, and we give them notice and we move them to another ramp. Those sorts of things. For the higher priority of seeing downtown develop in the way we want to see it develop. So I think that your point about making it available, and making this a policy...and these departments working together to...to implement this policy makes a lot of sense. So... O'Donnell/ It seems like there has to be some type of trigger mechanism though, like number of units, size, square footage (mumbled) well, there really isn't. Ten one-bedrooms (mumbled) Champion/ Ten. O'Donnell/ What if that's ten two-bedrooms? Bailey/ It's still ten parking spaces. Wright/ Ten spaces. Correia/ That's only for renovations in existing buildings. That would be something like the Vogel House, right? Howard/ I'm not sure I understood your question, Mike. Um.. . O'Donnell/ Well, we're just kind of making a blanket ordinance here. Qnd...and I'm thinking that, you know, there's many places downtown...I'm hearing myself echo...that, um, that are either on an alley or, uh, the front faces the Ped Mall and there's really going to be no, uh, no practical way to provide parking. Wondering how you...how you address that, uh, you know, whether it be a certain amount of square footage would...would kick in a parking requirement or number of units, um... Howard/ (several talking) in existing buildings or...or...tearing down the buildings and building new? O'Donnell/ Right. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of December 16, 2008. December 16, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 12 Howard/ Tearing down the buildings and building new, I guess...the idea is that if you are, that there should be some consideration of the businesses and the residential units being put in, how are you going to meet your parking demands for new buildings. There is a certain parking demand for those uses -how are you going to address that. I guess is...is the policy question that's before you, and as far as existing buildings, the parking, you know, they get the exemption for the first ten, so you could do five two-bedroom apartments, um, you could do ten one-bedroom apartments. So, I guess the question is, how many of those buildings downtown do we anticipate, you know, demolition and rebuilding.. . O'Donnell/ We don't know, that's...(several talking) Correia/ But I think that our, oh, go ahead. Wright/ A developer's going to know, going into this, that there maybe some lots that aren't amenable to... Bailey/ Residential. Wright/ ...a residential development. And that's, I mean, that's always going to be the case. Bailey/ Which given our, um, our demand for office space downtown, may also work out well. I mean, that's... Miklo/ One of the reasons we started looking at this whole question is because we were doing the re-zoning south of Burlington Street for projects like Hieronymus Square, and at the time it was identified that doing CB-10 zoning south of Burlington was a way to relieve pressure on redeveloping the historic core of downtown. So, as a city, we've already taken the position that we're encouraging development south of Burlington Street for the more intense high-rise buildings, where it's easier to provide parking on-site. Um, so, it's kind of a balancing act. Taking pressure off the historic buildings downtown, providing opportunities for new developments south of Burlington, and...but also recognizing with these amendments some opportunities for in-fill. Bailey/ I know we'll have more opportunity to discuss this. Are there any other specific questions for staff to clarify how you want to discuss this when it comes up, Council? Okay. So, shall we move on to item e. e) CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 14, ZONING CODE, TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "HOUSEHOLD" TO REDUCE THE NUMBER OF UNRELATED PERSONS ALLOWED TO RESIDE IN ONE DWELLING UNIT FROM FIVE (5) UNRELATED PERSONS TO THREE (3) UNRELATED PERSONS IN THE COMMUNITY COMMERCIAL (CC-2), CENTRAL BUSINESS SERVICE (CB-2), CENTRAL BUSINESS SUPPORT (CB-5) AND CENTRAL BUSINESS (CB-10) ZONES. (PASS AND ADOPT) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of December 16, 2008. December 16, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 13 ~ CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE FINAL PLAT OF MOUNT PROSPECT ADDITION, PART IX, IOWA CITY, IOWA. (SUB08-00009) (DEFERRED FROM 12/2) Davidson/ Yes, Item e is, uh, pass and adopt on the occupancy standards in the Central Business zones, and Item f has been pulled, is that correct? Final plat? Dilkes/ The last I heard was...did we get a request for deferral again? Davidson/ Yeah. So item f has been requested by the applicant for deferral. Bailey/ To January 6th? Davidson/ Yes, to January 6th. Hayek/ That's the Mt. Prospect Addition? Davidson/ Yes. Council Appointments: Bailey/ Okay. Well...the rest of them were easily dispensed with. Thank you. Okay, let's move on to Council appointments. Um, let's go down in order. We have...Board of Adjustment, one vacancy and one applicant, Barbara Eckstein. Wright/ I think she'd be excellent on the Board of Adjustment. I just...very pleased to see her application. Bailey/ Okay. Um, the Board of Appeals. We have one applicant, but two vacancies, but we do have Denny Henderson... Wilburn/ Sounds good! Champion/ Good. Bailey/ All right. Let's not make it difficult when we have one for (several commenting). All right. Historic Preservation - I understand many of us got calls. Marian, could you just tell us what happened with that one, and we'll re-advertise it? Karr/ Um, yes, we received the email that we included in your packet, stating that the person was going to apply. We did not have the application yet. Uh, the application apparently was dropped off after hours in the Police Department, uh, but did not get to our office until after the deadline. So, it did not appear in the packet, um, unfortun... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of December 16, 2008. December 16, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 14 Correia/ ...date stamped? Karr/ I'm sorry? Correia/ Is the date stamped in there...when they got it? (noise on mic) Karr/ No. No. So unfortunately, as I recommended to the individual, if you're going to drop it off in another department, it's great if you give us a call or follow-up. We just didn't get it until Thursday afternoon and the deadline was Wednesday at 5:00. Bailey/ So we'll re-advertise and that... Karr/ And that person's application will appear in the next January...so you certainly could re- advertise till your next meeting; you don't have to do the 30-days. Typically we would wait until, uh, February, but we certainly could re-advertise until January 6th. If that's your desire. Hayek/ Let's fill this as soon as possible, so I guess that would suggest... Karr/ January 6th. Bailey/ Yeah. Okay. All right, Parks and Rec seems to have a lot of interest. (several commenting) Do I have any suggestions here? Wilburn/ I'd like to put forth Maggie Elliott. O'Donnell/ Absolutely! Champion/ Absolutely. Correia/ And I'm interested in Lorin Ditzler. Bailey/ Good. I'm...I am too. Others for Lorin? Hayek/ I could...I can support either of those. I think, uh, Aaron Krohmer's application was very impressive. Wright/ I was impressed with Aaron's application. I've spoken to him personally and I'm...actually he's got quite a bit of interest in this. Karr/ I'd just like to note correspondence in...late correspondence from a Commission Member in your packet this evening on that too. (several commenting) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of December 16, 2008. December 16, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 15 Bailey/ Um, I was interested in getting a little bit more gender balance and some more women on this, and I thought (several talking) Karr/ I'm sorry, I can't hear you. Bailey/ Oh, I'm sorry. I was interested in...that's unusual! Getting a little bit more gender balance, and given that Jerry was mentioning a younger person, I thought Lorin being a young woman fit that bill, from my perspective. O'DonnelU I do too. I think thafd be a great one. I really...I like that idea. Champion/ ...it's always been male-dominated position...commission, and now we have some females applying. Let's grab 'em! Bailey/ One, two, three...do I have another? Wilburn/ Four. Bailey/ (several commenting) Thank you. Let's see, Senior Center, there were no...Youth Advisory Commission, Luan. Wilburn/ Luan Heywood, she happens to be a junior at City High School. Bailey/ Okay. Wilburn/ And I would recommend that we approve her. One, that gives us a member on the east side, and gives us a member from City High since we're (mumbled). Wright/ She also had a very impressive application. Bailey/ And I know Luan, actually, and she's a very impressive young woman, so...I think it's great for the Commission. Wilburn/ It'd also be very timely for the Commission since we've got someone who's leaving so... Bailey/ All right. Correia/ For the...for the Youth Advisory Commission, since the new, um, ordinance requires representation from the different schools (mumbled) school specifically? Karr/ What we've done is that we've sent to the principals notification of all of these. What we'll do in the future is we'll continue that mechanism, but again, the by-laws and the original concept was that the schools would be notified, but the schools necessarily wouldn't make the nomination. They certainly would encourage the students to apply... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of December 16, 2008. December 16, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 16 Correia/ No, I know, not that. I'm just wondering if when we get the application if... Karr/ The application...this is an old application. There's a new application on line that asks for school. Correia/ Oh, excellent! Bailey/ Okay, I think that that's...I don't think I missed any. Dilkes/ I want to back up to the parking for just a minute. Um, sorry. Bailey/ (laughter) Wait a minute, let us shift gears! Okay! Yes? Dilkes/ (several talking) Um, Jeff and I were just talking and...and we want to make sure that you're aware that unless you, uh, collapse readings, um, on this, on the parking ordinance, the moratorium will expire on January 2nd. So, um, after January 2nd...after January 2nd, if the ordinance is not passed, at that point, and it won't be under your normal series of events. You'd have to have a special meeting. Um, a permit...a building permit can issue January 2nd or after under the current parking requirements. You should be aware of that. Hayek/ And it would take, uh, what? Getting back on the agenda... (several talking) Karr/ It would take at least one special meeting, if not two, depending on...it takes six Council Members to collapse. So if you take the scenario that you would close the public hearing this evening and give first reading, and if there were a majority of you who would agree to collapse, then you would need to have a special meeting to collapse the second, and pass and adopt. If, however, there are not six of you inclined to do so, it would take two meetings for a reading each meeting. Bailey/ Or we can collapse tonight and have a special meeting with a quorum. (several talking) Karr/ You would still need six. Champion/ Six tonight. Karr/ You'd still need six, regardless of if you collapse it. Bailey/ Right. Okay. Is that all? Champion/ We wouldn't need six if we collapse the first reading, would we? Karr/ Any collapse... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of December 16, 2008. December 16, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 17 Dilkes/ You always need six to collapse. Champion/ But if we did a collapse tonight. Dilkes/ You still need six to do that. Bailey/ We need six to collapse. Champion/ At the next meeting you only need four people. Karr/ That's correct. Champion/ Okay. Okay. Bailey/ So we could have a special meeting. Okay. Is that all? Dilkes/ That's it. Bailey/ Okay. Okay, flood recovery update. Flood Recovery Update (Ref. IP2): Lombardo/ In your packet are a series of memos, just providing updated information. I think this is more of a (mumbled) having reviewed that. If there are questions or, um, discussion that you'd like to have, about, for movement, but that really what's provided is really just meant to kind of give you a status update on where we are with the programs and our efforts. Bailey/ I do also want to point out that we did send a letter to the Governor, thanking him for his quick response on some of those requests that we had sent him a couple of weeks ago, and I think that that's working generally pretty well from staffs perspective. Questions, comments about the memos in here? Correia/ Well, I just have a question. So, looking at the map, um, now the number of homeowners not interested in the buyout, particularly in the Taft Speedway, um, is...significant. Bailey/ But not surprising. Correia/ ...significant. Right, so...'cause the blue are homeowners that aren't interest...I mean, previously... Lombardo/ Is...is there a question, I guess, or... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of December 16, 2008. December 16, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 18 Correia/ Well, yeah, the question is, I mean, does it make sense to use hazard mitigation dollars to buy hopscotch? A buyout. Davidson/ It does, Amy. I think you have to look at it as a long-term strategy. Correia/ Okay. Davidson/ You know, our strategy over the next 15 years is to buy out every single one of these properties, for now we can get these. I would also add that, uh, what we've been hearing from other communities is that we have one of the lowest percentages, and I think it's 'cause we've had two floods in 17 years. Like, for example, I spoke to someone from Charles City, uh, who based on one big flood event, 40 of 60 are not willing to be bought out. Lombardo/ And keep in mind, on...on, uh, Taft Speedway, these are in the flood plain, and so you know to the extent that we can buy 'em out, we would desire to do so. Correia/ Okay. Hayek/ And, uh, (mumbled) that issue, if...if we have along-term perspective on this, and...and we anticipate buying out a house on Taft Speedway, 10, 15, 20 years from now, if that's what it takes, is the purchase price still pre-flood 2008, plus (several talking) Dilkes/ No. That...all those rules apply to the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program. Hayek/ Okay. Dilkes/ Funding, so all those rules... Correia/ I mean, there's the possibility that the City would just kind of watch, people start to just sell their house, they're moving, the City.. . Davidson/ Sure. Correia/ ...purchase their house. Davidson/ Right. That's correct. Champion/ Well, they'll probably let us know, since I think thafd be pretty hard to sell. Bailey/ (mumbled) Wright/ No, I'm guessing the City will make intentions clear to the homeowners that remain that when you decide to sell, give us a call. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of December 16, 2008. December 16, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 19 Bailey/ Anything... Dilkes/ Although...although we need to remember that the current funding will not be available...(several responding) Bailey/ Right. Dilkes...at that point. Bailey/ Is there anything else you wanted to highlight? About these memos? Lombardo/ Not particularly. Hayek/ No, they were very helpful, uh, in terms of the amount of assistance that has come to the City, and then also the impact to our, uh, our infrastructure. Lombardo/ There is one other, uh, item, Mayor. Um, I... Steve Long has inquired about the $23 billion appropriation that Congress passed some months ago now, uh, we were told somewhere during the course this summer that by the first week of December we would know, um, we were told now that it likely would be sometime on or after December 31st that we will know what funding will be coming...coming to the area. So, it's, um, more of a wait game, but at least we have a little bit more specific information regarding that. Bailey/ Okay. Thank you. And I'm sure we'll continue to get updates as they're available. Lombardo/ Oh, absolutely. Inclusive Community Update: Bailey/ Okay, inclusive community update. Correia/ Um, the Inclusive Community Committee has been, um, talking about the...make-up of our boards and commissions, in terms of whether that...our appointed members are reflective of the diversity in the community. Um, and we are wanting to get baseline data, um, from the current Commission by asking, um, directing staff to ask the Commission Members to fill out an anonymous, and obviously it's optional, but an anonymous, um, demographic survey, that then would go back to Stefanie Bower. She would, um, she would collate that, or um, so we would get a sense of, um, who's serving on our boards and commissions, in terms of their demographic profile, um, and then while we can't...while...I spoke with Eleanor, um, over not...shouldn't ask for that demographic information, um, as part of our application process, in terms of having it be kept with the application, so that we see that when we're viewing those recommendations, um, we could have...similar to our employment application, attach an optional sheet so that we can start to get a sense of who our applicants are. It would not be kept with the application. It would be, again, sent to Stefanie, to start to, um, give us information on This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of December 16, 2008. December 16, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 20 who...who is applying, um, to our boards and commissions, um, to help identify, if we do have a lack of diversity, um, both on our boards and commissions, and in our applicant pool, then that could direct Human Rights Commission, um, towards outreach, recruitment, um, in the community. So, wanted to get a sense of, um, if the Council.. . Champion/ Yeah, I think that's a good idea. Correia/ ...interested in getting that data to direct some...then Dale and Stefanie would work on, um, the process of collecting that. Bailey/ And as...I'm comfortable with that, as long as we have an idea of where we might go next. Should we find the answers...we don't (mumbled) boards or commissions, and so the suggestion is to take it to Human Rights Commission to do outreach, would be the next.. . Correia/ That would be (both talking) Bailey/ Okay. Wright/ What demographic elements are you going to be asking about? Correia/ Probably the standard employment, um, in the standard questions that we do get on our Human Rights Commission application. Champion/ Age, economics, race. Helling/ Yeah, those things could be identified, um, I'm not sure we want to do every category in our Human Rights Ordinance, but we...we would go from that and...and chose I think. That's not really something we've...probably something we need to decide. Bailey/ Okay, why wouldn't we do every category in our Human Rights Ordinance? Helling/ Um.. . Bailey/ I'm trying to think of our Human Rights Ordinance. Helling/ Human Rights Ordinance has things like marital status. I don't know if that's something...I think that's just something that has to be decided by the group, yeah. Bailey/ Okay. Helling/ Maybe we would use 'em all. Champion/ Yeah, see, that wouldn't be very important. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of December 16, 2008. December 16, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 21 Bailey/ (mumbled) Okay. Is there...proceeding in this manner? Okay. All right. Is that it? Correia/ Yep. Agenda Items: Bailey/ Okay. Agenda items. O'Donnell/ Not much there. Bailey/ Agenda items going once...I think we covered most of'em in P&Z. I think we covered most of them with Planning and Zoning -that's the bulk of it. That and appointments. ITEM 4. CONSIDER ADOPTION OF THE CONSENT CALENDAR AS PRESENTED OR AMENDED. ~ Correspondence. 6. Wayne Lindsey: Transit Department 7. Der-Fa Lu: High Speed Internet in Iowa City Hayek/ There are, uh, letters from a Mr. Wayne Lindsey and aDer-Fa-Lu in correspondence. Karr/ We can't hear over here. (several talking) Wright/ I can't hear anything tonight either. Bailey/ Yeah, I'm not...yeah. Karr/ I'll...we'll adjust that. Hayek/ I have a cold too, that maybe part of it. Karr/ No, I couldn't hear Regenia earlier. Hayek/ And I mumble. There is correspondence, uh, £6 and f.7 from a couple of individuals, and I just wanted to make sure that they're being responded to, um, one is regarding Transit Department, and I think we're actually undertaking a study, so something's actually being done to... Correia/ I think we had a memo about that particular correspondence in the packet. Hayek/ Right, and I want to make sure this person is copied. That's my only comment on that. Bailey/ Okay. And, um, the Der-Fa-Lu, um, correspondence. Can we make sure that somebody responds to that? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of December 16, 2008. December 16, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 22 Lombardo/ I will, if they haven't already. For some reason I want to believe that a response has been prepared, but I...I'd have to double-check that. It's interesting, um, I've been reading some information lately, uh, from communities across the country who are going the opposite direction, in terms of their Wi-Fi systems, that the big sprawling systems were deemed not, uh, sustainable. So it's kind of interesting. Bailey/ Right, yeah. Okay. Other agenda items? ITEM 6. PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS. c) CONDITIONALLY REZONING APPROXIMATELY 1.69 ACRES OF PROPERTY LOCATED AT THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF CAMP CARDINAL BOULEVARD AND KENNEDY PARKWAY FROM INTERIM DEVELOPMENT COMMERCIAL OFFICE (ID-CO1) TO COMMERICAL OFFICE (CO1) (REZ08-00010) Wright/ I do have one question on the, uh, 6.c, the Conditional Zoning Agreement, and that just has to do with the...the reasoning for locating the driveway on the residential street... Bailey/ And actually, given that it's a rezoning, we should probably talk about this in...we need to talk about this in the formal meeting. Karr/ It's a rezoning. Bailey/ It's a rezoning. Sorry. Wright/ It'll wait! Information Packet Discussion (December 4 and 11): Bailey/ He gave you a heads up. Other agenda items that we can talk about? Okay. Information Packet discussion. Information Packets from the 4th and from the 11th. Correia/ So, the...yard waste services. Bailey/ Yeah, I had a question about that too. Correia/ I think that, I mean, it makes a lot of sense, um, how will people know to cal1...I guess my, in my neighborhood, there are a lot of...now the snow's back on top of them, but there are a whole bunch of leaves on the curb that didn't end up getting vacuumed up, so... Lombardo/ (mumbled) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of December 16, 2008. December 16, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 23 Correia/ Yeah (laughter) so will people be notified about that in their water bills, I mean, how will we get... Bailey/ How will we publish that? Lombardo/ Rick will be back, I think, probably for the meeting. I can double-check, but in our discussion, he is planning on...on advertising that and putting information out and certainly on the web site to let people know. So we are going to do some outreach in that regard to let them know, um, of the calling schedule. Bailey/ I think it makes a lot of sense, and people will be supportive, it's just a matter of letting people know because we are accustomed to being able to put it out on our curbs and it's gone, so...yeah. Okay. Other Info Packet items? Okay. Council time, or we can save it for.. . Council Time: Hayek/ Uh, only to mention, I was riding the City bus today, and looked up and saw a big poster about, uh, emergency snow ordinance changes and was pleased to see that message being delivered on the bus. Champion/ We may need it. Bailey/ Well, and we got our mailing at home. And I thought that was great. Wright/ I think everybody's done a super job getting the word out. Schedule of Pending Discussion Items: Upcoming Community Events/Council Invitations: Discussion of Meeting Schedules: Bailey/ Good. Then we'll see! Okay, other Council time? Schedule of pending discussion items. I think we're going to talk about a little thing called the budget in January. Anything else coming up? (several commenting) Any upcoming community events, Council invitations that we should be aware of? Any discussion of upcoming meeting schedules? Okay, I will see you back here at 7:00 P.M. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of December 16, 2008.