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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-03-15 TranscriptionMarch 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 1 March 15, 2004 Council Work Session 6:30 pm Council: Bailey, Champion, Elliott, Lehman, O'Donnell, Vanderhoef, Wilbum Staff.' Atldns, Karr, Dilkes, Knocke, Davidson, Franklin, Rackis, Copper, Boothroy TAPES: 04-24, SIDE 2; 04-25, SIDE 2 PLANNING & ZONING Franklin/The first item is to set a public heating for April 6th on the rezoning of some property on Burlington Street, from CB-2 to RM-44. It's on the comer of Burlington and Gilbert. The next item is to also set a public hearing for April 6th on a rezoning from IDRS to RS-5 of some property on the east side of Sycamore Street. Item C is pass and adopt on the text amendment that addresses religious institutions in the commercial office zone. Item D is the final plat for Galway Hills, Part 9, which is shown on the screen--the general location--and then the plat. This is fairly simple, straightforward, continuation of the Galway Subdivision. Elliott/Did you save this for this week especially? St. Patrick's Day. Franklin/I think it was just fate. Elliott/Galway Hills (several talking at once, laughter) Franklin/And Item E is the final plat of Galway Hills, Part 8, which is also just a continuation of the Galway's Subdivision, and that's it for Planning and Zoning items. AGENDA ITEMS Lehman/Okay, folks, agenda items. ITEM #3E(5) CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING AND DIRECTING THE JOHNSON COUNTY AUDITOR TO SUBMIT TO THE VOTERS THE QUESTIONS OF WItETItER IOWA CITY SItOULD BE AUTHORIZED TO ESTABLISH AS A CITY UTILITY AN ELECTRIC LIGHT AND POWER PLANT AND SYSTEM AND WI-IETItER TO PLACE THE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF SAID UTILITY IN A FIVE-MEMBER BOARD OF TRUSTEES. Elliott/I had a question on, let's see, setting the date for municipal utility. If we approve that and set the date for November 8, 2005, are we then inhibited from holding an earlier election, if that becomes a possibility, and we would want to do that? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 2 O'Donnell/Why would you want to hold an earlier one? Lehman/Well he's just asking in case it came up. Elliott/I was just wondering. If we approve this, does that mean that's when it will be? It can be no earlier? Dilkes/Well I don't think it's the approving of this that really does that. I think it's the state code provision that says when you've got a petition to set the, or proposing that there be a municipal electric utility, the question goes on the next regular city election, which is November of 2005. Elliott/But it could come earlier... Dilkes/No, not if it's done by petition. Elliott/Well, if it isn't done by petition. Dilkes/Well, but it has been done by petition. Elliott/So, by accepting the petition, it must be on this date? Dilkes/By the filing of the petition... Elliott/Not earlier...there's nothing anyone can do to have it earlier? Dilkes/Council, had it chosen to put it on earlier by its own motion, could have done so, but the way the code reads, and if Council is interested in having me look at that I can do it, but the way the code reads, that provision of the code, it says that if the proposal is made by citizen petition, it shall go on at the next regular city election. There is not that ambiguity about when it will be held when it comes on by citizen petition, like there is with the, if it goes on by Council. Champion/It's not that far away. Lehman/But, no but I think the issue is what happens if Council a week from tomorrow decided they wanted to have an election this September. Could they do that? Dilkes/I don't know if Council can do that now. Lehman/Okay, that's...all right, fine. Dilkes/I think that it likely is it can't because you have a citizen petition that was valid, and the way the code reads is it goes on in November of 2005. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 3 EllioW I was just thinking, it's my understanding they would like to have had it earlier if it were possible. It's my understanding there may be some other persons who might want to find a way to have it earlier. Champion/I wouldn't know why you'd want to because you're talking about a lot of time to educate... Dilkes/I don't think that's the case. I've talked to the petitioners and before they did the petition, I told them that I thought that it might, if they wanted to preserve the option for Council to put it on earlier, they needed to think about whether they were going to do their petition because it was likely that a petition precluded that option, so I don't, at least I know that the petitioners, or at least my understanding is, the petitioners are wanting to do it in November of 2005. O'Donnell/Was that not stated in the referendum? Dilkes/Their petition actually says "the next regular City election". O'Donnell/That's what I thought it said. Elliott/That was my....and I simply wanted a clarification that it can be no sooner, and obviously no later. That's it. VanderhoefJ Eleanor, along with that petition, it appears that the petition has two items, two questions, in there. One being to buy the utility and run it, and the second question of it is that it would be managed by a board of directors, and my question is can that be separated? Dilkes/There are two questions on the ballot. Vanderhoef/There are two. Dilkes/They are proposed as two questions, and they will be put on the ballot as two different questions. Vanderhoef/Okay, I didn't read it that way, that it was two different questions, and would the question of the board of directors be a binding, in any way shape or form. I know that the question of the utility is still at the discretion of Council, that this is not binding that we have to start one. It just is an indication to go forward. Dilkes/What the, what it does is give you authorization to proceed to the Public Utilities Board to seek their authority to establish a municipal utility. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 4 Vanderhoef/But what about the question then of the board of directors? Would that be a binding kind of thing if that were to pass? Dilkes/If that passes and you proceed to the Public Utilities Board, that would be your governing structure. Vanderhoef/It would be binding then? Dilkes/I think so. Vanderhoef/Okay. Lehman/Eleanor, number eleven on the... Dilkes/Because that same code provision that allows a petition to establish a municipal electric utility, allows a petition to propose how it will be governed. ITEM 11. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 10 OF TItE CITY CODE, ENTITLED "USE OF PUBLIC WAYS AND PROPERTY," TO CREATE A UNIFORM PERMITTING PROCESS, TO ESTABLISH REQUIREMENTS FOR THE FARMERS MARKET, TO PROVIDE FOR THE NONCOMMERCIAL PLACEMENT OF OBJECTS IN CITY PLAZA ON A TEMPORARY BASIS, TO MODIFY THE PROVISION ON RESIDENTIAL PICKETING, TO CLARIFY THE CURRENT PROVISIONS REGULATING MOBILE VENDORS AND AMBULATORY VENDORS, TO CODIFY SPECIFIC ADMINISTRATIVE RULES AFFECTING SAID VENDORS, AND TO MAKE ADDITIONAL NONSUBSTANTIVE CHANGES. (PASS & ADOPT OR FIRST CONSIDERATION IF AMENDED) Lehman/You have a memo to us this week, and relative to item eleven which is the use o£public ways and property. Dilkes/Uh-huh. Lehman/We're scheduled to have our pass and adopt tomorrow night, unless of course, I believe you have four, you have four recommendations? Dilkes/Uh-huh. Lehman/All of which would make you more comfortable? Dilkes/I recommend that you do it. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 5 Lehman/Thank you (laughter). Dilkes/Because if that means it makes me more comfortable, then yes. Lehman/The Council has read them. If we choose to accept the recommendations, it would require an amendment tomorrow night to accept those four recommendations as amendments, and then we would have first consideration. Dilkes/I think...I also, there was a comment at the end of that memo about the notice requirement for spontaneous events. I know there has been considerable interest on the part of members of the public in reducing that notification requirement for spontaneous events. I am, I think that the 24-hour notice is not illegal. I also think you could do a notice period that was less than that. I did talk to the police department, and it sounds to me like for most of the events that they have dealt with, they would be comfortable for a lesser notification period. The only reservation they had is that if it was a major event, it might be difficult to get additional personnel in if they needed to, but I think you could reduce that notification requirement if you wanted to. Champion/But I thought when I asked the question when this first came up that, for instance, when the United States went into Iraq. If there had been a spontaneous protest downtown, they would all be arrested? Lehman/Spontaneous event....it's spontaneous (can't hear). Champion/It's not covered, this ordinance. Isn't that correct? Lehman/Right, I don't think it's covered. Dilkes/Well, there's a notification provision. Champion/Right, but what if, how do you have something spontaneous if it's, if you have to have a notification provision? Dilkes/Well, I think the reason you have some notification is that you need, for instance, what if it was a large event that was going to use the streets, or that required additional traffic control, or required additional, you know, police protection. Champion/Well, for instance this week, Eleanor, I just need clarification on this. When the trains were bombed in Spain, I mean, thousands of people went into the streets in protest. That to me is spontaneous. I mean there's no way they could be...nobody organized it. So there wasn't an organizer to call the police department and say look we're having a protest here. I mean, how is that covered? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 6 Dilkes/Uh-huh. Champion/It might not be an organized event, but how could you, how can you police that if somebody's not organizing that and it just happens. Dilkes/Well, I think what has, as I understand what the police department has typically done with those kinds of events, is not go out and say you need to get a permit, but has just dealt with the situation. Dealt with the traffic control issues, and that kind of thing, but there was nothing in our ordinance that said that. There was no exception for spontaneous events. Now if you want to take the exception out for spontaneous, I mean, you could read our ordinance to require that they be permitted in those situations that you're talking about. We're trying to add an exception so that the ordinance comports with the practice, and I think the practice has been to simply accommodate those types of spontaneous events, but there was nothing in the ordinance that said that was okay. So we added a spontaneous events provision. Now if you want to reduce the notice requirement, that's fine. Champion/Well if it's an organized spontaneous event, then I think they could at least call the police station and tell them, but I'm talking about something unorganized. Lehman/Organized and spontaneous don't go together. O'Donnell/It depends on what your definition of organized is then. Lehman/Spontaneous to me is something (can't hear). Champion/Like my family reunion could be organized and spontaneous at the same time (laughter). Bailey/I'd like to see that notice reduced. Well currently we're, we have this demonstration, protesting, picketing is not required, or permit is not required, but they ask that a one-hour written notice prior to the event with the following information is provided. So we've been dealing with a one-hour. Champion/But that indicates there's an organizer. Bailey/Right, somebody who can do that. Dilkes/What it does is it prohibits the municipality from insisting on a permit and denying the right to protest. Champion/Okay. Bailey/So, but I would like to see that notice reduced. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 7 Vanderhoef/From? Bailey/From 24 to 1. O'Donnell/I don't have a problem with that. Dilkes/I don't have a problem with that. Champion/Okay, good. Lehman/Well then we can incorporate that into the other amendments tomorrow. Bailey/Right. O'Donnell/I think we (can't hear). Bailey/And then I have a question too. Dilkes/So you want to do it to 17 Is that what you're telling me? Okay. Lehman/Let me ask ..... oh, go ahead Regenia. Bailey/Well I appreciate this first point, particularly with eliminating the insurance, indemnification for a parade and public assembly on a sidewalk. The question that I have, and the concerns that I've heard is once we get to the Ped Mall, which we call the Plaza, is there something that we could, and I tmderstand that some of those involve equipment and the example of the cord and naturally you would want insurance. Could we make some kind of an exception for a very basic demonstration, let's say for example a candlelight vigil that involves no equipment, that they would not have to have insurance or indemnification, for a basic demonstration (can't hear). Would that be possible? (can't hear) Dilkes/I think you could do that. You could, mean, the way that the current insurance provision is structured is that it requires an assessment. The previous insurance provision, it just set an amount of insurance. The one that we include in this amendment requires an assessment of the risk for each event. The proposal on the sidewalk ones, in talking to our Risk Manager and in talking to Dale Helling who does a lot of the permitting, it sounded to me like they typically would not require insurance for a sidewalk because of the reasons I said. So I said well let's take it out and then we don't have to examine it. But I think you could also carve out other particular circumstances where you thought the risk was so small that there would never be an indemnification or insurance requirement. I talked briefly to our Risk Manger today about the Plaza, and asked her would you, do you have, if it's a gathering of people with no equipment, cords, stuff like that, do you have This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 8 any risk concems, liability concerns, damage concerns, and that kind of thing, and although we didn't talk very long about it, I think that her concern is certainly lessened. It increases as the amount of people gets bigger, just because, you know. So I think you could. Bailey/Okay. (can't hear) Dilkes/A basic, no equipment...(several talking at once) Bailey/I think that that would be good. Champion/I mean, I know we don't make it difficult for people to have demonstrations and gatherings downtown, but when you bring an ordinance like this, right up front, and I'm not saying you shouldn't have done it, it's kind of, it raises all these questions, even though... Dilkes/Well, I think the public, I think we're coming from different perspectives. As with the spontaneous events, I think what the practice has been, that we have not required permitting of those. Champion/I know. Dilkes/I think the ordinance has read that we could. So we've had some good administrators. Now if the public wants to continue to rely on those good administrators in those types of situations, then you can back up and not do the ordinance. I don't think that's a good way to do things, and so, for instance, the insurance provisions are a good one. You know, if we want to continue to have just a set amount of insurance, like we do now, we can do that. So, I think we've been coming at it from different perspectives. I've been dealing with some of the issues that have been problematic to me. Another example is a reading of the statue which, you can read it, well it said it, that you could limit protests and demonstrations to the sidewalks, and that's clearly not an acceptable thing to do so I think we're just coming at it from different perspectives, and I think if we can work some of these things out, then it's all the better, but I still think there were some problems with the existing ordinance that needed to be fixed. Champion/Oh I think so too. Lehman/So how do we best handle this? Do we handle this by amendment tomorrow night? Dilkes/Well we've got....yeah, I think if you want to do additional amendments to the ones that I suggested, then we, let's clarify what we're going to do now. It sounds like we're going to go to one-hour on the spontaneous events. It sounds like you This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Cotmcil work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 9 want a provision that says if you don't have any, and I'll have to work on the language, but no equipment provision in the Ped Mall, then there won't be any... Lehman/Eleanor, you're going to work on that for tomorrow night? Elliott/Eleanor, I asked you once what happens if they don't have a permit, and you said I think in effect, that would be up to the police to decide what to do. For instance, I'm thinking, when I was younger, at the end of World War II, spontaneously, people got on the IC, went down to the Loop in Chicago. Nobody organized it. It just happened, and I've been in dorms when somebody will come down the hall and say come on we're going someplace, and you go. So if it is actually, literally spontaneous, and it happens and there's no permit, is it then simply up to the police to decide what to do? Dilkes/Well, I think what you want to do is you want to have your ordinance written so that you've got some, you at least try to address situations like these spontaneous ones that we're talking about, that provides an exception for that, and um, but at some point if you're going to regulate the use of your public spaces, you have to set thresholds and requirements, and they have to be clear. Now, if someone falls within the definition and is not exempt under the spontaneous and they don't get a permit, that's problematic. They can be denied the use of that space. Elliott/Then that would be up to the police and the city manager, and ... Dilkes/But you want as often as possible to not leave it up to the police and the city manager. ElliottJ Right, fine, good. And I appreciate you, we've had all sorts of things and you've jumped through the hoops, so...you're protecting the rights of the individuals and the responsibilities of the City. I appreciate this. Dilkes/Well, I think these are fine amendments... Champion/What about spontaneous and notifications, if we're going to reduce it to an hour, can we say, can we at least say a phone call to the police? Or that could be anybody making the phone call though. That's...(can't hear). Wilburn/I think I see what you're getting at, Connie, because the way (can't hear) is that...as best you can, please give the city some type of notice so that the city can support your effort and activity and make sure everyone is safe. And so what's the best vehicle, time span, whatever, to do that, because I don't think your point is a moot one. I've been sitting here thinking how to put in the phrase or is it even necessary. As much notice as possible, one hour...minimum of one hour... Champion/That's, yeah, that's good. I like that. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 10 Bailey/Well with everybody with cell phones it seems like that would be (can't hear). Vanderhoef/If you're doing it by phone. Bailey/Right (can't hear). Vanderhoef/Well, we should encourage notice if it's also... Karr/Excuse me, pardon me, we can't hear so if we could speak up a little bit more. I can't even hear... Vanderhoef/What I am thinking of is the possibility of what I'll call a false alarm, via telephone. Whereas if someone comes in to the police department, I don't know how you handle it, it just pops in my mind of cell phone use, might be problematic. Wilburn/I'm sorry, were you finished? I was just going to say if somebody says there's going to be a massive walk on Burlington Street, and there's no mass amount of people there then you would know. (laughter) Vanderhoef/Yeah, you would know, but if you are trying to run a police department and get staffing and that kind of thing, that would be a concern if that turned up to be a problem. O'Donnell/I wonder how realistic it is to think that if 500 people are gathered up at the Pentacrest or something, that one person's going to say "pardon me, I've got to make a call and give an hour's notice".....I wonder how realistic that is. Lehman/I don't know but the police are going to know about it anyway if there's 500 up there. O'Donnell/Well, 50 then, but I mean ...... I mean what do you do? Do you say pardon me, let me make a phone call, and then we, you know, we'll wait here and... Champion/Well, you're assuming there's an organizer then too. Dilkes/Our existing permitting, or process for sidewalks, has required one-hour's notice, written notice, names of the organizers, etc. Champion/That's just ..... I don't have any problems with that because that there tends to be an organizer with that stuff. I'm, you know, I'm sure there's nothing you can really do about spontaneous things because you know what, you'd have to arrest everybody anyway, but it has been done. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 11 Lehman/Well, and no, would you even want to? I mean, I think it would be physically impossible for some spontaneous gatherings to have any notification. And I don't think you can write an ordinance that's going to deal with absolutely every situation. Champion/Well I think...Ross kind of said that, whenever possible an hour's notice must be given in writing to the police, or something like that. So just because you don't want a really spontaneous protest, you don't want the police trying to arrest everybody, and I know that probably doesn't happen, but you know what? It could happen, and it has happened. Not here, but it has happened. Where lots of people have been arrested at simple protests. O'Donnell/So where are we? Lehman/I don't know, where are we? Champion/I like Ross' wording. Whenever possible at least an hour's notice must be given in writing to the police station. O'Donnell/A minimum of an hour. Champion/I mean, I know that kind of leaves open a big thing, but I think it's an important opening. I really do, and I think whenever you ask for notification you're talking about an organizer and not all those protests have an organizer. Lehman/There's no way you're going to write an ordinance that's going to address every single possible situation, I don't think. Champion/I know. Lehman/I think reducing that to one-hour, I think we do as much as we can but there's going to be some situations that we're just plain not going to cover. Vanderhoef/And that's where we have to trust our staff in best judgment, when it happens to handle it, using the very best judgment that they can use. Dilkes/Many of the kinds of abuses that you're talking about, or potential abuses, have been dealt with by the courts as challenges to the application of an ordinance, not the ordinance itself. There are some ordinance provisions that are typically, or definitely, unconstitutional. I think we had some, frankly. But, some of the abuses you're talking about, a lot of them have been, are challenges to the way an ordinance has been applied by an administrator, not to the ordinance on its faith, and those challenges are not going to go away, no matter....or those potentials are not going to go away, no matter how we draft it. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 12 Vanderhoef/I have something that I'd just like to suggest on this whole ordinance. As I go back through it again and again, it is very cumbersome because of the number of items that are being addressed within the ordinance, and when I come to it and I think about readability and if I'm coming in and I want to be a street vendor, or I want a sidewalk caf~ and so forth, I would like to see if this can be reorganized, not change necessarily any of the ordinance itself, but somehow or another to make a separate chapter and then, you know, break it out so that if I'm coming to you and I want to be a street vendor, I know ifI read this section I've got it. If I'm going to do a march or a protest, whatever, I've got it here. IfI want a sidewalk cafe, here, and your big heading can stay the same, but it's so cumbersome. Dilkes/Well the headings are all, I mean, they're all there, I mean, you can point to the section for a sidewalk cafe. You can point to the section for, you know, and the codifier will, you know, use bolder type and smaller type and that kind of thing. If you're objecting to the fact that I brought it to you all at once, then that's my error. But I don't think the sections themselves cannot be separated. Kart/Dee, ifI could just follow up on that a little bit. I believe Eleanor brought you the multi-facets of it because it does relate to a number of different sections. Once it is codified and those sections are separated, and they're put in their proper title, it is very unusual that we would give the citizen an ordinance, per se. We typically would give them the codified version. Only when they ask for the legislation that provided the codification would they see the ordinance. Vanderhoef/Okay. Dilkes/Which is why I gave you the red-lined version to start with. Because the red- lined version is the codified thing, showing all the changes that we're making by ordinance. Vanderhoef/Okay. Bailey/And summaries will also go on our permit page, fight? Just as they are now. And I think that's a more user friendly interface. Vanderhoef/The way I've been reading it, it's not user friendly. Bailey/The permit page, yeah... Elliott/Emie, I have...when we're done with this, I have a couple things to bring up, but I noticed Matt is here if we want to get with him first. Vanderhoef/Yeah, I've got a couple things. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 13 Lehman/Well... are there any other agenda items? ITEM 13. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 4, ENTITLED "ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES," CHAPTER 5, ENTITLED "PROHIBITIONS AND RESTRICTIONS," AND TITLE 10, ENTITLED "USE OF PUBLIC WAYS AND PROPERTY," CHAPTER 9, ENTITLED "PARKS AND RECREATION REGULATIONS," SECTION 2, ENTITLED "PROHIBITED ACTIONS IN PARKS AND PLAYGROUNDS" TO ALLOW FOR THE SALE, POSSESSION, AND CONSUMPTION OF BEER AND WINE UNDER LIMITED CIRCUMSTANCES IN A CITY PARK, ON PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY, OR ON A CITY GROUND, EXCLUDING CITY BUILDINGS, PURSUANT TO A WRITTEN AGREEMENT WITH THE CITY. (SECOND CONSIDERATION) Dilkes/I need to talk about Riverside and alcohol, so I know what you want to do on that one. Champion/Oh yes (can't hear). Because I've been out of town. I just quickly read this when I got home, but it's my understanding that you thought you should go back to kind of the original ordinance, dealing with (can't hear), with a stipulation or something in the ordinance that every (can't hear) will be dealt with on its own merit, isn't that kind of what you said in that? Dilkes/Well...but what, what I said was, when you expanded the ordinance beyond just the Shakespeare Festival, to include downtown streets and, or public right-of-way, and public grounds, not city buildings. The under-19 ordinance, which prohibits persons from under the age of 19 from being in licensed establishments after the age of 10 became more problematic because if you included an exception to the under-19 ordinance, you were going to be, for instance, let's say you reached an agreement with the Jazz Festival to have beer tents downtown on the street, and they, because of this ordinance, could allow 18 year olds and those under in the beer tent but the bar across the street could not, that seemed problematic to me. So my question is how do you want to deal with the under-19 ordinance, because without some exception, it will apply to the Riverside Theatre because as you remember, we don't allow the inclusion of charges, or cover charges and ticket sales, and so they can't include that when determining whether they're an alcohol or non-alcohol venue. So the only exception I could think of that would apply only to Riverside is to limit it to the parks. Either that, or if you think that this opens up the need to relook at your whole under-19 policy, then just go back to what you had started with, which is just the Shakespeare Festival. Vanderhoef/Eleanor, what happens if we put in the ordinance that it must, the alcohol, the serving of alcohol, needs to be closed, must be closed down at 10:00 PM? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 14 Champion/We brought that up before. That didn't work for some reason. Dilkes/I think you could do that because as I understand, if you want to create an exception for Riverside, I think that it's potentially applicable to other entities as well. The beer tents downtown....why if the beer tents downtown quit selling at 10:00....does it make sense that the bar across the street....do you want to allow the bars to quit selling at 10:007 I mean, I think there are issues here where you've got these two...your under-19 policy, and you're now wanting to allow alcohol on City property, are butting up against each other, and we need to have some kind of logical examination of those two things, and determination of how you want to do it. O'Donnell/When are we going to review the 19 policy? Lehman/Probably this fall. Atkins/It's August....it'll be a year in August. O'Donnell/Well, we gave them a year. We gave it a one-year period, but... Champion/Well, because we don't have anybody else approaching us for this, maybe we should just go back to the original (can't hear). Elliott/I would not be in favor of that. Lehman/Well, what are we going to do tomorrow? I mean, the issue...tomorrow night we're going to have second consideration. We have an issue that it just doesn't work. O'Donnell/Well, limit it to the park then. Lehman/Well, that's what Connie's suggesting. Elliott/I would not be in favor of that for the long nm. I think in the short run, if we want to do something that is reasonable, I would be in favor of accommodating that, with the understanding that this will be revisited. Champion/Oh, that'd be fine. O'Donnell/That's going to happen anyway, Bob. Dilkes/So you're talking about just allowing it, doing the exception for parks? For now? Is that what we're talking about? Elliott/I don't, I don't like it, but I would go along with that. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Cotmcil Work Session Page 15 Bailey/So you won't go back to the original ordinance, knowing that we'll revisit it, but you would accept (can't hear). Elliott/It would be constrained to parks. Bailey/The amendment? Elliott/Yeah. Champion/...some time while we figure out other ways to do this. Bailey/Right. Elliott/Yeah, I think we've asked for this to be redrawn and redone too many times already. Let's do something and get on with it. O'Donnell/I agree. Lehman/All right. Elliott/Besides, Emie will be happier with this than with the other. (laughter) Lehman/All fight, any other agenda items? ITEM 8. THE FILING OF THE CONSOLIDATED TRANSIT FUNDING APPLICATION WITH THE IOWA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION FOR FY05 IOWA DOT STATE TRANSIT ASSISTANCE AND FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION FUNDING. Elliott/I just wanted to mention, item 8, somewhere in about $2.5 million for 40-foot buses. I may be showing my ignorance, but I've always questioned 40-£oot buses. Can't we have some smaller buses, and I suspect someone will tell me, Bob, here's the failure in your logic. But I see those... Atkins/I was going to say, Bob, here's the failure of your logic. (laughter) Elliott/I said somebody probably would. (laughter) But when I see those things driving around in the afternoons and evenings, absolutely empty, can't we have some smaller buses, that would get better mileage? Atkins/Can I answer it real quickly? Elliott/I wish you would. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 16 Atkins/Okay, first of all the money here is an operating monies that we receive for the general operations. It is not capital monies that we would purchase buses with. Secondly, we would have to have a much larger fleet, because there are times, particularly our rush periods, that our 40-foot buses are full. We do have one or two routes now, I believe, that we're running smaller units on as an experiment. I think it's Manfield Heights and (can't hear), yeah, so we are doing some experimenting with it. The problem is that every now and then you have to fill the bus up and that's... Elliott/It's... for instance, if in management you were staffing for brief, peak periods, you just don't do that. Atkins/Staffing is different than capital purchases, Bob. I mean, our staffing does not change. We still need a driver whether it's a 30-passenger bus or a 10-passenger bus. Elliott/Well, anyway, we can cover this at some time, but I'd like to sit down and talk a bit about that. O'Donnell/And it makes sense. Davidson/A significant factor that I would just raise, and by the way, Steve, there is a capital program also that's in there as well. The cost structure of any transit system, not un/que to Iowa City Transit certainly, is that the person operating the vehicle is 70 to 75% of the expense, and if a system can negotiate a lower pay schedule for that person driving a smaller vehicle under the guise that it's a simpler vehicle to operate, then there can be some cost savings. That does not currently exist at Iowa City Transit, and so that 70 to 75% would be the same, whether it's a small bus or a large bus. Elliott/Wouldn't it be a lot less expensive, fuel wise, for 12 passengers than... Davidson/Fuel is 2 to 4% of the total expense of operating it so it's really not significant, Bob. Elliott/Well, I'm going to have to sit down with you some time and you can convince me. Davidson/Sure, yeah I'm sure Joe would want to weigh in. It is something we've taken a look at. Elliott/Yeah, good, thanks. Lehman/Okay. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 17 Vanderhoeff Emie, are we going to come back to some of the other miscellaneous things? Elliott/Yes. Lehman/Let's do the agenda items and get them out of the way and then we'll move on. O'Donnell/I think we finished, didn't we? Lehman/Are we done with agenda items? Vanderhoef~ Well, I just had a couple of things. Lehman/Okay. ITEM #3F (1) CHANGE PARKING METER TERM IN THE 200 BLOCK O17 S. LINN STREET FROM 1 HOUR TO 2 HOURS; CHANGE PARKING METER TERM IN THE 100 BLOCK OF S. LINN STREET FROM 1 HOUR TO 2 HOURS. Vanderhoef/The notice, it's in the correspondence and it's from the traffic engineering planner, on changing the meter length on the South Linn, 100 and 200 block, and I know that was requested. All I'm requesting is that we keep good track of meter feeding and to see whether we have a turnover or whether we have consistent customers 4 days a week, or something like that. Davidson/Yeah, the usage, excuse me, the parking division keeps track of the usage on a routine basis. The meter feeding we sporadically do studies, and I think Joe would like to do one this summer, so, this fall, we'll probably do that. Vanderhoef/You know, I hope this works, but I'm not sure that it will, and that's why I would like to have some oversight on it. Champion/I think that's a valid point, Dee. There are people downtown who feed the meters all day long, who work downtown. Davidson/Did you ask for stepped up enfomement of the meter feeding in the vicinity of the library? Vanderhoef/It was talked about in Joe's letter, but I don't know that we gave that direction. Davidson/Two or three times since I've been here we've come to Council and asked that, and at no time have they asked us to increase that just because of the... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 18 Vanderhoef/Well I would like it, personally... Davidson/Okay... Atkins/I'm making the assumption that meter feeding policy, the change in the hours, and some increased enforcement. That's what you expected? But the library wanted to create turnover, and that's the only way you do that. Vanderhoef/Uh-huh, well, I would like the same kind of turnover throughout the town. Davidson/Well, we can always check it, and then report to you what it is. I mean, it's pretty high in a lot of places, as Connie has said, and if you want to, it's fairly simple to increase the enforcement of that, doesn't have the greatest (several talking at once). Vanderhoef/Well, I know you have brought it a couple of times since I've been on Council, and I sort of was in the minority at that point. Lehman/Well we are...my understanding is that that area will be, we will be monitoring it? Davidson/I will indicate to Joe just in case it needs to be clarified, but that is your expectation. Lehman/Right. Vanderhoef/Okay. Lehman/Okay? ITEM #3F (14). LEAGUE OF WOMEN'S VOTERS REQUESTING COUNCIL TIME Vanderhoef/And then, do we have a meeting date set to invite the League of Women Voters? They sent us a letter, requesting about a 30-minute, 20 or 30 minute... Atkins/No we don't. Lehman/We don't, but I suspect that's going to almost needs to be at the next...first meeting of April. Atkins/Okay, that's the next meeting. Lehman/Yeah. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 19 O'Donnell/Three weeks. Lehman/The work session, 20 minutes. Atkins/They asked for half an hour. Lehman/They asked for 20 to 30 minutes. I read the letter. O'Donnell/25. Lehman/20. (laughter) It's going to take 25 or 30 anyway, so let's start with 20. Atkins/You want a big bus or a small bus? (laughter) Lehman/Depends on what we're paying the driver. (laughter) Champion/You know, I think you ought to give them 30 minutes. Lehman/I'm sure we'll give them far more than that, by the time we...there will be 'discussion. Champion/...consensus from the Council on how many minutes we should give them. Lehman/Oh, I don't have a...we all know that when we give presentations at work sessions, we've never asked anybody to quit yet. O'Donnell/Then why are you setting 20 minutes? Lehman/I'd like to have them an expectation so the presentation is (can't hear), then we can have our hour and a half afterwards. All right, other... O'Donnell/Then I think we ought to agree on 30 minutes. (laughter) Lehman/Mike, do you need to go do something? Is there anything else on the agenda items, from anybody? Good. Fine. Scattered Site Housing Committee Lehman/ We're going to, I think Matt is here...can we skip that, with your permission folks, we'll skip to scattered site housing? Matt is here for that item and that item only, I think, and it may... Elliott/Skip to it? Lehman/Yes, skip to it. So Matt, if you would like to... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 20 Hayek/How you guys doing? Elliott/Doing fine, thanks. O'Donnell/You be the judge. (laughter) Hayek/I liked the 40-foot buses. (laughter) Just kidding. Elliott/Oh, right to the heart. (laughter) Hayek/Well, as you know, I'm Matt Hayek, and I chair the Housing and Community Development Commission, and I'm here tonight, pursuant to a memo I sent you last week on I think the 9th, to update you regarding the formation of the Scattered Site Housing Taskforce that we've been asked to put together. I can answer questions now, or give you a bit of an update. Whatever you prefer. Champion/Do an update. Hayekd Okay. Well, as you recall, there is no official policy in Iowa City regarding the distribution or location of assisted housing throughout the community, and starting last fall there I think, there was increasing discussion throughout the community about that issue. Them was a letter from the Iowa City School District, the school board members sent a letter requesting the city look into the issue of the location and distribution of assisted housing throughout the community. At your November 17th meeting, there were conversations between and among the Council members about this, and ultimately there was a directive to the staff, City staff, to look into at least a research group or some sort of inquiry into the location of assisted housing, and whether some sort of policy would be in order. Later that was changed to envision a citizen board or a group of citizens looking at this issue and as Chair of HCDC, I was approached by the City staff about this, and actually this was a topic of conversation at HCDC meetings as well, at least last year and perhaps before. So, that's where we are. I've worked with City staff, and with their help and at the direction of some of the Council members, we've come up with a tentative group of individuals for the task force. We're tying up some of the loose ends in terms of who can serve. We've got most people locked down for it, and I think they represent a good, broad cross- section of the community and they bring various areas of expertise to the group. As my memo sets forth, the committee would consist of about eight people. Two from HCDC, including me, and another individual who is a professor in urban and regional planning at the University. Two individuals from the school district, including one school board member and one staffer who is the appropriate person from the school district, in my opinion, and also the opinion of Lane Plugge to serve on this commission. A member of the Board of Supervisors. A representative from United Way who is the agency and community services This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 21 director there and has decades of experience in human services and working with the agencies throughout the community. A representative from Planning and Zoning, and then a representative from the Neighborhood Council, and City staff is working with P&Z and the Neighborhood Council to provide an appropriate representative from those groups. So that would be the eight people who would serve on this. It's tentative, but I think it's coming together, and I think by your early April meeting we'll be able to present something more concrete. Then the scope of what we look into is the other big issue, obviously, and as you'll see from the memo I provided, our proposal is to keep the inquiry limited and focused, for a variety of reasons, but those two bullet points on the memo, and I assume you have it in front of you, set forth what that is, and that is to keep it limited at least at this time, unless we're asked otherwise by the Council to the issue of the location and distribution and types of assisted housing throughout the community. Now having said that, if the Council wants us to look at more or other issues, we will certainly help out in any way we can. These are all individuals who have, after being asked, volunteered to serve on this group. Elliott/Matt, I have just a couple things. One, what kind of time frame would you be asking for? HayekJ Yeah, uh, I think, given the nature of this inquiry and the lives, the busy lives of everyone involved, that we're going to need a matter of at least months, and I'm thinking perhaps throughout 2004 would be appropriate, because I envision us doing a fair amount of research individually. I'm already sort of starting down that path, and the City staff has been great about collecting materials as well. Some background reading, followed by a series of forums where we ask various folks throughout the community to come and present to us their perspectives, their expertise, and it's, you know, after all of that and then some heavy duty thinking on our part, I think we'd be prepared to come to the Council with some findings. Elliott/January 05. Hayek/Could work, depends, and we could always come back, you know, at a sooner date and let you know where we are. Elliott/One quick, I noticed (tape ends) Hayek/(can't hear)...LMI, it's the low to moderate income housing, it's the classic index used. Elliott/And, I guess a suggestion on my pan, as you're going through this over the next what? Nine months? If you could just keep a little notebook and off to the side some of the issues that you see "boy that's going to be a hot one". Just maybe, don't try to resolve them or, just keep a little notebook of some side issues that This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 22 you see emerging. That would be my suggestion. I don't know how the others feel or how you might feel about that. Hayek/I'm sure we will come up, we will find issues that at some point need to be looked at, and at a minimum we can try to provide a list of our thoughts about issues down the road. Vanderhoef/Well the issues down the road and how they come back, and I guess my request of the committee would be that if something seems to be getting in the way because it plays such a significant piece into what your initial focus is, that you come back to the Council and just say "this is what's popping up for us and is there interest to go forward with a side issue", because I think you're going to get some, and I am not real clear how you can separate them out. Hayek/I think we will run up against side issues left and right, and one of the reasons for this very focused definition of what we're going to do is to not be sidetracked by each and every side issue we hit. I mean, you could go anywhere with this, and we certainly do not want to do that. Elliott/No. Lehman/I really agree with that because I think if you allow yourself to be sidetracked by, as you say they're going to be left and right, and many of those may be very, very important issues, but if you pursue those we'll never get to addressing the scattered site issue. HayekJ And again, the scattered site issue is exactly what was the subject of conversation last fall here and with the school district. That came out of the October conference that the school district held, and so... Champion/Well I really appreciate your being willing to tackle even the limited question, but it's a, I think it's something that's been talked about for a long time and nobody's wanted to tackle it. It's very important, for kids anyway. For education. Bailey/For a community, and... Lehman/Absolutely. I think it really is all the way around. Bailey/I have a question about the forums. I assume that those are general public forums as you envision them, or more...okay. Hayek/Yeah. In fact, I'm not sure we have a choice but I'd have to check with the legal folk on that anyway, but yeah, we will... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 23 Bailey/Just to get public input is your... Hayek/Yeah, there are very delicate issues involved. We want everyone to have a voice, and certainly we would not do anything behind closed doors. I mean, we want a public forum as much as possible. Bailey/Right. O'Donnell/Great. Lehman/Other comments for Matt? Elliott/I'm just very pleased that Matt has agreed to take this on. I think it's extremely important, and it's going to be very difficult, very time consuming and I look forward to your good work on it. Lehman/Looks like a good group. (several talking at once) Hayek/Yeah, yeah (laughter) ask me that in nine months. I think it is a good group, and I'm really pleased, and I think you will be too. Lehman/Well, thank you. Okay, folks. Well, seeing as how Jeff is there, we could do Oakdale Boulevard. Council Appointments Lehman/ Okay, let's do Council appointments. First one is the Airport Zoning Commission. We have one applicant, Brian Sponcil. Vanderhoeff I suggest we reappoint. O'Donnell/Second. Lehman/I should write this down. Okay. Airport Commission, one vacancy, two applicants, Jack Young and John Krstenansky. Okay, what are your pleasures, folks? Elliott/I would be interested in knowing if the latter person, John K, if we call him Coach K we can call him John K I think. Talks about experience at airports around the country. I'd like to know if that's just experience flying in and out of the airport on, as any passenger would do, or does he have experience flying his own plane in and out, and familiar with the operation? Lehman/Says a private pilot since 1983, operated from many airports in many states, everywhere I have lived, is what it says in his application. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 24 Vanderhoef/(can't hear) Elliott/Had I read more carefully I would have seen that. Thanks. O'Donnell/I read the familiarity with all of the airports, so I think he'd be a great guy to put on there. Vanderhoef/I think he might have lots of ideas for us. Bailey/(can't hear) Yeah, a good perspective, I think. Lehman/I'm hearing John. How many...do we agree? Champion/John K. Elliott/Fine. O'Donnell/What was that last name, Ernie? Lehman/I'm going to let Regenia pronounce that. Elliott/Krstenansky. O'Donnell/Difficult. Champion/Call him John Smith. Lehman/Okay. Zoning Board of Adjustment, er, we didn't have anybody for that one. Okay. Historic Preservation Commission. Two weeks ago tonight we did decide on appointments. Since then we've received some correspondence. We agreed to delay that appointment until tonight. What's your pleasure? Champion/Well, I would, again, like to nominate Richard Carlson, because I don't think since I've been on the City Council have we not allowed somebody to serve a second term on a commission unless there was lack of attendance or some problems with the work that they were doing, and he's done a terrific job. I think it's important to the commission and I would like to see him reappointed. I can also appoint Justine Zimmer but I just wanted to get that out there about Richard. Lehman/Let me ask a question. Carlson is presently serving a three-year term. Did he serve a partial term prior to that? Vanderhoeff He served two years. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 25 Lehman/Of another term? Vanderhoef/Of another term. Karr/I don't have that information in front of me. Lehman/Okay. Vanderhoef/That was in the application. Lehman/Okay. Vanderhoef/So he's had five of a total six, if he had two full terms. O'Donnell/I too like Justine Zimmer but ... Champion/Oh I do too. I think she's terrific. O'Donnell/But I, you know, I do agree with you. Lehman/Well let's start...well we had Richard Carlson. Are there four people who would support Carlson to be reappointed? Are there four people who would support Justine? Elliott/I will. I talked with Mike Brennan whom I liked for this position, and I told him that I would probably he supporting on the second time around Justine Zimmer, but I also am certainly, I appreciate some of the people who contacted me and the way it was done, and the conversations we had, and the discussions that we had, but I am very unhappy with some of the things that have transpired as a result of this. One was the letter from Kerry McGrath in Des Moines. We got a note today that someone from that office said the letter should not have been sent, and I agree with that wholeheartedly. I just, I don't like the way this has transpired. Lehman/Yeah, I... Vanderhoef/I'm disappointed that the state was even involved in this, however that happened. Lehman/Iwould... Vanderhoef/I don't think that's appropriate. Lehman/...echo that. I think that this was done in a very inappropriate fashion, and from my perspective, I would much rather appoint someone who might not fit in as well on a commission. I think the harm caused by that is insignificant compared This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 26 with the harm caused by a commission that attempts to appoint its own members. Next one...I'm sorry. Vanderhoef/I agree with that, Ernie, and new ideas are always important on commissions. Lehman/Yeah. Champion/You know that's interesting. I don't think they appointed their own members. I think they were concerned about what kind of appointments we were going to make, and Dee, I know that you've supported people that Park and Rec commissioners have supported, who wanted back on Parks and Rec, so that's speaking with a forked tongue. Vanderhoef/Well, I... Lehman/Okay, let's go to Parks and Recreation. We have two applications. Diana Baculis and Ron O'Leary. Ryan? Elliott/Ryan. I would be supportive of Ryan. Lehman/All right, we have Ryan. All right. Oakdale Blvd Lehman/ That does those. Now we're going to Oakdale because you're handy, sir. Davidson/Thank you very much. Just want to take a few minutes this evening to run through some work that we've done on Oakdale Boulevard, and at the end of that presentation, kind of see where you want to go with it. There's a couple different things we can do. A couple of things just to clarify, I think, right up front. I've certainly had a couple of calls. People wondering exactly what we're doing, and I think it's important to clarify that. We're not building any road. I can tell you with certainty that for the planning study area that we are going to be presenting the materials tonight, there are no projects, that I know of, scheduled by either the County or the City or a private entity, to construct any portion of this road. We're not buying any property. We're not designing anything. (laughter) Okay, having made that (can't hear). Sorry ifI over-elaborated there. (laughter & several talking at once) What we do have, right now that's in place, is this plan, the JCCOG arterial street plan, and for those of you who participate on JCCOG I'm sure are fanfiliar with it. You'll recall at our last meeting we actually made an amendment to this plan. Oops, wrong end. (laughter) We did an amendment fight here for the City of Tiffin, to add a portion of Ireland Avenue to the plan. What we're talking about this evening is, of course, this segment of Oakdale Boulevard, right here. A very considerable corridor, when you look at not only This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 27 the length of it but the fact there are two major structures that would have to be constructed. One over the Iowa River, one over Interstate 80, and by the way, for the Interstate 80 one, we did evaluate both going under and over, and determined that going over did make the most sense. But at any rate, this is something that we see very similar to this, Scott Boulevard. I know most of you have been around here for many, many years, and you're aware that the City constructed, as a public project, the first portions of Scott Boulevard in the 70's, constructed the flood control dam for the portion of Ralston Creek, and a section of Scott Boulevard was built at that time. In the 70's also, the portion between Muscatine Avenue and Highway 6 was constructed by the City, and it took until a year ago, over 25 years, for us to finish that corridor. But because there was an overall plan for it, when we got done, we had a very nice arterial corridor for east Iowa City that hooked up and functions like an arterial corridor is supposed to, and what we are is very early in the process of a similar type of planning study for Oakdale Boulevard. A couple of things in the memorandum that you received from me. The impetus for undertaking the planning study that we're going to run through here is that the City, I'm aware of four property owners---there could be more---in the vicinity of this corridor that have contacted either the City or the County, or both because this is in the two-mile extra-territorial issue. The County generally advises property owners that it will require City approval ofrezoning in subdivisions so they end up talking to both entities, but approximately four property o~vners have contacted the City, and one of the first questions that always comes up is "well where is Oakdale Boulevard going to go?", and we haven't been able to answer that, except by pulling this map out, which really is just a dotted line across north Iowa City area there, so we decided that we should undertake a study to look more specifically at the factors, and those factors were impact on cxisting properties, and the environment; engineering standards; traffic service ---how it works as a traffic cartier; and construction costs, and based on those factors, try and pin down a little bit further where that road is going to go, and that's what I'm going to run through this evening with you. I want to make sure though that everyone understands that this is not a design study. I've had a couple property owners contact me today and that was an additional thing I wanted to clarify in the information you received from me. There's a statement in my memorandum that all property owners were contacted, and I found out today that that is not the case. The consultant that assisted us with the study did indicate there were three parcels of property that from essentially adjacent roads they could not get a good enough handle on, and those three property owners were contacted in an effort to go onto their property and take a closer look at it. Two of the three property owners cooperated with our consultant, and allowed the consultant on and the third one did not, but the remaining planning study elements were conducted from remote sources and from the adjacent roadways basically, which for a level of planning like this, perfectly acceptable. I think all of you are certainly axvare of our two recent construction projects, Scott Boulevard and First Avenue, and with Mormon Trek extended. That's the level when we're actually going ahead with the design project, where we do our work with the property This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 28 owners, and certainly both of those projects involved taking a planning study similar to what I'm going to be presenting to you, and working with those property owners in an attempt to make it right for them, and adjust some things. I think you're all aware of the things that were done with Mormon Trek and Scott Boulevard to try and accommodate those kinds of concerns. So, does that provide a little bit of clarity of what this level of analysis is, and then the subsequent level of analysis of when we're actually preparing to build the road, is when we work much more closely with the property owners. Let's go through a few of these. This is the study area, and I just wanted to highlight a couple of things. The City of Coralville is, there I go again...the City of Coralville is preparing to construct the remaining portion. They're into that final design stage, of this portion of Oakdale Boulevard, to take it where it terminates a little bit to the east of First Avenue, over to Dubuque Street. That's under design right now. This large corridor here then is what our planning study undertook a look at. And you can orient yourself...Dubuque Street, Prairie de Chen Road, it's a little hard to see there, Iowa Highway 1, Interstate 80, Scott Boulevard, those are the major intersecting arterial streets. A couple of other significant things to point out....this is the existing corporate limits, okay. So a great majority of the study area is in unincorporated Johnson County. The other thing that's a little bit hard to see but you can see the dash line right here. This dash line is the growth area boundary, which happens to follow Dubuque Street, between Coralville and Iowa City. This is the eventual corporate limits within Coralville, and this is eventual corporate limits within Iowa City. Now there's, that dotted line then follows Rapid Creek, which is a little hard to see since they're both blue lines, but in the existing adopted comprehensive plan, that is seen as the growth area boundary line, and something I want to emphasize is that the existing fringe area agreement between the County and Iowa City that governs development in this area, this does nothing to negate any of that. That's still the land-use document to be followed when somebody comes in with a rezoning or a subdivision. And right now that makes a distinction between within the growth area, this area, and outside of the growth area. Now, I think there's probably a pretty good chance that at some point in the future the comprehensive plan may be amended to extend this growth area line a little bit further to the north. Typically that growth area line is on the edge of the watershed, which is up in here someplace, not down in the valley, because with a sewer line you run, you like to run your trunk sewer along the loxv point and then drain both sides of it, and so I think that very well likely may happen, but for the time being, Rapid Creek forms the growth area line of what is seen as the eventual corporate limits of Iowa City, and then what would remain in the unincorporated county. This shows the eastern portion of the corridor in a little bit more detail. You can note the landmarks there, and of course you can see that existing development in this area. This area here is one of the areas where there are property owners, some property owners, certainly not all of them, interested in redevelopment of their property, and we have had some inquiries where the road would go through that area. And then the west segment, just looking at it over an aerial photo, you can see some of the landmarks as well, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 29 and there are a couple of fairly substantial property owners in this area that have expressed some interest in redevelopment of their property, and eventually, annexation into the City. What we did then, as I mentioned, is take a look at some of the factors involved in where the road might go, and it's a little bit hard to see here but you can see we looked at the flood plains here. We looked at wetlands and other environmental features. We looked at the existing built-up areas, obviously that's a consideration, and anyway, this is just provided for you to see the way that some of the analysis is conducted. If you notice Interstate 80 here, what the consultant has done is already code these. The green is the best area for Oakdale Boulevard to cross Interstate 80. The yellow areas are not as good, and the red areas are ones that really have some flaws that we should stay out of. Here's the, as I said, we looked at these alternatives in some detail and this bowl of spaghetti here is sort of the initial cut. Oh, and one other thing I did want to mention is that the study team that looked at this, in addition to our consultant, was from myself and Karin Franklin and Ron Knocke, and then the County was invited to take part. The City, excuse me, the County engineer did take part in one meeting, and then basically his feeling was, this was more of a City issue, that it was unlikely the County's going to build any portion of this road, but it would be built as, when property is annexed into the City, or as development projects that were built to City standards. So anyway, hem's the first cut for the eastern portion of the corridor that we looked at. As you can see, and the factors then that were, well okay...I guess I threw the western portion of the corridor in here as well. Initially we didn't have the western portion of the corridor in the study. We were focused on that eastern area. Actually had the study started, and then were contacted by some property owners in this area, decided to add it into the study as well, to look at the factors, and you know, once again, this highlights some things, it's a little bit hard to mad, but you can see where some archeological sites are culled out, wetland areas, forested areas. The consultant is very familiar with the City's sensitive areas, in fact it's the same consultant that helped us develop that, so those things xvere all taken into consideration. Certainly the river crossing was taken into consideration, and on going back to this one, the crossing of I80. A lot of important things having to do with that, and then okay, this I just wanted to show you is sort of part of the screening process. You know, you can see up at the top - length of the alignment, where it crosses 180, compatibility with Scott Boulevard, impact to homes and farmsteads, impact to businesses, impacts to wetlands, impact to known cultural sites, impact to steep slopes, compatibility with the west extension, this was for the east extension, access to properties. Certainly ~ve want to design something that not only carries traffic, but then provides the ability to develop property off of either side of it. Compatibility with the Highway 1 intersection, and then how the design features fit into the topography. Those are all things, and you can see once again, they're coded with the red, the yellow and the green to screen these down. Here's then, from that bowl of spaghetti that you saw earlier, we came up with these five alternatives to try and focus on in the final analysis. The final analysis, here's just an example of the detail that was gone into with the engineering factors. As you can see, project This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 30 length, the horizontal alignment, the profile grade, a real serious look at these kind of engineering factors, certainly the construction cost, something that we know is a big concern, and you can see not a huge variability there but certainly something that we wanted to make sure was taken into consideration. Looked at some design alternatives. This is where the road would intersect with Scott Boulevard, and it occun'ed to us that depending on what the property owner in that area was interested in doing, we can either take the road around the existing farmstead or if it was determined that the existing farmstead would redevelop, it might be a place for a rotmdabout intersection at some point in the future. We also really took some time to look at access points along Iowa 1, Iowa Highway 1. There's some concern by Iowa DOT as well as us, the pattern of development we have where it's essentially kind of individual subdivisions that have their own access point and want a traffic signal and we didn't want to see that precede as we went north so we thought we would look at some places where access could be provided. You've got the alternative alignment that was eventually agreed to as the preferred alignment, shown on here, with the existing access points. In a little point here we'll get to the access control plan that was developed. Here's the preferred alignment for the east segment. You can see with the two alternatives down here where it would intersect Scott Boulevard. Either one of these will work. The crossing of I80 and then the approximate alignment through here. Now remember, there will be inevitably, certainly if you take Scott Boulevard and Mormon Trek Boulevard as examples, there will be some variability as to how this is actually designed when we get into the process of working with property owners and people that own property, but this, in the absence of that, this is what we feel is the preferred alignment at the present time. With the west alignment we took a slightly different approach. What you see here is the preferred alignment for the west segment, and as you can see, there are some dashed portions through here and some solid portions through here. They're a little bit hard to sec. I guess you can see it a little bit easier down here. Solid, a solid portion whcre we want to fix the intersection with Dubuque Street. Certainly we want to do that because we know where it's going to come in here from the other side, and we want to have a nice four-way intersection. We have a preferred location for the crossing of the river, based on all those evaluation factors, we have a fixcd location for the intersection with Prairie de Chen Road and with the intersection with Highway 1, but in between these segments, we felt like there was enough flexibility to simply say, if you're a property owner in this vicinity we've got a fixed point here, we've got a fixed point here, we have arterial street design standards that we expect you to use, but go ahead and design your subdivision, incorporate Oakdale Boulevard into it, and we'll work with you on that. As you might recall, that's a fairly common way that we get arterial streets constructed is a property owner is interested in developing, the City makes a commitment to extend infrastructure, and an arterial street is incorporated into a subdivision plan, with the developer paying the equivalent of a local street, and the City pays the overwidth for the arterial, and that's something that inevitably I think you'll see happen here in this Oakdale Boulevard corridor. Here's your This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 31 access points that we're proposing. We are proposing that this be set up as a specific access control plan. There is some flexibility. You can see that right here. For the property owners in this area, we feel they can set their access anywhere in here. For some of these other points, there are specific points that we would like to see taken advantage of, but this plan will allow for property in this area to develop in a way that provides for safe access to the highway, that could eventually be signalized in the future, if that's the desire. And that is the end. Now as I mentioned, the report has, what we consider to be, the preferred alignment for the planning level of analysis, not a detailed design, but the planning level of analysis. What we have done in the past, and I'll kind of through this out to you and see if you want us to pursue it, are what are called corridor preservation agreements. We have two that exist currently, one for the portion of Oakdale Boulevard to the west of Dubuque Street, and that's an agreement between the County, Coralville, and Iowa City that essentially says, based on this level of analysis, here's where we see the road going, and it's very, it's very, very important in the early stages for the County because the ground is in the unincorporated county and if they get a request from a property owner, the very first thing they do is open up that corridor preservation agreement and see what it calls for with respect to allowing a corridor for the road to he preserved, not to have a $400,000 house built in the middle of it that we later have to go back and acquire. I mean, that's the idea. We also have one of these for the extension of 965 south of Highway 6, between Highway 6 and Highway 1 west. That's also between Coralville, the County, and Iowa City. That's a similar type thing, determines where the preferred corridor is and attempts to have something then that property owners can work with. You know, the property owners are generally o£one or two minds, I mean, there are those that at this present time do not to redevelop their property. They're against the road because of that. Nevertheless, having that in there, they at least know what the municipality's, the County's intentions are. Of course for those people who have intentions of redeveloping their property, they're generally very much in favor of the agreement because it gives them some guidance whether or not they're going to sell their property to developers or develop it themselves, of knowing where the road's going to be, so that would probably be the next step. I mean, I'll make the same presentation to the Board of Supervisors, Pat Hamey is here tonight, but I certainly xvould be willing to do that, and then if you are interested, I will indicate how the seven of you feel about the corridor preservation agreement. Lehman/Would you show that eastern portion of that again? Is it Taft that goes up on the bottom ..... what street is that, right there? Davidson/This is what is called the Seven Sisters Road, old Scott Boulevard, comes around and then connects (can't hear) up here. Lehman/Well yeah, okay. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 32 Elliott/That's noxv closed, right? Lehman/No, well it kind of is but can you, I know that we've talked for years... Davidson/I think it's now called Harvest Road actually. Lehman/...what would, what's the advantage of crossing interstate at that point, rather than where that Seven Sisters Road curves? Where there's already a roadway that goes, go to the east down Interstate 80? Davidson/You know, probably the best way to answer that, Emie, would be for me to go back into the report and find out exactly why and send you a memo and let you... Lehman/Oh, I just, I (can't hear). Davidson/It's basically that combination of factors and how it sets you up for, how it sets you up for tying into the other side of the interstate here. You know, I mean, one obvious thing, Ernie, that everybody can see is that you know, the growth area for the City is somewhere out in here. If you swing that out like that, you're building a lot more road. Lehman/No, but if you went right down, that Harvest Road, straight across, straight, instead o f hooking into Scott Boulevard where it does. Davidson/Yeah, okay. There's something wrong with that way, Emie .... Lehman/No, no, there may be and that's...(several talking at once)..okay. That's fine. That's all l wanted to know. I just like those neat little grids. (laughter) Doesn't show the ups and downs. Vanderhoef/Jeff, do you foresee east of Highway 1 that that road will probably start developing incrementally? Davidson/Yeah, I think it'd be very logical, Dee, for the road to come in from this side, you know, and possibly even come in from this side, and the very last thing you'd have is a bridge, and that's a pretty expensive structure, but that would be a typical ~vay to develop. Vanderhoef/Uh-huh. But I can see it hasn't been zoned out there, but I would certainly expect it to go to commercial kind of... Davidson/The City's comprehensive plan would be the land-use guidance for the subsequent redevelopment of that, and we've talked to several of the property owners out here. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 33 Vanderhoef/Shoxv me where the City boundaries are on this side of the river. Davidson/Um, let me go back to that before I tell you the wrong thing. There. That's where they are currently. Vanderhoef/Okay. Davidson/So nmch of that is in the City already. Vanderhoef/That was the piece I couldn't see on my computer. Davidson/Yeah, the yellow line here is the corporate line. O'Donnell/Where's Newport? Davidson/That is off the map to the north, Mike. Oh wait a minute, I'm sorry, it's right there. That's Newport Road right there. Lehman/There it is. Champion/Okay (several talking at once). Elliott/At this point, Jeff, that ends at Dubuque Street, right? Dubuque extended? Davidson/I'm sorry, Bob, what ends at Dubuque? Elliott/At this point, you're talking about starting at Scott, looping around, and ending at Dubuque Road? Davidson/Well, you know, I think it's highly possible, Bob, that you're going to have segments built in various places, you know, before they all start hooking up. Elliott/Uh-huh. Davidson/I mean that's what happened with Scott Boulevard. It's not necessarily all going to start from this end and proceed. Elliott/No, no, but I mean, that's what you're eventually planning, and then there is at least the option for that to extend further onto 380? Vanderhoef/Well, it's coming...it's already at 380, coming east. It's almost to Dubuque Street right now. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 34 Davidson/Yeah, you can see, Oakdale Boulevard's right here, actually goes across 380 if that's what you're talking about. Elliott/Uh-huh. Davidson/It actually goes across, into Tiffin. That was something we worked on with the Tiffin City Council that they wanted...Coralville in their land-use plan was prepared to have it terminate right at 380 which is where the corporate boundaries is, but Tiffin thought it'd be a good idea to bring it over, and Tiffin has already approved subdivisions over here, leaving room for an arterial street. Elliott/What I'm thinking of, this then in the future could be a 4-lane bypass of Iowa City, up and around. Davidson/Design standard-wise, we would be talking about similar to what we built with Scott Boulevard recently, and that would likely be the design standards that we would use, unless Council made a determination you wanted to go with more lanes initially. Elliott/But, certainly one of the things that I've noticed about Scott, is it's 2 lanes now, trees have been planted which will make it very inappropriate to go to 4 lanes, which I think needs to happen. I think I sense disagreement with some of my Council members. (laughter and several talking at once) Vanderhoef/I'm with you. I'm disappointed the trees were planted so close to the 2-lane for all those along Scott Boulevard, the new section. Davidson/Well, I would imagine that the determination was that you know we built a 30- year pavement there, 25 or 30-year pavement, so those trees may be approaching the end of their useful life and new trees would be planted with the new alignment... Lehman/Well do we want Jeffto proceed with this or...(can't hear; several talking at once). Davidson/Okay, I ~vill indicate that to the County. Thank you. Lehman/Thank you. Elliott/Are we going to have a little break? Lehman/We're...yeah, I guess we are. (TAPE OFF--BREAK) Council Time This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 35 Lehman/Okay. Are you ready, Marian? Okay, folks, the next item is Council time. Anybody have anything for Council time? Champion/I do. Lehman/Good. Champion/Um... Lehman/I was hoping you would. Champion/...I've been talking to a few people at the Englert Theatre who are still very concerned that we wouldn't let them put that curb or something, so nobody could park in front of their door, and seems it's a major concern, but I don't think we need to look at this as just a concern for the Englert. They need to get 200 people out that door, that's an exit for 200 people out of the Englert, and they're going to put a door that opens in and has a little alcove, but if there isn't truck or a van, and the place is filling with smoke, now it's sprinkled, but the buildings next to it aren't, it could catch on fire, you're going to have people panicking, trampling over each other, trying to get out those doors, and we have several businesses in those alleys who have the same problem, and they've got the entrance so they can at least open the door but I think we've got a terrific fire problem here. Trying to get people evacuated out of some of those businesses, like the Englert, a few of the bars would have that. I think we need to seriously look at that from a total citizen safety standpoint, and make those areas non-parking. Not only non- parking, but tow. When you think about it, it's a major concern. 200 people coming out of that door and there's a car parked there, or a truck parked there. Well that entrance is specifically for 200 people, exit for 200 people (can't hear). Dilkes/Why don't we have Andy and housing inspection take a look at those issues? Atkins/Just so I understand, the bottom line is enforcement. Getting them out of there. Champion/Enforcement? Get them out, I mean, we're lucky that there hasn't been a terrible thing happen there, really. (several talking at once) Atkins/Well we had thought when we were doing our discussion about cleaning up, that was one of the issues. Can't clean it up if you're going to be falling over beer tracks. Okay, we'll get you something. Elliott/Steve, I have a question about the recycling project, and I apologize because I had talked with you, and kind of indicated how I felt and the questions I have, been thinking further to see if, I don't know where you are on this, where the City is, where the Council is on this, but I'd like to hold up on that if we could. I'd like to, one, emotionally and perception-wise it's a very difficult time to start This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 36 something like this. Secondly, I'm wondering if we couldn't start an education and a marketing program with a staff and volunteers, and see what that brings about, and then look at whether or not a coordinator is needed, and if so, if we could then look at the responsibilities and the compensation of that position. So those are my feelings, and I don't know where we are on that project. Atkins/Where we are is we just, with the budget option we started job description preparation. It's all routine work. I mean, if you wish to postpone it and discuss it collectively, we can certainly accommodate you. Champion/It's not out at the (can't hear; several talking at once) Atkins/The newspaper editorial was wrong. Elliott/I understand that, and I think many, some people do, but a lot of people do, while some jobs are in jeopardy, we're talking about creating a new j ob, and I think there's some sensitivity, some emotions, and that shouldn't be the guiding light. I think my greater concern is can't we start small, and see where some marketing and promoting and education with staff and volunteers gets us, and then see if we do need a coordinator, then what that position needs to be. Bailey/Well and I've heard from people who are very supportive of this festival recycling and expansion, and ramping up recycling, as am I, but also had questions, even though they understand that it comes from landfill money, about who's responsible for recycling now, what is that job description look like, and can we get this kind of ramp up from our current staff. Atkins/We don't have someone now so that's... Bailey/We don't have anybody who does recycling? Atkins/No, no, we have it .scattered amongst a number of positions. I was trying to... Lehman/May I suggest, Steve, that you perhaps give a memo to Council with the, what this person is going to be doing, why we feel we need this...my feeling is once everyone understands what that position is, that it'll be a lot easier to discuss. We don't have somebody now (can't hear) coordinate and this sort of thing, we'd probably need somebody to do it. If you could do that. Atkins/I'll have this for you by next meeting. That's fine. Because most of that information is easily available. Lehman/Okay. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 37 Vanderhoef/There was something else that I missed when we were talking about agenda items. We have a memo about the laptop and the internet and so forth, and I have some questions and reservations about reading it all on line. Number one is my understanding would be that I wouldn't have LaserFiche? Is that correct? Karr/That's correct. Vanderhoef/And therefore, anytime that I used my laptop, I would have to plug into a phone line someplace to read my packet? It wouldn't be portable for me? Bailey/You can download this, right? Karr/Yeah, you can download it. Bailey/Yeah, we can download a PDF. Vanderhoef/I don't know what you're talking about. Wilbum/It's just a certain, it's a certain, like Microsoft Word, it's just a program that is more optical friendly for the internet format. Karr/You could download the file so you wouldn't have to be online, so you could take your laptop anywhere and read it once you downloaded onto the laptop. Lehman/Download it on the laptop. Wilbum/Just unplug it from the, and you could take it wherever. Bailey/Be online and just download it. Lehman/What I think I'm hearing is that we would receive our packets, rather than picking up a disc, we would receive them online. We could take our computer, plug it in... Karr/You would not be, again, we can schedule this. I did not schedule this for discussion tonight so we certainly can schedule it to go through it. Number one, you would not have, necessarily have your laptop. You could request to keep your laptop if you so desired. You would not have to have it sent to you. You would access it like every citizen would. You could subscribe to it, if you'd like, but it's there for the citizens at 3:00 Thursday, just like it's there for you. O'Donnell/So ~v¢ would access this on our home computers? Karr/Yes, yes, we'll provide a dedicated phone line. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 38 Lehman/Can we put that on agenda for discussion so you can explain it all to us? Champion/I only have a year and a half left. I can't handle (laughter & several talking at once). Bailey/Let's meet and go over to Regenia's and read. (laughter) Lehman/No, what we'll do, Marian, you could start this at a work session at 6:00. The three lame ducks can come at 6:30 and you'll be all done. (laughter) O'Donnell/I really think this sounds complicated. Champion/Can you wait for the new Council? (laughter) O'Donnell/I just got LaserFiche mastered, I mean, I .... Lehman/Let's put that for a quick overview, okay? Elliott/Keep in mind what the cost would be. I still like getting hard copies. I can'y it around with me. I read it when I go places, and I don't want to really access it and nm it off on my printer, and it takes an immense amount of time. If we have a 300-page document... Kart/We'll schedule it for another time. (laughter) O'Donnell/Who brought this up? Lehman/Okay, two things. I think we're voting tomorrow night on the Charter Commission. I think we all need to be thinking of folks who might like to serve on that. That's a really important commission. I think there will be a lot of people who would like to serve on it, but we need to be thinking about those folks who are, and I think they have to apply, is that not correct? Kan'/We're recommending that you handle it just like all other boards... Lehman/Right. Karr/...and commissions. We'll advertise it 30 days and... Lehman/Right, so if we have folks that you particularly feel would be good, encourage them to apply. I mean, all we can do is tell them no, unless of course they write to the state and the state tells us what the qualifications have to be. O'Donnell/Once you get a hold of something, Ernie, I'll tell ya. (laughter) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 39 Lehman/All right, and I think...the League of Women Voters, we're going to try and schedule them for the next meeting? Atkins/Yes, that was the... Lehman/Then I think maybe the one after that, or shortly, we need to schedule a discussion of the airport for a work session, at our earliest convenience. I don't think it's going to be a long session. Atkins/We do have an airport issue to bring you shortly. You may want to do that simultaneously. That is that north/south runway closing, finishing Mormon Trek, you know, that sort of.... Vanderhoet7 Do we need to do it sooner? Atkins/Um, I'm thinking you will, but I'll know more in the next couple days. We're working on that. We might have to. Lehman/All right, but I think we need to address that. O'Donnell/I have one quick...the telephone poles and the flyers that are up on them, particularly coming down Dubuque Street. Champion/I'm sorry... O'Donnell/The telephone poles and those little flyers that they're sticking to them. You know, there's generations of flyers on there. I mean, it's a half inch thick. We're talking about cleaning up alleys, everything else, and the entrance to the town has got thousands of these things on them. I don't know if there's anything we can do about them. Champion/Are you against communication? (laughter) Vanderhoef/You just need recyclers like my husband who walks down the street and yanks them off. Elliott/Mike, when the utility company used to have people going up those poles with the spikes and those were extremely dangerous for those, even then they had a difficult time keeping them off there, but I agree. (tape ends) ...like to talk about cleaning things up. Atkins/Two summers ago, I hired a young fella. That was his job - start up there, walk, and just tear them off as you go, cleaning them off. We can do that again. Lehman/Well, Steve, is it possible, you know... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 40 Atkins/There's an ordinance against this, but it's just virtually impossible to enforce. Lehman/Could we perhaps approach the court, somebody who has some sort of community service sentence to go out and do that? O'Donnell/Well I think it would be better, Emie, if we have it not done in the first place. Lehman/I don't disagree, but I don't think you're going to keep... Elliott/Well, that's not going to happen, but I don't see why Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts... Vanderhoef/Anyone with... Elliott/Kiwanis, Rotary, I can see the Rotarians going out and doing that (several talking at once). O'Donnell/And could we not send the letter to the bar and say something like "you know, you can't do this". Atkins/Done that, done that and they ignored me. (laughter) Elliott/Once last thing. I have a list of 15 or so subjects, I talked with Emie about it, and any Council persons who would like to talk, I would like to have scheduled several extended discussion sessions of half day in length to address some of the topics, and if the rest of the Council would, I would like to start talking about it at one of these early meetings. O'Donnell/If those are important to you, then I think we need to find out what it is. Lehman/Well I think we could schedule a work session, at a work session, if there are issues we wish to schedule a special work day at, we can do that. And certainly go through your list, Bob, or whatever other issues that other Council folks might have. Elliott/Well, other people, there may be some that I have that no one else is interested in and they have things that would be more important. Vanderhoef/Maybe you'd share your list with us so we sort of have an idea... Elliott/I would... Kan'/Would it be helpful if you put in the next packet and we could put it on the next agenda, if you wanted to talk about scheduling, because you do have, you did I thought, firm up your summer schedule, but maybe not. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 41 Lehman/Yeah. Karr/And that could have some impact on it. Wilbum/Just a heads up to Council, the May 4th Council meeting, I will not be able to make. It's the only night that we could get our (can't hear) and volunteer banquet so I will be at the work session. Lehman/Okay. Champion/Is that May 9th, did you say? Lehman/May 4th. Champion/Maybe we could combine the two the night before so you could be there? We've done it for other (can't hear). O'Donnell/Well, but it's a Monday, isn't it? You're going to be missing Tuesday. (several talking at once) Champion/...but he won't be there on Tuesday. O'Donnell/So we would have to combine the formal on a Monday. Wilburn/I don't want to (can't hear; several talking at once) Lehman/All right, is there anything else for Council time? Visual Preference Survey Atkins/You asked that this be put on from the last meeting. I think there's an item of correspondence in your packet. I was approached by the Home Builders, and we are going to be meeting with them very shortly to go over this. There was a lot of bum information flying around. I think most of that's been settled, and it's our intent to proceed unless we hear otherwise from you. I think in the bottom line, folks, our citizens are going to find it fun. Lehman/Comments? Wilburn/I just think if there's a way to give (can't hear) feedback to the Council and staff, related to things that might impact our comprehensive plan since we had some disagreement there, I think any way we can try and flush that out, or eliminate something that doesn't need to be there, or modify existing statements then I'm willing to take this type of input. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 42 Champion/You know, a lot of this controversy came up because of the garage situation, but my kids who live all over the country are sending me, every community is dealing with this. It's amazing how much communities are trying to deal with this issue. ElliottJ Well, I don't agree with the concept but I'm certainly not opposed to it taking place. That's fine. O'Donnell/I kind of feel like Bob. I question what the end value is, but like I said, I don't think it's that big a deal. We can certainly go ahead with it. Bailey/Are we going to have data about participants? Is there some kind of survey that they would fill out? Atkins/There'll be a sign-in. We'll do our best to have...I think we know what you want, where they're from that kind of business, yeah. Bailey/Yeah, male, female, age range. Atkins/Yeah, sure. Lehman/Address? Atkins/I don't know about age. Bailey/Well age range, not age. Atkins/Okay. Lehman/Zero to a hundred? (laughter) Atkins/No, I didn't mean that. I was taking it seriously; they were not. (laughter) Dilkes/Well she's asking for demographics of the people who are participating in the survey. Atkins/Yes. Bailey/...that was raised earlier, and I think that it would be informative to have. I mean, I'm talking about a... Atkins/Sure, we'll take a run at it, let's put it that way. We'll take a run at getting as much information as you can. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 43 Vanderhoef/...another, you know, would be a demographic that will, well it will impact where someone might live. Lehman/Yeah, but I think that's going to be very difficult if you want an address from someone to find out what part of the community they're from and then ask them to put on the same line their income, I don't think you're going to get it. Champion/Well I think that's a mistake. Bailey/Well, and I was talking about something that would be more anonymous. I mean, you would have a sign-in sheet, but also gather demographics in an anonymous way, as we might for a program that we hold. Franklin/Maybe we could do two parts, one is the sign-in, people just sign in their name, address when they come in. The form that they fill out where they're rating the pictures, that part of that, would be the demographic information that would be anonymous. Lehman/I think that would... Bailey/And I would ask them also how they found out about, or how they found out about the survey. Was it a flyer? Just to test how we're advertising it, and getting people involved in our public process. Franklin/Age, income, how they found out about the survey...what else? Bailey/Sex. Franklin/Okay. Lehman/Well, I think address, not necessarily the street, but (can't hear) so we know, a lot of them (can't hear), no I think that statistically the information you get is going to have a lot more value if you can show it has some statistical validity based on age, income, area, or how well the community is represented, this sort of thing. If you have that, I think you have a certain credibility that you can't possibly get if you don't have any of (can't hear; several people talking at once). Vanderhoef/You can put address with the name, and all the rest of this would be anonymous, demographics... Dilkes/All you have to do is have one sheet with the survey, and have a completely separate sheet with the demographic information. Lehman/Yeah, I think that's a good idea. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 44 Elliott/And I think if you ask too much, they won't fill it out. Lehman/Yeah, right. Bailey/Yeah, these have to be check boxes. I think .... Lehman/All fight. FSS Program. FSS Program Rackis/Well, FSS stands for Family Self Sufficiency. Lehman/Oh that's correct. Rackis/And I thank you for inviting us to come here this evening and give you an update on our self-sufficiency programs. We actually have two, but by way of introduction to Mary Copper, om' Self-Sufficiency Program Coordinator, I'd like to state that promoting economic self-sufficiency is a high priority with the housing authority, and if there are lies, damn lies, and statistics, I offer you some information, and that is if you take into consideration all of the family members in our public housing and Section 8 programs, 31% of all those family members are receiving an income from work. Now, if you take a look at the characteristics by head of household, there's about 698 families where that head of household is either elderly, disabled, or elderly and disabled. That leaves about 616 families where the head of household would be considered not elderly and able-bodied. Of those households, 455 or 74% of those head of households are receiving an income from work. So our self~sufficiency programs are really designed to help people get a job, keep a job, get a better job, hopefully become self-sufficient, and possibly even graduate into one of our home ownership programs. So Mary Copper, again, will tell you how we operate our self-sufficiency programs and how who we operate them with. Copper/Well, first of all I just want to thank all of you for the opportunity to tell you about these programs tonight because I know that it's late and you're tired and you want to get out of here probably as quick as you can, so that's why the Powerpoint is going to be as stimulating as possible to keep you awake so this is the point where you can kick back and grab your mints and popcorn and just watch the show. (laughter) Lehman/We're going to have to grab your Junior Mints and popcorn ..... we don't have any. (laughter) Copper/You can pass them around, pass around the Junior Mints. (laughter) Atkins/Well, there goes the presentation. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 45 Copper/Okay - employment, education and asset building at the Iowa City Housing Authority. I'm going to tell you about three programs, or three ways that we go about creating the whole opportunities and success for our Housing Authority tenants, and the first one is family self-sufficiency. That's an escrow savings program. The second one is a resident opportunity in self-sufficiency, and that's an employment assistance program, and the third one is home ownership education. We start planting the seeds and we start the first day that they come in to be enrolled in either one of the programs, start planting the seed of what they need to do, on the path to get from where they are now to home ownership. Okay, the first one I'm going to tell you about is the Iowa City Housing Authority Family Self-Sufficiency Program, and as Steve said, we call that FSS, and you can note that the S's are dollar signs. That's significant. The program is a Housing and Urban Development initiative that's designed to help our Housing Authority families increase earnings, build assets, and become more self- sufficient. HUD mandated when this program was started, that we have 83 participants graduate from the program, and what that means is every time we graduate somebody, that mandated number drops. So in the last four and a half years, our mandated number of 83 has dropped to 6. This is a voluntary program. It's open to anybody receiving Section 8 or Public Housing assistance, and all they need is a desire and a willingness to take the steps, set the goals, and make it happen. The way it works is that the head of household enters into a 5-year contract with the Housing Authority, and this involves an individual training and services plan that is developed with the family and with the Housing Authority staff, that outlines their goals, which always include an employment goal, and all the activities and steps that they need to take to achieve their goals. This program is a hand-up, not a hand-out. The FSS Coordinator, or myself, helps the family obtain the services listed in the plan, and supports the family while completing their goals, and then the Housing Authority establishes an escrow savings account so that when the family increases, or we establish an escrow savings account for when the family increases its earned income. So in other words, they set goals to increase their earned income. When their income goes up, their rent goes up, and they start to build assets in a savings account. When the FSS contract is successfully completed, the family will then receive the accumulated funds with interest. Most families want to go on to home ownership with that, that's the ultimate goals. Some have used it for education. Some have used it for car, transportation. Some have used it on the path to home ownership, although they weren't ready to get there yet, to clear up credit ratings, and take care of any debt they have that's in the way of proceeding. To complete the program, the family in addition to meeting the goals that they have set for themselves, there are mandatory HUD goals, and that includes that to complete the program, the family must be off'public assistance for at least twelve consecutive months, before the contract expires, and they must be working. This program helps families develop the personal skills for self-reliance that empowers them to become and remain self-sufficient, and this includes making good decisions, setting short and long This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Cotmcil work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 46 term goals, improving time management, self-motivation, and managing personal finances. These are just some of the many things. It also helps them by developing and improving awareness of employer expectations, providing access to education, training, and workshops, and offer community resources and referrals. And that second item there, is really an important one because we have done an awful lot of that and I'm going to tell you some of the ways we've done that, some of the things we've provided, and the partnerships that have helped achieve that. Making our special projects a reality --- the FSS Coordinator facilitates clients in finding the services to become self-sufficiem, and the huge part of that is to leverage and navigate resources for the client. I have a picture of this group here meeting because HUD also mandates that for both of our self- sufficiency programs, that we have an advisory board, that's called Program Coordinating Committee, PCC. The PCC is comprised ora cross-section of people from the community, and the PCC functions as an advisory board for both of our programs at the same time, and this group has really been instrumental in helping to leverage and resources, such as free computer classes and workshops, and other programs that I'll go on to tell you about. Plugging into community assets --- this is key. We've had partnerships with realtors, lenders, local non- profits, local businesses, local civic groups, University, community colleges, local trade schools, and retailers. The participant's obligations are to make an appointment for enrollment and contract signing; agree to seek ad maintain employment; they play an active role in developing their plan, and then of course they complete all their goals. They must comply with the terms of the lease and the Iowa City Housing Authority's policy. Participate in recommended workshops; maintain contact with the FSS Coordinator, and follow up on referrals made in the community. The mission statement for our FSS program is, the Family Self-Sufficiency program is committed to empowering low-income families to become self-sufficient, productive members of the community. The program will assist unemployed or underemployed families transition from public assistance to productive employment. The second half of this I'm going to tell you about the second self-sufficiency program we have. But what's key, the key word here is underemployed. The second program, the ROSS program, really came from under the umbrella of FSS because we at the Housing Authority realized in getting this program going in the last four years that most of our families were not unemployed, but rather they were underemployed. So we looked at what grant funding was available. We found the ROSS grant. Applied for it. We were successfully funded, and to address the employment piece comes the next part. One more slide on FSS. FSS....it works. And these services have promoted self-sufficiency and enhanced the quality of our Housing Authority tenants. ROSS, Resident Opportunity and Self- Sufficiency - this happened because the Housing Authority partnered with Goodwill and applied for this 3- year grant through HUD, and in February of 2001 we were awarded $150,000. We're just completing that 3-year grant this summer. We applied for it again last spring and we were awarded again in 2004, the HUD grant, but this time we were awarded $250,000 so we were increased by $100,000. And in partnership, the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 47 Housing Authority and Goodwill, we've used the grant funds to provide employment support services to the Housing Authority tenants. The support services provided are designed to help them gain or maintain employment, and to help the underemployed increase their skills. So in other words, maybe we make a referral for somebody who may be employed, but maybe they're making a very low wage, $6, under $7 an hour, and they don't work full time so they don't have benefits, they're temporary, part-time, you know. And so we do make referrals for somebody who wants to get better employment. Maybe they want to increase their computer skills or that's a big one. So the grant pays for the salary of an employment specialist who provides the job readiness, job search, and follow up atter placement has occurred. Some of these services she provides include investigating requirements for self-employment, amazing to me because I couldn't fathom doing it, but a number of people have started their own business. Job development, initial employer contacts, facilitating follow up employment support. Your typical job seeking skills - interviewing, resume, application development, and job exploration, searching for different employment options. And the only thing it takes to be eligible is to be an Iowa City Housing Authority tenant who wants to increase their earned income and become self-sufficient, and then to get a referral, and that would come...we would send a referral, anybody at the Housing Authority. It's usually me, would send a referral to our employment specialist who is at Goodwill Industries. In addition to the employment specialist, the grant has provided, mostly through leveraged resources, other services, such as the computer classes, budget and credit classes, homeownership preparation classes, as well as financial assistance with barriers such as childcare and transportation, and some of those transportation help has been car repair, bus tickets, parking fees, and the vocational training could include tuition, books, training, cost of exams, certifications, or licensure. Who have we helped so far? Well, there have been 197 referrals to the ROSS program. Successful placements from active referrals is 76%. Of the successful placements, 85% have had retained elnployment. The average wage has ranged from $8.30 to $8.92 per hour. Over 70% of ROSS participants are enrolled in the FSS program, and 60% of those have an escrow account established. This is the best part: the Iowa City Housing Authority has graduated 78 FSS families since the program inception in July of1999. 63 ofthose graduatingFSS families have left housing or reached full rent. A total of 29 FSS families have been able to move to home ownership with assets accumulated through FSS escrow accounts. And the Wheels to Work program is not a Housing Authority program. It is a Goodwill program, but we collaborate with them. We make referrals and provide the case management for following up to make sure that insurance is paid, and they're making the car payments, they're retaining their employment, and with the ROSS grant, we have a match agreement with Goodwill that they will give our participants 30 cars every year, guaranteed. So 35 families received cars in FY03 through collaboration with Goodwill's Wheels to Work program. Champion/That's great. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 48 Vanderhoef/Fantastic. Copper/So if you have any questions, or... O'Donnell/It was so clear. Elliott/Your success with the graduates, I think you said 63% graduating families have left housing or reached full rent. Is that, do you loose touch with them immediately after "graduating" or do you have any follow up longitudinal data, say five years later? How many... Copper/Well that's a good question because we haven't lost touch yet because the program is so new. I've just been in my job four and a half years so the contract is for 5 years. We haven't had anybody go 5 years yet. So you know, they can let their escrow build for up to 5 years, but they can graduate as soon as they reach full rent or meet their goals. So some have moved away, but we don't have any longitudinal data, and I just got something in the mail today, it was put in my mailbox about follow up with people after they get into housing and I put it in our home ownership coordinator's mailbox because I wanted to discuss it with her because we really don't have anything in place right now for follow up. We have had follow up but it's anecdotal because they live in the community, and mostly I've had families who've moved offthe program, or moved to home ownership that want to keep coming to some of our workshops. You know, computer classes or things like that, so I mean, other than having their names, we don't have any follow up. And something else I should point out because it sort of ties in with what Steve said, I said 78 families have graduated and 63 have left housing or reached full rent. Well that means they haven't all left housing. Well the thing is, some of them are working full time but they still qualify, or they're working to the best of their ability because I do have some elderly, and I do have some disabled, and although it's very hard for them to get full time or to obtain full time in the first place, or if they have a disability it would be hard to work if they could obtain it. So for some families they reach their fullest potential, and so they're paying a lot more of their rent than they were previously, but they still need some housing assistance. ElliottJ How long can they stay in the ROSS program? They start, there's a designated period of time, and then whatever happens, they're done, or do they stay until something happens? Copper/That is something that we've been sort of working the bugs out of as we've gone along. Typically what would happen is if somebody gets a referral to the ROSS program, it's to find employment. So once they get placement, it's a very differential individual approach, because somebody just needs to find a job and they're fine, and other ones need follow up, job placement, coaching. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 49 Elliott/So there is no end time for that. Copper/No, there really is. I mean, people get referred to the ROSS program and there is an initial assessment and there's a plan made, and then I always receive from the employment specialist, progress notes and then I get a placement report. And after the placement there is some follow up, and then she'll exit somebody. If somebody is in their job and they're maintaining it, and they're doing fine, then she'll do a final report so she exits people from the program. What did I say, there are 167 ROSS referrals I think. She only has 34 active cases at a time. Sometimes 20 to 25. So people come on. They get a job. They're doing okay, and then they're graduated. So they come on. They're constantly getting new referrals and then they're being graduated from the program. The reason I said it's a good questions is because it's complicated because the job market is really tight, and sometimes somebody gets a couple of referrals to the ROSS program because they want help finding a job again. Elliott/I just assumed a number of them are not going to find employment, and what happens to them? They simply go off the program? You get the ROSS help for a period of time, and then... Copper/No, we haven't put a time limit on it. It's really been need-based. Elliott/Okay. Vanderhoef/Could you talk a little bit about the escrow account is funded. Copper/Well that comes from HUD. Well you know that everybody on housing...well, maybe you don't know, but I assume you all know, that everybody on housing pays 30% of their adjusted monthly income towards rent. So whatever their income is, that's what they pay. So with this program, or with the rent period, so they're income goes up so their portion of the rent goes up, so with this program, they meet their goals and they increase their income, their rent goes up so then the portion that we pay to the landlord goes down. So if they're suddenly paying $200 more to the landlord, we're paying $200 less HUD dollars to the landlord. That goes to the escrow account. Lehman/That's great. O'Donnell/It was explained very well. Copper/Good. Lehman/That's pretty exciting. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 50 Copper/Although being nervous to share all of this I was really pretty excited too because at the Housing Authority we're very proud of these programs, and excited about the outcomes, and... Lehman/You should be. Champion/Well it is, it is exciting, and long term is, I don't know what number would be important, but anybody who can become successful economically in rearing their family and each other, I think that's terrific so however many work, great. Copper/Well I always tell everybody this story but this classic family, we had a young family came on and I think it was just two and a half, three years ago, it didn't take them very long. They're very motivated. They came in and they didn't have housing, they were homeless. They were staying with somebody, you know, and they got housing. So that was their first stabilizing force, and then they didn't have employment so we made a ROSS referral and our employment specialist helped the man get a job, and the woman was starting to but she was pregnant so she started taking classes. She went to every workshop we had, everything, and in one of our computer classes, at the end of our computer class series for everybody that attended them all, we would do a name draw for donated computers. By the way, if anybody has any computers to donate, give me a call. And so she won one of our computers in a name draw, at the computer class, and we did a Wheels to Work referral and they had one child and she was pregnant, turned out to be with twins. They ended up getting a van from the Wheels to Work, and meanwhile he got the job through ROSS and they started to build escrow. They had good credit and were very hard working, so they started to participate, or check into the home ownership, did all the home ownership preparation, and took the classes, and now they just got a house through our Section 8 home ownership, and being as motivated as they were, they explored every option so they ended up getting a loan through, was it USDA, really low interest rate, I think it was like a 1% or something. They just couldn't buy in the City so they built a house, I mean they actually built a new house in Tiffin or North Liberty, I don't remember which, but they built a new house, and so now...they had this escrow money that they built up, and they used it for closing costs, earnest money, appliances. They also each used it for tuition because they're both also going to school. He's working and going to school; she's taking care of these little kids, twin babies, and going to school so in the scope of just three years, because they had this help and because these programs are here, people always tell me, well sure, that's a really motivated couple, but you know, they're 22, they're just a very young couple, and what really motivated them I think is that these programs did give them hope that they could succeed so with the programs in place, they just went after it and so in the scope of less than three years, they were housed and'had a car and a computer, and now a new home. So, obviously I'm very happy about this. (laughter) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004. March 15, 2004 Council Work Session Page 51 Vanderhoef/And they want to keep coming back to see you. Copper/Yeah, they'll probably keep coming. People at the Housing Authority are really invested in this. I mean, when we had the home ownership classes that this family came to and some other families, two of us at the Housing Authority, the home ownership coordinator and I, brought our kids to babysit, to provide free child care so... Vanderhoef/It works. Copper/It works. All right, well thank you. (applause) Lehman/Very good. Okay, folks. Vanderhoef/Hey, I just want to compliment you on the report and the amount of statistics. It was very readable. It's very referable for all of us because these are the kinds of questions we get asked and we don't have that information at the tip of our fingers. Now ifI don't loose it in my office (several talking at once). This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Council work session March 15, 2004.