HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-02-11 AgendaSubject to change as finalized by the City Clerk. For a final official copy, contact the City Clerk's Office, 356-
5040.
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AGENDA
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CITY COUNCIL MEETING
February 11, 1997 - 1:OO p.m.
Civic Center
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ITEM NO. 1. CALL TO ORDER.
ROLL CALL.
ITEM NO. 2.
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS.
a. Outstanding Student Citizen Awards - Horace Mann Elementary
(1) Daniel Allen
(2) Hillary Harper
(3) Michael Mittman
(4) Katie Peterson
(5) Michelle Shultz
ITEM NO. 3.
(6) Kyle Sleichter
MAYOR'S PROCLAMATIONS.
a. Salute to Hospitalized Veterans Day - February 14, 1997
ITEM NO. 4.
b. Special Olympics Month - March 1997
CONSIDER ADOPTION OF ~ENT CALENDAR AS PRESENTED
OR AMENDED.
Approval of Official Council Actions of the special meetings of January
27, January 30, and February 3, 1997, and the regular meeting of
January 28, 1997, as published, subject to corrections, as recommended
by the City Clerk.
b. Minutes of Boards and Commissions.
(1) Animal Control Advisory Board January 18, 1996 through
'January 23, 1997. (Henceforth staff will submit minutes
regularly.)
(2)
Human Rights Commission - November 27, 1995 through January
22, 1996; March 20, 1996; June 27, 1996 through November
25, 1996.
#2a page 1
ITEM NO. 2a. SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS.
a. Outstanding Student
Elementary
(1) Daniel Allen
(2) Hillary Harper
(3) Michael Mittman
Katie Peterson
Michelle Shultz
Kyle Sleichter
Citizen Awards Horace Mann
Nov/Special Presentations for Outstanding Student Citizen Awards at Horace Mann
Elementary School. I would like the students who are receiving awards to come
forward and stand up here on the platform. Daniel Allen, Hillary Harper, Michael
Mittman, Katie Peterson, Michelle Shultz, and Kyle Sleichter. Now, I understand
that there is somebody here from the student senate who is going to read all the
good things that these students have done. It is time to do that.
Karr/Madam Mayor, we have two members from the student council of Horace Mann.
Heaven Tutson/Hi. My name is Heaven Tutson and this is Leah Miller. We are here on
behalf of student council and we are representatives and Leah is going to start you
off on talking about Daniel Allen.
Leah Miller/Daniel is a kind person and a good friend. He likes to help out when help is
needed. He is kind to everybody in his class. Daniel is not afraid to help even if it
means being different. he is a very good student and works hard in class. He does
not put people down. Daniel's family recycles a lot. He is kind to little kids and
does not push them around. He does not get in fights. He be friends to many
people and does not have any enemies. After school Daniel takes care of his little
brother, Luke. Luke is four and he has fun taking care him. He works very hard to
get his homework done each day. When he is given an assignment, he takes it
seriously. He takes an interest in many different sports and enjoying playing them.
He likes to spend his free time with his family and gets along with both siblings.
Many times at school when kids don't understand a math problem, they come to
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Daniel and he is happy to help them out. Many times after school on the weekend,
he visits one of his friends.
Nov/Okay, congratulations. Which one is Daniel? Here we go. I am going to read this out
loud so we get it in here for everybody. This is a citizenship award for his
outstanding qualities of leadership within Horace Mann Elementary School and for
his sense of responsibility and helpfulness to others, we recognize Daniel Allen as
an Outstanding Student Citizen. Your community is proud of you. It says
presented by the Iowa City City Council on February 11, 1997. It has the Mayor's
signature and the City Seal.
Daniel Allen/Thank you.
Nov/You are welcome. Okay, next.
/ Hillary Harper. Hillary tries to be understanding towards others. When it comes
to fighting and making fun and talking about others, Hillary tries to stop it or at
least not say anything. It is tougher when it comes to peer pressure but she is
strong. When people ask her a question, she tries to answer it with as much
attention as possible, She pays attention to what her teacher says and volunteers in
and out of class. At home she takes care of her brother after school until her
mother arrives. She also does her homework and enjoys cooking very much. So
she helps her mother or father with the cooking. Sometimes she cooks something
on her own. She baby-sits, is a former choir member and a member of two clubs.
Just about every other day she goes to gymnastic practice at 6:00. Sunday,
Tuesdays, Thursdays and sometimes Friday she practices. It is not only practices, it
is a club. There are fund-raisers and all sorts of things in the club for gym stars.
She goes out for basketball, volleyball, softball and other sports. She does other
things with friends and family. At school she helps out with preschoolers and the
ECSE students to get their books and check out. She also helps in PE. At the end
of the day she is co-captain at patrol. She advises as they help get their coats on
the kindergartners and help them to go where they need to go to get home. Hillary
is a true helper.
Nov/Hillary. Okay.
Leah Miller/Michael Mittman. Mike displays outstanding citizenship in school and in the
community. He always meets deadlines for school work and arrives at school on
time. If you need help working on an assignment, he will volunteer. He makes
helpful suggestions. As a reading buddy, he helps kindergartners with writing and
reading. At school he has been our classroom accountant and custodian. He is
active on patrol in any kind of weather and our neighborhood he rakes leaves and
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delivers the paper. He is active in his church youth group and bakes cookies for
people at church. Mike is a person you can count on when you ask him to do
something. He is nice and a trusted friend.
/ Kyle Sleichter. Kyle is friendly to all his classmates. He has a lot of friends
because he is nice and non-judgmental and encourages others to do their best like
in PE. He helps around his neighborhood by helping others mow their lawn, rake
their leaves, and shovel their walks. He mostly does this for free but some people
want to give him money. Kyle has participated in several service projects. he is
active in this year's Buddy Project. This is where the 5th and 6th grade students
are teamed with kindergartners. Kyle enjoys working with the younger students
because he has a way with them that makes them like him immediately. He
especially enjoyed accompanying his buddy to the nursing home where they
interviewed a resident and performed songs for them.
Nov/Kyle.
Leah Miller/Michelle Schultz. Michelle is appreciated for her fairness and encouragement
of having fun in team sports. She always makes you feel like you have faith in
yourself and can do it. She helps others to solve problems without getting angry or
fighting. At school she is always involved. She helps with student council, works
on spirit programs, assists the kindergartners with their reading and writing. She is
a media assistant and active patrol member. As a group member she has very good
ideas for designs, experiments, and getting projects done. She tums in her work on
time, is a great classmate and a great friend.
/ Katie Peterson. Katie is a kind of person you can never get enough of. She helps
where she can and always can make you laugh. Katie is the kind of person that is
hard on the outside, meaning she seems to just make jokes but on the inside she
cares for every person and she wants everyone to have what she has, stated a
fellow classmate. Katie has been active in her class service projects. She
coordinated a clothes drive for the needy last year and also supported that drive
with many of her own items. She also raked leaves for those needing help. This
year has enjoyed finding out more about the Wesley House and helping serve
lunch. She enjoys making things easier for other people.
Nov/Let's have everybody in a row holding this because we are going to send a copy of
the video to your school and we want to be sure everybody shows up.
Congratulations to all of you.
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Lehman/You know, Naomi, before everybody leaves, I think that these folks need to
know there are probably a lot of grandparents who are awful proud of these kinds.
Awful proud, speaking as a grandparent.
Nov/Me, too.
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ITEM NO. 3b MAYOR'S PROCLAMATIONS.
b. Special Olympics Month - March 1997
Nov/(Reads Proclamation - Special Olympics Month).
Joyce Rossie/I am the publicity chair for the Committee for Special Olympics. This is our
7th Annual Las Vegas Live fund-raiser which promotes funds so that we can have
out basketball tournament which this year is March 21 st at the Field House. L. L.
Pelling and River Products are our corporate sponsors and we just like to thank all
of the Iowa City and Coralville and surrounding businesses for all of their
donations and their support. This event has been a huge success. We hope it will
be in the future just as it has been in the past. I would like to also give a big hand
to our special Olympians, Erin Gillespie and Jason Rushell. I would also like to
introduce Deb Tisor who is our corporate sponsor, from River Products, along
with L. L. Pelling.
Nov/Thanks.
Vanderhoef/Thank you.
Kubby/All right. It is kind of great to have Olympians in our presence.
Lehman/Some very special Olympians.
Nov/Yes, indeed.
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February 11, 1997 Oity of Iowa City Paine 2
(3) Iowa City Airport Commission - December 12, 1996.
(4) Iowa City Civil Service Commission - January 7, 1997
c. Permit Motions and Resolutions as Recommended by the City Clerk
(1) Consider a motion approving a Class C Liquor License for R.T.
Grunt's, Inc., dba R.T.'s, 826 S. Clinton St. (Renewal)
(2) Consider a motion approving an Outdoor Service Area for R.T.
Grunt's, Inc., dba R.T.'s, 826 S. Clinton St. (Renewal)
(3)
Consider a motion approving a Class E Liquor License for Hy-Vee,
Inc., dba Hy-Vee Food & Drugstore #1, 1720 Waterfront Dr.
(Renewal)
(4)
Consider a motion approving a Class E Beer Permit for Hy-Vee,
Inc., dba Hy-Vee Food .& Drugstore #1, 1720 Waterfront Dr.
(Renewal)
(5) Consider a motion approving a Class E Liquor license for Hy-Vee,
Inc., dba Hy-Vee Food Store #2, 310 N. First Ave. (Renewal)
(6) Consider a motion approving a Class E Beer Permit for Hy-Vee,
Inc., dba Hy-Vee Food Store #2, 310 N. First Ave. (Renewal)
(7) Consider a motion approving a Class E Beer Permit for Hy-Vee,
Inc., dba Hy-Vee Food Store #3, 1201 N. Dodge St. (Renewal)
(8) Consider a motion approving a Class E Beer Permit for OuikTrip
Corp., dba QuikTrip #509, 323 E. Burlington St. (Renewal)
(9) Consider a resolution to issue a dancing permit for R.T. Grunt's,
Inc., dba R.T.'s, 826 S. Clinton St.
d. Setting Public Hearings.
(1)
CONSIDER A RESOLUTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING TO
DISCUSS THE PROPOSED OPERATING BUDGET FOR THE
FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 1997, THROUGH JUNE 30, 1998, THE
PROPOSED THREE-YEAR FINANCIAL PLAN, AND ALSO
THE MULTI-YEAR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PROGRAM
THROUGH FISCAL YEAR 2002 FOR FEBRUARY 25, 1997.
Comment: This resolution sets a public headng on the FY98
Proposed Operating Budget, the three-year Financial Plan and
multi-year Capital Improvements Program (ClP) through Fiscal
Year 2002 on February 25, 1997. Detailed information on the
budget will be available for public inspection on February 14, 1997.
February 11, 1997 City of Iowa City Page 3
(2) CONSIDER A RESOLUTION FIXING DATE FOR A MEETING
ON THE PROPOSITION OF THE ISSUANCE OF
~'~ - ~_~ ~ $5,465,000 GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS (FOR AN
ESSENTIAL CORPORATE PURPOSE) OF IOWA
CITY, IOWA, ON FEBRUARY 25, 1997, AND PROVIDING
FOR PUBLICATION OF NOTICE THEREOF.
Comment: The resolution sets a date for a public hearing on
· Tuesday, February 25, 1997 to receive public comment regarding
the issuance of $5,465,000 of General Obligation Bonds and
authorizes the City Clerk to publish notice of public hearing. A
memo is included in the information packet that highlights the
projects to be included in the bond issue. If approved, the
$5,465,000 will be combined with the $685,000 and $325,000 for a
total bond issue maximum of $6,475,000.
(3) CONSIDER A RESOLUTION FIXING DATE FOR A MEETING ON
THE PROPOSITION OF THE ISSUANCE OF NOT TO EXCEED
~-%O $685,000 OF GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS (FOR A
GENERAL CORPORATE PURPOSE) FOR FEBRUARY 25, 1997,
AND PROVIDING FOR PUBLICATION OF NOTICE THEREOF.
Comment: The resolution sets a date for a public hearing on
Tuesday, February 25, 1997 to allow public comment regarding the
issuance of not to exceed $685,000 of General Obligation Bonds
for paying costs of improving and equipping the library, including
roof and carpet replacement and heating, ventilation and air
conditioning repairs. The City Clerk is also authorized to publish the
notice of public headng. If approved, the $685,000 will be
combined with the $5,465,000 and $325,000 for a total bond issue
maximum of $6,475,000.
(4) CONSIDER A RESOLUTION FIXING DATE FOR A MEETING ON
THE PROPOSITION OF THE ISSUANCE OF NOT TO EXCEED
~1'}- ~ $325,000 OF GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS (FOR A
GENERAL CORPORATE PURPOSE) FOR FEBRUARY 25, 1997,
AND PROVIDING FOR PUBLICATION OF NOTICE THEREOF.
Comment: The resolution sets a date for a public hearing on
' Tuesday, February 25, 1997 to allow public comment regarding the
issuance of not to exceed $325,000 of General Obligation Bonds
for providing funds to pay for expansion of Fire Station #3
($85,000), renovating the City's Animal Shelter ($165,000) and
replacement of portions of the Civic Center roof ($73,000). The City
Clerk is also authorized to publish the notice of public headng. If
approved, the $325,000 will be combined with the $5,465,000 and
$685,000 for a total bond issue maximum of $6,475,000.
,February 11, 1997 City of Iowa City Paine ¢
15)
CONSIDER A RESOLUTION FIXING DATE FOR A MEETING ON
THE PROPOSITION OF THE APPLICATION OF BOND
PROCEEDS FOR FEBRUARY 25, 1997, AND
PROVIDING FOR PUBLICATION OF NOTICE THEREOF.
Comment: This resolution will set a public hearing on expanding
the use of the 1996 General Obligation Bonds from exclusively
water projects to include improvements for bridges, streets and
stormwater projects. In March of 1996 the City issued a $6.1 million
General Obligation (GO) bond issue to pay for water related
construction projects. The spending of the bond is slower than
expected because of delays in three water projects. They are
ground water piping, Iowa River Dam improvements and pond
stabilization work. It is estimated that $1,655,000 could be
reallocated from water projects to bridge, street and stormwater
projects. If approved, the debt service payments would be
proportionately reallocated from water to property taxes. The three
projects will then be added to a new water bond issue in
summer/fall 1997.
e. Resolutions.
(1)
CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO
SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST THE RELEASE
OF A RENTAL REHABILITATION MEN FOR THE PROPERTY
LOCATED AT 1011 EAST WASHINGTON STREET, IOWA CITY,*
IOWA.
Comment: The owner of the property located at 1011 East
Washington Street, received a $8,000 loan through the City's
Rental Rehabilitation Program on February 20, 1986. The financing
was in the form of a 10-year, no-interest Declining Balance Loan.
The terms of this loan were satisfied August 21, 1996; thus, the
lien can now be released.
f. Correspondence.
(1) Alison Ames Galstad-(Human Rights Commission) - Police
Policies.
(2) Dave Moore: Police Policies.
(3) Mark Ginsberg - Iowa City Jazz Festival.
(4) Letters regarding Walden Hills:
(a) Aaron and Wendy Parkinson 6-.~ ~q S-Pt ~ k~
.(b) Tom, Michele and Katie Pugh
(§) Suzanne Gurnett :Streitz (Downtown Association President) and
Victoria Gilpin (Friday Night Concert Series Chair) - Friday Night
Concert Series. (previously distributed)
Historic Preservation Commission - Rehabilitation Tax Exemption
for Historic Properties.
February 11, 1997
(7)
ITEM NO. 5.
(8) Matt Pacha (Chair Parks & Recreation Commission)
Operating Budget Requests. (previously distributed)
(9) John Weber- Pedicab Insurance.
(10) Letters regarding Council meeting transcriptions from:
Tom Carsner
(b) Julia Daughterty
Osha Gray Davidson
(d) Claudinc Harris
Holly Hart
(f) John Hiett
(g) Bill Kapp
(h) Rusty Martin
(i) Kathleen Renquist
END OF CONSENT CALENDAR.
Action: ~-~~ / ~~~
PUB ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA).
City of Iowa City Page ,5
Historic Preservation Commission - Grant Funding. (previously
distributed)
FY98
#5 p~el
ITEM NO. 5 PUBLIC DISCUSSION (ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA).
Nov/Public Discussion. Anyone who would like to discuss something that is not on
today's agenda, please come forward, sign your name and limit your comments to
no longer than five minutes.
Carol de Prosse/I am from Lone Tree. Before I give my statement I have copies of some
additional questions for the council and a notice attached to it in the back of a
open forum for citizens that Citizens For Justice and Accountability In the Death
of Eric Shaw is holding at the Public Library on March 2 from 1:30 to 5:30 in the
at~ernoon. So I have a copy for each of the council members and one for the City
Clerk to make for other people in the city who may want one. And then I also have
a piece of confidential correspondence to the City Council from a friend of mine
who ask me to deliver this to you tonight and said it may seem minor but please
take it in context because it was a bother to him and it does relate to this issue.
Nov/Thank you. We will make copies and mark them all as confidential.
de Prosse/I do have a relatively short statement and I do have it written out tonight but I
did write it up until just a minute ago. So it is in bits and pieces, so bear with me.
165 days have passed since Eric Shaw was killed. During this 165 days the public
has learned some about what happened that night, and some about the conduct of
city business in the aftermath of that night. During this time the public has learned
some about how the city manager and the chief of police run the city and the police
department, as well as some about what they know or don't know about what
some would call the routine business of the police department. During this 165
days the public has learned some, although some would call it a lot, about how
elected officials can shut the public out from what is certainly one of the worst
things to happen in our city's history. During this 165 days hundreds of citizens
have expressed themselves in a variety of forums, regarding Eric's negligently
caused death. This includes guest opinions and letters-to-the editor in the local
papers, a candlelight vigil, e-mails, telephone calls, personal notes and letters to
councilpersons, correspondence on Johnson County News, talk radio, writing and
calling the county attorney and the U.S. District Attorney, establishing a web site
on the internet, and coming here on many Tuesday nights. Citizens for Justice and
Accountability in the Death of Eric Shaw believe that public opinion has always
been on the side of seeking truth. In an effort to put pressure on the council to
throw down its gloves and quit fighting public opinion, we formed to encourage
the community effort necessary to find as much of the truth as there is to be found.
And for any of you who question our motivation, there is a point of satisfaction for
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most of us, and a very large part of that satisfaction is when most of the questions
and puzzling items about Edc's killing are reasonably answered and explained. The
killing of Eric Shaw was certainly no routine matter. This was the killing of a
citizen as a result of what appears to be police officers who did not think things
through. Thinking actions through is something many of us assume police officers
are trained to do, especially in the kind of situation that presented itself the night of
August 30. This was not a killing that occurred as a result of a protracted standoff
between the police and someone with a weapon. This was not a killing the result of
a high-speed chase. This was not a killing the result of angry words and physical
violence, or one of a fleeing suspect. This was a killing resulting from nothing
more than an open door on a quiet summer night. To date, there is no believable
reason for the fact that the only person thus far held accountable has been Officer
Jeffrey Gillaspic. For many of us, finding out why what happened did happen, does
not mean examining only the four or five minutes from Troy Kelsay's appearance
at 1 132 S Gilbert Street to when he placed the call for an ambulance. It means
finding out if some of the answer also resides in how some in our police
department were conducting police business on a daily basis in the weeks and
months prior to the killing of Eric Shaw as a result of policies and procedures,
written and unwritten, of the City. The public's effort to get more answers has been
met with strong resistance. The council has not yet answered Citizens for Justice
and Accountability in the Death of Eric Shaw questions, submitted to you a month
ago. The council has had only one public session, 5 months after Eric's death, on
this matter. A session in which the public saw and heard some councilmembers be
nearly mute on the subject. A session in which the public, which has many
questions, was not allowed to participate. From almost the very beginning, the
public has suggested many things for its city council to do. That public, however,
has seen its elected officials fail to demand that the county attorney instigate an
independent investigation. That public has seen its elected officials fail to find out if
there is a person or a group who could conduct an independent investigation for
the city in the absence of the county attorney agreeing to do so. That public has
seen its elected officials fail to call upon the U.S. District Attorney to see if federal
law might have been broken, leaving that request to fall to the Shaw family. That
public has seen its elected officials fail to call for public hearings on the issue, or to
publicly invite citizens to meet with the council confidentially to see if there is
valuable information to be learned. The public has, however, heard the council
affirm the people you oversee before you have given us the confidence that you
have much of an idea about what happened prior to August 30th, on August 30th,
and after August 30th. Whether you like it or want to believe it or not, there is a
storm out there and you have barely gotten your toes damp. We all know that a
sizable segment of the citizenry is restless, angry, and fearful, about the killing of
Eric Shaw. Without making the effort to find out if people's stories and concerns
have merit, without finding out how unwritten policies may have allowed for some
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of the 60+ officers in the department to variously interpret them in ways that might
be unacceptable, we will not know if the police department has been operating in
the absence of appropriate oversight. In your failure to allay suspicion, you fuel
suspicion. The county attorney, in a self-deprecatory and self-congratulatory way,
has constructed a wall in his head, one that prevents him from seeing how he could
help the city move forward on this issue. The City Manager and the Chief of Police
have mna public relations campaign in the form of press releases, press
conferences, appearances at the Press Citizen forum, and a public presentation, at
the City Manager's request, of the answers to some of Council's questions, in a
format that was not conducive to meaningful inquiry. It was not surprising to hear
people patting themselves on the back over what great jobs they have done. And
the City Council hides behind a wall constructed of stubborn disregard for the
public outcry that still ensues, 5-1/2 months at~er Eric Shaw was killed by an Iowa
City police officer. 165 days since August 30th and everyone who could have done
something has so far failed to undertake the effort necessary to fully investigate the
issues surrounding the killing of Eric Shaw.
Nov/Time is up. Time is up. You have already (can't hear).
de Prosse/What has happened- What has to happen in this town we ask, to get you to
understand that something is not right in the conduct of the city's business?
Lehman/Carol, I just have one question. Do you think there is any person on this council
who doesn't care about this?
de Prosse/It is not a matter of caring. It is taking the action necessary to show us that you
care and to understand that there is a large number of people out there, given all of
the participation in this issue, that also seems to care a great deal and we come
here continuously and tell you that there are no answers being given.
Lehman/I think the process, in the process, we are trying.
de Prosse/I just listed a lot of things the council has failed to do that the public has asked
you to undertake and lots of times we don't even get any response to them.
Lehman/Well, we are working on it and we do care.
Nov/All right, we are working on responses to questions. The ability to care in your
manner may not be there. But I do want the public to understand that we are still
working on this and there will be future meetings and while we on the topic, I may
as well put the future meetings into the record. There will be a meeting Thursday
morning, February 13 at 9:30 AM. This is a work session only. There will be a
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meeting February 19, at 7:00 PM. This will be a council work session and there
will be time at that moment for some public questions and public comment. On
February 20th there will be a 10:00 AM meeting which is both a work session and
a formal meeting. The formal meeting is for the purpose of personnel evaluation
and will be an executive session. All three of these meetings that are open to the
public will be telecast and they will be rebroadcast as well as telecast live.
Kubby/Naomi, we talked last night a lot about the format for the public input. Had we
decided? Because we should inform people what the format will be before that
night.
Nov/I
don't think we have a particular format. We said we would take both questions and
comments. We expect that there will be quite a few people and we are going to ask
people to sign in and be orderly and we are going to call names as people are on
the list. But I don't think we really made a firm decision beyond that.
Norton/We are not going to use cards I take. it. No.
Nov/I think we said sign in.
Lehman/Registration, yeah.
Kubby/Okay. So people are going to sign in.
Thornberry/With questions as opposed to rhetoric. I believe we asked for questions.
Nov/We did ask for questions.
Kubby/And for comments about the 22 proposed things that staff gave to us.
Thornberry/I thought for the comments from the public we were asking for questions
only.
Nov/Well, no. We are asking for people to not come up and give a speech which is what
Carol just did. However, we will have lists of potential changes in police
procedures and if someone wants to say my comment on this particular change,
this particular practice is we should do it like this instead of like that. We are going
to accept that kind of comment. We want people to talk about the potential
changes here.
Thornberry/We were talking about rhetoric.
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Nov/I
understand. We are not expecting rhetoric. We are not expecting speeches and we
are going to have cards. If some would like to ask a question and would prefer not
to be on television, you may send a card up to us, I will read the question and we
will try to answer it.
Kubby/So if people are signing up, they will need to-they can start signing up before 7:00
so that it is a smooth process.
Nov/Well, I am not sure how far before 7:00 but we may have our discussion at 7:00. It
may go until 8:00. We may then have public comments because we are not sure yet
how much of our own discussion on potential changes there will be that evening. It
will depend on how much we get done on the 13th. Please, go ahead.
Jeffrey Martin/1015 Barrington Road in Iowa City and I am a member of Citizens For
Justice and Accountability in the Death of Eric Shaw. On this much it seems that
lots of us agree, at the moment Jeffrey Gillaspie pulled the trigger on the shot that
killed Eric Shaw, he was using poor judgment. What about the judgment that he
and his fellow officers were using in the moments before he pulled the trigger? On
that there is still considerable disagreement. The Police Chief, City Manager and
even County Attorney all seemed to. think that the officer judgment was sound and
they defend this conclusion by saying that the officers actions were consistent with
their training. However, that line of reasoning is flawed because the general
training that officers received and the somewhat vague policy guidance that they
get are just two factors that influence the discretion that officers exercise. Many
other things affect judgment. So just citing training is not enough. The question
still needs a better answer. How wisely did Officers Gillaspic and Kelsey use their
discretion when they drew their weapons and began pushing open the door? Those
actions seem very aggressive in the absence of any indication of an emergency. Is
that aggressive approach to policing the norm in Iowa City of were these officers
pushing the limits. On February 1 we learned that there had not been a change in
the open door policy prior to August 30. But has there been a change in actual
practice. Some business owners say they use to be called when an open door was
found. Some retired officers agree and others say they use to get approval from a
supervisor before entering a building. Other business owners have said the police
us to try to get to know them. They had developed a sense of what was happening
in the neighborhood, who worked and lived there. That seems to have changed or
been lost. Is that true? If so, why did that happen? These are some of the questions
that you need to explore before you can say that your review of this incident is
complete. Getting input will require more than relying on reports from city staff.
The public hearing or public comment section that you have scheduled seems to
me is a good step. Citizens For Justice and Accountability, as Carol just said, is
organizing a community speak out session for Sunday, March 2, Public Library
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and we do invite you to attend. But I would also like to suggest that for part of
your information gathering, you get out of these council chambers. Perhaps you
could hold a meeting with business owners in the South Gilbert Street area. Find a
place to meet there. Ask them if the area is being policed differently now than it
was before and if it has changed, have the changes been for the better or worse.
Likewise, perhaps other neighborhood groups would help organize meetings. In
addition and this probably would have to be done individually and privately, talk
with retired or former police ofticers. See if they think the department has changed
its practices. Through all of this you are sure to hear a wide range of views. But
what should eventually emerge is a better understanding of how the community
has been policed and how it wants to be policed. A number of the policy changes
that have been implemented or are being recommended seem to me to be very
worthwhile. I know you are anxious to move forward with consideration of the
recommendations. But while it is important that you do move forward, the time
has not yet come when you can stop looking back to what went wrong on August
30. You need more information before you can reasonably conclude your inquiry
into that incident. And finally you need more information before you can
responsibly decide the personnel issues. You should withhold judgment until you
are closer to concluding the inquiry. There is no urgency to deciding the issue. As
you know we approach the personnel issue with different biases. Citizens For
Justice and Accountability has said that the record as we know it suggests the
Police Chief and City Manager should go. A majority of you have indicated an
opposite bias. But neither one of us should let our biases close our minds. Only
you have the power to decide the personnel issue. But I urge you to reserve
judgment until you know more. Thank you.
Kubby/Thank you.
Karr/Madam Mayor, could we have a motion to accept correspondence that was just
submitted?
Nov/Moved by Norton, seconded by Kubby, that we accept correspondence from Carol
de Prosse and whoever. Is there any discussion? Motion, everybody say aye-
(ayes). Motion carries. Is there anyone else who would like to discuss an item that
is not on tonight's agenda?
Greg Thompson/Hi. I don't have a speech. You will be glad to know that. I just have one
question for you. I am a member of the Citizens For Justice and Accountability in
the Death of Eric Shaw also and my question is or my statement is we expect to
see a neutral investigation by the police, the DCI, whoever was investigating his
death and one thing that strikes me and struck me at the very beginning as I
learned about it was the fact that Eric Shaw, the victim, was given a drug test but
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nobody ever asked the police officers who were potentially being investigated for
criminal actions to take a drug test. Now, to me, that is not a sign of an
independent investigation designed to find the truth. That, to me, looks like an
investigation designed to pin the blame on a certain individual. And I just wonder if
any one of you feel similar thought about that situation?
Nov/Yes, some of us did.
Baker/That was one of the questions raised by the council and Steve, would you like to
respond to that?
Atkins/Other than we have recommend it as a matter of policy. The DCI did not suggest,
to the best of my knowledge, that the officers take a test.
Baker/In their judgment there was no cause to have the officers undergo a drug test. But
in the future, Iowa City will require, hopefully not in comparable situations.
Kubby/And it makes sense to do that. When we have an accident or an unusual situation,
transit drivers or anyone operating a vehicle, we give a drug test as well as random
testing and I would, in my mind, using a firearm would be an equivalent or more
kind of situation.
Thompson/That is what I thought. For example, a school bus driver in a fender bender
has to take a drug test. You say they determine there was no reason to test the
officers. What was the reason that they tested Eric Shaw?
Atkins/I am assuming, sir, it was part of the postmortem. I don't know. We would have
to ask the-
Thompson/I mean, was there some suspicion that he was using drugs or anything?
Nov/We don't know. It may have been standard procedure in the postmortem. We just
don't know.
Thompson/To me that is very suspicious. I just like to say that I think that is not an
indication of a fair investigation designed to find the truth. Thank you for listening.
Vanderhoef/You are asking for- You are requesting that this be part of our policy,
correct?
Thompson/Seems reasonable to me.
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Vanderhoef/Okay, we are hearing from the public and if this is your request, we hear it
and thank you.
Thompson/In the case of a death at least.
Nov/We are thinking about this test based on a gun being fired whether or not something
was hit, whether or not somebody was hit.
Thomberry/The Department of Criminal Investigation very quickly on, within a matter of
several minutes, took charge of this investigation from the outset. And they were
definitely in charge and the city, as I understand it, sort of had to follow their
procedures. And this might be also, you might also want to recommend this to the
state as this was a state investigation. The DCI is from-
Thompson/I realize that decision at that time was out of your hands. I just wanted to
point this out and wanted your thoughts on it.
Norton/The question was raised by all of us very early on. The question about why that
wasn't done was raised in a number of our early questions.
Lehman/And I appreciate your questions. A lot of questions that have come up, I think if
we look at the record of the Police Department, it has been rather stellar. They
have done a good job. We had a problem. We had a horrible thing happen to us
and now we look back at procedures and whatever and as well we should and
there are things that we didn't do that we should have done. There are things that
we are going to do that we haven't thought about before. But I think it is-If you
look at our history, the way they performed in the past, there did not appear to be
a reason to change procedures. Maybe we were wrong, horribly wrong and we will
change those procedures and I think you can depend on us to see to it that
happens.
Thompson/Okay, I appreciate that and stellar was not a word that really ever come to my
mind but I appreciate your viewpoints.
Lehman/It could be a wrong, it could be a bad word.
Kubby/And it is also because since I have been on council, we have never done any
oversight or evaluation of the police department. We never asked-
Lehman/We never felt we needed to.
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Kubby/We have always have had people- I mean, some people would disagree and that
there were some indicators that maybe we, as council, could have done come more
oversight as well over the years. Myself included in that criticism because I have
been here and never asked for a formal or informal overall evaluation of the Police
Department even at~er hearing some specific complaints against specific people or
certain circumstances.
Lehman/Well, we are sure working on it now.
Nov/Yes. We are. Is there anyone else who would like to talk about an item that is not on
today's agenda. Okay, we will close public discussion.
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.February 11, 1997 City of Iowa City
ITEM NO. 6. PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS.
Page 6
a. Consider a motion setting a public hearing for February 25, 1997, on
a resolution approving a request for voluntary annexation of a 140.5
acre tract located on the east side of Scott Boulevard, north of
Highway 6.
Comment: It is anticipated that at its February 6 meeting, the
Planning & Zoning Commission will consider this application and
forward its recommendation to City Council. Staff recommended
approval in its January 16 staff report.
b. Consider a motion setting a public hearing for February 25, 1997, on
a ordinance amending the Zoning Chapter by conditionally changing
the use regulations on a 140.5 acre tract from County M1, Light
Industrial, to C1-1, Intensive Commercial (38.93 acres), and I-1,
General Industrial (101.57 acres), for property located on the east
site of Scott Boulevard, north of Highway 6. (REZ96-0021)
Comment: It is anticipated that at its February 6 meeting, the
Planning & Zoning Commission will consider this application and
forward its recommendation to City Council. Staff recommended
approval subject to a number of conditions in its January 16 staff
report.
c. Public hearing on an ordinance amending the Zoning Chapter by
designating the East College Street Historic District, as a Historic
Preservation Overlay Zone, for property located along College Street
between Summit Street and Muscatine Avenue.
Comment: At its January 16 meeting, by a vote of 7-0, the Planning
and Zoning Commission recommended approval of the proposed
historic district, consistent with the recommendation for approval
from the Historic Preservation Commission. (Staff memorandum and
material included in Council packet.)
#6c & d page 1
ITEM NO. 6c Public hearing on an ordinance amending the Zoning Chapter by
designating the East College Street Historic District, as a Historic
Preservation Overlay Zone, for property located along College Street
between Summit Street and Muscatine Avenue.
ITEM No. 6d Public hearing on an ordinance amending the Zoning Chapter
by designating the College Green Historic District, as a Historic Preservation
Overlay Zone, for property located generally around College Green Park,
along E. College Street from Dodge Street to Governor Street, and along S.
Dodge and S. Johnson Streets between E. College and Burlington Streets.
Nov/And we have Douglas Russell from the Historic Preservation (HP) Commission. Tell
me, do you want me to combine these p.h.s? Is our comment going to combine
them?
Doug Russell/We would prefer to combine them to save you time, yes.
Nov/Okay.
Kubby/Do we need a motion?
Nov/I think we need a motion. Let me read the other one so then we will combine, okay?
(Reads agenda #6d). Moved by Kubby, seconded by Lehman, that these be
combined. Okay. P.h.s are open.
Kubby/Do we have to vote on that since a motion was made?
Nov/Motion was made, you are fight. All in favor, please say aye- (ayes). Motion carded.
I am trying to hurry.
Doug Russell/Madam Mayor and members of the council, there are two of us from the
HP Commission present this evening to present these proposals to you. The first
part will be councilor John Shaw will present a brief slide program so that you
have an idea of the kinds of buildings that we are talking about and then I will
present the proposal to you.
John Shaw/I have been asked to keep this presentation-
Nov/Talk into the microphone. It is okay to take your paper and your little switch and
stand over there.
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Shaw/
I got it. Okay. I have been asked to keep this presentation brief, I shall. (Slide
presentation.) You will see here selected views from within each proposed HP
District. Of particular note is the juxtaposition of the grand with the modest found
in the College Green District and the overall smaller scale of middle income
housing found in the E. College Street District. While individual structures within
these districts may well endure the fabric and context of each neighborhood unless
their meaning to the City of Iowa City will surely be compromised without some
special consideration. The proposal to designate these areas HP Districts is a
request for this consideration.
Nov/Do you have a map on the slide or overhead so we can have an outline of each
district?
Russell/Yes, we do.
Nov/This is E. College Street District, right?
Russell/Yes. There we go. We have sort of juxtaposed the two on the screen at the same
time. Is that focused all right? Looks pretty good.
The proposal that the council brings before you concerns two historic districts, the
E. College Street District as the 5th and the College Green Historic District as the
6th Iowa City historic district. The first two, South Summit Street and Woodlawn
were created in 1983; the Brown Street district in 1994 and the Muscatine Avenue
Moffitt Cottage district in 1995. The purpose of the proposal which I have-
CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 97-29 SIDE 1
Russell/The goal is to provide the same protections to these districts as the four other
districts enjoy and as the 36 Iowa City Historic Landmarks enjoy. The HP
Ordinance authorizes the council to designate historic districts by adding a zoning
overlay to the existing rules. The districting that is before you does not change the
underlying zoning rules. It does not change the uses to which the owners may put
their property. It does not change the rules concerning an owners right to lease, to
rent, or to sell their property. It does not change the underlying building codes. It
provides for lip Commission review of a property in a case where a building
permit is applied for for exterior work only or a moving permit or a building permit
is applied for. This is statute applies only to exterior work and only if a building
permit is required. That means if people want to work on an interior of their
building, there is no participation or review by the Commission. If there is no
building permit required, we have no role. The ordinance does not regulate by
definition, certain items including painting, colors of buildings, siding applications,
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gutters, landscaping, re-shingling of roofs and of course, there are no restrictions
on routine maintenance that do not require building permits. It is also important to
note the statute does not require an owner to restore or fix up a house to a certain
historic period to match its neighbors. There is no requirement either that the
building be open the public in any way. These remain private properties. Now, to
date, the two districts have undergone considerable review. Both meet all of the
criteria in the Iowa City Code of Ordinances for historic districting. Both have
National Register of Historic Places nominations pending. Both receive the
unanimous approval of the HP Commission. Both have the approval of the State of
Iowa Historical Society in Des Moines. Both have the unanimous approval of the
P/Z Commission which means that this proposed zoning that does not conflict with
the Comp Plan, it does not conflict with other zoning in the areas and it does not
conflict with planned Public Works in this neighborhood. The process so far is a
rather lengthy one to get us to this point. I will summarize it briefly for you. The
designation of the two districts began with neighborhood initiatives. In 19989 the
Commission received a letter from the E. College Street neighbors asking that their
block be designated as a historic district. In 1991 we received a petition from 16
College Green neighbors asking for similar treatment in their neighborhood. In
1992 the IC I-IP Plan recognized this area as having potential for historic
districting. In 1994 a second consultant hired by the HP Commission
recommended that these two particular districts be named. In 1996 National
Register for Historic Places nominations were completed recommending these
precise boundaries. The owners of these properties in the two districts have
received notice of what we are about. They received written notice of
neighborhood meetings that were held in College Green on October 24 last year
and E. College Street on October 28. They received written notice of the p.h.
before the lip Commission in November. Written notice of the P/Z p.h. in
December. Written notice oftonight's city council p.h. So there has been plenty of
opportunity to speak and plenty of opportunity to raise criticisms. I should point
out also that all of the city ordinances and notice requirements and due process
rights of the owners have been honored. As part of our preparation of the two
districts, we conducted a survey of the owners of the properties in these two
districts and this is the owners which is not necessarily the residents because it is
the owners rights which are at issue here. The survey was conducted by telephone
and by person to person contact and every owner in the two districts with one
exception was contacted by our commissioner Rudy Kuenzlie who did a great deal
of work answering questions and providing additional information and papers
when requested by homeowners. In the College Green district there are 47
properties. Of the 47 property owners, 41 are in favor of this historic district being
designated, 6 are opposed. Of the 6 properties in opposition, these are owned by
four people. So there are four landlords owning 'six buildings who are in
opposition. So we have identified four people who are opposed. None of them
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lives on the property in the proposed boundaries. So in fairness I should mention
that there are 23 other absentee landlords in the College Green district, all of them
are in favor. Of the E. College Street proposed district, there are 27 properties,
there were 25 homeowners in favor of this historic districting. There was one
person who could not be located to ascertain their opinion and there was one
person opposed. And I feel honor bound to mention that the opponent is against
this proposed historic district because he feels that is too small. He is in favor of a
larger E. College Historic District that would include portions of Washington and
Burlington Streets. So he has problems with the particular proposal but seems to
be a historic preservationist. The lip Commission has had this item on their agenda
for many months. We believe that it is good public policy, that there is a civic
benefit preserving older neighborhoods by preserving older buildings. This College
Hill area which contains both historic districts is an endangered neighborhood.
There are many elderly residents, they are many absentee owners and there is a
great deal of development pressure there. We believe that the proposed districting
will also be a benefit to the property owners themselves. If they are designated as a
historic district, they would be eligible to apply for real estate property tax
exemption which was enacted by the Johnson County Board of Supervisors in
January this year. They would also be eligible for federal tax credits if they have a
commercial property. There is also a federal tax credit bill pending in the Congress
for homeowners so private homeowners could possible get the tax credit as well.
Finally the property values are likely to increase over time. That is a national trend
for historic districts and properties in such districts would be eligible to apply for
such grants, as may become available or such .revolving loan funds as may become
available from public or private sources. The HP Commission of which I am
honored to be the representative tonight thanks you for your time and your
support ofltP matters in the past. We urge approval of these two districts when
the vote comes. It will benefit these property owners, it will benefit the
neighborhoods and it will benefit our community now and we believe that it will
benefit future generations in days which we are who are here today will not see. I
will be glad to answer questions.
Lehman/Doug, I have one question, actually maybe two questions on the overhead here.
On the lower portion, it appears to be the area is extremely irregular. Is there a
particular reason for that?
Russell/These are basically residential historic districts. For example, on the southwest
comer of the College Green Historic District, many of those properties are
commercial. They include a convenience store, some commercial buildings, some
public buildings. The exact boundaries were drawn by the I-IP Commission in
reliance on of the advice of the hired consultants. Jan Nash did the original survey.
Patricia Echardt and David Arborgast did the National Register nomination. A
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representative from the State Historical Society came out and walked the streets
with our commissions and those consultants and they felt, based on the
architectural information at hand, the historic information about the buildings, that
these are the appropriate buildings to include.
Lehman/I don't disagree with that.
Russell/That is how the decision was made.
Lehman/I am saying that from just looking at the diagram, it would appear that even if
there are some buildings that perhaps should not be included it would look a whole
lot better if these were somewhat more contiguous rather than as irregular as it is.
Russell/Well, I would agree that the outside boundary does appear irregular. It probably
looks worse on the overview than from any other view. If you look at it on the
ground, what you will see is the whole area surrounding College Green, which is
not owned by churches, is included and what you will see is both sides of each of
these streets is included. So the properties facing one another-that is how we-
Lehman/I am not disagreeing at all with what you are doing because obviously mist of the
owners approve but it just seems to me that from a- if you want to defend this
politically, it would certainly look a lot better if it were a little more squared off.
Kubby/But that is the reality of what is out there. We couldn't justify putting other
properties in to make it look more squarish.
Nov/Not if there is commercial properties, no.
Baker/It is more defensible politically to look at it this way.
Kubby/I am sorry, Larry.
Baker/I was going to say it is more defensible politically this way than making it look too
smooth just for the sake of a-
Kubby/Straight line.
Baker/For map aesthetics.
Russell/Our predilection is make the districts bigger but every time we have come before
the council we have come with district boundaries that we think are defensible and
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appropriate on architectural and historic grounds. So we don't have any political
axes to grind and that is-
Lehman/I understand that.
Norton/In let's say either district, within a district how many houses are there and how
many of those are contributing in a really direct way to its historic character?
Russell/I think in the College Green District the judgment was about 3/4, a relatively high
percentage are contributing structures.
Norton/College Green, you mean E. College?
Russell/E. College I will have to ask the staff that for an answer to that question. I don't
know the answer.
Norton/Is there an attempt to define a district in such a way that it has a substantial
majority of structures that literally contribute to its historic quality.
Russell/That is right. The contributing structures, so called, are the ones that have the
age, the architecture, the cohesiveness to bind the district together. If you walk the
streets of College Green, you will see there are a couple of 1970's and 80's
apartment buildings that are included in the historic district which is interesting.
They are non-contributing structures but they are part of the fabric of the
neighborhood now.
Norton/Well I thought one other point. The point you made last night about S. Johnson
where the west side of S. Johnson, the 200 block I believe. The west side was not
particularly contributing but to leave it out might risk it losing the value of the
street and the structures on the other side that are distinctly contributing.
Russell/That is exactly right, Mr. Norton. Every street has got two sides and as you can
see from some recent building projects, when one side has a completely different
scale of structure it really ruins the appearance of the whole street and ruins the
value of the property across the street. So we felt it appropriate to take the
buildings on both sides of S. Johnson Street which are all of a similar age, though
some are in better condition than others, and include them in this district to
preserve the streetscape of S. Johnson.
Baker/Doug can I ask you to characterize the opposition to this designation? See if this is
too simple. It is based upon the objection that it is either unjustified or it is too
burdensome. Is there any other grounds for objection?
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Russell/Well, I think I would like the opponents certainly to speak for themselves. But I
think historically there are two categories of opponents to historic districting,
whether it is landmarks or historic districts. The first category is those who are
philosophically opposed, who believe this is not the business of government and
that is one category. The other category is the ones who say that this is simply
over regulation, the government has a right to do it but it is too much trouble or
too much expense for me as a property owner. This is frequently the category that
says do not regulate me but I am very concern about what my neighbor across the
street is doing and I would like you regulate him or her.
Baker/
But in this particular case, if the council wanted to exempt those property owners
from this designation, the council would have to reject the entire district. Is that
correct?
Russell/That is the proposal of the I-IP Commission. We believe we are giving you the
best and most appropriate boundaries and if the Commission (council) does not
like the districts then, you should not vote for it and send it back. But we do not
think it would be appropriate at this level for the council to slice portions off' or to
add portions.
Baker/And the district does have to be contiguous? It has to be one, all the properties are
connected somehow?
Russell/That is correct. By definition a historic district is comprised of contiguous
properties and the Landmark ordinance is designed for individual non-connecting
properties.
Baker/Okay.
Kubby/Can we get that answer from staff' about the percentage of contributing properties
for E. College Street? Do you know that, Scott?
Scott Kugler/I don't have the figures with me but the percentage is about the same. The
general rule is 60% of the properties have to be contributing before it qualifies as a
historic district.
Vanderhoef/The numbers that are in the book for E. College, there are 28 properties and
22 have been determined contributing and 6 are non-contributing.
Kubby/Thank you, Dee.
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Vanderhoef/And on College Green, it is 46 properties in the district, 36 have been
determined to be contributing and 10 are non-contributing.
Nov/That is pretty high.
Kubby/Is there any- I have a concern that the names are too similar for people who end
up going on walking tours in the future. Is there any talk about having the names
be a little more distinctive even though they both have College Street as a center
point?
Russell/There was some debate with Des Moines about that. The debate was about
whether it should be College Hill or College Green and we selected College Green
to make it more distinctive than College Hill would be and I guess the best I can
answer, Ms. Kubby, is that we are revising our guide map of historic areas in Iowa
City and we will make sure we color code it somehow so that people will know
which is which.
Kubby/Thanks.
Norton/You said the properties must be contiguous. Does that preclude having a hole in
the middle? They can be contiguous and still have a gap in the middle.
Kubby/Could you have an island?
Norton/Could you have an island?
Russell/Yes, it is possible. We haven't faced that yet but it is possible.
Norton/I mean like there was a disaster in the middle, right.
Russell/Typically you wouldn't expect us to highlight that the way we want to highlight
College Green but I suppose-
Norton/It is a different kind of' a district.
Russell/That is right.
Shaw/There are some empty lots included.
Russell/Each of the two districts has a lot that is empty at this point.
Thornberry/You say there are empty lots in the historic districts?
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Russell/There is one in each, yes.
Thornberry/Let me ask you this, then. A building permit will be required to do any
building on those properties that are currently vacant? Say they would like to build
something on a vacant lot. Would they have to go through you in order to get their
plans approved for whatever is build there?
Russell/Yes, sir, they would.
Thornberry/How many total houses in Iowa City, given that these two will pass because I
don't have enough votes, would be in a historic district?
Russell/At present we have the 4 districts. Woodlawn has 11 buildings, Brown Street has
100, Moffitt Cottage District has 5, S. Summit, I am not sure. I think in the
neighborhood of 50. So it is less than 300 buildings in the city at this point.
Thornberry/Plus these.
Russell/Plus these and plus the 36 historic landmarks which are also included in the
regulation.
Thornberry/How many do you seeing coming over the next couple of years?
Russell/Well, I think it depends entirely on the survey results. I can tell you now that there
is- a major survey has been conducted in the Longfellow Neighborhood, roughly
between Summit Street and Oakland. Additional survey is being expected between
Oakland and 7th Avenue in the Longfellow Neighborhood. There is a survey
completed on the Dubuque Street-N. Linn Street corridor. There is a survey in
progress on the north half of the original town plat are which is basically the
Northside Neighborhood as it is referred to. We are contemplating surveys in the
lower or southern half of the Northside Neighborhood and in the Goosetown
Neighborhood. So there are considerable areas of the original town and the
immediate ring around that which would be considered. Whether historic districts
will be proposed depends, I think, on the calendar and depends on the
recommendations of the consultants. Some day Manville Heights may be
appropriate.
Thornberry/Do you have any plans for Oakes Drive yet?
Russell/No and there are no ordinances concerning drive through restaurant building
either at this point.
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Thornberry/Oakes Drive is my home. I have no problem really with identifying historic
buildings and houses. It is when you start doing big areas and some folks within
that area would rather not be in the category of having to ask permission to
remodel their front porch as in Design Review. And I am afraid, I am just afraid
that their will be a takeoff on historic preservation to mid-time preservation, going
with Design Review for residences. If you are not in the historic district, you are
under the Design Review and I think this is getting to be over-regulation. When
you buy a piece of property, you check the zoning, you do this and you do that. I
can understand protecting historic buildings and residences. When you start
lureping other houses that don't meet the criteria in there, then I think it is getting
to the point where it is a little over regulated.
Russell/We, of course, believe that the proposals that we have are historic buildings and
we are also very sensitive that our brief in city government is that which the city
government gives us. Our regulation only extends to landmarks and districts which
this council has designated. So if an area is not appropriate for our review, then the
city council will have the right to say no and as I say, our regulation only applies to
certain things and they only apply to these geographical areas which we think are
carefully considered.
Lehman/Doug, it appears from what you have said earlier and you obviously filled us in
last night. In both of these areas, the vast majority of the property owners approve
of this.
Russell/That is correct.
Lehman/I think last night we mentioned very briefly what are the requirements of a
property owner if their property is in this area, has this designation. What are they
prohibited from doing and what do they have to do?
Russell/They don't have to do anything to change the building at our request. The process
is triggered when they apply for a building permit for an exterior project or if they
apply for a moving permit or a demolition permit. When that happens and before
the permit may issue, they are required to present their proposal to the HP
Commission and obtain a Certificate of Appropriateness. And appropriateness is
one of those words in the law like reasonableness. It is a flexible standard based on
the Secretary of Interior Standards, federal HP standards. When they bring their
proposal to us, we review it with them in terms of the history of the building,
compatibility with neighboring buildings, materials and so forth. So there's a lot of
leeway about what a property owner may do. And I do want to remind the council
that in the whole history of this commission, no Certificate of Appropriateness has
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been refused. There've been many modifications in the discussions with the owners
and the architects, but none has been refused and you've never received an appeal
of a homeowner from the HP Commission that we flat out wouldn't let them do
anything.
Nov/And we have to emphasize the appeal from this goes to the city council.
Russell/That's correct. Ifa homeowner, a building owner is dissatisfied with the decision
of the Preservation Commission, the right of appeal is directly to the council.
Nov/Let's have someone else if there is anyone else who would like to speak on this
topic.
Russell/Thank you.
Kubby/Can we have lights again? I'd like to see who. Thanks, Jerry.
Louis Hoffmann/I live in and with my wife am the proud owner of a house whose picture
appears on the cover the material submitted to you by the lip Commission. We
have lived in this house for nearly 30 years and have been reasonably happy there
until last spring when we were subjected to a very traumatic experience which
illustrates to us at least'the need for creating this historic district. An absentee
landlord, owner of 1002 E. College which was a rental property, had been allowed
to deteriorate to the point of dereliction, then surreptitiously sold it with out the
usual real estate sign on the front lawn for a very considerable sum which
undoubtedly presented a fat profit to a real estate pirate who demolished the
building and put up a 24 bedroom apartment building in its place built to Coralville
style. We were shocked to find that this building was put up in what was called a
neighborhood conservation zone. It did not appear and still does not appear to us
to conserve anything in the neighborhood and I would like to speak as a owner and
resident of the area to say that as cited by Mr. Russell, most of us who live there
would like our neighborhood to be saved from this kind of violation with its
architectural integrity. Politicians these days talk a lot about values and considering
this proposal I would like to suggest to you that values are not limited to financial
values. There are other values and I would like, would hope that you would take
those into consideration as well. Thank you.
Lehman/Thank you.
Thornberry/I appreciate your comments, and I'm trying to balance your right as a
homeowner and the neighborhood integrity of your neighborhood. If you wanted
to do something to your house and you went before a commission to do it and they
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wouldn't let you do it, you would be upset. I also want to preserve the integrity of
an existing neighborhood, so it's a double edged sword here when you try to do
both, but both need to be done. You need to preserve the rights as a homeowner,
your rights. And we need to preserve the rights of the neighborhood as you just
stated. Don't know how to do that.
Lehman/Yeah, but, Dean, so far there's not been anybody object to building permits in
these zones. Doug just told us that. So apparently, I mean, I hear what you're
saying and philosophically I don't agree with you. But from a realistic standpoint,
it appears that this probably is not as big a problem as we might envision it to be.
Thomberry/No. You're right. And I just don't want to get into the design review
mentality for residences.
Lehman/I agree with you.
Thornberry/Jump through so many hoops to do what, to protect your own property, but
still maintain the integrity of the neighborhood which I would do.
Hoffmann/I appreciate your concern, but it seems that from all I've heard, any owner or
any absentee landlord who does not live on the property can still do what he is
doing now. He can still collect rent. He can still, should still make the necessary
repairs to maintain the property. The only thing he can't do under this proposal is
to do what the owner of the property next to us did.
Nov/Let me back track just a little bit. A property owner whose property has been
deteriorated may receive a demolition permit. They have to apply for a permit.
They have to go to the commission, but they may demolish a permit.
Hoffmann/That's right.
Nov/I mean, they may demolish a building, so I just want everybody to understand.
Kubby/But what's put up needs a building permit which would then have to go through
the process to be compatible to existing houses.
Hoffmann/And then we would have at least we would have another building in its place
that would be harmonious with the rest of the properties and this is what we're
after.
Norton/There is one point that I want to suggest though that where Dean pointed and it
does bite to some extent, Dean. I think that there's a trade off. I know someone
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who lives in one of the districts with a house in which in principle the upper floor
could be rented, but that would require some kind of an exterior fire escape. That
exterior fire escape presumably or probably would not be compatible with the
historic guideline. Therefore in some sense, her adjustment of that house may be
somewhat truncated. Now that is, that's a burden that I think we're taking in order
to get the over all protection but it does hurt occasionally I think.
Kubby/But that's an assumption. Has she gone through the process to find out if it's
possible?
Norton/I don't know. She might very well manage to find a way to get it done without
that, but that was the kind of story that one would fear.
Hoffmann/That would suggest that that's an a question for the lip Commission to answer
and there certainly are plenty of buildings with fire escapes, exterior fire escapes in
the district as it is. So if you add one more exterior fire escape in the district, it
seems to me that that's not going to violate the character of the neighborhood in
the way that this apartment building did.
Norton/I appreciate that.
Nov/And those fire escapes don't necessarily have to be right in front, you know that they
can be at the back yard. These things can happen.
Kubby/I think that the only other point of clarification is, and you talked about the
Residential Neighborhood Conservation Zone. The thing that it preserved is the
current density. It does not preserve the character in any other way in terms of the
facade of the building, but it does preserve the current density.
Hoffmann/So we found out to our dismay. We feel that in a sense we felt very much let
down by our city government when this event occurred.
Kubby/Thanks.
Thornberry/A question for a HP person. I forgot my question.
Nov/A commission member?
Thornberry/Take your time. Take your time coming to the mic.
Kubby/We can let another, I'm sure a member of the public would like to take.
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Nov/One question and then let's move on.
Vanderhoef/I was just double checking here and you alluded to the people on the west
side of Johnson Street, S. Johnson, that were non-conforming but holding the
district (can't hear) and what looks there and as I double checked the addresses, it
appears that at least four of those homes on that side are the ones that we have
written objections to being put into the district.
RusselF It is just happenstance that 4 of the 27 absentee landlords in the district own a
row of buildings there and owners of four buildings in a row have objected. It is
just one of those coincidences.
Vanderhoef/All right. I only have three owners.
RusselF Three owners in four buildings. Mr. Schott, Mr. Martin and Mr. Lovik own-
Vanderhoef/There were six owners, six houses. So is there- I have got 15, 17, 19, and 23.
Russell/Right, those are four buildings owned by three landlords and there is a separate
building owned by Mr. Kerr that is not in that block. He is the 4th objector.
Vanderhoef/I just don't have the third name.
RusselF The three on that block are Mr. Martin, Mr. Schott and Mr. Lovik.
Vanderhoef/Lovik is the one I don't have.
RusselF Lovik and he may not have filed a formal objection to the zoning. But he did
speak in opposition in p.h.s in earlier stages.
Vanderhoef/So there is a concern there for me then in listening to this that they are
nonconforming and there are real consistent in coming from different areas and
they all are saying as long as I am not conforming, please don't put me in the
district.
RusselF I think they can speak for themselves, the reason they don't want to be included. I
think the fact that they are nonconforming is also just coincidental. I don't think
they are opposed to being historic districts because they are nonconforming
structures. I think they have their own reasons and that fact that they are
nonconforming benefits their argument in their view, not in mine. They are still
included in the district from our point of view.
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Kubby/And that is something we can discuss.
Council/(All talking).
Nov/Karen, can you hold on for a minute?
Kubby/No, I want to move on to hear from the public.
Nov/Well, Dean had one question that he had forgotten and we told him he could
remember it and say it, so let's do that.
Thomberry/If someone were to come to you and requ6st a change, and you deny that
change, would you then tell them where they could go to get relief?.
RusselF Yes, certainly, certainly we would, just as when we gave them written notice of
the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, we gave them in that same packet
the information on how to file a formal protest to the rezoning. Yes, we would
certainly tell them what their appeal rights would be.
Kubby/And that's status quo for all our zoning department in terms ofrezonings for
anything we give people the information on how to officially protest and what the
rules are and the form and everything.
Thomberry/That's all part of the design review on one building structure and they did not
do that and kept them coming back and back and back four times for changes
before they would approve it and I don't want that to happen again.
Nov/Is there anyone else who would like to talk about this district?
Frank Gersh/I live at 1123 E. College in the proposed E. College Historic District. I own
that house and I live there with my wife and two children. And we've lived there
for about 16 years and over that time the neighborhood there has become, has
improved. A number of people have taken two duplexes and made them into single
dwellings, old houses that were divided up into duplexes. There's more children on
the block progressively, you know, year at~er year. And at the same time there's
been this march of monolithic sort of apartment buildings like Mr. Hoffmann
mentioned up College starting with the one between Van Buren and Johnson on
the north side of the street and every few years more and more until the one last
year that Mr. Hoffmann mentioned. I think that if the, that the Historic District will
provide adequate protection for the residents on the E. College block against that
sort of thing. It will keep-preserve the quality of life in the neighborhood. It will
preserve the property values of the houses there as well as preserving the
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architectural and historic value of the neighborhood. I am not worried about the
rules about remodeling either. In some of the neighborhood meetings the HP
Commission members and the city planners have come and talked about the
different problems with remodeling and people wanting building permits and so on
and there is a lot of negotiation that goes on there and as Doug mentioned, nobody
has come to the city council about it. People have generally been able to do what
they want to do. Maybe somewhat differently but not at a great deal more expense
I understand. Thank you.
Nov/Occasionally even at less expense by doing it differently.
Gersh/Right, sometimes even at less expense. Right. Thank you.
Lehman/Thank you.
Greg Schott/I own the properties at 215, 217 and 219 S. Johnson. The 217 and 219 are
the same building. It is just the address that they show. First of all I want to say
that I am certainly not against anyone who wants to be in a historic district who
wants to have their house on the historic rolls. I have actually worked in a lot of
the houses in this general area. I have been a carpenter in and around Iowa City for
25 years. My family has lived in Johnson County since 1880. So I am not exactly a
landlord who does not-has not been around his property. I have got several
concerns. One which is obviously that I am a non-contributing property at 217 and
219 S. Johnson. If anybody knows that block area, 95% of it is commercial and
already apartments and the other two properties that adjoin me to the south also
are not interested in the historic district. I believe we were only brought into the
historic district just because they felt they had enough votes to include us in the
historic district. I think you are correct, the council has mentioned a couple of
times. I think you are correct in the fact that there isn't much you can do to that
area as far as development. This particular house, the particular building they were
talking about, I believe someone came in and purchased an old building and
knocked it down. Obviously he had enough square feet, enough parking and
enough area to do that. There is not very many areas in that- in my E. College area
or the College Green Historic area that you could actually do that. I can't think of
any other property. There are some properties in that area who do have a large
amount of square feet but I don't believe could meet the requirements of the city.
My problem is if- The way my properties exist now is quite simply if they burn
down or something happens to them, I can put them back the way they are. No
one has told me how that is going to work ifI have an historic district telling me
what type of property I can put on there, whether I can make it brick, whether I
can do this or do that. Whether I have to have a front, whether I can have garages.
No one has ever explained that to me. I don't think anybody really has an answer
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to that. I just like to say at this time, where I am at, where I am located, I simply
am not interested in being involved in the historic district. I don't have any
intention to do anything with my building other than what exists now in the
foreseeable future. However, I have got two children and maybe someday that
property will be worth more as a commercial and if the city does expand to the
east at sometime in the future- Now we are talking 20-30 years from now, you
know. There is no way we expand that. There is no way that property becomes
worth anymore money than it is today because it is restricted. So I just wanted to
get my two cents in even though I am one dissenting vote here.
Nov/Thank you.
Lehman/Doug, I have a question on this. If his property were to burn down, could he
rebuild it to the same that he has now?
Russell/His building permit would be subject to the Commission's review at that time and
I can't pre-judge his case without seeing his plans. But my judgment is that if he
built a similar scale structure with similar materials, it would probably be approved.
It is also no saying that if he decided to make it brick instead of wood that that
wouldn't be approved either. That is a matter of compatibility with the other
structures in the area.
Lehman/I think that is a good question.
Russell/That is a good question. I think if it would have been asked earlier, it could have
been answered earlier.
Nov/Please come to the microphone.
Schott/The problem is if it is a non-contributing property, how do you distinguish what is
historic?
Nov/I understand your objection but that is clear. My concern is particularly when there
are four buildings in a row that are all non-conforming and all want to be taken
out. There is no reason of(can't hear) that we can control that. If somebody chose
to buy those four buildings, destroy the four buildings and put up some kind of
different structure, we could not say no and I have some objections to that kind of
thing.
Baker/Naomi, I am not clear about (can't hear).
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Nov/If there are four buildings in a row. He is saying none of the individual property
owners can put up a multi-family structure and have enough parking. However if
someone had enough money-
Baker/(Can't hear).
Nov/Well, that is zoning. But if somebody had the ability to buy four buildings, to change
to multi-family zoning, to change the neighborhood because on four lots they
could destroy those buildings and put up apartments, the historic district across the
street would not prevent that. He is saying someday-
Baker/If they were excluded.
Nov/Right. If they were excluded. But he is saying some day this may be valuable
commercial property. He would like the ability to change the zoning to commercial
for the properties on his side of the street.
Council/(All talking).
Baker/I suppose that anybody at anytime can make a case for the council, a future
council, that a zoning designation can be changed.
Nov/Not in a historic district. If we say this is a residential historic district, I don't think
they can change to commercial.
Kubby/Does being part of a historic district in perpetuity prevent you from asking for a
zoning change?
Franklin/No, it doesn't. It may influence your decisions or a decision of a future council
but it does not preclude someone coming in and requesting a zoning change.
Nov/So that could be changed to commercial? If it were changed, if the council 20 years
from now approved the change, would that then pull it out of the historic district?
F/'anklin/It probably would, yes, because it would be inconsistent. It could potentially pull
it out of the historic district because you could change it to commercial and do an
adaptive reuse of a building and have the building be the same structure. So, the
zoning, the underlying zoning in and of itself will not pull it out of the historic
district. The use of the property might if the building were taken down and used,
were demolished and used for something else. But if that structure is there and the
use changes to something else, that wouldn't necessarily require it be taken out of
the historic district.
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Kubby/Right, it could be demolished and rebuilt to be compatible with the neighborhood
as a commercial property, too. I mean that is another option. It could still be
historic.
Franklin/That is in the realm of possibilities.
Council/(All talking).
Kubby/Talk about these 20 year hypotheticals.
Norton/Let's take another scenario. Suppose we extend the Rec Center east all the way
to Johnson Street, right. Suppose that is a decision. Is it possible to change the
boundary? For the council for that to happen, to change the boundary of that
historic district?
RusselF Yes.
Norton/To the middle of the street?
RusselF Sure.
Norton/And put up a nice historic extension to the Rec Building.
RusselF You could do it for any reason.
Nov/Douglas, would you please come to the microphone and say that again.
RusselF Mr. Norton's question was whether at some future date the city could, for
purposes of expanding public facilities, vote to amend the boundaries of this
historical district and undo a portion of it and the answer is yes. I believe that any
zoning can be voted up or down and changed according to the vote of the council.
So those things are possible in the future depending on what the facts may be.
Whether the Commission would agree with that depends on what the facts may be
also. I would also like to mention the staff person caught my ear and said that of
the five buildings on the west side of Johnson Street in that block, there are two
non-contributing and three contributing buildings and the two that are non-
contributing are for reasons that they have had what are called inappropriate porch
alterations. These are things that can be done and undone and redone. So we don't
think that any of them are simply beyond repair or somehow incompatible. We
think they are compatible. They are just not of the same level of preservation that
would make them contributing structures at this time.
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Nov/Thank you for clarifying.
Russell/Thank you.
Thornberry/Could someone point out to me where his locations are?
Nov/It is S. Johnson Street.
Thornberry/It is not in the middle of the district? It is right on the edge of the district?
Kubby/Can you see where it is drawn this little circle?
Thornberry/Yeah.
Norton/Right on the edge.
Thornberry/Gee, it is on the other side of the street from the actual- There are some
conforming historical buildings on that side of the street. Is that correct?
Kubby/Contributing buildings.
Thornberry/Is that-yes. I was pointing to the lady behind you.
Russell/I am sorry, there is a mix, yes, on that particular block on the west side. There is a
mix.
Thomberry/How many buildings are there in that block?
Russell/I believe there are five, three contributing and two non-contributing.
Thornberry/You can't pull those out, huh? You don't want to pull those out?
Norton/That was the streetscape idea.
Thornberry/Well, I mean they have got the little smokestack up here that goes- You
know, you have got the lime thing that goes up.
Pam Michaud/I have a point about what you are concerned about. I live at 109 S.
Johnson which is directly facing College Green Park. So I walk my dog down
Johnson Street frequently and I can tell you that those buildings that are of so
much concern to the council at this point are all turn of the century type structures.
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They are not 1970 structures that would be clearly non-contributing. There are
small points that are non-contributing, little porch structures. They are early
houses and the affect, they have been well maintained and painted and the affect
that they contribute to the park, to that street is significant because Willowwind
School is right across from them. If instead-
CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 97-29 SIDE 2
Michaud/Across from, you know, a 12-plex. I mean that would significantly alter the feel
of the street and there are some very nice houses on the east side of that street. I
have been in favor of this district from the beginning. I was the one that circulated
the petition for College Green Square with the 16 signatures from 1991. I feel like
in the larger sense the city should remember that a quarter of a million dollars was
just spent within the last few years on College Green Park with community
contributions by Project Green. It was a big effort and because I have lived there
before and after that park was refurbished, I can tell you that the usage has gone
up significantly. People come from different parts of the county to use it as well as
different parts of the city and of course tourists come when they are visiting
because it is a nice historic park, it has got a gazebo in it. The whole feel that that
park now produces needs to be preserved and enhanced by preserving these
houses. I feel for the person who wants to leave an estate to their children to
improve on. I have the same concern about my house. I love it the way it is and I
guess it would be a restriction if it had to be replaced just as a two unit building.
But that is the way it is now and you know, I would accept that as a restriction. I
think that is all fairness, you have to remember of the 3/4s majority in both districts
of the people that live there and that there .has been a lot of development of
apartments throughout Iowa City. Many of them are not even complete yet. There
are huge structures going up, notably the one on Gilbert and College. And that is
going to have a capacity of 250 students. I don't think there is an imminent
housing gap here and I guess I wouldn't worry about that. There is a pressing
infringement on historic areas and that is what I would like you to look at tonight.
Thank you.
Nov/Is there anyone else who would like to talk about historic districts? Any other
council comments? We are going to dose the p.h.
Kubby/I would encourage council to walk down that block on S. Johnson to look at the
housing before you make a determination.
Nov/Okay. The p.h. is closed. The vote on this zoning will take place two weeks from
now.
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February 11, 1997 City of Iowa City Page ?
Public hearing on an ordinance amending the Zoning Chapter 'by
designating the College Green Historic District, as a Historic
Preservation Overlay Zone, for property located generally around
College Green Park, along E, College Street from Dodge Street to
Governor Street, and along S, Dodge and S, Johnson Streets between
E, College and Burlington Streets, (Staff material included in Council
packet,)
Comment: At its January 16 meeting, by a vote of 7-0, the Planning
and Zoning Commission recommended approval of the proposed
historic district, consistent with the recommendation for approval
from the Historic Preservation Commission,
Action:
Public hearing on an ordinance vacating
right-of-way east of Sycamore Street,
(VAC96-0004)
Gable Street, a developed
south of Lakeside Drive.
Comment: At its January 16 meeting, by a vote of 6-1 with
Jakobsen voting no, the Commission recommended approval of the
street vacation, subject to the retention of utility easements, the
provision of an acceptable public access easement to provide a trail
connection to property to the south, and subject to approval of the
proposed preliminary and final plats of Mount Prospect Addition, Part
VIII, An acceptable public access easement has been identified,
Staff recommended approval in a memorandum dated January 16, (
Action:
February 11, 1997 City of Iowa City Page 8
Consider an ordinance amending the Zoning Chapter by changing the
use regulations on a 40.7 acre parcel located on the north side of
Rohret Road, east of Highway 218, from RS-5, Low Density Single-
Family Residential, to OSA-8, Sensitive Areas Overlay/
Medium Density Single-Family Residential. (REZ96-0020) (First
consideration)
Comment: At its December 5 meeting, by a vote of 6-0, the Planning
& Zoning Commission recommended approval of the proposed
rezoning subject to conditions pertaining to the timing of the
extension of the proposed Shannon Drive north to the property line,
the incorporation of traffic calming techniques into the design of
Shannon Drive, the approval of a Grading Plan prior to Council
consideration of the rezoning, and noting that no specified number of
dwelling units is being approved for Lot 53, which will be the subject
of a future rezoning request prior to development. Staff recommended
approval in the November 21 staff report.
Action=
#6f page 1
ITEM NO. 6fConsider an ordinance amending the Zoning Chapter by
changing the use regulations on a 40.7 acre parcel located on the north side
of Rohret Road, east of Highway 218, from RS-5, Low Density Single-Family
Residential, to OSA-8, Sensitive Areas Overlay/Medium Density Single-
Family Residential. (REZ96-0020) (First consideration)
Nov/Moved by Lehman, seconded by Thomberry. Discussion.
Vanderhoef/I guess I will start off. We have a lot of correspondence from people who live
in the Walden Woods area concerned about density and concerned about traffic. I
can understand some of their concerns. I personally have concerns for traffic in
particular and why I say this is that we have a couple of destination points in this
area, predominantly West High School and also for people who live south of
Melrose and maybe west of 218 to get to the closest, shall we say, entrance to 218
north. Them has always been conversation since West High built a football field
and a track and so forth in the south part of this property to whether they might
need another exit/entrance to the property. Staff has looked at it and has
recommended to use a collector system of streets that wind through this new
development of Walden Hills and subsequently it will connect with the Galway Hill
section that has not been platted at this point. I had suggested and had some
support from some of the neighborhoods that perhaps this will become a cut
through for anyone choosing to get to the high school and not have to go through
three stop lights that require all lei~ hand turns to get to the front door of West
High School and that there may be some other cut through kinds of activities. So I
asked staff to consider looking at the possibility of making this an arterial and
placing it directly on the boundary lines of West High School. AT the same time
we made some phone calls and staff met with administrators from the school
district and asked the question, as I understand it, that would you be interested in
ever having an entrance/exit to the south end of the West High property. And they
were not ready to make any statement yes or no. They had not discussed it. It
came upon them rapidly at this point in time. Personally if they were to want one
of those at some point in time to have an exit there, I feel that it should dump out
onto an arterial. If it dumps out unto a collector, that traffic is going to wind its
way through the neighborhood of Galway Hills and Walden Hills. I do not have
support for this activity on the council and I understand that. I appreciate your
listening to me and I appreciate the developers who are trying to develop
something that meets some of the goals of the Vision 2000 and beyond. However,
I feel like I am going to have to vote against this and it is not against the
development itself. It is- I vision that this is going to be a heavy traffic kind of
thing. It is going to be a problem for the neighborhoods forever and I would just
like to be a little more visionary with it and so that is where I stand.
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Lehman/Well, you know Dee, you and I have talked about this and I certainly share some
of your concerns. But I look at City High and I look at their entrance onto First
Avenue for the six or eight athletic events of the year. There is a gate there. It is
locked except for those events. When during those events they cannot. I live on
the west side. When the University of Iowa has football games, we have 70,000
people in this town and our streets are not built to accommodate those folks so it
takes them a little longer and I do share some of your concerns. I think there will
be perhaps some more traffic through the neighborhood. But if West High should
want access at some future point, if we limit that access or as far as that goes, we
can deny it.
Vanderhoef/That would be my preference. Just to deny that entrance-
Lehman/My biggest problem with arterial streets are that they invite traffic. You know,
the easier it is to drive the street, the more cars will take it. And I don't disagree
with you. I won't vote against this because I think the collector is the right way to
go. But I do appreciate where you are coming from.
Vanderhoef/Yeah, and maybe just for information for the public. The difference between
a collector and an arterial is how many entrances we put onto an arterial is less
than what we put on a collector and when we design that arterial, then we have a
situation where we don't put people's driveways in their front yards and driveway
every lot facing the arterial. We turn the backs of the houses in the area and have
their entrances come from a quiet collector or neighborhood streets.
Lehman/I think it is also 16 more feet ofr. o.w.
Vanderhoef/It is.
Kubby/It is built for higher speeds.
Vanderhoef/It is a safety situation that is my concern and I appreciate West High not
having this before this time and we still have two more readings and if they came
to us and said that they really wanted an entrance, then I would ask council to look
at it again.
Norton/I would like to comment a little bit, Dee, on the points you made. This is a tough
call. I think trying to go into an arterial at that point just doesn't seem to me the
thing to do. I don't want to invite additional traffic through there and Shannon
Drive as outlined is made torturous enough that it presumably won't invite much
traffic on purpose and it seems to me that if we want an access from Rohret Road
north to Melrose that we ought to be looking forward to do that further west to
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Hunter's Run and not invite traffic through these two evolving neighborhoods.
Also putting an arterial through there, as I understand it, would mean re-locating
Shannon Drive from its present tentative location further east over a longer stretch
of street on the border of West High and probably some difficulty when you get
out to Melrose. It is just how you are going to join up there when you join with the
West High entrance. So I have a lot of trouble with that and think that if we could
leave an emergency access, as Ernie maybe has suggested, out of the rear of West
High at a south end of their property to this. It would only be used occasionally
and that traffic would only have a short section of Shannon to navigate if that were
used a few times a year for special events. So I guess I am going to- I don't want
to hang this up on the basis of converting at this point to a arterial through there.
That is my feeling. I have very mixed feelings about the proposal. I have a long list
of positives and a long substantial list of negatives. I am hardly sure where I am
going to come down on the overall proposal. But that is my feelings about the
road issue.
Baker/
The status of our discussion last night was leaning towards some position, some
clear position, saying that we wanted to restrict access onto Shannon Drive. Is that
to be settled now or just sort of indeterminate time in the future?
Norton/You mean by the high school?
Baker/Yeah.
Kubby/We should commit to, if we want to do that, we should do that as soon as we
know that. I mean if this passes with the street as a collector street and because of'
that fact we want to restrict or prohibit access from last time, then we should do
that and direct staff to have a resolution to say that.
Baker/That is a separate question from this issue. It could be done- I mean, this issue
doesn't have to be held up for that decision, does it?
Nov/No. This design is a collector street.
Baker/Do it sooner than later.
Nov/Yes.
Baker/I agree with the collector status of the street. I would like to see us reach that
other decision as soon as possible and-
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Lehman/Well, Larry, I don't disagree with you but, you know, council next year or the
year after, whatever.
Baker/The point is the council next year is going to have to address the issue formally and
overturn the sentiment, the wishes, the planning of this particular council.
Lehman/I would-
Nov/We can put it in a resolution. We can say if West High ever asks for an access, it will
be gated, it will be used only for events. These kinds of things can be put in there.
But they can be overridden somehow.
Lehman/I will second that.
Baker/All right, let's do it sooner than later then.
Vanderhoef/That is helpful. I didn't listen last night for sure that I had four votes for that
proposal and that is why I asked.
Baker/I thought it was a good proposal and I don't know whether we totally restrict it or
restrict it to special events. But a substantial restriction is certainly appropriate.
Nov/We did not decide that we would restrict it saying absolutely no access or restrict it
saying it will have a gate and used only under certain conditions. We did not have
four people who wanted an arterial street if there were an access to West High.
We said maybe someday there could be an access to West High without an arterial
street.
Baker/But not an unrestricted access.
Nov/That is right.
Vanderhoef/If we had four votes for that I would be happy to get that one started. And
you have this one.
Norton/For restricting access?
Vanderhoef/For restricting access. If this is going to be a-
Lehman/Limited access.
Vanderhoeff Then restrict West High's access to-
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Norton/Oh, oh.
Kubby/You are in trouble now.
Franklin/Could I suggest that I contact the school district and give the board an
opportunity to talk about this issue with the principal of West High and what
feelings they have about it? We could get a resolution before the council with that
input from the Board in mind by the last reading.
Nov/Let's do it for the last reading.
Kubby/The other restriction of access that the neighbors have talked about is temporarily
blocking off Coil at Irving, Coil and Irving until Shannon goes all the way through
except for emergency secondary access.
Norton/I guess I don't understand why that would be necessary. The only traffic that is
going to be generated is from within the neighborhood, is it not. I mean nobody is
going to be going back through that way, I think, to try to I don't know what. It
would seem to me the traffic that you are talking about would have to be
generated within the complex.
Kubby/Yes, and that is what their concern is that we need to answer yea or nay to
because we have been requested to look at that and I fill an obligation for us to
talk about it. That as things are built, instead of people going on Shannon, that
some people may go through that and we have been requested to talk about that.
Norton/Didn't we say something about until Shannon was completely extended to
Melrose?
Kubby/Yes. There could be a whole lot of development and Galway Hills might not be
built out for a decade or more. Who knows?
Norton/I would assume that some people who face or are relatively near Shannon would
go out that way and others that are local may take the back way out. But that
happens in my neighborhood now.
Kubby/You are saying you don't want to do it. So, that is one who doesn't want to do it.
Norton/A lot of people drive on my street.
Baker/It still has to function as a collector street.
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Norton/I can't quite see which one of those you would close. Either one or both are you
suggesting?
Kubby/I am just reminding people what neighbors have requested that we talk about and
it was, I believe, both.
Norton/What would be the impact of closing one of those? I can't quite understand what
would happen if you close Coil or Irving?
Kubby/Larry, I am sorry, but I don't think that is more helpful. It is really tiny.
Larry Schnittjer/The basic reason for me putting that up there is primarily for the
discussion of Irving. If you look at Irving-
Norton/Can you identify where-
Nov/You have to show us which one is Irving.
Schnittjer/Irving is right there. Now if we think that people are going to go north and east
on Irving, then up the hill to get here, I don't think it is going to happen. They are
going to go out this way and out. They will go out Shannon and to Rohret. This is
a backwards way of getting to where anyone would want to go on Irving.
Kubby/There may not be good reason to do it. That we have been asked to talk about it.
So we should talk about it. Coll may be a more reasonable one to talk about.
Schnittjer/This is the only portion of Coil that we are going to build. This little lot depth
fight there and it is going to be a steep section of the street uphill to the east
because this property is lower than the area to where it is already developed. And
it is going to be tough to get there especially if it is icy. But it does provide a
secondary access for the people who are on Coil right now to get out and the same
thing with Irving. These are providing secondary accesses for the existing folks
that are there plus a continuation of a grid pattern that we have decided that we
like to see in this community and we start interrupting that group pattern, we
might as well not have it.
Kubby/I wouldn't define this as a grid.
Schnittjer/No but it is a modified grid.
Kubby/Very modified grid.
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Schnittjer/In places where we have topography like this, it is tough to build a grid street
without moving a horrendous amount of dirt and meet today's design standards for
streets.
Norton/I would like to take the opportunity to go down some of my positives and
negatives.
Kubby/Does this silence mean that there aren't people interested in blocking off
secondary access? It means yes, you are not interested.
Nov/We are not interested.
Council/(All talking).
Norton/I do think, this is my chance to make a speech. I do think that we need a variety
of housing in our neighborhoods and this development, as proposed, does meet
that requirement and obviously meeting that requirement implies a somewhat
higher density than the usual perhaps s.f. RS-5 does imply a multi-family unit. I
know that we are encouraging in-fill development rather than sprawling out further
and trying to develop within the corporate limits close where we have
infrastructure in place and not have to extend it. I think it meets that. I think it
provides pretty good transition from the RS-8 immediately to the east into the
section on the east side of this development. I think it makes a very decent
transition there and then gradually you move to the higher density as you move
further west beyond Shannon Drive and up against 218, so that seems to me to
make sense there. Now I don't think given those, some of those considerations
expect it to look exactly like some of the existing neighborhoods on the east side
that are somewhat more spacious. We've gone to smaller lots and that tends to
make the thing look a little bit crowded. IfI look at my negative list, it's strikes me
there will be kind of an unrelieved appearance of house upon house upon house,
and one of the concerns that I have is that despite the fact that there's some open
space left in this property down by Willow Creek, left there perforce because one
can't do much with it, I really miss the fact that there's no greenery in some ways
up in the midst where the houses are. It's all kind of somewhere else and it doesn't
anything to kind of relieve the streetscape. I guess that's what I'm trying to make
some of these points so that we'll maybe think about them in the future. I call it
tangible visible green space. There's very little effort as far as I can see to try to
get any garages out of the way. They're all sticking out toward the street or by and
large sticking out toward the street and that made the second stories kind of high
and the houses then have a kind of a vertical looming tendency that I would like to
see if we could do something about. Maybe we should begin to think about
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driveway alleys again. I don't know. Now I know some of you are thinking about
but and I know that Public Works doesn't want to hear that but at least we can get
the traffic, the cars back behind the house, maybe we could then get back into
porches and modest front yards. I'm a little concerned about lot 51, one of the
houses where the senior thing is ostensibly going to come. I don't know what that
is really going to turn out to be. If it's senior, I can understand that. That doesn't
add quite so much intensity to the development but I don't know any way we can
preclude that now. We can only consider it when it comes up. But.
Nov/It's (can't hear) and yes we will use design guidelines again at that time.
Norton/All I've got to by the fact that also P/Z was unanimously for this. The staff has
been very strongly behind it. But I'm sure trying to get some concerns out there
but I'm going to support them somewhat reluctantly. Okay. Just a mini-caveat. All
right, how's that for a waffle.
Kubby/In an OPDH where we have to say about the facade, is that true?
Franklin/Yes.
Kubby/Do we have that with a sensitive areas overlay in terms of the facades of the
building?
Franklin/Yes, because you follow the same procedures as you will for planned
development. It's essentially the same process.
Kubby/I mean one of the things I really noticed about this development is that there isn't
a central focus point for the neighborhood and that when you look at the design of
the facade, what you do interact with on the street level are garages doors. The
only exception is a huge garage door with a deck on top. So there may be some
human activity above the street level but not at the street level so the kind of
neighborhood that we're trying to produce that helps alleviate some of the
concerns about losing sense of community when you have mixed styles of housing.
How you deal with that is through the design of the development, through the
possibility of a central focal point and having opportunity for interaction at the
street level, no matter what kind of transportation you're using whether you're
walking, biking, busing or driving, roller sticking, etc. And I don't see that in this
development. When I look at just facades of the buildings. And it's something
that's happened all over town and it is one of the most important parts for me of
kind of a trade off for the mixed use of housing although one of the neighbors said
that this kind of housing necessarily leads to a further erosion of the sense of
community. And I think that there's some shared responsibility there, shared with
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us in what we approve as to that interaction at the streetscape level through design
of the full plat as well as the facades. And then the neighbors have some
responsibility in how they interact with each other and not wanting to interact with
me because I live in a shared world stmcture. So there's shared responsibility
there. I had some of the similar pros and cons that Dee had, but the one thing that
really struck me was Mace saying, we're doing what we asked us to do. You've
asked for mixed styles of housing. And that's true, but I see us doing this, and one
example on the east side recently, one example on the northeast side of some very
upper end shared wall housing, but I'm seeing, to get back to this conversation
about Greenview that we want, we don't, we want a mobile home park in the
community, a new one. But where you put it may not be appropriate for the
community and maybe some reasons that we like the idea that if it were in a
different part of town it would have that kind of fair share value. And so I was
talking to a friend of mine about this because I really bouncing back and forth. And
this friend asked me, is this the kind of development you want all over the city or
all over this part of town and ask yourself those kind of questions and I really
haven't come to a conclusion and so because I support this kind of development
and I supported Mormon Trek Village which was one of the most difficult
development decisions that I personally had to make. It was difficult personally for
me to make that decision I should say. That I am not sure that it is okay to have a
section of town that is all mixed housing. That I would like to have this kind of
style of development sprinkled throughout the community so it is not so unusual.
And I think they have more than their fair share and because I haven't answered
this question and because I am not obligated to say yes to a zoning change, I won't
be supporting this development.
Thornberry/I haven't said anything about this project at this point. I am glad that we're,
sometimes I- We are not a design review committee for new housing. We approve
or disapprove on the basis of generalities, what staff gives us, what the
development is, the problems with the streets, the densities and the zone. When we
get into wanting not to see certain things in a design of a particular house in a
particular area, it is getting pretty picky and I am glad we are not to that point and
we are not. When Karen says we want to see a mobile home park on the west side,
I am not included in the we. That is all I have to say.
Lehman/Well, there is one thing that I would like to say and I think, you know, Iowa
City, I think, is becoming and is going to become very rapidly a wonderful
wonderful retirement place for older folks. I think the facilities that we have
available for retirement community are somewhat limited. I am on Oaknoll Board
of Directors. I think there is a very very definite need out there. Because of our
medical community, the services that we offer, it is a wonderful wonderful place
for folks to retire and I hope that this lot that we are talking about for elderly
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housing- To me, that is one of the biggest attributes of this whole project. We
really need to make those kinds of provisions and I think this is just the start. I
think we are going to have to have lots more of this sort of development.
Kubby/Karin, I guess I want to ask a question I just asked of you. When we are
approving this, we are also sanctifying the facades that have been presented to us.
That is part of our decision making with an overlay zone like this.
Franklin/I am hesitating because I am not sure if at the P/Z Commission they gave those
exact buildings consideration. Larry, you were there.
Kubby/But in terms of the zoning process-
Schnittjer/4-plexes.
Kubby/The footprints that are shown on the plan, yes. And what I am not sure about is
the exact building elevations.
Kubby/But it is under their purview to talk about that.
Franklin/It is, yes, it definitely is. It is just-
Kubby/Okay, so saying that, it is not our job to talk about-
Thornberry/I don't think it is. It absolutely is not.
Franklin/It is already in the Code that allows-
Kubby/The Zoning Code allows us in these overlay zones.
Thornberry/There is a difference between allowing and doing, Karen. When you get into
design review of a development, saying what color the houses are going to be,
how big the garages are going to be, how many garages you are going to look at
as opposed to having in the back. When you see.a footprint of a house, you are not
seeing the windows, you are not seeing the type of house, you are not seeing the
structure. You are seeing the s.f. house on a certain size lot. When you start going
in and saying I am only going to vote for this project ifI like the looks of the
houses in the development, that is getting pretty picky.
Kubby/You are talking about a different thing than I am talking about and what I am
talking about is how, the kind of homes that are built and with the square footage
of the facade, much of the visual aspect of the house, being the garage, changes
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the sense of community and the quality of life and the integrity of the
neighborhood that you say you are interested in protecting. And this is on the front
end trying to make sure that the landscape, the urban landscape is neighborly. It
facilitates communication and how your houses look can help facilitate that kind of
interaction between people. And you may not want to control that. The Zoning
Code says that I can talk about that in my decision making and I am choosing to
do that.
Thornberry/I guess I give the developer more credit than that.
Council/(All talking).
Nov/Okay, folks.
Kubby/They are selling all over the community, that is what is out there. So that is what
the choices are out there.
Nov/There are interactive neighborhoods that have garage facades and there are
neighborhoods that have no interaction even though they have no garages. So it is
not cause and affect.
Kubby/I am saying that it is one element in many that creates a sense of neighborhood.
Coundl/(All talking).
Kubby/That is just taking what I am saying to an extreme that I am not talking about. It is
an unfair characterization.
Thornberry/When you got a bunch of mobile homes together in a mobile home park, they
are all mobile homes and they all look a lot alike.
Kubby/That is less and less true over time, too.
Vanderhoef/Some of the things that happen though when we have this request before us
and a plan before us in asking for the zoning of the RS-8 is that necessarily the
frontage on the street becomes narrower, tighter in trying to get that garage in
there and living space. This is what happens. So if the zoning were lef~ at RS-5,
then there wouldn't be quite that kind of crowding that goes with it. One thing that
I agree with Dee that we have because we are doing the clusters of zoning and
outlotting a whole lot of low land areas around the creek, I am not sure that it has
been exactly designed but I recall a couple of years ago when we were working on
the Neighborhood Open Space, that there was to be a neighborhood park that met
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the criteria of a neighborhood park which is about a seven acre park that would be
flat enough and above water and all of those things and my recollection at that
time was it was going to be on the north side of the creek. has that changed,
Kadn? So there will still be a neighborhood park at some point in time for these
people.
Franklin/The open space in this area in terms of the Neighborhood Open Space was
evaluated by the P/R Commission. Yes, you are remembering this correctly and
that the active component of it is focused on the northside of the creek in Galway.
Vanderhoef/So, when Shannon Drive goes across the creek, then there is an area that will
be designated for their park and their will be the trail-
Franklin/That goes along through both of them.
Vanderhoef/A trail that will go along there. I can understand the concern of the
neighborhood right now in that they have got the little children and they don't have
any place to put the children out to play and I do know that a little land was
reserved there in the First Addition of Walden Woods and people were even
ecstatic to have it run along their backyard lines just because they were so
concerned about having any kind of space that they could have for the children and
it is going to be a trail area.
Kubby/Will that trail then allow people to get from this neighborhood up to the
commercial area where Fairview is?
Vanderhoef/The Willow Creek Trail will go- It will be on the northside of the creek. So it
follows the West High southern boundary which is another question that I always
have sticking in the back of my mind is is West High going to open a gate or a
street to a allow students to come to school via foot and come in the back way
whether than have to go all the way around all the fences clear up to Melrose and
then come all the way back into the property to the building.
Norton/You want to be able to walk to the store, too.
Kubby/Right, that was what I was getting at.
Vanderhoef/Yeah, that is where the trail goes.
Nov/This neighborhood, as designed, will have sidewalks and trails to get as far as the
Willow Creek, won't it?
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Schnittjer/Yes. In regards to the comments that Dee Vanderhoefwas making a moment
ago, the trail crosses back and forth across the creek in its current plan. We did not
prepare the plan but that was what was presented to us that we were to coordinate
our design with. A portion of the area, the trail is on the south side of the creek
and we will be tying walkways to that. In regard to comments or questions earlier
about unit design, it was somewhat glossed over. I thought I might as well try to
answer it. The s.f. homes we did not attempt to provide plans for because we
wanted to have the variation that the individuals who buy the lots would like to
build. The 4-plex structures and the others, we illustrated photographs of similar
structures that would indicate the character of what we wanted to try to
accomplish. We did not prepare specific plans for this project. Those are
photographs of a similar structure that we are going to try to follow up on.
Norton/I appreciated that. I want to just make one comment for Dean's benefit. Dean we
are not trying to design it but we are in some, by our actions or inactions or
whatever and our expression, we are creating neighborhoods for the future. I am
trying to take that seriously. That is all. I know you are, too. That is why I am- I
am not trying to shape the thing in that much detail. I am trying to make sure we
get neighborhoods that work and have some of the feelings of those that we
presently cherish. That is what is tricky to do.
Thornberry/I think perhaps in this area, you can buy a lot and build your own house,
couldn't you?
Norton/I suppose.
Thornberry/It is not tract housing.
Norton/Is that true?
Thomberry/And so, you know, unless you build the first house and everybody loves it and
they build them all just exactly like yours, you are not going to get to. You know
what I mean?
Norton/I wouldn't want them all. I wouldn't want that much conformity.
Kubby/But in the shared walled housings it is not going to-which is the majority of the
development, it is going to be built.
Mace Braverman/That is not true.
Lehman/Mace, if you want to talk, come up and talk to us.
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Thomberry/Shared walled housing is not the majority I believe of the whole division.
Mace Braverman/I am Mace Braverman.
Kubby/In terms of numbers, I agree, it is not the majority. I agree.
Braverman/The other thing is that the houses that are abutting up to the first phase of
Walden will be approximately the same size. You were talking about sense of
community. I don't think- I can't think of a better organized sense of community
than those and those houses we built two years ago who have come down pretty
much because they like their neighborhood and want to keep it the same. Now if
that is the sense of community you want, that is the sense we re trying to build in
the next phase.
Lehman/Well, Mace, I have to say that going back to the early '70s when I was on the
P/Z Commission, you do a good job. You do more than you have to, I think. You
put together good projects, projects that you can be proud of. Projects that
enhance this community. And I guess, as one council person, I would like to thank
you.
Braverman/Thanks.
Nov/Gee whiz.
Council/(All talking).
Braverman/We have asked the city and we have started working on hopefully some of out
others. We will try to put in alleys. The problem is if you have to build both the
streets and the alleys and meet certain public standards, your price will get
prohibitively too high.
Kubby/That was a lot of concrete.
Braverman/That is a lot of concrete for what you are trying to do.
Nov/We are also worried about storm water.
Council/(All talking).
Braverman/The city won't let you chip seal it.
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Norton/Let's fix it so we can make the alleys a little less fancy.
Braveman/I am with you. Now the only way, from my experience this time, the way we
can get by with chip seal is that if we make them private and then would make the
homeowners responsible for the maintenance. I think that defeats the whole idea of
doing it and if you have to go to a higher standard, you are adding another extra
cost in order to put the garage in the back. On the other side, Karen, we are
putting the alley type around those 4-plexes so that in essence, the interior
becomes like a campus setting for their front doors.
Lehman/Can we vote?
Nov/Those of us who have been talking for years about affordable housing, have to
concur that you need some adjoining walls, you need some row houses in order to
make affordability of ownership really viable. And I think we have done it.
Kubby/It is true. In my estimation I am just not ready to say that this area has to take the
burden of all the mixed, the majority of the mixed style of neighborhoods, pockets
of neighborhoods that we are developing in our community.
Braverman/Well, the problem there, Karen, is the availability of land to do what you want
to do. You- Where? It is not going to be in the CBD or the central area.
Kubby/Well, we are going to open up a whole bunch of land on the northeast side of
town when we start doing all of those roads and the environmental conditions up
there will facilitate this kind of housing.
Braverman/Fine. We are talking about the present time. At the present time as far as land
that is as close in to your facilities without going further west or away from the
central area.
Norton/Is Galway still all RS-5?
Norton/It is so far all RS-5, yes.
Nov/Go ahead, Larry.
Baker/I got a question for Karen. It is the last issue I wo~ld like to get some clarification
about. If someone were watching this meeting tonight, I mean, I am trying to
visualize them. What is the pattern of development in the last few years? Is one
area of town absorbing mixed use developments more than another area of
town. Why or why not?
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Franklin/The concept of mixed use or mixed density development is a relatively new one
in terms of the decision makers embracing it as something that we should pursue in
Iowa city. The number of projects that we have had since that has come on line,
have been limited because the development market is sot~. In thinking of the recent
projects in the last 2-3 years which is when we have been talking about this, we
have had a couple of projects on the south side of town, on the Hwy 6-Sycamore
Street area in which we have had zoning to RS-8. It has not been a planned
development, an RS-8 development, however not RS-5, at this slightly higher
density than RS-5. It is still a s.f. detached. However at Lakeside Drive, at the end
of Lakeside Drive where the Whispering Meadows Subdivision is, we have s.f.
detached as well as two condominium projects that went in there within this period
of time. So there has been some mix of development on the east side, on the
southeast side. Windsor Ridge, when it was annexed and shortly thereafter it was
rezoned so that we have a RS-5, RM-12, and commercial zoning. There may be
some 8 in there also, in that area and that is on the far east side. The west side, I
think the reason that it feels the way it does to the people that live there is because
the west side is the area that is growing now. The east side has basically butted up
against the corporate boundaries. We have limitations in the northeast comer
because of infrastructure. So no development has been happening there. Southeast
still needs to be annexed and developed, so nothing has been happening there of
much consequence other than what I have mentioned. So the west side has been
gradually-
CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 97-30 SIDE 1
Franklin/Slowly. Mormon Trek Village is a fill in of a spot and that is why is feels like a
lot is going on there because it is going on there. Now whether it is a
concentration of mixed development, that is difficult to say. I don't know that the
focus has been more of a concentration there versus other developments since we
have been talking about this particular concept.
Baker/
But it is a case of- That is where the growth is occurring. It is not like comparable
growth or a different kind of growth in another area of town while they are getting
primarily single family detached housing and the west side is getting a heavier
concentration of a mixed use.
Kubby/If you look at the zoning that is around in that area.
Baker/That is not my perception of development in town over the last couple of years.
The problem of it all sort of being geared towards the west side by design.
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Franklin/Absolutely not by design.
Norton/What about Village Green South? What is that? Village Green area, what is the
zoning?
Franklin/That is- there is some of it at 5 and some of it is 8 as you get father south
towards BDI and that was also a planned development so we had it there, too.
Nov/There was some condos in there because of planned development.
Franklin/So I wouldn't say by any means that this approach has been restricted to the
west side. The density that one sees on Mormon Trek Blvd., that there is an
established density already from Melrose south on Mormon Trek on the west side
from Walden Place north. Did you follow all of that? That is a 12 units per acre
which has been in place for years. But the newer developments have all been in the
RS-5, RS-8 category which are two lowest density zoning categories.
Kubby/It may be those things has influenced my judgment about that question. That when
I look at things that we have approved of lately and the amount of change that has
happened on the west side and the kind of density that is over there, I don't want
to do this at this point because I haven't answered the question for myself about
where is it appropriate to have these mixed density, these mixed styles of housing
and I am just saying I am not willing to have this one right here right now.
Nov/Okay, are we ready to vote?
Baker/
We are not ready to vote yet. I haven't said much. But I am trying to figure out
how the staff and P/Z are going to benefit from this discussion about future
developments. There are concerns expressed and I don't share some of those
concerns. I mean my initial concerns about this project were two: density and
Shannon Drive configuration and the future use of that and I think those have been
resolved assuming we do these other things on the Shannon Drive access
comfortably. But when I look at this project in context of other developments in
the area, questions of sense of community and neighborhoodness, I see other
projects in the other area, in the same area that I like less than this which I think I
know the council has approved. I don't have that concern about this inhibiting or
impeding the sense of community. But if we are asking the developers and P/Z and
staff to work with a certain goal of mixed use, getting close to the Comp Plan
densities, we are going to get more and more like this and if we don't want that to
happen, we need to be clear about a change in direction and I am not so sure that-
Kubby/There is only one person talking about this. So I think it is a concern (can't hear)-
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Baker/It is and it is not a high density development. It is the lowest we have got out there.
Norton/I need to get over that thinking RS-8 is 60% above RS-5, folks. I mean, that is
not-
Kubby/But when you talk about the Comp Plan and Jeff using the Comp Plan as a
justification for the zoning change-
Norton/I don't like that.
Kubby/The problem with that being the- If that is the core of an argument is that there is
only one lowest zoning designation in the Comp Plan and that is 2 to 8. There is
nothing in between. And if you use that logic-
Baker/
Here is the bigger problem is that I think that is a reasonable concern. But in this
process we have put all of these other people through these hoop, developer, P/Z,
staff, the neighbors. And now we want to say well, you did all of this under
guidelines that we set up for you but now we are not happy with it.
Kubby/I am just saying that. No one else is saying that.
Nov/It is not a we.
Kubby/I am just saying that at this time, in this location, it is not- I don't feel comfortable
doing it and I am not obligated to do it under the law.
Baker/I just want to say looking at the same project, I still- I can't even say I understand
your concerns much less agree with them. But that is just my problem.
Kubby/Well, apparently I am not being very articulate because you may disagree but at
least we understand each other.
Lehman/Karen, you are normally very articulate. Just can I make one comment. Since I
have been on council, little over three years, the one thing I have heard from I
think from staff and I have heard from council is we are so concerned with urban
sprawl. We are so concern with spreading out development. It costs us so much to
deliver city services to s.f. dwellings. And now we have got a project that is RS-8
and we are putting a few more folks closer together. I don't see the problem with
mixed development like this. It appears to me that this is doing exactly what we
have been saying we want to do for the last 4-5 years.
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Kubby/That is correct and I agree with that. Maybe I am being inconsistent but I don't
feel comfortable. That is okay. I am okay with that. I hope- I wish you would feel
okay with that and we could move on.
Vanderhoef/I have one other thing that occurs to me in all of this conversation is that we
are now just beginning to see the development's plan with the Sensitive Areas
Ordinance and so what we have in this particular development and some of the
other places that are around town, are the difficult pieces of land to develop and
save the sensitive areas. So what happens for us is the density of where the people
are located is quite tight to preserve the out spaces that we are putting there in the
sensitive areas and if they aren't mixed in close to some of the tightness, I can
understand why the people feel crowded in there. So it is part of the city
ordinances that may be creating some more of this in this way. And that is the
piece of land that is available. I understand.
Thomberry/I am not ready to say that the people feel real crowded. This development, I
don't believe, in any way, shape or form denigrates the quality of life in any stretch
of the imagination.
Norton/I am just thinking we might be able to get a little bit- I am looking for tricks to
get a little bit more feeling of greenery amongst where the people are. And I think
that is one thing we can try to do. That is the kind of message I am trying to send.
Within the higher density, try to do it in some ways that give a little bit more sense
of-
Kubby/Although there is more green space here than is required by our open space.
Norton/It is in a funny place though.
Nov/Okay, are we ready to vote.
Lehman/Yes.
Nov/Roll call- Okay, we had a 5-2 vote with Vanderhoef and Kubby voting no.
Kubby/So and we are directing staff to talk to with school.district to have a resolution
about access on Shannon Drive by the third reading. If not, as soon after as
possible.
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February 11, 1997 City of Iowa City Paine §
ITEM NO. 7.
ITEM NO. 8.
CONVEYANCE OF A VACATED FORTY-FOOT (40') PORTION OF THE
ALLEY RIGHT-OF-WAY RUNNING NORTH-SOUTH BETWEEN HARRISON
STREET AND PRENTISS STREET AND ABUTTING THE EAST SIDE OF
THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 522 SOUTH DUBUQUE STREET TO
LARJ PROPERTIES, L.L.P.
a. PUBLIC HEARING
Comment: On October 22, 1996, the City Council passed and approved
an ordinance vacating the above described section of alleyway. The
City Council now has before it a Resolution to convey the property to
LARJ Properties, L.L.P. for the amount of $800 The conveyance is
subject to the City of Iowa City retaining water, storm and sanitary sewer,
and utility easements. The sale price for this forty foot (40') section of
alleyway was established in 1984 when the City originally attempted to
vacate and convey the property. Because the vacation and conveyance
process was not done in accordance with state law in 1984, the property
was never legally vacated or conveyed. This property was properly
vacated in October and can now be legally conveyed. After public .
headng and due Council consideration, the Resolution authorizing
conveyance of the property to LARJ Properties, L.L.P., subject to the
City retaining water, storm and sanitary sewer, and utility easements
should be acted upon.
Action:
bJ
CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING
CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 14, CHAPTER 5, ARTICLE
B, ENTITLED 'PLUMBING CODE' TO EXPAND THE TYPES OF
MATERIALS ALLOWED FOR THE INSTALLATION OF POTABLE WATER
LINES AND BUILDING DRAINAGE LINES. (FIRST CONSIDERATION)
Comment: The Board of Appeals has recommended amending the Iowa
City Plumbing Code to allow the use of PEX piping for the distribution of
potable water and the use of PVC piping for drainage lines under
concrete with certain restrictions. The use of these materials in these
applications is currently prohibited. This amendment should help reduce
construction costs for residential and small commercial projects.
Action:
#7b page 1
ITEM NO. 7 CONVEYANCE OF A VACATED FORTY-FOOT (40') PORTION OF
THE ALLEY RIGHT-OF-WAY RUNNING NORTH-SOUTH BETWEEN HARRISON
STREET AND PRENTISS STREET AND ABUTTING THE EAST SIDE OF THE
PROPERTY LOCATED AT 522 SOUTH DUBUQUE STREET TO LARJ
PROPERTIES, L.L.P.
b. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING
Nov/Moved by Kubby, seconded by Lehman, to adopt the resolution and have this
vacated. Is there any discussion?
Kubby/I do have a question. Were things not done quite right on our end or on someone
else's part?
Nov/The way I read it, it just wasn't done in accordance with state law. So I am guessing
it was the city staff or the city council that didn't conform to the state law.
Kubby/Okay, I mean that question is relevant because we are doing 1984 market value
and not '97 market value. So if it was our doing then that might be 'acceptable. If it
is somebody else's, then we should get current market value for it.
Nov/Well, it was our process. Somebody on the city council, a group of on the city
council in 198 voted to vacate. According to the state law in 1984, it wasn't done
properly.
Kubby/Okay, so that was our-
Woito/It has been a while since I looked at this, Karen. But as I recall it was at the city's
end of it.
Kubby/Okay. Somebody is getting a good deal.
Nov/The way I read it, it was all process that we followed and that process was not
correct. So. Okay, Roll call- (yes). We have approved this resolution.
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ITEM NO. 8 CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 14, CHAPTER 5,
ARTICLE B, ENTITLED "PLUMBING CODE" TO EXPAND THE TYPES OF
MATERIALS ALLOWED FOR THE INSTALLATION OF POTABLE WATER LINES
AND BUILDING DRAINAGE LINES. (FIRST CONSIDERATION)
Nov/We always do first consideration and then we can waive second.
Kubby/It is a legal option but we usually choose not to.
Nov/Moved by Norton, seconded by Lehman.
Kubby/The City Clerk is trying to say something.
Karr/I just want to note you may not have enough to collapse the next time if there is an
urgency. I just wanted to note that for the file.
Nov/Is there an urgency?
Karr/That is all I wanted to note.
Thornberry/Ron is here.
Nov/Ron.
Vanderhoef/For the summer building?
Ron Boose/There are some contractors that are anxious to see this put into the ordinance
so they can start using PBC pipe under concrete.
Kubby/We can't approve it tonight anyway.
Woito/But you can collapse.
Karr/You won't have six on the next time to collapse.
Lehman/But we do have a meeting next week, a formal meeting, that we could do the
second and third if we wanted to collapse it.
Baker/Sure, let's do it that way.
Nov/Okay, that works.
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Thomberry/There is a procedure whereby you may waive or collapse first and second. It
is not unprecedented.
Baker/Almost.
Council/(All talking).
Nov/Ron, I have a question on this. It says that these kinds of pipes are allowable only in
a combustible structure. Why?
Boose/Combustible construction is a threshold for a number of different types of material,
for wood construction, for plastics, most types, for romex wire. That threshold is
reached at a different level with different types of buildings, different types of
occupancies. Residential, for instance. Multi-family, you can go up to four stories
with combustible construction if it is sprinkled. In an assembly occupancy,
restaurant, bar, theater, something there is a lot of people, then one story building
is all you can build out of combustible construction. It is just a common threshold
that changes with the type of occupancy. Most plastic material are restricted to
that because of the toxic fumes that are put off by plastics in a fire.
Nov/So why then, if it is not combustible, would you restrict this to no plastics? If you
are building a non-combustible, it would seem to me that you wouldn't have that
problem.
Boose/
It is only the structure that is non-combustible. The contents are always
combustible. This is a non-combustible structure, you can see by the walls. But all
the furnishings are combustible. So there is always some BTUs available for a fire.
The point of non-combustible construction is to keep the structure there. So there
is still smoke build up and it is just a level of safety for getting the occupants out.
Lehman/I think, excuse me Dean,. I think that Naomi's question, I share your curiosity. If
your building is combustible, that means if you have a fire, it is probably going to
bum a lot quicker than if the building is not combustible.
Boose/That is true.
Lehman/So we are saying that if your building bums, it is okay if we burn up these plastic
pipes and we create all of these fumes. If it is not combustible, so the building
doesn't catch on fire, we can't use plastic.
Boose/It still could catch on fire. It is still the threshold. It is still the size of the building is
what the combustible- What it is essentially saying is you can't use plastics in 6-7
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story buildings. And there are a lot of other issues. It is just a combustible
threshold is a convenient threshold. The other issue dealing with plastics, of
course, is the expansion and contraction with temperature changes. They move
around a lot. So the taller buildings, the bigger buildings you have them in, the
more problems you have with them.
Lehman/If I build a one story cement block service station, I can't use plastic because it is
non-combustible? But I could build a garage and use plastic if I want to put water
pipes in my garage, For some reason, it just seem logical.
Boose/The operative word that may be missing here is required. If it is required to be
non-combustible, you couldn't use it. If you chose to build a non-combustible
construction but the Building Code allowed it to be of combustible construction,
we would permit the material.
Kubby/You could plastic piping in that one story cement block.
Lehman/Is that correct?
Boose/Yes.
Kubby/It has to do with the size of the building.
Boose/In the ordinance the word required isn't in there. I guess that is the way we always
read it. If the Building Code requires this building, such a type, such a occupancy,
it is required to be non-combustible construction, the Building Code wouldn't
allow the use of plastics. It wouldn't allow the use of wood, there are a lot of
restrictions. If you chose to build non-combustible but it could be combustible,
then-
Nov/Would you consider adding the word required as a friendly amendment so people
like me would understand what you are saying?
Boose/Certainly,
Nov/Thank you.
Thornberry/If you would like to stay around until council time, I won't ask my question.
If you would like to leave at 10:00 PM, now, I would like to ask a question that is
not- Anyway, a parking ramp is cement. Could you tell me, please, why parking
ramps must have fire rated doors?
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Boose/
The issue of the stair towers. Actually stair towers under the Building Code and
under the Fire Code are areas of refuge. I mean that is the place people go to get
out of the building and they are somewhat of a sanctuary as far as trying to keep
smoke out of them. A parking garage, even though it is open, the sides are
essentially open, if there were a car fire, the smoke is going to migrate if it is
anywhere in the area to that stair tower. That is a chimney effect because that is an
open shaft. That is where the smoke will go and it will fill the stair tower.
Thomberry/But you got to open the doors to get out.
Boose/But the opening and dosing of that door for a person to go in and out is I think a
lot different than having a permanent opening there for smoke to flow through and
go in and fill the tower.
Lehman/Well, Ron, I brought this up before.
Boose/Those are the principles.
Lehman/It makes no sense to me at all.
Thomberry/If a car blows up and you have got a fire inside the parking ramp.
Norton/It is basically outside.
Thornberry/It is outside. You don't have any walls. It is not a sidewall there. It is open.
Boose/You have a roof over the top which will keep the smoke in. It will keep the smoke
in and it will go, and actually Andy can probably answer some of these questions
better from some of the training films they have had. The Building Code and the
Fire Code are very complimentary and they both are after the same goal. It is not
only for the people to get out but also for a place for the firemen to come up to
rescue people and it is very important to keep that area free of smoke. Now the
sides of the building are open and you are right, if you had a wind blowing
through, it would clear it of smoke. If you did not, it is going to go-
Thornberry/To the road and then out.
Boose/It is going to go, if the stair tower is open, that is where it is going to go because
there is going to be a natural up current of air in a shaft like that.
Lehman/The other thing, Ron, is they could drive the fire truck in the ramp just like you
drive your car in. They don't have to go up the steps.
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Boose/That is a different issue. Actually I don't think most fire trucks would go in ramps.
Nov/Okay.
Lehman/I am not going to give up on that one, though.
Nov/Is it Norton and Lehman?
Karr/First consideration?
Nov/I think it was Norton and Lehman who moved first consideration. Is there any
further discussion?
Kubby/I am glad that we are doing this because it will give choices in materials that can
help reduce the construction costs.
Thornberry/My point exactly at the last meeting. Thank you.
Nov/Okay, roll call- (yes). First consideration has been approved.
Kubby/Thank you, Ron.
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February 11, 1
ITEM NO. 9.
997 City of Iowa City Page 10
CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE ADOPTION AND
SUBMISSION OF THE 1997-2002 COMMUNITY BUILDER PLAN.
Comment: The adoption of a Community Builder Plan provides Iowa City
with bonus points when applying for a variety of state financial
assistance programs. The purpose of the Plan is to have communities
develop a database of information on various components of the
community and to establish a plan which addresses these components.
No comments were received at the January 28, 1997, public hearing.
Action:
ITEM NO. 10.
CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CONVEYANCE OF A
FIFTY-FOOT WIDE, VACATED PORTION OF LEE STREET RIGHT-OF-
WAY LOCATED SOUTH OF RIVER STREET AND NORTH OF OTTO
STREET AND IMMEDIATELY ADJACENT TO 833 RIVER STREET TO
JOEL AND SANDRA BARKAN.
Comment: On October 8, 1996, the City Council considered and passed
an ordinance vacating a fifty-foot wide portion of the unimproved Lee
Street right-of-way located south of River Street and North of Otto
Street. Joel and Sandra Barkan own the property at 833 River Street,
which is immediately adjacent to the vacated right-of way. They have
offered to purchase the vacated right-of-way for sum total of $3000,
which takes into consideration the fact that the City will reserve and
retain a blanket utility easement along the entire portion of the subject
property for the installation, maintenance and operation of public utilities.
A public hearing was held on this matter on January 28, 1997. This
Resolution authorizes conveyance of the subject. property to Mr. and Mrs.
Barkan, subject to the retention of the above easement.
February 11, 1997
City of Iowa City Page 11
ITEM NO. 11.
CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING, AND AUTHORIZING AND
DIRECTING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE AND THE CITY CLERK TO
ATTEST, AN EASEMENT AND LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR THE
TEMPORARY USE OF PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY BY ST. MARY'S ROMAN
CATHOLIC CHURCH FOR A PORTION OF THE LINN STREET RIGHT-OF-
WAY BETWEEN JEFFERSON AND MARKET STREETS.
ITEM NO. 12.
Comment:St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church is requesting the approval
of an easement and license agreement for the temporary use of public
right-of-way along the west side of Linn Street between Jefferson and
Market Street to allow the temporary closure of this portion of the
sidewalk. The sidewalk closure is requested to prevent any accidents to
persons using the walk resulting from a continued loss of defective
cement shingles and debris from the pitched church roof. Additionally,
the sidewalk closure will facilitate the replacement of the roof this spring.
Staff recommends approval of the requested agreement and closure, as
this will protect the public from possible injury or property damage from a
dangerous condition while facilitating the abatement of the dangerous
condition. This Resolution authorizes the execution of the agreement
necessary to facilitate the use of the Linn Street right-of-way for the
proposed closure and repair. This item was deferred from the January
28 Council meeting.
co.s a ^ .ESO...ow.o T.E,OW^
COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS REGIONAL COMPREHENSIVE SOLID
WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN.
The plan
considered
landfill.
Comment: As required by State law, an update has been prepared to the
ECICOG Regional Solid Waste Management Plan. This plan must be
adopted by all entities that contribute waste to the Iowa City Landfill.
contains recommendations which may be subsequently
for implementation by the City of Iowa City as operator of the
Action:
#11 page 1
ITEM NO. 11 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING, AND AUTHORIZING
AND DIRECTING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE AND THE CITY CLERK TO
ATTEST, AN EASEMENT AND LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR THE TEMPORARY
USE OF PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY BY ST. MARY'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
FOR A PORTION OF THE LINN STREET RIGHT-OF-WAY BETWEEN
JEFFERSON AND MARKET STREETS.
Nov/(Reads agenda).
Karr/Madam Mayor, before you go on, we have had a request to defer for two weeks.
Nov/Moved by Kubby, seconded by Vanderhoef, that we defer this item for two weeks.
All in favor, say aye- (ayes). Motion carded.
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ITEM NO. 12 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE EAST CENTRAL
IOWA COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS REGIONAL COMPREHENSIVE SOLID
WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN.
Nov/Moved by Kubby, seconded by Norton. Discussion
Kubby/One of the things I am most excited about this package of recommendations that
we may or may not implement is the desire to have a solid waste advisory
committee. I think that it is really about time and that one of the hopes I have for
this committee is having some consistent educational material throughout the
county. That we all have slightly different programs but we have a lot of things in
common. And pooling our resources to have some consistent informational and
educational materials, I think would really help all of our programs out a lot. I
hope we go forward.
Nov/Any other discussion? Roll call- (yes). Motion carries.
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February 11, 1997 City of Iowa City Page 12
ITEM NO. 13.
CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING, AUTHORIZING AND
DIRECTING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE AND THE CITY CLERK TO
ATTEST AN AGREEMENT BY AND BETWEEN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY
AND MMS CONSULTANTS, INC. OF IOWA CITY, IOWA, TO PROVIDE
ENGINEERING CONSULTANT SERVICE FOR SOUTH SYCAMORE
REGIONAL STORM WATER SEWER PROJECT.
Comment: This contract is for the final design of the South Sycamore
Regional Storm Water Management Facility, preliminary and final design of
the East-West parkway embankment from the soccer access road to
Saddlebrook Subdivision, pedestrian underpass, permitting, regional
boundary description and easement plats. The cost of this contract will be in
the range of $86,500 to $104,250. Funding for this work will be provided by
General Obligation Bonds and Road Use taxes.
ITEM NO. 14.
CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING, AUTHORIZING AND
DIRECTING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE AND THE CITY CLERK TO
ATTEST AN AGREEMENT BY AND BETWEEN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY
AND HOWARD R. GREEN COMPANY CONSULTING ENGINEERS TO
PROVIDE ENGINEERING CONSULTANT SERVICES FOR THE IOWA
CITY SANITARY LANDFILL.
Comment: This agreement authorizes Howard R. Green Company
consulting engineers to provide engineering services necessary to
implement the most effective development, leachate control and operational
plan for the City's sanitary landfill, through a defined process of planning
and development of operational plans and specifications in accordance with
state and federal regulations. The total cost of engineering consultant
services is $158,500 and will be funded by landfill revenues.
#13 page 1
ITEM NO. 13 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING, AUTHORIZING AND
DIRECTING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST AN
AGREEMENT BY AND BETWEEN THE CITY OF IOW-A CITY AND MMS
CONSULTANTS, INC. OF IOWA CITY, IOWA, TO PROVIDE ENGINEERING
CONSULTANT SERVICE FOR SOUTH SYCAMORE REGIONAL STORM WATER
SEWER PROJECT.
Nov/Moved by Kubby, seconded by Thomberry. Discussion.
Kubby/I am really happy we are doing this. It has been a long time talking about it. It is a
very visionary approach. It is very practical. It is something that seems like it is
really going to work. It is interdisciplinary. It really pools a lot of public goods for
the private sector, for the public sector, for the whole region as well as for that
neighborhood. And I am just really excited about it and this is like the ultimate in
what I like in city documents in that it not only explains the project but it is
educational in its explanations. And so it makes it so easy to support and
understand exactly what it is we are approving. And that we are buying into a
whole new area for this city in terms of how to deal with storm water and rah rah.
Norton/I want to add a comment to that. I woke up in a cold sweat thinking suppose we
buy this project, get it in, and the flood comes and it doesn't work. I mean are we
liable? Are we promising now that we are going to free some land of this water
problems, 100 year flood? We are talking a 100 year flood but it looks like we are
making a lot of promises of this project.
Woito/No, you are making no promises.
Norton/Okay. We will do our best, you mean.
Fosse/In the design of it, it relies very little on underground piping and overland flow
tends to be more fail-safe. So it lowers our risk there.
Nov/And overland flow is not truly fail-safe, silts gets into the little wetlands that we were
going to develop and nothing comes with guaranteesl
Fosse/Right. Mother Nature can always exceed our expectations, too.
Norton/Won't it be quite a demonstration situation if it gets done? I mean the length and
the overall project I should think will be pretty unique.
Fosse/It is. It will be very unique to this part of Iowa. It could be somewhat of a
demonstration for other areas.
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Nov/I remember us talking about wetlands here for wastewater treatment. For effluent
from the South Wastewater Treatment Plant. That didn't happen. So I am happy
to know that we are doing something with this wetland idea that is naturally there
anyway.
Norton/Suppose our viewers don't know what we are talking about.
Thomberry/I thought it was one of the best presentations I have ever seen. It was explicit
enough but still understandable for the layman. 200 feet wide and little pools and
how it works and I thought it was a fantastic-
Lehman/How about (can't hear) Thornberry?
Nov/Somebody made an excellent comment over there. We ought to say for the general
public who did not hear the lengthy discussion last night. We are talking about a
regional storm water project which consists of multiple acreage. How many acres
will drain in this?
Fosse/600 for the drainage area.
Nov/600 acres draining into a wetland construction, constructed wetlands.
Kubby/So instead of each individual developments providing their own storm water
management, the city is kind of doing it up front for the whole region and then
developers will pay on a pro-rated basis.
Vanderhoef/This is the best example of both visionary and public private combination of a
project that I have ever seen and I have nothing to do with it. It was previous
council and our Engineering staff and our developers in the area and I compliment
all of you.
Thornberry/Like Dee says, I hope it works.
Nov/Worse case scenario is-
Norton/Shows you what a light sleeper I am.
Vanderhoef/I would have called that a nightmare.
Council/(All talking).
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Nov/Roll call- (yes). We have approved this resolution.
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#14 page 1
ITEM NO. 14 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING, AUTHORIZING AND
DIRECTING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST AN
AGREEMENT BY AND BETWEEN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY AND HOWARD R.
GREEN COMPANY CONSULTING ENGINEERS TO PROVIDE ENGINEERING
CONSULTANT SERVICES FOR THE IOWA CITY SANITARY LANDFILL.
Nov/Moved by Vanderhoef, seconded by Lehman. Discussion.
Thornberry/One question. Is Howard R. Green the only company that we use for these
services?
Atkins/No.
Thornberry/Howard R. Green. I mean I see them a lot.
Arkins/Tonight you have MMS, Howard R. Green, Stanley.
Kubby/They do a lot of landfill stuff.
Atkins/They do a lot of landfill things for us. We have used them in the past.
Nov/They have done some water projects.
Atkins/A lot of water projects.
Kubby/There are three things that are possible solutions that could come out of this that
are mentioned in the plan that concern me or that are intimated in the plan. I am
not sure which. I didn't get a chance to read it a second time. There is a lot of stuff
in here. One of them is the possibility of vertical at the landfill. I am not sure I
think that is a good idea but I guess it will be one of the options we talk about in
the future. The other one is the possibility of mining older cells and putting it in
newer cells as a way of controlling leachate. And I guess we will see the
economics of that later. And the third one is looking at is there a point where it is
not cost effective for us to have a landfill but for us to ship our solid waste
elsewhere. And I guess just as a regional responsibility, I am not interested- On the
front end I can say I am not interested in that in that I really believe that we need
to take care of our own stuff and that we need to find cost effective
environmentally sound way of doing that. I know that all of those discussion will
come out from the solutions part of this. That options will be brought to us as
policy decisions. I am assuming that that is true. That all of those are policy
decisions that we will end up making.
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Arkins/Yes. There is a fourth element that is not included in here that we have not
prepared for you yet. Your recent decision on 965 and some other ideas we have
kind of been batting around amongst the staff. We have approaching a 200 acre
parcel of land near a major thoroughfare that you want to see constructed. We
would like to begin the planning process on what the alternate land use is going to
be and while we question vertical, some of the proposals we may be putting forth
to you may require that.
Kubby/You mean make ski slopes or whatever?
Nov/Yeah, there are some places where vertical landfills construction has been good
recreation opportunity.
Atkins/And that is the point. It is likely that this large tract of land, generationally, is
going to have to be made and it should be made available for some other purpose
and I think recreational opportunities is something we really want to consider.
Norton/Talk about that all over the country.
Atkins/I just wanted to let you know that isn't in here but you are going to be seeing that
because we would like to involve lots of folks in that discussion.
Vanderhoef/That answers my question that I had here was have we looked at new areas
for landfill and where are we on this.
Atkins/We are really in very good shape if we stay there as a landfill. I think, you know
we have, I know someone will hold me to this, 25-30 years. Oh I suspect,
particularly with our practices, our practices with respect to reduction. And we
have land around us that we want to think about purchasing. Land use planning
ought to consider a buffer. There is just a whole bunch of those issues that I think
land use should become a component of landfill planning. I am going to raise that
issue.
Kubby/But it is not part of this engineering.
Arkins/It is not part of this. We are going to come back to you later on.
Nov/In terms of this, I would rather see us construct a dome or something similar rather
than shipping it somewhere.
Atkins/True. We also have the internal golf course advocates that say going too high is
not a good idea either. We will let you decide that-
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Thornberry/Another option that is always viable is privatization of the landfill. A farmer
that no longer wants to farm and he has got big acreage and he would like to go
into a business. There is that opportunity. There are places around the country that
have privatized their landfill system.
Atkins/They have, Dean, but you have to keep in mind that under Iowa law, there is this
humongous financial obligation you have to protect it over the long pull and
anybody entering the landfill business in Iowa- I think they ought to have a real
talk with their tax man.
Kubby/Privatization is more in the direction of transfer station and ship it out of state who
don't have those laws to protect water quality.
Thornberry/Well, I mean it is not unheard of and it is not out of the realm of possibilities.
Atkins/Illinois it is fairly common and Michigan have private landfills.
Nov/Roll call- (yes).
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February 11, 1997 City of Iowa City Page 13
ITEM NO. 15. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING FUNDING OF A CONTRACT
CHANGE ORDER FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF OF CONTRACT I OF
THE WASTEWATER TREATMENT CONNECTION PROJECT, ALSO
KNOWN AS THE SOUTH RIVER CORRIDOR INTERCEPTOR AND RELIEF
SEWERS PROJECT, TO COMPLETE THE HIGHLAND AVENUE STORM
SEWER.
Comment: For the past several years during extremely heavy storms, the
commercial businesses west of Plum Street near Highland Avenue have
experienced flooding of their properties. To resolve this problem, installation
of a storm sewer along Highway ~ and Highland Avenue at a cost of
$603,915.20 is proposed. This resolution will authorize funding for
construction of the work by Park Construction Company through a
negotiated Change Order. This Change Order is recommended by Public
Works to minimize scheduling conflicts with current sanitary sewer
construction, minimize disruption to private property, and to provide
continuity of the sanitary and storm sewer work along Highland Avenue and
Highway ft6. Also, please see attached memo.
ITEM NO. ] 6. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND
CITY CLERK TO ATTEST AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN STANLEY
I""'/--~' \ CONSULTANTS, INC. OF MUSCATINE, IOWA, AND THE CITY OF IOWA
CITY TO PROVIDE CONSULTING SERVICES FOR THE WILLOW CREEK
INTERCEPTOR SEWER PROJECT.
Comment: This agreement is for the design of the Willow Creek Interceptor
Sewer which extends west from the Napoleon Park Pump Station across the
Iowa River to Willow Creek, then generally along Willow Creek to Mormon
Trek Boulevard. This interceptor sewer when constructed will transfer
wastewater flows from the Willow Creek drainage area to the South
Wastewater Treatment Plant and provide sanitary sewer service to the
currently unsewered southwest area of Iowa City. The estimated
construction cost is $8,793,000. This agreement is for the final engineering
design phase and bidding phase services. The negotiated fee is $389,000.
This work will be financed from sewer revenues. Public Works recommends
approval of this agreement.
Z
#15 page 1
ITEM NO. 15 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING FUNDING OF A
CONTRACT CHANGE ORDER FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF OF CONTRACT 1
OF THE WASTEWATER TREATMENT CONNECTION PROJECT, ALSO KNOWN
AS THE SOUTH RIVER CORRIDOR INTERCEPTOR AND RELIEF SEWERS
PROJECT, TO COMPLETE THE HIGHLAND AVENUE STORM SEWER.
Nov/Moved for consideration of the resolution by Vanderhoef, seconded by Thornberry.
Any discussion.
Lehman/Chuck, sometime I would like to know where the 20 cents came from on this
bid.
Nov/I wish we would round this.
Lehman/I mean not tonight but sometime.
Thornberry/$603,915.20
Lehman/The 20 cents is what bothers me.
Nov/We can deal with round numbers when it comes to 20 cents.
Thornberry/Round down.
Atkins/This comes from the construction company and maybe we will ask them where
they got it.
Lehman/That wasn't an official request.
Arkins/I assume that.
Nov/Okay. Roll call- (yes). We have approved the resolution.
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ITEM NO. 16 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN
AND CITY CLERK TO ATTEST AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN STANLEY
CONSULTANTS, INC. OF MUSCATINE, IOWA, AND THE CITY OF IOWA CITY
TO PROVIDE CONSULTING SERVICES FOR THE WILLOW CREEK
INTERCEPTOR SEWER PROJECT.
Nov/Moved by Thornberry, seconded by Norton. Discussion. Roll call- (yes).
Norton/Just seem we are $8 million without a whimper here.
Nov/Without the 20 cents also.
Council/(All talking).
Kubby/We are not approving $8 million.
Norton/I know. It is just the study preparatory to that.
Vanderhoef/What is real interesting is the original CIP estimate on it was $7.5 million and
we are up at this point.
Norton/Already.
Vanderhoef/That is a huge change.
Arkins/It is the design. It was up in the CIP. Still have loads of control over this issue.
Norton/I understand in over the actual cost. This is just the starter.
Lehman/Remember, we still just spent $400,000.
Arkins/Yeah.
Nov/Well.
Arkins/You had it on your CIP.
Nov/Would you rather have a flood7
Council/(All talking).
Nov/Wasn't this the sanitary sewer that was backing up into people's yards7
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Norton/No, no, this is the Willow Creek. This is the Southwest Interceptor.
Atkins/This is the airport related thing.
Kubby/This is development oriented.
Nov/It wasn't the one that was along the creek behind Arbor Drive.
Norton/No.
Atkins/That is another one.
Norton/But this is to relieve the whole west side basically. Isn't this really to relieve the
whole west side. In some sense, it is the key to that whole side of town.
Lehman/It will open it up.
Nov/Yeah, it will open up development of the Southwest.
Kubby/Yeah, what did I just say yes.
Nov/Yes, you did say yes to it. Okay, we have approved that resolution.
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February 11, 1997 City of Iowa City Page 14
ITEM NO. 17.
CONSIDER A MOTION TO APPROVE A TENTATIVE AGREEMENT
BETWEEN THE IOWA CITY ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL FIRE-
FIGHTERS AND THE CITY OF IOWA CITY.
ITEM NO. 18.
Comment: The Iowa City Association of Professional Firefighters and City
negotiators have reached tentative agreement for a Collective Bargaining
Agreement to be effective for a three year period beginning July 1, 1997. It
includes wage increases of 3.25% in the first year, 2% in each half of the
second year, and 3% in the third year. It also includes other minor benefit
and language adjustments. A copy of the Tentative Agreement is attached
to Council's agenda.
Action=
CITY COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS.
ITEM NO. 19.
a. Consider one appointment to the Johnson Countyllowa City Airport
Zoning Board of Adjustment to fill a five-year term ending
February 26, 2002. (Term expires for Scott Reynolds.) (3 males and
1 female currently serve on this commission.)
b. Cons,der~a eco~~mmendation by the Johnson County Board o'f~'~
Supervisors that Joe Kral (3-year term) and Gretchen Grimm (1-year
term) be appointed to the Riverfront and Natural Areas Commission
as representatives of Johnson County. Correspondence from the
Johnson County Board of Superyisors in C~puncil packet.
CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION.
ITEM 18c. Announcement of Vacancies.
(1)
Broadband Telecommunications Commission - Two vacancies for
three-year terms ending March 13, 2000. (Terms end for Eric
Rothenbuhler and Betty McKray.) (0 females and 3 males currently
serve on this Commission.)
These appointments will be made at the March 18, 1997, meeting
of the City Council.
#17 page 1
ITEM NO. 17 CONSIDER A MOTION TO APPROVE A TENTATIVE AGREEMENT
BETWEEN TI-IE IOWA CITY ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL FIREFIGHTERS
AND THE CITY OF IOWA CITY.
Nov/Moved by Kubby, seconded by Lehman. I have to ask why is this tentative? Why are
we voting on something that isn't final?
Helling/The rules of the Public Employer Relations Board require that any tentative
agreement be taken to the governing body and the union within a certain number
of days after it is reached. Once it is ratified, then we go back and amend the
whole contract and you vote on the entire contract later. But it is a process that we
have to go through.
Nov/All right. I don't remember going through a tentative vote on other occasions.
Helling/Yeah, we have.
Nov/But we have, okay.
Norton/When do we look for the next round, the final draft?
Helling/As soon as the union ratifies it. I just have to get the thing out and plug the
language in and stuff. This will go pretty quick. They is not too much.
Norton/But if we in perusing this between now and then, find something that we are
concerned about, is it too late?
Helling/Too late.
Norton/I have done my perusing.
Helling/If you come back to us in the year 2000 then we will put it in.
Vanderhoef/I am curious, page 3, #12. Why is there an opt in/opt out in that health thing
that they have to enroll and stay in the thing for three period?
Helling/Right. Generally there are certain events that allow somebody to get in or out of
the programs, in particular with our dental coverage because if people anticipate
some dental work, they jump in, get it paid for and then jump out and then the rest
of the people's premiums go up to cover their costs. So, there are only certain
events that you can opt in or opt out of the insurance program. But occasionally
because somebody didn't opt in when they should have or wanted to, they will ask
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for an open enrollment. We have done it with the other units, not very ot~en but
every few years we are willing to take a look at it.
Kubby/It makes sense.
Helling/Generally speaking we will identify one or two employees that it will affect and
that is all.
Nov/The University does an open enrollment once a year.
Norton/Or another time if there is a change in life event or some sort, right?
Helling/Right. There are certain things that are automatic at any point in time like a birth
or a death in the family, that sort of thing that allow people. If you get married, for
instance, you can bring in your spouse.
Nov/Ready, roll call- (yes). We have approved the resolution.
Karr/No, you have approved a motion on a roll call vote.
Nov/No, we have approved a motion. We didn't need a roll call vote, did we?
Woito/We didn't need to roll call that.
Nov/She is sitting there waving her card and we took a roll call vote. Okay. We will
pretend that we all said aye.
Woito/Sorry about that.
Nov/This was a motion. Okay. Do you need us to say all ayes because we can do it.
Karr/No, fine.
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ITEM NO. 18 CITY COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS
a. Consider one appointment to the Johnson County/Iowa City Airport Zoning
Board of Adjustment to fill a five-year term ending February 26, 2002. (Term
expires for Scott Reynolds.) (3 males and 1 female currently serve on this
commission.)
b. Consider a recommendation by the Johnson County Board of Supervisors that
Joe Kral (3-year term) and Gretchen Grimm (1-year term) be appointed to the
Riverfront and Natural Areas Commission as representatives of Johnson
County. Correspondence from the Johnson County Board of Supervisors in
Council packet.
Nov/Moved by Vanderhoef, seconded by Thornberry. I have a single comment on this. I
did speak with Karen (Countryman) about it and she has on occasion been a
consultant for the airport and she understands that if she is on the Commission she
cannot be a consultant for the airport. She could apply for another job as a
consultant. But she said that she might apply and if she does apply and if she is
awarded a contract, she will resign from the Board.
Thornberry/Boy, I hope she stays on the Board. She is a very knowledgeable.
Nov/I just wanted to spurn everyone else to understand that this conversation had taken
place.
CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 97-30 SIDE 2
Nov/One of these applicants is a city employee in the Parks Department and staff has
asked that we not approve Joe Kral, that we just approve Gretchen Grimm and ask
the county for somebody who is not a City Parks employee to serve on this
Commission.
Kubby/How ot~en would that- I am trying to think of things that the Riverfront and
Natural Areas Commission has brought to us in the last couple of years where a
conflict may arise. They talk sometimes about Mesquakie Park. What kind of
employee? Is he a parks maintenance person? Is he a recreational program
specialist who is doing basketball? That might make a big difference to me whether
I agree with that.
Nov/I don't know.
Arkins/I am almost positive he is a maintenance worker.
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Kubby/Is it a building maintenance or a park maintenance?
Atkins/Park.
Woito/Does he live in Johnson County?
Nov/He lives in Solon and he works in our Parks Department.
Woito/I don't see a problem.
Nov/If we have someone who is mowing the parkland along the river or along the creek
or clearing snow from areas along there, should he be on this commission? That is
what we are talking about.
Woito/He is not in any policy making position in P/R Department.
Nov/But he would be making policy ofwhere-
Woito/I don't see any problem.
Kubby/I guess I want to know more in a confirmed manner what kind of maintenance
person he is for P/R.
Atkins/Hold the one appointment-
Baker/Do we have any policy at all about city employees on boards and commissions?
Woito/We review then on a case by case basis and I have never heard of this issue before.
Kubby/I know that we have had somebody who use to work at the- When they were
appointed to the Human Rights Commission, they worked at the Library and we
deemed it was not a conflict because it wasn't having to do with Library services.
That is this person had applied to be on the Library Board, we would say no. But if
it was unconnected position.
Norton/But this one is a little connected.
Kubby/I asked what his position is and no one here knows and so I would like-
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Karr/This one is also a county appointment. This is not a city appointment. That makes a
difference. The last time it came up was a city appointment of a city employee to a
city board or commission. This is a county one.
Kubby/The nature of the conflict is still the same no matter who the appointing bodies
are.
Lehman/The thing, I think though, that we have to also consider is fairness to the person
we are appointing. If there appears to be a conflict or if he is subject to folks
thinking there is a conflict, whether or not that conflict is real, I don't think it is
fair to that person.
Woito/Well, that should have been brought up before the Johnson County Board. I mean,
this is their appointment.
Nov/It is their recommendation. It is our appointment.
Woito/In all fairness, I think they should have been presented to them. Maybe it wasn't.
Kubby/Maybe it just wasn't a notion.
Woito/Maybe you could defer this.
Nov/Well, the recommendation that I received was to go ahead and appoint Gretchen
Grimm and defer the other appointment and speak to the county about it.
Lehman/I make that motion.
Karr/We have a motion on the floor. Do you wish to vote on Karen Countryman or
amend that motion to include b.
Nov/I
don't know. Shall we vote on Karen Countryman and get that out of the way?
Okay. We have that one. All in favor, please say aye- (ayes). Okay We have
appointed Karen Countryman to the Zoning Board of Adjustment for the Airport.
Kubby/I second Ernie's motion.
Nov/Ernie's motion was to appoint Gretchen Grimm and defer the second appointment
and speak to the county about it. Does that sound reasonable to everybody?
Vanderhoef/Fine.
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Nov/All in favor, please say aye- (ayes). Okay.
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ITEM NO. 19 CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION.
Nov/City Council Information. Larry, do you want to start?
Baker/Me?
Nov/Yes, do you want to start?
Baker/
Sure. Good because I was afraid somebody would get this one thing before I got
to it. We got a memo from P/R Director about a demonstration of potential
possible city equipment, the Green Machine, March 5. This is for Mr. Norton. The
time has not been established yet but on March 5, our staff will take this monster
machine and show how much it can suck up the dirt and crime and stuff d.t. and so
we will- I am sure Mr. Norton will remind everybody at the next council meeting.
Kubby/We should make sure there aren't four of us that forces and official meeting.
Baker/Dee and I are-
Norton/We are going to be there.
Kubby/Go for it.
Norton/There is also one on the 4th, isn't there, for another machine?
Baker/Dee, I don't know what that is.
Lehman/Will that clean parking ramps, too?
Nov/Anyone who wants to think about machines has time to think about it in the future.
Baker/At the next council meeting, I will remind people again. Dee has a picture of the
machine.
Norton/And we will specify costume.
Baker/Robin Hood, Friar Tuck and the whole bit.
Thornberry/Overalls.
Baker/Mr. Green Jeans. A matter of somewhat personal privilege. I would like to- Every
once in a while I want to promote some part of local culture and in the past I have
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promoted a book of a local individual. I would like to recommend a book that is
now written by a local artists and a local writer and on sale in local bookstores and
if we can get a shot on this. This is- I read this over the weekend. It is called, "Life
In Double Time," a story of an American drummer and one of the plugs in the
back of the book is by Antoine Fig, the drummer for the David Letterman Show
and another plug is by a very famous writer named Anne Bady and I just want to
give a brief summary of what Anne Bady says about this book. Mike Lanford's
book is just wonderful, giving us a vivid picture of the insanity of musicians lives
on the road. It should be read by anybody who fantasizes the life of musicians or
other artists and also by anybody who doesn't yet understand that boredom can
breed hilarity. It should also be read by mothers who will not buy their children a
drum. So he is compared to Jack Kerourac and Frederick Exsly and the book once
again is called, "Life In Double Time" by Mike Lanford, a local writer who has
worked on this book for ten years and I wish him all of the best and encourage
people to go down and take a look at your local bookstores which I am sure are
carrying it and if you see Mike, I promised I would not show his picture on
television. But if you see him and know him, congratulate him as well. So. I did
pay for this book by the way. It was not a freebie. So I encourage everybody else
to look into the local bookstores for local writers and ifI come across some more
in the future, I will point those out as well.
Nov/You are going to recommend it to the library as also, right?
Baker/Certainly, excellent idea. Susan, wake up.
Kubby/No, it is John Hiett you really need to talk to.
Baker/John, wake up. Get out there and buy this book. Thank you, that is all.
Vanderhoef/Okay, well, since we are plugging different activities in the community. This
Sunday, February 16, from 1:30 to 3:00 at the d.t. Holiday Inn, there will be a
Junior High, 7th and 8th grade, Leadership Conference. It is a first for our
community. It is totally free. They will have Dave Triplett from the University
Foundation talking to them about making a good impression. We have Keith Jones
from Hills Bank, appreciation will be his subject. And Karen Meyer from West
High will talk about setting goals and Amy Johnson will be there also to spend
time with the students. Reservations are not necessary. However if you would like
to, call 351-3337. And this is sponsored by our local Hills Bank. I think it offers a
good possibility for young people to get out and network and learn about-
leadership and become good community citizens. That is it.
Nov/Dean-
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Thornberry/Two weeks ago I mentioned a conversation that I had with Mr. Howell, UI
Hospitals and Clinics. I will just give you my next chapter here. Conversation
happened several months ago as my wife was a visitor to their institution and an
incident happened that I was a little upset about. So I visited with Mr. Howell who
is Chief Executive Officer of the 131 Hospitals and Clinics. He has been given, in
the last summer, direction to become more profitable or less red ink at the
University. Hence there was, last summer previous to that, layoffs, reassignments,
a number of things that some companies call it downsizing. They went quite a
ways in downsizing. I likened the experience I had at the UI Hospital and Clinics
to someone who was on a very very special day. A husband and wife go out for a
dinner and have the best chef in the word fix their dinner as we had with the
doctors at the UI Hospitals and Clinics. Best in the world. It was a marvelous
diner, the operation went well. The waiter was fantastic, best in the world. The
follow up people to the surgeon were great, best in the world. We couldn't have
asked for anything any better. At the end of the dinner when everything was just
beautiful, the music was great, the meal was just awesome, some of the best
waitresses that were bringing the dessert were very very good, some of the best in
the world. But they had 25 tables to give dessert to basically at the same time.
When they delivered the dessert, it slipped in my lap. It was a great- the hors
d'oeuvres we outstanding, music was beautiful. The whole meal was just fantastic.
What did I remember about that meal, the dessert that fell in my lap. The nurses
that we have, both male and female, at the University are fantastic people. I didn't
meet one that I had any problem with at all. They were very very good, very
capable, very knowledgeable, very understanding, very overworked. One had 22
patients to take care of at one time in a critical care area, post op area. That is
what I had a problem with. You can't expect the best nurses in the world to take
care of 22 people at the same time. You just can't do it. I don't care how good
they are. They are very caring people, very good people and I think that Mr.
Howell has convinced the Regents to allow an additional percentage or two or
three bottom line. From what I read in the paper and of course I take that as
gospel, that there are very very profitable at this point in time and perhaps could
lighten up a little bit. A lot of the nursing staff have let~ the area. They have lef~ the
building. Some of them have let~ town because they were laid off for an indefinite
length of time. They need to work. They have gone elsewhere. Some are waiting
to be called back. Others wouldn't go back on a bet. Before- And I hope that
instead of staffing for 75 or 80% occupancy in the hospital, that they consider
staffing maybe closer to what the actual visitations are, perhaps 90 to 95%. It just
so happen at the time my wife was in, they were at 100% in the area she was in.
Which yes, Mr. Howell conceded they were understaffed at that time because they
were at 100% occupancy at the hospital and they weren't staffed for that or
anywhere close to that. I hope that they are not 100% occupant. I would like to
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see fewer people going to the hospital but this is a major source of employment for
the people in Iowa City and it is a fantastic, fantastic hospital. Before the visit I
had heard horror stories, don't go to the University Hospital, you are going to be
put in the hallway and wait for a room to become available and you are going to be
forgotten. I didn't see any of that, haven't heard of any that, all of that is just
nonsense. It doesn't happen folks, it doesn't happen. But the people that are there
still need some help and Mr. Howell came to an understanding and I understand
the business of running a business. But you also have to consider your customers
and the patients, they are the customers. The Chamber of Commerce, starting this
year, is going to be highlighting the care that you can receive in Iowa City, not just
at the UI Hospitals and Clinics but Mercy Hospital and all of the rest of the
availability of medical care and we are going to be highlighting it. Let's give them,
our visitors, who come to Iowa City the best treatment, the most courteous
treatment and I would like to see some help for the fantastic nursing staff at the UI
Hospital. Thank you.
Nov/Ernie-
Lehman/On the 22nd of February, there is going to be a rather major event in this
community. I mean we went to the bowl game, we have Iowa Women's
Basketball, we have Men's Basketball. But on that day we have got at least four
city council folks who are going to bowl for Big Brothers/Big Sisters at Colonial
Lanes. Larry Baker- Larry is your wife bowling?
Baker/Yes.
Lehman/You and your wife, my wife and I, Dee Norton and his wife are going to be on
one team. Karen Kubby, I think kind of shamed us into it because you have been
doing this for a long time, Karen, and I certainly respect that.
Norton/It would have been a meeting if we all four would have been on the same team.
Lehman/I think it is a wonderful wonderful cause. So, if you really want to be
entertained- If you think this is entertaining, watch us bowl.
Norton/Larry and Ginger are going, don't forget.
Lehman/I said that.
Baker/My wife and I by ourselves are worth the price of admission.
Council/(All talking).
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Norton/The name of our team is we are called Pals and Dolls.
Baker/Dee, tell them the real name.
Lehman/No, no. And I think we are going to have a lot of fun and anybody who would
like to give us pledges to help out with this, we are certainly open to it.
Baker/That is shameless. Send the money directly to Big Brothers/Big Sisters.
Lehman/That is fine. Glad to be a part of it.
Nov/Karen-
Kubby/Somebody sent me a letter in the mail that they, for whatever reason, want to
remain anonymous. But they wanted to say thank you to a couple of different
safety departments of Iowa City. And the first one is the Police Department and
they want to thank the Police Department for pulling over more speeders on
arterial streets and especially on E. Jefferson because this person believes that
people speed all of the time and they are very happy to have that kind of traffic
control on E. Jefferson Street. The second kudos goes to the Fire Department
where in this person's neighborhood someone passed away and while the
emergency crew was waiting for Dr. Bozek to come and to declare this person
deceased, the firefighters brought the five year old son out to kind of re-direct his
attention for awhile and all of this hustle and bustle, to look at the fire truck and
the ambulance and to keep the small one busy in this crisis. And this person just
wants to thank the Fire Department for their exemplary service in that situation.
I wanted to outline really briefly some hopefully, this is the beginning of the
conclusion of the saga of the CliWs hill sloughing off. This is a decade plus old
issue. And I hope that we have come to a resolution that will be lived out and this
is a court order agreement. Is that correct?
Woito/That is correct.
Kubby/Where the owners of the Cliff's have agreed that they will have a grading permit
for stabilizing the slopes by March 1 and that if they don't have that and that is
accepted by the city. And if they don't have the application by March 1, they will
pay $1,000 a day. That they will come in with a sensitive area overlay rezoning by
that same date and that all the grading work and all of the landscaping will be
completely on or before November 1 of this year or there will be a $1,000 a day
fine and the only thing that can set us back on this is mother nature. And so that
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will be the only out that they have. So I hope that they love it out and if they don't,
they are going to pay and I am very glad that we finally found something. It is
about time we got hard-nosed about this and I hope it is going to work.
Nov/Absolutely.
Kubby/We will see by November 1 of this year.
Nov/We have to keep reminding people that we now have a Grading and Erosion Control
ordinance based on this experience which is a kind word.
Lehman/That is exactly right.
Kubby/And the last issue I wanted to bring up is something that I have been thinking
about for a long time and I would like us to talk about it so we could implement it
for this spring and that is that on city owned property, especially park land, where
the creek runs along it, that we apply to ourselves to be a wildlife area or natural
area, I am not sure what the code name is. To get a permit to allow ourselves to
go above the 14" height in our Weed Ordinance so that we are not mowing clear
up to the creek bank which doesn't allow the creek bank to stabilize itself with
growth and doesn't allow a lot of natural habitat for wildlife and I think it makes a
nice variance to the Kentucky Blue grass and crab grass because we don't do that.
And dandelions because we are not spraying our parks as we use to unless there is
a poison ivy problem. But to have some variance along the creeks and I would like
us to schedule this or refer this to P/R maybe to have them discuss this issue and if
they would be interested in doing it.
Norton/As long as they are not noxious.
Nov/They have done that along the river, along Rocky Shore Drive they have natural
grasses and things like that that are un-mowed.
Kubby/So I would like to do this at any of our parks or public r.o.w.s that we maintain
and has a creek through it. I mean I certainly have implemented this along the
r.o.w. that belongs to the city along my house where this creek bank is straight up
and down. Previous owner mowed all the way to the end and there wasn't a lot of
natural stabilization and I have stopped mowing all the way over and let the buffer
area and the creek bank is much more stabilized just from that natural growth and
the root system. So there are a lot of public good issues here and would like us to
ask P/R to look at this issue and make a recommendation to us.
Nov/Okay.
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Kubby/All right, thanks. And that is all I have.
Norton/I have just a couple. I want to remind you again, as I think you were reminded
last night but I want to mention it again to you and also the audience. We will be
meeting, that is all of us, will be meeting with the Student Senate on next Tuesday
in the Main Ballroom, upstairs in the south entrance, not the main lounge but the
ballroom upstairs going in the south entrance. At 6:30 is an opportunity for some
social gathering and the meeting will start at 7:00 and we have a pretty, I think,
Karen and I and Mark Beltrum have, who is president of the Student Senate, have
worked out a program that I think will make your time well spent, focusing on
parking, transit, and bikes for the moment in trying to get their input, bring them
up to date on where we are. We are suppose to hear where the University is and
then try to work out some possible solutions to mutual problems.
Nov/And I have invited Julie Fry who is the Director of the Stepping Up Program to
come and meet all of the city council members and Student Senate members.
Norton/We will have some staff members on hand, Jeff and Bill Dollman and Jeff
Davidson and I guess Ron Logsden will be there to- And John Yapp to be
available to help people. We are meeting in small tables and the council members
will be responsible for reporting on what happens at their particular table as each
table- You will be sitting with presumably 7-8 students trying to work out
problems in this area and report to the whole group. So we have a little work to
do.
Nov/Look at problems, drink some coffee, and visit students.
Norton/There will be a student facilitator at each table with a council person to be the
reporter.
Vanderhoef/I would just request if you haven't already thought about it to be sure there is
a map on every table.
Norton/Well, we have sent out materials to them. We sent out a little handout. It is in
Marian's hands now. Karen prepared a thing on Transit and on bikes and I prepare
done on parking with some of the maps from that book and the parking book will
be on hand and there will be an overhead transparency projected.
Kubby/There will be a transit map that will be the whole city at each table and free transit
passes, two free transit passes for every student senator who shows up and
council, I guess, too.
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Norton/Things are being sent to the student senators by Friday so they should have a
chance to look. And there will be material in your packet on Friday, I guess, fight
Marian.
Kubby/Some preparing will make the meeting go more smoothly.
Norton/But it is nothing new for you. Most of you have seen it from the parking book or
transit or bikes.
The other thing I want to mention, I have noticed personally a number of places
around town where the street lights are literally fading on me in front of my eyes as
I am trying to go on Kirkwood. I would like to suggest to you and maybe to
others if we see some to let us know because you can't drive around and catch all
of the lights. Some of them look to me that they are on their last leg. So if
anybody-
Nov/Depends on how late our meetings go. Sometimes they turn them off-
Vanderhoeff Speaking of- Are there some missing street lights out on North Dubuque?
Atkins/North Dubuque?
Vanderhoef/It is fairly dark out there and some one told me and I have not gone out and
looked. But they said that when people have hit them with cars through the years,
a few of them have never been put back up.
Norton/Who monitors the street lights, anyhow?
Vanderhoef/I thought perhaps tliis was going to be taken care of at the time that we do
the water line along there and the whole project.
Thornberry/Who do they call when they see a street light out?
Arkins/You can call the Department of Public Works-
Nov/I am really not kidding. I drive home on Dubuque Street regularly. If I am early
enough, all the lights are lit. I go by later and every other light is off.
Norton/Well, I didn't mean to make a court case out of it. It is just I think there are some
problems and I brought this up originally because Jefferson Street is where they
have been doing some work. The hill on Jefferson Street was just so dark you
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could hardly see and I guess Larry Wilson at the University is looking into that one
because it is their issue. All right, that is enough. I will not bring up any of my
other million topics.
Nov/Okay. I will bring up my million topics. I want to announce again some meeting
dates and I want to give them to somebody in our television department to put this
up on the character generator also. Anyway we will meet here in this room on
police procedures, policies, practices, etc.. There will be council work sessions on
February 13, 9:30 AM; February 19 at 7:00 PM; February 20, there will be a work
session and a formal meeting, 10:00 AM; February 19, which is PM, there Will be
public comment. I don't know if public comment will start at the beginning of the
meeting because we may have some comments 9f our own first. But there will be a
chance for public comment. All of these meetings will be televised live on Channel
4 as they take place. And there will be a meeting with the Library Board and our
council and other local focus groups on the 64-1A last urban renewal parcel. The
architect are going to have a meeting on February 19 from 4:00 to 6:00 PM at the
Library and on March 5, 4:00 to 6:00 PM and that one is here at the Civic Center,
right?
Karr/Yes it is. Is it the 19th or 20th, Madam Mayor? It is Thursday.
Nov/I don't know.
Norton/I have it on the 20th, too.
Nov/Okay.
Karr/I believe it is the 20th.
Nov/Okay, I have the 19th. I am sorry.
Karr/Thursday, the 20th.
Nov/Okay, correction. Thursday, the 20th, 4:00 to 6:00 PM at the Public Library and
March 5th, 4:00 to 6:00 PM which is here at the Civic Center. We have already
just announced our meeting with the Student Senate and the city council. And if
anybody would like to go out on the night of February 19 and not come to the city
council meeting, there is a League of Women Voters Informational Meeting at the
Coralville Public Library at 7:30 PM on how Johnson County governments can
move forward by consolidate, streamline, modernize, regionalism. There are panel
discussion and audience participation and it should be an interesting meeting. We
are not going to be there. We are going to be here. So, anything else?
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Norton/There is also a Watershed Management meeting all day that day. Dee and I are
going, I think.
Nov/You are going to that one, okay. Very good.
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February 11, 1997 City of Iowa City PaCe 15
ITEM NO. 20. REPORT ON ITEMS FROM THE CITY MANAGER AND CITY ATTORNEY.
a. City Manager.
b. City Attorney.
ITEM NO. 21.
ADJOURNMENT.
#20b page 1
#2Ob
Woito/I just wanted to remind you for those of you who are interested in reading my
report, you have it in front of you today. It is still in a draft form because I still
need to check citations. It is probably far more than some of you want and maybe
not as much as others want. But anyway, there it is and you can have it for your
Thursday meeting.
Kubby/So that is available to the public?
Woito/Yes.
Kubby/It will be at the Public Library and people can call the City Clerk's Office to get a
copy of the 4th Amendment issues around the Police Department.
Nov/Okay.
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CIT)' 01110~ CITY
City Council Meeting Schedule
January 31, 1997
IFebruary .1~." ....~ ................................... : ......
2:00 p,m. - 5:00 p.m. SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION
Police Policies and Procedures
'- SaturdayI
Council Chambers
[F~bruary 3' MondayI
7:00 p.m. Council Chambers
SPECIAL FORMAL COUNCIL MEETING
Separate agenda posted
SPECIAL COUNCIL WORK SESSION
Budget
I February 5 '
4:00 p,m. - 5:30 p,m,
SPECIAL COUNCIL WORK SESSION
Local Option Sales Tax
Wednes"daYl
Public Library Room A
IFebruary 1.0
7:00 p.m.
REGULAR COUNCIL WORK SESSION
Monday I
Council Chambers
I February 1'1
7:00 p.m.
REGULAR FORMAL COUNCIL MEETING Counci! Chambers
7:00 p.m. SPECIAL COUNCIL WORK SESSION To Be Determined
Student Senate
7:00 p.m. CITY CONFERENCE BOARD Council Chambers
7:30 p.m. REGULAR COUNCIL WORK SESSION
I February '25 ...........;'i .......................... :"' : ......:':'~ ...........' .....::~::: :" ...... .....Tuesdayl
7:00 p.m. REGULAR FORMAL COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers
7:00 p.m. SPECIAL COUNCIL WORK SESSION Council Chambers
7:00 p.m. SPECIAL FORMAL COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers
('J'IT OF IO W,~ CITY
City Council Meeting Schedule
February 7,199
I Febr.uary '1'0i .' == ;'....' ·
4:00 p.m,
7:00 p.m.
SPECIAL COUNCIL WORK SESSION
.Budget
REGULAR COUNCIL WORK SESSION
Times Are Approximate
7:00 p.m. Review Zoning Matters
7:30 p.m.
7:40 p.m.
8:25 p.m.
8:30 p.m.
8:45 p.m.
9:05 p.m.
9:15 p.m.
Low-Income Assistance Programs
Downtown Parking Study
Regional Solid Waste Management Plan
South Sycamore Regional Basin
Utilities Back-Billing Discussion
· : .Monday. I
Council Chambers
Consider appointment to the Johnson County/Iowa City
Airport Zoning Board of Adjustment
Council Agenda, Council Time
IFebruary ;11
7:00 p.m.
· · '" '.. : Tuesday
REGULAR FORMAL COUNCIL MEETING
Council Chambers
I February :i31
9:30 a.m.
11:00 a.m.
SPECIAL COUNCIL WORK SESSION
Police Policies and Procedures
SPECIAL FORMAL COUNCIL MEETING
Executive Session (Evaluation)
Thursday
Council Chambers
IFebruary :.17 '~" :
PRESIDENT'S DAY - CITY OFFICES CLOSED
Mondayl
February=~i8 ':.: i ..
7:00 p.m.
JOINT MEETING/STUDENT SENATE
(Separate Agenda)
":: .... uesday
Ballroom
Second Floor
Iowa Memorial Union
IFebruaryi9 ' :"
7:00 p.m.
SPECIAL COUNCIL WORK SESSION
Police Policies and Procedures
Wednesday I
Council Chambers
I FebruarY 20::' i i:':.' '
10:00 a.m.
SPECIAL COUNCIL WORK SESSION
Police Policies and Procedures (only if needed)
Thursday
Counc# Chambers
4:00 p.m. JOINT MEETINGI64-1A (Separate Agenda) Public Library Room A