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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-10-01 Transcription Page 2 Fruin: Correct. Moe: - ten years from now when the schedule shows it? Fruin: Correct. Moe: Okay-Okay. Thanks. Teague: Any other item? Harmsen: No on that one. Teague: Okay. September 26,Information packet. Harmsen: And then, if I may, IP5,which is the strategic plan report,thanking all of the people that put that together,letting the public know that's worth going through to kind of see where-what we've done. Occasionally,I will get people to ask about,you know,how our city actions are aligning with strategic plan initiatives, and that's,uh,pretty-pretty useful document that's in the information packet from last Thursday.Um,also,thank you to all the staff members that helped us hit some of those goals,um,that are in that strategic plan document.And just a note that we will be working on doing a little bit of a refresher on that coming up in I forget coming up in a few weeks. Teague: Oh,you're fine.All right. Any other item?From Information packet, September 26.All right, we're going to move on to item Number 3,University of Iowa Student Government USG Updates. Welcome. 3. University of Iowa Student Government(USG)Updates Monsivais: Hi everyone. Hope you're doing well, and to have Ava start tonight. Martinez: Hi, so we've begun our,um, data analysis on all over on who's guide surveys.Hopefully,we'll be able to get those new insights out pretty soon. Um,we're also waiting to hear back about funding approval for our finals week parking vouchers. We're just waiting to hear back from one more campus partner,but so that should be soon. Monsivais: And then I'm not sure if we shared this all with you guys,but our state advocacy platform has been finalized. We have four different objectives. One of them is advocating to keep the Iowa River clean because it doesn't affect just Iowa City. It affects communities downstream.And I think that's going to be a big part of our emphasis in that. We want to legalize fentanyl test strips, um,to yeah. And we want to continue to advocate for expanded mental health funding to increase services to our,uh, students-to-services ratio because we have a record level of admissions this year. And then advocating for legislative changes in statewide rezoning, and this may be something that we work on for multiple administrations in USG's future.Um, as we gear up to host the Big 10 School Association for Student Governments Conference,we're preparing to administer a small survey to obtain some student feedback for the interactions with downtown ambassadors,um, and just overall feedback about downtown.Uh,yeah. That's about it. Teague: Great-great. Thank you both.You have a question. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 1, 2024 Page 3 Moe: Yeah. Quick-quick question. Item Number 4 on your initiatives. I have Iowa River, fentanyl test trips,mental health, and then statewide rezoning. Can you talk- I don't know that I'm I am aware of that issue. Can you? Monsivais: I would need to consult our governmental relations director a little bit more in specific,but I know it's about us as a student body, and just as USG doing a little more research on the-on the zoning codes and current zoning laws that kind of make it a challenge to build affordable housing in Iowa City and just all across the state in general. So we want to start advocating for legislative changes and code changes,which is why I said it was going to be multiple administration thing. It's not something we're looking to,you know, encompass and finish within this one,but as just a continuing initiative to our governmental relations platform. Do you have anything to add? Moe: Okay. Thanks. Monsivais: Yeah. 4. Opportunities to expand bow hunting opportunities in or around Manville Heights Teague: Great. Thank you. Moving on to item Number 4,which is opportunities to expand Bow Hunting opportunities in or around Manville Heights, and it looks like Kirk is coming to take the microphone. Welcome. Lehmann: Thanks,Mayor.Kirk Leman,Assistant City Manager. Let me see which one of these it is. There we are. Teague: And this is in our IP20,um, September 26. Lehmann: There we are. Teague: For those that are watching virtually. Lehmann: Okay. So I provided a memo in your packet that discusses this issue dated September 26, looking at expanding bow hunting opportunities near Manville Heights. This came as a request from you all at our last meeting,um,in terms of just some background for the public who might not be familiar with this issue. The city does have a long-term deer management plan that was adopted in July. It looks over the next five years and includes five annual Bow Hunts,in addition to a mix of non-lethal strategies and the possibility of a professional sharp shoot sometime between 2026-2029, subject to state approval. So this is our second,uh, long-term deer management plan that we're currently in that we just adopted. Uh,we have been getting lots of complaints from Manville Heights residents, and I think you've been aware of that-we've been aware of that as part of the deer management program,and I think that's what's really led to this- this item tonight. So in terms of this year's annual bow hunt,it just started on September 21 and runs through January 10,2025. Overall,most of the bow hunting in our Urban Bow Hunt Program does occur on private property subject to the rules of the hunt. Those hunt rules are included in this packet for your convenience. Rules include things that really protect safety and welfare of the community,including things like buffers from property lines of 150 feet,in addition to,uh,buffers from parks, from trails,from roads, from places where you might expect people generally to be. And that's really to-to-to ensure that it's a safe,um, a safe process as we This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 1, 2024 Page 4 move forward.Now,we have seen our annual bow hunt grow every year since its inception five years ago now. We started off with just a handful of deer.Now we're up to more than 30 last year, and I think we've already had three deer harvested this year since starting on the 21 st. So we've seen growth,we'd like to continue to see growth, and we are trying to encourage the growth of this program. Last year, Council also approved a process by which we can add public property, so not just the private property on which the hunts might occur,but also some specified public properties. The process that was adopted is that staff provides a couple recommendations on properties that we think might be suitable. We provided to you in a memo, and then If there's no council action to pull anything from that,then that's considered approved and we move forward with allowing hunting on those properties subject to our Hunt rules. For this year,we have four public properties that have been approved that includes 1150 Covered Wagon Drive. We have 2510 North Dodge Street. We have 2099 Bristol Drive. So those previous two are up north,the covered Wagon Drive is in the South.And then we also have one oh one McCollister Boulevard and the Sycamore Greenway, South of Lehman Avenue. It's by our wastewater facility. Those are also on the south side. So when it comes to Manville Heights,it's a pretty tricky location that we're looking at. So the map that I've provided in your packet as attachment Number 2 shows eligible or Bow hunt eligible properties within the area. Areas in red are within 150 feet of a parcel line.Now there is an opportunity to hunt within some of those areas with a waiver.But as you can see,most of the area would require multiple property owners to work together to find suitable locations. The orange areas on the map,which you can see are primarily located,uh,in City Park and on city-owned property kind of in the northeast portion of Manville Heights,those would require action by council to allow hunting,but you can see the areas that are not within that 150-foot buffer. And then we also have areas shown in yellow that would allow hunting currently if the private property owners consented to it.There's really only two properties that allow it. One is owned by the University, and the other is a very small portion of property that's just north of West Park Road. So while much of it is read, some of these areas could be hunted. We have had three property owners,uh,who-who are all interested in seeing hunters on their property. They were able to identify a small location that a hunter could locate,um,but it has been a challenge in this area, especially with,um,just the large amount of public property, and then also the tight property quarters. Just to give you an idea of what public property looks like in this area. We also included attachment three. So those blue properties,uh,which are mostly along the river where you see floodplain or at City Park.And then the yellow properties are the areas that are owned by the University, so that's mostly on the southeast portion of the neighborhood. So,like I said,there are challenges,um,to hunting in this area. It's either going to require lots of cooperation between property owners. It may require a council action,or it might require cooperation with the university. So I did provide three possible solutions within the memo that we could use to explore expanding bow hunting opportunities since it is limited in the area. The first would be just using the current,uh,rules and processes that we have-that would include targeted outreach to property owners and trying to identify locations where multiple property owners can work together to find a suitable location that a hunter could be located. The second would be to follow current rules and expand eligible public lands. So following your process in September,it would be looking at some of these blue properties on the map and seeing if there's areas where we might want to allow hunting. It still might require multiple waivers if they're within 150 feet of adjacent property lines. There are some locations where we might be able to make it work.As well that are outside of City Park. And then finally,you could look at revising the rules. So, primarily,uh,the rule that staff would consider looking at is things like the current limit on the number of waivers that you can get for a certain piece of property. So currently,if you have a hunter locating on a property,they can have up to three waivers. So if you're close to multiple properties, it would really just discount those areas for hunting. We could look at removing that This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 1, 2024 Page 5 cap or changing that cap to allow hunters as long as all property owners within 150 feet consent to that. So tha-that's another option that we could look at. In all cases,regardless of these changes,you know,we still-we keep-we would still want to keep those life and safety protections that are in place, especially those buffers from areas that have a lot of use. If we are looking at public properties such as City Park or the Ned Ashton House to the West,would also want to make sure that especially highly used areas, if that's where we want to hunt,that we might need to close down trails or make sure that we're controlling the time,the location,or even who can hunt on that property. So there are different things that-that we can do as the city to control it when it's on our property.But those are all things to keep in mind as we're considering these. So really,what I wanted to do tonight is come before you provide some of these options. I'm happy to answer questions, and then really we're just looking for guidance on what route you would like to take,whether that be targeted outreach, looking at public properties,or maybe modifying the rules or a little bit of all three,can be any of them. Teague: For this area, do we know how many- do we have a count or a guesstimate of how many deer,or over there and what we're hoping to-how many we're hoping to harvest? Lehmann: You know,that-that's a great question. It is a high-density area, and it's an area that's difficult to hunt, so it tends to have a higher number of deer. In terms of the deer that we expect in this area,the most recent numbers that I have are from 2023, so they're a little outdated.Um,but Manville Heights and much of the University campus,we had counted 58 at our last count.Um, I would hazard a guess that that's low based on the number of complaints we're getting. That is an area where we get a lot of complaints, and the number of complaints is pretty consistent, and I would even say rising. We are going to contract for an aerial survey this winter in addition to the normal aerial survey,but the supplemental aerial survey would be drone-based, so we're hoping that we'll get better deer number shortly. Teague: Has there been non-lethal interventions over in that community? Lehmann: Sure. So I know many property owners have put up things like deer fences and tried to scare- scare tactics,things like that. I know that as deer have become acclimated to being close to population centers,uh, scare tactics lose some of their effectiveness. And the deer are pretty bold in trying to find ways to survive and eat, so it's been challenging. Its my understanding. Moe: Can you talk a little bit more about the logic for only allowing three properties to come together? You described it as a waiver,a property line waiver,but I- I think of it as three property owners coming together. What's the reason for-for limiting it to just three as opposed to,um,many more? Lehmann: Sure. I think a lot of it stemmed from when we were developing our rules. We were working closely with the Deer Friends of Iowa City,uh,er, and trying to make sure that the properties were large enough that there wouldn't be,uh, external impacts to wherever a hunter was located. Uh, I think looking at a limit of three waivers was one way to do that where you have-es- especially in urban areas where you have multiple parcels next to each other.Uh,e-even though it's possible,it's hard to imagine a situation in which you have a bow hunter in a back yard, and it's,you know,on a normal block,but it might be possible with depending on the layout of the block. Um,that was just a decision that we made when we approved it. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 1, 2024 Page 6 Moe: And if we expand to beyond three, do you think there are more opportunities?Are there a lot-I mean, does that seem to open up a lot more areas if private property owners wanted to have four or five people work together? Lehmann: I think it would offer more flexibility.Um,I don't know that it-it's not going to be panacea or a silver bullet or anything. It-it would allow more areas, eh, and the specific property owners that I'm aware of that banded together,uh,really,they were only able to identify an approximately 20 foot by 20 foot piece of property where a deer stand could go,um,but where the deer are located in that particular block would be a little outside of that area,which would require additional waivers. So I think it would offer flexibility in cases where property owners are motivated to work together. Moe: And as I'm looking at the map on the screen right now,I personally have-actually,the blue map that you showed,um, I think I perceive the private-the-the previously privately-owned flood acquisition properties very differently than City Park.Um,if any of those private property owners wanted to get a property waiver with the City on any of those blue properties,is that allowed in our current rules? Lehmann: That would be allowed under our current rules. And typically,if one property owner owns multiple parcels next to each other,you only require one waiver for all of that. Moe: Okay. Lehmann: So,uh,it's a little different. Um, in-in the case of the flood buyout areas,you'd really only be able to look by the river because those blocks aren't more than 300-feet wide, so you're always going to be within 150 feet of the-the right of way line, and there aren't waivers required for-or aren't waivers allowed for right of way line. The-the waivers are really for distance from other property owners,uh, distance from buildings of those property owners. Um, I think that's really what the waivers are allowed for, so it's only specified things. Teague: Councilor Alter,jump right in there. Any time. Alter: Sure.Um, I was just wondering, can you-first of all,can you hear me? Teague: Yes. Lehmann: Yes. Alter: Okay. Um, and so I was wondering,has there been any conversation with the University? I realized that the City has,um,you know,quite a bit of the blue is ours,but,um,it does kind of span outward a bit. Um, and so I was just wondering if there was a-if there have been any discussions about the possibility of the University,um,being-uh,you know,partnering with us and- and allowing some of,um,the discussions that we're having now if they are in on them or might be amenable to,um,being able to expand,uh,perhaps the-the map here to-to be able to control deer. Lehmann: Well-well, one challenge is- and so I switched to Attachment 2 that shows the areas that would be allowed. One challenge is,the areas that would be allowed within the University,uh, aren't really ideal hunt locations, and they're also often near pretty high use trails and some of there are- This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 1, 2024 Page 7 are little parking lots like those aren't going to be ter-terribly useful for an effective,uh, stand. Um,we have engaged with the University in the past.Ali, I don't believe that we've done so recently. Um, and- and in the past, I don't think that they have been- I mean,maybe Geoff can step in on their pro-their discussions. Fruin: Yeah. They-we've-we've worked with them in the past when we've had sharp shoots,um,but,uh, they have not participated in the,uh,Urban Bow Hunt.And again,it's,ah,uh,not all their locations would lend well to,um- Alter: Yeah. I-I could certainly see that. I was just wondering if there had been raised,but no, I-there's a lot of logistical difficulty there, so it- Lehmann: And I would say,they're-I think that they would probably be amenable to waving a 150-foot buffer. We-we don't know that,uh,but from the property line. So there might be an ability to expand the land owned by the city that could be used for a hunt. I just don't think that we'd be, you know, I think that that's about where our partnership would,uh,lead us if we wanted to go that route. Alter: Thank you. Teague: Well, if you're looking for recommendations, I would say all three,when I look at what we've done since the bow hunting started, and IDNR hasn't allowed the city to do sharp shooting. We haven't really,um,harvested a lot of deer, and they continue to grow.And so I don't see any issues with us trying all three and seeing where we land. We do need to pick up some ground here. So,uh,that's where I would suggest that we put them all-put them-put them all out there. Moe: I'd like to concur with the caveat. I think that the City Park and Hickory Hill Park would need to be very restrict-time restricted highly-like,it wouldn't be an open season,it would be a very specific date with extra efforts to make sure that the public was aware if we were to do that,but, um,curious if you guys all think that is a good idea. Teague: I guess the-how would you rope it off?Is there an opportunity to because the-the public would have be aware. Moe: Right.Yeah. I don't think it can be-I think that's-you would pre-we would-I think I would prefer it as very,very controlled kind of thing. Lehmann: Yeah. In-in City Park,especially,you're gonna probably need to close trails.You're gonna need to make sure that it's at times when it's not used, so possibly,the-the park closes,uh, or opens at dawn and closes at dusk. So presumably,you could do it outside of those hours. You could restrict who hunts,you could even limit it to City staff, if there's City staff that are passionate about bow hunting. Uh, in the case of the Ned Ashton House or the properties kind of more to the West,um,in those areas,you would also probably have to close-off trails and be-be willing to do some of those things. And-and you'd wanna make sure that you're avoiding,uh, any impacts of the use of this site. So in the case of City Park,you're gonna have to avoid baseball. In the case of Ned Ashton House,you're gonna have to avoid any program that occurs there. And then also just the general use of-of trails and such, so you-you would have to have lots of-eh, and that's something that-that staff is able to propose as we put these together,but,er,we would This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 1, 2024 Page 8 just need to know that Council is interested in approving either some or all of the- the public properties that are shown on the map. Alter: My sense of it, I-I unmuted myself. Um,is in looking at the three proposals. Really, I'm-I'm kinda veering towards the first two because I'm also thinking about-eh, I agree completely with Councilor Moe that there has to be a lot of,um,messaging and communication so that people know when they can and can't be in the parks, and the public places.Um, so that's one piece.But the other in terms of talking about revising the rules altogether,why don't we work with the first two,which is expanding the em-the areas that people can do,their bow hunting, and then also being able to do some revisions or exemptions.Um, so that's where I'm leaning. If we need to revise, I'm not in any,uh, opposition to that. I guess I'm just wondering from the outset,have we pro-has there been a proposal where there's something that needs to be outright, like the rule needs to be changed or is it simply an exemption or a revision? Lehmann: It- it could be any of the rules. The rules have been adopted by Council, so those are the rules that-that we enforce. Um,it could be any rule.However, staff would be very cautious to affect anything that might impact health or safety, and so that's where that-that,uh,waiver limit is the thing that if there was something that we would propose, it would probably be that. Alter: I think that that's where my conservativism is, is to make sure that,um,it's not just dumped out on the table and everything gets changed. I think that,um,there's been a really smart approach to this.And so I think that,you know, as-as needed,we can do some exemptions and- and whatnot, but I- I think that kind of looking at it whole sale or whole cloth,we-we don't need to do that. Um,the other thing and this is preaching to the choir,preaching to the public,agreeing with the public is that no matter what we do,there's- er,nothing is going to be a perfect solution. So,um, I'm all in favor of trying to see what we can do so that,um,we can kind of mitigate the-the population as well as,um,address some of the public interest in-in expanding how,uh,the program works. Harmsen: Quick question. These changes,we're-we're focusing on City-Wide,right?Even though we're talking about this in regards to the challenges of Manville Heights,we're not looking at something or are we looking at something specific to that neighborhood or more like a City-Wide sort of change? Lehmann: It-it change-yeah. That's a good question. If you changed the rules,it would affect the entire City. Um,obviously,targeted outreach,we would be looking at targeted outreach specifically in this area. Um,if-if we're looking at expanding public lands,you would have to specify which lands you're interested in seeing hunting on, and then we would return,uh,with-with a memo that would then be considered at your next meeting.And if you don't pull it,then those lands would become open for- for bow hunting. Harmsen: And just so I'm completely clear on the map,currently, there is not bow hunting in City Park allowed, anything like that? Lehmann: Correct. Harmsen: That would be- Lehmann: On any of these public properties,it is not allowed. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 1, 2024 Page 9 Harmsen: Okay. That's- I- I was pretty sure I understood that,but I wanted to make sure. Lehmann: Yeah. Moe: Regarding the item 2, specifically,um,the req-the suggestion that we could,um,limit who may hunt,for example,restricting hunting to City employees. I think that sounds nice. I'm curious,is there a large group of City employees who really want that? Or,um, I- Lehmann: There's at least- Moe: I love our City employees.But why not open it up to everybody? It's been,um- Fruin: Yeah. It's-it's not an uncommon,uh,approach that-that cities take,particularly wh-wh-when it's their property. Um, and sometimes it's-it's focused on law enforcement or public safety staff,just be- so there's,uh, a heightened awareness and sense of responsibility,ah,that the-that one takes to,um,approach their-their task.But,uh,um,we-it certainly could open it up to anybody. Um, it's just a-it's just a comfort-level decision. And,um,if-if we're-if we're going to be hunting in an area that, ah,we think could be,um,heavily traveled or,um,uh,where others might be exposed, it might be nice to have a city employee there that we could get more regular feedback, ah, from, and,uh,that we could sit down and talk about the rules and just make sure that everything's followed as it should be. Moe: Well,hearing that,that actually does make a lot of sense. I thought it was just a perk,not,uh- safety- Fruin: No. Moe: -safety features. Fruin: So more-more of a sense of responsibility that-that you would have as a City employee. Lehmann: And you do see that with private property owners too. Sometimes,you'll find people that are more comfortable with their employees hunting on site. So private property owners do it as well. Fruin: Yeah. Harmsen: One other thing too,is just as we kind of take a look at cost benefit in terms of extra,you know, I'd understand that,um, somebody who wants to hunt a particular piece of land,it's on them to get whatever permissions or anything else they need,right?Not on the city to go get that for them, um,even if they were to get something,uh, approved.Um,but in-just in terms of like,you know, if we make some of these changes,how much extra workload does that put on City staff, and do we think it'll have,you know, enough of an impact to be worth it? Lehmann: I would say the impact on city staff would be relatively minimal or at least it would be the same as if current rules, it would open up more property potentially for review.Um,yeah. I-I don't think it would be that much more burdensome than our current process. It would just open up more land for hunting,theoretically. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 1, 2024 Page 10 Harmsen: Thank you. Alter: I have a one final question, and I-I bet that it's already bound up and been considered.But,um, given-if-if property owners were to say,yes,bow hunting on my land and someone were injured,whose responsibility is,like,who's liable? Lehmann: Yeah. So there are state regulations that protect property owners. So it would be really on the hunter, if-if someone is injured, and that's based on state law that-that strives to encourage bow hunting. So- so they really do want to try to shield property owners to the extent possible. Alter: Okay. And so that-the same logic applies if-if they were doing something-um,if-if someone gets injured on city property, it's the same thing. It's a hunter who is accountable? Depending on the situation, I guess. Sorry. I don't want to take it down a rabbit hole. I'm just curious in that whole mess. Goers: Uh, I think that's right. I-I would need to look at that,uh, again,but I agree with,uh,ah,Mr. Lehmann in the extent that there is a state statute that tries to encourage,uh,private landowners to make their property available for,uh,recreational use more broadly,including bow hunting more specifically. Um,of course,that's not a guarantee that the city couldn't be sued. Of course, that can always happen-or can always,uh,take place,but I- I think we would be in good shape. Moe: Maybe one again, I don't want to get too far into the weeds. One of the features of the sharp shooting that I thought was very nice was that as I understand a large amount of the meat was actually donated or given to food pantries. Is that a possibility with private hunting? Lehmann: I believe that we encourage it if folks aren't interested in having the meat themselves. So there are many hunters that hunt because they like deer meat as well. Moe: Sure. Lehmann: I believe that we do encourage it,though. Moe: Okay. Fruin: So I'm hearing some targeted outreach and some comfort with increasing the number of waivers, which is basically opportunities for private property owners to work together to open up more land. Those are things that we can bring back to you at your next meeting. If you're interested in maybe you're not quite ready to make a decision on public ground,what I think we would like to do if there is an indication that you're interested in public ground is work with Juli to better understand the programming aspects of both the Ashton House and City Park during the hunting season. And come back to you with what we think would be the best option. It may not be a great option given the constraints and the use of those spaces,but we could-we could present you kind of the best option,which would include this is what we would have to close. These are the hours or the days that we would probably open it up to, and this is how we would suggest selecting our hunters. We can go through that exercise and bring that back to you if public ground in Manville Heights is of interest. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 1, 2024 Page 11 Teague: Yeah, I think I heard consensus, for the most part, for those item,you know,the recommendation of number 3,where it'll be go with more than three property line waivers,I heard Councilor Alter not in favor. And I don't have a strong opinion about that. Moe: I'm in favor of it. I don't think we want to probably I don't think it's beneficial to have unlimited,but four, five, seems like that might. Teague: And there are still waivers that have to go to staff for consideration. Moe: Right.Yeah. Harmsen: I'm okay with looking at the expansion. I don't really have my mind made up right now,which way I think I would go on that,but I would certainly be open to considering it and realizing that, you know,we are talking about a lot of property damage and,you know,risk to motorists and things like that. So there's cause to think if we can help with other solutions. Alter: Yeah, and I'm not putting the no-no interest. I welcome seeing what staff comes up with. Salih: I agree the same-the same. Yeah. Teague: Okay. So we'll keep all three options on the table for you all to come back before us in a future meeting. Thank you. Lehmann: Thank you. 5. CIP Project Update Teague: All right. We're going to move on to item number 5,which is CIP Project Updates, and I see Juli joining us. Welcome. Seydell-Johnson: Good afternoon. Juli Seydell-Johnson, Director of Parks and Recreation. I'm going to start you off with an update on two of our park projects, and then engineering will take over with a number of other ones. Teague: Great. Seydell-Johnson:Not here. Okay. So the first one I'll update you on is where we're at with City Park Pool. We've been working on this pretty diligently with the project team. You left us with some directions back in early May, and we've been working on a meeting about every two weeks, making lots and lots of decisions. We are through the design phase and working on construction documents now. So just as a reminder,this was the concept design that you talked about back in early May and gave us direction on. With this design,you left us with the opportunity to look at a few things. We were looking still at,were there ways to have more 25 meter, 50 meter lap lanes? Um,you gave us the option of looking at three separate pools versus the two pools. We looked at we could possibly be moving around shade structures and other items on the pool deck. And then looking at a play structure versus the current channel that's in there. So we had this option, and this was the early option that showed the three pools. So here,the next slide is going to show you where we're at today.And I'm going to caution you,first of all,that the design you see there has been flipped. The next one you're going to see is the same elements. The lap pool moves to the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 1, 2024 Page 12 opposite side. So be ready because it flips sides. Where we're at right now is we are working on the three pool concept. We decided that that is the best way to go in terms of operations and cost in terms of how the pool operates,how much room is needed in the filter house for different things, and the ability to heat pools differently. So, in this option,we can have the leisure pool heated to a higher degree,the lap pool left cooler water, and the diving somewhat in between. I am going to now show you a new drawing that came just today. That shows this even better. So, this is the 3D concept.And here's some of the things that have changed since you've seen it the last time,that I want to point out.First of all,we've added additional accessibility areas to the three pools. So we have a ramp that goes into the lap pool along with stairs. So you have two independent entries into the lap pool. It's still 6-50-meter lap lanes. We had not-we're not able to find another way to do 25 meters, so that would be something we would do operationally. The Leisure pool has a play structure in it currently,you don't see it on this particular drawing.But the accessibility has stairs here- stairs here, and then, of course,the large zero-depth entry coming into the pool. The current channel has been removed in-replaced with a play structure. We did some more work on the safety and the way that lifeguards have to work with the current channel. We talked with the University where they have one and decided the play structure was probably the better option.Also a little money savings there,too. What we've replaced it with,though,the current channel now has a really nice little bench sitting here in the water. So think of that for first of all, swimming lessons. There's a place for younger kids to stand while they're waiting for their turn to go and swim on that ledge. If you're an adult there later in the day with your kids,you've got a nice sunny place to sit in the water. So we think that'll be a nice option. The diving well is 14 feet deep. It's shown with two diving boards,a low-a low board and a high dive. There is room for three. At this point,though,we've opted for a climbing wall instead of a third pool option, and then it has stairs that go down into it. The filter house is now shown on the east side of the facility. It was shown originally on the south side. We've done that to minimize the amount of driveway that needs to be built to reach it. This drawing does not show all the trees that still we're working on,if you remember, one of the things we agreed to was to try to maintain the trees. I do want to mention that though,because over the summer,we've had I want to say five large mature trees fall pretty randomly throughout City Park. So that means our tree canopy as much as we're trying to save it is nearing the end of its lifespan. So even if we save it at this point, expect that we're going to lose some of those mature trees in the next 5, 10, 15 years. We continue to look at ways to minimize that with the construction of this project,but just know that we also are looking at the overall health of all of those trees in Upper City Park. We actually had the State Forester out there last week looking at it with our staff, some concerns about the health of those trees. It's kind of a bigger issue than just the pool construction. So I just wanted you to be aware of that. Another thing that will change that we hadn't anticipated. It's right now there's a small playground here on the east side of the pool. We're going to be moving that playground. The playground will move most likely down by the baseball fields in Lower City Park. It's a newer, small playground. If you remember,though,the new City Park playground is just on the other side of the road and down the hillside. So the intent was always that this playground would eventually move. It's just now it's time that it would move to another location.Um,yeah,I think that's the main things. We are skating right on the edge of the budget as always. So every decision we're making,we're looking at, are there ways to save a little bit and keep it within the budget as we get ready?Are there any questions I will go through the entire bathhouse next,but I want to see if there's any questions I can answer, first of all, on the dated pool design. Moe: I can't remember the climbing wall from the past. Is that's a new feature? Seydell-Johnson: It is a new feature. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 1, 2024 Page 13 Moe: Can you speak to how much it gets 'cause we have one in the Robert A. Lee Rect pool? Seydell-Johnson: Yeah. Moe: Can you speak to how much it gets used? Seydell-Johnson:Not so much at Robert A Lee. We don't have a large teen population.But as we were looking through this design,we were trying to figure out what other things could we do to enhance it for kind of that middle school teenage. And there's two things actually that we're looking at. One,being the climbing wall,which is a fairly inexpensive structure that can be added, it can taken away in a few years if it grows old or changed at that point. We're also going to add places where we can connect large inflatables in the lap pool. So if we're having an event or if we have a special teen time or something,we could have large inflatables for the teens,too. So we're just trying to spice it up with a few more activities for kind of those older kid age. Alter: On the heels of Councilor Moe's question about the climbing wall. Would that also be navigated with diving and operationally? Or is that something that can happen concurrently? Seydell-Johnson: Right now,it's like I said, it's large enough for three diving boards. So I believe that it can operate with the two boards and the climbing wall. I would have to double check that. It might be only one board while the climbing wall is in use. Yeah. Alter: Okay. Thanks. Moe: And then can you describe that you said operationally,you wouldn't use you would just put a cord down the middle of the lap lanes to make a 25 foot lane? That's that. Seydell-Johnson: Right. You can see where the line is.And we have said that we would likely have 2-50 meter lap lanes at all times.But that would mean that we would put a rope halfway across one or two lanes that could become 25 meter,if there was a desire for that. Moe: There was discussion at one point about a bulkhead? What happened with that conversation. Seydell-Johnson: It was very expensive and pretty difficult for staff to move on a regular basis. We have one at Mercer. It's moved a handful of times per year. It's not something you would probably want to move in an outdoor pool every day or regularly like that. Salih: It look nice. Yeah. Seydell-Johnson: Okay. Let me show you the bath house and what it's looking like. Once again,a new drawing today. This is the view looking from the pool. So you look and this will be the and I'll show you the floor plan here in a second too. This is the head lifeguard area and the concession stand, and then locker room entries on both sides with lockers on the outside and also some on the inside. This is looking from the parking area or the driveway on the bottom. So you'd walk up. This is once again,the main entrance into the pool. You'd have the-the front counter staff here at these front windows,then you would enter on one side or the other. This over here is our new community room. So this would be available year round, and I'll show you that on the floor plan. And the outdoor rest rooms for the park are located here on this end of the pool. So let me show This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 1, 2024 Page 14 you what that looks like in floor plan. Sorry. So once again, as you would enter the pool,was me. Appear at the top. You'll come in the locker rooms, and I don't remember which side is men's or women's. You would split off.Men's room-men's lockers on one side,women's on the other. In the center are the individual changing areas or individual shower rooms. There's two of them plus a nursing space nursing room for nursing mothers.As you enter,you can either go through the locker rooms or you could use a single user spaces and go directly through this corridor or kind of right down the middle that will take it directly out onto the pool deck. And then you have on the bottom in that center section is the lifeguard area,has its own restroom,has a first aid station,has a little more space for the guard storage area. One thing I didn't point out on the pool drying, though,is that the lifeguard on deck space is now situated right in the middle of those three pools. So right now when you go to City Park Pool,you'll see in the summer,you'll see the lifeguards under a little tent by the bathhouse. We've moved that out now, so it'll be in the center of the three pool. So even when the lifeguards aren't on active stand duty,they'll be situated right in the middle of the three pools to have pretty easy access,um, and then on the east side of the building is where the small multipurpose room will be, and that'll be available year round. Small classroom type space with a very small kitchenette and one restroom area or one single restroom for that, and then one single rest room for the rest of the park. Moe: On the rendering, I noticed,a high pitched peak roof. Is there a second story or attic space. Seydell-Johnson: There's not. Moe: Or it's just a big open space. Seydell-Johnson: Yeah. And it doesn't look quite as pitched on this one,maybe.You see the rendering. It's mainly the rooftop over the central area. Gives you kind of a nice vaulted area as you come in. Moe: Yeah. I'm a little worried about all the south facing glass. I baking people in the summertime. Seydell-Johnson: It's north.And then the south is just it's shorter on the inside. So the bottom picture is the inside, and you can see it's under the-under the eve. Moe: Oh. Okay. Salih: That's the south side? Seydell-Johnson: Yeah. So the bottom one is looking out oh, I'm sorry. I got the backwards. Moe: No. I think at the top a bit big. Seydell-Johnson: Yeah. Moe: Yeah. Seydell-Johnson: Yeah.But it also looks so they can see out on the pool deck. Moe: Yeah. Seydell-Johnson: That's the idea. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 1, 2024 Page 15 Alter: Separate from,like,the-the-the functionality of it or what have you? I actually I love the kind of, like,retro. It-it is absolutely still in character of City Park pool, and I really like that. Seydell-Johnson: Thank you. Alter: Kudos. Seydell-Johnson: Okay. Let me go through timeline,like you said,we're done with schematic design. We're in the design development and construction documents. We spent three hours today picking out fixtures. You would have loved it, Josh.. And that kind of thing for the interiors. We hope to have the public hearing set-set it on February 4th with a public hearing on February 18, when you'll see the full plans and specs.Bids due in March anticipated award date mid-March with construction throughout the entire next summer and fall. So we're ready to open again in May 2026. Moe: Can you go back to the floor plan? I was curious because I know one of the uh features of this is the-the east side of the building is a year round. Is the whole building a year round building or just the east portion? Seydell-Johnson: The whole building will be he-heated minimally. It-it won't be appropriate for staff to office or anything like that throughout the rest of the building it'll be heated so that we don't have to drain it down um,you know for the equipment and whatnot that's stored there. Moe: So the public won't be able to rent this space in January or something. Seydell-Johnson:No. That's not the intent. Only-only the community room space on the east side. Moe: So the community room on the east. Seydell-Johnson: Yes. The community room on the east side is year round. Moe: That is. Seydell-Johnson: And rest room,the park rest room would be available year round two now. Moe: Yeah.No, I think that's going to be a great amenity for people year round to get to you. I feel better about the massive expense for a year round thing. Seydell-Johnson: Any other. Teague: Sounds good. Seydell-Johnson: Okay let me move to the other side of the park to Terrell Mill Park and update you on the Roller Park project.Um some exciting news that we are getting the $250,000 grant from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. And that's through the National Park Service and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Good news is we're getting the funding,bad news is it holds the project up just a little bit because it takes a little bit longer to get the agreement with the National Park Service. Um,but here's where we are with the design of the Roller Park. At this This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 1, 2024 Page 16 point,we are planning on leaving the current skate park in place. Originally,we thought we would remove that. Instead,we're going to do some renovations and leave that and concentrate on the new central area,which will be the skate park area being really geared towards beginner and intermediate skaters. What we're hearing is the dangers of the old one is really it's too advanced for most beginner skaters. So by offering the beginner and intermediate areas,we hope to build people up so they can still use the older area with some repairs to it,um,but then we'll have the intermediate area in the middle and then the northern area is the pump track primarily for bicycles,but it can be used by any kind of roller. Toys or equipment um, and we have a couple renderings of how this is going to look too. I think it's going to be a really nice attraction there right along Dubuque Street. Um,it will kind of take that whole area between the driveway to the boat house,um,to the current skate park, and some really cool things. We are still working on design. We're through design development we will be putting in the permit application to the US Army Corps of Engineers, since we're in a floodplain area along the River. That'll go in soon and then we also have the grant agreement to get in place with the National Park Service. We're really looking at bidding this late spring,early summer of 2025 with construction hopefully in the fall of 2025. The end of next summer into the fall,it won't take nearly as long of a process as City Park pool,but we'll be in construction after that. Any questions? Alter: Juli Mit? Sorry. I hopped in.Has there been any specific outreach? I know that the community at large may not have necessarily as much of a um,I don't know,technical insight about um,how- how well the park may or may not work for them. Is there a way that we can find who the skaters are and or go into some different places where there might be people who could kind of weigh in. Again,public feedback,but these are the folks who are going to be using it most and it's probably not as easy as just sending a survey out. Seydell-Johnson: Actually, it actually was almost easier and we did that early on on this project. Um,we had a great public meetings last January,believe it or not. Had a couple of public meetings and then an online availability of the survey and I don't have the statistics with me here tonight,but we actually had quite a bit of input those nights for into the design.Um the lead developer of the Skate Park area works for a company called Spawn Ranch out of California,but he is an Iowa City native who learned to skate on the skate park. Um and he still is very well connected to the skate community here in Iowa City, and he has been back in in connection with all those individuals throughout this whole process so I can assure you that our skaters have been very much involved in the design and how we got to where we are today. Teague: And there are a few skaters that had contacted me and I connected them with you and they were happy with that opportunity. Alter: Yeah. I am applauding. That's fan. That's so cool. I love it. Thank you for um,the-the additional insights, and of course,you guys are great. Thank you for doing that. Moe: Quick question about Skate park. I love it at the front door of Iowa City. It's a cool look.Um landscaping has always been interesting down there and natural,but beautiful. Is that landscaping part of this project,too and is there public art?In the past,has been public art in that park? Seydell-Johnson: So the concept we're looking at right now ties in City of Literature, actually.Um some of the skate park elements may look like books and may tie into our literature theme. Um so yes, there will be that. There is also the original millstone from when it was a mill site. Still down there, it belongs to the National Park Service,but it's been loaned to us long term. So we're This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 1, 2024 Page 17 looking at that being a centerpiece at some place in the park they're going to build that into the design as well. Lot of it will be done through colored concrete and different things to make it give it some visual appeal and then,as far as the landscaping, our plan is to go with kind of our natural look that you've seen throughout downtown recently and around the Rec centers kind of our prairie plants. They'll be integrated right into the Skate park design. Moe: Well,I personally like that a lot. Teague: Thank you much.Here comes Jason. Welcome. Havel: Thank you. Teague: Taking turns huh? Havel: We're going to move on into more on the Public Works side of things. I'll start off with a small disclaimer here. This obviously isn't all the projects that we're working on,but just tried to highlight some of the major ones,especially those that have had significant traffic impacts that have been going on for a while. So I'll give you an update on some of our larger projects. Starting off with Dubuque Street, as most of you are probably aware,recently opened the majority of the project. So Dubuque Street is open,both the street and sidewalks. You can see a lot of landscaping is already complete. Uh the main pieces that are left there are the lighting.Not only the permanent light poles,but also the Canton area lighting that will cross over the roadway,um hoping to get that done yet this fall.A lot of that is just depending on when we actually get the materials from the suppliers.But working on that,what's left is the alley. The remaining portion of it is the alley that we're working to finish that paving. That's been a uh little bit of a challenge, been working through a lot of utility conflicts,kind of working through that, still hoping to have that done yet this fall. At least that's what we're aiming for and it looks like that will be reachable, as long as we don't continue to have those conflicts,but fingers crossed,we're nearing completion on that. Rochester Avenue, another one that's been under construction for a while.Um the majority of the project is complete.You can see here a picture of some of the retaining wall, as well as some of the section there in front of Regina. Uh a lot of that has been complete for some time. The remaining portion is that east side of the I st avenue intersection,we continue to work on getting that finished up,have some paving that needs to be done,have some utility work that still needs to be completed, and then obviously, some of the permanent signal poles need to go in. Uh looking at having that complete, substantially complete,yet this fall.Hopefully have that wrapped up most of the work here by the end of this month,um and have that open to traffic. There is still some restoration work that has to happen that could extend into next spring. We're working with the contractor, see if we might be able to shorten that up a little bit and get it all done this fall,um but it'd be either this fall or spring for final completion,but again,open to traffic, anticipating that yet this fall. Gilbert Street Bridge. So just down the street here,uh utility work is complete,working on finishing up the bridge.A lot of that is the-the railing work now. The bridge deck is in,the approach panels are in,uh been working mostly on railing here in the last few weeks, anticipate having that open to traffic,both vehicular and pedestrian by the end of this month. There would still be some parking lot work left to do,as well as restoration. The goal will be to have that substantially complete by the end of this year, and again,with potentially some restoration work grassy,that kind of thing in the spring as needed.Finally,for this year's projects,Park Road rehabilitation. This is the asphalt overlay of the section of Park Road from Rocky Shore on the west to Riverside Drive on the East. They are looking at paving operations to start next week. So the goal of having that complete hopefully by the end of the month,but for This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 1, 2024 Page 18 sure,by uh mid November,have that wrapped up.Uh typically on overlay projects,there's not a lot of restoration work that needs to happen,you know most of the works kind of between the curb lines. Sometimes there is some work if we replace intakes or something like that, some small restoration areas that need to be done, and that may occur in the spring,but we'll likely have that more or less complete this fall.Moving on to some major projects that will be expected to start the beginning of next year. First one is North Gilbert Street Reconstruction. So this will be the section from Brown Street to Kimball Road. This will be a complete reconstruction uh we'll also include sidewalk on both sides,as well as some utility improvements as well.Uh looking at working with private utilities to get those relocations done here this fall and into the winter with project construction slated to start, first thing in the spring. Moe: My understanding is you've already done the public meeting on this like last Friday last week. Havel: Last Wednesday. Moe: Last Wednesday. Is there anything of note that came from that? Havel That's I believe maybe the third public meeting. So we've had a number of them,but I think at this point,we have a pretty good plan in place. We've worked with the neighborhood to try and make things fit as best we could. So I think for the most part,we're in a pretty good place uh you know we've kind of-between the alignment and where we ended up with sidewalk uh we're able to accommodate some existing features in the corridor and keep those. So I think it's a good, whether you want to call it context sensitive design or whatever it might be. Moe: It's a really complicated site. Havel: It is and it's an area that definitely, especially from the street side of things needed some-some help. Moe: I know we're really just doing a CIP review. I am curious,though. What do you do to keep people from driving super fast down that hill?Because right now the road is terrible.You can't drive fast. When you build a nice new road,what do you do? Havel: Usually,we try and narrow up the street, and that helped to allow for sidewalks as well.Uh you know we -the other thing we look at is our design speeds are what we post a speed limit for. It would be a 25 mile an hour design speed.Ultimately having traffic on streets helps,parking where we can on street helps.Um but we do what we can. I guess the last thing I would mention on this one is we do anticipate this would be sort of a one construction year uh project.And then finally,Court Street reconstruction. So this is one that we have beginning next year with construction.Anticipate this will actually be a three year project, so it would be 25,26, and then most of 27. Uh not that you need to be able to see this entire drawing here,but wanted to just show you the entire scope of the project from Muscatine Avenue to First Avenue. Uh one of the challenging pieces of this project,well,a couple of things. One being existing utilities in the corridor,there's not a good way to just relocate those all at once and then come back with the project after that and so we're going to be doing a joint utility-joint Trench project to relocate those utilities as we go. The other thing is, obviously,it's a challenging corridor. It's a tight corridor, it's established. It's also immediately adjacent to a school and so there's a lot of challenges with that and so we ended up as we've looked at phasing,breaking that up into a number of different sections kind of working from west to east to do that as we go. I would note This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 1, 2024 Page 19 that as we do that, sections of Court Street will close as they are under construction,um but we'll keep the remaining areas open as much as we can and kind of again,phase construction down the corridor as we go. Last slide here,I just wanted to kind of show,again,don't need to worry about the details here,but just kind of to help illustrate that.You know,this is kind of the phasing plan for the project and I think the way I would simplify it is there's a lot of colors on this page. Each color is kind of a different phase or stage of that work and so. We anticipate kind of starting on the west end, starting with the joint utility trench. As that moves to the east,we would follow immediately behind that with the actual project construction and so both will go concurrently down the corridor over the course of three years. Moe: I remember correctly,this was fully designed,but was delayed because of the Rochester is this fully designed? Havel: It is-we have final plans now so we're providing final comments,but um it was delayed in part because of the Rochester project?Correct. And the concern there was having two sort of parallel corridors under construction at one time.Again,just kind of pointing out the different phases and stages that would be part of that construction and that's all I have,but happy to answer questions on those or or other projects. Harmsen: With the Court Street reconstruction,you mentioned this on some of the other projects,but detours through the neighborhood, and I know even with the Rochester detour you know,not every motorist is thoughtful as they're going through a residential area. It's unavoidable that we need to use those detours while the thing is under construction but any thoughts on trying to do uh speed mitigation cause that-again,that's not just a neighborhood, a neighborhood a lot of foot traffic as well as with kids going to-to school back and forth through the high school and then Southeast and so on? Havel: So we anticipate the detour for the project would be basically Muscatine and Ist Avenue. Going around the project to the South.Uh you know through the neighborhoods it gets a little more challenging. It's that balance of trying to provide access for people that live there,but also not provide too easy of access for people to cut through and so I think that's something that we continue to look at.Uh it's-it's something that we'll try to deal with upfront, as best we can,but also something we'll keep an eye on, especially as we move phases, and that changes,you know, ways that we can discourage that as much as we can. Harmsen: And I think I saw in there as I was trying to look at the phases that they're purposefully set up so that you will be blocking the morning side at the same time as you know,whether the block where you turn into the jock lot for for the high school,just because there's multiple entrances. I know that'll be. Havel There's been a lot of discussion on that and how we, again, some of that's constructable,but at the same time,provides access because, again,with school traffic in the neighborhood,there's a lot of. Harmsen: There are brand new drivers. Havel: Exactly. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 1, 2024 Page 20 Moe: It's three years,the duration of Court Street. It will open every winter? Will it reopen for full use? That would be the non construction season. little bit. It will be painful. We get emails. Havel: Good what it's done. Harmsen: It's painful if you drive down it. It needs-it needs to be done. Havel: Thank you. 6. Council updates on assigned boards, commissions, and committees Teague: Thank you.Any other updates? Saying none, alright. We're on to Item number 6,Council updates from assigned boards Commissions and committees. Sir.Hearing none and none,we are adjourned. We'll be back at 6:00 P.M. for our formal meeting. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 1, 2024