HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-04-01 Info Packet CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION PACKET
CITY OF IOWA CiTY April 1,2004
www.icgov.org
IP1 City Council Meeting Schedule and Work Session Agendas
IP2 Memorandum from Bob Elliott: Suggested Topics for Extended Discussion Sessions
IP3 Memorandum from City Manager and Staff: Council Laptop Use and Upgrade, Email
Policy, Harvat Hall Upgrades
IP4 League of Women's Voters Presentation [Presentation to the City Council and Comments
on Inter-Governmental Cooperation distributed at 4/5 Work Session]
I MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS
IP5 Memorandum from City Manager: Capital Projects - 2004
IP6 Memorandum from Eleanor M. Dilkes, City Attorney: Alcohol-Related Charges
IP7 Memorandum from Joe Fowler, Director Parking & Transit and Chris O'Brien, Parking
Manager: Iowa City Parking Facilities
IP8 Letter from Mayor Lehman to Dorothy M. Persson: Mental Health Delivery System
IP9 Memorandum from City Manager to Board and Commission Staff: Minutes and Attendance
Charts
IP10 Memorandum from City Clerk: Agenda Items for April 21 Joint Meeting
IPll Email from Regenia Bailey: Visual Preference Survey
IP12 Email from Jerry Nixon: Making Schools Safe for GLBT Youth
IP13 Memorandum from Director of Finance, Kevin O'Malley to the City Manager: Fiscal Impact of
IPERS Legislation
IP14 Email from Heather Shank, Coordinator Civil Rights/Human Rights: Youth Awards
IP15 Email from Patricia Santangero: Smoking Ban Popular
IP16 Iowa City Housing & Inspection Services Customer Service Survey: March 2004
IP17 Copy of Article [Iowa House of Representatives]: Statehouse News
Invitation: Welcoming new Englert Director April 16 [Distributed 4/5 Work Session]
CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION PACKET
CITY OF IOWA CITY April 1, 2004
www.icgov.org
APRIL 5 WORK SESSION ITEMS
IP1 City ~ Schedule and Work Session Agendas
IP2 Memorandum Bob Elliott: Suggested Topics for Extended Sessions
IP3 Memorandum City Manager and Staff: Council Use and Upgrade, Email
Policy, pgrades
IP4 League of We
iCELLANEOUS
IP5 Memorandum from Cit, ~ital Pro
IP6 Memorandum from Eleanor M. , City Atton ,: Alcohol-Related Charges
IP7 Memorandum from Joe Fowler, Di :ing & Transit and Chris O'Brien, Parking
Manager: Iowa City Parking
IP8 Letter from Mayor Lehman to Dorothy M. Mental Health Delivery System
IP9 Memorandum from City Manager to Commission Staff: Minutes and Attendance
Charts
IPI0 Memorandum from City Clerk: Agen, Items 21 Joint Meeting
IP'II Email from Regenia Bailey: Visua
IP12 Email from Jerry Nixon: Makin¢ .BT Youth
IP13 Memorandum from Director Kevin O'Malley~o the City Manager: Fiscal Impact of
IPERS Legislation \
IP14 Email from Heather Shah 3oordinator Civil Rights/Humah~Rights: Youth Awards
IP15 Email from Patricia Sar .=1o: Smoking Ban Popular
IP16 Iowa City Housing Inspection Services Customer Service,,Survey: March 2004
IP17 Copy of Article House of Representatives]: Statehouse Ne~s
April 1,2004 Information Packet /continued/ 2
I PRELIMINARY/DRAFT MINUTES I
IP18 Planning and Zoning Commission: March 4, 2004
IP19 Housing and Community Development Commission: March 11,2004
~ City Council Meeting Schedule and
Work
Session
Agenclas April 1, 2004
(~ITY OF IOWA (~ITY
www.icgov.org
· MONDAY, APRIL 5 Emma J. Harvat Hall
6:30p Special Formal - Executive Session [Separate Agenda Posted]
Council Work Session · Planning and Zoning Items
· Council Laptop Use and Upgrade
· Agenda Items
· Council Appointments
· League of Women Voters Presentation
Council Time
· Scheduling of Special Work Sessions (evaluations/Elliott proposals)
· TUESDAY, APRIL 6 Emma J. Harvat Hall
7:00p Formal Council Meeting
TENTATIVE FUTURE MEETINGS AND AGENDAS
· MONDAY, APRIL 19 Emma J. Harvat Hall
6:30p Council Work Session
· Planning and Zoning Items
· Agenda Items
· Council Appointments
· Council Time
· TUESDAY, APRIL 20 Emma J. Harvat Hall
7:00p Formal Council Meeting
· MONDAY, MAY 3 Emma J. Harvat Hall
6:30p Council Work Session
· Planning and Zoning Items
· Agenda Items
· Council Appointments
· Council Time
Meeting dates/times/topics subject to change
FUTURE WORK SESSION ITEMS
Regulation of Downtown Durnpsters
Council Memo
To: City Council Member~,~, ~
From: Bob Elliott ,('//-~.~'~.,,~'h
Date: March 31, 2004 ' c./f /
RE: Suggested topics for extended discussion sessions
This expands on comments I made at our March 15-16 meetings, suggesting council
schedule several special sessions to address topics requiring more discussion time than is
realistic for regular council meetings.
Obviously, other council members have time constraints, but I believe there are problems
and opportunities needing such extended and extensive discussion. I suggest 2-hour
sessions, each with a limited agenda of 2-3 topics. I suggest any combination of
weekday late afternoons (4-6 p.m.), weekday mornings (7-9 a.m.), or Saturday mornings
(10-12 noon).
Attached is a listing of discussion topics I suggest for your consideration. You may find
some of my suggestions inappropriate and/or have other suggestions of your own.
I'd appreciate learning if there is council support for my suggestion.
cc: City Clerk
Attach: Possible Council Discussion Topics
Possible Council Discussion Topics
Plan for northside fire station and staff
Law enforcement priorities & police staffing
Control of alcohol-related problems * Ordinance revision possibilities
* Involve city, university, county, chamber, downtown association, etc.
* Coordinated legislative lobbying
Philosophy and process for zoning review
Review assigned administrative responsibilities * Planning needs & use of consultants
Application and consideration process for commissions * Improved application information and review process
* Commission rex4ew committee?
Peninsula Project * What have we learned fi.om what went wrong?
* Present plans, possible alternatives & contingencies?
* Local builder-developer involvement
Increasing family/youth/school problems * Boys and Girls Clubs (as in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo)
* Anonymous hotline for crime reports and tips
* Joint school-city/HUD-county-university problem youth task force
Ombudsperson-type city review committee
* Receive and review complaints (similar to PCRB process)
Review process/philosophy for social service funding
Cleaning up downtown in particular/citywide in general * Downtown alleys
* Parking regulations and street cleaning/plowing
* Chamber, downtown association, volunteer involvement ~.-,
* Impact on stormwater treatment costs
Deer control process, costs, possible alternatives
ITY
DATE: April '1,2004
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Steve Atkins, City Manager~
Gary Cohn, ITS Goordinat~,~C-~.~
Eleanor M. Di[kes, City Attorneyu~''
Marian K. Kart, City Clerk
RE: Council laptop use and upgrade, email policy, Harvat Hall upgrades
In our March 11 memo to you we intended to identify the need for internal computer
upgrades and potential revisions needed on Council procedures concerning use of
laptops and packet distribution. To review the following issues were identified:
· A need to upgrade software currently used by the City Clerk and City Council
· Finalizing procedure making the Council packet available on the City website
· A request from a Council Member to receive the hard copy packet and retain laptop
· Growing awareness and use by Council Members of email
·Potential wiring of Harvat Hall for internet access for use by Council as well as other
Boards and Commissions
At your work session of March 15 other issues surfaced and direction given to staff to
schedule the matter for the April 5 work session.
WEEKLY PACKET DISTRIBUTION
Currently Council has a policy that states Council laptops are provided for Council
members receiving their weekly packets via CD. Since that weekly packet is now
available on the City website to continue the CD cost is duplicative. Presently if a
Council Member requests a hard copy packet they do not retain the laptop. Originally the
procedure allowed electronic access only with the use of CD's.
After further review staff recommends the following:
1.Harvat Hall be wired and monitors installed for Council meeting needs, and could be
used by others utilizing the room.
2.Council Members choose one o.~r both of the options.
OPTION A - Request hardcopy weekly packet
OPTION B - Request a stipend to cover cost of a dedicated phone line to Council
residence for internet access, and printer supplies (paper, etc.) for their personal
printer. Council could access the packet via the City website each week no later than
3:00 Thursday afternoon. Council would then be accessing the same data as they
currently do, in the same manner as citizens. CD's would no longer be necessary.
Council would access agenda and information packets via internet in Harvat Hall.
Council meeting set-ups would include the diaz. Special presentations such as joint
meetings, or budget deliberations could be set up away from the diaz (on the main floor
in the round) since internet access and viewing of packets would not be necessary.
Council laptop use and upgrade, email policy, Harvat Hall upgrades
April 1, 2004
Page 2
E-MAIL POLICY
Currently a Council Member may request a City email address for conducting City
business, and City equipment is to be used for City, not personal business. Any City
business should be conducted utilizing the City e-mail address. Any City business
conducted would be subject to open records requests. All email correspondence
addressed to "Council" is forwarded to the City Manager and City Clerk for inclusion in
the next Council packet and/or a response.
Policy for laptop use would be discontinued and a policy regarding home access to e-
mail written as follows:
Upon request Council Members maintaining a City e-mail address will be
provided a monthly stipend to cover the cost of a dedicated phone line to Council
residence for intemet access, and supplies (printer supplies, paper, etc.) for their
personal printer. (Delete reference to agenda availability via CD). City ITS staff
will not service personal home computers or printers. Internet service (whether
on dedicated phone line, Cabre Modem, or DSL) is an agreement between the
Council Member and service provider. Contracting for installation and monthly
recurring charges for internet service is the responsibility of the Council Member.
Council Members should confine their City related business to the City e-mail
address and NOT a personal e-mail address.
The City will distribute individual City Council Member e-mail address for those
receiving City stipends, and a larger amount of e-mails may be received.
Council Members should advise constituents communicating via e-mail that the
correspondence could be public information.
The City wilt distribute e-mail correspondence addressed to "Council" in the next
Council packet. Staff will not receive any copies of e-mails sent to individual
Council Members unless "Council" was indicated by the sender or later by a
Council Member.
In addition, City laptops and printers will be returned for use in other City departments. If
a stipend is not requested and personal e-mail addresses are used for City business
those e-mails may be subject to open records requests. For those e-mails you choose to
retain, it is recommended that a separate file (either electronic or hard copy) be kept for
City business.
Staff will be available at the April 5 work session to answer further questions.
U:harvathallinternet#2.doc
LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF JOHNSON COUNTY
REGIONAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
For Immediate Release
Contact: Pat Cancilla, Co-Chair, 644-2807 or Carol Spaziani, Co-Chair, 338-6140
Presentation to the Iowa City City Council ~-~ April 5, 2004.
I. INTRODUCTION
Good morning. My name is Helen Burford, and this is Pat Cancilla . Thank y ]o1~-~ ~''
giving the League of Women Voters Regional Government Committee time in y~ur bus~
schedule to bring you up to date on our research on regional government for Johnson
County. Other members of our Committee who are here today are:
We have asked for time today to discuss with you what we have learned since 2001 when
our Committee began its study. It is our hope that this information (and other current
developments) will provide the groundwork and motivation for some of you, as local
government leaders, to begin to investigate structural solutions to improve
intergovernmental cooperation and coordination in Johnson County.
II. BACKGROUND
Some of you are already familiar with the regional government committee having
participated in interviews and surveys during the last year. Nevertheless, we have
provided each of you an advance a packet of materials containing summaries of our
work. The "Background Paper" was a product ora year of research on city-county
mergers across the country and the climate for this in Iowa. Based on this our members
adopted these position statements:
1. The current mechanisms in Johnson County to aid the cooperation and
coordination of intergovernmental and regional issues are neither adequate
nor adequately utilized.
2. The League should stimulate serious community dialog on structural solutions
to intergovernmental problems.
HI. SURVEY AND RESULTS
Next we developed two possible models for merging local governments and decided
to sample community opinion on the status of intergovernmental cooperation as well
as the degree of support for merger. Several members of your committee participated
singly in the interviews we conducted last winter with 25 local community leaders
from government, business and political parties. In your packets is a summary of the
opinions expressed in those interviews:
FILED
~.JL -~ ~t The dohnson County Council of Governments (dCCOG) could achieve
C~ti' 2.
10WA Ci ; IOWA greater effectiveness through addressing more intergovernmental
issues and redesigning the makeup of the council.
3. There is support for incremental change through delivering regional
services, one at a time, to the entire area. (The eight most frequently
mentioned services for merging were: transit, fire protection, land
use planning and regulation, property tax equalization/revenue
sharing, police/law enforcement, libraries, water, and emergency
dispatch.
4. There is no strong interest in changing the structure of governments
within Johnson County to form a regional or metropolitan
government.
5. Any changes toward regionalization will require education of the
public.
IV. FOLLOW UP
We decided to conduct a formal mail survey of those we had interviewed to try to
identify the top three services each would suggest for merger. About one-third
replied and suggested as the top five (in this order): transit, libraries, public safety,
emergency dispatch, building codes and inspection.
In order to improve our knowledge of what would be involved in merging any of
these services, we conducted some research which included interviews, in some cases
extensive, with pertinent officials in charge of each service. Oar goal was to select
one or two services which might have the best chance for success as a countywide
system. After study, we chose emergency dispatch and fire protection. In our
view, these services have the most immediate and critical impact on the most people.
They both also have well-developed systems of cooperation.
V. SUMMARY OF MERGER STUDY OF EMERGENCY
DISPATCH AND FIRE PROTECTION
A. Fire Protection
There are 12 fire protection districts in Johnson County to serve 111,006 people. Only
two have professional, paid staff. Rural residents are served by 22 township contracts
with the nearest small town volunteer department. There is a disparity in response times
for urban and rural residents. Daytime response is difficult to staff when volunteer
firefighters are elsewhere working at their paid jobs. The population and subdivision
growth in the rural areas create a need for a higher level of service, while annexations add
to the workloads for city fire departments.
A cooperative and supportive climate exists for developing a higher level of coordination.
The 12 districts have developed one 28-E agreement for mutual aid as well as a Mutual
Aid Association which meets monthly for training and communication. It has developed
a combination career/volunteer hazardous materials response team, joint training
programs and a separate Emergency Medical Service (EMS) Association. It has a task
force working on implementation of the goals in a Dept. of Economic Development-
funded study, "Response 2020". Of the goals outlined in the study, the Mutual Aid
Association has chosen "working together" as their first priority. In addition, there is
support from The Gazette and from the Iowa City Fire Depamnent.
These benefits would accrue to the community if we had one countywide fire protection
service:
1. Reduced administrative costs
2. Increased access to resources and special equipment
3. Coordinated training of personnel
4. Better utilization of professionals and volunteers in an integrated team a~roach.~
5. Improved insmance rates for commercial enterprises throughout the co~u~dD
A consultant report outlining steps to follow in the process of regionalization ' -~'
available---all that is needed to get started is political will and leadership..~,-q r--o' _~ -- i-fl
~DT~ -ar
B. Emergency Dispatch J ~ '- "'-~
There are two Primary Service Answering Points (PSAP's) in Johnson County--the co
Johnson County Sheriff and the Iowa City Police Dept.-- and one Secondary (the Univ. of
Iowa. There are two 911 areas: Iowa City and the rest of the County. The Univ. of Iowa
is served by both.
There are some problems with the system as it is now configured:
1) Iowa City and Johnson County use different frequencies to dispatch their
units. In a countywide emergency, Iowa City could dispatch Johnson
County units but not vice versa.
2) Sheriff's cars and Iowa City Police cars cannot communicate directly with
one another.
3) Iowa City dispatchers provide emergency medical help over the phone
while units are traveling to the site; Johnson County dispatchers are not
trained for this. But only Johnson County can dispatch an ambulance.
4) There is not uniform access to criminal records. Iowa City can access the
world's records through Interpol but do not have access to Johnson
County's records.
The two dispatch services, nevertheless, have developed a degree of cooperation:
1. A designated phone line connects the two PSAPS.
2. Iowa City Fire, Police, and the Johnson County Ambulance Service have an 800
mghz frequency to talk directly to each other.
3. A countywide 911 board with representatives of all political and servia5 units
the county coordinates the 911 system using funds from telephone rat~ay~rs.
These benefits would accrue to the community from a merged countywide sy~l~ co
i "l
l. A standard communication network and protocol could better interfac~
systems outside the County.
2. Elimination of duplicated governmental services. ~ ~ ~'.
3. Economies for the community through sharing of costs or better qualifiJ~servic6e]~
at the same cost.
4. Efficiencies gained through information sharing and technically compatible
record keeping systems.
5. Emergency Medical Dispatch services by telephone could become available to the
whole county instead of just within Iowa City. It has been shown that this service
often prevents more expensive dispatching of mobile units.
6. Standardized training and compensation could be developed for dispatch
personnel.
The climate for service consolidation is ripe. In your packet are quotes advocating this
from newspapers and others throughout Iowa. There is editorial support from both the
Iowa City Press-Citizen and The Gazette. There is support fi.om the Iowa City Fire Dept.
In his FY2005 budget recently presented to the Iowa City Council, the City Manager
urges them to "consider a joint dispatch center which could have a profound effect over
the long term on the provision of public safety services in both costs and better service
coordination." Legislative leaders are now considering a suggestion fi.om the Public
Strategies Group for "Freedom Communities", which, if enacted, would offer incentives
to areas merging at least 50% of their services. The financial picture at the state level is
so tight, that political leaders may no longer be willing to subsidize the bill for duplicated
local services.
VI, CONCLUSION
We have no illusion that establishing merged countywide fire protection and emergency
dispatch services will be easy. But the benefits to residents in our rapidly-growing
county would be great. Politics and tuffbatfles cannot be allowed to stand in the way.
Local governments must figure out a way to get it done. A successful merger of these
two services could show the way to other cooperative measures.
We urge you to see that these discussions result in concrete intergovernmental action
with a defined timeline. In order to give the incremental approach recommended by
community leaders time to work, the League has suspended our interest in a
consolidation charter commission. We will continue to monitor meetings of JCCOG in
expectation that merger of these two services will be furthered in that arena.
League urges integration of dispatch, fire protection
The League of Woman ~ l~gll~ Associgt~n. It has a task Public~O~'~1~1 ~' ~t~ 3 ] [1:3 oterface voth systems outside State legislative and busi-
Voters of Johnson County ~ ~o~n ~ forqe ~orking on implemen~ the comity. We would elhni- ness leadem are now consid-
believes that gradual region- .~t~tion of the goals h~ a De- · ~ L~gll$ ~: ~i~lsn Vg[$m ~ ~,~,'~ ~[~]~ nato duplicated governmen- ering a suggestion frOm the
alization of local govern- ~ ]Oh~ ~$ ;~ paxtment of Economic De~ Regi0na G0vemment Committee is s~n~:l~n~WA tal services. We would have Public Strategies Group for
ment services is the best R~iOfl~l ~o¥$rfl~l][ velopment-funded study, economies fortheconununi- "Freedom Conununities,'
"Response 2020." Of the abO~ merging emergen~] dispatch and tim p~otection through sharing of costs which, ff enacted, would of-
way to in, prove their effi- ommitt ~Y
ciency and effec~veness, goals outlined in the study, se~ces at 7 p.m. on April 21 at the 10~a C~ P~lbli~ or better quality services at for incentives to areas merg-
Beginning last sununer, Guest Opinion · the Mutual Aid Association library, Room A. the same cost and efficien- lng at least 50 percent of
the league considered sug- has chosen "working togeth- The forum will feature the mayors of Iowa Oily, ¢0mMIle; cies gained through infonna- tl~eir services. The financial
gestions front community er" as its first priority. North Uberty and Solon as well as the chairman of the tion sharing and technically picture at the state level is so
leaders for regionalizing snm/l town volunteer depart- If we had one county- compatible record keeping tight, that political leaders
transit, fire protection, land merit. There is a disparity in wide fire protection service, J0hllS011 County Board of Supervisors. systems, may no lounger be willing to
use planning and regulation, response times for urban we would have lower admin- Emergency medical ser- subsidize the bill for dupli-
prope~y tax equalization/ and rural residents. Daytime istrative costs, increased ac- co~mty. The University of Iowa City can access the vices by telephone could cared local services.
revenue sharing, police/law response is difficult to staff cess to resources and spe- Iowais served by both. world's records, through become available to the. The league has no illu-
e~fforcement, libraries, wat- when VOlunteer firefightem cial equipment, coordinated There are some problems Interpol but does not have whole county instead of sion that establishing merg-
n Countv's just within Iowa City It has
access to Johnso _ ~ '. . ed Countywide fire protec-
er and emergency dispatch, are elsewhere working at training of pemonnel, better with the system as it i~ now records, been sh0wfl that this sel'-;
To decide which of these their paid jobs. The popula- utilization of professionals configured: The tWo dispatch ser- vic~ Often P~events more tion and emergency dispatch
would be the most logical tion and subdivision growth and volunteers in an inte- · Iowa City and Johnson services will be easy. But the
service to deliver first on a' in the rural areas create a grated team approach, and County use different fre- vices, nevertheless, have expensive dispatching of benefits to residents in our
regional basis, the League need for a higher level of ser- improved insurance rates for quencies to dispatch theLr developed a degree of cooly mobile units. Standardized rapidly growing county
further studied and inter- vice, while annexations add commercial enterprises units. In a countywide emer- erafion: training and compensation would be greaL
viewed selected emergency to the workloads for city fire throughout the county. A gency, Iowa City could dis- · A designated phone line could be de-veloped for dis- Politics and turf battles
dispatch and fire protection departments, consultant report outlining patch Johnson County units connects the two PSAP's. patch persora~eL should not be allowed to
services. A cooperative and sup- steps to follow in the pro- but not vice versa~ · Iowa City fire, police, ~ margot ~zm~nt stand in the way. Local gov-
Both have well-develop- portive climate exists for cess of regionalization is · Sheriff's cars and Iowa and the Johnson County emmen~s must figure out a
ed systems of cooperation in developing a higher level of available -- all that is need- City police cars cannot com- Ambulance Service have an The climate for service way to get it done. A suc-
place ah'eady, and both have coordination. The 12 dis- ed to get started is political municate directly with one 800 MHz frequency to talk consolidation is ripe. There
immediate and critical im- tricts have developed one will and leaderslfip, another, directly to each other, is support from the Iowa cessful merger of these two
pact on the greatest number 28-E agreement for mutual ~ll~lgzn~y d|$1~tch · Iowa City dispatchers · A countywide 911 City Fire Department. In his services could show the way
of people, aid as well as a Mutual Aid provide emergency medical board with representatives FY2005 budget recently pre- to other cooperative mea-
Association that meets There are two Primary help over the phone to the of all political ~d service sented to the Iowa City sures.
I:ir~ protection monthly for training and Service Answering Points in caller while units are tmvel- units in the county coordi- Co~mcil, the city manager Reach the ~ague of ~t~men
There are 12 fire protec- commtmicatJqn. Johnson County -- the ing to the site; Johnson nates the 911 system using urges them to "consider a ~ters 0fJohnson ~ount~ Region-
tion districts serving 111,006 This association has Johnson County Sheriff and County dispatchers are not funds from telephone rate- joh~t dispatch center which al 60vemment Committee, ~aich
people in Johnson County. formed a career/volunteer the Iowa City Police Depart- trained for this. But ordy payem, cottld have a profound effect c0nsists0fCamlSpaziani, PatCan-
Only two have professional, hazardous materials re- ment -- and one secondary Johnson Cotmty can dis- ffwehadamergedcoun- over the long term on the dlla, BarbaraBeaum0ntRuthB0n-
paid staff. Rural residents sponse team, joint training -- the University of Iowa- patch an ambulance, tywide system, a standard provision of public safety figli0, Helen Buff0rd, L011y Eggers,
are served by 22 township programs and a separate There are two 911 areas: · There is no uniform communication network services h~ both costs and Len0re Hale, Pat Jensen and Re-
contracts with the nearest Emergency Medical Service Iowa City and the rest of the access to criminal records, and protocol could better in- better service coordination." hecta Reiter, at 2h0meCainav. net.
I
LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF JOHNSON COUNTY
REGIONAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
Contact: Pat Cancilla, Co-Chair, 644-2807 or Carol Spazianl, Co-Chair, 338-6140
Presentation to.the Iowa City City Council
April 5, 2004, revised
Good evening.. My name is Helen Burford, and this is Pat Cancilla. Thank you for
giving the League of Women Voters Regional Government Committee time in your busy
schedule to bring you up to date on our recent research on regional government for
Johnson County. Other members of our Committee who are here today are:
We have asked for time this evening to discuss with you what we have learned since
2001 when our committee began its study. Each of you have received a packet of
materials containing summaries o four work as well as a written copy of our presentation.
Because of your schedule our visit with you tonight is the last in a series of information
sharing conversations. Since January we have met with the Johnson County Board of
Supervisors, and the city councils of North Liberty, Solon, and Coralville. In addition we
have met with the Local Government Committee of the Chamber of Commeme. We are
aware that a lot has happened since we began making these presentations two months
ago, but we wanted to be sure that all bodies received the same material. The purpose of
these presentations has been to urge local government leaders to take leadership in
working toward the integration of some local government services. We commend you
and the City Manager for recently initiating steps toward a central emergency
communications system.
Rather than deliver the complete presentation in your packets, we would like to
summarize some key points:
Opinions expressed by 25 local community leaders last year showed that there is a lack of
interest in merging local governments, but there is support for incremental change for
delivering services regionally. Also they believe that cooperation between local
governments exists but can improve and that JCCOG could achieve greater effectiveness
through addressing more local government issues and redesigning the makeup of the
Council.
These leaders suggested selecting one service to regionalize, and, bom among those
suggested, we chose fire protection and emergency dispatch. Both are services with
widespread impact and well-developed existing systems of cooperation.
Due to the recent progress toward a centralized dispatch function, we will present only
that section of our report. However, we continue to have an interest in a merged fire
protection system and will continue gathering information.
Emergency Dispatch
Emergency Dispatch
There are two Primary Service Answering Points (PSAP's) in Johnson County--the
Johnson County Sheriffand the Iowa City Police Dept.-- and one Secondary (the Univ. of
Iowa. There are two 911 areas: Iowa City and the rest of the County. The Univ. of Iowa
is served by both.
There are some problems with the system as it is now configured:
1) Iowa City and Johnson County use different frequencies to dispatch their
units. In a countywide emergency, Iowa City could dispatch Johnson
County units but not vice versa.
2) SheriWs cars and Iowa City Police cars cannot communicate directly with
one another.
3) Iowa City dispatchers provide emergency medical help over the phone
while units are traveling to the site; Johnson County dispatchers are not
trained for this. But only Johnson County can dispatch an ambulance.
4) There is not uniform access to criminal records. Iowa City can access the
world's records through Interpol but do not have access to Johnson
County's records.
The two dispatch services, nevertheless, have developed a degree of cooperation: 1. A designated phone line connects the two PSAPS.
2. Iowa City Fire, Police, and the Johnson County Ambulance Service have an 800
mghz frequency to talk directly to each other.
3. A countywide 911 board with representatives of all political and service units in
the county coordinates the 911 system using funds l~om telephone ratepayers.
These benefits would accrue to the community from a merged countywide system:
1. A standard communication network and protocol could better interface with
systems outside the County.
2. Elimination of duplicated governmental services.
3. Economies for the community through sharing of costs or better quality services
at the same cost.
4. Efficiencies gained through information sharing and technically compatible
record keeping systems.
5. Emergency Medical Dispatch services by telephone could become available to the
whole county instead of just within Iowa City. It has been shown that this service
often prevents more expensive dispatching of mobile units.
6. Standardized training and compensation could be developed for dispatch
personnel.
The climate for service consolidation is ripe. In your packet are quotes advocating this
l~om newspapers and others throughout Iowa, There is editorial support from both the
Iowa City Press-Citizen and The Gazette. There is support from the Iowa City Fire Dept.
In his FY2005 budget recently presented to the Iowa City Council, the City Manager
urges them to "consider a joint dispatch center which could have a profound effect over
the long term on the provision of public safety services in both costs and better service
coordination." Legislative and business leaders have considered a suggestion from the
Public Strategies Group for "Freedom Communities", which, if enacted, would offer
incentives to areas merging at least 50% of their services. The financial picture at the
state level is so tight, that political leaders may no longer be willing to subsidize the bill
for duplicated local services.
We have no illusion that establishing merged countywide fire protection and emergency
dispatch services will be easy. But the benefits to residents in our rapidly-growing
county would be great. Polities and turf battles cannot be allowed to stand in the way.
Local governments must figure out a way to get it done. A successful merger of these
two services could show the way to other cooperative measures.
We urge you to continue to continue to advocate with other local governments for
concrete intergovernmental action with a defined timeline. In order to give the
incremental approach recommended by community leaders time to work, the League has
suspended our interest in local government consolidation. We are continuing to monitor
meetings of JCCOG and are glad to see that this body has agreed to investigate a
central'teed communication system.
As an indication of the intense statewide interest in regionalizing local governments, we
have compiled press citations on this subject which have appeared in the last three
months. Here are copies for your information.
We would be happy to have updates from you and your stafftonight on any recent
developments in this area. For instance:
1. Were any funds included in your FY05 budget for consultant work?
2. Are Federal funds currently available to us to support establishment of a joint
communications center?
3. What is the status ofJCCOG staffwork on this.?
Comments on Inter-Governmental Cooperation
"Area Ambulance service, which provides emergency service to much of Linn County, wants to restructure
so that cities, counties and hospitals manage the service...The intergovernmental 28E agreement calls for a
15-member board to oversee the service. A director would handle day-to-day operations." Emergency
Management, The Gazette, Monday, December 22, 2003.
aar ~apios, Marion and Lmn County governments, including school districts task force...real value will
be in ... looking at duplications across governments rather than just within government....there is a home
run to be hit for taxpayers in recommendations for significant streamlining of government that can come
about only with fundamental changes to structure or service delivery." Don't Limit Task Force Focus, The
Gazette, Friday, December 26, 2003.
'We believe the Iowa City council and other area officials should give strong consideration to the creation
of one large emergency communication center for fire, police and sheriff's departments... Let's ask the
questions and allow the discussion that will help us arrive at the right answers." Centralized Center Worth
Discussion, Press Citizen, December 27, 2003.
Joint mspatch center for public safety departments in Johnson County would save taxpayers money and
deliver better emergency services to residents...Tax payers should insist...that local governments figure
out a way to get it done." Turf War Rips Off Taxpayer, The Gazette, Friday, January 2, 2004.
'There are too many th rigs about Iowa that still resemble 1894 instead of 2004. The state simply supports
too much government.., too much duplication of basic government services." Don't ~lbandon Fundamental
Change, The Gazette, January 14, 2004.
"Governor fell disappoint ngly short by not addressing...reducing unnecessary duplication of government
at the local level...the most revenue will come when our state leaders bodly propose a consolidation plan."
l~ilsack Offers a Good Start But Falls Short, Press Citizen, January 14, 2004.
"The Johnson County Mutual Aid Association is asking the Johnson County Supervisors to work with Iowa
city in planning a countywide emergency communications system. A county wide discussion began in
1990...now, as the radio communication systems continue to age, county departments are without a plan
for the future."
"The current communications systems are fi'agmented, in need of upgrades or replacement, and lack of
capacity and interoperability necessary to meet the needs of the area fire departments" according to Hills
Fire Chief Steve Emerson. Johnson Considers Countywide Emergency Communications, The Gazette,
Sunday, January 25, 2004
"Legislative leaders...suggest that the state's mone,~ "robl .... " -~ ·
reductions and consolidation of local government" think that one area where the Legislature could do
some very, very good work in the state would be to create a climate where sharing services is more
appropriate and more likely to happen among cities and counties, "Vilsack said. State May Urge Cities,
Counties to Cooperate, The Gazette.
"The Local Government Innovation Fund, a new state program that encourages cities and counties to share
services to save money and improve efficiency (received) four applications by the Johnson County
udltor s Office and one by the Johnson County Board of Supervisors... The Supervisors propose
regionalizing Johnson County's Medical Examiner Program, a contract between the county and the
Program in Emergency Medicine at the University Hospitals in Iowa City for medical examiner services, to
serve neighboring counties.
"The Local Government Innovation Funds is like a teeney Vision Iowa, it could have a big impact if cities
and counties will take advantage of it." Innovative Ideas Abound, The Gazette, Wednesday, January 28,
2004.
'" wmakers must make a bold move toward eliminating government waste...the time has arrived for
Iowans to stop propping up old and often irrelevant political boundaries.., lawmakers and the governor
should jointly develop a series of steps that school districts and counties would go through to share services
and ultimate y to consolidate." Ten Priorities for the General Assembly, Press Citizen, January 12, 2004.
"Emergency call centers are installing technology to pinpoint the location of cell phone calls, know as
Enhanced 911. But the national Emergency Number Association sad that half the nation's centers won't be
able to track cell calls by next year's deadline for wireless companies to outfit their telephones with locator
technology. The group said that state and local governments would have to more than double their annual
spending to eet the deadhne. FCFC chief: lnternet Phone Servtces must provide 911 Service, Associated
Press, Press Citizen, February 24, 2004.
"Through poor urban planning, municipalities often create neighborhoods that drive down retail sales and
property values while feeding academic imbalance at elementary schools...(there is a need for) Cross-
governmental discussion and planning, something many political leaders like to say they do, but in truth
occurs less often and with less effectiveness than it should.., all city councils ought to discuss joint planning
among them and with the school board." Clustering of Low-income Helps No One, Press Citizen, March 1,
2004.
owajeopard~zes :ts future by supporting too much government...It'll take either strong advocacy from
leaders in top positions or growing pressure and political cover from Iowans at the grass-roots to regain
optimism and get on with the job ofretooling Iowa government for this century." Failing to Shrink
Government, The Gazette, Sunday, February 29, 2004.
DATE: 03/31/04
TO: City Council
FROM: City Manager
RE: Capital Projects - 2004
The other day our Public Works staff presented to the Chamber Board of Directors an update
of our planned capital projects for this construction season. Attached is a summary of those
projects.
City of Iowa City
Capital Improvements Program
FY 2004-2008
2004 Construction Season
1. Iowa River Power Dam Project · This is a joint project with the City of Coralville.
· This is a $1.7 million project that was awarded to Schmidt Construction.
· The project will renovate the dam to maintain a river level to allow for the Iowa City Water
Plant to draw raw water from the Iowa River, if necessary.
· The project installs a pedestrian bridge on top of the dam and over the emergency
spillway. The bridge will also be used for staging emergency personnel when necessary.
· The project should be done in the Summer of 2004. This will depend on Iowa River
levels.
2. Mormon Trek Boulevard Extension - Highway 1 to Highway 921 · This is a $9.3 million project.
· The first phase contract was awarded to Metro Pavers. This contract is $2.95 million.
· The first phase will build Mormon Trek from Highway 1 to the west Airport properly line.
It also will build sanitary sewer to the WB Development on the west side of Highway 218.
· The first phase will be done in the Summer of 2004.
· The second phase will begin in the Winter of 2004.
· The second phase will build Mormon Trek to Highway 921. It will also build two large
culveds over Willow Creek.
· The second phase will be done in the Summer of 2006.
· This depends on working with the Airport and closure of the north / south runway.
· This project will open to development over 400 acres of land.
3. Asphalt Resurfacing Project · This is a carry over project from 2003.
· Due to problems with the contractor, the City removed Rochester Avenue and
Mornings[de Drive from last year's project.
· This is a $370,000 project.
· The project will overlay Rochester Avenue and Morningside Drive. Some parking lots in
City Park and roads in Oakland Cemetery will also be resurfaced.
· This project will be done In the Summer of 2004.
4. Pepperwood Place Highway 6 Access · This is a private project being done by Southgate Development.
· The City is helping to obtain the necessary permits from the iowa DOT.
· Southgate has worked with the Iowa State Bank to allow for closure of the Hollywood
Boulevard entrance to the bank.
5. Highway I and Ruppert Road Intersection Improvements · This is a private project being done by the Lodge developers.
· This project will signalize this intersection and add right turn lanes.
· This project should be done in the Summer of 2004.
· The Lodge hopes to be able to lease apartments for the Fall semester of 2004.
6. Highway 1 and Northgate Drive Intersection Improvements · This is a $112,000 project awarded to KVVS.
· This is a joint project between Southgate Development, Iowa DOT and iowa City.
· This project will signalize the intersection and add a sidewark connection from the
Northgate Development to the Amoco Gas Station.
· This project should be done in the Spring of 2004.
7. South Gilbert Street and Sand Road Improvements
· This is a $4.6 million project that will be bid in the Summer of 2004.
· It is a joint project between Johnson County and Iowa City.
· The project will reconstruct South Gilbert Street and Sand Road from Napoleon Lane
south to Sycamore Street to an urban cross section. From Sycamore Street south to
480th Street, the road will be reconstructed to a rural cross section. Paved shoulders will
be constructed to accommodate bicycle traffic.
· South Gilbert Street and Sand Road will be closed from Napoleon Lane to Sycamore
Street in the Summer and Fall of 2004.
· Sand Road between 480th Street and Napoleon Street (Soccer Fields and Wastewater
Road) will be closed during the Spring of 2004 to construct a bridge deck overlay.
8. Dubuque Street and Foster Road Intersection Improvements · This is a $2.0 million project that will be bid in the Summer of 2004.
· This project will reconstruct the 1600 feet of pavement on Dubuque Street and 1100 feet
of pavement on Foster Road. The project will signalize the intersection.
· This project is a proactive response to the future growth of the area west of Dubuque
Street.
· This project will be done in the Summer of 2005.
9. Camp Cardinal Road Improvements · This is a $6.5 million that is scheduled to be bid in the Fall of 2004.
· This is a joint project between Southgate Development, Coralville and Iowa City.
· This project will construct a new arterial connection, mainly on a new alignment. The
arterial will connect the Deer Creek Road intersection with Melrose Avenue in Iowa City
to 22nd Avenue in Coralville.
· This project is scheduled to be complete in the Fall of 2005.
10. Burlington Street Bridge over Ralston Creek · This is a $653,000 project that has been awarded to Schmidt Construction.
· This project will begin in the Spring of 2004.
· This project will reconstruct and widen the existing bridge to five lanes. The five lanes
will be extended through the Van Buren Street intersection.
· Burlington Street will be closed after the school is out and be reopened by football
season.
· This project should be complete in the Fall of 2004.
· This is the project that has been in the newspaper regarding Coal Tar contamination.
11. Water Works Park / Butler House Trails · This is a $122,000 project that will be awarded to Metro Pavers.
· This project will trails at the park, which include accessible walkways to the historic Butler
House, a concrete pad for the small "amphitheater" and will finish the hard-surface trails.
· The project will begin in the Summer of 2004.
· The project should be complete in the Fall of 2004.
12.Water Works Park Prairie Planting · This is a $100,000 project that will begin in the Spring of 2004.
· Parks and Rec received an $80,000 REAP grant for the project.
· This project will plant native prairie and wildflower seed at the park.
· This will make the Water Works Park the largest urban prairie in the State.
· This park is approximately 200 acres, which makes it Iowa City's largest.
· This project will be complete in the Spring of 2004.
13. Benton Hill Park
· This is a $200,000 project that will begin in the Summer of 2004.
· This park is located at the corner of Benton Street and Miller Avenue.
· The project will develop the 3.5 acre site into a neighborhood park.
· The project will include trails, preschool playground equipment, open play area, and
natural areas. Will also include some unique play features for elder kids. Fence will be
constructed along the Benton Street side of the park in order to prevent children from
running out into the street, and to discourage children from crossing the street from the
school to the park. Entrance will be on Miller, near Benton.
· This area was ranked as the top priority in terms of greatest need for a neighborhood
park by the Neighborhood Open Space Task Force a number of years ago.
Neighborhood residents were involved in the planning process.
· This project will be complete in the Fall of 2004.
14. Court Street Transportation Center · This is a $8.6 million dollar multi modal transportation center project.
· This project base bid of $5.97 million was awarded to Knutson Construction.
· The base bid included level three. There are alternate bids to build up to level three.
· This project includes a daycare and bus station space.
· The project, including the alternate work, will be complete Summer of 2005.
2005 Construction Year and Beyond
15. North Dodge Street Improvements - Governor Street to Interstate 80 · This is a $7.0 million project that will begin Spring or Summer of 2005.
· This is a joint project between Iowa DOT and Iowa City.
· This project will reconstruct North Dodge to a three-lane cross section from Governor
Street to Scott Boulevard and a four-lane cross section from Scott Boulevard to Interstate
80. Governor Street between Dodge and Kimball will also be reconstructed.
· The Prairie Du Chein intersection and South 1-80 interchange will be signalized.
· The water main will be reconstructed along the corridor. A new sanitary sewer main will
be built from ACT Circle to Scott Boulevard.
· During construction, traffic will be maintained.
· This project should be completed in the Spring of 2007.
· The utility companies will be relocating their facilities in 2004.
16. Meadow Street Bridge Replacement · This is a $750,000 project that will begin Spring of 2005.
· This project will replace the current bridge that is embargoed to 6 tons.
· This project will include storm sewer to eliminate a detention basin on Dover Street.
· The project will also have a trail component that as a minimum will buy the additional trail
easements necessary to construct the Court-Hill Sewer.
'17. South Grand Avenue Improvements - Melrose Avenue to Grand Avenue · This is a $400,000 project that will be let in the Spring of 2005~
· This is a joint project between Iowa City and the University.
· The project is being built in conjunction with the new field house parking ramp.
· This wirl be built following the recommendations of the Grand Avenue Study.
18.Missing Link Trail · This is a $700,000 project.
· This trail will connect the Iowa River Corridor Trail to the Water Works Park.
· The trail will go under Interstate 80 Iowa River Bridge.
19. Fire Station #4 · Council has onry given approval to purchase the property.
· The location will be at the corner of Dodge Street, Scott Boulevard and Dubuque Road.
· The site will be used as a borrow area for the Dodge Street Project. This will allow for the
site work to be partially completed.
· The construction cost of the fire station is $1.5 million.
20.Oakdale Boulevard Alignment Study · This study helped to narrow down the location of Oakdale Boulevard from Dubuque
Street to Prairie Du Chein to Highway 1 over Interstate 80 to Scott Boulevard.
· The alignment corridor will be preserved as the area develops.
City of Iowa City IP6
MEMORANDUM
TO: City Council
FROM: Eleanor M. DiJkes, City Attorney
DATE: March 31, 2004
RE: Alcohol-Related Charges
Bob Elliott has asked about the fines for frequently charged simple misdemeanor
alcohol-related charges. They are:
Charqe Amount of Fine How Amount Is Set
1. Possession of Alcohol under $100.00 State Code
the Legal Age (PAULA)
2. Public Intoxication $50.00 - $500.00 State Code
3. Public Urination $50.00 City Ordinance
4. Under 19 and In a Bar $250.00 City Ordinance
after 10:00 pm
Note: PAULA charges outnumber the others by far.
Copy to:
City Manager
City Clerk
Chief of Police
City of Iowa CityiP7
MEMORANDUM
March 31, 2004
To: Steve Atkins, City Manager
From: Joe Fowler, Director Parking & Transit
Chris O'Brien, Parking Manager ~)'z
Reference:
The City of Iowa City Parking Division currently operates four parking facilities and will
operate the Court Street Transportation Center when it is complete. Capitol Street,
Dubuque Street, and Tower Place serve a mix of hourly and monthly parkers. The
majority of the Chauncey Swan users are monthly parkers. As a result Chauncey Swan
is operated differently than the other three. It is anticipated that when the Court Street
Transportation Center opens it we have a user group similar to Swan and will be operated
under the same guidelines. The following is a summary of the current operation of the
facilities.
Capitol Street, Dubuque Street and Tower Place am cashiered facilities. The Parking
Division sells pre-paid debit cards that work in each facility. In addition there are permit
parkers in each facility. Parkers using these options do not have to exit through a
cashiered exit lane thus decreasing the wait for hourly cash customers. The remainder of
the users exit through cashiered lanes. The cashiers accept only cash and checks. These
facilities are staffed at various levels throughout the day based upon demand. The
Capitol and Dubuque facilities are cashiered from 7:00 a.m. until up to 3:00 a.m. seven
days a week. Tower Place is cashiered during the same hours with the exception of
Sunday. There is no charge for parking in Tower Place on Sunday.
The Chanucey Swan Ramp is operated as unattended facility because the majority of the
users are long-term permit parkers. Users that pay by the hour are required to pay in
advance for their parking. The advantage of this system is reduced equipment cost, no
delay in entering and exiting, and reduced staffing. This facility is enforced from 8:00
a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The current system accepts only cash.
The operational savings are passed on to the user through reduced rates and shorter
enforcement hours.
The Court Street Transportation Center is anticipated to serve the same mix of users as
Swan. For that reason the same type of operating system has been purchased with the
exception that users have the option to pay for their parking using either a master or visa
credit card.
It is anticipated that in the future it will be possible to use credit cards for payment in all
City parking facilities. At the present time the operating equipment in Swan is eleven
years old and is no longer supported by the manufacture. It is recommended that this
equipment be replaced at this time with the same equipment that will be installed in Court
Street so credit cards can be used for payment.
Both Chauncey Swan and Court Street are designed to implement other forms of paying
for parking. Both facilities are designed to add cashier booths in the future if the mix of
users changes. In addition, both could be converted to pay as you leave facilities but this
would require the addition of entrance and exit equipment, increasing the hours of
enforcement, and staffing the facility during operating hours. This additional cost would
be passed on the system users.
The operating equipment in Capitol Street and Dubuque Street should be scheduled for
replacement in the near future. Much of this equipment is over 20 years old. When it is
replaced it will be possible to upgrade to a system that will accept credit cards for
payment. There will be several options that will be explored including credit card in and
out, ticket in and credit card out, and pre-pay on foot. These options would be
incorporated into the present system of cashiers. It is estimated that this upgrade will cost
over $100,000 per facility and we do not feel it is cost effective to do so at this time.
As the equipment in other facilities is upgraded the old equipment can be used to
maintain Tower Place until that operating system is upgraded. At that time it would also
be upgraded to accept credit cards.
CITY OF IOWA CITY www.icgov.org
March 29, 2004
OFFICE OF THE Ms. Dorothy M. Persson
CITY MANAGER
President, Shelter House Board
PO Box 3146
Stephen J. Atkins Iowa City, IA 52244-3146
City Maaager
steve-atkins~iowa-city.org
Dale E. Helling
Assistant City Manager Dear Ms. Persson,
dale-helling@iowa-city.org
Thank you for your letter of March 26th regarding the establishment of a
commission to review the mental health delivery system in our community. It
is always difficult when an individual dies when there may have been
difficulty in accessing services that could have prevented the situation.
In Iowa, the mental health delivery system is the responsibility of the county
and the state. The county Board of Supervisors has a mandate from the
state to provide funding and support for people who have disabilities. The
Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities (MH/DD) Unit is the identified entity
to meet that mandate. It seems that would be a more appropriate resource
to convene a commission to review and make recommendations concerning
the current mental health system. The contact is Elaine Sweet, Central Point
of Coordination. She can be reached at 356-6050 and her address is 911 N.
Governor, Iowa City, IA 52245. The MH/DD unit is co-located with the state
and Johnson County Department of Social Services.
The City of Iowa City would be willing to serve on the commission and offer
assistance that is within our realm of responsibilities and resources.
Ernie Lehman
Mayor, City of Iowa City
Enclosure
cc: City Council
Chair, County Board
Elaine Sweet
City Manager
410 E. Washif~gton Street
Iowa City, iA 52240
Phone: (319) 356-5010
Fax: (319) 356-5009
helter House
Community SheJter & Transition Services
March 26, 2004
Honorable Mr. Emie Lehman
Mayor, City of Iowa City
902 Wylde Green Road
Iowa City, Iowa 52246
Dear Mayor Lehman,
Since March 11, a number of groups in the Iowa City community have been concerned
with the issues surrounding the death of John Stewart, including professionals in the
mental health community, Shelter House and its Board, the media, and of course the
residents of Iowa City. Thelowa CityPress-Citizen mentioned Mr. Stewart in its March
17 editorial, "City Must Move Swiftly on Shelter," and Mr. Garry Klein, a former mental
health counselor, eloquently addressed the plight of the mentally ill in a letter to the lowa
City Press-Citizen editor after reading about John Stewart's death. As you are probably
aware, the local papers have covered the details of the police investigation. The Iowa
City community has taken great interest in this particular story because a person's life
was lost needlessly, and community residents are interested in protecting all citizens from
situations like this in the future.
Mr. Stewart was not an outsider. He grew up in Kalona but lived in our community for
more than seven years. He was an lowan. The fact that his death may have been
prevented is shameful to some, an embarrassment to others. Since three homeless
individuals have died in one year, the tragedy is clearly mounting.
In order to address the concerns of the community, the Shelter House Board of Directors
requests that a commission, with broad representation, be appointed to review the mental
health delivery system in our community. One goal would be to discuss the challenges of
mental health care delivery in this area. Another goal would be to pave the way for a
social safety net to prevem more individuals from falling through the cracks.
Our Board would ask that Crissy Canganelli, Shelter House Executive Director, represent
Shelter House on this commission. In addition, our Directors are establishing a Mental
Health Committee for Shelter House to address these issues from a systemic, long-term
perspective. We would recommend that the chair of this committee serve on the
commission as a connection between the Shelter House Board and the commission. The
Human Rights Commission, Hate Action Rapid Response Team, local chapter of the
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, the local hospitals, Community Mental Health
Center, independent mental health providers in the community, and the Iowa City Police
331 North Gilbert Street · RO. Box 3146 · Iowa Cily, Iowa 52244-3146 · 319-351-0326
Shelter House
Community Shelter & Transition Services
Page 2
Department are among the groups whom we would like to invite to participate in a
commission and create a positive change in this community.
This issue is so crucial to the Shelter House Board members because we are so proud of
Iowa City. We have the expertise in this community to review mental health problems
and bring them to state and national attention as well as attempt to resolve them at home.
We believe that we can be a leader and a role model for other cities in the state and in our
nation. I look forward to receiving your response.
Sincerely,
Dorothy M. Persson
President, Shelter House Board
Cc: Crissy Canganelli, Executive Director, Shelter House
Kasey Harboe, Chair, Shelter House Mental Health Committee
331 North Gilbert Street · RO. Box 3146 · Iowa City, Iowa 52244-3146 ° 319-351-0326
DATE: April 1, 2004
TO: Board and Commission Staff
FROM: Steve Atkins, City Manager
RE: Minutes and Attendance Charts
In order to better track recommendations and attendance of City Boards and
Commissions a uniformity with City Board and Commission minutes is necessary.
Attached is a format for minutes, including attendance chart, for use by all Boards and
Commissions to utilize. A standard format will enable City Council and citizens to locate
recommendations easily and enable a quick identification for Council agenda
preparation. In addition the attendance chart will provide a ongoing reference tool and is
intended to be included with all minutes distributed to Council.
Please distribute this information to appropriate staff who prepare your minutes.
Document Services is also available to finalize format issues.
Attachment: Sample minutes and attendance chart
Cc: City Council
Marian K. Karr, City Clerk
Document Services
U:bcminutes.doc
DRAFT
MINUTES
City of Iowa City Board & Commission
March 25, 2004 - 7:00 P.M.
Lobby Conference Room - City Hall
Call to Order: Meeting called to order at 7:00 P.M.
Members Present: John Smith, Peggy Black, Joe Morgan
Members Absent: Paul Yoder
Staff Present: Sue Jordan
Others Present: None.
Recommendationsto Council(become effective only a~erseparate Council action): (1) Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(2) Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Approval of Minutes/Consent Calendar:
(Remaining format to be determined by Board or Commission)
S:CIk~Brd Corem Minutes Format
SAMPLE
Board/Commission: Police Citizens Review Board
ATTENDANCE RECORD
YEAR 2003
(Meeting Date)
TERM 1/21 2/11 2/18 3/4 3/11 3/24 4/9 5/13 5/27 6/ 7/1 7/3
NAME EXPIRES
Bill Hoeft 9/1/05 O NM O/E ...........................
Loren Horton 91/04 X NM O/E X X X X X X NM NM X
Bev Smith 9/1/05 O/E NM O O O O O O O NM NM O
John Stratton 9/1/04 X NM X X X X X X X NM NM X
John Watson 9/1/03 X NM X X X X X X X NM NM X
David Bourgois 9/1/05 ..................... X X NM NM X
KEY: X = Present
O = Absent
O/E = Absent/Excused
NM = No meeting
.... Not a Member
Board/Commission:
ATTENDANCE RECORD
YEAR 20
(Meeti~_g Date)
TERM
NAME EXPIRES
KEY: X = Present
O = Absent
O/E = Absent/Excused
NM = No meeting
.... Not a Member
DATE: April 1, 2004
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Marian K. Karr, City Clerk%''-~-
RE: Agenda Items for April 21 Joint Meeting
Iowa City will be hosting the next joint meeting of the City Councils of Iowa City,
Coralville, and North Liberty; the Iowa City Community School Board, and the Johnson
County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday, April 21.
Please forward any agenda items to me no later than Tuesday, April 13. The meeting is
scheduled to last about two hours. Because of time constraints items will be reviewed by
the Mayor prior to submission.
A complete agenda will be available in your packet preceding the meeting.
Good evening fellow Councilors
Marian Karr IP11
From: Regenia Bailey [rdbailey@avalon.net]
Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2004 11:30 PM
To: cou ncil@iowa-city.org
Subject: re: visual preference survey
Good evening fellow Councilors!
I wanted to let you know that I just came from the Visual Preference Survey. If you haven't
participated in one of these sessions, I strongly encourage you to do so. I found it interesting and
fun. Two additional sessions have been added on Saturday, April 10--one at 11:00 a.m. and one
at 1:00 p.m. Regardless of how you might feel about the efficacy of the Preference Survey, I
think that having many of us participate in the Survey will give us a common point of departure
for discussion of the survey and its results.
Best regards,
Regenia
3/31/04
Marian Karr
From: Jerry Nixon [golfergod@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, March 29, 2004 10:03 AM
To: cou ncil@iowa-city.org
Subject: Making Schools Safe for GLBT Youth
Dee and also all City Council members, Heather e-mailed me that you
like to
know the schedule of the cablecast on Channel 4 of the program "Making
Our
Schools Safe for GLBT Youth". AS I was on vacation during the time of
the
request I apologize posthaste for this delay. Anyway, the following
times
will be cablecast on Channel 4: Monday, March 29th at 11:30 PM;
Tuesday
March 30th at 7:30 AM; Wednesday, March 31st at 1:00 PM and also at
9:00
PM; Thursday, April 1 at 5:00 ~M; Friday, April 2nd at 10:00 PM; and
Saturday, April 3rd at 10:30 AM. Hope one of these times work for you.
Jerry Nixon
CiTY
M E M°6
DATE: 03/26/04
TO: Steve At, kins, City Manager
FROM: Kevin O Malley, Director of Finan~
RE: Fiscal Impact of IPERS legislation
The Iowa legislature is currently debating House File 2532. This bill would increase employer and
employee pension rates. IPERS projected actuarial unfunded liability increased significantly last year
and the increase in pension contribution rates should maintain the current benefit levels into the future.
The current rate that public employers pay is 5.75% of employee wages. The bill would increase the
employer's rate by six-tenths of one percentage point (.6%) to 6.35% and increase the employee rate
by four-tenths of one percentage point (.4%) beginning on July 1, 2005 (FY06). The dollar impact for
the General Fund is estimated at $91,400. This additional cost is eligible to be collected through the
Employee Benefits Levy and then transferred to the General Fund. The fiscal impact on all City funds
including the General Fund is estimated at $140,900.
Marian Karr
From: Heather Shank
Sent: Friday, Mamh 26, 2004 3:27 PM
To: *City Council
Cc: Steve Atkins; Dale Helling; Lisa Beckmann (E-mail)
Subject: Youth Awards
Dear Council Members:
On April 27 at 7:00 p.m. the Iowa City Human Rights Commission shall distribute human rights awards to local
youth. The Mayor has agreed to make a short statement.
Persons invited to intend the function include: persons that nominated the youth, parents, teachers, principals,
Marian Coleman and Lane Plugge. The event, however, will be advertised, free and open to the public. Emma
Harvat Hall has been reserved for the celebration and food has been ordered,
I would like to officially invite all of you to attend the 1st Annual Iowa City Human Rights Commission's Youth
Award Celebration. The nomination information as well as the nomination form are attached below.
Have a terrific weekend.
Award Info doc
Sincerely,
Not. nation Form doc
Heather
IOWA CITY HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
2003 - 2004 STUDENT AWARD INFORMATION
Each fall for the past twenty years, the Iowa City Human Rights Commission has
presented awards to four local adults and one business for outstanding contributions to
Human Rights. This year, the Iowa City Human Rights Commission is kicking off what
we hope to be an annual event.
WE ARE CURRENTLY ACCEPTING NOMINATIONS FOR THE
,~ ST ANNUAL IOWA CITY HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
YOUTH AWARDS
Unlike our traditional awards that focus on long-term commitment to Human Rights, we
would like to acknowledge any activity by our local youth that promotes Human Rights.
Our goal is not to select _a winner, but rather to recognize contributions of numerous
local youth. Activities that the Commission is aware of that would be worthy of an
award include, but are not limited to:
· Collecting money for a Human Rights related organization / cause
· Organizing a Human Rights related activity
· Collecting food / clothing / personal hygiene items for local or national
organizations
· Donating hair to an organization that makes wigs for cancer patients
Since the Iowa City Human Rights Commission hopes to recognize the creativity and
uniqueness of our youth, we ask that students not be nominated for participation in
class activities or pre-organized events. However any additional activity that comes as
a result of a class activity or pre-organized event would be a welcome nomination. To
keep our awards timely, we also ask that nominations be limited to events that have
occurred since the end of last school year.
Each winner, and we hope there are many, will be recognized at the April 2004 meeting
of the Iowa City Human Rights Commission, and presented with a certificate of
appreciation signed by the mayor and the chairperson of the Iowa City Human Rights
Commission. The winner, nominator, and parents/guardians will be invited to attend the
celebration.
We hope you will join us in acknowledging the wonderful nature of our local youth and
nominate someone you know who is working toward the advancement of Human
Rights.
Please contact Heather Shank at 356-5022 with any questions or comments. Thank
you in advance for your assistance.
IOWA CITY HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
2003 - 2004 STUDENT AWARD NOMINATION FORM
STUDENT INFORMATION
Name:
Address:
School: Grade: Age:
PARENT/ GUARDIAN INFORMATION
Name:
Address:
Phone:
Relationship to Student:
NOMINATOR INFORMATION
Name:
Address:
Phone:
Relationship to Student:
Describe in detail the event/activity you believe deserves recognition. Please focus on the event~activity,
while avoiding describing personality traits of the student. Include the date or time frame of the
event/activity.
Please return completed form by April 1,2004 to: Iowa City Human Rights Commission
Attn: Heather Shank
410 E. Washington
Iowa City, IA 52240
IP15
Marian Karr
From: Patricia Santangelo [patti_santangelo@hotmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 10:15 AM
To: bjames@ci.north-liberty.iaus; Ernie_Lehman@iowa-city.org; newsreleases@kcrg.com;
jfausett@ci.coralville.ia.us; joe_bolkcom@legis.state.ia.us; joe@joebolkcom.org;
jweihe@ci.coralville.ia.us; Linda-Severson@iowa-city.org; patv@avalon.net;
newsroom@press-citizen.com; ro_foege@legis.state.ia.us; sstutsma@co.johnson.ia.us;
tneuzil@co.johnson.ia.us; TobaccoFreeKids@tobaccofreekids.org;
Tom_Harkin@harkin.senate.gov; wsui@uiowa.edu
Cc: cou ncil@iowa-city.org
Subject: Smoking Ban Popular
Smoking Ban Popular
One year after New York City banned smoking from almost everywhere --
including bars and restaurants -- a survey finds 75 percent support
the measure.
The survey, released by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, finds
support has increased by 5 percentage points since a similar survey
was released in August of 2003.
"The law is more popular than a Coney Island frank and a corn beef
sandwich -- and healthier too," says William V. Corr, executive
director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
"New Yorkers want to be able to go to bars and restaurants without
putting their health at risk and that's why this law has more support
than the Yankees."
Please see:
http://tobaccofreekids.org/research/
http://tobaccofreekids.org/pressoffice/
http://tebaccofreekids.org/campaign/state/
http://tobaccofreekids.org/reports/
http://tobaccofreekids.org/reports/prices/
for more info
join the fight at:
http://tfk.grassroots.com/act/;jsessionid=Q3EUNXYD5MPOCCQQPAASFEQ?regist
rationActionld=1957632& requestid 4218
Help support a favorite cause at
http://www.iGive.com/html/refer.cfm?memberid=6671&causeid 836
Donate to charity for free http://www.quickdonations.com/
Commit random acts of literacy! Read & Release at
http://www.bookcrossing.com/friend/psantang
Patti Santangelo
patti santangelo@hotmail.com
Free up your inbox with MSN Hotmail Extra Storage. Multiple plans
available.
http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket en-us&page=hotmail/es2&ST=l/go/onmO0200362
ave/direct/01/
Iowa City Housing and Inspection Services
Customer Service Survey ~ March 2004
I OW I>OINGP
"I have found the housing and inspection services of Iowa City to be comprised of people who
are skilled in their jobs. The office staff (Kathy) and inspectors (Art, John) are good
ambassadors for the city. Cooperative, friendly, helpful and caring are just a few adjectives
that describe my experiences with the staff."
"I have always been happy with the H.I. requests because it helps me make a safe rental for
all my tenants I keep my property in order and sometimes there are oversights but I am happy
to cooperate with the H.I. services."
"You are doing great. All the City Inspectors are helpful and easy to work with. We have the
same goals and try to make things happen the way law and code dictate as well as taking
care of our tenants."
"Fine."
"He was timely, went right to the inspection and I was able to get back to work. Things went
well."
"Art Anderson did an excellent, efficient job scheduling and inspecting our apts. on Petsel PI."
"The inspection system is working well. So long as the requirements are realistic, there should
be no problem."
"Helpful, no complaints."
"My inspector is John Bovey. John was easy to work with and communicated effectively. Keep
up the good work."
"You are doing fine! John Bovey is a very competent and friendly inspector. His background in
building and engineering is an asset to your department."
"We appreciated Art Anderson's attention to detail when doing inspections at 603/603¼
Brookland Park Dr. and 15/15~ S. Johnson. It is always good to have another set of eyes
with knowledge when keeping our tenants safe. Thanks."
"Very nice people to deal with."
"This is the first time that I had Bob as an inspector. Like Pat, he was easy to get along with
and helpful. I appreciate their promptness and professionalism. Let me know if there is ever
anything I can do to make their jobs easier."
"Fine, very fine."
"Fairly well, however, we would like to see the option of doing our own inspections in the future
as John Bovey told us about."
Iowa City Housing and Inspection Services
Customer Service Survey - March 2004
Page 2
"Doing fine, very helpful and appreciate the attitude of most of the inspectors."
"Bob Shaver was punctual and efficient. He did a thorough job in a pleasant manner. I am a
relatively new landlord, but this was the best experience I have had with I.C. Housing
Inspectors. Keep it up Bob!"
"As usual everything went smoothly. Patricia does a great job!"
"Art came right on time. He worked with me to get repairs made and was very friendly. I can't
think of any negative parts of dealing with him. Good work!"
"I do like the process of housing inspection. The letter is clear and I like knowing who the
inspector will be. Art contacted me before the inspection and made the process very smooth
while pointing out important issues."
"Great! We are happy to maintain safe and sound property for tenants. Bob Shaver is always
courteous at inspections and knows the codes when questioned. However, the new zoning
requirements are allowing way more people in small apartments than I would prefer. Thanks."
"Patricia was pleasant to work with, fair and prompt. This is my first experience with rental
property. So far so good."
"Patricia MacKay came to my apartment house. She was a real nice gal to come and tell me
about inspecting my apts. Very pleasant person to work with."
"Art Anderson/Doug Boothroy - We appreciate your excellent help in our renovating of 907 S.
Dodge and working with Paul DeMelenaere, our assistant. Happy Holidays."
"The inspection of our property @ 1103 4th Ave. was done professionally and in a timely
manner. Thanks for the good service."
"Everything went well. Mr. Bovey was considerate and helpful."
"Art Anderson was on time and very professional. He inspected each room and did a walk
around the outside. He was nice to the tenants and we all feel we received a complete
inspection."
"The inspection was quick and easy. I was pleasantly surprised with the speed and cordiality
of the process, especially since this was my first inspection."
"The inspection was okay."
"Norm - there are time in this world when "more is better" but in the case of the City Insp. the
rare case of "less seems best." Good Job!"
STATEHOUSE NEWS
Representative Ro Fo~~,resentative Dave Jacoby
· ' · ~'¥~ '"i ' ·
Representative Vickl Le~-~,~presentatlve Mary Mascher
Senator Joe Bolkcom, Senator Bob Dvorsky
Auditor Raises Concerns with Republican Budget
State Auditor David Vaudt released his re- "Iowa faces an alarming structural deficit - the
view of the state budget proposed by the Republi- citizens of Iowa deserve to know if, when, and
can legislators for FY 2005. The auditor is the tax- how the funds raided will be repaid. It's time our
payers' watchdog aod he reports directly ~, elected officials develop, implement, and
to the people of the Iowa on the condition ~ adhere to a repayment plan," said Auditor
of the state's finances. Auditor Vaudt Vaudt. "Neither the Republicans' budget nor
had the following comments on Republi~ the Governor's budget adequately addresses
can budget plan: repaying the millions of borrowings, which
"The Republican budget proposes current law already requires be repaid. Nor
spending $159.6 million from the Cash does either budget address the staggering ad-
ditional $ t.2 billion that will have been taken
Reserve Fund leaving the State with essentially no
from over 30 different funds during the last few
reserves," noted Auditor Vaudt. "Given the larger
structural deficit Iowa faces, taking our remaining years," noted Vaudt.
cash reserves to balance the FY 2005 budget is It is critical that the appropriate framework be
contrary to sound fiscal policy. Even when one constructed before any Fiscal Year 2006 budget
allows for slightly improving General Fund reve- discussions take place. "Iowa's short-term focus
nues, depleting the Cash Reserve Fund leaves the has been a key contributor to the alarming struc-
State very vulnerable." tural deficit we face today," noted State Auditor
The Republican budget proposes taking $218 Vaudt. "Iowa must begin implementing sound
million from various funds. In addition, by spend- budgeting principles and developing a long-range
lng the remaining $159.6 million from the Cash financial plan. Iowa's long-range financial plan
Reserve Fund, the amount of borrowings required will serve as the foundation upon which we build
our future budgets. Absent this, Iowa will continue
by law to be repaid will increase. "This proposed
budget adds to our structural deficit, said Auditor to make decisions that balance the current year
Vaudt. "This is not the time for Iowa to increase budget while ignoring the long-term impacts."
its borrowings for on-going expenditures."
Air Quality Standards for Livestock Operations
The Iowa House adopted a measure this week ing operations, and establishes a panel of experts to
that puts in place new standards for the emission of study odor emissions and submit a final report by
hydrogen sulfide and ammonia from animal feed- December 3I, 2006. The standards are based on
Iowa House of Representatives 1 March 25, 2004
Republican Budget Threatened Iowa's Bond Rating
In an unusual strategy to find money in a tight borrowing for scores of first-time homebuyers in
fiscal climate, legislative Republicans raised eye- Iowa. If interest rates are increased by just a quar-
brows recently when they proposed to take $15 ter of a percent, estimates suggest that 1,800 first-
million from the reserves of the Iowa Finance Au- time home buyers in Iowa would be forced to pay
thority (IleA) and spend the money to help balance an additional $30 million over ten years.
the budget of the department of human services.
But the outcry from state financial officers was so Moreover, as an independent agency, ~A
notes that its reserves generate enough interest
strong that Republicans were forced to revise their
each year to operate a host of housing assistance
budget proposal a few days later.
programs, without having to rely upon a state ap-
IFA officials say that national bond rating propriation to pay for administration. If the Re-
agencies already have a special term for this type publican raid had been implemented, [FA said their
of fund shift "state raid" - and that these funds operating revenue would drop by an estimated
are already pledged to support $500 million in $700,000 per year, severely curtailing the agency's
bonds used to help first-time home homebuyers in efforts to administer these programs. Those efforts
Iowa. IFA tries to maintain a reserve of one dollar include emergency housing relief, Habitat for Hu-
in equity for every ten dollars that is leveraged, manity, non-profit housing programs, homeless
A recent evaluation by Piper Jaffrey indicates shelters, Main Street historic preservation loans,
domestic violence shelters, local housing trust
that IFA's bonds are currently rated "AA," and
IFA estimates that a "state raid" would drop its funds, and other programs.
bond rating to "A,' effectively raising the cost of
Counties Retain Higher Fee for Driver's Licenses
The House passed House File 2433, which costs incurred by the treasurers. For example, it is
raises the amount that county treasurers very common for a person to fail their
retain for each driver's license that they written test on their first try. That
issue. The amount is raised to $7 be- means that an employee in the treas-
ginning July 1, 2004. There are 81 urer's office has to give that person the
county treasurers who issue driver's test more than once, but only makes
licenses. The bill has been sent to the money when the person finally passes
Senate for debate, and is issued a license.
For many years, county treasurers The bill also requires a study be
were only able to retain $3.75 for each conducted by January 1, 2006, and re-
issuance or reoewal of a driver's license peated every four years by the State
or non-operator identification card. The remainder Auditor, in consultation with the Iowa State
of the money went to the Department of Transpor- County Treasurers Association and the Department
tation and was credited to the Road Use Tax Fund. of Transportation. The study must compare costs
Last year, the amount County Treasurers were al- for issuance under the department and county
lowed to retain was increased to $5 for a one-year treasurers, and shall be based upon issuance activi-
period, ties that are common in both programs. The fee
retained by treasurers could be adjusted by the
County treasurers worked with the Department
of Transportation on a comprehensive study to de- Legislature according to the results of the Audi-
tor's study. The department will pay for the stud-
termine how much should be retained to cover
les.
Landowners Get More Free Deer Hunting Licenses
The House passed a bill this week that gives an Iowa landowners and their tenants. This will help
additional free doe-only deer hunting license to reduce Iowa's deer populatioo, which is damaging
Iowa House of Representatives 3 March 25, 2004
NONPROFIT
ORGANIZATION
U.S. POSTAGE
$OME?H1NG "RE&T IlS "APPENINGI PAID
221 E. Washington St. IOWA CITY, IA
PERMIT#399
Iowa Ci~,IA 52240
City Council
410 E. Washington Street
Iowa City, IA 52240-1826
For more information call
319,688.2653
or go to
www. englert.org
I,hh,,hh,hhh,llh,..llh,h,,hhlh,hh,hh,,,hll
Corn, greet the new Englert Director,
Eric Kerchner
Friday, April 16th
6:00 pm- 8:00 pm
US Bank
Atrium
204 WaShington Street Iowa City
Performance by Dan Knight, Jazz Pianist
Hors d'oeuvres provided by
New Pioneer Food Coop
MINUTES Preliminary ~
PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION
EMMA J. HARVAT HALL
MARCH 4, 2004
MEMBERS PRESENT: Bob Brooks, Beth Koppes, Jerry Hansen, Dean Shannon, Don Anciaux,
Benjamin Chair
MEMBERS ABSENT: Ann Freerks
STAFF PRESENT: Bob Miklo, Mitch Behr, John Yapp, Shelley McCafferty, Steve Nasby
OTHERS PRESENT: Joe Holland, Ron Amelon, Jordan Graft, James Clark, Mark Ginsbern, Terri
Miller-Chair, Tim Gholson, Jim Clayton, Susan Weinschenk
RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL:
Recommended for approval, by a vote of 6-0, REZ04-00003, an application for rezoning from CB-2,
Central Business Service to RM-44, High Density Residential Mu/ti-Family for property located at 302 and
308 S. Gilbert Street.
Recommended for approval, by a vote of 6-0, REZ04-00002, a rezoning from ID-RS, Interim
Development Residential, to RS-5, Low-Density Single-Family Residential, for approximately 24.1 acres
of property located on South Sycamore Street east of the Southpoint Subdivision subject to a conditional
zoning agreement with conditions related to funding of future Sycamore Street improvements, access,
construction vehicle access, and subdivision design consideration, as listed in the Staff Memorandum of
3/4/04.
Recommended for approval, by a vote of 6-0, SUB04-00005, a preliminary plat of General Quarters
subdivision, an approximate 24.1-acre, 29 lot single family subdivision located east of Sycamore Street
and south of Stanwyck Drive.
Recommended by a vote of 4-1, (Anciaux voting no) that the SSMID application for property located
within the Central Business (CB-10) zone, generally located between Iowa Avenue, Burlington Street,
Gilbert Street and Capitol Street met the eight criteria listed in Staff Report of 1/9/04, but as petitioned did
not have merit or feasibility based on the issues of concern enumerated by the Commission.
CALL TO ORDER:
Anciaux called the meeting to order at 7:31 pm.
Motion: Chair made a motion to amend the agenda placing item C-2 before E-1 and item E-2 before E-1.
Hansen seconded the motion.
The motion passed on a vote of 6-0.
PUBLIC DISCUSSION OF ANY ITEM NOT ON THE AGENDA:
There was none.
REZONING ITEMS:
REZ04-00003, discussion of an application submitted by James Clark for a rezoning from Central
Business Service (CB-2) zone to High Density Multi-Family Residential (RM-44) zone for approximately
32,000 square feet of property located at 302 and 308 S. Gilbert Street.
Miklo said Staff wished to reiterate their recommendation of two weeks ago to approve this rezoning
without any conditions.
Public discussion was opened.
Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes
March 4, 2004
Page 2
Joe Holland., attorney for applicant, said he had not been able to attend the Monday evening informal
meeting. It was his understanding that the questions that had arisen at the last meeting of the
Commission had been resolved. He was there to answer any additional questions and requested that the
Commission pass a favorable approval on the request for rezoning.
Public discussion was closed.
Motion: Chair made a motion to approve, REZ04-0000~, an application for a rezoning from Central
Business Service (CB-2) zone to High Density Multi-Family Residential (RM-44) zone for approximately
32,000 square feet of property located at 302 and 308 S. Gilbert Street. Brooks seconded the motion.
The motion passed on a vote of 6-0.
REZ04-00002, discussion of an application submitted by Mike Roberts Construction for a rezoning from
Interim Development Residential (ID-RS) zone to Low Density Single-Family Residential (RS-5) zone for
approximately 24.1-acres of property located on South Sycamore Street, east of Southpoint Subdivision.
Yapp said this request for single-family residential zoning was consistent with the South District Plan for
this property. Based on public input at the last Commission meeting and Commissioner's discussion, Staff
had added a condition requiring that construction vehicle access be from Sycamore Street and not from
Stanwyck Drive and Gable Street. Yapp said based on internal discussions, Staff wished to clarify what
that condition would mean. Staff would work with the developer to require that installation of the
infrastructure, the utilities, the roads and the initial grading would occur off of Sycamore Street. As
individual lots were sold over time, and as individual homes were built and as other streets were
constructed it would become very difficult to enforce that condition, in addition, trying to enforce it would
not allow the lots adjacent to Sycamore Street to be built on until the remaining lots were built on. Staff
wished to clarify that they could apply that condition for most of the heavy vehicles related to the
infrastructure, but it would be unlikely they could enforce anything related to the construction of individual
homes over time, once Grable Street is open as a public street.
Yapp said Staff recommended approval of the single-family residential zoning subject to the conditions as
listed in the Staff Memorandum dated 2/27/04 and 3/4/04.
Public discussion was opened.
Ron Amelon, representative for MMS Consultants, said he was there to answer any questions.
Hansen said with respect to the street access off of Sycamore Street, after initial construction had been
completed would it be a big problem to keep cement mixers and big trucks delivering to individual houses
off Gable Street. Amelon said the only concern the developer had was once there were public streets
available, he didn't know how he would enforce or ask people no longer under his direction or working for
him to take a different route other than a city street. The developer understood the concern about the
access. He would be happy to have all the construction of the subdivision go in and out that access, but
he didn't know how he could require people to use that access once there were public streets available.
Hansen asked why the developer couldn't just ask them not to do it? Amelon said he'd have to talk to the
developer.
Chair said pragmatically that was logical. You couldn't make someone not use a public street and if there
were no mechanism, if would be difficult. Amelon said the developer could ask, but he didn't know how he
would enforce it.
Anciaux asked if the public access were maintained after the infrastructure had been completed, would
they be traveling over improved curb and gutter off the access to get to the street? Yapp said the farm
access that was being discussed that the construction equipment would use was at the northwest corner
Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes
March 4, 2004
Page 3
of the property. Once the public streets were constructed, continuing to require use of that access would
require access over the cul-de-sac curb and through an individual lot.
Jordan Graft, lived on Sycamore Street, said he shared the concerns raised by Hansen about why not
continue to have the access be off Sycamore Street after the initial building had been completed. Graft
said he and his neighbors appreciated the fact that concerns regarding heavy construction equipment had
already been addressed for the sake of children living in that area. They continued to be concerned that
as individual lots were developed if Gable Street were developed as currently planned it would be the
main access for the 29 lots to be developed. There would be a lot of congestion of traffic coming through
Sycamore Street and off Lakeside Drive. He hoped that it would be addressed with the builder why if for
initial construction, access would come off Sycamore Street, why couldn't it continue to be a permanent
access? He understood that persons couldn't be required to use that access if there were a public street
but speaking on behalf of the residents in that area of Stanwyck Drive, they would very much appreciate
that there be public access available and encouraged off of Sycamore Street.
Chait said the proposed cul~de-sac was not connected to Sycamore Street. To require anyone to travel
over something temporary made those two lots in that whole area not developable. Chait said one thing
developers did do as required to develop something was to put in the public right of way or public street
when an area was developed as pad of a Conditional Zoning Agreement (CZA). Looking at the second
phase of this development, it appeared there was a loop street that would connect to Sycamore Street.
He asked what would happen if the City built that street and not the developer, and the developer would
reimburse the City when that particular area wourd be developed. It would be the inverse of the developer
putting in the public street as part of their CZA to get re-zoned or to develop an area. What was being
requested was to protect the existing neighborhood. Without putting the burden on the developer to go to
the whole second phase, let the City build the street and the developer would reimburse the City.
Behr said he thought this was something that could be done, but there had not been any discussion of
that suggestion. It was not in the City's plans or budgets, at best the City constructs aderial streets, not
local streets Yapp said one of the recommendations that Staff made was that a connection to Sycamore
Street not be made until Sycamore was funded to be reconstructed. A second issue was that the City
typically did not construct local residential streets. Chair said the City would be paid back when the area
was developed. In this particular situation, if the City was not allowing a connection to Sycamore Street
until it was improved, by virtue of the farm access being mandatory, there was in fact a connection to
Sycamore Street. Chair said it was a huge catch-22. Miklo said one of the other issues was funding. The
City simply didn't have the funding right now to build that part of Sycamore Street.
Hansen said during the initial build phase when there would be access from Sycamore Street, the existing
farm access would be a culvert and gravel type of access to obtain entry to the field. He asked why
couldn't a culvert and gravel type access be constructed at the area that Chair was talking about and let
the heavy trucks use that access. Hansen said he was all for not improving Sycamore Street when the
SouthPoint additions were being constructed because of all the construction traffic. He suggested to let
the trucks beat the road up before it was improved. There were 29 lots to be developed. For a cement
truck it would take a couple of trips per house, so that was 60 trips. There would also be delivery of all
kinds of building materials and those trucks would drag mud down the side streets also creating additional
traffic and hazard to the neighborhood kids. It would make sense to utilize and beat up Sycamore Street.
Yapp said he didn't want to give a false promise that as individual lots were sold and people hired
builders to build their houses, that they would even know that they were supposed to use that access.
Yapp said he felt they could work directly with the developer, but as individual lots were sold over time
and persons hired individual builders, it became very difficult to enforce something like that. Hansen said
if it were just pickup traffic he would have no problem. Sycamore Street was pretty well beat up now, he
couldn't see how it was going to get much worse by bringing the heavy trucks over it. If someone owned
the lots right now, when they sold them, they would tell the buyedbuilder that they had to utilize a certain
access. The enforcement would be up to the police. Behr said the enforcement problem would be in that
when a street was dedicated to the public, it was automatically open to all the public. Even if there was a
separate provision that would serve as a guide and a suggestion as strong as possible that people use
that route, when push came to shove, if the other street was open to the public, it could be used without
Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes
March 4, 2004
Page 4
any qualification. Behr said a suggestion could be placed in the legal papers to serve as a guide, but once
the street was open, it was open to the public.
Chair said it was not going to be feasible to use gravel and come in on a gravel/mud road as a
construction site. Once the 29 lots were done, any builder would be required to keep that street clean.
The best way to keep a street clean was to come in on a clean street. If they started coming in on the
other street, then they were going to have to clean up all the gravel they just drug in and it would be an
annoyance and expense to a builder on a house. The builder would probably opt to use the clean-way
instead. Hansen said the builder would have to dean up Gable Street as well. Chait said to force trucks to
come in on the temporary gravel access would guarantee mud, to give use of the other access gave them
a chance to not have as much mud. The concern, the question and the answer had to do with there could
be any type of agreement that they wanted with the developer of the land and the lots. But, when the lots
were sold to an individual builder, there was no type of connection to the builder. Hansen said he
understood that but if there were a Gentleman's Agreement between the developers and the City could
give them the access and ask them to use it in strong terms, it would be better for the neighborhood. If
there were no access/culvert/gravel, there would be no chance that those trucks would ever come in from
Sycamore. Yapp said they did have the existing access at the north-west corner. He would look to the
developer's representative to do the best he could to make sure that vehicles used that access. From
Staff's point of view, they didn't want to present a false promise that every construction vehicle would use
that access. Hansen said he appreciated the honesty. Amelon said the developer would do what he could
do to work with the City as best he could.
Graft said he was still unsatisfied with what Staff was recommending to encourage the developer and
builders to use that access. He felt in representing himself and his neighbors he was much more
comfortable with what Chair had suggested for an access. Temporary would be satisfactory, the
permanent access would be better for all concerned. Graft said he couldn't imagine that the builders with
their construction trucks and the residents who purchased lots would want to come in off Lakeside Drive,
down into Sycamore, around Sycamore, through all the parked cars and all the kids, up and across Gable
Street, down and around to their lot. tt was a concern to them with the City's restriction on traffic passing
a single point in a given 24-hour period. As a physician it concerned him for the risk it posed to the
children he had seen in an emergency room that had been hit. Graft said he very much urged and issued
a plea that Staff and the Commission look for an alternative that would provide a better access to the new
development than putting both construction vehicles and residents through Gable Street for an
indeterminate amount of time.
Hansen said he appreciated Graft's position on this issue and he liked Chair's idea, but he couldn't see
the City putting it in their budget. Chait said even if the street were to be put in as a finished street, they
would then be violating the conditions that had been put on Sycamore Street to get to the new street.
There might be some culpability on the part of the City for directing traffic onto Sycamore Street, a
potentially structurally unstable street, in order to get to the new street. Chair said it was a Catch-22, it
was growing pains and they just had to deal with it.
Public discussion was closed.
Motion: Chait made a motion to approve REZ04-0000~, an application submitted for a rezoning from ID-
RS, Interim Development Residential to RS-5, Low Density Single-Family Residential for approximately
24.1-acres of property located on South Sycamore Street, east of Southpoint Subdivision subject to the
Conditional Zoning Agreement conditions listed in Staff Report of 2/27/04 and 3/4/04. Brooks seconded
the motion.
Chait said when these types of things were looked at, they were looked at by very competent developer
engineers who worked very closely with Staff who were also very competent. Everything was analyzed
and evaluated so that they would end up with the best possible compromises that they could. Concerns
were listened to, what they were reviewing was the result of a lot of hard thinking and was the best that
could be done given what options there were.
Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes
March 4, 2004
Page 5
Brooks said he would like to see Staff and the developer work to see if there was some way of addressing
or working with the surrounding neighborhood to try to come up with something that perhaps at present
couldn't legally bind individual builders right now, but a Gentleman's Agreement had been mentioned.
Perhaps one could be worked out to address the concerns of the neighborhood.
Koppes said she too hoped that the developer and future individual builders could work out an agreement
with the City. She was glad there was a construction easement so most of the heavy infrastructure traffic
would not be through the neighborhood. When Sycamore Street opened, a lot of persons who resided in
that neighborhood would be very happy.
Hansen said he would appreciate any help the developer could give them on this ~ssue. There simply was
no legal way to include or attach any kind of clause indicating what actions must be taken by individual
builders. He thought it would be a nice development and would add to that part of town. However he was
very concerned about the type of heavy truck traffic that would be flowing through that area. Hansen said
he thought developers should look at projects and ask themselves, "How can we best not affect a
neighborhood?" Hansen said he was willing to go with Amelon's word that the developer would work with
the individual builders any help they could provide would be appreciated.
Shannon called the question.
Hansen reminded the chairperson that Calling the Question required a 2/3 vote per Article Seven,
Paragraph 44.
Behr said he had been meaning to make a clarification to the Commission When the Question was called,
to actually put an end to discussion it had to be voted on. It required a 2/3 majority necessary to end
discussion. If a 2/3 majority vote did not result, then discussion could continue. Chair asked if they were
going to vote on if they were going to vote? Behr said that was correct unless the request to Call the
Question was withdrawn. Shannon withdrew his request.
The motion passed on a vote of 6-0.
Anciaux said this issue would come up again before City Council. He encouraged members of the
audience to express their concerns before the Council. The Commission didn't have the budget power
that the Council had to speed up processes to make improvements, they might be amiable to do so.
DEVELOPMENT ITEM:
SUB04-00005, discussion of an item submitted by Mike Roberts Construction for a preliminary plat of
General Quarters subdivision, a 24.1-acre, 29 lot single family subdivision located east of Sycamore
Street, south of Stanwyck Drive.
Yapp said this was the preliminary plat for the land discussed in the previous item. As the first phase of
development, 29 lots off of Gable Street would be permitted to be developed before an access to
Sycamore Street was required. The plat complied with all the neighborhood design principles that were
based on the South District Plan with a connection to the Sycamore Trail; public frontage along Sycamore
Greenway which would ensure that it would continue to be a public resource and not become hidden
behind backyards; and a future intersection of Sycamore Street at Dickenson Lane.
Public discussion was opened.
Jordan Graft, said he would like to suggest as amendment to this plan, a permanent access that would
not cost the City nor the developer additional funds. He said they didn't have any promise as to when the
permanent access off Dickenson Lane to Sycamore would take place. As concerned residents, they
would like to propose an access come permanently rather than a cul-de-sac near proposed lot one as a
street access off Sycamore Street. That would alleviate the issues of cost, congestion, the risks to the
children throughout Stanwyck and Lakeside areas and would come with a change in the diagram. With no
extra concrete, the turn-about in Lot one could become a permanent access off Sycamore Street. Initially
it could be made with gravel, then as the lots came in it could be made into a permanent access. It didn't
make any major changes to the plan and would not require anyone to use that route, but it would provide
Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes
March 4, 2004
Page 6
a relief for the residents of Sycamore and those along the Gable frontage and provide a greater
convenience for those in the proposed lots.
Anciaux asked Staff to respond to Graft's suggestion. Yapp said Staff recommended that no additional
access to Sycamore be approved until the road was funded to be reconstructed for all the properties in
this corridor. Chair said development in this particular piece of property was also being limited to 29-lots
until that happened. Yapp said their recommendation was based on City wide guidelines for the number
of vehicles on residential streets before a second access was required. Miklo said there would also be an
additional concern with another access at this point. Because Sycamore Street was an arterial street,
Staff tried to control the number and location of access points. There was currently one in the SouthPoint
subdivision at Dickenson Lane, ideally with an arterial street design, you'd want the next street to line up
with it. Additional justifications for not extending the street on to Sycamore would be: an off-street
intersection would not be ideal nor the minimum necessary to provide access to the area.
Graft said the other alternative would be to go back to what Chair had recommended, he understood that
there might be restrictions and reasons why that would not be possible, but the risk still remained that
there would potentially be 450 cars in 24-hours.
Chair asked how much of the street being discussed needed to be improved down to Dickenson? Miklo
said he thought just north of Lakeside Drive. Yapp said just south of Burns Street. Chair said Windsor
Ridge had been required to put in Court Street as part of developing their property. What was the
difference between what happened there and requiring the developer to put in Sycamore Street? Yapp
said Sycamore is an existing public street and Court Street - there was no street there. They needed to
put it in for access.
Graft said an additional concern with using Gable Street was that persons in Dickenson and up and
around who appreciated using Sycamore Trail and Sycamore Greenway would now have another street
crossing the trails. It would mean another potential accident site not only for kids who happened to get off
the sidewalk, but now on a trail that they were supposed to be using, tt now crossed yet another street.
Graft said he could not imagine that it would be any greater expense to the City, if Gable Street was
necessary to continue through, cross over the stream, cross over the Sycamore Trail and to have access
there, than having a permanent access at the end of the cul-de-sac off Sycamore Street or even a
temporary paved access, even if it required some reconstruction there-of when Sycamore Street was
finished.
Hansen said he thought Gable Street was almost required because of the Comprehensive Plan and the
connectivity of neighborhoods. It was in the plan that all neighborhoods be connected.
Graft said he felt he should share that collectively as neighbors most felt that this was a great plan and it
would be an excellent development. They didn't mean to focus only on the negative but wanted to
continue to raise their concerns focusing on their children and the traffic that would be coming through the
neighborhoods.
Public discussion was closed.
Motion: Brooks made a motion to approve SUB04-00005, a preliminary plat of General Quarters
subdivision, a 24.1-acre, 29 lot single family subdivision located east of Sycamore Street, south of
Stanwyck Drive. Chair seconded the motion.
Hansen said he would vote in favor of this item. As much as he would like to see an access go to
Sycamore n a permanent sense, they had held other developers accountable under these same
circumstances and not allowed them access. He said in all fairness to all developers, he could not see
them doing that.
Chair said to restate what had been previously said, the City Council had a lot more leeway and authority.
If the concern was big enough, they could respond regardless of what the Commission said or respond in
a different way regardless of what the Commission recommended.
Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes
March 4, 2004
Page 7
The motion passed on a vote of 610.
OTHER ITEMS:
Discussion of Planning and Zoning Commission By-Laws, Section 10 - Conflict of Interest.
Miklo suggested deferring this item to the next informal meeting as the item had not been discussed at
Monday evening's informal meeting.
Motion: Hansen made a motion to defer this item. Koppes seconded the motion.
The motion passed on a vote of 6-0.
Chair said he would recuse himself at this time as he owned properly as part of the next rezoning item.
With respect to the SSMID discussion, he had been advised by Legal Staff that it was their opinion that
he would have a conflict of interest since he owned property in the area.
REZONING ITEM:
REZ04-00004., discussion of an application submitted by James Clark for a rezoning from Community
Commercial (CC-2) to Central Business District, (CB-2), for approximately 1.34-acres located on the east
side of Gilbert Street between Burlington Street and Gilbert Street subject to the CZA listed in Staff
Memorandum of 2/23/04.
McCafferty said this was the second discussion of this particular issue. At the last meeting based upon
concerns from area property owners and the public, the Commissioners had directed Staff to look at the
parking and traffic circulation issues. Their findings had been outlined in the memorandum dated 2/27/04.
Most significant was a revision to Staff's recommendation. Staff was now recommending that this
particular piece of property, when rezoned to CB-5, through a Conditional Zoning Agreement would be
required to comply with the CC-2 parking requirements. If this condition was included in the CZA, the
requirements for the commercial component of this proposed development would be one car for every
200 square feet. McCafferty said based upon discussions with Mr. Clark, he did not wish to provide that
much parking. An alternative that could be considered would be to require one space for every 500
square feet or a similar lesser number of parking spaces than would be required in a CC-2 zone.
McCafferty said Staff recommended approval of the application, subject to a CZA with the conditions as
listed in Staff Report of 2/27/04. Miklo said the question had also arisen if 8-feet of right-of-way would be
sufficient for Gilbert Street. Staff had had further discussions with the Public Works Director and the City
Engineer, who had determined that eight feet would be sufficient in this area.
Public discussion was opened.
James Clark, said he was glad to hear about the 8-foot instead of 12-foot requirement as it would make a
large difference on the front of the properties. Because of the elevation of the street, to have a 12-foot
right-of-way would mean a drop of 6" to l-foot lower. Clark said if they were required to provide one
parking space for 200-square feet of office space, they would be required to provide approximately 150
parking spaces on the lot. In order to do so, without having any buildings on the lot, it would require two-
tiers of parking space. To comply with CB-5 zoning, all parking had to be behind or under a building. In
order to conform with the required parking, three tiers of parking would be needed for each building. That
would be somewhat of a problem, especially since parking was approximately $15,000 per space.
Clark said he agreed with the parking needed for the apartments. He and Staff both agreed that more
parking was needed for residential, the number of spaces required per bedroom was reasonable, if not a
little high on the upper end.
Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes
March 4, 2004
Page 8
Clark said the access onto Gilbert Street would be one-foot lower now, it was going to be fairly steep.
Clark asked Staff if they had taken a look at it as he thought it was going to be dangerous. He said a semi
coming down there with brakes in the front was not going to be able to stop. The railing on the bridge was
going to be a problem for sight distance as well. That had been brought up by Staff, they had said they'd
take a look at it and see how it would work out.
Clark said the lot itself sloped from south to north 4- to 6-feet and from east to west 4-to 6-feet. It was a
rather difficult lot to construct on. CB-5 was great for constructing on a fiat lot. On something like this lot, it
gave cause for concern as the buildings had to be dropped. When that was done, they had sloping
driveways, parking was always an issue. CB-5 required parking under or behind a building so it would
require three tiers. There would have to be three tiers for parking, then commercial, then they could put
apartments above that, but they were restricted to 75-feet of building height.
Clark said that area was already busy. By putting in commercial, they were going to aggravate the
problem they already had there with cars. Clark said the configuration of the stoplight there was kind of
different, it caused major problems. In order for the bus to turn vehicles had to stay back on Bowery
Street. There was no right hand turn lane so there was no way to get rid of the traffic. Clark said he
supported the turn lane and the apartment parking heavily.
Ralston Creek took away 120-feet of frontage on Gilbert Street, which was over 1/3 of the frontage. If they
were going to have commercial, it would have to be behind Ralston Creek, then they had residential
across the alley. It was difficult to work with. A large portion of the area was unusable with Ralston Creek
going across it.
Clark said he had always worked on the basis of less cars, less parking, less traffic. If they went with one
space per 200 square feet, he had calculated that they would have 150 cars. An additional 150 cars in
that area would not work, especially if there was going to be a lot of commercial in that area. Clark said
he and the Planning Staff disagreed on the commercial portion. They wanted commercial in there, he had
not figured it out yet how they were going to do that. Clark said they had had a problem with having cars
parked on the alley. He didn't think anything he would do on the lot would make a difference, but he
thought it would be a good idea to put up signs that said "Right Lane Fire Lane." Students usually obeyed
a fire lane.
Clark said he wished to build townhouses not fiats. They would actually be townhouse, condo-type that
could be sold in the future. They would be four bedroom, but the second floor could be converted
Clark requested a deferral of this item to April 15, 2004. He said the zoning requested was not a good
zoning. He was in favor of the turn lane and would put in parking. He envisioned a 'turn-of the century'
look for the townhouses when they were finished.
Anciaux asked Clark what zoning he preferred. Clark said he'd defer to Staff. Miklo said CC-2 or CB-5.
Miklo discussed development fees which would pay to fund public parking and that east of Gilbert Street,
no fees would be assessed. Clark said he would be willing to pay the parking fees, he'd prefer to see
parking on his proposed rot. In response to a question by Anciaux, Miklo said in order to comply with what
Clark had previously discussed with Staff regarding zoning, it would require an amendment to the
Comprehensive Plan for a different zoning.
Joe Holland, lawyer for Clark, said he did not think it was necessary to amend the Comprehensive Plan in
order to have the zoning Clark was requesting. Behr said he would review if an amendment to the
Comprehensive Plan would be required.
Public discussion was closed.
Motion: Hansen made a motion to defer REZ04-00004, a rezoning from Community Commercial (CC-2)
to Central Business District, (CB-2), for approximately 1.34-acres located on the east side of Gilbert
Street between Burlington Street and Gilbert Street subject to the CZA listed in Staff Memorandum of
2/23/04. Koppes seconded the motion.
Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes
March 4, 2004
Page 9
The motion passed on a vote of 5-0.
OTHER ITEM:
Discussion of an application for a Self Supporting Municipal Improvement District (SSMID) for property
located within the Central Business (CB-10) zone, generally located between Iowa Avenue, Burlington
Street, Gilbert Street and Capitol Street.
Nasby said the SSMID had been before the Commission in January. At that time, the proponents had
asked for a deferral so that some of the discussions that were occurring at the last public meeting
between the property owners and tenants could be worked out. A meeting hosted by the Downtown
Association (DTA) had been held to which owners and tenants had been invited to attend and discuss
their concerns. A memorandum authored by Behr and Nasby had been included in the Commissioner's
information packet in response to several questions raised by Planning and Zoning Commission. Nasby
said that they had consulted their bond counsel regarding the questions and that information was in the
memo.
Koppes asked if any petitions against the SSMID had been received. Nasby said not that they were
aware of.
Anciaux said it had previously been discussed that those who could sign the petitions and actually vote
would be the property owners but the taxes would most likely be paid by the renters. He asked if the
renters would have any say in this at all? Nasby said per the State Code, the petition could be brought
forward by the property owners, there was no provision for tenants to petition in favor of or against a
SSMID district. Nasby said depending on how the leases were structured, some of the tenants paid
property taxes and some did not. Behr said the State Code allowed only the property owners to make the
SSMID petition, primarily because only owners could be responsible for the taxes as a matter of law. As a
matter of contract between owner and tenant, it could be passed on.
Anciaux asked if there had been any type of notice given to tenants that they could converse with their
property owners regarding the proposed SSMID to let their feelings be known; what type of
advertisements had gone out on the SSMID? Nasby said there were no notification requirements for
tenants laid out in the Code. There was a notice sent out at the last P&Z Planning meeting to the
properties and owners of record. There had also been some discussions at the DTA and articles in the
newspaper over several months; however, there had been no official notice sent to tenants.
Brooks asked for a clarification regarding what type of notice was sent out regarding the 1/12/04 P&Z
meeting? Nasby said a mailing had gone out from Planning and Community Development Office to the
property owners of record.
Brooks asked how notice of the deferral had been communicated to the Commission and to property
owners. He said his concern was that property owners knew this was coming before the Commission on
1/12/04. How did they know it was back before the Commission now? How did they know it had been
deferred? Members of the Commission hadn't been notified or been aware it had been deferred until
they'd received their information packages. Behr said it had been deferred from the 1/12/04 meeting. The
request for the deferral had been received before the Agenda had been sent out. Brooks said he didn't
remember that that was ever communicated to the Commissioners, so he was wondering if he didn't pick
up on it, how did the other property owners know that it had been deferred and was the Agenda for
consideration at this evening's meeting? Behr said he didn't know what notice had been sent out as to
when and how it was deferred and when it would be back on the Agenda again. Miklo said generally
when an item was deferred to a following meeting, Staff didn't send out further notice. The assumption
was, if someone was interested they would have been at the first meeting. The fact that no one showed
up at the meeting to which it was announced it was deferred was an indication of a lack of interest or the
more likely that there was a lot of discussion outside of the Commission's meeting in which it was know
this was being deferred for a later date.
Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes
March 4, 2004
Page 10
Public discussion was opened.
Mark Ginsberq, said he was a proponent of the SSMID for the simple reason that he believed they
needed a collective voice in the CB-10 district. The SSMID was not intended to penalize those persons
within the zoned area. He said they understood the SSMID was less than it possibly could be, and was no
absolute, no clear cut answer that everyone would agree with. In an effort to raise awareness of the
downtown community, improve it, continue to promote the area in a positive light, grow it they way they
would all like to see it grown, and market it beyond just the county or state borders, it was necessary that
they have an effective marketing tool. Not just $30,000 which was a bandaid and had been relatively
ineffective. Ginsberg said in order for them to get to the next level they had to eliminate the DTA, out of
the ashes would then rise hopefully the phoenix, which was the SSMID and from that point they would
elect the 15 Board members which hopefully would be representative of all the property owners, the
tenants that didn't own property and at-large members as well. As a DTA Board, they did not want and
chose not develop exact guidelines because they felt that the people who were being impacted the most
would have no voice in that if they were outside the DTA. Their desire was to push the SSMID to the next
level, which was acceptance, on to Council, hopefully be accepted and allow them to begin the process of
growing this marketing concept and the development of what they felt would be an effective tool for the
CB-10 area.
Ginsberg said they understood and were sympathetic to some of the concerns. Money was the top
concern, '~Nhy should you pay?". Up to this point it had been difficult to get participation, they had tried for
all the years the DTA had been in existence to get 100% participation of the businesses and the people
who used the downtown. He said the last 17~years that he had been associated with the DTA it had been
very difficult. There were people who paid their dues, but didn't voice their opinion. If persons wanted to
remain mute on the point, they still had an impact in the fundraising effort in contributing to the SSMID. It
was an involuntary participation, but it would be 100%. It would be a needed shot in the arm, especially
as the City backed away from funding. A lot of the events that were going to be positive to the downtown
area [Friday night concert series, Jazz Fest, Iowa Arts Festivals, improvements in property] could come
through the SSMID. There were a lot of things yet to be discussed, he couldn't begin to anticipate all of
the discussions at this point. He recognized that every discussion left both sides wanting something that
they had missed out on. There were some who didn't want to pay any more in taxes, there were others
who owned property and had businesses that as they lost traffic in downtown Iowa City they also lost
potential business. A lot of businesses might go away. Ginsberg said he was willing to pitch in and pay
what he could, stay vocal, participate in growing the downtown and making it the first place that someone
who came in from out-of-town was shown. He felt they should participate as a community, it was their
alter-ego, this was their personality.
Hansen asked how often did the DTA meet? Ginsberg said once a month. Hansen asked how many
people attended? Ginsberg said usually 7 to 10. Hansen asked how many overall dues paying members
were there? Ginsberg said approximately 85 dues paying, not all collected with approximately 200
businesses, goods and services, in the CB-lO district.
Anciaux said there were several persons at the last Commission meeting who were against the SSMID.
He asked if the proponents had done anything to meet with them or allay their fears? Ginsberg said they
hadn't contacted each one individually. They had had a general meeting at the Sheraton approximately 2
weeks ago. Those who were in opposition had attended with the exception of Keven Perez from 126.
Ginsburg said he was assuming that since Leah and Roger had attended the meeting at the Sheraton
and since they were in attendance at the Commission's meeting, at the end of the meeting at the
Sheraton they must have been convinced that it was wodhwhile for them to support it, otherwise they
would have been at the Commission's meeting. They were aware of it.
Joe Holland, representing the Clarks. Holland said he was not necessarily speaking in opposition to the
SSMID, but wanted to raise some issues that needed to be considered. Holland said to a certain extent
he agreed with Ginsberg that the DTA had not been an effective organization. He had been on the DTA
Board for a number of years. Holland said he'd practiced law in Iowa City for nearly 28-years. During all
that time his office had been in or on the fringe of downtown. It was interesting to him that there was
discussion of the ineffectiveness of the DTA. For a little while the DTA had sent him dues statements
Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes
March 4, 2004
Page 11
which he had faithfully paid. Then they quit sending them. He had then received a request to contribute to
the Friday night concert series. Every year he had sent them $125, then they quit sending the statements.
Holland said to a certain extent, he felt they had no one but themselves to blame if they didn't have the
money. If the DTA wouldn't even send out billings or statements to persons who had paid in the previous
years and were willing to participate... Holland said he didn't necessarily mean to be critical, but there
were other paths to where they wanted to be. Part of the problem with the SSMID was it was a tax, it was
based upon payment by property owners, and based upon payments by everyone who fit into certain
classifications for tax purposes.
Holland said the Clarks owned a large amount of property and large apartment buildings in the CB-10
area. The apartments would be taxed under the SSMID in the same fashion as commercial business
would be. A number of the apartments had commercial businesses on the first floor and the Clarks had
no problem with contributing to the SSMID based on those commercial uses. The problem was that there
were also a lot of apartments. Ginsburg had said the concept was to bring business to the commercial
retail downtown, not to bring tenants downtown. It was a marketing effort to market the downtown outside
Iowa City, outside the area and to create a retail climate in the downtown. He said he didn't think there
was a person in the room who was not in favor of that. Holland said the Clarks didn't own property in
Coralville or in North Liberty, they were very committed to Iowa City and to the Iowa City downtown core.
They had a huge stake in seeing the downtown core prosper, however they had a problem with paying on
the same basis for all the apartments they owned as did the owners of commercial property.
The Clarks had not received any notice of the SSMID being on the Commission's Agenda. Holland said
items were frequently deferred and there was a built in assumption that because it was deferred the first
time, people knew that it would come back on the Agenda at a later date. Holland said he understood the
problem Staff had with keeping track of sending out notices, some things were deferred multiple times.
The SSMID was a fairly unique animal and there were a lot of people who were very concerned about it.
It was almost a guarantee that if the SSMID were imposed, the rents on apartments would go up. Holland
said those were some of the items the Commissioners needed to think about. There were some possible
remedies, but Staff and Legal Staff should research among themselves if it were possible to create a
separate class for apartments and either exclude them or tax them at a different rate. Those issues
needed to be addressed to bring some equity to the situation. People were going to be drug in
involuntarily into the SSMID because there were people who objected to it. Holland said in fairness as
public officials and to all the people along the bell curve who were going to be forced to pay this tax, they
needed to look across the bell curve and decide how the burden was going to be distributed when they
imposed the tax. It was not a tax that the people were going to vote on. It was a tax that was going to be
imposed by the Council based in part on the Commission's recommendation and what the proponents
had to say. A little extra care was appropriate to make it equitable however it would emerge. Holland said
they were in favor of the SSMID, but not necessarily as it had been proposed up to this point. Staff and
some of the proponents needed to be creative in looking at a way to take in to account the mixed use
nature of the properties in downtown.
Anciaux asked for a clarification as to how apartments would be charged in a SSMID. Nasby said
commercial properly was included in the SSMID, residential was not. If it was assessed as residential, it
was not taxed; if it was assessed as commercial then it would be taxed. If it was divided out for purposes
of assessment, then one was exempt and the other was not.
Anciaux asked if a properly owner received a vote for each parcel he/she owned on the tax rolls? Nasby
referred the question to Ginsberg or a member of the Board he'd referred to. That was not part of the
SSMID that was before them.
Holland said there were some condominiums that were taxed as commercial property. He said the real
focus was on the use of those properties. Whether they were taxed as residential or commercial shouldn't
be the driving factor in what was a fair allocation of the cost of the SSMID. He said they needed to take
into account the real use of properties downtown and not necessarily what was their tax classification.
Holland said he realized there were some technical issues within the SSMID that followed property tax
classifications because in essence it was a tax. It was not a simple issue.
Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes
Mamh 4, 2004
Page 12
Terri Miller-Chair, said she and her husband owned a building downtown that had the Galleries Downtown
and a business in it. She had attended the previous Commission meeting which was also attended by
other opponents of the proposed SSMID district. Miller-Chair said she had just found out this morning
from her husband that this item was on the Commission's Agenda, so it was not something she was
prepared to speak about it. Miller-Chair said she could also not speak on behalf of the other opponents
who had attended the previous meeting at which the SSMID had been on the agenda, but it could be the
same case of them either not knowing about it or knowledge at the very last minute.
Miller-Chair said she agreed with a lot of the things that Ginsberg had said about the SSMID and what
advantages it could have for downtown. It could be a good boost for a lot of downtown businesses. She
also believed that not all of the voices had been heard about the issue. Miller-Chair commended the DTA
for putting together the 2/6/04 meeting. They had delivered post cards to ensure that a lot of persons
knew about the meeting and that persons who didn't know about the SSMID would have the opportunity
to ask questions and get knowledge about it. She said the meeting had not been very well attended in
light of 200 businesses downtown. The proponents had made an effort to involve more of the people than
they had in the past. Miller-Chair said she still believed that a lot of issues remained unaddressed
because the DTA of 7-10 people were the ones who were looking at the different issues at this point and
that was not being a broadened group to include a lot of other people such as the Clarks to find out what
they did or did not need from a SSMID.
She said she didn't know if there had been any people other than the DTA who had been very involved in
the petition or the by-laws. Miller-Chair said she'd heard the by-laws had been modified, she assumed it
had gone through the DTA. Miller-Chait said a lot of people chose not to be involved in the DTA because
they believed it was not very effective. She said if it was not effective, the DTA should not be the
governing body deciding how the SSMID would be developed. There should be a broader group that
included CB-10 members who were making those types of decisions.
Anciaux asked for a clarification of the percentages. Nasby said if 25% of the property owners,
representing at least 25% of the assessed value, signed a petition against the SSMID would require
unanimous Council approval. If 40% of the properly owners, representing at least 40% of the assessed
value, signed a petition against the SSMID it would 'kill' it. Nasby said the percentages had to be the
number of owners and also assessed value. There could not just be one owner with a lot of assessed
value. Anciaux said regardless of how the recommendation from the Commission turned out, he strongly
encouraged the proponents and the opponents to get out and work for the required percentages.
Brooks said bi-laws had been mentioned. There had been no information or documentation relating to bi-
laws in the Commissioner's information packets. Nasby said the Commission was just dealing with the
petition. Behr said he understood that bi-laws would be a matter of interest, but that would be a matter for
the Association. Brooks said this was the first that he'd heard of bi-laws. Behr said he presumed the
organization would have some internal operating bi-laws that would govern how it would operate, but they
had not been made a part of the petition or known to the City nor did they have to be.
Anciaux asked for a clarification as to what the Commission was to consider with respect to the SSMID.
Behr said the Commission, according to the Code, was to make a repod based on the "merits and
feasibility" of the proposed SSMID. Behr said there had been a set of relatively technical criteria set forth
in the Commissioner's information packets that were a starting point for the review. It appeared that they
all had been met. Behr said the report didn't simply have to be either it had "merits and feasibility" or it did
not. He suggested the Commissioners address the criteria and if they agreed with Staff that they had
been met, they would indicate as such. They should hear all of the public speak, have a discussion, reach
an agreement, then make some sort of a statement indicating that they felt it did not have "merits and
feasibility" for certain reasons or it did have "merits and feasibility" if the following things were
demonstrated to the Council.
Nasby reminded the Commissioners to keep in mind that the scope for the SSMID petition, as it had been
submitted, was for the operation portion of it. That was the only thing that could be done. Behr said they
were limited to a review of this particular petition. They were not in a position to say it would have "merits
and feasibility" if it included these other provisions.
Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes
Mamh 4, 2004
Page 13
Behr said in terms of the factors that the Commission wished to set forth, it would be best brought out
among discussion amongst them after they'd heard from the public. He said given the "Due Diligence"
requirement, that they attempt to reach some agreement as to if they felt it had "merits and feasibility" and
if so, if there were additional concerns they wished to tie to that, that they go through them, reach some
consensus and authorize someone to sign a report to that effect.
Tim Gholson, president of the DTA, said they had hand delivered a postcard about the 2/6/04 meeting to
every single business within the CB-10 district. Everyone was notified of the meeting. They'd had 30-35
persons out of 200 show up for the meeting. For what had happened in the past with trying to get things
organized in the downtown it was a pretty good turnout. He said most persons who had spoken in
opposition before the Commission had attended and several had left in a positive frame of mind thinking
they were for the SSMID district. Gholson said they'd heard nothing since then to say that they were
against it.
Gholson said they'd addressed issues that had come up in the 2/6/04 meeting with some of the large
property owners. They had wanted to make sure that because they were the largest contributors in to the
new organization that they would have representation. The change in the bi-laws that had been made
was that of the top four property owners with more than 9 million dollars, three of those would have a seat
on the Board. There would be a fifteen member board: 3 members from the $9M plus category; 4
members from property owners below the $9M level, 5 members from tenants and retail downtown; 3 at-
large seats. They wanted to have everyone involved. Gholson said concern had been expressed about
only seven persons making this decision. The reason they were doing the petition this way was because
seven persons didn't want to speak for all of downtown Iowa City. He said once the SSMID was
approved, the DTA would, be reincarnated into a new board of directors that would be representative of
everyone downtown. They would have a chance to vote for themselves and their peers onto that board.
Those would be the people who would then make the decision on how the money would be spent. He
said the proponents were there to get the bail rolling so that the SSMID district could be formed so that
the work could be done to figure out how all of downtown could come together, to figure out how this
money could be spent and how improvements could be made or marketing done to bring people
downtown.
Gholson said they had since met with the Mall owners who at the last meeting were neither for nor
against the SSMID district. He thought they were Jn the same boat at this point in time. He said the
proponents wanted to talk with them about what their issues were. They were willing to talk to anyone
who had an issue about the SSMID. They had regularly scheduled meetings but had heard from no one
since that time. Gholson said people have had an opportunity should they have chosen to take it to talk to
the proponents about it.
Gholson said in improving the downtown iowa City area, it was going to become a much more attractive
place to be. Rents might go up, but the property values were going to go up along with them. He said as a
property owner, a person was not going to be stuck owning a piece of property that was not going to
increase in value as the downtown improved. There would be benefit to a property owner who might not
have commercial property in downtown.
Jim Clayton, tenant downtown. He said the tax that would be levied against the property owners would
undoubtedly be passed on to him as a tenant. He was a member of the DTA, so he paid dues. When the
SSMID was in place, the DTA would go away so he would not have to pay those dues any longer. That
was a benefit of universal membership, everyone would be paying their fair share, so they didn't need a
contributory environment where people had to decide whether to join them or not.
Clayton said they had deliberately written the petition they way they had and set up the bi-laws the way
they had so that they would not be laying any readmap that someone would have to follow. The people
who would design the roadmap for the SSMID would be the people who were elected after it was in
place. Everyone in downtown iowa City would have a vote, the bigger the property the bigger the number
of votes a person would have. That way they could guarantee that the largest property owners who paid
the biggest amount would have a voice on the board. For example, Mr. Clark could cast all his ballots for
Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes
March 4, 2004
Page 14
himself or for another representative that he wanted to be on the Board. He said Mark Moen could
certainly find someone with his voting power to put them on the board. Clayton said it would be this Board
who would make the decisions of where the final outcome would be with the money from the SSMID.
That was a very important detail. It left a lot of gray areas but they didn't feel as a Board of Directors for
the DTA that they would be capable. They could give advice and counsel and set up a basic framework,
but they didn't have the capabilities to run the SSMID. They wanted to hire someone to run this and to
have the persons with the biggest stake to be involved. From observation they knew that the downtown
was in a decline and eventually if the decline continued, property values would go down. If they could
reverse the trend to get the downtown moving forward and upward, property values and demand to be
downtown would surely go up.
James Claris, said he was unaware that SSMID was on the Commission's agenda for this evening, it
bothered him a little. He said there were a number of issues. Clark said in a number of his complexes he
did not condo them, it had not seemed important. The City had helped him out in a number of ways, he
paid full taxes on them. If they raised the taxes as projected, this would be taxed against people like
businesses who had no say so and no representation, against students who had no representation. He
didn't think it was fair for an apartment building that had parking below, commercial on the first level which
probably would be okay for taxation but then had three residential stories above it. They would pay five-
times what someone else would pay, taxes would paid based on the square footage of the building or
their tax base. He said 2/3 of it would come from the students and actually it would be 4/5 if they included
the parking they used in the basement. He didn't think that was fair to the student.
Clark said he had not been notified about the initial Commission meeting, he had received something
about the 2/6/04 meeting. He knew there were a number of persons out there against the SSMID. Clark
said they were not against it, they just didn't know where the money was going to be spent. The
proponents said they couldn't tell them right now, it was not a secret, they just couldn't tell them. That
gave him some problems with paying in all the money. Clark said they had only been contacted three or
four times, they had been contacted by the Mall.
Clark said it seemed like the costs were being shifted from the businesses to the landlords. It had been
said they would not have to pay any more DTA dues, he didn't know if that was fair nor not. The landlords
were going to have to pick the tax up and if it was the landlords, it would be the students. That was a kind
of unfair taxation to them.
Clark asked who verified the percentages and how? Nasby said a petition had been filed with the City
Clerk. It was a matter of public record.
Clark said he was aware that a lot of people disagreed with the SSMID. Nasby said the affirmative
petition was approximately 27% of the owners and 38% of the assessed value. Clark asked if any of
those had large (3 or 4 floor) apadments above them? Nasby said he didn't have that information.
Clark said he didn't have a problem with paying taxation on the commercial, even though it would not be
of much value to them. Since all of his apartments were not condos, he would be taxed on all of his
buildings. As discussed previously, it would be taxed at five-times as he always put the maximum amount
of parking on his lots underground. Clark said he didn't think the people who would end up paying the
taxes were being fairly represented. Clark said he also didn't think a number of persons had been notified
about this meeting which was a real problem because there was a substantial number of people against
the SSMID. He also felt there were a number of questions about the program and how it was going to be
directed, they couldn't give them that information so they were grabbing at something that no one knew
where it was going. It was a marketing tool, but the wrong people were paying for it and they were not
there to represent themselves.
Anciaux said he had asked basically the same two questions of everyone who had spoken before the
Commission. If it was a proponent, he'd asked them what they were doing to win over the persons who
were against it. If they were an opponent, were they willing to go out and get the 25% or 40% necessary
to kill the SSMID district petition? He suggested Clark keep the percentages in mind. Clark said he was
asking that they modify it so they would pay on the commercial rather than having to pay on all the
Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes
March 4, 2004
Page 15
apartments that were above. He felt that was an unfair taxation on the students. He said most of the
properties downtown had a limited number of apartments above them, not like his buildings which were
three or four stories with taxation.
Anciaux asked if there was a way to legally eliminate the apartments? Behr said legally this petition did
not address that. In a different petition, there might be a way to separate zones within a SSMID. He was
not familiar with the specifics and was not sure it could be done in the fashion being suggested but this
proposal didn't do it. Nasby said he didn't know the specifics either. State Code said residentially
assessed property was exempt, commercially assessed property was taxed.
Clayton said the petition had been done the way it was because different sections of the CB district could
be divided, but different levels of the buildings could not be divided vertically. The Code that established
SSMIDs in Iowa didn't permit that type of thing, as they had read it. He said there was an echo about all
the people who were against the SSMID. They had sent a letter and a petition to every single property
owner of record in downtown Iowa City in the central business district. Some had signed it 'yes' and sent
it back, some had said 'not interested' and sent it back and some had not done a thing. They had not
responded to follow up letters or telephone calls. The proponents were trying to build their percentage.
The law required 25% and 25% and they had exceeded both of those percentages. Therefore they felt
they were entitled to an answer from the Commission to let it go on to the Council, to let them vote.
Clayton said if the opposition wished to rise up, they had until infinity to do so. In the mean time, he
requested that the Commission let them 'get going'.
Ginsberg said he shared some of Clayton's passion, but he felt this also had to be a team effort. Clayton
had made some good points that were arguable, but the reason they couldn't define it any more than they
had right now without taking some of the voice away from the people who had not participated up to this
point. He didn't think that was fair. Ginsberg said he though they had a fragmented voice in the CB-10
district speaking in opposition and in favor of. By getting the SSMID through, it would allow for 100% of
the voices to be heard and to have some effect on what went on in the district. Ginsberg said to him it
didn't make sense to alienate a large land owner and potential huge contributor. He was referring to
emotional not financial. Clark's family had been there, his children were there and their children would be
here and he hoped the same thing for his family. Ginsberg said they were talking about generations of
future benefits. If the SSMID went away and they didn't do it, that would be the voice of the people and
that was what was great about our country. It was the proponent's desire and Ginsberg's personal hope
to see something like the SSMID exist in a way that would help everyone participate in the downtown
community, which was a little treasure.
Ginsberg said he was not saying to stiff the students either. Perhaps there was some type of subsidy
back to the students or to back to the residential apartment owners. All of these things were open for
discussion. They were trying to make this much more efficient, operationally, marketing wise and capital
intensiveness for what they invested in our downtown. He didn't think of it as a tax as much as of an
investment, mandatory, but an investment.
Susan Weinschenk, DTA Board member. She said one thing they had discussed at the 2/6/04 meeting
that had not yet been mentioned was that this was a two-step process. What they were doing right now
was simply asking for approval for the district. That was why they hadn't said what they were going to do
with the funds. That would be the second step. It would require them to go back through the whole
process again once the district was approved and the Board was elected. They would write the bi-laws
and they would spell out how all the money was to be spent. They would have to hire an attorney to do
that, they simply could not do it at this time. They did not have the money. The first step would allow them
operationally to hire an attorney to get the actual bi-laws written for the new SSMID. That would go back
through all the processes again and be approved before any money could be spent. Weinschenk said in a
way it was blind, but at this time they could not come up with the fees for an attorney to write the bi-laws.
It was not fair to all of the businesses that were down there, because they could not speak for them.
When the Board was in place and they had their say, they could tell the Board how they wanted the
money spent, the bi-laws would be written and circulated. At any time 25% of the owners could say "We
are done, we are not paying this anymore. You are not effective" and the SSMID would go away. The City
Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes
March 4, 2004
Page 16
could also at any time reduce the tax rate to zero if they were not satisfied with how the money was being
spent. There were some things in place to take care of things down the road.
Weinschenk said at this time all they wanted to do was to get the district approved so they could move on
to the next part which was how the money would be spent. She said she felt it was very important that
everyone understood that, she did not think it had been relayed enough to all the businesses. It was hard
to get the businesses to come to the meetings so it was even harder to get this point across to them.
Clark said if they (the proponents) were able to fix his problem, getting rid of the four levels, he would be
with them. He had read somewhere that segregation of certain levels could be done. His objection was
having the student pay for something he was not going to receive and the student was not there to
represent him/her self. The students were going to pay the majority of taxes on these buildings. Clark said
he had asked 'Chuck' to get back to him on the elimination of the apartment portions and he did not recall
receiving an answer on that.
Chuck Goldberg, sitting in the audience responded but did not come to the podium. Nasby asked him to
present at the microphone or have the conversation with Clark at some other time.
Public discussion was closed.
Behr recommended that the Commission entertain a motion to recommend that the SSMID had merit and
was feasible or that it did not have merit and was not feasible. If the motion was seconded, then there
would be discussion about the motion and in the process clarify if there were any additional concerns or
issues that they would wish to tie to the merit and feasibility. Those items should be items that could be
demonstrated to the Council, they could not be things that would require an amendment to the petition
because that was not part of the process.
Hansen clarified that it would not be possible for the Commission to amend or for the Council to consider
apartments. Behr said the Commission could say they did not think the SSMID had merit and feasibility
because it did not do "X", but it would not be a good idea to make a recommendation that the SSMID had
merit and feasibility if it differentiated between apartments and otherwise. The petition did not do so. To
do so, the petition would have to be amended and start over again.
Anciaux clarified that if the Commission reported that they did not find the petition to have merit and
feasibility, that the proponents could still take the petition to Council. Behr and Nasby said that was
correct. Nasby said the Commission was charged with making a report and submitting it to Council.
Brooks asked for a clarification regarding if there was something in the original petition, for example the
renewal portion of the petition, the Commission could not say that it was a concern for them. Behr said
the Commission could do two things. They could say that they felt the petition had merit and was feasible
if certain things were demonstrated to Council. They could go on in addition to those things and state that
they had concerns about the following elements of the petition or the lack of the following elements in the
petition. Behr said he had checked on the Sunset, and it could be of a different duration.
Brooks said they were only talking about operational, yet they way he read the petition there were
purposes listed as marketing, parking fee abatement, capital projects and operational. Behr said the
reason that this petition only served for operational was because all the other items required much more
process and additional contents in the petition. What those things being in the petition allowed was that
they could come back at a future time, go through P&Z, go through Council and put those things in place.
Brooks asked if marketing and capital development were part of the category of operational? Behr said
that was correct and asked Nasby if that was also his understanding. Nasby said that was what the City
Attorney's office had determined. [Goldberg spoke from the audience in disagreement.] Behr said he did
not know if there had been a change in opinion, but it was his understanding that the legal opinion was
that the operational included the marketing. Nasby said he believed the City Attorney's office had
received that clarification from Mark Cory, the City's Bond Counsel, that the marketing could be included
as Code 386.8 said, "And all other expenses reasonably associated with the administration of the district
and fulfilling the purpose of the district."
Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes
March 4, 2004
Page 17
Anciaux reminded members of the audience were speaking without identifying themselves that public
discussion was closed. Behr said it should be limited to discussion among members of the Commission at
this point. Practice was, if a Commissioner had a specific question for a member of the public they could
ask it but other than that it discussion was limited.
Motion: Anciaux asked for a motion to recommend to City Council that there was merit to the SSMID for
property located within the CB-10 zone generally located between Iowa Avenue, Burlington Street, Gilbert
Street and Capitol Street. The motion died for lack of a second.
Brooks said he would be willing to support a motion to get the SSMID into the next phase before the
Council where there would be more publicity and more public comment might be heard. He was not
willing to put a carte-blanch approval on the current SSMID. Brooks said he wanted to see the
Commission's recommendations go with some caveats and some issues that they felt they needed to
bring before the Council. Brooks said when he was asked to review something in terms of the merit and
feasibility, there were certain 'no brainer' things in terms of had they met certain criteria in the Code. But
in his mind, merit and feasibility went beyond those things. What he was seeing in the petition left him
with many reservations. In addition to that, what he had heard communicated to the Commission left him
with additional reservations.
Anciaux said City Council would not hear from the most vociferous until the final meeting. He was trying to
get a motion out on the floor so they could discuss it and then vote it up or down stated in the positive, so
the petition could get on its way to Council.
Behr said this was out of the ordinary and it could be done in a slightly different order than they were used
to. Discussion could be had on the general question of whether this had merit and was feasible if certain
things were demonstrated at the Council level. If there was agreement among them, a motion could be
crafted to include all of those things, entertain that motion, have a second on it and then vote on the
motion.
Hansen said the question was merit and feasibility. He was sure it had merit and feasibility, it was just
very difficulty to put his finger on it the way it was written. Hansen said one of his issues was the
apartments. It was not just about one owner, it was the idea of taxing residential dwellings. The only
reason that they were in the SSMID was because the owner was taxed commercially and the owner was
paying a lot more for that taxation than if they were residential or condos. He was also concerned about
the small percentage of persons who were supporting this. On the other hand he understood the apathy
in the public today and how hard it was to get people out to do things. Some of the best things happened
by just a few people pushing them. Hansen said he felt they could probably get a lot more participation if
the SSMID were worded in some way in which people knew what was going to be the end product on
which they were actually voting. He understood why they had done what they did, that opened the door
for people to discuss, but it also did not give them a goat. Hansen said he'd rather see it with the goals.
Hansen said he had to praise the DTA for walking a tightrope on this item. If they dissolved the DTA and
the SSMID didn't fly, they wouldn't even have the $30,000 any more. He would like to see some direction
as to spending and some part address the apartment issue. It was directed at businesses, it should be
the businesses that paid, not the people running apartments. It would be a tax on everyone, he did not
know of any voluntary taxes.
Koppes asked when would the first money come out of the SSMID to the new Board? Nasby said if it
were approved before the end of the current calendar year, it would go on the 2005 assessment. The
2005 assessment would be paid in 2006.
Koppes said some of her concerns were vagueness of the use of the money; the apartment taxes; no
sunset clause and that it just kept renewing and renewing. Koppes said she knew there were some
options for having it set to zero but she would like to have them come back before the Commission in ten
years and say do it again. She agreed with much of what Hansen had said.
Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes
March 4, 2004
Page 18
Shannon said he was not comfortable with the businesses renters downtown not really having any say.
Also with Mr. Clark's position, he hadn't realized until this evening that that was the way it was. If it
couldn't be resolved he could not see himself being supportive of something where people who were not
really involved with the business were paying for it.
Brooks said he had problems with the duration and the renewal, the way it was written for ever and ever
unless the Council stepped in and decided to cut the assessment that year or utilize the option of 25%
opposing during the process. It seemed when they were taxing people, they should not provide the
opportunity for it to go on forever. He said although the 25% criteria had been met, just barely, he really
would have liked to have seen a much higher level. He understood the difficulty of getting that, but part of
it might be in the selling and marketing the SSMID. Brooks said he found it difficult to believe anyone in
business who was approached by someone wanting to develop or have them invest in a venture would
be satisfied with what they were seeing here. Brooks said that he really wished the State Code required a
business plan be presented as pad of this. He also agreed with the other Commissioners on the issue of
residential property that was taxed as commercial, there must be some way to give them a break on that.
Brooks said another thing he thought he'd heard that troubled him maybe even more than any of the
above was the statement that the by-laws being written were going to dictate a certain level of
participation by people with a certain amount of property ownership. He said that probably more than
anything went against his grain on something where people were being taxed. The City didn't have a City
Council that was made up of 'X' number of people who owned property over $9M and 'X' number that
owned less. It was equal representation. That type of thinking and approach to this issue was extremely
troubling to him. Brooks said he was having trouble with those issues as they related to the feasibility and
merit of the petition.
Anciaux said his point of view was that they would not hear from all the proponents or opponents until the
final meeting of City Council. They were the ones who were going to have to deal with this on a political
basis. The Commission was reviewing the petition on its merits of it, whether it was good or bad. He said
he saw a lot merit for the program as it was laid out, the proponents obviously felt they needed to have
something done to promote the downtown. He'd asked almost every proponent what they had done to
bring the rest into the fold. As far as the opposition went, with 25% they would make the City Council vote
on it unanimously, 40% killed the petition completely. With respect to the sunset, it could be killed at any
time with a 40% petition. Discussion ensued between Nasby and Brooks as to what percentages applied
and requirement of super majority of Council as laid out in Code to kill the ordinance versus an
amendment. Miklo said he thought the point Anciaux was trying to make was that in two years from now,
25% could trigger an amendment which might be the killing of the SSMID.
Anciaux said they'd made a case that the SSMID was needed and that it would be beneficial. He had
problems with the taxation of the residential areas. This petition had pitted neighbor against neighbor and
friend against friend, he hoped they could get things worked out among them.
Hansen said in no way was he against a SSMID. If the current application had had a few of the listed
concerns addressed, he would be more than open to talking about it. He felt the downtown needed
support and needed marketing, it needed a better plan.
Behr said in review, the two main concerns he'd heard raised were: (1) the fact that residential use
properties were assessed as commercial and would be taxed just like other commercial and (2) the
duration of the SSMID and the fact that it automatically renewed. Behr said those two items were the
most problematic because they were not things that Council could fix in this petition. Other concerns were
(3) the amount of suppod for the SSMID among properly owners and tenants in the district in general,
whether it be lack of support or lack of telling the Commission that they supported it; (4) lack of
information regarding and specifics about how the money would be spent; (5) lack of specific information
about how the organization would be set up and how there would be representation on that organization.
Behr said this being the case, he would suggest a motion to recommend that the SSMID application had
merit and was feasible subject to certain conditions to which they could add concerns. Behr advised the
Commission that a motion stated as such, if they said that they felt it had merit and was feasible, if the
proponents demonstrated more support at Council level and provided more information about spending
and more information about the organization, but then the Commission also said that they had concerns
Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes
Mamh 4, 2004
Page 19
about the taxation and the renewal, there was nothing the Council could do about those two concerns
with this petition.
Behr said one option was to report that the application had merit and was feasible with those conditions
and add their concerns. Another option was a repod and recommend that they did not feel it had merit
and it was not feasible because of their concerns about the duration of it, the fact that it was automatically
renewed and they didn't like the fact that the SSMID taxed residential use properties which were
assessed as commercial. Behr said there was nothing to say that another SSMID petition couldn't
immediately follow addressing those items or they could do another one to attempt to sway the
Commission that they should not have those padicular concerns. Behr said any amendment would have
to go back before the Commission, so he didn't think there was anything the Council could do to this
petition to fix those particular concerns.
Hansen said it would be better for the Commission to do a negative motion with a list of the concerns they
had to see if Council went up or down. if they said yes, the petition had merit and feasibility it would be
going against what they were saying. Brooks said by the same token, he had a hard time saying that it
didn't have merit. In general he agreed with the concept and the overriding purpose of what they wanted
to do. The way it was presented to the Commission was so incomplete and so vague that it left him with
all those concerns and questioned the feasibility of it and to a certain degree, the merit.
Behr said the report and the recommendation could be phrased such that to make it clear that they didn't
feel there should not be a SSMID district downtown, but that they just didn't feel this was the
petition/SSMID district that they wanted to see created.
Motion: Hansen made a motion to make a report and recommendation to City Council that they felt that
the eight criteria listed in the Staff Report of 1/9/04 pages 3 and 4 had been met with respect to this
SSMID petition; the Commission felt a SSMID district in downtown Iowa City might be appropriate and
have merit and feasibility; recommended that this padicular petition did not have merit and feasibility
because of the concerns regarding: taxation of residential properties assessed as commercial; the
duration of the proposed SSMID and the fact that it automatically renewed; lack of information regarding
and specifics about how the money would be spent; lack of specific information about how the
organization would be set up and how there would be representation on that organization. The
Commission chairperson would be authorized to review and sign the Commission's repod after it was
authored by Behr. Brooks seconded the motion.
Koppes said she agreed with the motion. Anciaux said he felt a SSMID might be needed and encouraged
the proponents to work on winning over the opposition and the opponents to work for obtaining the 25%
or 40% necessary to kill this particular petition.
The motion passed on a vote of 4-1. Anciaux voted against.
CONSIDERATION OF 2/19/04 MEETING MINUTF,'~'
Brooks made a motion to approve the 2/19/04 meeting minutes as written and corrected. Koppes
seconded the motion. The motion passed on a vote of 5-0.
ADJOURNMENT:
Koppes made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 10:25 pm. Brooks seconded the motion. The motion
passed on a vote of 5-0.
Beth Koppes, Secretary
Minutes submitted by Candy Barnhill
data on dtyntlpcd/m~nutes]p&z/200412004 03~34p&z.doc
MINUTES
HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION
THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2004 - 6:30 P.M.
SENIOR CENTER CLASSROOM IP1 9
Members Presents: Jerry Anthony, Erin Barnes, Lori Bears, John Deeth, Mark Edwards,
William Greazel, Matthew Hayek, Shellie MackeI-Wiederanders, Jayne
Sandier
Members Absent:
Staff Present: Tracy Hightshoe, Steve Long, Steve Nasby, Linda Severson
Others Present: Al Axeen, Bob Burns, Karl Dixon, Jim Swaim, Joan VandenBerg, David
Wellendorf, Sandy Pickup, Crissy Canganelli, Danielle Thompson, Mike
Townsend, Charlie Eastham
CALL TO ORDER
Chairperson Hayek called the meeting to order at 6:33 PM.
CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 18 and 19, 2004, MEETING,~
Hayek noted that the name of the ICCSD board president is spelled incorrectly. Barnes said that the
name of one ofthe Eagles' Flight representatives is also listed incorrectly in the minutes. Hayek said that
one of the last names of the OMNI Therapies representative was missing. Deeth asked if a quorum had
been present during HCDC's tour of proposed projects while they were at United Action for Youth.
Hightshoe said that a couple of HCDC members did not make that stop and as such, no quorum was
present at UAY.
MOTION: Anthony moved to accept the minutes as amended; Edwards seconded the motion. All
in favor; motion passed 8-0 (Sandier temporarily absent).
PUBLIC/MEMBER DISCUSSION OF ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA
None from the public. Anthony announced that the Housing Trust Fund of Johnson County received a
$200,000 award from the Iowa Finance Authority and that the Housing Trust Fund would be moving
forward quickly. Bears said that there were three bills in the Iowa House\Senate regarding universal
design. Bears noted the universal design house constructed by the City and zero-step entrances.
FY05 Projects Discussion
Hayek gave the HCDC a brief introduction regarding the purpose of the meeting and encourages the
commission to discuss the projects in an order. Hightshoe notes that there is a handout available that
provides the commission with a listing of projects that were awarded housing funds from the Iowa
Finance Authority and\or Iowa Department of Economic Development and would be applicable to some
prior year projects and proposed FY05 projects. Hayek identifies the items and ranking sheets in the
HCDC packets and suggests they start at the top of the ranking sheet with the Housing projects.
Habitat for Humanity - Homeownership
According to the ranking sheets the application from Habitat scored the highest. Anthony asked about
the status of Habitat's FY04 funding and if all of it had been expended. Staff responded that three of the
four lots funded by the FY04 monies had been spent and Habitat had another property they were
pursuing. Anthony said that the per Jot request from Habitat was higher in the proposed FY05 project.
Sandier asked if all of the funds being repaid to Habitat, by the homeowners, was recycled into more units
in Iowa City or were the funds used outside of Iowa City. No one from Habitat was present, so staff would
forward the question to them and get an answer back to the commission. Anthony said that if Habitat
could not purchase lots in Iowa City they may be forced out to other areas.
GICHF- Affordable Rental Units
Anthony asked if the State HOME funding for this project had been awarded to GICHF. Hightshoe said
that it had.
HACAP - Transitional Housin¢~ Replacement Units
Barnes noted that the sites to be purchased had not been identified in the application and asked HACAP
if they anticipated any problems with finding sites. Axeen said HACAP would not have difficulty
identifying sites and in the past this was done by July or August. Hayek asked how many manufactured
Housing and Community Development Commission Minutes
March 11,2004
Page 2
houses HACAP had in the park where these two were located. Axeen said just these two. Axeen also
noted that HACAP is currently repaying their FY04 loan to the City. Mackel asked Axeen, which of the two
HACAP applications was the higher priority. Axeen said the transitional housing replacement project was
a higher priority than the acquisition of additional units.
HACAP - Transitional Housinq Acquisition of Units
No questions from the commission. See discussion above.
Blooming Garden -Affordable Rental Units
Burns was asked about the status of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) funds. Burns said that
the FY03 project was not funded by IFA and he appealed; however, the appeal was denied so Burns is
pursuing legal action in Johnson County District Court. He indicated that the matter is now with the judge
and he is awaiting a decision. IFA just announced their awards this month for State HOME and LIHTC
projects. The FY04 LIHTC application (Prairie GardenA, Vhispering Garden) was not awarded funding.
Burns said that the LIHTC scoring is favoring Des Moines, but IFA is seeing the need in cities like Iowa
City and he is encouraging HCDC to advocate to IFA for giving additional LIHTCs to Iowa City. Mackel
asked if partial funding was possible and at what level would still be feasible. Burns said that the LIHTC
investors do not like to do small projects so he thought 16 units would be a minimum. He said that he
could combine the FY04 funds with any funds received for the FY05 request to reach the 16-unit number.
Shelter House - Emergency Assistance Proqram
Barnes asked if Shelter House has income guidelines and if there is a cap on the assistance. Dixon
replied that the HUD income limits would apply, but most everyone they see is under 30% median income
and Shelter House does verify incomes. Dixon said there is not a cap on the assistance but the program
has been averaging about $100 per household. Hayek said that 50 persons were served last year and
this year there were 85 identified in the application. Dixon said that the 85 included people they would
help with the cash match the Shelter House has available. Mackel asked if $100 really helped people.
Dixon said it does, as it gives the client a way to start and some landlords are willing to do payments for
the deposit. Barnes asked if Shelter House provides assistance on a first-come, first-serve basis or some
other method. Dixon said first-come, first-served but that families are a priority. Bears asked if there was
a waiting list for assistance. Dixon said "no" not at this time.
Iowa City Community School District Wood Family Resource Center
Edwards said that this is a large request and inquired if partial funding would be acceptable. Vandenberg
said that she did not really have a number available, but approximately 80% or more would be needed to
make it work. If the needed funds were not received the size of the facility would likely be smaller and/or
finish work not completed. Hayek said that other schools in the district have these family resource
centers. Vandenberg said "yes" Twain, Hills and Mann were mentioned. Hayek accepted
correspondence. Hayek asked if the proposed center had neighborhood partners for operations.
Vandenberg said that the school district provides for operations such as space, maintenance, etc., but
they padner with organizations like Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County to provide needed
community services. Swaim (UAY) said that visiting organizations (staff) could use the facility and having
that space available is a big benefit. Axeen (HACAP) said that HACAP plans to provide services at the
family center as well.
Anthony said he had several questions and comments about the proposed project - 1 ) if the school really
needs this family resource center why doesn't the school list it in their mission; 2) the number of homeless
families is up and housing is a basic need and as such wouldn't it be better to use these funds for
housing; 3) the budget calls for 2,200 square feet what is the space breakdown; 4) the school district has
bonding capacity and just issued $39 million and this facility could have been included. Vandenberg said
she agrees that homelessness is a problem and this should not be a choice between housing and
services, as both complement each other. She feels this project will help housing issues too, as family
stabilization will be a part of the services. Regarding the school's mission, Vandenberg said that the
primary mission is education and that some kids are not prepared to learn so this activity is directly
supporting education although it may not be the primary mission. Swaim said that the center will be a
partnership of community resources and it will have a larger impact on this area of the community.
Anthony asked why it was not included in the bond issue and the taxpayers would pay it off and we are
funding schools in areas outside of Iowa City. Hayek said that all taxpayers in the district would pay off
the bonds and the outlying areas have been taxed to pay for projects in Iowa City. Vandenberg said that
the whole community would benefit by having the resource center. Mackel asked if the project were bond
funded could the school take over the space for K-6 activities? Vandenberg said that if the district solely
Housing and Community Development Commission Minutes
March 11, 2004
Page 3
funded the resource center it would operate as a resource center until classroom space was necessary.
Should additional classrooms be needed, the room would then convert to a classroom as what happened
to Twain's Resource Center. However, if CDBG funds are used to finance the addition, the space could
not be converted back to a classroom or other district need. The addition would be required to be open to
the community.
United Action for Youth - Facility Rehabilitation
Hayek noted that UAY had revised their budget request downward from $95,000. Barnes asked what
was the new number. Hightshoe said $60,000. Swaim said that the design estimates were about 18
months old and UAY brought in a contractor to look at the project and gave them cost-cutting ideas.
Swaim said by moving the bathrooms and revising the entrance quite a lot of the cost could be reduced.
He said that the whole project now was at $86,000 with $60,000 from CDBG and the remainder from
UAY. Swaim noted that if they get partial funding UAY could try to raise funds from their current capital
campaign. Mackel asked Swaim to prioritize the list of work items. SwaJm said that the entrance and
interior work were the most needed whereas the paint and windows could wait. Sandier said that the
budget she has shows that UAY would need only $45,000 in CDBG if the UAY commitment stayed the
same. Swaim said there were some changes in the UAY portion due to in-kind and donated work and
maybe that had not been backed out of the budget. Barnes asked about accessibility and how long UAY
had been at the site. Swaim said they were aware of accessibility issues and UAY had been there since
1987. In addition, Swaim said that when UAY was looking at the new Tower Place space they did a
space use study and 5-year plan. In response to a question, Swaim said they are always worried about
meeting the demand and UAY feels it can meet the needs identified in the 5-year plan.
Old Brick - Facility Rehabilitation
Wellendorf said that Old Brick's board was meeting on Monday evening. Barnes asked about the wheel
chair lift and if the rest of the building would be accessible. Wellendorf said they were actively working on
accessibility issues for the rest of the building and with this project some work to the restrooms would be
done, but not much can be done to the layout. He noted that this project is only one piece of a much
larger renovation project. Hayek asked about the budget breakdown. Wellendorf said that $20,000 was
for the restrooms and $24,400 was for the lift. Wellendorf was asked about the number of persons with
disabilities that need the lift. In response, Wellendorf said that he does not know the number of disabled
persons that could use the lift but a number of non-profits use the Old Brick space for events and the
Agape Caf6 serves breakfast on-site so it is used by a high number of Iow income persons. Wellendorf
continued to say that the larger project was about $344,000 and they were doing fundraisers in April and
May. At a minimum they would need $7,500 towards the lift.
(BREAK)
Free Lunch - Facility Rehabilitation
There were no questions or comments from the commission.
ISED - Micro-enterprise Traininq
Edwards asked if they could apply to the economic development fund. Hightshoe said they could, but
ISED was trying both routes. Anthony asked how much the Council Economic Development Committee
had already funded ISED for their current project. Nasby said $15,000. Anthony asked how much had
been spent so far. Nasby said $3,300 is the number in the application. Mackel asked if the commission
could spend economic development funds. Hightshoe said that those funds are at the discretion of the
Council Economic Development Committee and City Council.
DVIP - Security Improvements
Mackel asked if DVIP received partial funding at what level was the project no longer feasible. Hightshoe
said DVIP had indicated if not all of the CDBG funds were awarded they would fundraise. Sandier said
that she thought this was a must have for DVIP.
NCJC - Facility Rehabilitation
There were no questions or comments from the commission.
4Cs - Facility Rehabilitation
Axeen said that he is on the 4Cs board and could answer questions if necessary. Barnes asked if it is
feasible to fit a lift into the space. Axeen said "yes" and there had been a drawing submitted to HCDC.
Sandier asked if there had been an update on the estimate as it was old. Axeen said that they had
Housing and Community Development Commission Minutes
March 11,2004
Page 4
checked and the estimate was still good. Sandier asked about access to the other parts of the house and
accessibility to the building. Axeen said that the levels would be accessible and the exterior entrance for
accessibility would be addressed. Hayek asked if there would be code issues to closing off an area.
Axeen said that the Fire Department would inspect and tell them what would need to be done or allowed.
Bears asked how long 4Cs had been at the location. Severson said over 10 years. Bears asked if a
wheel chair user would test the lift when it is done. Axeen said that the Iowa inspection rules for elevators
were very strict.
Weber PTA- Playf:lround
Hightshoe said staff received a verbal withdrawal of the application, but were waiting a written
confirmation.
Early Learners -Buildin,q Acquisition
In response to Anthony, Hightshoe said that if the project is eligible and funded then at least 51% of the
clients would have to be Iow-moderate income, but that was not reflected on the application. Daycare is
an eligible category, however the clients served must be at least 51% Iow to moderate income. Hayek
noted that no HCDC member had awarded this project any funding in the preliminary rankings. Anthony
asked if the applicant would give more information. Hightshoe said that all applicants were notified of the
meeting. Applicants are encouraged to come, but it is not required. Staff can follow up with the applicant
if there are questions.
MECCA- Facility Rehabilitation
Bears said that she likes the project, but by the rankings she may be the only one. Barnes said that
points were hard to come by when she reviewed the application. Hightshoe said that the applicant was
notified of the meeting. Hayek said that during the tour the parking lot did not appear to him to be in too
poor of shape and that with limited funds there were other projects.
PATV - Facility Rehabilitation
Long said that PATV had called about their FY04 funding and how PATV could meet the expenditure
policy. Sandier said that it did not appear that PATV, over the last year, had worked to find any other
funding for the project and the City CDBG monies were about the only funds being requested. Sandier
also noted that the FY05 application looked very similar to the FY04 application and no updates were
provided. Barnes said that PATV owns the building, but the door opener was for the Evert Conner Center
and she did not want to penalize the Conner Center. Edwards asked when the Conner Center located to
this site, why did they locate into a building that was not fully accessible as this is their client base.
Free Medical Clinic - Operational Funds
Sandier mentioned that the free medical clinic in Cedar Rapids had a new location and asked Pickup for
an update. Pickup said that the Iowa City staff had seen the new building in Cedar Rapids and it was
very nice. Hayek noted that these projects in public services were closely ranked. Barnes asked what
happens after FY05 funds run out. Pickup said they look for funding every year from multiple sources.
Hayek said there was a budget correction. Pickup said it was handed out at the last meeting to include
the in-kind donations. Hayek asked if they had a minimum number. Pickup said there were some
reserves they could use, but as much as possible from CDBG is needed.
Compeer - Operational Funds
Mackel asked why Compeer is not affiliated with the Community Mental Health Center (CMHC).
Severson said that CMHC provides space for the program, but could not give financial support. She also
noted that Alliance for the Mentally III also had board members on Compeer. Mackel said it appears that
three agencies are doing pieces of the project and wouldn't it make sense to consolidate. Severson said
that Compeer only gets non-financial support from the others.
Shelter House -Operational Funds
Hayek said that the application is for an outreach coordinator and that additional information had been
submitted along with a breakdown of the STAR funds. Hayek asked Shelter House how long STAR had
been around. Canganelli said it was originally a 3-year grant that had been renewed for one year and that
they are in the process of submitting for renewal. Canganelli said that coming up with the STAR match is
key and that it is an all or nothing grant. As such, no match, no grant. Hayek asked if the CDBG funds
being requested were for year 6 or year 7 STAR. Canganelli said year 6, October 2004 - September
2005.
Housing and Community Development Commission Minutes
March 11,2004
Page 5
Ea.qles Fliqht -- Da¥care Operations
Hayek asked Danielle Thompson, of Eagles Flight, if she had any new numbers on enrollment. She
stated that they have two additional enrollments, bringing the number up to 13, and have several others
interested. Hayek also asked what the occupancy is for the site. Thompson said it's 30. Mackel asked if
the daycare was a faith-based organization, and Thompson stated it was not.
Goodwill Industries - Operational Funding
Sandier asked how many of the vehicles are recycled back into Iowa City. Mike Townsend of Goodwill
Industries reported that 24 of 26 cars went to Iowa City residents, but that cars received come from all
over the area, and not just Iowa City. Hayek asked if there are programs similar to this in other
communities, to which Townsend replied yes. Barnes stated that Waterloo has a program but it is a totally
different concept than here. Sandier asked how much a client puts towards a car, and if they have a
payment-type plan. Townsend explained that the recipient does have to be able to make payments, a
very minimal amount, as well as insurance, and that Goodwill holds the title until the clients are able to
cover these costs.
Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County -- Neighborhood Planninq
Hayek asked if this is the only application with U of I involvement. Sandier stated that Free Med also has
U of I involvement. Hayek asked if anyone knew anything more regarding pledges from Southgate, and it
was stated that a contract is signed on Newberry.
Eaqles Flight- Youth Program Operational Fundin¢l
Hayek asked Thompson if there were any changes to this application, and Thompson replied everything
was the same. Sandier asked if partial funding would allow the program to continue, and Thompson said
it would, but they would make some changes themselves.
OMNI Therapies - Health Services Operational Fundin,q
Barnes stated that they requested $30,000 for staff salaries, and she wanted some clarification on this
amount. Edwards said the amount is broken down by category, i.e. massage, administrative, etc.
Discussion continued on the donation aspect, and a fee for service as a better use of money.
Early Learners -- Transportation Operational Fundinfl
Sandier asked if this was a qualified application. Hightshoe explained how it does qualify. This application
is in conjunction with her other application.
Hayek asked for a recap of what needs to happen over the next few days. Hightshoe said that if no
changes are being made, each member needs to initial the sheet she gave them and return it to her. If
they are going to make changes, they need to note that and give them back to her by Monday morning as
they hope to deliver the revised allocations by Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning. Members
discussed various issues and how they would indicate changes they desire.
ADJOURNMEN'~
Chairperson Hayek mentioned that he would be attending a Council work session on Monday and would
report back to the Commission what he finds out regarding the scattered site housing issue.
Discussion started up again on changes to allocations, budget issues, and how funding can be allocated
differently, and recapturing of certain funds.
MOTION: Edwards moved to adjourn the meeting; Deeth seconded the motion, The motion carried
on a vote of 9-0
The meeting adjourned at 10:10 PM.