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Home My WebLink About2025-04-17 Info Packet1k 00 ®, Mgo CITY OF IOWA CITY City Council Information Packet Council Tentative Meeting Schedule IP1. Council Tentative Meeting Schedule Draft Minutes IP2. Climate Action Commission: April 7 April 17, 2025 April 17, 2025 City of Iowa City Item Number: IP1. CITY OF IOWA CITY COUNCIL ACTION REPORT April 17, 2025 Council Tentative Meeting Schedule Attachments: Council Tentative Meeting Schedule r City Council Tentative Meeting Schedule Subject to change CITY OF IOWA CITY April 17, 2025 Date Time Meeting Location Tuesday, May 6, 2025 4:00 PM Work Session City Hall, Emma J. Harvat Hall 6:00 PM Formal Meeting 410 E. Washington Street Tuesday, May 20, 2025 4:00 PM Work Session City Hall, Emma J. Harvat Hall 6:00 PM Formal Meeting 410 E. Washington Street Tuesday, June 3, 2025 4:00 PM Work session City Hall, Emma J. Harvat Hall 6:00 PM Formal Meeting 410 E. Washington Street Tuesday, June 17, 2025 4:00 PM Work Session City Hall, Emma J. Harvat Hall 6:00 PM Formal Meeting 410 E. Washington Street Tuesday, July 8, 2025 4:00 PM Work Session City Hall, Emma J. Harvat Hall 6:00 PM Formal Meeting 410 E. Washington Street Monday, July 21, 2025 4:30 PM Joint Entities Meeting City of Coralville TBD Tuesday, August 5, 2025 4:00 PM Work Session City Hall, Emma J. Harvat Hall 6:00 PM Formal Meeting 410 E. Washington Street Tuesday, August 19, 2025 4:00 PM Work Session City Hall, Emma J. Harvat Hall 6:00 PM Formal Meeting 410 E. Washington Street Tuesday, September 2, 2025 4:00 PM Work Session City Hall, Emma J. Harvat Hall 6:00 PM Formal Meeting 410 E. Washington Street Tuesday, September 16, 2025 4:00 PM Work Session City Hall, Emma J. Harvat Hall 6:00 PM Formal Meeting 410 E. Washington Street Tuesday, October 7, 2025 4:00 PM Work Session City Hall, Emma J. Harvat Hall 6:00 PM Formal Meeting 410 E. Washington Street Monday, October 20, 2025 4:30 PM Joint Entities Meeting City Hall, Emma J. Harvat Hall 410 E. Washington Street Tuesday, October 21, 2025 4:00 PM Work Session City Hall, Emma J. Harvat Hall 6:00 PM Formal Meeting 410 E. Washington Street Monday, November 3, 2025 4:00 PM Work Session City Hall, Emma J. Harvat Hall 6:00 PM Formal Meeting 410 E. Washington Street Tuesday, November 18, 2025 4:00 PM Work Session City Hall, Emma J. Harvat Hall 6:00 PM Formal Meeting 410 E. Washington Street Tuesday, December 9, 2025 4:00 PM Work Session City Hall, Emma J. Harvat Hall 6:00 PM Formal Meeting 410 E. Washington Street Item Number: IP2. CITY OF IOWA CITY COUNCIL ACTION REPORT April 17, 2025 Climate Action Commission: April 7 Attachments: Climate Action: April 7 MINUTES IOWA CITY CLIMATE ACTION COMMISSION APRIL 7, 2025 — 4:00 PM — FORMAL MEETING EMMA J. HARVAT HALL PRELIMINARY MEMBERS PRESENT: Michael Anderson, Emma Bork, Zach Haralson, Nadja Krylov, Wim Murray, Brinda Shetty, Michelle Sillman, Angie Smith, Robert Traer MEMBERS ABSENT: Jamie Gade, Ben Grimm STAFF PRESENT: Sarah Gardner, Diane Platte OTHERS PRESENT: Tamara Marcus, Audrey Wiedemeier CALL TO ORDER: Haralson called the meeting to order at 4:00. APPROVAL OF MARCH 3, 2025 MINUTES: Traer moved to approve the minutes, Shetty seconded, and the motion carried. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Action items from last meeting (staff): • Staff included a report from the CAAP Buildings section (actions to date) in the agenda packet. Staff identified Monday, April 21, 3:30 p.m. as a date for five commissioners to tour the Landfill and Compost Facility. All five slots have been filled and a waitlist has been started. Events: • Neighborhood Energy Blitz (April 26, 9 a.m.-noon and 2:30-5:30 p.m., Lucas Elementary School) • Other events in the community (commissioners) o Smith shared information about a Learn to Bike -Commute event on Monday, April 28 at noon at the Tippe Pomerantz Building. o Shetty shared information about events on the Earth Month Hub, highlighting the Miyawaki Tree Planting event (starting on Arbor Day, April 25), the Song*Lines Community Sing, and the City Nature Challenge. Update on Comprehensive Plan efforts for Iowa City • Smith reported highlights from the recent meeting, which focused on land use for transportation and housing. Iowa City's continued population growth will impact housing: the community would need to build 350 units per year in order to meet a projected population of 95,000 people (half ages 20-44) by 2050. o Anderson asked how the CAC might engage with this steering committee especially as it pertains to housing density. Smith encouraged everyone to participate in public engagement opportunities prior to the July meeting. Climate Action Commission April 7, 2025 Page 2 of 5 OLD BUSINESS: Resilience Hub pilot • Tamara Marcus from Empowered Solutions Collective and Audrey Wiedemeier from Iowa City Bike Library provided a summary of the resilience hub planning activities at the Bike Library. • Wiedemeier provided a brief history of Bike Library, described the Capital Campaign that is currently underway, and described the 15 programs that empower people to ride bikes as their primary form of transportation. • Marcus discussed resilience hubs and how they are active all year round, not just during a disaster event. • Wiedemeier provided additional context on Bike Library programming and how it meshes with resilience hub goals, and Marcus described the resilience hub planning process at the Bike Li b ra ry. • Haralson asked about the plans for green space and the incorporation of rain barrels. Wiedemeier described a potential rainwater -harvested bike wash in place and additional green space ideas under consideration. • Haralson asked if battery storage would complement the solar array. Wiedemeier explained the decision to wait on adding batteries due to cost. • Bork asked what aspects of the Bike Library use the most electricity. Wiedemeier described a large compressor and noted partial electric heating. With the installation of another heat pump, the building will be fully electric. Haralson left the meeting at 4:52 and Smith assumed the role of acting chair. NEW BUSINESS: Prioritization scoring of Accelerating Iowa City's Climate Actions Plan relating to buildings, as outlined in agenda packet. • Gardner explained the goal of the process is to replace the current status designations for each CAAP item (long term/ongoing, etc.) with a prioritization level the helps direct staff activities by identifying action items the Commission wishes to see grow, maintained, or monitored. • Gardner suggested going through the items from the Buildings section of the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan report included in the agenda packet as a start and allowing time to ask questions about the history of those items before Commissioners assign a score of 5 to efforts they wish to see grow, 3 to efforts they wish to see maintained, and 1 to efforts they wish to see monitored. After all the action items are scored, staff will average the scores from individual commissioners together, and then bring the averaged scores back to the Commission to help refine the final prioritization designations. • Krylov asked about taking performance measures into consideration in scoring the action items and Gardner suggested setting possible measures aside for the moment to first establish priorities. • Shetty suggested thinking about action items together under their headings (education, incentives, etc.) and scoring them relative to action items within that same category. Gardner agreed that could be helpful. Krylov asked a clarifying question as to whether the ratings applied to the action items or the efforts made year by year, and Gardner confirmed the scoring was for the action items only. Climate Action Commission April 7, 2025 Page 3 of 5 • Shetty asked if energy performance ratings are shown in the MLS property inventory now, and Gardner confirmed that had been achieved. She offered that based on that, this action item could be considered "completed," though staff have not approached it that way and have instead made efforts to continue partnering with the local realtors' group on education events to encourage use of the green designation fields in the MLS. Bork asked about the MLS, and Gardner explained it is a system used to inform realtors as to different aspects of a home that can be highlighted to potential homebuyers. Krylov shared she felt having achieved that goal was a major accomplishment. • Commission members scored action items in the Education and Incentives sections • Gardner noted the action item related to using Green Iowa AmeriCorps to perform home energy audits (BI-1) did have annual costs listed for each year. She asked commissioners to consider as part of their scoring whether Green Iowa AmeriCorps or different entity (part-time staff or contractor) should continue to perform audits, in light of the rising cost to host the AmeriCorps team. o Krylov asked about the decision to offer the audits for free, and Gardner shared that it lowered barriers for participation and also the staff burden of administering the program. o Sillman asked about the electric vehicle on order for the AmeriCorps team, and Gardner confirmed it would be owned by the City rather than the Green Iowa AmeriCorps program. o Anderson asked about Commission members asked questions related to the pros and cons of retaining Green Iowa AmeriCorps team to perform audits for the City. o Shetty asked about the demand for the energy audits, and Gardner shared that there is always a wait list for the service and that a portion of the residents on the wait list lose interest each year between one AmeriCorps team completing its term of service and the next team taking up the work. o Traer asked whether a 5 would mean hiring a new part-time staff and a 3 would be understood to indicate continuing with Green Iowa AmeriCorps. Gardner affirmed that growing the audit program likely would require establishing a dedicated position, while maintaining the program could be done with the current AmeriCorps arrangement. o Krylov asked what the follow-up actions after an energy audit are like. Gardner described AmeriCorps' role in gas leak detection and basic weatherization. o Bork asked if there is enough awareness of the program or demand for the service to justify hiring another staff member. Gardner shared that an alternative approach could be to contract for the services rather than hire a dedicated staff member, and that before asking Commission members to make any decision related to creating a position, staff would look at different pathways and share that with Commission members to aid the discussion. • At 5:30, Gardner asked commissioners to leave their scoresheets at their place to be collected. At the next meeting, the scoresheets will be given back for continued work on the project. PUBLIC COMMENT OF ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA: • None Climate Action Commission April 7, 2025 Page 4 of 5 RECAP: Confirmation of next meeting time and location: • Monday, May 5, 4-5:30 p.m. Emma J. Harvat Hall Actionable items for commission and staff: • Commissioners are asked to continue thinking about prioritization scoring. ADJOURNMENT: Shetty moved to adjourn, Anderson seconded, and the motion carried. Meeting adjourned 5:32. 4 Climate Action Commission April 7, 2025 Page 5 of 5 CLIMATE ACTION COMMISSION ATTENDANCE RECORD 2024-25 \ \ \ \ \ O N \ N \ \ \ \ NAME TERM EXP. F� N Q1 N W N Ul N CO N v N F- 0 N N Q1 NJ W NJ W NJ V N A A A A A AAA A A cn cn cn cn Michael 12/31/2025 O/E O/ X O/E X X X X X X O/E X Anderson E Emma Bork 12/31/2026 O/E X X X Michal Eynon- 12/31/2024 X X X O/E X X X X Lynch John Fraser 12/31/2024 X O/ X X X X O/E O/E E Jamie Gade 12/31/2025 X X X X O/E X O/E X X X X O/E Ben Grimm 10/31/2026 X X O/E O/E X X X X X O/E X O/E Zach Haralson 12/31/2025 X X O/E X O/E X X X X X X X Nadja Krylov 12/31/2026 X O/E X X Wim Murray MiclAmerican X X X X X X X O/E X O/E X X Rep Michelle Sillman 12/31/20025 X O/ X X X O/E X X X X X X E Brinda Shetty UI Rep X X X O/E X X X X X X X X Angie Smith 12/31/2025 X X X X X O/E X X X X O/E X Gabe Sturdevant 12/31/2024 X X O/E X X X O/E X Robert Traer 12/31/2026 X X X X KEY: X = Present 0 = Absent 0/E = Absent/Excused NM= No Meeting * No longer on Commission