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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-12-15 Transcription December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 1 December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session 6:39 PM Council: Champion, Karmer, Lehman, O'Donnell, Pfab, Vanderhoef, Wilburn Staff: Atkins, Dilkes, Franklin, Helling, Karr TAPE: 03-88, BOTH SIDES TAPE 03-88, SIDE ONE REVIEW ZONING ITEMS Lehman/Zoning items, Karin. a. CONSIDER A MOTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING FOR JANUARY 6 ON AN ORDINANCE REZONING APPROXIMATELY 119.94 ACRES FROM ID-RS, INTERIM DEVELOPMENT SINGLE-FAMILY AND ID-RM, INTERIM DEVELOPMENT MULTIFAMILY TO OPDH-5, PLANNED DEVELOPMENT OVERLAY--SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL, SUBJECT TO CONDITIONS, FOR PROPERTY LOCATED SOUTH OF PEPPERWOOD ADDITION AND EAST OF GILBERT STREET. (REZ03- 00020) Franklin/OK, the first three items are setting public hearings. The first one is on the Sandhill Development, 379 lot, single-family development off Gilbert Street or Sand Road. Item b is a--- Karmer/Now, Planning and Zoning passed that with, over the objection of the developers--- Franklin/That's right. Kanner/...in terms of the garage aspect. Franklin/That's right. Kanner/So if this goes through Council with the same rezoning stipulations, that means they either have to comply with that or the rezoning is moot? Franklin/Correct. Kanner/The rezoning is moot--- Franklin/Right. Kanner/...and they'd have to start all over or use--- This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 2 Franklin/Yes. Kanned ...the current zoning? Franklin/Yeah, the current zoning is IDRS, however, so that's not likely. Kanner/So they'd have to try again and go for another one? Franklin/Mm-hmm. Right. Kanner/OK. Franklin/A new planned development. Kanner/Have you heard anything from the developers in terms of agreeing to this stipulation? Franklin/No. Kanner/OK. Thank you. Franklin/Mm-hmm. b. CONSIDER A MOTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING FOR JANUARY 6 ON AN ORDINANCE REZONING APPROXIMATELY 16.1 ACRES FROM RESIDENTIAL FACTORY BUILT HOUSING, RFBH, TO PLANNED DEVELOPMENT HOUSING OVEREAY-12 (OPDH-12), FOR PROPERTY ON HEINZ ROAD SOUTH OF PADDOCK BOULEVARD. (REZ03-00024) Franklin/Item b is setting a public hearing for January 6 on an ordinance rezoning 16 acres from RFDH to OPDH-12. This is an extension of the Saddlebrook Development; however, the buildings will be multifamily and multiple buildings on single lots. Kanner/I had a question for you on that. We had a note from someone in regards to private streets, concern about public and private streets interacting. Franklin/Mm-hmm. Karmer/I was not familiar with the concept that we allow private streets to be part of our network even though they don't meet City standards. Could you just explain how that operates? Franklin/With the Saddlebrook Development, that's probably one of the first ones we did where we purposefully allowed the private streets to intersect with and become part of the network of streets that would be public streets. And we did that purposefully to make sure that this development was interconnected with the rest of the neighborhood. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 3 Kanner/And so the private streets are not open to the public? Franklin/Yeah, they are. Kanner/They are? Franklin/Mm-hmm. Kanner/But they're owned by the private entity, the association--- Franklin/Correct. Kanner/...or the management until there's an association? Frmtklin/Correct. Kanner/OK. And--do they meet our standards? Franklin/You know, I'd have to go back and look, Steven. I didn't prepare for this particular item tonight, but I frankly don't recall whether Paddock Circle meets our standards or not. Typically, with the private streets they are at a reduced standard, but exactly what that is for this project I'd have to go back and look at it. Kanner/Do they meet our safety standards? Franklin/They are safe streets. It's just a matter of, often it is a matter of whether they use a rollover curb or a barrier curb, whether it is 28 feet of paving or it's 22 feet of paving or 25 feet of paving. Those are the kinds of variations that we typically see with the private streets. Kanner/Thank you. Franklin/Mm-hmm. c. CONSIDER A MOTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING FOR JANUARY 6 ON AN ORDINANCE REZONING APPROXIMATELY 25.07 ACRES FROM HIGHWAY COMMERCIAL, CH-l, TO SENSITIVE AREAS OVERLAY (SAO/CH-1) FOR PROPERTY LOCATED WEST OF MORNION TREK BOULEVARD AND SOUTH OF HIGHWAY 1. (REZ03-00027) Franklin/Item c is setting a public hearing for January 6 on mzoning of 25 acres from CH-1 to CAO/CH-1. This is property that is on Mormon Trek Extended and includes the eight-lot commercial subdivision that will have the Carousel Motors on it that you've probably read about in the paper. Kanner/What's the wetland situation there? They were looking at--- This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 4 Franklin/They're putting in compensatory wetlands because there are wetlands on the southwest portion of the property. Kanner/And this isn't something they have to do with our new ordinance? Since--these aren't connected to the navigable waters. Franklin/These particular wetlands are jurisdictional. They must be jurisdictional or we wouldn't even be looking at them. It connects to the Willow Creek watershed and the Willow Creek goes into the Iowa River. Kanner/So that's why they're nnder the jurisdiction there? Franklin/Mm-hmm. Yes. Kanner/OK. And where is it going to be mitigated? To what location? Franklin/It's going to be mitigated on site. It's just that they're shifting them around because it's a, it's a stream corridor which is not, it's not wet all of the time, but it is considered to be a wetland. And so in order to sit the subdivision into this particular area, they're just, they're moving them essentially. But it's on the same site. Kanner/And oftentimes though these mitigated Yvetlands, nationally, I don't know what it is here--- Franklin/Can be off site. Kanneff It, but they don't work a large percentage of them fail as wetlands when they make new wetlands is what I've read. Franklin/There's no reason for us to believe that these won't work, and we'll go into them in some detail when we actually have the public hearing. Kanner/OK. Vanderhoef/Is there any possibility of moving that to a different location? I know we've finished the drainage way where we used some mitigation for other properties, but I keep thinking about the airport location and--- Franklin/Mm-hmm. Vanderhoef/...and water. Franklin/Well, the developer has worked out their wetlands compliance satisfactorily to the Corps and to our engineering department with what they have submitted to us, so I don't know that there's a particular reason to look at putting it someplace else. It's not This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 5 impeding their development. If that's your concern? Vanderhoef/No, my concern is the more wetland we have around the airport is flight safety, birds. Franklin/Yes, we looked at this to evaluate whether it would be a bird strike hazard because that's prohibited within 5,000 feet of the end ora runway, and given the evaluation of the plantings and the amount of water that's going to be in this space, it would not be a bird strike hazard as determined by wetland specialists. Vanderhoeff Thank you. d. REZONING APPROXIMATELY 1/3 OF AN ACRE FROM PLANNED ItIGI4- DENSITY MULTI-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL (PRM) TO SENSITIVE AREAS OVERLAY PLANNED ItIGH DENSITY MULTI-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL (OSA-PRM) FOR PROPERTY LOCATED AT 512 S. DUBUQUE STREET. (REZ03-00022) Franklin/Item d is a public hearing on the rezoning of 512 South Dubuque Street. This is from PRM to OSA/PRM. As you will recall, you already had a rezoning on this from CB-5 to PRM, and the reason that it has to go through a Sensitive Areas rezoning is because it is going to consist of the disturbance ora protected slope. But it is a manmade protected slope and we've made accommodation in the Code for disturbance of a manmade protected slope. And the ama in which it comes into play is here where the parking lot is and as you can see from the cross-hatching, the parking lot--in fact, there's a retaining wall that runs right along here--I did that pretty good. Lehman/You did it really well. Let's see you do the comer. Hey. Franklin/Oop. OK. So this is the reason that we have to go through the Sensitive Areas Ordinance. There was a technical study done by Terracon and one of the stipulations that has come from the Planning and Zoning Commission and was recommended by staff is that this rezoning be dependent upon compliance with the Terracon report and there were various suggestions that were made in the report that's included in your packet. And the requirement would be that they comply with those stipulations that Terracon placed on the property. Also, the City Engineer will oversee this as it proceeds. The recommendation from Planning and Zoning was 7-0. And this is on for public hearing, first consideration, at the developer's request. Kanner/I had a couple questions for you on that. It says that the retaining wall will go from 3 feet to 16 feet in height. Franklin/Mm-tunm. Karmer/Can you show where the 16 feet high retaining wall and what's your opinion of the aesthetic quality of that? Having a 16-foot-tall retaining wall--that's a big block of This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special ~vork session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 6 cement that I'm a little leery of. Franklin/It would be at this end that it would be the highest because as you get up here, the grade goes up into that existing alley. Given this location, there will times when it will be much more visible; such as this time of year, it would be visible from Linn Street. Wilburn/From where? Franklin/Not Linn Street. Lehman/Yeah, you're right. Franklin/Linn Street. Lehman/Yeah, but it's quite a ways. Pfab/Yeah, it's--- Lehman/Well, there's--- Franklin/Sorry, this is very sensitive. I haven't got the mouse on. This building is an apartment building right here. It's Kidwell's apartment building. And so you've got that building and then you've got the backdrop of the slope and then beyond that you've got other buildings that are going to be higher than this wall. So I think, in terms of the aesthetic, you're not going to see it very much except from behind Kidwell's building. Kanner/Harrison, though often you can look down there and you see sort of a nice valley and things and you can see it from, I think, here it's seen quite easily. Franklin/But from Harrison--- Lehman/You won't be able to see it from Harrison. Franklin/From Harrison, you're going to be standing here looking this way, and you won't be seeing the mass of the 16 feet of retaining wall. Kanner/I think you would be able to see it if you're looking--- Franklin/Well, you'd be able to see it but it won't be imposing because you will be looking at it as if the wall were on your side there. It's a judgment call but I think that given the surrounding area that it's not going to be a visual obstruction or in time even be noticeable. Kanner/Were there alternatives discussed before you got to this final position of compromise This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 7 with the developer on this arrangement for other ways of doing the parking or arrangements? Franklin/There were various discussions over time about the design of the building, the placement of the building, whether the parking could go underneath. That was looked at in terms of having parking come in somewhere in here underneath the building. Structurally, that was more difficult than this particular solution. ! don't think anybody had any problems with it. The developer is here if you would like to ask him some questions, at the mayor's discretion, but--- Kanner/Well, I was just wondering from the staff if you had put any other proposals--I know that staff and developers have discussions--- Franklin/Mm-hmm. Karmer/...they bring an idea and you say that might not work and let's try this, and what do you think of this, and then they come back, and we give a recommendation--- Franklin/We usually do that when the submittal that comes in presents some problems for us, and this one did not. Kanner/OK. So this was originally from the get-go, you thought they brought it in and you thought it looked pretty good. Franklin/That it was acceptable, yeah. Kanner/OK. Franklin/Mm-hmm. And we weren't looking at elevations at the very beginning either, but that's gone through site plan review now and--- Vanderhoef/What pement of the surface area is parking and what percent is building? Franklin/On this lot, it's probably about 50-50, just eyeballing it. Vanderhoef/OK, so--- Franklin/ This is the building line. Well, that's the building line right there. Vanderhoef/OK. Franklin/OK. Vanderhoef/And does this parking lot then take care of at least one space or two spaces for every apartment in there or--- This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 8 Franklin/It's going to meet the parking requirements, whatever those are. O'Donnell/It has to meet--- Franklin/Yeah, it has to meet the parking requirements. Vanderhoef/Yeah, it has to meet the requirement but what do we have in terms of--- Franklin/ I'd rather struggle. VanderhoefJ ...paying fees into the southside parking area? Franklin/Well, the requirement is that you've got to provide 50 percent of the spaces on site and then you pay 50 percent into the parking facility impact fee--- Vanderhoef/OK. Franklin/...fund. I'm assuming, and Jim, correct me if I'm wrong, that this is 50 percent of the requirement is on-site and that's all that's on site. Jim Clark/It's a little more than 50 percent, but you're still paying 50 percent. Franklin/Sure, they can provide mom parking, but they have to pay the 50 percent. Vanderhoef/Got it. Thank you. Kanner/And I had a question about the report, about the groundwater. It's on page 116 of ours, the engineering report. Franklin/In the Terracon report? Kanner/Yeah. Franklin/Oh, memy. Kanner/And maybe Steve might be able to get an answer from--- Franklin/It'd be from Public Works, I'm sure. Atkins/It'd have to be from Public Works. I've not read the report. Franklin/Go ahead, shoot. Kanner/Groundwater levels. Franklin/Mm-hmm. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 9 Kanner/They said it was, the borings were performed following a relatively dry season. I'm just wondering how that affects it. Groundwater levels--it might be different from what they found in the boring. I'm morally concerned about that. The possibility of groundwater level fluctuation should be considered when developing design and construction plans for the project. Maybe Rick could--- Atkins/Rick will be here tomorrow night. Kanner/Could maybe you or--- Atkins/Yes, well, Rick will be here tomorrow night. Kanner/He'll be here anyhow? Atkins/OK. I'll ask him about that. Karmer/OK. Atkins/This is the Terracon report? Kanner/Yeah, it's on page 4 in their paging. (Several talk) Kanner/In our handout it's page 116 in our packet. Atkins/I'll give Rick a head's up. Kanner/Thank you. Franklin/It does not appear just skimming this that the groundwater issue was one that was called out in their recommendations, which would lead me to believe that it wasn't a major concern of Terracon but an observation. Anyway, Rick will respond to that. Anything else? Pfab/I have a couple of questions. One is what is the, how are, how is the public going to be protected from falling over the wall? Franklin/Do you have a railing planned, Jim? Clark/Actually, (can't hear) Franklin/Three feet? Clark/Yes. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 10 Franklin/So that would preclude it. Pfab/What about people falling over it? Clark/They would have to climb up on the--- Wilburn/It's not being recorded. Franklin/For the record, the wall is 3 feet above the grade of the parking surface. Pfah/Where's, if it's 16 foot, where's the 16th foot? Franklin/Sixteen foot is from grade to the top of the wall, correct? Jim/Sixteen foot includes the (can't hear) the ground. Franklin/Oh, OK, so that includes the footings. Clark/(Can't hear) Wilburn/This is not being recorded. Franklin/Tim, you're going to have to come up because we're not getting any of this. (can't hear) Lehman/Some of this really should be at the public hearing. We're having a public hearing tonight. We're setting the hearing for tomorrow night. I mean, I think this discussion is far more relevant at the public hearing than it is--- O'Donnell/I do, too. These are questions that should be brought up tomorrow night. Lehman/I mean, I think that's--the public is (can't hear) to hear them. Kanner/Yeah, I think we should repeat them, but you ask us to try to ask as many of these at the work session ahead of time, and I think it's, what I'm trying to get at is some of these ahead of time before I, so I can investigate them more perhaps tomorrow. Give me a little time, because we don't get much time on these things. Franklin/And we do appreciate that so we have the answers for you tomorrow night. Anything else? e. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE VACATING A PORTION OF AN ALLEY RIGHT-OF- WAY LOCATED SOUTH OF KIRKWOOD AVENUE AND WEST OF DIANA STREET. (VAC03-00001) (SECOND CONSIDERATION) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 11 Franklin/Item e is a vacation ordinance, second consideration on the vacation of an alley, Kirk~vood Avenue west of Diana Street. You'll have the final consideration of this and the disposition on the January 6th meeting. f. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE FINAL PLAT OF LINDEMANN SUBDIVISION PART TWO A. (SUB03-00037) g. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE FINAL PLAT OF LINDEMANN SUBDIVISION PART THREE. (SUB03-00038) h. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE FINAL PLAT OF LINDEMANN SUBDIVISION PART FOUR. (SUB03-00039) Franklin/Item f, g, and h are the Lindemann subdivisions, and this is the one where they have requested somewhat of an unusual platting. Lindemann subdivisions are east of Scott Boulevard and south of Lower West Branch Road. The first one, which is Item f, is a resolution approving a final plat of Lindemarm Subdivision Part 2-A, and that consists of four out-lots. My understanding is that they have requested this subdivision because of the way in which they are purchasing the property from the-- they being Southgate--is purchasing the property from the Lindemann family. Items g and h are then resubdivisions of portions of these out-lots for actual platted lots to sell. That is, for Southgate to sell. OK, and I bet 3 is in here somewhere, OK. Part 3 is a subdivision which enables the construction of 64 single-family lots. This is just a continuation of the Lindemann Subdivision that you're seeing constructed out there now. Part 4 is just north of there, which would allow 40 single-family lots, fairly simple. These are now ready to go. O'Donnell/Legal papers you have? Franklin/Yes, legal papers, construction plans am completed. O'Donnell/OK. Lehman/Thank you. Franklin/Done with Planning and Zoning. AGENDA ITEMS 10. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN TIlE CITY OF IOWA CITY AND TIlE ARTIST FOR TIlE GOOSETOWN NEIGIIBORI-IOOD ART PROJECT AND AUTHORIZING TIlE MAYOR TO EXECUTE AND TIlE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST THE SAME. 11. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN TIlE This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 12 CITY OF IOWA CITY AND THE ARTIST FOR THE LONGFELLOW NEIGHBORHOOD ART PROJECT AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST THE SAME. Franklin/And if I could just ask if there are any questions about the public art projects--it'd be Longfellow or Goosetown art contracts. You have reviewed and approved the concepts previously. These are the contracts with the artists. OK. Karmer/I have a question. Franklin/But not on this? Kanner/No, no--on the art stuff. Franklin/OK. I'll try to answer it. Karmer/I didn't read it as in-depth as perhaps I should have, but could you explain again what is our right in terms of owning the rights to these artworks that we're purchasing. If we want to use to use this on City logos or something or, you know, we're going to be in Gooseto~vn we're putting--- Franklin/Oh, I see what you're saying. Kanner/...there's a pattern we're putting on top of street signs. Does anybody want to adopt this in an official manner? Franklin/Typically, in these contracts we cannot use though the art for any commercial purpose. So we could not put it on T shirts and sell the T shirts without the artist's permission. Otherwise, they can be used for, for instance, if the Goosetown Neighborhood wanted to use the emblem in some way but in all instances we would go to the artists first and have an agreement with the artist that that was OK with them. Dilkes/It's addressed in Section 5.1 of the agreement where the artist gives the City a license to make two- or three-dimensional reproductions for education or noncommercial purposes, and there's a whole host of"such as's" there advertising calendars, posters, brochures, media, that kind of thing. Lehman/Stationery for the Neighborhood Associations? Dilkes/Pardon me? Lehman/Could that be used, for example, on stationery for the Neighborhood Association? Dilkes/I think that would likely fall--- Lehman/ It would work. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December I5, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 13 Kanner/And they wouldn't have to go back to the artists for that. Dilkes/No. I think the key words there are, as Karin pointed out, educational and noncommercial. Lehman/OK. Thank you, Karin. Lehman/Agenda items. 4. CONSIDER ADOPTION OF THE CONSENT CALENDAR AS PRESENTED OR AMENDED. 4. g. (9). CORRESPONDENCE. SPENCER LONG: COLLEGE GREEN PARK LIGHTING. Vanderhoef/The letter about the lighting, let's see which one was that? Kanner/The College Green. Vanderhoef/The College Green lighting. I remember some previous discussions at Parks and Recreation about that so maybe we should just refer this back over to Parks and Recreation to look at. O'Donnell/That's a good idea. Kanner/Was there a clause that if there was lighting by the basketball court, it would disturb people? Vanderhoef/It was about the original lighting that went in there and the people who lived across the street and we had to change the reflectors and it was quite a long conversation and some unhappy people. O'Donnell/When was that? How long ago was that? Champion/Well, it's quite a while. Atkins/Oh, it's been at least eight to ten years ago. VanderhoetY Yeah, because it was while I was still on Parks and Recreation. Kanner/I know my shooting skills are bad enough but when that sun goes down it gets even worse, but I can understand it might be disturbing to folks. Vanderhoef/It depends on where they shine and we have a lighting ordinance now, so we can look at that and how much was across the street and all that stuff. Then the other one was the--- This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 14 Atkins/Excuse me, was that a "go" to send that to Parks and Rec? That's your comment? OK. 4. g. (15) CORRESPONDENCE. MIKE MESSIER: 1ST AVE RR CROSSING. Vanderhoef/The First Avenue railroad crossing--I read Jeff's response to it which I know is quite clear, but this is one of the things that I'd like to talk about when we get to CIP. I think it's a coming discussion to have about grade separation there and also to look at getting grant money, the CMAQ monies that come out of the transportation could be used there, but it's a long process to go through the railroad. But I'd like to take a look at it. Atkins/We've also contacted the railroad. I just haven't heard back from them by now. I think we're pretty sure what happened, and we'll be preparing a report and let you know then. Vanderhoef/Yes. Atkins/It was an aberration. It was a (can't hear) O'Donnell/Seems like that happens once every three or four years. Lehman/Oh, yes. O'Donnell/I remember one time an ex~police officer got out to write him a ticket. Do you remember that? Atkins/Yes. Vanderhoef/Which mayor climbed in the cab of the--- O'Donnell/I think that was Ernie on his first term back in 1940. Vanderhoef/No, it says female. (Laughter) Wilburn/Susan. Vanderhoef/I figured it. Atkins/As I recall, it was Susan, God rest her soul, she--- Vanderhoef/Yeah. Wilburn/They're trying to stop for 34 minutes by the way. Yeah, I was there. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 15 Vanderhoef/Well, I think in the future at some point we're going to have to do a grade separation there. Atkins/OK. Vanderhoef/But it won't be in the next year or two. O'Donnell/Well, it becomes aggravating, but it's an infrequent problem. Lehman/But it is a problem anyhow. Vanderhoef/More frequent than you might think. For those of us who live on the east side of town. O'Donnell/It depends on your definition of"frequent," Dee. Vanderhoef/Two or three times a day. Kanner/And is it just, is it a few minutes or is it--- Atkins/No. Vanderhoef/It's--they back way beyond Bradford on First Avenue trying to go south and they can be clear back to Lower Muscatine, Kirkwood, Lower Muscatine by the mall trying to go north--- Lehman/Time of day. Champion/Yeah. O'Donnell/Generally in the busy time--- Lehman/Right. Champion/During the morning--- O'Donnell/...is when it normally hits. Vanderhoef/Lunch hour is another one. Lehman/OK? Vanderhoef/Mm-huh. 4. e. (1). CONSIDER A MOTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING FOR JANUARY 6 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 16 REGARDING AN AMENDMENT TO THE FY04 ANNUAL ACTION PLAN BUDGET, THAT IS A SUB-PART OF IOWA CITY'S 2001-2006 CONSOLIDATED PLAN (CITY STEPS), AS AMENDED, TO ALLOW PRAIRIE GARDEN IHA LP TO USE FY04 CITY HOME FUNDS TO ACQUIRE 912-14 2ND AVENUE, IOWA CITY, IOWA. Wilburn/I'd like you to have, excuse me, Mike--- O'Donnell/Go ahead. Wilburn/I'd like to have Item 4 e. (1) removed from the Consent Calendar. Lehman/OK. Champion/Oh. Wilburn/I'll have a conflict of interest with that one. Lehman/OK. Kanner/I don't know if you have to excuse yourself now. I did have a question on what's the story on that. Can you stay here while we look at a point of information? Dilkes/He can stay here. He just won't participate in the discussion. Franklin/This is a request by Prairie Garden to include three units that they have purchased on F Street in the package that the allocation of the CDBG and Home money that they have. When they got the allocation, it was for buying scattered site housing and building duplexes. Evidently, it will give them some points in their housing tax credits at the state if they also include units for transitional housing. They've purchased a building on F Street, which is commercial and ground floor and has three units up above. And they want to include that in the package of development that they will do as a consequence of getting the monies that they receive from the City Home money that they receive from the City and then also the housing tax credits that they are pursuing at the state level. This was one of the ones that the Council considered when you passed a resolution endorsing the projects and we had all that discussion about scattered site housing and Whispering Meado~vs. These are the three units that were on F Street in which there were not going to be any children and they were not going to go to impacted elementary schools, and so you did not have a problem endorsing that particular part of the project. So, it's something that is associated with them pursuing their housing tax credits and enables them to be more successful in getting those tax credits. Kanner/I'm sorry. I'm still not clear on this--- Franklin/The reason it comes--- This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 17 Kanner/...is this for Second Avenue? Franklin/Yes. Right. It's on F and Second, I think. Kanner/OK, so you're talking about the same thing. Franklin/Yes, yes. And the reason it's coming before you now is because when it originally was allocated through our standard allocation process, it was for them to build scattered site housing and it was to build duplexes. Because there is a change in what they would actually do with the money; that is, that they would incorporate these three units as well into the project that was the scattered site housing, they needed to come back to you, to HCDC and to you and that's what this is about. Karmer/So this is an additional three units that was not planned for? Franklin/Contemplated, yes. Kanner/Contemplated at that time. Franklin/Yes. Kanner/With the same amotmt of money, they just are able to do three additional units? Franklin/Yes, yes. Kanner/I'm trying to place it. Is there anything in the commercial unit on the--- Franklin/I don't think so; you know, frankly, I can't remember what was there, but it's back behind where it's a real estate office now. The name escapes me but it used to be Chester Pelsang's doctor's office, the podiatrist. Champion/It's across from HyVee. Lehman/Right. Franklin/Across from HyVee, First Avenue. Kanner/OK, that's a nice (can't hear) Franklin/It's right on the edge of a residential zone. Kanner/Yeah. Franklin/So it's an appropriate use certainly for residential. And there have been three units up above that were just market units and now there will be for transitional housing. This This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special ~vork session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 18 is where Burns is partnering with Successful Living. Kanner/OK. Pfab/OK, that was, you answered the question how is that going to be managed would you say? Franklin/OK. Lehman/Thank you, Karin. Franklin/Yup. Lehman/Other agenda items? 7. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 3 ENTITLED "CITY FINANCES, TAXATION AND FEES," CHAPTER 4, "SCHEDULE OF FEES, RATES, CHARGES, BONDS, FINES, AND PENALTIES"; AMENDING TITLE 14 ENTITLED "UNIFIED DEVELOPMENT CODE," CHAPTER 3, "CITY UTILITIES," ARTICLE A, "GENERAL PROVISIONS," SECTION 14-3A-2, "DEFINITIONS," AND SECTION 14-3A-4, "RATES AND CHARGES FOR CITY UTILITIES: AND; AMENDING TITLE 14 ENTITLED "UNIFIED DEVELOPMENT CODE," CHAPTER 3, "CITY UTILITIES, ARTICLE G, "STORM WATER COLLECTION, DISCHARGE AND RUNOFF," TO CREATE A STORMWATER UTILITY AND ESTABLISH A STORMWATER UTILITY FEE. (FIRST CONSIDERATION) O'Donnell/Item number 7. Stormwater utility fee. I know that our Economic Development Committee has sat down and offered us a suggestion of a 50 percent reduction. Is there anybody that's still uncomfortable with that? Pfab/You're talking 7? O'Dormell/Yes. Lehman/Right. Pfab/Item 7. Yes, I'm uncomfortable. This is a, the City is at a wonderful point in time developing a new ordinance here. It has the ability to affect behavior down through the years by everyone pitching off their share and it's pretty easy to tell what their share is. It's whatever a square foot is. I think that we say it costs too much. We don't know. Has anybody nm an RFP out to see how much money it would cost? Because once it was initially done, it could be changed by permits and if somebody decided to tear up some concrete or demolish a building, I'm sure they would let the City know. So it would be in a sense, I believe, self-policing. And the billing is, it's not a separate billing like we talked about with a sidewalk. It costs just as much to inspect 10 feet as it does 40 feet. Because this would, this could be a unit billing because it is This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 19 piggybacking on another billing. O'Dormell/I'm going in a different direction on this, Irvin. Pfab/OK. O'Donnell/I'm having a real problem with on one side of a boundary you pay $2 and on the other side you pay $500 or $1,000. I have a problem with that. I think in the name of trying to recruit good business to the area, I think it has an adverse effect on that. Pfab/I'd, I would--go ahead. O'Donnell/I would like to see us do something mom in square footage--like up to 10 and 10 to 30, 30 to 60, 60 to 100, and put a fee on that. Pfab/OK. Let me suggest something to you. I was present at that Economic Development Committee, and there was a statement made, I believe, by the City Manager, that this was something that was, that developers and purchasers didn't worry about. It just never went on their radar screen. O'Donnell/Well, if it's not going to do any good if anybody does worry about it, Irvin. This is a federal mandate. Pfab/Right, no, it--- O'Dormell/It is going to happen, but it's, I would just like to see us investigate this a little more before we set this up. Pfab/OK, I agree with you. O'Donnell/There's a lot of difference between paying $6,000 in our community and $12 in another community. Pfab/Well, we know that somebody has to pay up to a million bucks a year. And how do you equitably assess that cost? O'Donnell/That's the question I'm asking right now, Irvin (can't hear) Wilburn/(Can't hear) I did have a couple members from different businesses and someone from, related with ICAD, appreciated the fact that it was referred to the Economic Development Committee and that we were having the discussion about it. And they acknowledged that and understand that it is under a federal mandate. They thought that the solution that we came up with was a fair one and at least tried to remedy that situation and then I don't believe the--I think your statement, your summary of the statement by the City Manager about it being something that businesses don't care about or don't pay attention to--- This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 20 Pfab/It hasn't quite--- Wilburn/...is not quite reflective of the entire conversation. Pfab/OK, I'm sorry, when you're finished I want to--- Wilburn/I'm done. Pfab/OK. Now, I saw at that meeting a strong representation for the business community. I saw no representation for the average citizen. Champion/They weren't asked to--- Lehman/Just let me, if I may for a moment, give you a brief synopsis of that meeting from my perspective, Irvin, there was no representation from the business community. There was Economic Development Committee there, there was legal from the City, there was the City Public Works, the City Attorney, and the City, not the City Attorney-- the City Attorney's office, the City Manager and Engineering. Now that's the people attending the meeting. Is that right? Pfab/That' s--- Lehman/Is that right? Pfab/Yes. Lehman/Thank you. Pfab/That's right. Lehman/And we discussed--just a moment--let me--- Pfab/All fight. Lehman/...and I think that there was some concern, and Mike has certainly articulated it very clearly that there is a very, very big discrepancy between the recommendation that was made to Council from the Engineering staff which is one that is totally defensible because it was one that was made based on the amount of impervious surface whether it be residential or commercial. That there are some hoops that commercial had to jump through that residential does not. And commercial already pays, and I think it was in the Economic Development Committee's minutes that commercial already pays 100 percent of their assessed value, whereas residential pays only 50 percent. And the consensus of that meeting was that perhaps an adjustment in the stormwater utility fees for commercial equal to the rollback on the residential might be a fair way of handling it, and that's how we arrived at it. Is that correct? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 21 Pfab/That part's correct and the statement you just made I think was when I said there was representation from the business communities there and I think that was your statement that you just made. So that was why I made the statement I did. But the other part is this is just the beginning of a long-term utility cost. Lehman/Permanent probably. Pfab/And I mean this is going to get a lot more expensive as we go through, down through time. But the business people are in the best position to modify how they do things, retaining things, different ways to handle the water. Now, when you start out with a million dollars the first crack and I think Dee brought it up--she said everyone that has experience with this in the past, they're watching these costs go up when she goes to the League of Cities. That's what they're telling her. This thing is going, it's like topsy, it's going to keep growing. So, I think the best thing to do would be--it's a fair. It's not hard to tell how much impervious surface you have. You just measure. Now, the first thing out of the shoot was it costs too much to measure. Lehman/Irvin, I think we've talked about measuring residential--- Pfab/Right. Lehman/...and we are not going to do that. There is no support to do that. That one really is off the table. Pfab/OK, so--- Lehman/ We're talking about the recommendation from the Economic Development Committee relative to the commercial. O'Donnell/And my, I think my question was very simple. It was is--our Economic Development Committee sat for a period, I don't know how long your meeting was, but we did come up with a substantial reduction, 50 percent. Is this worth going back and seeing if we can't--to use one of your favorite words, Ernie--tweak this again? (Laughter) O'DonneI1/I'm just, I'm uncomfortable and like I said I cannot get beyond being on one side of a boundary and paying so much more, and that's why I thought would it be, would it be better to go like up to 10,000, up to 20,000, and have a fee for each of those? Is that, I don't know if that's (can't hear) Dilkes/Yeah, I think the advice from my office--we were comfortable with both of the proposals that Engineering gave the Economic Development Committee. Basically, what the City is choosing to do is absorb the cost of some of the commercial and, or the nonresidential. We aren't passing costs from commercial and industrial back to This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 22 residential, but rather absorbing those and choosing to take (can't hear) Champion/I agree with you, Mike. But I originally was (can't hear) like a request that the Economic Development Committee and I'm going to be, I don't like the fact that the (can't hear) are still pretty high, but I think they're going to catch up to us, and I'm willing to accept the (can't hear) for now. O'Dormell/So, I guess what I'm hearing is we aren't interested in discussing this (can't hear) Lehman/But I don't think that anybody disagrees with you, Mike. It's frustrating. O'Donnell/I understand. Lehman/There is a rationale, I believe, that's defensible with this proposal. There is no rationale that is defensible for a flat rate for everybody as some cities have done. O'Donnell/Well, and I'm not suggesting that, Ernie. But what I'm suggesting is a scale rate. Pfab/I'd like to make a comment. Lehman/Sure. Pfab/OK, at some point in time is (can't hear) going to be something that a business can control by how they manage their water? Is there anything built into the system that as time goes on and new technologies, new techniques are discovered and worked on. Say, for instance, a building, a large building has an earthen roof which will absorb it. So then that takes away that. Now, are we going to measure that? We know these--- Lehman/ We've measured all the commercial properties. My suspicion is that if you're able to reduce the amount of impervious surface on your commercial property, you'd have a reduced rate. Pfab/Yeah, but is that built into the ordinance now? Lehman/The rates are built in by the measurement. So if the measurements change, the rates would change. Say, for example, if Procter and Gamble, all of their employees decided to ride a bus--~ Pfab/Right. Lehman/...we'd tear out the parking lot and plant grass there--- Pfab/OK. Lehman/...their rate would be diminished by whatever the surface area of that parking lot was. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 23 Dilkes/There's a definition of impervious area in the ordinance and the--- Lehman/Right. And the commercial is based on impervious surfaces which have been measured. Dilkes/Yes. Lehman/So that would be adjusted. Pfab/OK now, what about the idea of putting in a retention basin to hold it and let it settle out. O'Donnell/Many do. Vanderhoef/They already have basins. Pfab/Right, but is that part of the way that's measured? Vanderhoef/Well, it's not an impervious surface. Pfab/Pardon? O'Donnell/That's a hole. It's not an--- Vanderhoef/That's not an impervious surface, so--- Pfab/OK, but is there, at the same time you have a, sediment can settle out and it can work itself out and you eventually clean out this thing. As the junk from the parking lot or whatever comes down, it settles there, it can be retained rather than run out to the river system. And is--- Champion/That's a valid question you're asking. That is a valid question. Pfab/And is there a way that this, an organization, let's say HyVee has a great big parking lot, and they say, well, this looks pretty high to us but we can do this. All we have to do is figure out a way to keep this junk from going into the river and since we have a space over here, we can put a retaining, a retention thing or a catch basin, whatever it is, and so is there going to be incentives for businesses to do that and also incentives for businesses to cut their costs and to come up to a better solution to the stormwater. Because I think like what you said on several occasions, this thing is just the beginning. The, at some point in time somebody is going to say we don't want the City's junk into the river and the City is going to end up paying for it and somebody in the City is going to pay that bill. So this is, this is why I think we're sitting here at a point in time, the ship hasn't left the harbor yet. Vanderhoef/Well, Irvin, number 1, the businesses as they are being built right now are under our zoning code that requires keeping the water on their own property and releasing it slowly, which then may go into the City's stormwater system. So the basins empty This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 24 out but sooner or later it's going to get in our stormwater system and go to the river. It has to go somewhere. So, that's already in the plan. If there are new developments of something that ~ve cannot foresee at this point, I'm sure we can come back and look at this ordinance, but right now they're already mandated to do those things. They've got certain permits they have to get and they even start building their first commercial establishment. Pfab/OK, go back to Mike's statement. A business looks at $6,000 cost to do that, but they say, well, now how can we reduce that? What if we did this ourselves? Is that built in? Vanderhoef/It isn't built in at this point and we can't foresee it until we see something come to us and they ask a question. Right now, I don't see that this is a necessary thing to put into an ordinance when we don't know what it's going to--- Pfab/OK, is there any indication in there that if new things come up that--- Vanderhoef/You have a good point. Dilkes/Well, there sure doesn't have to be; the City Council can always amend an ordinance. O'Dormell/Anything we do is subject to change. Pfab/I agree. But, no, your point is and your point is across a boundary, yes, I can agree. But who is right and who is getting closer to the fight solution and who may be off on, down their own path. Vanderhoef/And somebody smart is going to come out there and bring us something some time or another, just like you're talking about. Lehman/Irvin, my suspicion is that ifHyVee or Procter and Gamble or any of those folks that have large surfaces can come up with a way of preventing their stormwater from running off, that we would be very, very interested in making whatever adjustments were necessary. But I think that's the sort of thing, like Dee said, we'll deal with that when it comes up. Pfab/But the way that the, the method that we're going to change the cost of these, are we taking that incentive away from them? Champion/No. Vanderhoef/No. Lehman/Well, I don't think so but--- Pfab/At what point does it become cost-effective for them to say, you know, we're paying too much, why don't we look for a way to help us and also helping the City? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 25 Lehman/Then I think the best thing for them is when they look at what it costs them and they look at alternatives, that if they find a way they can save that money, they come to us and say, look, we're paying you $7,800 a year. We can control our water and if we do this, we would like a reduction, and that's the point that we deal with it. Any other agenda items? Karmer/Yeah, I have a few things. 4. a. (2) APPROVAL OF COUNCIL ACTIONS, SUBJECT TO CORRECTIONS, AS RECOMMENDED BY THE CITY CLERK. NOVEMBER 24 SPECIAL WORK SESSION Kanner/One in regard to City Council minutes, number 4. a. (2) from 11/24 work session. What is the status of the homeless shelter overflow? I thought we were going to be talking about it at this--- TAPE 03-88, SIDE TWO Atkins/Excuse me, I'm meeting with the churches on the 18th, and I'll report back to you. Karmer/OK, and do we have any information that it's perhaps doable from our end? Atkins/Tomorrow morning the staff is convening to discuss issues of fire and other repertoire and zoning, things such as that. I won't know until the 18th. Or tomorrow I'll know about that and on the 18th I'll know about--- Champion/(Can't hear) Pfab/I have a question. At what point did this group ask for a meeting and at what point in time did the City, did these people ask for a meeting with the City? Atkins/They sent Connie that letter. (Can't hear, several talk) Pfab/I'm sorry, just a minute, let Steve answer. I'm sorry. Atkins/Well, whenever that letter went to Connie, I don't recall when that was. Champion/The last (can't hear) Lehman/Two weeks ago tonight. Atkins/And I don't think they asked for a meeting. They just asked for your support. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 26 Pfab/OK. Karmer/Can we consider--I think this is something that is an emergency of sorts and for the Council I would ask when we could consider having a work session after we get, hopefully, a memo in the next week, to see if we can set this up. If we need to meet or can we give Steve the go-ahead to move forward? I think we need to move forward. That was the urgency of the letter that I saw, that temperatures are dropping and there's a great number of people, and I think a number of us have perhaps seen some of the homeless living under the bridges and other places, and I would ask that we give the OK, whatever's necessary for Steve to move ahead if it meets certain regulations. Wilburn/I would suggest that we hold off on that. There are several churches that have formed groups that are looking into how they can do this; they've requested a meeting with the City, the City staff is looking at that. It's not--and it's good that these conversations are happening in, you know, in the churches and what they can do and their ministries to try to have an effect on this issue in the community. But I think what's also happening is they're all discovering it's not just a matter of opening the doors, and so, you know, I mean, Shelter House and Youth Homes, Division of Four Oaks, there are other issues that go along with providing emergency housing and so I think it's important that that be looked at with care and not just saying, well, go ahead. I think we need to--you know--it's unfortunate that it's started this late in the year, but this was also an issue last year and not to be cold or callous, because it is getting, you know, (can't hear) cold, but I think we need to give--because the question isn't just can the City do something; they're trying to take a look at what they can do. And so I would recommend we, you know, things are happening, let's see. Lehman/Let it happen. Wilburn/Let's let it happen and then determine whether or not there's action that we could or could not take. Pfab/I know I'm aware of the number of hours that have gone into this planning, not only last year but this year already. And the group that is, has the ability and the interest and the wherewithal are relatively frustrated because they can't get this off of the dime, so to speak. Now my understanding was and this is a little fuzzy so it's, it may not be a thousand percent correct--is that they have been attempting to have a meeting with the City for a, I'm saying two months, I sat next to somebody--- Champion/That's not true. Pfab/...or a month or whatever it was. And that was why I asked the question. Now, if that is true, then I think ~ve as a City have an obligation to step up to the plate. Now, I can be wrong and if that is, then I made a mistake. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 27 Lehman/I think we're getting into, if we're going to have this discussion, it's going to be a scheduled discussion. Dilkes/I think it certainly is an issue of community concern that should be noticed if you're going to talk about it in more detail. Lehman/Right. O'Donnell/OK. Kanner/So, yeah, that's what I was proposing that we have a work session. I think it is an emergency; it should have been taken care of last year or the year before. The City should have been involved. There's been questions about this in the past and it's coming to a head hopefully now that we can do something, and I think we need to perhaps call an emergency work session after Steve meets with people. Champion/I think if Steve thinks that we can do anything at all, then call Ernie, Emie will call a work session. They don't even know what's going to come out of this discussion. Lehman/Yes. Well, you can, you'll let me know what happens at your meeting? Atkins/Oh, absolutely. Lehman/Oh, I'm sure you will without a doubt. Atkins/OK. Champion/But I know--- Kanner/But it seems one of us should be there. We should have a representative as part of this. Lehman/We should have a representative where? Kanner/At this meeting with the community. Champion/We have it. Karmer/We should have one of the people there. Lehman/I think Steve represents the interests 0fthe City and I think he can--- Kanner/No doubt about that, but I think it's good for the Cotmcil to show leadership and be involved with this too. There are people that are suffering tremendously out there and if we can do something to help them, I think it's our obligation to be involved if we can do this legally and see if it works out and to move it for~vard. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 28 Champion/No, it's not that I disagree with you, Steven, except we have to see what we can do. If there's something that Steve Atkins thinks that we can do, he will let Ernie know and Emie can always call a meeting. A lot of us are involved with the homeless shelter and there are always problems and it's not just a matter of opening up the Rec Center and some of those places to sleep. It's much more complicated than that. Lehman/Well, I think we need to wait and see what the meeting presents. Champion/Exactly. Lehman/Is there other agenda items? COUNCIL TIME Lehman/Council time. O'Donnell/Just a quick one. Lehman/Yes. O'Donnell/Connie, Emie, Ross, and I went to the groundbreaking of Mark Moen's project downtown. It's going to be an incredible thing for the City. It was very interesting; we had a lot of Council support there. Lehman/Lot of folks there, too. It was--- Champion/There was a lot of people. O'Donnell/A lot of people. Lehman/That was fun. O'Donnell/That's it. Lehman/All right. 4. b. (5) POLICE CITIZENS REVIEW BOARD: OCTOBER 29 Kanner/Yeah, some more agenda items. Under Board and Commission minutes, number b, 4 b 5, Police Citizens Review Board of October 29th. They reported on a number of complaints and I don't know if anyone else got a chance to look at these but I didn't quite understand the responses. Usually, it mentions specific--what the complaint was and why it was not sustained. They didn't quite do that this time. Eleanor, I don't know if you noticed that or had a chance to look at that. Champion/(can't hear) a copy of the final report to read that from. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 29 Kanner/What? Lehman/I think that's what he's talking about. Kanner/Well, yeah, this is the final report. It usually--the complaint--when they say a complaint is sustained or not sustained, they go through the report and the statement of fact, but this time the--especially the second one, it involved two people, I wasn't quite sure who they were talking about. I couldn't follow that. Wilburn/My reading was they couldn't either. Lehman/Yeah, I think that was the problem. Wilburn/That's essentially what the problem was in that particular case. It was confusing as to who and there was one where it involved adolescents, there were a lot of nicknames, and they, what I got what they were saying, what, they were agreeing with the police chief's review of it because they didn't feel there was anything more the officer could have done in one case. And in another it was a question about state law and requirements about domestic, you know, domestic violence, and that's--- Dilkes/Mandatory arrest. Wilburn/Yeah, I mean, what more can you say? Lehman/Right. Wilburn/In that particular case. Kanner/OK, it's just I think they could have, the second one they have two complaints they combined and I'm not sure which--it would seem that the complainants would have listed what their complaint is and then they could have responded to those. And I just don't see that. Usually they are pretty good at doing that and maybe it's because of what you're saying, but--- Wilburn/Yeah, I think that and didn't we receive, I don't, I'm trying to remember if we received correspondence about this before but, regardless of that, if you don't know what the, in one case if you don't know who all the parties are and what's going on, I don't know how much more you could comment, and then--- Lehman/Which is kind of what they said. Wilburn/Yeah, yeah. O'Dormell/It was really confusing to us. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 30 Dilkes/I don't know. I read them and I found them to be explanatory of the situation. The second one was clearly a domestic assault situation where the two people involved were complaining about the arrest which was mandatory and I think they adequately addressed it. Kanner/Well, who was making the complaint of false reports, seven or--- Vanderhoef/The spouse. Wilburn/Mm-hmm. Kanner/Well, they're both spouses. Vanderhoef/Mm-hmm. Kanner/Two spouses. Vanderhoef/They didn't agree on the story even. Kanneff OK. Lehman/But I also think it was clear that the police used what they felt was their best discretion with who they charged and they did it and--- Kanner/Yeah, I understood that part. I guess I'll have to look into it myself. I didn't feel it was as clear as it usually is. It didn't quite meet their usual standards. Dilkes/I think one thing I noted on both the reports too is them was no comment--I mean, they didn't sustain the complaint and they also didn't comment. And often when they're, they think they should be, you know, or not sustained they have a concern, they comment, and they didn't in either of these cases. Wilbum/That's true. Dilkes/I just--it seemed to me that my reading of them was that they were pretty clear about what the results should be. Lehman/Right. Wilburn/I guess I had the same interpretation. Lehman/OK. Pfab/I received this from a member of--- Kanner/Agenda, agenda. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 31 Lehman/Well, we're kind of doing both, but go ahead, Steven. Kanner/No, go ahead. Pfab/OK, this is a something that was handed to me today by a member of the public and it's 32 pages long. I would like to read the first ten sentences. Lehman/You can't read that because it's not on the work session. The person who gave that to you also met with me, will be at the Council meeting tomorrow night. At that point we will refer it to staff and it will come back to us for a staff report at the first work session or whatever in January. Dilkes/Well, this is a, as you all know, a much litigated matter. We are on our way to the Supreme Court on this case. Lehman/Right. Dilkes/We have been litigating this thing for a long time. So,--- Lehman/ And it has to be referred--- Dilkes/We need to think about doing that in executive session. Lehman/It'll be referred to Legal tomorrow night. Pfab/OK. Champion/We really shouldn't discuss it because it is a--- Pfab/Well, I wasn't going to discuss the legal part. I was just going to--there was ten sentences I wanted to read at the beginning. That's all. Lehman/OK. Dilkes/It's all legal at this point. We're litigating this (can't hear) at just about every forum there is. }'fab/There might be, the solution to that may be part of it. This might be one of the solutions. Champion/Irvin, you shouldn't comment. Kanner/Well, no, someone brings up, this is a political issue, if someone says, in a public way says, you should not pursue this, we can say OK, we'll discuss it at a later time, and then we'll decide whether ¢~e discuss it with our City Attorney in executive session or in public. But certainly Irvin can, I think it's appropriate to bring this up. If a citizen This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 32 is concerned in a public way. O'Donnell/But it's not appropriate to--- Lehman/ But we will get it tomorrow night, and we will refer it. Pfab/Right, and--- O'Donnell/Tomorrow night will be fine. 14. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING~ AUTHORIZING AND DIRECTING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST AN ADDENDUM TO THE AGREEMENT BY AND BETWEEN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY, TItE IOWA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND HOWARD R. GREEN COMPANY TO PROVIDE ENGINEERING CONSULTANT SERVICES FOR THE DESIGN OF THE NORTH DODGE STREET PROJECT, STP-1-5(69)--2C-52. Karmer/I have a question on number 14. The addendum to hiring engineers for North Dodge Street project. What's the, Steve, and maybe you don't know this now but maybe Rick could ask him to explain tomorrow, what is the work that's going to be done on the south entrance way, I guess entrance and exit from 1-807 Atkins/I understood this project was going to extend the design area up to that point where Interstate 80 connects with it, and these were the funds to, in order to accomplish that. I can get that for you specifically, but all's positive. They just extended the size of the project. Kanner/It's not with the exit and entrance specifically. Atkins/Yeah, that's what I meant. That's what it, yeah, the exit and entrance points. Kanner/So working with the City as a redesign. Atkins/Yes. Vanderhoef/To lengthen them? Atkins/I'm not sure what the details are--- Lehman/Well, it would be in conjunction with the reconstruction of Highway 1. Atkins/Yes. Vanderhoef/Mm-hmm. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 33 Atkins/That's the idea and while you're there, if you can take care of this, then take care of--I'll confirm that with Rick for you tomorrow. Vanderhoef/Because they're stacking on the highway--- Atkins/Yes, they're backing into the highway. Vanderhoef/...at the same time because there isn't length enough in the exit ramp so it's not a safe--- Atkins/I'll confirm that for you tomorrow. Kanner/Thank you. Lehman/Any other? O'Donnell/See you tomorrow. Pfab/Oh, no, no, Vanderhoef/No, no, no. (Several talk, laugh) Lehman/Wait a minute. Dee's got something. Atkins/All right. Vanderhoef/In the packet is the flyer for the League of Cities for the Congress of Cities in March in D.C., and I hope you will all take another look at it and our new Council people, please take a look at it and register now. You can always cancel later, but it's better to register early. And Marian's great help with that. I just came back from Nashville ~vith a very successful conference, in my mind. I don't know whether anyone has heard it or not but the National League was setting up phone interviews with local radio stations, and so I did one with KXIC on Friday morning about 11:15, and it was all set up and it was about putting out not only what I personally was doing but what the agenda is for lobbying come March in D.C., but what things are highest priorities for cities, and I can stick a little memo in the next packet and give you those items that collectively--- Champion/Right. Vanderhoef/...that we are all looking at. O'Donnell/Do that. That'll be interesting. Vanderhoef/I think it's time for somebody to join me at convention. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 34 (Laughter) Lehman/OK. Kanner/I had a question. Lehman/Yes. Kanner/In regards to our info packet from a week ago, the draft minutes from Telecommunications, there was another proposal by MediaCom on rate settlement, and I think this ties in with the memo, the copy of the note we got from you in regards to the informal process we're going to use to negotiate cable franchise. And I was wondering if you could explain those two things--- Helling/No, not really--- Kanner/...if they're connected? Helling/No, they're not. They're two separate issues. One is the calculation of the maximum permitted rate that we do every year. That's our only rate regulatory authority that we're given by the FCC. And that's something I think we're getting pretty close to settling. We'd hoped to have it done by now but that may be something that will come to Council as early as the first meeting in January. The process for renewal of franchise is what we're talking about when we talk about the informal versus formal. The formal process involves certain steps that must be taken. Generally, we do an informal negotiation but we also move along with those steps because they're helpful whether you follow the formal or informal process. So, they're really, they're two separate issues. Champion/(can't hear) renew the franchise for us? Helling/That's part of what's negotiated. We had originally a 15-year franchise and the renewal in '96 was for ten years. Kanner/One other thing--- Champion/Sorry. Kmmer/Go ahead. Champion/I was just going to say if we're going to be talking about public facilities (can't hear) Helling/Thanks. Pfab/OK, brings up a point. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 35 Kanner/I wanted to talk, I think that's a good point--I was going to bring up the point Dee was talking about on the national level. The hot thing is taxes on internet and providers and so forth and this sort of ties in with cable as they provide internet and where is the line drawn. And there's some talk about no taxes at all, I think, on the national level for cable TV. Helling/Right. Kanner/So are they taking the position that, a hard position that we don't have to sign anything with you because we're in the driver's seat? Helling/No, they're not taking that position. And that has to do with, like you said, taxing and franchise issues. But they still need a franchise to operate in the community. Kanner/So it might be to our advantage to settle it now before we lose. O'Donnell/Just one quick one. Has anybody hear ever tried to call MediaCom for repair? Champion/Have you tried to go to them for a repair? O'Donnell/I had a call Friday night; it was really imeresting. Can I say this? (Laughter) O'Donnell/I got a call Friday night and they said will you call me and I said well, of course, I would. And I called and they said where are you calling from? And I punched in the number--I was not talking to a human being incidentally--and this recording came on and said you aren't having a problem, and it hung up on me. (Laughter) O'DormeI1/And they were exactly right. So I dialed this number again. I went through endless montages of calamity. I must have talked to at least seven or eight different recorders. And any number of--my finger finally got tired and I hung up. That is a really frustrating experience. Champion/They were --- Kanner/Specifically, you know, with the cable since we have some oversight, if you look at the Telecommunications Committee report, every time the administrator tells how many complaints there are. And the more, the public often doesn't know that they should call, they can call our office and register a complaint. And the more people that do that, the more effect we'll have and be able to see how many people really are having trouble because that was a major issue obviously about getting through. That was something ~ve negotiated on--they weren't meeting standards. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 36 O'Donnell/Well, my point was that we need to maybe get into future negotiations, put that down. They should be more accessible. Lehman/That will be an issue. Pfab/In reply, OK, in regard to that, a couple of things. One is I've gone down to the office and I found it very easy to deal with. Now, I don't always agree with the service and whatnot, but I found it extremely easy to deal with. O'Donnell/They aren't helping at 8:00 o'clock at night though. Pfab/No. This was, they might be, but anyway, the other thing is I'm seeing on the East Coast where several cities now have the option for more than, there are more than one company doing this. I think one is Comcast and the other is Horizon. They are supplying your cable and your phone service through the cable. Now, I don't--I'm guessing is that will do away with any long-distance charges. I don't know what all the details are but it's all coming through. Lehman/I think we, this is over, folks. O'Donnell/Yep. Pfab/Negotiate. Lehman/This discussion is not--- Vanderhoef/It is--- (Several talk) Lehman/I point to something and then Steve--- Champion/I know. We just have to agree, we're not used to short meetings so we're making this one long. Lehman/Well, we're sure working on it. O'Donnell/I was trying. Champion/I read--here's something I just want clarified. I read in the paper that Tower Place was losing money or something, and I park there in that parking lot. It's full all the time. I can't believe that--- Atkins/Tower Place is 100 percent between our 10:00 to 2:00 measurement. Yep, the complaints we're getting is there's not enough parking there. This represents only a reasonably accurate ~anscription of Io~va City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 37 Champion/Exactly. I read that wrong (can't hear) Atkins/I was surprised at that. I think I know which one you're talking about. No, that's wrong. Champion/Now that's not--either that or people are going in and out without paying. Atkins/No, that's not a problem. Lehman/All right, Steve, as long as you're talking, what's the next--- Kart/Can we, before you move on, could I just do one thing? Lehman/I'm sorry. Go ahead. Karr/I just wanted to remind you that we're heading toward the end of the year and I need the laptops in no later than Thursday morning. Feel free to leave your laptops after tomorrow night's meeting, if that works well for you. But our goal is to have them reformatted, ready to go for the '04 packet coming out to you Christmas Eve, the 24th. Yeah, we're trying. And then also we'll allow training for the new Council-elect as well. Lehman/OK. O'Donnell/That'll take a lot of time. Karr/Thanks. Lehman/All right, Steve, you're up. Atkins/You sure? Lehman/Yes, I am sure. Atkins/The issue is the Council priority session scheduled for the 8th. I have a location, the water plant. We do have the community room. Yeah, it's a very comfortable place and we encourage its use. I thought I had a facilitator as oft0day and the person is ill and didn't call me back. I'll be candid with you--I'm spending a mountain of time trying to find a facilitator, because I feel that I have to interview them, talk to them, make sure that there's, at least I think I'd find them acceptable, and they're not bad people but--I can't give you, and I talked to a couple of you on the phone. The preference is to have a facilitator. It's just not going that easy on this short of notice. I'll let you, I mean keep you informed. Lehman/Steve, (can't hear) for half the day, for the morning. Then I really think it would be well to work with you as a facilitator in the afternoon because my suspicion is there's This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003. December 15, 2003 Special Council Work Session Page 38 going be a lot of issues that will be--- Atkins/Mm-hmm. Lehman/...City-related that you can answer questions on. Atkins/Well, I envision--- Lehman/...you can get somebody for a half-day. Atkins/Mm-hmm. My understanding is that I envision the afternoon as a little more actually ora true setting of priorities. The session in the morning was more get to know, work through some things as a Council and that. The kind of traditional list gets made in the afternoon if that's what you want. It's just I've got--and as you know, I don't complain too often, but I got to get a budget out to you and that's sort of consuming most of my time. Lehman/Well, get them both done. Atkins/No--we'll get them done for you. It's the kind of interviewing, trying to interview a prospective facilitator, because I didn't want--- O'Donnell/If you can't ftnd one, Steve, I'm comfortable, Steve, for the entire eight-hour period. Lehman/WeI1, I don't disagree although I'm not sure it's fair to Steve. Atkins/No, it's not fair to you all. I think generally you need to--yeah--and I'm going to follow the directions established by possibly a majority, and that means that there's always a little friction in those circumstances. I just want to know where it is, we'll stay after it. I may be on the phone again with you later on. Lehman/May I suggest--you have a couple people that are head of nonprofit corporations that are hooked into facilitators, Regenia and Ross, and that you work ~vith them if they're willing. Atkins/We're doing that. Karmer/Oh, OK. Lehman/All right, guys. O'Donnell/I'I1 see you tomorrow night. Atkins/See you later. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of Iowa City Council special work session Dec. 15, 2003.