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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-01-12 TranscriptionPage 1 Council Present: Staff Present: Alter, Bergus, Harmsen, Taylor, Teague, Thomas, Weiner Fruin, Jones, Kilburg, Fruehling, Knoche, Havel, Sovers, Clark, Davies, Fleagle, Hightshoe, Ralston, Grier, Liston, Seydell- Johnson, Nagle-Gamm, Tharp, Carman, Morris, DeLoach FY2022-2026 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM (CIP) Teague: Uh, welcome everyone to the City of Iowa City work session, continuing our budget discussion. And the first item is gonna be, uh, CIP. And I'm gonna invite Jason Havel, who is our City Engineer, up to the mic to get us started or, yeah, right there. Right. Knoche: Uh, Mr. Mayor, Council, good afternoon. Uh, I'm Ron Knoche, your Public Works Director. Teague: Great. Knoche: Uh, today we're happy to present the proposed 2023 to 2026 Iowa City Capital Improvements Plan. Uh, we'll use the ESRI storybook platform for the presentation. Uh, I'd like to thank the Engineering Division, in particular Killian Laughead for producing the final presentation. Uh, the capital improvements fund on can be found in the proposed budget document starting on page 513. Uh, today we have five objectives. Uh, first Nicole Davies will go over the plan development process and the fund summary. Uh, second, staff will discuss the ongoing projects. Uh, there are 12 major projects that are not included, uh, in the CIP, so these are projects that have been previously funded, but don't currently show up in the program. Uh, third, staff will discuss the 18 annual projects in the CIP, uh, then staff will discuss 124 projects that are identified in the five-year program. Uh, to try to save some time in the presentation, uh, we've attempted to condense projects, uh, that are similar in nature or at the same facility. Uh, with this being the case, the project will not necessarily follow the order that are in the proposed budget document. Uh, the final objective staff will discuss is projects considered to be on the radar. Uh, these are projects that are on the unfunded list, uh, but staff believe Council should be aware of. Uh, we appreciate the opportunity to present the proposed program, and with that, I'll turn it over to Nicole. Davies: All right. So, I'm Nicole Davies, the interim Finance Director, and current Assistant Finance Director. So, I'm just gonna go over a brief overview. Um, this first slide, just showing kind of the CIP calendar and how it all comes together, um, you know, forms are sent out to the departments in early This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 2 September. This gives them a chance to one, um, update or amend any projects that are already on the current CIP plan, and then two, to add or request any new projects to be added. Um, so they have a few weeks to work on those, turn them in to the Finance Department, um, then the Finance Department produces a preliminary report, um, then we pull together a, a committee review to go through the projects, um, any amendments, produce that preliminary report. And then, uh, the Finance Department will go back, make a few changes, and then the committee, uh, meets again in October, the end of October to, uh, take another last look at that, make any final changes that they want. Um, and then the Finance Department will put together that final CIP report the end of November, which is about the time the operating budget is also getting wrapped up. And then, um, obviously this came out to you the same time that the operating budget did on, um, December 17th. The next slide just kind of shows the breakdown, um, spending by division. So, you can see Streets is, uh, where most of our CIP dollars is spent, which, I can't read that number from there, but it's about $7- or about $80 million that's on Streets. There's a few large projects in there. Uh, we have the Dodge Street reconstruction, which is about $15.8 million, um, the Taft Avenue reconstruction, which is another $11 million, and then just the annual pavement rehab over those five years. CIP plan is about $10 and a half million. Um, the next biggest is Wastewater, um, and that's about $32 million, $32.8 million, and more than a third of that is on the digester complex rehab, that's about $13 million, and again, they'll be going into greater detail on these projects, um, here in a little bit. Um, then the next one, the Transit Facility, or the Transit, which is, um, a little over $20 million, but $20 million of that is for the Transit Facility itself. Um, and then same thing with the Equipment. It's about $12.8 and about $12 million of that is for an Equipment Facility. So then going to the next slide, which is kind of where, um, the sources that we use to fund the CIP program. Again, the biggest portion of that is the, um, GO bonds, um, a little over $60 million, um, and that's usually used primarily for Streets and Parks projects, is where most of the GO bond funding goes. Um, we also have a large portion of revenue bonds, which is about $17.7 million, um, and again, $13 million of that is for the digester rehab for wastewater, um, and then we also have a lot of grant funding, um, between the federal grants and the other state grants is almost $40 million, um, and a big piece of that, is $15 million for the Transit Facility. Um, the rest of the grants is usually again for Streets and the Airport. And then the next slide just kind of breaks down the yearly expenditures across the five years. Um, as you can see, we've got a lot of kind of big projects coming up in the next couple years. They're ones that I've kind of already briefly mentioned in '23, that's where you're gonna see the, um, $13 million that's for the digester complex rehab. Um, '24, that's the $20 million for the Transit Facility and $11 million for the Equipment Facility. And then in '25, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 3 that's where the $15.8 million for the Dodge Street reconstruction is. And so now I will turn it back over to Jason to start going through the projects. Havel: All right, thanks, Nicole. Uh, so we'll start things off with the ongoing projects. So as Ron mentioned, these are ones that don't show up in your current five- year plan because they were funded previously. So, they are projects that are, are currently underway. One thing I would note that is this is not a, a complete list, so there are other projects that are still being completed, but this is kind of a list of our, our larger ongoing projects. So, first thing, first, uh, our 20 whoops, the 2021 asphalt resurfacing product, so this is the one that we started last year. The remaining work here will be an overlay of Rohret Road from Mormon Trek Boulevard to essentially the Highway 218 bridge, um, also included in that will be overlay of a few City facility parking lots, the, the Robert A. Lee Rec Center lot, as well as the Parks maintenance shop lot as well, and then some other smaller sites would be included as well. The Idyllwild Storm Water Drainage Diversion, so this will be a, a storm water diversion up near the Idyllwild development, and what this does is, basically, we'll divert, uh, runoff from upstream during larger events. This is one that we're looking at starting construction this spring, uh, should hopefully have construction completed this summer. The Riverside Drive pedestrian path, uh, for those of you that have been around for a little while, probably remember this is, was originally going to be a pedestrian tunnel that would be going through the railroad embankment. Uh, we had gone through, uh, a lot of the design of that project, um, late in that process, the railroad came back and said that they had significant safety concerns and would not allow for the, the tunnel to proceed. So, we've kind of regrouped a little bit, worked with the DOT, and the current plan is to look at narrowing up Riverside Drive, narrowing up travel lanes there a little bit, and we should be able to get enough space in there to, uh, at least get a sidewalk connection on the west side of Riverside Drive that would then provide for a continuous sidewalk from Benton Street to Myrtle Avenue on the west side of Riverside Drive. American Legion Road reconstruction, so this is one that started last year, Phase 1 has been completed, so this will be, uh, Phase 2, and this will be basically finishing the, the construction of the east end of the project. As a reminder, this one took American Legion Road from a rural section to an urban section, so curb and gutter, storm sewer, uh, includes bike lanes and, uh, sidewalks as well. First Avenue/Scott Boulevard intersection improvements, this is one that we actually just bid recently, so you should be seeing, uh, an item on your next agenda to award this project. This will be constructing a roundabout at the First Avenue and Scott Boulevard intersection with construction planned to start this spring, and completion this summer. Second Avenue bridge replacement, this is another one looking at construction starting this spring, so this is a, a bridge on Second Avenue This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 4 over Ralston Creek, essentially replacing the existing bridge with a new bridge. Teague: I have a question. Havel: Yeah. Teague: The, the one previous, you said First Avenue and Scott Boulevard. I'm a little confused with that. Havel: Yep. So that is currently is a four-way stop, and so that will be converted to a roundabout. Teague: Okay. Fruin: That's uh, most recognizable by the ACT entrance. Yep, there. Teague: All right. I didn't make the conversion up. Fruin: Yeah. The roads kind of twist and turn over there. Teague: Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Havel: Melrose Avenue improvements, this project started last spring, um, they were able to complete a lot of the, uh, drainage culverts, grading, the water main was extended out to the Landfill, um, so this spring they'll begin the paving improvements, with that being the majority of work remaining, it would be the paving, and then the final grading. Benton Street rehabilitation, this one will be a crack sealing project with an over, asphalt overlay, so there'll be, uh, an overlaid street from Mormon Trek Boulevard to just west of Greenwood. As part of that, well also narrow up the travel lanes and, and re -stripe it to include, uh, actual bike lanes on that facility, also include some water main work, ADA curb ramps, that kind of stuff as part of the product as well. Orchard Street reconstruction, this is one that a lot of the work was completed last fall. They have one section remaining, basically between Douglas Street and Highway 1, so there will be a portion where, uh, our timeframe where that one will be, that road will be closed, they'll be doing some storm sewer work and finishing up the, the reconstruction of that street. Foster Road elevation, so this is one where we're looking at a, a functional design for elevating Foster Road, kind of looking at what it would take to, to have a, a construction project to elevate Foster Road to be more resilient when it comes to flooding, uh, the main goal here being secondary access or, or more resilient access, to the, the Peninsula Neighborhood during flood events. Dill Street water main replacement, this is, uh, over just west or This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 5 east of Rocky Shore Drive. This is a section where we've had, uh, a number of main breaks, so looking at replacing water main in this section, we will also be looking to include sidewalk basically between Black Spring Circle Park and Teeters, um, as, uh, a section of sidewalk infill as well. Go ahead. Seydell-Johnson: And I would just mention the one, uh, with Black Streams, Spring Circle Park, that was one of the ADA improvements asked for by the Parks Master Plan too. So that is kind of a double, does double duty there. Pedestrian Mall playground replacement, the playground has been ordered, uh, but due to pandemic -related delays, we're still waiting on it from the manufacturer. Uh, we hope to have it by the end of May and have installation early summer. The same is actually true for Glendale Park on both the shelter and the smaller playground. There are different manufacturers, but all of them are running behind, um, because of pandemic delays right now. Havel: So, we'll move on to annual projects. Seydell-Johnson: Okay, we'll start with City Hall projects, as you know, an aging building that we've talked about, um, in a number of other conversations. Coming up next would be the larger roof replacement on the building, um, and then some renovations to the restrooms, employee fitness area in the future years, we've held out on the rest, um, for some of the other facility planning that's happening right now. Parks annual improvements, this is our small projects fund throughout the parks. A lot of the park signage that has been replaced recently, partner projects with organizations, um, scoreboards, those kind of small things come out of this project. Nothing specifically called out for the next year. We, uh, we wait until we hear from our neighborhood groups and, and work on it as we go on that one. Park annual ADA accessibility improvements, this follows the Park Master Plan of 2016, where we talk about increasing accessibility to the parks and the features like playgrounds and shelters within the parks. Um, next up, Oak Grove, I believe we also have Hunters Run and a few others that are not too far down the line, um. Most of these are getting to be pretty small additions as we have been, uh, making our way through all of the parks on major renovations. Intracity bike trails is smaller trail segments or repairs and maintenance that are needed to be done, um, on the trails each year. Annual rec center improvements, this does call out some projects at Robert A. Lee. We are currently on hold with this though, as we wait on the results of our Recreation Facilities and Master Plan, um, to see if there's any other different programming needs or different priorities that come out of the public input on that plan. Um, and we will adjust this as needed after that point. Alter: May I ask, um, are there two separate fund streams since, for this, and then also the special project that with the, the, um, committee and looking for the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 6 public input, because I'm assuming that may be more substantial in terms of recommendations, and so. Seydell-Johnson: So, the, the Rec Facility and Master Plan is looking at really long term, um, lists of things. So, the funding stream would be through CIP, as you'll see there's several different projects called out for both of the rec centers and the aquatic facilities, um, and then I'm sure that the list that we'll get from the Master Plan will be much larger than any of the funding streams that are currently, currently available. So, we'll have that discussion when we have that, that list. Climate Action Facility improvements. This is throughout all the City facilities, but things like replacing windows, upgrading HVAC systems, looking at possible solar installations, things that can help lower greenhouse gas emissions and become more, um, efficient in our building operations. Contracted tree improvement, so on Saturday, we talked about a thousand trees planted this last year, um, we are really greening the skyline of Iowa City right now. Last year, this paid for, um, the Mackinaw neighborhood, which is north of Foster Road, and then a lot of trees along Scott Boulevard, which many of them have been planted within the last three or four weeks. So, a lot of trees from last year. Now, next year, we're looking at trees along Kennedy Parkway on the very west side of Iowa City, we have about 40 -plus trees planned to go there, 370 trees in the South District, along the Langenberg neighborhood, and then a smaller project, about 87 trees along Prairie du Chien on the north side, so we will continue that tree planting, uh, with this project. Havel: Continuing on with the Bicycle Master Plan implementation, so this is a fund that has money available every year to continue implementing, uh, projects that were included in the Bicycle Master Plan, this fund would be used for those improvements that aren't already included as part of another project. Annual storm water improvements, this is a fund that allows for annual money to, uh, make improvements to the storm water infrastructure, that could be addressing sinkholes similar to what's shown here in the picture, it could be replacing or repairing damage intakes or, or pipe or whatever it might be, uh, related to storm water. Annual traffic signal projects, this is a, a fund that is used for, uh, a variety of things related to traffic signals, it could be, uh, installing a new traffic signal at a location, it could be replacing, uh, traffic signal or traffic signal components. Um, it is also used to install pan tilt, zoom cameras at the various intersections. So, we've been working our way through the existing signals and installing those cameras, um, at signals that don't currently have them. Traffic calming, so this is the fund that would, uh, basically be used for construction of speed humps or other traffic calming measures that are approved through the neighborhood process, so if a neighborhood goes through and, and completes the process and it's approved, then this is the fund that would be used for construction. Curb This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 7 ramp and ADA, every year we go through and develop a project to, uh, install new or, or updated curb ramps at various locations throughout the city, typically we'll focus on areas where we receive complaints or requests, um, with the highest priority being locations that currently don't have any ramps at all, and then we kind of work our way through other ones that just are not ADA -compliant. Annual pavement rehabilitation, uh, the big-ticket item here a lot of years is the asphalt overlay program. Uh, it does also include other maintenance types, it could be chip seal, it could be PCC patching, uh, crack sealing, that kind of stuff, uh, anything to do with pavement management. Underground electrical facilities, so this is an account that's used for, uh, those locations where we have typically MidAmerican, uh, electrical utility that would relocate their facilities from overhead to underground. In the past, it's been a, a couple of different processes that we've used, um, there's been times where we would pay essentially the upcharge from relocating to another aerial location to relocating underground, so whatever that difference in cost is we would cover that to have them move their lines underground. Um, we've also had some instances recently where if we would provide them with a dedicated route or an easement area, that they would cover the cost of putting those underground. So, we use this account to take care, take advantage of those opportunities. Annual bridge maintenance and repair, the big-ticket item here is every other year we go through and inspect all of our bridges, um, the maintenance recommendations that come out of those are also funded from this account. Um, there are times where if need be, this can also help fund the bridge replacements that, the bridge replacement projects that we've been doing, but primarily it's more on the, the smaller maintenance projects. Annual sewer main replacement, so this is for replacing damaged, uh, sanitary sewer, so it typically is spot repairs of either sanitary sewer pipe or manholes. It does also include our maintenance projects, so it would be sanitary sewer lining, manhole lining, and other related work. Parking Facility restoration and repair, again, this is an annual project that we've worked with consultants to develop a, a multi-year plan for recommended, uh, maintenance work at our parking facilities, and so this is what is used to follow up on not only that design, but also construction of those, repairs. The Transit Interchange and bus stop improvements, so this is a, a newer annual project that was a result of the recent Transit study, looks at funding improvements to not only the, the Transit Interchange downtown, but also at, uh, bus stop facilities, uh, throughout the city. And with that, we will move on to Airport projects. So, I'll turn it over to Mike. Tharp: Oh, good afternoon. Again, I'm Mike Tharp, I'm the Airport Manager. Um, the Airport CIP uh, program is actually funded from three different areas. We have, uh, federal -level money from the, uh, Federal, Federal Aviation Administration. Whenever they participate in a project, they, they cover 90% of the share. We have the Iowa DOT, which, uh, at the state level also has This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 8 programs for both, uh, Airport improvement program work and vertical infrastructure work. Their shares are anywhere from 70 to 85% of the project, depending on the particular project. And then we also receive from the General Fund a hundred thousand dollars, which we use for our grant matching. With that our projects, um, 2022 is gonna be an active year, but first up is our Airport parking lot expansion. With the increase of activity of the Airport, uh, parking is occasionally an issue, um, uh, more often than not whether we have people using our conference room, uh, just active charter, uh, days where folks have been using the Airport, go out for business trips, whatever, um, and then especially on game days where we get a lot of traffic. Uh, Engineering is, is going to help us, uh, carve out some spots around our Beacon Circle and add about 20, 22, uh, parking spots, and that'll help alleviate some of those issues. Hangar A door replacement, um, we have one building that was built in, uh, somewhere in the 1950s. Uh, this building operates, their doors operate on a, a chain and counterweight pulley system, um, system works great, but it's also extremely dangerous, uh, because it's a gravity system. So, if anybody loses control of, of, uh, the door, that's hold, uh, the chain that's holding that door, uh, that door will slam down. Uh, we have state money to re uh, replace about half of the building doors at the moment, and in a future project, we'll be looking to do the other half of the building. Uh, Runway 7 environmental assessment, this is part of a, a whole list of projects that are part of the 7/25 reclassification and a reconfiguration, uh, program that we've been undertaking for the past few years. This one, uh, looks at the Runway 7 end to add about 200 feet of pavement. Uh, the objective there is to get the entire runway, um, uh, on that, uh, that line up to 5,000 feet of available takeoff and landing distance, and that's, uh, Runway, uh, 7 extension, that's the physical work that would come after the environmental assessment. Uh, this one is gonna be something that happens this year. Uh, the 25 -threshold relocation. We have an 808 -foot displaced threshold. So, what that means is where the pavement ends, the airplanes have to land 800 foot, 800 feet further down their runway, and that becomes the area that they can use for their, their landing calculations. This takes that line and shifts it, uh, shifts it back towards Riverside Drive by about 700 feet. Uh, similar situation occurs with the 12/30 threshold displacement and relocation. Um, this actually came about also as part of our obstruction mitigation project, so we didn't have to go quite as hard into the, uh, northwest neighborhood for tree clearing, um, that was a project we've done over the last couple of years, uh, to clean up our, uh, Airport approaches on each of the runway ends. Apron expansion, uh, again, with the busy days, increasing the traffic, we are finding we are running out of spots to put airplanes, especially on game days, but, uh, that will add, um, additional concrete for aircraft parking. Uh, 7/25 pavement repairs, much like the street system, uh, runways need occasional tender maintenance. Uh, this is a crack sealing and a light maintenance project to cover about half of the 7/25 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 9 runway and same thing with 12/30. Uh, just pacing down the line. South Hangar development, this is something we're working with the state on, uh, this is providing concrete infrastructure for future hangar development. Uh, our goal here is to entice, uh, private hangar development, uh, um, with, uh, individuals that can do that. And that's the Airport's program. Havel: All right. If there's no questions, we'll move on to Fire. Grier: Good afternoon. Fire Chief John Grier, uh, Fire Department, uh, programs. First off, we have fire apparatus replacement program, just a little brief overview. We do have a replacement program in place, which typically we, have nine-year frontline, a seven-year reserve. Exceptions to that would be a ladder truck or the, uh, Quint, which is, those have the 20- and 16 -year, uh, timelines on those. So, coming up in 2024, we are planning to replace the aerial Quint 2 that is based out of Fire Station #2, and the Scotty House, which is the fire safety house that we have typically in the past used with school children, as you might expect, that's kind of been on, on hold for a little bit. And then in 2026, we have another fire pumper due for replacement, and then 2027, just as a heads up, we have two other fire pumpers, uh, due for replacement. Pro-, program number two is replacing the, uh, slab reconstruction at Fire Station 1. We have a crack that has grown over the years. We were able to patch it this year as a temporary fix, but we will be working on that in 2020 and this year. Third up for us is replacing, uh, carpet, tile and flooring at Fire Station 1 in 2024. I don't know the date that we did this other carpet, but it's been a long time, as you can tell by the pictures, it's coming up. So, look forward to that. And then our final one is, as the City Manager talked about the other day, is design money for new Fire Station #5 and relocation of Fire Station #3 in 2026. If you have any questions about any of those things, I'd be happy to entertain 'ern. Teague: Great. Awesome. Grier: Thanks. Havel: All right. We'll move on to Library next. Carmen: Thanks. Um, I'm Ellsworth Carmen, Director of the Iowa City Public Library. We've got two projects to talk briefly about, uh, today. The first is, uh, a multiyear project to replace some of the carpeting and furnishings at the Library, which would be original to the building, um, furniture and carpet, uh, just, just time to get it done. Um, this project will not be new to anyone in the room, it's, it's been in the works for, for a while. Um, and we've, we've moved it around a little bit, I think, um, where we have it scheduled now for '25 to '26, feels like a great, a great time to tackle it, um, and, and This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 10 make sure it gets done before we move into, um, into having to do sort of piecemeal work to, to take care of the issues. Um, our second project is an automatic material handler and sorter, um, this is a large piece of equipment that automates some of the process work of incoming materials that are being returned to the Library. The real, um, reason behind it is to increase accuracy of materials coming back and get them back on the shelves faster for a quicker turnaround, um, and less wait time for our patrons. Putting in an AMH like this does not affect staffing levels one way or another. I think it's important to make sure folks understand this won't be reducing our staffing numbers. It's just a complement to our current model. Um, we are having some issues with, uh, material supply as we talk to vendors for this project, but I'll, I'll keep Geoff and the City abreast of, of how that's going as we move forward. Any questions? Thank you. Havel: Next up will be the Senior Center. DeLoach: Good afternoon. I'm LaTasha DeLoach, Senior Center Coordinator. I'm just gonna talk to you all briefly about our CIP um, for the Center. Um, so it's been a little bit since we, um, uh, have done a full historical renovation on this building, probably since it opened, and so this is exciting for us to be able to have this opportunity to do some exterior and some interior work. Um, this, um, one thing I was thinking is we need a dimmer for you all for, for the screen, um, cause that could be really helpful. So, this is a, a major, large scale, um, renovation on the exterior. We're working with consultants currently to get a full, um, a closer look at some of the internal structure so that we can really know the scope of that contract, um, just because one thing we've learned at the Senior Center is once you open up the wall, there are interesting things from a historical building, um, that, that are in there, and so there are some things that we need to kind of figure out, so we know the full scope of that so that we can get that going. We believe that'll probably be a, probably a two-year process for us to get the exterior up to date. Um, there's some immediate things that need to be fixed and then there's some other things, um, later on that we'll get fixed, but we wanna make sure that it's, um, kept up. It, it's probably a really powerful statement from one of our consultants is one of the best ways to keep sustainability going in your community is to renovate historical buildings versus tearing 'em down. And so, we're definitely grateful for, uh, this building, even given during the pandemic that we're able to use it in the way that we are. Um, looking at also at the interior, the interior, we have a, uh, a really strong focus on some sustainability efforts there, looking at our HVAC, how we can reduce our carbon footprint as well as, uh, significantly changing our energy usage by switching to LED lights, um, as you all know, we're still using kind of older lights and we definitely wanna upgrade those, 'cause that will help us significantly as we try to reduce, um, to reduce some of our, our, uh, imprint This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 11 here. Another is looking at, in our kitchen, our kitchen, it's pretty popular discussion here in our building. Uh, one thing that also will help us on a, on a sustainability effort is the ventilation hood that we have for cooking, uh, needs to be replaced and, and, and moved, and so we hope to get that, uh, addressed here in the interior, um, section when, when that comes up in a couple years. Um, the hope with the kitchen is for it to be a certified kitchen so that people who are doing food trucks or other catering can be able to rent the space as well as if we have events here in this larger room, they'll be able to use the, the kitchen for preparing meals for folks in here. But also, most importantly to our senior center mission is to be able to provide educational programs out of that space. Um, and we recognize how important that is to the Downtown District and to the community in general. Um, and I think that's about all I have. Anybody have any questions? Fruin: Just a quick note to add, um, the Senior Center Master Plan will be coming your way, uh, in a, in a month or two, probably, the, the Commission's gonna be deliberating that later this month, and that'll be a, um, you know, a significant decision for the Council to make. Uh, this budget totals, I think, over $6 million worth of investment in this building, which as, uh, as Latasha mentioned, uh, something that's probably long overdue for this building. Um, and that level of investment hasn't really been put into this since the City began operations here several decades ago. So just a lot of discussions on that to come up, uh, later this winter and spring, DeLoach: It also included, thank you, Geoff, for reminding me, I have a big old highlight and forgot it. Um, also in that report, you'll see an ADA, an accessibility report, um, which is really important. Of course, we're currently ADA compliant, but we wanna always move as close to accessibility as possible. So, you'll also see that as a part of that report. Weiner: What, when you're looking at HVAC, do, did you, you, is the, you planning to move away from gas? DeLoach: Yeah. I mean, that's a hope is for us to reduce our emissions, right? So, we're, we're looking at options. Um, the building actually has a couple different systems and so we're trying to like certain sections of the building have their own systems, and so we're trying to see what other options are there. Do we go electric? Do we, you know, we're looking at what will us, the, the, the best reduction, uh, to get as close to zero as possible. Some of them are very, very, very, very pricey. I don't think that's something we're gonna be able to accomplish right now, but, um, you all will get a chance when you see that report of some of the options. And that'll be part of our discussion of trying to make a decision about where we want to invest. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 12 Havel: Okay. All right. Up next will be Parks and Recreation. Seydell-Johnson: All right. Julie Seydell-Johnson, Director of Parks and Recreation. We start out with a really important trail connection along Highway 6, Broadway Street to Fairmeadows. This has been here a while, um, but we're moving forward on that and excited to get that in here. City Park pool replacement, and probably the number one question to me out on the streets right now is what's gonna happen to City Park pool. We do not know the answer yet. It has been a central question in the public input we're receiving for the Recreation, um, Facilities and Program Master Plan. This is a placeholder at this time. Um, we it'll probably, uh, be later this spring before we have the input gathered and, and information about that. We did have an assessment done of the pool shell. It is losing a lot of water. It, uh, there are a number of ADA, um, issues in the pool house and different things like that. So, we're moving forward with cataloging all those and using that as we come to you with a decision on this project later. Okay. Splash pad improvements, uh, the, I believe the equipment is just about ready to be ordered for this. This is happening this summer, where we'll be replacing the aboveground equipment at both Wetherby and Fairmeadows. Uh, not only will they give both of those, a nice, fresh look with some new and, and cool play equipment, but substantial water savings. So, the newer equipment, some of this equipment is now over 20 years old, and the newer equipment uses much less water coming through the nozzles and whatnot, so a big water savings there as well. Alter: May I ask when, um, would you actually, like, given, if the supply chain and you don't have problems with delays, when would the work on those happen? Seydell-Johnson: So, in this particular project, it's actually just a purchase of the aboveground equipment, which I don't wanna call it snap and play, but it's pretty close. So, it would be, uh, the installation is, is fairly easy and it wouldn't see any impact on operations maybe more than a few days closure if it happened in the middle of the summer. Ideally, we'd have it done in time for, to open this spring. So. Um, upgrading, uh, the BAS controls for the HVAC systems through a number of the buildings, fire station, animal control, um, these will make it more efficient and allow our staff to operate them remotely and, and monitor them. It's been very important this week when it's been below zero one day and then 35 degrees above zero the next day. Weiner: So, what does BAS stand for? Seydell-Johnson: Building automation system? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 13 Weiner: Thank you. Seydell-Johnson: Yep. Double check with Kumi. Uh, we have two park sites that we are poised to get to, um, have dedicated from developers on the North, Northside. Uh, one is Palisades, and we will be renaming that when it becomes dedicated to us, there's a lot of confusion about whether that's the state park or our smaller park Um, and then Stonebridge, which is kind of on the Northeast side, uh, the Parks Commission has gone out and looked at both those sites. We have some pretty good plans in place and ideas of what we'd like to do, um, and as soon as the land is dedicated, we'll be able to move forward on some of the purchases and get those rolling. Chadek Green Park restrooms and shelter, uh, we've had our neighborhood meetings for this, and we are almost at 90% plan development. This looks at the community garden site, it will add some accessible parking features, some accessible beds, new paths to the gardens, new, uh, gates on some of the garden spaces, a small shelter, and a small play area. So, it'll make it into more of a neighborhood park than only a, um, than only a community garden site. Rec Center improvements, so once again, this is something that's on hold right at the moment until we finish our Recreation Program and Facility Master Plan to prioritize what the greatest needs are for these things. Whispering Meadows is underway. The ecological improvements actually have already taken place largely this past fall, uh, there's a lot of improvements to the wetlands that, the trail system back in the wetlands received some new aggregate, uh, there's some and bridge repairs back in that area. Next spring well be bidding out a small playground, um, there is a, a residential lot that we own off of indigo Court, and that will receive a playground, possibly a small shelter, depending on, um, what the bidding climate is when we are able to do that, and accessible paths into this park. Lower City Park shelters and restroom replacement, this one has been in the CIP for a number of years, it's moved around here and there. Um, the idea is to consolidate some of the shelters, moving some of the, or removing some of the older ones that are in the areas that still flood, or that have potential for flooding. This particular item in your packet says that we would remove six picnic shelters. That's not quite accurate any longer. This was, um, written a few years ago in that the shelter by the, what was the carnival rides has already been removed, and the shelter that is near the Parks maintenance shop has been converted into a staff area to help us spread out our, our staff during COVID. So, we're, we're down to about three of the shelters that we would likely remove, which would be 5, 9 and 13. They're all kind of out in the areas that tend to flood and then replacing, you know, I know these numbers probably don't mean everything to everyone, but 7, 11 and 12, and keeping 6 and 8. So there would be some changes. We, uh, have some, uh, people concerned that there's a lot more use in the shelters, and we would agree that has happened during the pandemic. So that'll be evaluated as we This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 14 get closer to the actual project for what we end up doing with those. Kiwanis Park playground, everyone loves the natural play area, a lot of people love the natural play area at Kiwanis, it is just seriously aging and being very difficult to maintain. So, this will look at replacing that in 2023, so that means this summer, uh, we will have neighborhood input meetings out at the park to gather input about how people would like to see this playground, uh, replaced. The project calls for the shelter replacement as well, that may or may not be necessary, uh, that shelter's still in pretty good condition. We'll evaluate, uh, when we get to that point. Napoleon Park softball fields, this is regrading, redoing the drainage, just keep keeping them playable and at a high level of playability for our teams that use them. Upper City Park, similar to Lower City Park, this has been moved in the CIP so it coincides at the same time that the City Park pool refurbishment or replacement would happen. So essentially everything in the Upper City Park would happen, hopefully, in the same construction season. The Upper City Park shelters are generally very, getting very old, um, and are difficult to maintain, so we would definitely be looking at shelter replacements and potentially something different with the restrooms, whether it be actually combined into the pool building, if that was a new building or something different done with the outdoor restrooms that are in that area. Hickory Hill Park, Conklin Lane, the north entrance. This is the last of these kind of classic looking shelter restroom facilities that we have in the park system, um, and this is scheduled for replacement in 2025. Court Hill Park, shelter playground replacement will happen this coming summer. Once again, we've had the neighborhood meetings out there. Uh, this one we failed to calculate when the sun would go down this fall, but I would tell you that the neighbors came out in the dark with their own flashlights, uh, to give their input on this, project in the shelter. It was really cool. Um, and we have a playground, uh, chosen, and the playground and shelter stay in essentially the same location. Um, just some improvements to both. Robert A. Lee, uh, pool filter and HVAC, one thing we do know from our study so far is that this, uh, facility infrastructure is quickly nearing the end of its life. However, we still want to finish the Recreation Facility and Master Plan before we prioritize this, um, with the other large ticket projects that are in there. Happy Hollow is scheduled for 2024, this is a replacement only of the playground. Uh, as you know, we've done the restroom and shelter and some of the field renovations and different things in that park over the last few years, um, so this would finish that park as far as the, um, renovation schedule. Terrell Mill Skate Park, uh, one of our heavier used facilities, believe or not, um, on Dubuque Street, we have applied for a federal grant to help hopefully match the funding here so that we would be a $1.25 million project that would, uh, be not only a skate park, but make it into more of a roller park, so you could do, have a, um, a bicycle, BMX kind of bicycle area as well, and, um, a lot of interest in that from both local residents and, uh, Think Iowa City, as far as being able to host, um, events at a facility like that. So, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 15 Mercer ballpark diamond improvements, um, going through all of them, the facility out there with additional shade, additional work to the fields, um, new fences, and then, uh, looking at the amenities. This will likely be in partnership with City High, assuming that they stay there for their baseball program. Hunter's Run on the west side is one of our older playgrounds that's, that we haven't, have yet to replace in recent years, so this is 2023, which means again, next summer, well be out in this park with neighborhood meetings to talk about what the neighbors would like to see for their playground and park shelters. Event facility improvements. This covers our event facilities, which are the Lodge at Terry Trueblood, the Ned Ashton House and the Riverside Shakespeare Theater Stage in City Park. The first year, uh, or currently in this year, we have funding to do a restaining of the park Lodge, which is in need of that. And then the next, uh, priority will be some fairly substantial renovations to the Shakespeare stage. Uh, we've met with Riverside Theater, have some ideas from additional grant writing for that as well, but they're very committed to wanting to continue to use that location in our parks, and it is going to need some fairly substantial renovations to be able to be continued to use for that, use for that purpose. Off-road bike trail development, this will take place near Terrell Mill Skate Park, um, along the river bottoms, then up into some land that we, uh, purchased from the Elks, um, golf club last year, uh, this will be largely, uh, implemented by our Parks staff with some, uh, funding for the bridges and wetland type things like that, so. Benton Hill playground replacement, um, that's a picture of the shelter, which is not part of the replacement, but the, uh, the playground would reach the age by this point that it in 2026, that it would be on our list for evaluation and potential replacement at that time. College Green Park, 2024, this is another one that is very, very much used by a lot of different groups and a lot of people. It's a well -used park, um, and it is, I believe, the second oldest playground that we have, equipment we have in the system right now. Willow Creek trail replacement. Um, the trails through Willow Creek Park, um, have had a number of tree roots and different things come up, they aren't, um, they aren't smooth and level any longer. So, this would replace them in '22, '23. ADA elevator improvements, this would be City Hall and the Rec Centers. And I believe here, we're not here at the Senior Center. We have a special helper in that picture, if you can see that, um, but the ADA improvements are things like adding voice commands, adding, um, braille, adding some other things that, um, that would make them, uh, more accessible to a wider range of users. And then in 2026, replacing, uh, North Market Square playground replacement, this would be, uh, done in conjunction with the school as well since they use this playground quite a lot. And obviously the neighborhoods. Um, it's in, it's in fairly good condition at this point, but realize this is four years out and it's heavily used every day during the school year. Reno Street, this is a good example, if you can see the pictures of how a playground is in good condition, but maybe doesn't have This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 16 the highest accessibility. For a long time, our playgrounds were put in with the timber beams around the, uh, landscaping beams around the edges. Um, so this one is, doesn't have a direct path from the street. And also, once you get to the playground, there's a number of obstacles just to get over, to get to the actual equipment. So, this will look at, at providing that access both to the playground and the shelter and the gardens there. Um, and then also potentially replacing this if needed by 2026. Tennis court renovations, we get a fair amount of use of tennis courts at City Park and at Mercer. Mercer was redone a few or resurfaced a few years ago, along with the pickle ball project, um, but even with that, because of the high number, high amount of use, we have both of the tennis courts listed as needing future, hopefully, resurfacing, possibly larger structural repairs as well. And then this is a holding spot for some, um, park development. On the far west side is that development, um, potentially takes place in future years, could be in con-, in conjunction with a school or fire station, and, um, our Rec and Facility Master Plan is looking at this as what are some potential recreation needs, uh, for the area as well. Alter: Can I ask a quick question, um, as a new Councilor who really doesn't have sort of the historical context I'm really struck, um, you guys are gonna be busy, these are a lot of projects, and I'm wondering is part of this due to delays because of the pandemic. And therefore, there's a certain amount of catch up or is this kind of business as usual, where this is a constant rota of having to do this kind of upkeep. Cause some of these things also don't look to my mind, uh, or to my eye necessarily as like upkeep, but like actually fairly substantial overhaul. So, Fm just wanting a little context. Seydell-Johnson: Sure. So, we, we predict usually that a playground that's installed the last between 20 to 25 years and with about 50 parks, you're always gonna have a certain number rotating through for renovations. I would say that the amount of projects you see here isn't necessarily because of the pandemic. It actually predates when I came six years ago, um, there has just been a substantial, um, investment in the parks since I've gotten here. And so, we have been chugging along with five, four or five parks' projects, thanks to our friends in Engineering, um, over the last few years. And we're, we're nearing the end of that first round of renovations. We're at 15 or 20 parks left with substantial needs in them. Um, so I think we've made a lot of progress, but it's ongoing and we love that the parks are used as much as they're used, but that, that requires some, uh, general upkeep, care, and maintenance throughout too. Alter: I mean, it's great to see that there's so many and that there's attention to them, but yeah, just impressive amount of work Seydell-Johnson: Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 17 Thomas: I, I think there was a period of a period of time too, when, um, you know, parks in the system were not being renovated, kind of in a timely fashion. So, I think in the last, I would say since I've been here maybe 10 years there, there's been an acknowledgement of that and an acceleration of doing the renovations. Alter: Thank you. Taylor: That involved the ADA component too. So, I'm, I'm very happy to see that, that it's more aware now of, of those issues. Seydell-Johnson: Yeah. This, a lot of it follows the 2016 Park Master Plan. Um, we've been very fortunate thanks to your support that we've been following through with the promises and the priorities in that plan. So that's really guided the ADA improvements and the park renovations state. Alter: Right. Thanks. Havel: All right. If there's no more questions, then we will move next to Police. Liston: Good afternoon, Dustin Liston, Chief of Police. We just have two projects. None of them are new, so for those of you that were here last year, it should look familiar. The first one is the digital photo evidence management, and that's an evidence management system that will enhance the efficiency and accuracy of submitting, cataloging, retrieving, and distributing digital evidence. Um, currently, evidence, uh, evidence, photographs and videos must be cataloged on paper, transferred to DVD disc, and submitted to Evidence for storage and upon request for viewing of copies by attorneys or officers, those discs must be located, replicated, and distributed, which is a very time consuming and antiquated process by today's standard. This new system will allow upload directly into the system, create photo logs and associated information and files, and a file, and be able to file it under proper incident numbers for ease of retrieval while remaining, uh, maintaining high security for the evidence. And the next one is the Animal Shelter standby generator. And this provides a natural gas generator at the Animal Shelter, which would be able to provide a safe and comfortable environment for the animals during any kind of power outage, which is timely today 'cause my wife called me and told me that we didn't have power on the west side of town for a while. So currently the Animal Shelter, uh, the animal center loses the ability to provide heat or cooling during any kind of power outage. The center is built to be climate controlled, which does not allow them to have any possibility to open any of the windows. Some rooms with animals do not have the ability to have access to outside air. Extended periods of time, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 18 exposed to extreme heat or cold, have the potential to cause distress for the animals. That's it for me. Havel: Thank you. All right. We'll move on to Public Works. Havel: Starting out at the Landfill, a couple of projects there, one being the Equipment Building replacement. So, this will replace two existing buildings out at the Landfill. Currently we have some equipment that is, uh, too large to be housed indoors and out of the elements. So, this will replace a couple of, of storage buildings out there and allow for that, uh, that storage to occur, uh, indoors and not having to be out exposed to the elements full time. The other one being a bulk fill, a bulk water fill station. We have a couple of these located in other locations, uh, within the city. This allows for vehicles such as tanker trucks and that kind of thing to fill up with, uh, water more efficiently with the new water main that's been extended to the Landfill. It provides a, a few different benefits, one being, it helps to turn over the water that is in that water main. It's good for, for water to be used and, and not to just sit in the water main. So, this will help to help with that turnover, also can help with Fire operations out at the Landfill should it be needed, also can help with their daily cover, uh, operations as well out at the Landfill. Next are a couple of products related to the composting out at the Landfill. The first being the compost pad improvements, the current surface out there, um, is in definite need of repair, there's large potholes and it's just not a great, uh, surface for them to be working off of during their composting operations, so this will help to fill that in, um, provide more of a hard surface for them to work off of and, and certainly aid with their, their composting operations. The other thing would be a piece of equipment and excavator for compost operations, uh, again, helping to, help with that process. Next up is a couple of, um, system improvements out at the Landfill, first one being the Landfill gas dual extraction system, and then the ACM Landfill gas infrastructure expansion. Both of those will look at expanding the, uh, gas and leachate collection systems out at the Landfill. So, we have two existing systems there, um, and looking at extending both of those into additional parts of the Landfill, the final one being the leachate lagoons, there's currently two lagoons that are out at the Landfill. One hasn't been used for a number of years, so we'll decommission that one. Uh, the other one will be basically cleaned and, and for, provide some repairs to it as well. Future Landfill cell design, so we are currently operating in FY18 cell that is getting to the point where it will no longer be able to be used here in the coming years, so we will begin the process to, um, design and construct the next Landfill cell, which we are calling FY23. Equipment Maintenance Facility replacement, so this will take the facility that's at the, the corner of the south Highway 1/Highway 6 intersection and move that down to the Public Works site, so it'll be a new facility that'll be constructed it down at the Public Works site near the, the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 19 recently constructed Public Works Building. Moving on to storm water projects, the first one here is the North Westminster storm sewer upgrades. So, this is a section, uh, Westminster and Washington Street where we've had complaints of localized flooding, and this project will look to upsize some of the storm sewer out there to address that localized flooding, um, so that one is in '22. The Rundell Street pump station vault modification, those, this will have a couple components, the first being looking at, uh, modifications to the, the vault and the hatch or the top of the, the vault to allow for ADA accommodations. Right now, it does not meet, uh, ADA requirements, so we'll address that. It'll also look to address or replace some of the equipment that's actually housed in the vault. River Street storm sewer improvements, so along River Street, we actually have a section of, uh, essentially a ditch that often gets filled with debris and becomes somewhat problematic from a, a maintenance standpoint, so what this will look at doing is installing new storm sewer to address that issue. The non-public safety radio system upgrade, so the existing non-public safety radio system is, has reached the end of its useful life and is need of, uh, upgrade and replacement. The Market and Jefferson Street two-way conversion, so this project would look to convert both Market and Jefferson Street from one-way traffic to two-way traffic. Um, this'll include signal, uh, upgrades and replacement as well as uh, pavement markings, ADA improvements, and other associated work. Kirkwood Avenue to Capitol Street connection, so this will extend both Kirkwood Avenue and Capitol Street near Riverfront Crossings Park Um, this will be for the design of the project at this point, um, it also will include some water main work, as well as removing the existing railroad stub that crosses Benton Street down in that area. The next few products will be street reconstruction. So typically, street reconstruction's gonna include all new street pavement, sidewalks, as well as utility improvement, sanitary sewer, water main, that kind of stuff. Um, these are also opportunities where we'll look for the undergrounding of utilities that we talked about earlier, so these are good chances to work with utilities, to, to take care or take advantage of those opportunities, the first one being Dubuque Street. So, this would be reconstruction from Washington Street to Iowa Avenue. This would be basically, came out of the Downtown Master Plan from a, a few years back. Work would be similar to what we did with Washington Street, uh, a few years ago. Court Street reconstruction, so this would be from Muscatine Avenue to First Avenue. The Rochester Avenue reconstruction, this would occur from essentially Ralston Creek to First Avenue. Fairchild Street, the reconstruction will be from Clinton Street to Linn Street, in this case we'll actually reinstall the brick surface, so it will remain a brick street after the project's complete. Dodge Street reconstruction. This would occur from Governor Street down to Burlington Street. This would be a joint project with the DOT. North Gilbert Street reconstruction would be the section from Brown Street ne-, north to Kimball Road. Park Road reconstruction would This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 20 occur from Rocky Shore Drive to basically the extent of the Gateway project, so right near, uh, Riverside Drive. Taft Avenue reconstruction would be the section from American Legion Road north to Lower West Branch Road, and this one would include, uh, a conversion from, again, a rural section to an urban section, so similar to what we're doing on American Legion Road. The next one would be South Dubuque Street from Wright Street to Benton Street. So, the next project would be a study of the, the southern Highway 1/Highway 6 intersection, so this is one, if you've driven through there recently, you'd probably notice that there's sort of the kink in it in the east - west section, so, um, we'd be looking at basically potential geometric improvements and other roadway improvements, um, as well as pedestrian improvements. So, there's no currently no sidewalk or curb ramps or anything like that for pedestrians at this intersection, we'd be looking at, uh, those improvements as well. Um, another piece of this that we would look at would be, uh, potential coordination with the DOT project for, um, their replacement of the Highway 6 bridge over the Iowa River, I believe they're looking at undertaking or beginning that project in 2027, so there may be opportunities in the future to, to coordinate with that as well. Next up would be the Oakdale Boulevard Extension alignment study. So, we have an alignment study that was completed a number of years ago, uh, recently there has been some interest in potential redevelopment in this area, and one of the main questions that comes up is what corridor do we need to, to reserve for the future Oakdale Boulevard Extension. So, this would look at, uh, sort of updating that, that study, make sure we're, we're still reserving the correct corridor that makes the most sense for us, uh, given kind of where we're at, uh, recently. Gilbert Street bridge replacement, so this would be the Gilbert Street bridge over Ralston Creek, again, replacing the existing structure with, uh, likely a similar structure. Bergus: Jason, on that one, um, I think you can't see it on, on this, but I think in the book it says that's a 2023 project. Is that right, this year? Havel: Correct. Yep. Bergus: Okay. Do we have any sense of like how soon it would be actually impacting traffic on Gilbert Street? Havel: As far as closure or when it would be reopened? Bergus: Uh, closure. Like I, I'm assuming replacing the whole bridge means that at times it's gonna be closed and I just, I'm just thinking this is like a major impact one. Havel: Yep. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 21 Bergus: So, I'm just wondering if we know when. Havel: Yes, it will be a major impact. It will be closed during construction. We originally had looked at ways to potentially try and maintain traffic and it's just, it's, it's a pretty tight area when we were replacing the bridge and it just wasn't really feasible. Um, so I would anticipate, you're probably looking in spring of '23 is when those impacts would begin. Bergus: Okay, thank you. Havel: Yep. Weiner: And with respect to a couple of others that you talked about already, um, Court, Rochester, and Park, those are all, you know, know, so big, big chunks and major. What, what, can you remind me what the timing for those are please? Havel: Oh, I'd have to, so Rochester will begin in, um, '22, so that we're looking at, uh, '22, '23 for that, I think Court was '24, '24-'25 for Court and then Park Road was '25. Was it? Oops. Weiner: I don't know. Park Road's in pretty bad shape. Havel: Yeah. So, we'd be looking at construction starting in '25 for Park Road. So, did that cover all of 'em? Weiner: Yes. Thank you. Havel: All right. So, the next one's a big one, so the Burlington Street Bridge replacement project, um, so this would, the current plan includes some design money. We actually have some money that was allocated last year to kind of begin the study process for this project. So, this is, um, a situation where there's currently two bridges that cross the Iowa River for Burlington Street. One is actually owned by, the owned and maintained by the City, the other one is owned and maintained by the DOT, um, so our bridge is, has reached the, the end of its useful life, and, and we need to, to look at replacing that, and so with this project, we are currently, um, working to, to see if there might be an opportunity to replace two bridges with one bridge, um, also, as part of this project would be looking at realigning or, or making improvements to the Grand Avenue corridor to make a better connection between Burlington Street and Melrose, um, obviously for, for bike facilities and that kind of stuff, the, a more direct connection makes a lot of sense. Um, we've had preliminary discussions with the University, and they seem This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 22 receptive to that, so, um, that would be part of this product as well. Also looking at the potential for, um, what would be needs for utilities, not only the City utilities, but also University utilities, as well as what opportunities might be there to eliminate the dam. Iowa Avenue bridge rehabilitation project, so this would be a pretty major rehabilitation project that came out of actually our, our last round of bridge inspections, so we'd be looking at some concrete rehabilitation as well as some other, um, improvements there for that bridge. The Riverside Drive pedestrian bridge at Iowa Avenue, so this is one where, uh, we've had a fair amount of spalling that has occurred, so there's small pieces of, of concrete that have fallen over time. Uh, we actually had a project earlier this year to go out and, and remove the pieces that we could easily remove. Uh, the next phase would be to do a, a more extensive rehabilitation project, uh, just as a reminder, this would be a joint project with the DOT and the University. On to sanitary sewer projects. So, the first one is the Benton Street trunk sewer improvements, so this is in the area of Emerald Street and Benton Street. Uh, the current, uh, sanitary sewer in this location is undersized, it's also not easily accessible. So, this project would look at upsizing that, and, and moving it slightly into, uh, a location that's more accessible for maintenance of the, the sanitary sewer main. The Rohret south sewer, so this is the project that we'll look at upsizing and extending sanitary sewer along Abbey Lane and under Highway 218 to serve the area west of Highway 218 for future development. The next group will be, uh, lift station improvements, so the first one being the, the Hawkeye lift station, um, this would be essentially kind of a, a complete redo of that location. We'd actually get rid of the, the existing building and, and upgrade the, the type of lift station that's out there. Uh, the Napoleon lift station would be rehabilitation of the equipment that's there, um, just a reminder, I mean, this is equipment that's operating 24/7, 365 days a year, so it just gets to the point where it needs to be rehabilitated or replaced. Um, similarly, the Highlander lift station, we'd be looking at replacing and rehabilitating some of the equipment there. And then finally out at the Peninsula, we would look at replacing the control panel and adding a, a secondary pump to that location as well. Next, we'll move down to the Wastewater treatment plant. The first section or the first group of projects here would be in the aeration basin, uh, section of the Wastewater plant, so the first project here would replace some of the mixers down there, make them more efficient, uh, with new equipment. The second project would basically move the existing conduit and cabling that's currently on the, uh, the hand railing down there, um, and expand it for, or allow for a future expansion. And then finally would be replacing the remaining mixers that weren't done with the, the first project, and then replacing some of the other equipment, um, in that area. Next, we'll move over to the influent section of the Wastewater treatment plant, kind of the headworks of the plant, so we'd be looking at replacing the influent pumps, um, at the Wastewater treatment plant, and then the second This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 23 project there would be improving and, uh, making it, improving the influent flow monitoring, helping make that more accurate and more efficient. Wastewater treatment plant equipment, so this is a, a group of projects that's really looking at, uh, replacing equipment that's reached the end of its useful life or, or making minor modifications. The first one would be the biosolids conveyor improvements, this would help with, uh, loading material into trucks. Um, the second one would be replacement of the return -activated sludge pump, um, yeah, replacement of those pumps. The next one would be replacement of the grit classifiers, and then finally replacement of the rotating drum thickeners. The digester complex rehabilitation project, this will be a big one down at the Wastewater treatment plant. Um, there'll be a couple different phases of this. A lot of this, uh, revolves around the struvite issue that we have down there, which is essentially kind of a, a mineral deposit that occurs, um, throughout kind of the, the treatment process, uh, so the first one would be more on the op- or the, uh, system side of things, kind of looking at the way we, our, uh, treatment process works and are the, how we can remove phosphorus from, from the system that would help to eliminate that struvite issue. Um, and then the second phase of that is gonna be looking to replace equipment that's been damaged by the struvite, um, and, ah, in, is in need of repair. Primary clarifier repairs, this is really just a, um, replacement of equipment that's reached the end of its useful life. It's been in full-time operations since 2002. The jetter truck replacement, uh, originally was planned on a replacement schedule of 15 years. We're I believe about 12 years in, and it's just getting to the point where there's a lot more maintenance costs, and so this would essentially be money to buy out the final three years to allow for, uh, replacement sooner. Treatment plant paving improvements, this would be replacing essentially street pavement down at the Wastewater treatment plant for kind of their main drive aisles and other locations within the, the plant area. The Wastewater System Master Plan, so this would look at kind of a 20 -year plan for wastewater operations, not only at the plant, but as also at the lift stations and the collection system as well. HVAC replacement, so again, down at the Wastewater treatment plant, looking at HVAC replacement for a number of their, their buildings there. Roof replacements, this would occur not only at the wastewater plant, but also at the water plant. Again, there's a number of, of locations and buildings there that just the, the roofing has reached the end of its useful life. Moving up to the water plant and HVAC study, there's a, a, a few locations within the water plant where there's been some ongoing issues with HVAC equipment and operations. This would look at kind of taking a closer look at those, figure out what's going on and provide, uh, recommendations for improvements that could come in the future to address those issues. The next group of projects will be water main replacement projects. Um, the first one here is the Bradford Drive area, would include water main replacements, not only on Bradford Drive, um, but also Louise This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 24 Street and Wayne Avenue, uh, for our water main replacement projects. Typically, those will include essentially replacing existing water main that's not in good shape, whether it has a history of breaks or whatever it might be, um, with essentially in-kind, uh, water main. The next section of water main replacement would be the, from, er, along Melrose Avenue from Camp Cardinal Boulevard to Highway 218, as well as Highway 1 from Hawks Ridge to Westport Plaza, and then finally out on Highway 6 from Fairmeadows to Industrial Park Road. So again, all those would be water main replacement projects. Up at the Water Treatment plant, a few, uh, improvement projects there, the first one being, uh, would be replacing the variable frequency drives, or the VFDs, for the high service pumps at the water plant, next would be an upgrade to the chlorine feeder system, which is used as part of the, the treatment operations up there at the water plant. Next product would be the water or improvements to the, the meeting room at the water plant, this is one that's often used for training or larger meetings, um, it's certainly has some needs as far as upgrades there, you know, it has an old projector, really isn't conducive to, um, larger meetings and, and having those be a, a good presentation space, so looking at making some improvements there, also we'll include some lighting. And then Collector Well #2, cleaning and upgrading. So, this would look at cleaning and capping, uh, a couple of the laterals, and then also looking at drilling new laterals to help with capacity for Collector Well #2. Next up is a treatment technology study for the Water Division, so this would be a study that would look at the, uh, treatment methods that are used up at the water plant, be looking at nutrient removal, um, as well as the, the future for potentially either staying with or moving away from lime softening, um, and some other components. So, the, the first phase would be the study phase, and then the second project would be, uh, money to implement the findings that would come out of that study. And then finally, water distribution asset inventory. So, the City is currently, um, undertaking a process to develop an asset management, uh, software and, and program. And so, what this would do is look at going out and collecting asset information for the water distribution system. Give us good information to go into that asset management program, um, for future evaluation. That is it for Public Works. Lot to go through. So, all right. Bergus: I had, I had a question for you, Jason. Havel: Yeah. Bergus: Um, going back to the annual, um, projects, there was $250,000 a year, I think for Climate projects that Juli, I think mentioned, um, 'cause maybe, maybe they're under Parks and Rec, I'm not sure, but it was government buildings improvements that are climate related. Do those tie to things like the roof replacement on water and wastewater? Like are we looking at, okay This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 25 now is the time we can add solar panels? Or is it, is it more divided as between the departments? Havel: I, I guess I would say that for the most part, we kind of consider those as part of those projects. I don't know, as far as for of a funding standpoint that they're yeah, they're directly interconnected, but that's definitely something we consider as we look at those types of projects. Seydell-Johnson: The, the earlier fund is more the General Funded building -- Bergus: Okay. Yeah. Seydell-Johnson -- so it would be City Hall, the fire stations, Senior Center, Rec Centers, um, not the enterprise funded necessarily. Bergus: That makes sense. Thank you. Havel: All right. Up next is Transportation. Nagle-Gamm: Good afternoon. Darian Nagle-Gamm here to walk you through just a few projects that we have in Transportation. Project number one is video cameras for our parking facilities. We do have cameras at all of our existing parking facilities today at our entrances and exits, but this project is really going to expand, um, those security cameras to other parts of the facilities, both to help us keep, uh, tabs on, on, on traffic, um, flow and demand, on parking demand in the facilities and just, um, to help, um, improve security and to improve our response to incidents when they occur. Second project, uh, proposal is for, uh, to replace our current parking enforcement vehicle. Um, this is a, this is a photo of our, our current vehicle, uh, well-worn and loved. Um, it has license plate reader technology, which really helps us in our ungated facilities. So that's Chauncey Swan and Harrison Street, you pay by plate at those facilities, so there's no gates, which makes it really nice from a user perspective. You can just go in, you pay at the pay station, you enter your, your, your license plate. Um, these, or these vehicles help us, um, uh, help us with enforcement and make sure that that folks who are using the facilities have paid the user fees. The third project is parking ramp automated equipment. So, our current equipment, so when you pull into one of our gated facilities, you pull a ticket, um, pay when you leave, um, at the exit or you pay at the, the pay -on -foot, um, uh, machines that we have near the stairwells. Um, that was all installed in 2009, this equipment has about a 10 -year lifespan, so we've already pushed it past that. The pandemic may have helped us out a little bit, 'cause there was some reduced demand, there is one pandemic bright spot right there, um, but as things have picked back up again downtown, we're definitely seeing, um, increase in demand and the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 26 equipment failing at greater and greater rates. So, this project would, um, seek, uh, a new, or put out an RFP or an RFQ to, to have all of our automated equipment, um, replaced this year, which will really help, um, with the efficiency that people are able to, um, access and enter our, and exit our facilities. All right, number four is a replacement of LED fixtures in our parking facilities, and this is one that we've, uh, started last year and will continue. Um, we were pretty early adopters when it came to, to transitioning to LED lighting, which saved, um, so much money over the last 10 years, uh, over their lifespan, but they are beginning to fail at, at an increasing rate. Um, they're really efficient, but they don't last forever. So, this project is to go, um, and improve and install kind of that second round of LED lighting in all of our facilities. All right, project five is Tower Place drainage modifications, and, and this one could probably be categorized as a climate change project in that, um, the, the, the drainage that you see on maybe a residential building, you'll see, you know, uh, drainage on the outside of the building, well, this parking facility was built so that all the water, um, and snow drains inward, um, and then it exits through a pipe at the bottom. What we've found in recent years, uh, during extreme weather events when there's a lot of rainfall really rapidly is that we experience flooding in the very lower level. There's a, there's a parking condo, um, that you enter off Gilbert Street, in the very lower level, there have been, um, there have been flooding impacts, um, that have been substantial, and again, these are extreme weather events, a lot of rainfall in a short period. So, this project would help divert some of that storm water to the outside of the building and, and reduce that pressure on, uh, the current storm water system, um, in on the interior. All right, this is a new project. Um, you probably don't think about roofs much when you think about, uh, parking ramps, but, um, there is a roof over the stairwells and it, we did an inspection this year, and we did find that the roofs, um, on Capitol Street Ramp and the Dubuque Street Ramp's stairwells do need to be replaced. So, these are projects to, to replace them in order to, um, prevent any future, um, issues from occurring in those stairwells. All right, this is another new project. This is a Tower Place office remodel. And, um, in short, we have more people, um, working in this, out of this office, and an increasing number in the last year, um, than we have space for, so really this is a project to, um, to reorganize the space in such a way that we can fit more people, um, in here. This office is shared by our customer service representatives, who, who answer, um, uh, walk-in traffic, answer the phones and email requests for both Transportation Services and for, for Refuse, um, the administrative staff for Parking and, uh, myself and Mark Rummel. We also work out of this office as well. So, it's really just, uh, it's we need to find a way so that we can all work there simultaneously, and that's not something that we can do really easily today. Um, last project here is the Transit Maintenance Facility relocation. And I briefly, uh, talked about this on, on Saturday, um, at our, at the, the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 27 budget work session then, but this is a project to, to replace the current Transit Facility at a different location. Um, this is our, our Transit Facility is just knocking on the door of 40 years, which is really about the life span of such a facility. So, in addition to, you know, the wear and tear of a 40 -year-old building at the end of its useful life, um, we have some site-specific challenges, um, some, um, uh, soil subsidence issues at the current site. And so, um, we have been actively pursuing federal funding and the good news is there are federal funding sources for such a facility. I expect, um, we could see approximately, if, if a grant is awarded, which again, we're actively, um, applying for these grants, but we, probably 75% of that cost could be covered federally to give you a sense of, of, um, what the remaining, um, obligation would be. The, the new Transit, uh, Facility, uh, which will be shared with Equipment is earmarked for the Public Works, uh, site that's located at McCollister and Gilbert Street, um, there's already space allocated for it, um, so it's a matter of, um, you know, finding those federal dollars to help us, to help us kickstart this, uh, facility relocation. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Weiner: Is it, am I correct that the new, the new equipment you're putting into, um, to charge the new electric buses is gonna be movable? Will that, that be, is that -- Nagle-Gamm: That's correct, the chargers that we have just installed to power the electric buses that will be on the road in the next few weeks, that equipment will be able to be moved, and, and honestly, the equipment that we have right now is loaner equipment. Um, they weren't, because of pandemic, uh, pandemic, um, challenges with, with getting our own chargers, we have chargers from another part of the country, so they can be moved, um, and that was one of the benefits to us, um, from our perspective to go electric now, um, in our current facility, because we can move those to the new facility. Harmsen: Are there any, uh, plans or any talk about using, uh, with a new facility using something like solar to augment the recharging of the buses, uh, solar panels and things like that? Nagle-Gamm: Great question. Yeah, I think that will, that will definitely be something we'll be evaluating throughout the process is, is, um, you know, what options do we have to not only supplement the power, but also just make it an overall, um, environmentally friendly building as we possibly can. Havel: All right. The last section is On the Radar. So, these are the, the projects that don't show up in the current plan or, or only a portion of them show up in the current plan, as far as maybe it's a situation where there may be some design This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 28 money, but not construction money. Um, so these are kind of those major products on the horizon that we'd wanna make sure you, you keep in mind as we move forward. Seydell-Johnson: So, the first one is the Lower City Park Master Plan improvements. And this is, uh, was a plan completed about six years ago. We have chiseled away at little parts of it with all the improvements that we've been making, but this would overall, the larger part of it would be to raise the road through the park to provide additional resilience to flooding in the park, um, along with some additional, um, renovations to both the baseball fields and to the Riverside Festival Stage. The next one is Eastside sports complex. We own land, um, just south of the new Hoover Elementary School. Uh, we have planted trees to start a buffer there, uh, but everything else is on hold. We've done a planning process that, uh, fills it with baseball fields and soccer, uh, also potentially a space for an indoor facility. This is being revisited as part of the Recreation Facility and Master Plan to prioritize it along with other projects. Um, and then the Recreation Master Plan, which I've mentioned about 16 times today, um, this plan is in place, but this, or is in progress right now and it will help us prioritize the needs of all of our aquatic facilities, the rec centers, the outdoor athletic fields. Uh, we've got a lot of input from the public about their priorities and their hopes and dreams for what recreation can be in Iowa City. So, we look forward to sharing that information with you and, and working through a prioritization process, um, and hopefully funding streams for a lot of these larger projects. Havel: The next project is the Taft Avenue reconstruction. So, we talked earlier about the section from American Legion Road to Lower West Branch Road, um, there are also, is two additional sections that would need reconstruction in the future, the first one being on the north end from Lower West Branch up to Herbert Hoover Highway, and then on the south end from American Legion Road down to 420th Street. Similar situation with McCollister Boulevard, we recently completed the section from Gilbert Street over to Sycamore Street. There's, uh, long term plans to continue to extend that to the east from Sycamore Street, uh, over to Scott Boulevard. Another one here is Carson Lake, so this would be on the west side of Highway 218 between Rohret Road and Highway 1. Uh, the thought here is that this would be, uh, a regional detention basin that could also serve, uh, recreational uses. So, it'd be a, a lake that could be used for, uh, recreational uses while also again, serving as that regional detention basin for storm water use as well. Foster Road elevation, so, as I had mentioned earlier, we have, uh, some initial money in there for our functional design, um, should we choose to move forward with that, then there would need to be construction money allocated in a future year for, for that project. Same situation for Highway 1/Highway 6, again, we have money in there for a study to kind of take a look at things, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 29 um, but there would be a need for future construction dollars. That is the information that we have for you. Teague: Okay. All right. Any questions for staff? That was a lot of information, but really appreciate, um, to-, walking us through this. I did have some general questions, I guess, um, when we're talking about sustainability, um, I, and even, um, just, you know, decreasing carbon emissions. I'm, and I think Councilor Bergus has kind of brought that up, um, is that something that you all are always reassessing on some level throughout all the projects? Havel: Yeah, I would say it's something that we're always considering on our projects. You know, I think there's some, roofing is, is an example where, you know, it's, it's not always as simple as just saying, adding solar panels. So, I think it's something that we, we look at and, and we try to, to take advantage of opportunities that we do have, um, but kind of work through that process. And it, sometimes it works out and sometimes it, it doesn't for as far as what's gonna be, um, workable for a project. Teague: I know that carpet is often something that, you know, some of our buildings have, but there is more and more moving towards, um, like natural concrete, natural concrete is, ever, that reconsidered for some projects. Seydell-Johnson: It, it has been, um, the trade-off with that is sound, and we're already working in some spaces that are difficult because of the number of people working in small close -in spaces. So, it's, it's not always the best option for that reason, but it's something that we've, we've often considered. Teague: And then I have, I think, um, just a couple of more questions. For the crosswalks, I know that we have one project that, um, has a pilot program where it's kind of heated if I understood it correctly. Is that, is the, that correct? Havel: On Muscatine Avenue, the conductive concrete. Teague: Yes. Um, that hasn't been installed yet? Havel: Correct. Yeah. And I guess just to clarify, so it would be the sidewalk on the adjacent to the, uh, bus stop. So, it wouldn't be the actual crosswalk in the street. Teague: Okay. All right. It brings up a question just about like the ADA curb ramps. Um, is, will there be an ADA curb ramp there that will be kind of, with the heated option or, or no. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 30 Havel: I don't recall if the actual ramp, I don't believe was conductive. I don't think we did conducted on the ramp. I think it was just the sidewalk, the, uh, bus shelter pad. Teague: Okay. I just know that once, um, we have some experience with that, it would be interesting just to see, um, how, uh, that new pavement is. Other than that, I don't think I have anything else, but thank you all. Anyone else? Taylor: I had a question, um, throughout there, there was, uh, comments about some new traffic signals and that, of course, they're, they're all losing their life expectancy. Also, uh, a friend of mine who's sight impaired, uh, commented on the, uh, speaking ones that we have downtown, and he really, uh, liked that and appreciated that. Are there plans for any of the ones that we're going to be installing? Is does that add a large cost or is it possible that we can add some more speaking signals? Havel: It does add some cost. The, we've basically taken the, the stance that we would install those at all future intersections as we make improvements to the, the signals. Taylor: Good. Thank you. Thomas: Well, I, I have a number of, um, now that we've seen the, the, uh, the budget, uh, and also the, the CIP portions and are, in a way going to be moving into, um, discussions of the strategic plan. I prepared a kind of a summary of my thoughts at this point, and I've sent it to Council and the City Manager, to Geoff. Um, so I, perhaps this might be a good time to go over those comments. Teague: Sure. Just get closer to your microphone. Thank you. Thomas: Um, I've tried to, in, in, so far as we're moving toward the strategic plan, I, I wanted to try to place them within that context of, of the strategic plan. At least the, the goals that we have, uh, at the, at the current time, they may be going through revision when we meet again on that, um, but for me, I use them as a reference, uh, for these considerations, uh, and the first would be fostering, foster, healthy neighborhoods and affordable housing throughout Iowa City. Uh, with, under that heading, promoting a range of housing affordability and demographic diversity in the core neighborhoods through revision of land use regulations and the creation of economic incentives, and perhaps for the benefit of, of, uh, the new Councilors, I wanted to give a little bit of background on that. Um, the core neighborhoods, uh, are in many ways, a treasure to Iowa City, uh, from a tax revenue standpoint, uh, there's significant amount of high density, high family, multi -family redevelopment This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 31 has generated on a per -acre basis, considerable wealth for decades. Uh, that's a dimension, I think, I think is kind of interesting to think about as we talked about revenue streams and generation of tax revenue, um, that may not be understood in terms of looking at the core neighborhoods, um, but in fact, because of their density, uh, they do generate considerable wealth on that per -acre basis. Uh, the market forces that fuel these higher densities and increased property taxes have else, have also had significant negative impacts threatening the stability of the core neighborhoods since the state legislature preempted the City's land use policies attempting to address some of these impacts, there appears to be a trend toward a greater number and size of investment -owned, densely occupied rental properties, whether in older houses or in proposed infill development. Concerned neighborhood, neighbors feel a sense of urgency and are in the process of developing a multifaceted strategy to address this threat constructively. There are, there are three actions, uh, by this group that have been identified by which the City Council can help advance this strategy and achieve its strategic plan goal of providing affordable housing throughout the city, as well as reduce climate emissions by improving energy efficiency. The first of those is the, the City property on Ronalds Street, at 724 Ronalds. Uh, that was purchased about five years ago, uh, by the City to serve as a site where we could consider, uh, how to develop missing -middle, um, in an infill manner rather than a greenfield manner. So it was, it was a condemned property, as I recall. And, um, we pretty much just paid for the value of the land. The improvements, if you've been by there, um, I think were-- I looked at the assessment to, I think there are around $12,000 in improvements on the value of the property, but the, the true value of it is, is the property itself, so that, that is something that I think we need to move on. It's become a bit of a nuisance, um, you know, it's a vacant property. And, um, that coupled with the fact that, that we are feeling this, this urgency regarding future development, this, this would be an opportunity for us to model what it is we want, uh, whenever an infill opportunity should arise. Uh, the second element would be the form -based Code for portions of the core neighborhoods, uh, which could be coupled with affordable housing incentives. Again, in terms of background, there were, there was preliminary work done on the form -based Code for this area, uh, but it never, it never was taken to the final stage where the Code was actually developed as was done for the South District. Um, if we are to promote, and I think the idea here is, is to support and promote infill housing in the core neighborhoods, it has to be done well, and the only way we can ensure that will be done well would be to do the form -based Code. Uh, you know, we have seen some examples, uh, over the last few years and, um, it just reinforces the concern that we have in terms of making sure that any infill development is, is done, you know, in a manner where it's compatible with the, the context in terms of scale and architectural form and so forth. The third item would be the creation of an urban revitalization area, uh, in This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 32 other words, a, a residential tax abatement program for certain building improvement. So that that's a strategy that we've seen, uh, used in commercial, of some of our commercial zones, but because of some of the conditions of the, uh, the residential housing stock in the core neighborhoods, it, it puts any kind of attempt to, um, improve them at a, at a kind of a disadvantage because of their existing condition. I was talking about this with the Mayor the other day, and, um, he toured a-- the building to the north of the, um, Haunted Bookshop and was along with the former Mayor, appalled at, you know, the existing condition on the inside. So, so that's sort of a, a built-in disadvantage to try to advancing, um, you know, a rebalancing of the, of the core neighborhoods. So those are the three items that, um, as I noted, you know, depending on staff load and availability and, you know, costing out what, what these, these items might, uh, might cost in terms of a project, um, you know, that those are the, the three on, on the healthy neighborhoods. Uh, the second -- Teague: Uh, I just, I, I did just wanna, um, maybe just chime in for a minute because I wanna make sure that some of your items get the attention that it needs. Because I think that, um, as we're talking about the, um, the fostering, uh, healthy neighborhoods, that is a part of our, uh, plan that we're gonna be talking about. And I wanna make sure that maybe if you can highlight some of the things that will be, be more pertinent to this budget cycle, um, because I know that affordable housing, in big picture it is, but I think we'll, um, be able to zone in and have a more fruitful conversation with Council, maybe at an affordable housing opportunity. Um, so if you can just maybe zone in on some of the, uh, budgeting items that we can consider for now. Thomas: Well, that's, that's, um, as I was noting, you know, there's, with the Ronalds affordable housing pilot project, um, that may become a budget item. Um -- Teague: We have affordable housing funds that we can, you know, tap into, right. Thomas: So there, you, you know, as, as Geoff said, um, at our last meeting, I'm trying to identify, um, concerns and projects, the actual way in which they're financed, I think is another question, and it kind of depends in part on, uh, who does the work, is it done by staff, is it done by a consultant, and then if there is any kind of capital cost associated with them, how is that going to be handled? Um, so it, you know, that pilot project could be something that, uh, the, the City finances, uh, or it could be something that we develop the, um, you know, request for proposals for a private developer to do the work. So, it, it has a number of different potential directions it might go. Um, so in my mind, at least from my standpoint, perhaps Geoff has another thought on this, is, is trying to see to what degree Council supports the initiative, uh, and then looking at how the project moves forward. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 33 Teague: So, I hear you saying, uh, there could be multiple funding streams, at least for this project. I get it. Thomas: Um, the second item is, is again, more of a strategic plan, uh, issue, not, no cost associated with it, as I see it. And that would be, um, promoting the formation of neighborhood associations and also self-supporting improvement districts like we are seeing, uh, in the South District with that commercial zone. Um, so, so, and that's in fact, one of the things that this working group in the Northside is looking at, um, my understanding is they can be, um, considered for historic properties. So that may be a, um, another strategy that would be part of this multifaceted strategy. Um, the second goal, uh, would be enhancing community mobility, which I would add, and access to opportunities for all residents, uh, and under that heading would be to improve the two critical dimensions of freedom of movement and access to opportunities throughout the year, emphasizing safety and comfort, with special consideration for young children, youth, persons with disabilities and the elderly. So, under that, um, heading would be some projects, uh, for you to consider. One would be one that we have talked about, um, in the past year, and that would be this question of snow removal at curb ramps, bus stops, and along bike lanes. Um, and I attached in the, the email that I sent to you, the, um, Cedar Rapids 2019 Pedestrian Master Plan, partly because I know there are a lot of concerns at what is this project that we're talking about, uh, what's the scope of it. Uh, and again, I think that's something, um, that we as a Council will need to, to consider if we support the idea, uh, but what the Cedar Rapids plan suggested was, which was, you know, just two years ago, um, identifying priority areas for its application, first of all. Uh, you know, there's a recognition that, that, um, depending on the scope, this can be an expensive, um, an expensive item. And so, the, the Cedar Rapids plan did identify a number of priority zones based on the level of activity of pedestrian, uh, movement, uh, in Cedar Rapids. I think a similar thing could be done for Iowa City. Uh, in fact, I suspect the pedestrian activity in certainly the center of town, may be as high as anywhere in the state of Iowa. As you know, I mentioned earlier, the, these higher densities, which the Court neighborhoods have, the there's a real reliance on pedestrian infrastructure by those residents. So that's, that's one item that could, could result in a budget cost. Uh, I, you know, obviously at this point, uh, we're, we're not gonna be, uh, able to apply this to the current season that we're in, but I would hope we could have a plan in place for winter of next year, um, to develop, you know, this, this approach. Uh, the second, the second item would be, uh, the, uh, creating safe and enjoyable and comfortable streets for all forms of mobility, uh, with an emphasis on the major thoroughfares. And I think the key issue here that I see is that many of our, our major thoroughfares are what might be called unsafe by design. Uh, what we could This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 34 do with redesigning those streets is to make sure they self -regulate, uh, which essentially would be prioritizing public safety over vehicle speed. Uh, streets in an urban context with more than one lane in any one direction, tend to have the most negative impacts. Uh, if we were to be successful in better self-regulating our streets that should reduce police -officer -initiated traffic stops and City personnel responding to crashes, which, you know, we heard about our, from our Fire Chief, the, the degree to which our Fire Department responds to emergency responses. I'm sure they are often, if not always involved in responding to crashes. Uh, this may result in less office interaction with the public, thus freeing up more officer time and department resources for priority activities. So, what, what are the projects that would fall under that category? Um, we talked about the reversion of Market and Jefferson to two-way traffic. Um, you know, I'm pleased to see it back in the CIP. I would certainly, given that this was identified as a, a high priority, priority in the, in the Streetscape Master Plan, uh, which was adopted in 2014, that we could move it up perhaps to, uh, 2023,'24. Uh, right now it's in the '25,'26, um, fiscal year. Um, in addition to that, I would hope we could, I would, I would basically like to have an update in terms of the, the, um, schedule for Gilbert Street. It's kind of been, again, many of these projects have been on our strategic plan or, you know, noted as, as things that we should be moving forward on, and I, I really just want an update on that. Uh, although I would say, and I will perhaps point to this as well is at this moment is I, uh, I've mentioned my concern with the safety that we are achieving on our current bike lane systems, uh, so I would suggest that we, it's been five years since our Bicycle Master Plan has been adopted, and, um, we did not, uh, receive that Gold status that we've been seeking since 2016, um, and one of the reasons, I think, based on the, the comments of the evaluation was that our system, our system is not sufficiently friendly to people of all ages, and I've kind of shared that concern. Uh, so it seems to me after five years, maybe it's time to, to revisit, uh, our, our Master Plan and see if there are any changes to our, our, the work that we're doing to better ensure that they are, um, truly accessible to persons of all ages. Um, another project, uh, that, that I've certainly been posing to, to Council and staff would be Burlington Street. Um, I was just looking at the, the Downtown Riverfront Crossings Master Plan, which was done about 10 years ago. And, um, they did a, a geographic mapping exercise as a part of that master plan. And among the comments was Burlington Street is a barrier. Address it. Uh, the suggestion, uh, that I've been posing would be, uh, flexibly using the curb lanes. It's a five -lane thoroughfare, the curb lanes for parking during off-peak tra-, off-peak traffic hours, uh, that that's a strategy that's often used in cities, which see a, you know, kind of a variable volume of traffic. Um, and, and they, and they wanna try to make sure that the, the roadways, uh, capacity is, is kind of consistent with that volume of traffic and provide parking opportunities when they're available. Um, yesterday the, the Downtown This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 35 District's, uh, legislative committee gave tentative support to that pilot project, um, which, which is what I'm suggesting again is not to, as I, as I did, uh, several years ago on Washington Street, with the signalization at Linn and Dubuque is, is it's this, this provides an oppor-, there, and with Burlington, an opportunity to test an idea, you know, without investing a large sums of, of money, uh, to see if in fact, this concept of, you know, flexibly using the curb lanes is viable or not. Uh, but thus far, the, the legislative committee did give a tentative support, raising concerns to it, with it. Um, the last project that I would mention is Dodge and Governor, we, we saw presented today, it's in the 2025 CIP, uh, this is a $15 million major capital project. And I guess I would say my concern is as with these other streets, how well is it working? You know, we, uh, back in September received a letter from Barbara Epstein, who lives on Ronalds between, uh, Dodge and Governor. And, uh, she, she wrote an email to us saying that, um, you know, she was attempting to cross Governor to get to the cemetery. She had a leg injury, she thought she saw a gap in traffic, um, but in fact, some cars northbound, um, almost ran her over. I mean, she was, rushed to try to get out of the way of traffic, fell and, and literally had to, to crawl to the other side of Governor Street. Um, Governor is a, is a tough street it's, um, you know, it's got very, very few signalized intersections. It's, uh, the, if you're northbound on Governor, the last light is on Market and you have basically a straight shot up the hill to, uh, the hillside without any other signalization, and it's almost a mile from Market before you hit the, the top of the hill there. Um, so there are all kinds of problems that we've, you know, I certainly, as, as a member of Council have seen letters to the Council expressing concerns about the fact that it's difficult to cross. There are lots of destinations on either side of Dodge and Governor as you, you travel the corridor, park, schools, the cemetery, and so forth. So, I, I really wanted to ask, is this really the best design that we, if we're committing to the next 40 years with the design of Dodge and Governor, is this really what we want? Um, this is our opportunity if, if we really want to try to give it a more of a, um, you know, what might be referred to as a contextually sensitive approach, this is the time. Um, and, and, you know, it's the, in our lifetimes, it's gonna -- our only time to achieve this. Um, I also have down here, you know, and we talked about this during the, um, policing restructuring, the Police Department, the use of automated traffic enforcement, uh, on major arterials where self-regulating street design may not be feasible in the short term, you know, and in considering, uh, and preparing these, these, this summary, you know, my personal feeling at this point is that I would really prefer us at this time to emphasize the idea of redesigning the streets so that they better self -regulate. Um, as a, as a first strategy, um, you know, after all we are, we're dealing with streets that are incentivizing, um, in their design speeds that are essentially illegal. We're giving our Police Department an almost impossible job of enforcing those laws because the streets are telling drivers to drive at unsafe speeds. So, so This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 36 that would be my, my suggestion at this time is, and, you know, I was the one to advocate for the automated traffic enforcement, uh, at this point, um, I would really like us to try to focus on making sure our streets are safe by design rather than unsafe. Um, some, some other smaller items, uh, again, for consideration, probably during the, um, strategic plan would be accelerating the use of transportation alternatives through an electric bike incentive pilot program, um, and then there's a, a pending work session, uh, that we haven't, we haven't addressed yet, and that is, uh, within the neighborhood plan for equitable distribution of high-quality destination parks and public spaces with an, an easy, enjoyable, and safer walking and biking distance for all residents. So that, that's in our work session. I modified the language a little bit. Um, that concern, I think, has just been amplified by COVID, you know, we, when we shelter in place, uh, and this is particularly true for children and elderly, they, they are more or less limited to their immediate surroundings. So, I'm, I'm really hopeful we can take a, a look at how we can plan our city so that we do bring these destinations into closer proximity to those who are walking and bicycling, um, the, under demonstrating leadership and climate action, a minor, but I, I have heard concerns. We did, we recently hear, hear a concern from someone living at the, um, Prairie Hill cohousing, and that is, uh, revising our backyard chicken ordinance. Um, right now there are some language in there, um, which limits where you can have chickens, uh, currently it's single family residential, uh, and then there's also a requirement that you get the permission of your neighbors. Um -- Teague: Um, I will say, make sure we're keeping it to a budget item that's more strategic, strategic planning, right. Thomas: Right -- I, I'm just, I just wanted to, you know -- Teague: -- not notice to the public. Thomas: Yeah. This has no cost, no cost associated with it, uh, um, but I, I, I just wanted to put it out there, so you had some time to think about it. Um, so, so that's basically the items that, that I have, um, I've identified, most of them have a, a fairly long history to them. Um, you know, I'm keenly aware of the fact that this will be, you know, the last, these next two years will be my last, most likely on City Council. Um, many of these things have been, uh, you know, on the, on the radar since I've been on Council. Uh, so I'm, I'm really hopeful we can, um, you know, and, and when we developed them six years ago, we hadn't gone through Black Lives Matter and COVID, and all these other things, which I think have certainly, in my mind, accelerated the need to, to consider these the, you know, the approaches I've been suggesting. Um, so I, I, it is, I apologize for the kind of, uh, going beyond the budget and the, the CIP. Um, I, I will say, you know, when I, when Pauline and I first started in This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 37 2016, we had a strategic plan disc--, that discussion took place in December before we even took office. And I'm, I'm wondering if that may be, you know, doing it in the, in front of the budget discussions rather than after our budget discussions might make sense, because I, I think it's helpful to have that overarching vision when, when thinking about, um, questions relating to the budget and the CIP. I know, I know in that 2016, uh, strategic plan discussion, it generated some items that then were incorporated into the budget and, and resulted in some changes. So, um, again, thanks for giving me the opportunity here. And, um, I'm very interested to know what your thoughts are on these, these items. Taylor: I'll just make a quick comment since he mentioned my name. Um, that experience was amazing. Awesome and amazing as you would say, uh, Mayor, uh, because it was not only the new incoming Council members, but the current sitting members that were going to be outgoing. We all, as a group, sat together in a room out at Ashton House and put this strategic plan together with all of our thoughts. And so, it was really an amazing experience. And I, I would suggest that we do that again, but I just had a few comments, mostly relating to parks. I apologize, Julie, um, no real complaints or concerns. Uh, it's just that one of the items, and John mentioned the length of time we've been on the Council, and it seemed like it was when former Mayor Pro Tem Salih came on board. So, it was over four years ago. Uh, we talked about, and I think it's still on our potential work session agendas, the possibility of the rubber surface at the parks and playgrounds, uh, but I see that, um, I think it's the Market Square playground replacement, uh, is going to be replaced with, um, wood fiber or something was, I think was, it was not the rubberized. And so I had a concern about that, and, and, uh, we mentioned at that time we might work together with the Iowa City Community School District. And I know at that time with the Long, their Longfellow playground, when they replaced it, they had three different, uh, grounds. They, they did the rubberized and the wood fiber and, and a third one to kind of study which one they thought would work best, um, lasted longer, cost less, et cetera. So, I, I'm, I was just kind of discouraged to see that, that the rubberized was going to be replaced and wondered, 'cause I think it's still on our work session, possible discussions, uh, whether we could, uh, go back to that, 'cause, uh, we talked about it being a safer surface, although it was a little more expensive, but it lasted longer. So that was one of my concerns. The other was the, uh, replacement of the, um, shelters at City Park. Uh, I know we got a letter, but even before we got the letter that kind of, uh, did red flags from you, 'cause, it, um, City Park and those shelters I've seen over the years as, as a great venue for play -- people, for large gatherings, uh, and, and I know it's been limited lately because of COVID, but it actually, with those open air shelters is, is a better place for people to gather, uh, they felt safer being in, in the outdoors with the open air. Um, so I, parks have always This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 38 been to me synonymous with picnics and it's, it's a lot nicer to have a picnic inside a shelter if you've got a large group, but along with that, if, if we can't do that, if we're thinking that there's not a need for that, uh, I would hope that perhaps we're the planning to, um, add some picnic tables, something for these people that see the park as a gathering place for picnics, uh, would have some place to sit and eat and be comfortable, uh, particularly in a shady spot, not out in the sun, direct sun, but with the new trees and et cetera. So, um, those were just, uh, my concerns. That's all. Fruin: Just to quickly respond and um, there's a Parks Commission meeting that started at five, so that's why Juli had to leave, otherwise I'd be deferring to her, but, um, uh, regarding the surfacing, that's certainly something your Parks Commission has talked quite a bit about and you, um, should be seeing a lot more of that rubber surfacing throughout our system, so they're taking in that kind of geographic, uh, analysis approach to all these projects. Uh, you've seen some rubberized surfacing, um, come up at City Park, um, at, uh, Wetherby Park, Willow Creek Park, um, are some recent examples of projects that we've done where we've just incorporated either all or a portion of that playground, uh, with rubber surfacing. So just want you to know that your Parks Commission is paying very close attention to that issue. And yes, we are able to, to kind of learn from some of those early experiences from the school district as well. And then the, the, the City Park, um, shelters, you know, that's something we can certainly, um, revisit, uh, down the road. That project is not a near-term project. That's a few years out, looks to me like it's a, um, '24 project. And particularly as Juli mentioned with the Upper City Park, that's gonna be, we're gonna hit that pretty hard with the master plan. So, I think we'll be able to spend some time, we can kind of flag Council's interest in analyzing shelter locations and number of shelters and that sort of thing. But I wouldn't worry about spending too much time on that now since that project's a few years down the road. Taylor: Thank you. Teague: Any other comments? Harmsen: I had a quick question about the, uh, digester, um, uh, project. Um, you had mentioned something about it, uh, replacement being needed because of a mineral buildup that was in turn caused by, uh, phosphorus that was being treated, um, and maybe something that's been talked about in earlier Council sessions, so I'm new, so I'm catching me up to speed. Just curious if it's, uh, if there's anything as, is this a repair that's being, uh, sped up or caused more soon because of this phosphorous issue, um, any ideas on where this is coming from? Is this something that we should be thinking about? Um, either This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 39 that, yeah, just kind of just some background on that, just to, just to know, what's, what's sort of driving that. Knoche: Yeah, so, uh, when we did our last plant upgrade, we changed the process and, and how a little bit of the process and how our, how the wastewaters treated. And, and so with that process, it actually precipitates out the phosphorus, and so the, the, the nutrients that are there in the water precipitates it out, and it actually comes out in the piping system, uh, as it goes through the kind of the sludge processing, uh, piece of it, and so, um, it, it's, this is a, a process change that, um, is, is, is one that is, is being done across the country. Um, it was an unforeseen issue. Uh, and so now we're in the process of figuring out how to address that. And I, I think with the digestor upgrade, we'll be looking at a, at ways to, to basically try to precipitate that out prior, you know, basically in a controlled manner versus it in an uncontrolled manner, which is what we have now. Harmsen: Okay, thank you. Knoche: Yep. Teague: I do wanna make a comment, just, uh, circling back to some of the things that were brought up, um, by Councilor Thomas. Um, a lot of this, uh, stuff, as I mentioned, we'll be able to really take up and give it some, uh, the time that it's, it's needed to discuss. One thing I will say. Um, it least for me, when I think about a lot of these, a lot of the things that he pointed out, revisiting the Bike Master Plan, and as well as, um, some other initiatives when we were talking about traffic enforcement and, and things of that nature, one thing, um, I at least wanted to mention when it comes down to the budget that we might consider, um, it wouldn't be now, but that we can give some thought to is that Market Street/Jefferson, um, I, I think I heard him say that, um, in 2014 it was toward this, um, top of the list, um, and so that's something that I think, um, we will be able to discuss here in the near future. Other than that, I, um, do think, um, when I look of, when I look at the list, um, there is nothing that strikes me that is more immediate, although we could have some, um, direction given to staff for like our next budget cycle, which typically we, um, do in August, uh, for the following year. And so we would want to have those discussions between now and then, so that we can, amongst the Council, uh, determine what of those have some init-, you know, have some speed, um, and again, I think some of this will come out in our strategic planning because I did like how, uh, you kind of went through and gave some of the titles of how it falls, uh, with the Council, um, or past in, uh, Council's, uh, priorities. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 40 Weiner: Yeah. I just wanna touch on a Cou-, a few things that Councilor Thomas mentioned, uh, basically the two, the, the one-way street conversion with, with Market and Jefferson. Uh, I'm definitely interested in revisiting and I appreciate your calling to our attention, um, uh, Dodge/Governor. I think that is, that's definitely worthwhile taking a close look at, and finally having lived various places where, um, there are projects such as he proposes for Burlington, um, I, I think that's a, a potentially really, um, worthwhile project to examine. Teague: I'll also mention that I think it's really good to have a lot of the, uh, the, the staff here that, um, facilitate a lot of those initial, uh, conversations kind of heard some of this. I think that's beneficial as well. Fruin: Just real quick, um, the Market/Jefferson, uh, as you have deliberations, if you want to move that up, um, we really don't think there's any way to get that project done, start to finish until '24. That would be the earliest that we could do that. Um, if we ordered new traffic signals right now, we wouldn't get 'em this coming construction season. Uh, there, there's that much of a delay in receiving those, but with that project, we, we still need to do full design. And that's a, that's one where you're gonna want a lot of public input. Um, uh, I don't think that's gonna be as a popular of a project with everybody as, as we might think. We know the Downtown District is supportive of that, but as you get into more serious discussions, you should, you should expect some controversy with that. It doesn't mean we shouldn't pursue it, but that adds to the process, um, we just have to be a little bit more deliberate with, with, how we go about public input. So, if you do wanna move that up, um, I'd suggest '24, '25, um, but we're gonna have to do some gymnastics with other projects because that's over $2 million in bond funds. And we couldn't just layer that on top of whatever that year's bonding is, if we want to maintain kind of that, um, uh, level bonding year to year and level debt service, um, type of project. So, staff would have to give you some options on other projects to, to delay or remove in order to move that up. Teague: Since there, uh, will be the, well, we know that this will go out to the public and will, people will weigh in on it, seems to me that it's gonna be very vital for us to kind of start those deliberations since it's already been delayed. And, um, it, it, it is had some on-off, off the CIP, um, so I would suggest that, um, I did hear three Councilors, uh, give support for it. Um, I don't know if there's any other Council that would give support to kind of move it up to the 2024, so we can give direction to staff at this point. Alter: I'm certainly interested. Um, I didn't know if this was like a session in which, um, indicating that kind of interest actually does, is this just moving forward This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 41 in next steps of being able to look at this? Or is this the moment at which we're saying, okay, now this is 20 -- Fruin: It's all budget, so you can, yes. Okay. Alter: I mean, I'm, I, I know that this has been on the radar and it has something desired for, um, several years, 10 years now. Um, so I'm also mindful that big changes create big reactions, and so I think that it does make sense to, uh, get public input and probably sooner rather than later, because this is just going to potentially, keep getting down the road. Teague: So, it does sound like we have a supportive four, so well, uh, direct staff to do that. And I'm sure that University of Iowa will, will probably need to, we would want to know what they're doing beyond Clinton, um, 'cause there was some concern in the past that they may be cutting off that street. Fruin: Can I just get some clarification? What, what is the direction are you asking us to move the construction up to '24? That is, what design up, the design up to '23 or you -- Teague: '24. I, I, I heard 23, 24 from, uh, Councilor Thomas, and with your concerns about how, you know, fast as it can go, um, do we have direction for 2024... Fruin: The design or construction? Teague: I would assume construction. Fruin: Okay. So, do you want us to start design? We would typically start design a year earlier...are you saying you want that design to start in '22? Teague: Correct. To get the ball moving because there's a lot of elements to it. Fruin: Okay. So, we're gonna have to come back to you probably at Tuesday and, and work through some gymnastics on other projects here, 'cause, like I said, we're gonna, we're gonna have to move some things around, okay, to make the bonding work. Unless -- you wanna bond more in that particular year. And we'll just have to explain the implications there. Teague: Okay. Bergus: Yeah. I, I think we would just wanna be really careful about understanding what that might mean. Like our deadline for increasing our debt service levy, for example. I don't know if, Geoff, that's, if you're going that far, if that's This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 42 what you're saying that we would need to, um, have additional capacity that we would be raising taxes for, to move it up that far. Fruin: I -- I think that's what we need to look at if there's not a willingness to delay something else or push something else back, um, then yes, we might, we might have to have that conversation. Alter: Well, what I was sort of clumsily saying is that I would like to know what, without saying, yes, let's move. Uh, let me start over. I would like to know what the potential things that would be removed would be so that we can make a decision about the relative value of whether we move forward with the two-way, of that jumping forward in, um, the, the plans and the execution of them, um, in relation to what the other projects are that would be pushed back or removed altogether. So that was actually where I, what I was attempting to say, um, it was not that I was giving a, a thumbs up unremittingly. I would like to know the context of like, if we're doing this, what can we not do in, in its place? So, yeah. Teague: And I think that's fair. Alter: Thank you for allowing me to, to revisit that. Teague: Yeah, I think that's fair. Um, at least for all of us, we need to know what we're talking about in big picture. Um, and so at least, um, we're, we're directing staff to kind of bring us some information back. Alter: Yeah. Teague: With the, you know, we have to state when we would like it, the 2024 and then move forward from there. And, but we will have still that ability to get some information, to make a final decision. Alter: Okay. Teague: Because it does have, uh, a domino effect on other, correct, on other projects. Alter: Thank you. Bergus: Yeah. I'd be interested in, in talking about, you know, what we might trade out for it. But I I'm hearing from our City Manager that we may not have the capacity for something that would be as aggressive as construction in '24 without some much more serious implications. So, I'd, I'd urge us to look at maybe, you know, right now it's on '26, could we absorb it in '25 without This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 43 trading out other things? I mean, that, that's kind of where my head is at. Just, I don't, I don't feel like we have the time right now to get more information, come back, consider how that affects our debt capacity. Right. If it's $2 million for, and also for our staff, if we're not currently under the, you know, if we're not designing it now, I don't know how we can build it in '24. Harmsen: Yeah. I, I think I, I, I, uh, that, that makes sense. I think I can agree that we can look at, maybe it sounds like we're talking about two options moving it up a year sooner or two years sooner. Right. And so, you know, from '26 to '25 or from '26 to '24, so depending on which one of those is the most feasible, I do agree this, this is something that, that, uh, does seem like a good idea to pursue. Um, and it, you know, obviously we had been caught up on some of the history behind it, so, um, but I think, uh, like I think, uh, Council member Alter, and, uh, Bergus have said that it would be good to sort of see what, which dominoes that affects, those two different sorts of options. So yeah. Fruin: So, what we'll do is we'll, we'll discuss it internally and try to get you something it'll probably be in your late handouts for Tuesday. We'll, we'll, uh, have some budget time or some, sorry, some work session, time reserved for budget. And, uh, we'll just give you some preliminary scenarios, uh, on Tuesday, uh, and, and, uh, let you know, kind of how we think that could work to, to move it up a year or two. Alter: Okay. Is there an appetite, there are a number of suggestions that don't necessarily, some have a specific timeline, um, and others are suggestions about, you know, what makes for a more livable city, um, and I'm, is there an appetite to sort of bundle those into getting some public opinion well in advance of whether this is now, on the table about deciding them, just so we can start gathering input? So, for instance, I agree, I think it's a great idea to talk about parking on Burlington during off peak hours. I'm one person, what it would be great to get some input from people, ditto, the Mar-, um, Governor and Dodge, right. And to find out how people feel about this, to see whether that's even, you know, something that we want to pursue or in its, in what kind of iteration. So, I'm thinking of like a survey or something. And I know that right now is not the time to worry about that, um, given the constraints of what staff has to, have, what staff has to be doing right now, but I just put that out there as, you know, later in the year, if this is something where we can start gathering information about the ways in which we would like to get public input on changes, potential changes. Um, so I just, probably not a new idea at all, but I just throw it out there. Teague: It's important, I think, to always point out the public, um, appetite, uh, for some of these, and I think, um, oftentimes we might be, um, talking a little too This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 44 aggressively here and not just putting it in the public's hand, um, at, you know, early on. Bergus: Well, I, I just wanna voice some support for things that Councilor Thomas said in the, like the bigger picture and Mayor, as you said, having staff here and my apologies, we're holding everybody, now, almost till 5:30, um, but, but I do think from a strategic planning perspective, like being able to tie the projects as they are in our budget book, every single one says, how does this match the strategic plan objectives or priorities? Um, but I don't know that we as a group and certainly as a new group really can say, okay, you know, when we're talking about changes to it or things that we wanna see prioritized, I don't, I don't feel like we're kind of anchoring those things necessarily very, at least very openly or, you know, in our discussion. So, I really just wanna reiterate and thank John for, for bringing that up and saying, are we sort of frontloading those priorities? Um, we talk about how much money we're spending on roads and street reconstruction and, uh, car - centric mobility, and I really think that what, um, John, what you said about making our communities, the, you know, as accessible and livable for children, for disabled people, for the elderly, and kind of deemphasizing our reliance on motor vehicles. If we agree on that as a goal, if that's something that we're talking about that would really help our staff kind of understand, I think, big picture priorities, but I don't, we haven't articulated something like that yet. Teague: And we'll be able to do that in our strategic plan a little more. Bergus: I think so. Fruin: Yeah, and I, I, I think you've already done that. I mean, past Councils have done that and hopefully you're seeing that reflected in the built changes. We, we just can't touch every road every year, right. I mean, it's a, it's a systematic process, but as you look at the new roads that are being constructed, as you look at how we've reconstructed roads, hopefully you're seeing those priorities play out. Um, and if not, we need to, we need to hear it. But, um, you know, that's, that has been a priority for, for Engineering, for, for our, for our Public Works staff, for the consultants that we're working on, because that's been the direction we've been given, past Councils. That's why you're seeing 25 mile per hour speed limits on, on some of our major arterials. That's why you're seeing new bike lanes pop up. You're seeing grade -separated pedestrian, um, crossings. Those types of things are as a direct result of that exact direction that we've been given. Teague: Right. Any other item for today? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 45 Thomas: I did, I did want to, I haven't heard any response, uh, on the, uh, the core neighborhood initiative, the three items there. Uh, I'm not sure what that, that's, your lack of comment means, if it's that -- Teague: Uh, so are you talking about like Ronalds Street -- Thomas: Ronalds, the form -based Code and the, you know, the developing some language for residential tax abatement, those, those were three items that, you know, came out of this working group that, you know, is trying to develop a strategy to, to, to deal with the threats that are felt there. Um, and I haven't heard any response. I, I don't know Geoff, if you feel, I mean, we could carry over this conversation, but I was just a little bit sensitive to the, this matter of, to what degree because they're somewhat open ended in terms of their financial implications, what kind of direction we needed to give now. Fruin: Yeah. I, I could really quickly go through those. 724 Ronalds, um, our staff has been working on putting together an RFP. We're gonna be asking, we're gonna be, uh, moving forward with demolition of that property, but it's gonna require a 30 -day period for Historic Preservation to weigh in, uh, there, because it's in a, it's in a district. Um, our plan is to do an RFP and, and extol the goals of affordable housing and energy efficiency and see what we get, um, as we've done in the past with some of these projects, we'll share that RFP with Council before we issue it and, and get your feedback. Um, we, we certainly could look at using affordable housing funds, climate funds, those types of things to enhance, uh, or to incentivize the development that we're seeking. Um, the form -based Code for the, uh, core neighborhood, I think that's a discussion that you probably need to have with the, uh, with the broader context of planning initiatives. We've had that conversation. We know we have a lot of district plans to upgrade. We know we have three or four form -based codes kind of hanging out there in order to pursue. Um, I think you just need that, that context of, here's how much NDS can handle in, in a given year or two, what are your priorities? This can certainly be added to that list. Um, but it, it, you know, that is a, a very, uh, small focus, uh, uh, with just the core neighborhoods there. And then the urban revitalization area. Um, we did, we just did something similar, uh, for commercial purposes on Highway 1 and Highway 6 that took us over a year to put together, um, that that was done, um, by Wendy Ford and the Economic Development office with significant help from the Attorney's office and, and Public Works with some surveying. So, we can certainly do that. That's another type of just priority, um, uh, uh, issue. So I don't know that that has a huge, uh, budget implication, other than we'd have to report to you, um, kind of what some of the, um, you know, if, if, if taxes are being abated, obviously that could put some strain on the budget, but, um, in terms of just the mechanics of pulling This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022. Page 46 it together, um, you're looking at probably a year plus of periodic staff work to, to advance that. Teague: Right. Anything else? No. All right. I think we are done for today and I wish everybody an awesome and amazing day. Thanks for coming. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 12, 2022.