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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-01-16 Transcription Page 1 Council Present: Alter,Bergus,Dunn,Harmsen,Moe, Salih, Teague Staff Present: Fruin,Jones, Goers, Grace Platz, Sitzman,Havel, Sovers USG: LeFevre,Monsavias 1. Presentaion Comprehensive Plan update Teague: It is just 4:00 P.M. and I want to welcome everyone to the City of Iowa City,work session for January 16,2024. And Councilor Dunn, can you hear us? Dunn: Yes,I can,Mayor. Teague: Awesome.And we can hear you.All right,he's going to join virtually today. Item number 1 is presentation from staff on the Comprehensive Plan update called for in the Fiscal 2023-2028 strategic plan. And welcome Anne. Russett: Good afternoon,Mayor,City Council. Anne Russett with Neighborhood and Development Services. I'm here this afternoon to start the conversation regarding the city's update to the Comprehensive Plan. During this presentation,I'd like to cover a handful of items.First,just some background on how we got here and why we're going to be working on a comp plan update. Then,I'd like to give a high level overview of what a Comprehensive Plan is,discuss how it differs from our zoning and subdivision regulations,and we can talk about the role of the Comprehensive Plan in the land development process.And then lastly,I'd like to go over some outcomes that staff has for our Comprehensive Plan update. One of the reasons staff is moving forward with an update to our Comprehensive Plan is that it's an action item identified in the City Council strategic plan within the impact area related to neighborhoods and housing. There is a strategy to update the Comprehensive Plan to encourage compact neighborhoods and diverse housing types and land uses. There's also a specific action item to move forward with a Comprehensive Plan update between fiscal year 24 and 28. And this action item notes that form based principles,missing middle hou-housing types,minimum-minimum density requirements, and streamlined approval processes should be evaluated as part of this effort.Moving on-what exactly is a Comprehensive Plan?I like to think of the Comprehensive Plan as a guiding policy document for growth and development.It's non-regulatory,but it does help to inform decisions related to the built environment. Comprehensive Plans include various components. They often include vision statements,goals,and policies related to multiple different topics, sometimes referred to as elements of the plan. Um,these include categories like land use,economic development,transportation, and others. It also includes a land use policy map,which identifies the general intended land uses for all land within the city. Comp plans also often include an implementation section which identifies programs and projects to move forward in order to help achieve the vision of the Comprehensive Plan. The city's Comprehensive Plan,known as the IC2030 Plan,was adopted in 2013.It includes seven- seven different elements which are outlined on this slide here.Each element includes goals and strategies for that particular policy area. The plan also form- formalized the district planning framework,which breaks the city up into 10 planning districts. The goal was to adopt district plans for each of these planning areas that would provide more specific policy direction for these different geographies within the city. The fixture Land Use Map identifies the general intended land uses for all properties within the city. It identifies various land use designations from residential,commercial,to industrial. The fixture land use map should be used in concert with the neighborhood design principles of the plan that This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 16, 2024 Page 2 speak to infill development,housing affordability and diversity,as well as the various goals and policies of the plan. The city's Comprehensive Plan is also made up of various components. There's the district plans,like I mentioned before. Um,there's the master plans such as the downtown and Riverfront Crossings master plan,the Historic Preservation Plan. There's also the City County Fringe Area Agreement,which provides policy direction for land located in unincorporated Johnson County,but within two miles of our corporate limits. And all of these plans and policy documents make up the Comprehensive Plan. While the Comprehensive Plan provides the conceptual vision for growth and development,the zoning and subdivision regulations are regulatory tools that can be used to implement the vision of the Comprehensive Plan. In terms of zoning,there's the zoning map and the zoning code.At the top of this slide is a snapshot of the city's zoning map. All land within the city limits is giving us- is given a zoning designation. You would use this map to identify what a specific property is zoned,and ideally the zoning map aligns with the fixture land use map. So this map here would align with our future land use map,which is shown here in our Comp plan.What I mean by that is if the Comprehensive Plan identifies an area that's appropriate for multifamily development,that that area should be zoned,a zone that allows multifamily development. Um,once you've identified what a particular property is zoned,then you'd go to our zoning code. The text of the code,which is shown on the-the bottom of the screen,um,which is part of the city's municipal code, and you could determine what uses are allowed in that zone. The zoning code covers various regulations that deal with how properties can be developed,such as height setbacks,parking,landscaping, and other regulations. The subdivision regulations outline the provisions for the creation of a subdivision drawing. Sometimes we refer to those as Plats.And they show the prov-precise location of streets,lots,easements,and other elements that are important to the transfer of property. Unlike zoning regulations which outline standards for private property,the subdivision regulations deal with the public realm. So the width of the public right of way,the pavement, width of the street,the width of sidewalks,um, even-even block length. In- in terms of the land use development process,the Comprehensive Plan is used most often in the review of legislative land use approvals. So this includes annexations,rezoning subdivisions. Typically these are initiated by private property owners or developers,but sometimes they are initiated by the city as well.Rezoning seem to be the most common type of legislative approvals that require consistency with the Comprehensive Plan. And the future land use map guides,what zoning classifications can be applied,however,there is some flexibility. The comp plan, as I've mentioned,is non regulatory. It's a conceptual vision. The future land use map designations are general in nature and should be used in conjunction with the plans,goals and policies. And then next,I'd like to go over the outcomes that we'd like to achieve as part of this Comprehensive Plan update. First is a new plan that places equity,climate change,and resiliency in housing at its core, and addresses existing disparities,and prepares the city for the future. The City Council recently adopted several zoning code amendments to help improve housing choice and supply. These amendments were really focused on increasing supply in the city. Staff saw these amendments as incremental and conservative. They were amendments that align with the current Comprehensive Plan and the current policy vision. A new vision is needed to further address ongoing housing issues and address some of the actions in the City Council's strategic plans,such as missing middle housing,minimum density requirements,and streamlined approvals.Next is a public process that uses varied methods of engagement to drive participation that is more reflective of the city's demographics and ensures underrepresented groups are actively engaged in the process. At this point,we don't have details on what this engagement process would look like. We have included a request in our draft scope of work that the consultant would prepare a public engagement plan that then would be implemented as part of the Comprehensive Plan update.We want this engagement plan to be flexible, so if we see something isn't working or we're not This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 16, 2024 Page 3 engaging the people that we need to be engaging,that we can tweak it and change it as we move forward. And-just lastly,this is one of the most important aspects of this update.We really need a robust outreach effort and engagement plan. The next outcome is related to updated analyses. We want a regional housing needs assessment,evaluation of current land use policy,as well as other analyses that will allow us to better understand changing needs trends and demographics. The regional housing needs assessment will provide a regional understanding of the number of housing units needed,as well as the various types of units that are needed to meet existing and fixture demand. The assessment will also look at specific populations and their needs, such as the unhoused immigrants,persons with disabilities. In addition,we also want to evaluate the current land use policy direction.And it will allow us to compare what our plans allow in terms of housing development and growth,versus what the needs are that exist within our communities. And comparing what can be built today versus existing and fixture needs will help us identify changes that we need to make to our land use map. The next outcome is a clear connection between the Comprehensive Plan and the city's other planning documents. The city has a lot of plans. We have the capital improvement plan,the climate action plan,strategic plan.Bicycle master plan,there are others. The Comprehensive Plan really fimctions as the overarching policy document. So we want to make sure that we incorporate and reference these plans as needed within the Comprehensive Plan document itself. The next outcome is a new planning framework that identifies specific typologies unique enough to warrant further planning efforts. Examples include community nodes or centers,corridors,employment centers,and there's probably other typologies that we'll be looking at as well.As I mentioned earlier,the current Comprehensive Plan includes 10 planning districts,which are shown here on this map. There's also the Downtown and Riverfront Crossings master plan,which is identified in the white outline at the center of the map.And this covers three different planning districts. So a portion of Riverfront Crossings is within the Southwest Planning District,Central Planning District,and a portion of the Downtown Planning District. The goal with these district planning areas was that the city would adopt new district plans for all of these planning areas.But there's no adopted plan for the Northwest Planning District,the North Corridor Planning District, as well as a portion of the Downtown Planning District,which are shown in this map in gray. Staff would like to see this existing district planning framework re-evaluated for several reasons. One, like I just mentioned, there's some planning areas that don't even have district plans. Some district plans are old and no longer reflect the city's goals,market conditions,and best practices.Also,developing and regularly updating 10 district plans is a pretty heavy lift. That's why we're in this position where we have certain districts that do not have-that don't have plans and we also have really outdated plans. We just can't keep up with the number of plans and number of updates that would be needed. Additionally,many of these areas are not unique enough to warrant different planning documents.Many of the policies contained within the current district plans or policies expressed throughout all of the plans,including the IC 20 comp plan. So at this point, staff would recommend either reducing the number of planning districts or getting rid of them entirely. Policies unique to certain areas that we do need to keep can be incorporated into the new Comprehensive Plan. And additionally,a new framework could be developed that identifies areas that are really in need of more specific planning efforts. And again,these could be neighborhood centers,corridors,or other areas of the city.We'd also like an updated fixture land use map. And there's a few reasons for that.Probably the most important reason is we need to make sure that our fixture land use map is able to accommodate the anticipated growth and housing needs of our population. In addition,another issue that we face with the district plans is that there's inconsistent land use designations and descriptions throughout all of the different plans. There's no consistent naming conventions and the land use descriptions vary. With an update,we'd like to create a consistent list of land use designations and associated descriptions.We also currently This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 16, 2024 Page 4 have some plans that have land use designations,but no descriptions for what the classification means. So it's not entirely clear what the intended land uses are. This-this is something that's easy to fix and it would add clarity and consistency across our plans. And then lastly,is an implementation program that identifies specific actions to be pursued to implement the vision of the plan. One of the main implementation items that will likely be in the Comprehensive Plan update is an update to our zoning code. This was also included as an action item in the City Council strategic plan.In terms of next steps,we're going to be finalizing the scope of work and issuing the RFP sometime later this winter or spring of 2024. This-the contract will come back to City Council in the summer for approval of the consultant. And then after council approves the consultant,we would begin work on the update. And we're anticipating the whole process to take 12-18 months. So we're anticipating adoption in winter of 25 or spring of 26. So tha-that concludes my presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions. Moe: Yeah,and I'm curious,as we look to other cities that have gone through this process,does it usually end up being a start over,built from scratch,or an adaptation of the existing Comprehensive Plan. And then I guess the follow up to that is,are you guys benchmarking other cities that have gone through this process really effectively or ineffectively? Russett: We're looking at other jurisdictions,especially for their outreach efforts. There's all different ways to approach outreach,and some cities have been really successful and really innovative. So we're looking at cities for outreach. I think a lot of talk about other recent Comprehensive Plan updates that have been,I guess,really moving the needle on housing diversity and looking at ways to incorporate a different variety of housing types in their land use map. So we're looking at that and I think the rest of your question. Moe: So I was curious,you know,if we would expect that this is a start from scratch or let's modify what we have.What's the process look like? Russett: Yeah,I think there's a lot of really great policies in our current Comprehensive Plan that will probably keep and move forward. You know,policies around smart growth and environmental protection. We have policies around housing affordability and diversity. So those are things that I would imagine we would keep and move forward,but there are things that need to be changed,so this process will help us kind of identify what we keep,what-what needs to be modified. Bergus: I have just a very general question relating to the timeline. So adoption of the new comp plan you're estimating would be in that like 18 month time frame,and then the implementation program would be after that? Russett: Yes. Bergus: Okay. So what happens in that kind of interim period where the plan has been adopted but say the code hasn't been overhauled yet? Can you just kind of like if,you know,we're presented with a rezoning and the comp plan has been updated but the code hasn't been,what might that look like? Russett: Yeah,that's something that we would like our new fixture land use map and our fixture land use map designations to give some indication of what zoning districts are compatible with different land use categories. So what we could do in the interim is identify which of our current zoning designations align with these new new designations and that would help kind of move implementation forward in the interim until we get a new zoning code. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 16, 2024 Page 5 Bergus: So kind of have like what we have now and what we expect and which ones relate to each other best. Russett: Yeah,and we probably need to update that then once we get a new code. To show which districts zoning or which land use classifications align with the new zones once we get those new zones. But I also think,you know,I tried to stress in the presentation that our fixture land use map is conceptual,it's a vision. We don't wanna like tie ourselves to only certain zoning designations, so we'll have to make sure that there's some flexibility in there as well. Bergus: Well,I really like what you said about getting like naming conventions consistent and making sure descriptions are there and are consistent,a very specific question,very interested in the regional housing needs assessment component. Is that something we know we need to do or is that something that,you know,we're gonna be working with other jurisdictions on or we're gonna carry the weight of that idea of that scoped yet. Russett: Yeah,we-. It's something also that we included in the pro housing grant application. So if we get that grant,we should have some resources to help with that assessment.And we would like to work with other jurisdictions. We'll probably be doing most of the analysis,but we'd like to share that, at the very least,with the other jurisdictions when we have it. Bergus: Yeah,That sounds like a really valuable tool and so I'm all in favor of us taking the lead on that, if that's what it takes.But that's great. Russett: Yeah. Thank you. Alter: Ongoing joint entities. Russett: Yes. Alter; I also have two questions. One is,if I'm remembering right from the slides,the last comp plan was adopted in 2013, correct? Russett: Yes. Alter: Okay. So is there kind of a timeline or a timeline extension of what's the scope or the length duration of how long you see this updated one?You know,it's 18 months that we'll adopt it,but as it's being built and forecasted,how far out is it sort of slated to be? Russett: Yeah. I feel relative to twenty years,maybe. Alter: Okay. Russett: Yeah. Alter: Sure.You know that makes. Okay. That helps. The other thing and maybe this is two in the weeds or not.You mentioned at one point in talking about all the different district plans,about the possibility of reducing them or getting rid of them altogether,and just having it all be within the comp plan itself and where there's particularities,those would be called out.Does-does your This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 16, 2024 Page 6 department staff have an initial in sense of where you would like to see that or is that again something that you would work in consultation with the expert,the consult or feedback or what have you.I just wondered if there are early indications or if this is something that actually that is that you get to own that and say,yeah,we really do want to consolidate this and if so,why? So like I said,I don't know if I'm putting the cart before the horse as that question. Russett: I think we defmitely need to talk to the community about this too because I think there are residents who,you know,put a lot of effort in creating those district plans. I want to give some assurances that if we get rid of the district plans,which I think is kind of where staff is leaning because they just we can't maintain them. And if we have-if we have district plans for the entire city,that's great.But if we can't update them,then then that's not great. So I think we're leaning towards getting rid of them,incorporating the things that need to be incorporated.And then that will allow us to really spend additional planning time on areas of the city where we do need more focused planning efforts,like Riverfront Crossings was an example of that. There are other areas like that that are out there that need to be identified and and we can focus our efforts there. Alter: Okay. Thanks. Bergus: Just a quick follow up on that.I think there's maybe an opportunity,especially with the robust outreach and engagement,I know we've had confusion about what the planning districts are versus like neighborhoods in the neighborhood association context. And so I think particularly in the south district,there's a lot of overlap. You know,that south district plan kind of came through and then the branding around the South district neighborhood and all of that was very much integrated in that district planning process. So I think just using that opportunity to clarify kind of what the neighborhoods are and what the neighborhood associations do so that when people come before us,I remember we had someone from the public say,I don't even know what district I'm in. And it's like,well,it doesn't really matter but thank you for caring. Russett: Okay. Bergus: Thanks. Teague: I'm curious to know what the engagement outreach piece,Planning and Zoning commissioners, is there any opportunity to kind of or any plans to get them in this conversation? Russett: We're actually gonna present the same presentation to them tomorrow night. Teague: Great. Russett: So they'll be up to speed after that meeting. And then I think as part of that engagement plan,part of it is figuring out how to keep the commission and council informed as we move forward in the process. Teague: Great. Teague: I do love the idea of,um,the overhaul,in a way,um, and interested just to see what other cities are doing and how they are cause we can learn from others. I think along the process, and I-I came on council in 2018 and one of the biggest things that um,I consistently,I guess hear from- from the community or from various different people is everybody on the same page through This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 16, 2024 Page 7 documents.um, and I think you-you stated that,er,you know, some of our values aren't really shown in here a little bit,and so this would just be doing that overhaul to make sure that all of that is a part of this document to help,uh,guide all parties involved.Now,um,I think the flexibility part will be a little tricky. So maybe focusing on other cities to see if there are some learned lessons from that. Russett: Okay. Teague: Um,but I-I think this is a great opportunity. Salih:My-my question will be like if we had- as you said,the time line is right there and we had-this is have to be adopted by 2025, and this has been adopted first on that 2013 and now we open it again so to amend it or like is this because the staff find out that it like some area,as you said, there is a gray area on the city that have to be is old or is not relevant anymore?I don't know how to phrase my question,but I mean like can we-down the road,can we always open this like some time an amendment do amendment to it or this is have to be certain years just because now since 2013 and now it's 10 years?Is this like really every 10 year or we can amend it as needed? Russett: We-we can definitely amend it as needed.I mean,it should be a living document that changes as- as you know,our city changes.Um,I think um,the overhauls as the mayor has referred to it as those don't happen as frequently.It doesn't have to happen every 10 years,uh,but that's not something that's going to happen every year,every five years because it takes a lot of resources and time.Um,but there can be tweaks and amendments,um,after it's adopted. Salih: Yeah. And is that also going to take the same processing time or? Russett:No,it wouldn't.It-it-I think it probably depend on the type of amendment that's being looked at. I mean,tonight on your City Council agenda,you have a Comprehensive Plan amendment on the agenda to change the fixture land use map. So those changes come up every now and then. Um, we had uh,a recent amendment,I think in 2018,that changed the annexation policy to incorporate affordable units as part of annexation. So things like that policy changes could be a smaller amendment to the comp plan that could come-that could come up and be evaluated and go through the process,but it's not going to take 18 months. Salih: Sure.Yeah. That's what I my question I think. Russett: Okay. Yeah. Frain:If I could add a little,I would-I would say that our comp plan and zoning code is probably far more complex than most cities certainly-certainly pure communities in Iowa,but,um,broaden that a little bit. And that was-that's done with the best of intentions,right?These district plans were to-to designed to give some more clarity and ownership to,uh,to those neighborhoods.But as Anne mentioned,unfortunately they can the-they can have the opposite effect too. They can create confusion,um,and-and introduce complexity into processes that leave all sides frustrated whether you're on the development side or the-the neighborhood side. So,um,there's a balance there that has to be struck,and I think from our standpoint,the comp plan,taking a step back, making it a little bit more general,a little bit more flexible,and being very clear and focused. What are those-what are those core values and ideals that we want to see and how our land use, how our land is developed.Be very clear about that. Um,and as-as Anne mentioned,it should be This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 16, 2024 Page 8 pretty consistent throughout all planning districts.Right?All those values should carry forward through all. There may be some site specific or location specific things that need to be accounted for,but I don't think it needs to be accounted for in 10 different districts plans,uh.And then when you get to the zoning code,I think we'll have that-that same discussion.And there is a trade off how-how detailed does that need to be versus what's that streamlined approval process look like? How much faith are you putting in your comp plan and your zoning code to-to deliver the outcomes that you expect versus how many of those need to come into these chambers and be before you. That's-those are big,big questions that,uh,will be tackled in the next few years. Bergus: This might be a little too in the weeds. I think it's a question for our City Attorney. That distinction between the legislative framework of the Comprehensive Plan,which is not a regulatory document,and when we amend it,you know,it is in this kind of legislative function versus the quasi judicial or judicial function of a specific rezoning in the complexity of our current plan. It-it seems like it might put us in more,uh,jeopardy as far as people interpreting those complexities and specificities as,you know,getting too close to being regulatory. Is there some value in kind of generalizing things from that point of view? Goers: Yes. I mean,you've,uh,articulated vulnerability in our current system. That is the complexity that comes,uh,with our system. For example,when we suffered a lawsuit for the Chauncey across the street here,uh,a lot of the bases for the causes of action were the Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Plan says this. And because you didn't do what we perceive to be that we think you're acting in an arbitrary and capricious fashion. So yes,I would agree with what you're saying. Teague: Opticos,um,came and did a presentation many,many years ago.Um,and that's when we were doing the,uh, form based code for the South district.Um,so,I-I guess one ofmyone of my biggest walkaways from that was,um,congruency and what people thought,like the-the staff,or understanding the congurency understanding of what could be done. So that will be for the staff, for planning and zoning, for community members,for our neighborhood associations,and for council.Um,how does-and maybe this is a cart before the horse or something like that,but,um, is there a way to,I mean,are you all planning to make sure that there's great understanding and- and now left up to interpretation? Russett: With the new goals and policies? Teague: Yes. Yes. Russett: You know,I think-I-I feel like there's always going to be some level of interpretation,um, especially if we want it to be flexible.Um,I think one thing that we've talked about with our new land use designations is focusing less on land and more on form,and thinking about what we want the built environment to look like and not do we want it to be single family or duplex? So one thing that we'll be exploring is kind of mass and scale that's associated with the land use designations as opposed to right now its single family duplex,two to eight dwelling units per acre. That doesn't really tell you much about what could be developed in that-in that area. So with-with um,with those types of land use categories,there maybe could be,um,it'd still be flexible,but there may be more certainty in terms of,um,the end results,in terms of the built environment. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 16, 2024 Page 9 Teague: And-and I guess,um,you know,the walkaway that I-I would like for you all to have is the more everybody understands,I guess the maximum,then the better. Russett: Okay. Teague: Cause that was one thing. I-you know, Opticos kind of said this is the max that you can do and- and then you go under that,you go up to it or under. And I don't know what all that means,you know,from um,all the language here,but I found that to be very helpful in concept. Russett: Thanks. Teague: Any other questions? Russett: Okay,thank you. 2. Clarification of Agenda Items Teague: Thank you. All right.We are going to move on to Item number 2,uh, clar-classification of agenda items. Goers: Council,I wanted to point out,uh,a couple of matters. Those are matters 6A and 613,uh, accepting work from the Sycamore Woods and Riverfront West projects,uh,because of extremely cold weather and a number of other,uh,considerations,that work has not been able to be completed yet, and so public works uh, staff has asked that,we uh,defer that indefinitely. So I'll be making that request at the formal council meeting. Teague:Right. Teague: So,uh,actually what that will look like is we would,uh,ask for a separate consideration and then we'll have to ask for a deferment. Goers:Right.Because those items appear in the consent calendar,they'll need to be pulled out first,and then,uh,a motion to defer indefinitely for those two items after,uh,presumably approval of the remainder of the consent agenda. Teague: Great. Thank you for that clarification. Anything else?I will note that on items 8A and 813, Councilor Moe will recruits himself from those items. All right.We'll move on.If anything else? 3. Information Packet Discussion [January 4,January 111 Teague: We'll move on to item number three is our information packet discussion.We'll start with January 4th, and in there,there is IP 2.We have our joint entity meeting agenda items. So I don't know if there is a item that we wanted to elevate before the council for consideration. Bergus:Mayor,I'll just address the correspondence,um,that I directed to you and our city Manager yesterday or today. Um, so we have today-we have on our work session topics,list the,um, talking about,uh,alternative crisis response.And Geoff had mentioned maybe we want to bring that to joint entities. I think it might be helpful for us to do some of that preliminary discussion here. Just knowing how open ended and non-I was going to say non-functional the joint entities This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 16, 2024 Page 10 meetings can be.But certainly maybe letting other entities know. And then I can-I would take responsibility of saying like we could let some other elected and that kind of thing know that this would be something we'd be talking about with the idea that if it were the kind of thing we would be looking at implementing at all,you know,that would probably be like a regional kind of solution or a county wide kind of solution. So just to address that,you know,um,you-it feels like things go to joint entities to die sometimes. So Fruin: That's not why I suggest Bergus: I didn't mean that. Fruin:Understood. Teague: Is there any value in having,um,maybe an update on the 988 for the joint entities and it's more of a reminder that the messaging,um,probably could be increased. Are people open to that? Bergus: Council yeah? Teague: Okay. Fruin: So to clarify,we would be asking community if they're available to present at that,correct? Teague: Yes. Fruin: Staff. Okay. Teauge: Any other hot topics?Kinda at the beginning of the year,right?Yes. All right.And there's nothing else on IP2,then we'll move on-we'll continue with January 4th,uh,information packet. Any other items? Salih: I guessed,I don't know,maybe I did not see the tentative meetings schedule. Teague: Yeah. If you go down. Oh,no no. Oh,yes. That's the dates. Salih: Yes. Teague: For tentative meetings,correct? Salih: Yeah. Um,I saw the day-,I saw this tomorrow is going to be the full day,the day after our meeting,but this is second day. Teague: So we have a meeting on this Saturday? Salih: Yeah. Teague: We have a meeting on Saturday and then we have a meeting next Wednesday.I'm not looking at the calendar,but I believe This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 16, 2024 Page 11 Salih: I think for this Saturday. I don't know. I really have my-uh,we have a meeting scheduled for three months ago for my job. Teague: Got it. Salih: On Saturday from 9-3 and people coming from Des Moines to train us. For-you know,I cannot-I think-I don't know if we can change it from Saturday. Teague: What I might suggest,um,we have had councilors,um,not available on a-on a major day like that in the past. Salih: Uh,major day, for me,I want to be available. Teague: Yeah-yeah.It is a major day. I would agree. Salih: If you can-if the schedule would be great so you can because that's like really the meeting in a scheduled for three months ago,not. Teague: Yeah. I'm not exactly sure if people have-I guess that's the question. Do people have flexibility? The-the-I do think it's a timing thing. So we would need to find a date between now and next Wednesday between the CIP meeting. Dunn:Mayor? Teague: Yes. Dunn: I-I would personally also be in favor of-of rescheduling.We're talking about the 20th meeting, correct? Teague: Correct. This Saturday? Dunn: Yeah. So I-if- if people in the room aren't aware I-I was-uh,I tested positive for COVID 19 yesterday. So I'm going to be in isolation until the 21st.Uh, so if we could possibly do something within people's schedules between the 22nd and 23rd,I would be very open to that.I'm available those times as well.But,of course,it's up to the-up to the body. Moe: It's—Geoff,what is-I mean, it's also a lot of staff time that we would need to be asking too,not just us,to reschedule. How many people,uh,does this impact outside of the seven of us? Fruin:Um,you know,there'll be a core of four of staff with you the entire day. And then there'll probably be about,uh, 10 or 11 staff coming in and out to present their individual budgets. Uh,we could pick another day. I just don't know. I couldn't tell you who's available,who's not.We'd make it work Um. Harmsen:What-what are our,uh,timing constraints?I know we've got certain deadlines we have to meet for different parts of the process due to legal obligations for such. So what flexibility,if any,do we have? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 16, 2024 Page 12 Fruin:Yeah. I don't-I don't have the calendar in front of me.I think you'd want to get,you wouldn't want to go more than a week or two,uh,before you start running into a really tight time frame for- for approval.Uh,I think you more or less have the month of February,I believe,to make changes, uh,to your operating budget. The CIP,we really need to have locked in,uh,by your February 6th meetings,so that we can start our bonding processes.But yeah,the longer you push that 20th out, just the back end of the approval doesn't change,right? So,you're just shrinking your review time and it's whatever you're comfortable with.But I-I certainly would start to get nervous if you move into February too far. Bergus: Could we-could we record the whole day and provide that to the councilors? Salih: I think it's not like you being here and you ask questions immediately and you understand things, no. I-I just prefer to be pushed to day. I don't know,I have it on my schedule tomorrow and I like from eight and I don't know why. Somebody said like next day from our meeting will be a long day meeting and I just put it on. Alter; What about the 27th? Salih: Any day I will make it work. Bergus: I can't do the 27th. Alter: I can't do the 23rd or 24th.I also-I've got work with people coming in from out of state. So it's a seminar? Harmsen:Yeah,I work on the 27th,yeah. Fruin: The Saturday meeting?Um,we would probably- it's usually about seven hours,I think,on average. Dunn: Ultimately for me,I can-I can do whatever like any of the dates that have been provided,the 27th, 22nd,23rd.Even the 21st,I'll just need to have a-a zoom component. Salih: Sunday. Teague: I guess the question was just asked,if we can do Sunday,the January 21st.I know uh,Councilor Dunn I'm assuming that you would have to attend by Zoom. Dunn: Actually,if I just did the math,that would be the first day that I could attend in person. Teague: Okay. Alter: What about the 26th? Dunn: I could do the 26th personally. Alter: I just-I mean,everybody I know,I mean,during the workweek is difficult for those of us in a full time. Moe: Yeah. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 16, 2024 Page 13 Bergus: What about the 23rd in the evening,4:00 PM to 10:00 PM? Salih: Or can we do like to what-in two days?Just seven hour in two days instead? Alter: Well,this is the only time of year that I've got people coming in from out of state for two days for work Sorry,just to be clear. Dunn: Yeah. Teague: And let me just make sure I heard. So the 21st is in-this Sunday,the 21st is a no go? Bergus: I can't-it is okay. Teague: All right. Salih: 22nd. Teague: Um, and then the 22nd,the Monday and Tuesday the 23rd is a no go. Alter:No,I can-I can do.It's the 23rd,24th that I cannot do. Teague:But Monday the 22nd you can do? Alter: Figure out a way to make it work. Bergus: I can make that work I just have to move some things. Harmsen:I can have some work meetings that if I miss it's just not going to break my heart. I can make Monday the 22nd work. Dunn: Same here. Teague: We'll have to reschedule,um,a meeting.Um,yeah,I can make that work as well.And we'll figure out staff. Fruin:We'll figure out staff. Teague: Okay. Bergus: Starting at 8:00 AM? Alter: Yeah. Teague: Yes. All right.I want to make sure- Alter: That it's also the same day as joint entities. Moe: Yeah. We need to be done at 4:00. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 16, 2024 Page 14 Bergus: If we start at- if we start at 08:00 we should be all right. Teague: Yeah. Fruin:We should be okay. I'll knock off a few slides in my presentation. Moe: Okay. Harmsen:From Monday we'll be meeting again then on Wednesday? Teague: Correct. Harmsen:Does it all stay the same? Moe: Wednesday the 24th at two o clock? Bergus: For the CIP. Harmsen:Yeah,at 2:00 PM. Fruin: CIP is-yeah,2:00. Bergus: 24th at two PM. Moe: 24th,yeah.Well,hopefully from a staff perspective,it's less painful then the Saturday. Fruin: Oh,I'm sure there will be folks.Yes,I'm sure you have been appreciated. Moe: For the smile in the crowd. Harmsen: Okay. Salih: Thank you so much everyone,and I hope the staff will figure it out. Thank you. Fruin:We will do just fine. Salih: Thanks. Teague: All right. Um,any other items from January 4th?There are none. We're going to go on to January 11th. There are none. 4. University of Iowa Student Government(USG) Updates Teague: We're going to move on to item number 4,which is University of Iowa student government updates.Welcome back. Monsavias: All right.Hey council,I'm back Um, it's great to be back. Ibe been in Iowa City the majority of break and it's good to see the new council. Um,yeah,I had a good holiday season and I hope This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 16, 2024 Page 15 you all are well.Um,the only new update I have personally is that I was recently hired at the Carver College of Medicine for the Office of Statewide Medical Education Program. So that's been kind of fixe.I'm getting into that.I just started on the third,but-but in that I'll tum it over to Noah. LeFevre: Awesome.Hi,council.Um,so today was our first-was the official start of classes for this Spring 2020-yeah, Spring 2024,holy crap.Um,all of our classes though,were put online. I believe all big three Universities were due to the cold weather. Um,doesn't mean I still have to go to work though for the University. Um,this also applies to student government senate. So we're not meeting tonight,we were supposed to meet tonight,but on a positive note,hopefully within these next weeks.Uh, student government ramp is back up,we'll be having more things going on. Um, from our side,we're going to start kicking out the Narcan campaign more again with Iowa City Downtown District coming back.Um,that kind of took a little bit of a side for a bit,but we got town halls date figured out,so that's good and we'll be getting you with more details as soon as exact gets back to us,um. Alter: Can you remind us of when that is,I know I wrote it down but- LeFevre: I believe February 15th. Alter: That sounds right. LeFevre: Okay. Alter: Thank you. LeFevre: I think Geoff can correct me if that one's- Fruin: That is correct, seven o'clock on the 15th. LeFevre: Awesome.And it will be-hopefully,if everything goes to plan,it'll be in the uh,old Capitol Senate chambers where it was last year as well. Um, some cool initiatives going on right now for student government is that we are currently,um distributing birdie and nightcaps uh,to students across campus. A birdie is like a little device you can pull and it makes a really loud noise. It scares off anyone who is- feels threatening or anything like that,and a nightcap is like a little like Scrunchie thing that goes over a drink,and you can put a straw in. So it helps with less drugging issues.Um,er,another great one we have currently is the airport shuttle from the Cedar Rapids Airport.Um,a lot of students flights got delayed and stuff with the weather,so hopefully that helps alleviate some struggles there. Um,and a really cool one we still have is our free,uh, textbook drive.Basically students can turn in textbooks and then they can come and basically just check it out by giving their student ID number, and then they can literally own it forever for free. Which really helps when some textbooks are like$5,000.Yeah.But that's all we really have. Nothing too crazy, so thanks. 5. Council updates on assigned boards,commissions,and committees Teague: Great. Thank you all. We're on to item number 5,which is council updates and assigned boards, commissions and committees. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 16, 2024 Page 16 Harmsen:UNESCO had its first meeting, so I get to get right into one of the new things.Um,we'll be looking at uh,among some other things,uh, starting its own strategic plan process. They are currently looking to-they're looking for a facilitator for that. Teague: Hearing nothing else,we're going to adjourn our work session and we'll be back at 6:00 PM for our formal agenda. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of January 16, 2024