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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998-04-28 Transcription#3b page 1 ITEM NO. 3a SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS. Robert Lucas Elementary. Lehman/ These are from Robert Lucas Elementary School. It's Item Three because we started early and had a special executive session which is over. And I would like for the young folks from Robert Lucas to come forward. Marian Karr/ Camille, Derek, and Rusty? Lehman/ Okay. Which one do we do first? Rusty Licht/ Hello. My name is Rusty Licht. I want to thank you for giving me this award. It is true that in my life I have always found it a goal to be a good person and a responsible person. I've learned this from my family and my teachers. I have always been a person that tries to do their best, though I have had problems in the past with getting my work done at the last moment. I am happy that some of my classmates voted for me to get this award, although I think there are some other good citizens in my school. Once again, I want to thank you for giving me this award. Every time I look at this award at home, it will make me feel good knowing I have been recognized as a good person. Derek Ma/ Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Derek Ma. Thank you for selecting me to receive the Student Citizenship Award. I've always tried to do my best in school, even on subjects I don't like. I'm always willing to compromise and share with others. I am also willing to listen and share other people's ideas. I've always tried to be a good role model to my younger neighbors by finishing all my homework assignments before going outside to play sports, watch TV, or play Nintendo. Thank you again for selecting me to receive this award. Camille Jordan/ My name is Camille Jordan. First of all, I would like to thank everyone who voted. Also, I would like to give a special thanks to my mother, father, sister Mariah and brother Alex. Giving everyone the respect they deserve, their pride to believe in themselves, and giving all the help ! could give, got me here to be presented this award. Thank you. Lehman/ I'm going to read one of these awards. "For his outstanding qualities of leadership within Robert Lucas Elementary as well as the community and for his sense of responsibility and helpfulness to others, we recognize Rusty Licht as an Outstanding Student Citizen. Your community is proud of you. Presented by the Iowa City City Council." Congratulations, guys. This is the best part of the Council meeting. And there probably isn't anybody in here who really wished we couldn't have read and meant what they said. Thank you guys. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #3b page 2 ITEM NO. 3b SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS - Tenant-to-Ownership Program Lehman/ Tonight we have another special presentation. This is the second of our Tenant-to-Ownership houses that we've sold. And these are homes that have been on the, the City has owned these properties and through our Tenant-to- Ownership Program, it has been possible for folks who have been renters within the City to become, or are becoming owners of that property. And that's something that I think the Council is very excited about and we're very, very proud off Tonight, I have a couple of certificates. One for Iowa State Bank who worked in cooperation. Karr/ Lori Lacina's here to accept that, Mr. Mayor. Lehman/ Lori Lacina. It says "The City of Iowa City and the Iowa City Housing Authority would like to acknowledge the active participation in the Tenant-to- Ownership Program by Iowa State Bank. Their participation enables the dream of home ownership to become a reality for low- and moderate-income families." Thank you. Lori LacinaY Marian gave me permission to say something, and so, she's the boss around here. Lehman/ Hey, you got that right. Lacina/ So I figured that out. Iowa State Bank is pleased to participate in the program. It's a great program initiated by the City, and for so many people, owning a home is a goal and a dream that they want to attain, and we're really happy to be a part of that and work with these folks. So, thank you. Lehman/ Thank you. Vanderhoef/ Thank you. Lehman/ And Billie Booth. This is a certificate for you that says "The City of Iowa City and the Iowa City Housing Authority would like to recognize the achievement of self-sufficiency and home ownership attained by David and Billie Booth. Their successful participation in the Tenant-to-Ownership Program is proof that with determination, dreams can become reality. Kubby/Congratulations. Lehman/ An Iowa City key-ring for the key to your house. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #3b page 3 Billie Booth/ Thank you very much. Lehman/Congratulations. Booth/ I would like to take this time to thank you. When my husband and I started in this program, we had chosen to be anonymous. But given the opportunity and being invited here tonight, I realized how important it is for you to know how much we appreciate the program, and how important it's been in our lives. We appreciate Lori and the Bank and the help that they have been to us, also. So we thank you very much. Lehman/Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #3c page 4 ITEM NO. 3c SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS - Iowa-Illinois Safety Council Lehman/ Item C is an Iowa-Illinois Safety Council Award. And I think we have a couple folks here? Karr/ City employees Earlis Stockman and Jim Wells are here, Mr. Mayor. Norton/ Oh, here they are. Kubby/ With incredible safety records. Karr/ Mr. Mayor, were you going to read something first? Lehman/ Oh, yeah. See, she does run the show. The City of Iowa City recently received a safety award from Iowa-Illinois Safety Council. The basis of that award is the City's injury/accident rate for 1997. Although the national average is 12.6 injuries per 100, our rate was 8.9. Presentation of the award was held in conjunction with the Iowa-Illinois Safety Council's 45th Annual Professional Development Conference, April 15th and 16th in Des Moines. Making the award presentation was Governor Terry Branstad. And we have a picture of this which I will give to you. These two City employees exemplify the very best of the City's safety program. Senior maintenance worker Wells has a personal record of 24 years without an occupational injury. Senior maintenance worker Stockman has worked 28 years without an injury. Now, I think that's fantastic, and I'd like Council to (can't hear). Vanderhoef/ Absolutely. Norton/ There you are. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #4b page 5 ITEM NO. 4b MAYOR'S PROCLAMATIONS - West High Trojans Boys Basketball Team Recognition Day - April 29th Lehman/ (Reads proclamation). Karr/ Here to accept is Coach Steve Bergman and the West High Trojan Boys Basketball Team. Norton/ All right. Kubby/ Yeah. Champion/ Oh, wow. Thornberry/ Good thing we're standing up. Lehman/ Hey, it's a good thing we're standing up here. Norton/ That helps. Champion/ Congratulations. Lehman/ You about gave us all heart attacks watching it on TV. Those of us who couldn't be there. Steve Bergman/ Oh, I was never worried. Lehman/ Great game. Thomberry/ Thanks, Steve. Good job. Norton/ Congrats. O'Donnell/ Great job. Bergman/ Thank you. (Can't understand) wanted to say something. That podium there? Lehman/ Sure. Norton/ Yeah, that's fine. Dasal Ridgley/ Hi, I'm ?? Ridgley, a member of the West High Basketball Team. And we'd just like to take this chance to thank you for recognizing the success that we had this year. Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #4b page 6 Lehman/ Coach, I understand that with this young team, we might see a lot more of you. Bergman/ You're seeing a lot of me already. Thank you. Lehman/ Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #4c page 7 ITEM NO. 4c MAYOR'S PROCLAMATIONS - Crisis Center Week - April 27-May 3 Lehman/ (Reads proclamation). Karr/ Here to accept is Ellen McCabe. Lehman/ And Ellen, you're supposed to call me tomorrow morning as to what time I'm supposed to work. I missed you today. And I think several of the Council folks will be over Sunday. Norton/ Yeah. Kubby/ Yes. Vanderhoef/ Yes. Thomberry/ You bet. Lehman/ St. Wenceslaus, Sunday, from, what time? Ellen McCabe/ On behalf of everyone at the Crisis Center, I extend our sincere appreciation for this proclamation. We invite the community to take part in Crisis Center Week. During this week, we ask the citizens of Iowa City and Johnson County to focus on the services that the Crisis Center offers and the volunteers that provide them. We also invite everyone to the tenth annual Gourmet Benefit Breakfast which will be Sunday, May 3rd, from 8:00 a.m. at St. Wenceslaus. Please contact the Crisis Center for additional information about services or volunteering. Our phone numbers are listed in the white pages and the yellow pages. Thank you again for this important proclamation and thank you for the support that the City Council gives to the Crisis Center so that we can be available 24ohours of the day, every day of the year. Kubby/ Thank you. Vanderhoef/ Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #4d page 8 ITEM NO. 4d MAYOR'S PROCLAMATIONS - Bicycle Month - May Lehman/ This proclamation is for Bicycle Month. (Reads proclamation). Karr/ Here to accept is Todd Black. Todd Black/ Good evening. My name is Todd Black. It is my honor and privilege to accept the proclamation on behalf of bicyclists in Iowa City. We greatly appreciate the City for initiating and supporting the many projects and improvements that enhance bicycling in Iowa City. Most notably, being recognized by the League of American Bicyclists as a bicycle-friendly community and the Share the Road signs. The bicycling community hopes the City Council continues their strong support of ideas and projects that promote bicycling as a legitimate form of transportation. We encourage all citizens to make the most of Bicycle Month by getting out and riding a bike to enjoy the many pleasures and benefits that bicycling offers. Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #3e page 9 ITEM NO. 4e MAYOR'S PROCLAMATIONS - Historic Preservation Week - May 10- 16 Lehman/ (Reads proclamation). Karr/ Here to accept is Lars Anderson. Lars Anderson/ My name is Lars Anderson and I'm a member of the Iowa City Historic Preservation Commission. And on behalf of the Preservation Commission and all others interested in historic preservation, I'd like to thank the Council and accept this proclamation. I'd also like to take this opportunity to announce that the Iowa City Historic Preservation Commission along with the Friends of Historic Preservation, Johnson County Historical Society, and the Johnson County Historic Preservation Commission will be sponsoring and hosting the sixteenth annual Historic Preservation Awards program. That program will be held May 13th, 1998, at the Masonic Temple, located here on 312 East College Street. Refreshments will start at 5:00, and the actual awards program will start at 5:30. And we're going to have comments by Marlys Svendson (??) who was the author of the Iowa City Historic Prese_rvation Plan. And I'd like to invite anyone who has any interest in historic preservation to attend. Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #4f page 10 ITEM NO. 4f MAYOR'S PROCLAMATIONS - Worker's Memorial Day Lehman/ (Reads proclamation). Karr/ Here to accept is Richard Byers. Richard Byers/ My name is Dick Byers and I am the Recording Secretary of the Iowa City Federation of Labor, AFLCIO. And our president Patrick Hughes couldn't be here this evening, so he asked me to accept the proclamation on his behalf and on behalf of the City (can't understand) and on behalf of all workers in Iowa City. As the son of a woman who had two carpal tunnel surgeries, and knowing people who have been injured on the job, I sometimes in my job taking unemployment claims once a person is released from a worker's comp claim, they don't have a job that they can do anymore, so then they become eligible for unemployment. So I get to see them more often than maybe some of the rest of us here in the room. It's very important to keep fighting for worker's. Again, thank you very much. Lehman/ Thank you. Before we start the official part of the meeting, I would like, on behalf of the Council, and I'm sure the people of this community, to express our deepest sympathy for the Widmer family on the loss of their son in a motorcycle accident last Friday. Widmer is an officer in the Police Department and it was a really tragic accident. And I'm sure that we all extend our deepest sympathies to the family. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #6 page 11 ITEM NO. 6 PUBLIC DISCUSSION (ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA). Lehman/ If anyone would like to address Council, please step forward, sign in, and limit your comments to five minutes or less. Bluford Adams/ Hello. My name is Bluford Adams. I live at 312 Fairview Avenue. I'm here tonight with a group that has been gathering signatures on a petition to save the Harmon Building and the Cottage and to stop the construction of a parking garage at the comer of Iowa Avenue and Linn Street. In the few weeks since we began, we've already collected over 550 signatures of Iowa Citians opposed to the City's project. We're delivering these petitions to the Council tonight. I'd like to briefly share with you what I've learned in talking with scores of Iowa Citians about the City's plan for the parking garage. First, I've discovered that many people don't know about the proposed garage. And the more they learn about it, the more they dislike it. For that reason, I believe that opposition to this project will grow in the coming weeks as the word gets out about what the City is planning to do. A second thing that I learned from talking with Iowa Citians is that they oppose this project for a number of reasons. Many are appalled at losing the intimate charm of the Cottage and the classic facade of the Harmon Building. Most of the people I talked with did not believe that the City needs another parking garage, especially when plans call for the construction of another garage south of Burlington within the next decade. And nobody I spoke with thought it was a good idea to bring more cars, more pollution, and more noise into the downtown pedestrian area. Most Iowa Citians understand that we have a rare treasure in our vibrant, historic walking downtown, and they don't want to see it defaced. I believe Iowa Citians want and deserve more creative solutions to the transportation needs of everyone who lives, works, learns, and plays downtown. Listening to Iowa Citians has convinced me that there are people whose parking needs are currently not being met, such as the employees and patrons of the Senior Center. But as some of us heard at the meeting on this issue at the Senior Center, there are a number of creative, environmentally sound solutions to the Center's parking crunch that have not yet been explored, including remote parking lots, carpooling, and a bus stop out in front of the Senior Center. Let's try those remedies before we do anything as destructive as this. I challenge the Council and everyone else, including myself, who loves Iowa City and wants to see it thrive, to think harder about ways of managing the City's transportation needs. The Iowa Avenue parking garage is not the solution. Let's walk away from this project now before any money is spent. We won't save Iowa City by tearing it down. Thanks. I think there are other people who are here tonight to speak on this issue. Eric Gidal/ Hi, my name is Eric Gidal. I live at 714 North Johnson. Just recently, I relocated from California to Iowa City, about two years ago. Really enjoy it as a town. I was pleased to hear the Mayor's Proclamations concerning Bicycle This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #6 page 12 Month and Historic Preservation Week. The issue around the parking structure at the site of the Harmon Building and the Cottage seems to be the perfect instance to put those proclamations into action. Certainly one of the charms that I find in Iowa City is the quality of life here. And a lot of that quality of life has to do with the downtown, that's accessible to people on foot and bicycles, and the historic charm and comfort of the downtown. And I urge the City Council to take these signatures into consideration before making any actions. Thank you. Karr/ Can we have a motion to accept the petitions, please? Kubby/ So moved. Champion/ Second. Lehman/ Moved by Kubby, seconded by -- Champion/ Connie. Lehman/ All in favor--(ayes). Motion carried. Deborah Schoenfelder/ Good evening. My name is Deborah Schoenfelder. I'm a member of the Senior Center Commission, and I'm here as a representative of that Commission to give a brief report from our last meeting. We met last Tuesday, which was April 21 st, and I just have four items I'd like to briefly report to you. First of all, we met with two individuals to talk about, two individuals from the City, Parking and Transit as well as Planning, to give us information about the parking ramp. The plan is to meet again with these two individuals as well as the designer so that we can get even more information, ask questions, so that we can offer design and operational priorities on behalf of the Senior Center. Second of all, a motion carried to close the woodworking shop at the Senior Center. That will free up space for some exercise equipment that has been sitting in the hallway there. Third, there's preliminary plans in the works for a mural to be painted by the Senior Center participants on one of the walls in Room G-13. And that's an existing exercise room right now. That will be coordinated by a local artist, and there's a great amount of enthusiasm for that. And finally, on May 13th is Older Americans Day. And there will be a day-long celebration at the Senior Center. I don't have a schedule with me at this time, but there should be one coming out in the post. And I would hope in the Press-Citizen as well. And that's the end of my report for the Commission. Thank you. Kubby/ Thanks. Lehman/ Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #6 page 13 Christopher Thodos/ Hi. My name's Christopher Thodos. I'm working on my Eagle Badge for Scouting, and as one of my requirements, I was supposed to come and ask the City Council a question. And before the meeting, Mr. Mayor wanted me to ask an easy question, but I think I'll o- he kind of suggested one to me, but I think I'll make you guys work a little bit. My question is, I live at 1909 Delwood Drive in Iowa City, and the parking, or the stoplight there between Sycamore Street, that runs north and south, and Highway 6 that runs east and west, I wanted to know, like, how long it's been since there's been a survey there, since the soccer park had been put down on Sycamore Street? Because north and south is like a two-minute light, I've timed it before. And there's two minutes red, and then it's like fifteen to twenty seconds green to get through. It's kind of a hassle. I go to City High, and it's kind of a hassle to wait in the morning there. So, that's my question, and if anybody knows the answer at all __9 Lehman/ We could give you the same answer -- we will find out. We're good at that. And I think, I don't know how long it's been, either. But we frequently get questions similar to the ones you're asking us, and we've got staff who are very, very good at finding out those answers. So, Steve, did you get the address? Steven Atkins/ Yes, I do. And Chris, that is a state highway as well as a local street, and so there's kind of a joint jurisdiction over who's responsible for the traffic light. One, I will find out when the last survey was done, two, I will get those timing things to you, and three, I will find out if and when another one is planned. 1909 Delwood Avenue? I'll get it to you. Thodos/ Thanks. Atkins/ You're welcome. Kubby/ That intersection is also important because a lot of people cross on foot there, and on bikes and walking or riding their bicycles across, so the timing of that is really important for that purpose as well. Atkins/ Yes. Thomberry/ Congratulations on working on your Eagle Scout. How old are you? Thodos/ I'm fifteen. Thornberry/ Fifteen. Good, very good. Champion/ Wow, a baby. Lehman/ Anyone else for Public Discussion? Item seven -- Oh, I'm sorry, go ahead. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #6 page 14 Terry Hale/ Get my little sticker tied down here. My name is Terry Hale. I live at 230 North Gilbert Street here in town. I offer a little further parking lot resistance information here. I noticed your public notice about the annual action plan hearing tonight. I saw the subtitles of affordable housing and homeless. I would like to address the Council tonight about some very personal yet public issues which I hope somehow we can do something about as a community. For the past 24 years, I have lived in an affordable housing rental situation. I was subsidized on a personal level by the former landlord who I worked for and helped take care of, as well as taking care of the property. This sort of living arrangement used to be fairly common in this part of the country -- a hired man, relatives, caretaker positions, etc. The landlords, the Smith brothers, couldn't understand how people could pay such high rents. They knew they could get more, but instead, did their own little part for affordable housing. Well, the last of the brothers passed away in February, unfortunately, God rest his soul. I'm no longer grandfathered in. Unfortunately, I wasn't in the will, either, so now I'm faced with being homeless, potentially. I imagine I could find another affordable house to live in, maybe, if I left town. I'd like to stay in Iowa City. I've lived here a long time. My home, where I've lived, worked, composed music, and chipped away at the ongoing tasks involved in keeping any building up, especially an older one, I've been there for 24 years doing this. It's being taken away. This is mainly because I didn't have $400,000-some dollars to outbid a certain large institution in this town. It's also because of our larger system which says that the rich get richer and the poor get evicted and their homes get made into parking lots. The Block Grants, the Home Funds, the various other programs which are being discussed tonight are admirable, but merely band-aids. The largest item under the funding allocations, Housing Rehab, $384,000, that's about what was paid for the property I've been living on. I would like to ask our community to be creative like the gentleman was earlier, because that's what we really need going into the future, to find some real solutions to homelessness and affordable housing. There are so many abandoned buildings, yet there are homeless people. We've heard about Habitat for Humanity. I've got an idea, what about Re-habitat for Humanity? How about a blitz rehab, or a blitz restore the property, with the spirit of a barn-raising which used to be a vibrant part of Iowa. Iowa is uniquely situated with a rural heritage, to be a leader in this area. I thought of a Civilian Conservation Corps type of group. I call it rather, the Rebuild America Brick by Brick, Board by Board. We could start in Iowa. It could give the jobless and homeless something to do with their lives and improve the whole society. So, I'm asking you to, all of us, to increase our creativity about solving the problems, using our community, our energy, even perhaps our own Iowa City money system as has been proposed. To think in temps of restoring and preserving instead of just bulldozing, expansion, and more parking facilities. I would also ask, like to ask the Council to look into making the 200 block of North Gilbert Street a Historic Preservation District as This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #6 page 15 soon as possible, to stop any proposed destruction of historic properties on that block. Thank you. Kubby/ Do we know if that block has ever been looked at by the Historic Preservation Commission? Atkins/ Ill find out for you. Kubby/ That would be good to know. Millie Flynn/ I'm Millie Flyrm. I live at 320 East Washington Street, better known as Ecumenical Towers, and I just want to add a few of my thoughts to the feelings that some of us at Ecumenical Towers have about having a parking tower built in our backyard. We're concerned about noise. Sometimes we think we have enough of that in that area right now. We're concerned about air pollution, with hundreds of cars arriving, parking, leaving, at all hours. A possible alternative might be to make public transportation easier for all persons. Maybe we could have some outlying park and fide areas and we would not have to use our cars to take us fight up to the doors of our destinations. I was thinking about the number of parking ramps that are in, almost in what you might call the immediate area. There's Chauncey Swan, there's a parking ramp at the corner of Linn and Burlington Street, Old Capitol Mall has a parking ramp. I notice, oh, I believe there's one on Madison on Market, going down the hill. I think, I've observed an ugly, open lot at the corner of Court and Madison, I believe. It was ironic that we're interested tonight in Historic Preservation Week. I think, instead of tearing down historic old buildings, we should think more about preserving them. And we ought to stop thinking and we ought to stop filling all open spaces with steel and brick and concrete. Thank you. Lehman/ Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #7c page 16 ITEM NO. 7c Conditionally changing the zoning designation on a 10-acre tract located on the south side of Melrose Avenue and west of West High School from Low Density Single-Family (RS-5) to Planned Development Housing (OPDH-8) to permit an 80 dwelling unit retirement community. (REZ98-0002) (1) Public Hearing (continued from April 7) Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #7c). This is just west of West High School. Public hearing. is open. Jim Leavy/ My name is Jim Leavy. I represent the Newbury Development Company from Des Moines, Iowa who are the proposed, or rather were the developers of this proposed project. And I'm here to answer any questions that you might have. I have with me some sketches for those that might like to see, to refresh their memory as to what the proposed project looked like. And I'll be happy to put those up so we can take a look at it. And then if there are any specific questions about the proposal, I'd be happy to answer any. Lehman/ I think we've seen the pictures. Kubby/ It might be good for the public to see. Norton/ The only one I had, the one I haven't seen is the view east, from West High, from the east. Have you got that one? Leavy/ I've got one from the road, from Melrose. Norton/ Okay, all right. Well, that'll help. Leavy/ This is a view of the main entry, here. Part of it. Kubby/If you could at some point put one on the floor where you're standing, facing the other direction, so the camera can focus on it so the people at home can see it. Norton/ Yeah. Champion/ That's a good idea. Kubby/ If you could just turn those around so the camera could look at them, too. Leavy/ Oh, I see. Norton/ That's fine. That'll give them a view. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #7c page 17 Leavy/ Is that the spot for the TV? Is that the one you've seen? Norton/ (Yes). Leavy/ That's it. I think this is the one from Melrose. Norton/ Okay, yes. Fine. That's from Melrose? Leavy/ Yes. Norton/ Okay. That's fine. Lehman/ Anyone else like to speak to the project? Leavy/ Pardon? Lehman/ I asked if anyone else would like to speak to the project. Public hearing. is closed. (2) Consider an ordinance (First consideration) Lehman/ Do we have a motion for first consideration? Thomberry/ Move adoption. Norton/ Second. Lehman/Moved by Thornberry, seconded by Norton. Discussion? I understand -- Kubby/ We-- Lehman/ Go ahead, Karen. Kubby/No, I was just going to say that we had talked last night that because the sewer agreement has not been made with the University that we would hold off on third consideration until that has been completed. Just so that is clear to everyone. Lehman/ Other than that, I think everything is in order. Other discussion? Roll call- (yes). This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #7d page 18 ITEM NO. 7d Consider an ordinance conditionally changing the zoning designation on a 4.46-acre tract located at 500 Foster Road from Interim Development Single- Family Residential (IDRS) to Sensitive Areas Overlay-8 (OSA-8) to permit 32 dwelling units and approving a preliminary Sensitive Areas Development Plan. (REZ97-0011) (Second consideration) Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #7d). I think we've been asked to expedite this. Do we have a motion. Thornberry/ I move that the rule requiring that ordinances must be considered and voted on for passage at two Council meetings prior to the meeting at which it is finally passed be suspended, that the second consideration and vote be waived, and that the ordinance be voted on for final passage at this time. Norton/ Second. Lehman/ Moved by Thornberry, seconded by Norton. Discussion? Roll call-- Karin Franklin/ Mister --? Lehman/ Oh, I'm sorry. Franklin/ Go ahead. Lehman/ Roll call- (yes; Kubby, no). Discussion on the motion? Franklin/ I just want to make the Council aware that we received some protests on this rezoning today. Because the public hearing. has closed, these protests cannot initiate your extraordinary majority vote. The protests were received from Margaret McDonald, Wendelin Guentner, Joyce Chiles, and Pete Wilson, who are all residents along Foster Road. Lehman/ Marian, do we need to receive that as official correspondence? Franklin/ No, I don't think so. Dilkes/ I don't think so. Lehman/ Because it's after the public hearing? Kubby/ But can we receive it as correspondence, but not as an official protest? Because I think we should receive it (can't hear). Dilkes/ I suppose you can. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #7d page 19 Kubby/ I'd like to move that we receive it as correspondence. Vanderhoeff Second. Lehman/ Moved by Kubby, seconded by Vanderhoef. All in favor- (ayes). Motion carried. Thornberry/ I move that the ordinance be finally adopted at this time. O'Donnell/ Second. Lehman/ Moved by Thornberry, seconded by O'Donnell. Discussion? Kubby/ I just wanted to repeat my comments from last time because this is a very beautiful area that there are a couple of competing values that I have that come up for me during this particular kind of item of development. And that is balancing not developing on Sensitive Areas, or doing it in a sensitive way, and doing infill development in a place where there are transportation systems, there are already water and sewer lines, and close into town so we're not promoting urban sprawl. And those two things are in conflict for me in this area. But I've chosen to go with the infill development on this particular plan, especially because the success of the pressure from the residents to help reduce the size and scale of the building, and the willingness of the developers to listen to that pressure and to adjust accordingly. So, I'll be voting in favor of it. Lehman/ Other discussion? Roll call- (yes). Motion carded. CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 98-61, SIDE B This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #7g page 20 ITEM NO. 7g Consider a motion to forward a letter to Johnson County recommending approval of an application to rezone 10 acres from A-l, Rural, to RS-10, Suburban Residential, for property located within Fringe Area B on Wapsi Avenue north of its intersection with Lower West Branch Road. (CZ9803) Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #7g). This is within the Fringe Area of the City and we traditionally recommend to the County. Do we have a Thornberry/ Move to forward the letter to Johnson County. Lehman/ Moved by Thornberry. O'Donnell/ Second. Lehman/ Seconded by O'Donnell. Discussion? Kubby/ This item and the next one are both farm splits, farmstead splits so that family members can build on ten acres of ground, and so I think that's fine. Norton/ These are within our fringe area, which is two miles, but outside our growth boundaries, right? Lehman/ Yeah. Norton/ Yeah. Thornberry/ And I understand this is a one-time split on this, one-time for what they're going to do is have a family member move their house onto it. Lehman/ All in favor- (ayes). Opposed- (none). This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #8 page 21 ITEM NO. 8 PUBLIC HEARING ON THE FY99 ANNUAL ACTION PLAN, INCLUDING THE FY99 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRAND (CDBG) AND HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM (HOME) BUDGET FOR IOWA CITY, IOWA. Lelunan/ (Reads agenda item #8). Public hearing. is open. Kubby/ While we're waiting for people to check in, I move that we accept correspondence that we received last night about this issue. Lehman/ Moved by Kubby. Vanderhoef/ Second. Lehman/ Second by Vanderhoefto accept correspondence. All in favor- (ayes). Opposed- (none). Motion carded. Kubby/ Marian, would that include anything that we get during the hearing, too? Karr/ If you'd like it to. Kubby/ Yeah, that's what I meant. Lehman/ It did. Kubby/ Okay, thank you. Karr/ It will. Charles Eastham/ My name is Charles Eastham, I'm a resident of Iowa City. I live at 1152 East Court Street, and I'm here tonight appearing as myself, not as a representative of any local non-profit. I had sent a letter to the Housing and Community Development Commissioner earlier, and had copied that letter to the Council and I believe some of you, at least, have had a chance to read it. My request is that the Council consider asking the Housing and Community Development Commission to review the Commission's recommendations to use $100,000 in FY99 Home Funds for tenant-based rental assistance administered by Iowa City Housing Authority. And instead, consider diverting, or using that money to fund in part the request by Bob Bums named Iowa City IHA Senior Housing. As you know, the Commission did not recommend using any Home Funds or CDBG funds for the project proposed by Mr. Bums which would provide some 30, affordable rental units for elderly and disabled residents of the community. And the reason I'm asking the Council to consider this matter further with the Housing and Development Commission is that in my view, Home Funds This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #8 page 22 are better used to produce new rental housing or to acquire and rehabilitate additional units of rental housing, because at least, particularly in the present project proposed by Mr. Bums, these new units would add additional property to the tax base, and would be fully, would pay full property taxes. They also, through the construction phase, would add new jobs, or support additional construction jobs, and the Home Funds, the local home funds leverage a very large amount of additional funding from the State and other sources including private sources. On the other hand, using Home Funds provide additional cash assistance to, in this case, a relatively small number of people receiving this assistance doesn't accomplish any of those things. It doesn't generate any new property taxes, it doesn't produce additional affordable housing units, so it would be used over a very long period of time, it doesn't do any, doesn't result in any additional economic activity. I'd also pointed out that the City now receives over $3,500,000 in rental assistance from the Section 8 programs, both the voucher and the certificate programs. And I've always thought that that is a large amount of money which we do, I think, a very good job with in helping lower-income households. And on the other hand, Home Funds' only about $400,000 to $500,000 a year, locally. While it can be used for rental assistance, I've always thought it should be primarily directed towards producing new housing. And I hope the Council will consider asking the Commission to consider these two projects further. Kubby/ Charlie? Norton/ Charlie, here. Kubby/ Charlie, because Bob's original proposal was for that money to be used for construction, if I'm correct, but then it got switched before tenant-based housing assistance. Are you suggesting that we do it, we give the Bums project money for his original project proposal? Eastham/ I'm not suggesting that we look at, or that the Council consider exactly what form the assistance should be. Kubby/ But it should go into -- Eastham/ But let it go into Mr. Bums' project. And I think that's, personally, I think that's something the Commission, Mr. Bums, and the Staff could work out. Kubby/Okay. Eastham/ To the Council's satisfaction. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #8 page 23 Norton/ Charlie, before Maurice, or maybe he's going to clarify this, but I thought the original proposal from Bums was for rental assistance for people to be in those units, and then it somehow turned out to be, as far as I could see, some kind of land acquisition or City participation in land acquisition in the middle of the process. That's one comment, we'll get that cleared up. The other is, your issue about $3,500,000 from HUD for rental assistance. As I understand it, that rental assistance does not carry any requirement on the part of the people who use it to go into self-sufficiency training of some kind, or to worry about moving out of that situation. And I think what I understand the City's proposal for their tenant- based rental assistance was to connect the rental assistance with a program of moving folks toward self-sufficiency. Therefore, it seems to be, not quite comparable with the Federal program. But, maybe that's where the Committee was, I think, too. Eastham/ Well, if my memory serves me very well, which it may not, the City, or the Housing Authority had a family self-sufficiency program which should be in place by now, and which was actually tied to the Section 8 assistance. Norton/ To Section 8. Eastham/ Right. And I offhand don't know why, you know, I, at least on a voluntary, well-constructed City basis, the Housing Authority could offer that kind of a program for people who are receiving Section 8 assistance. Norton/ Could offer it, but it was not a requirement, I think. Well, Maurice will maybe clarify it. Eastham/Right. Kubby/ I had it switched around the wrong way. Norton/ Yeah, it started out a rental assistance, yeah. Kubby/ Thank you. Eastham/ In regards to Mr. Bums' request being for rental assistance originally, as I said, there was some confusion, I think, about exactly what form that request could have been in. And I'm not so sure Mr. Bums was responsible for all the confusion himself. But, even if the Home Funds were used, were to be used for rental assistance for his senior housing project, they would still generate all of the things that I think are important. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #8 page 24 Vanderhoef/ Was that rental assistance showing up because we were lowering the cost of the whole project, and therefore keeping rent at a reasonable rate for our low- income families, so it wasn't a direct rental assistance? Is that? Eastham/ Well, it was a direct rental assistance thing, but it did have the effect, or it had the consequence of lowering the cost of rents on the project. Vanderhoef/ Yeah. That consequence was a real important factor, and still allowing it to be a tax-base project. Eastham/ Yes. That is my understanding. Vanderhoef/ Okay. Maurice Head/ The tenant-based rental assistance TBRA is something that we are very concerned about as well. And the idea was to link that assistance to Mr. Bums' project. However, we wanted to get some clarification on the issue of the TBRA, and if that could actually in fact be used as leverage for additional State Home Funds. That's the way it works, you get support at the local level, then you can apply for money from the State. Then you have all the money you need for your project. We asked for some clarification from the State, because we're not very clear about their policy about whether or not this TBRA could be used as a leverage. And we received a response from the State recently, and that response stated that the TBRA cannot be sued. So, if in fact the project was funded with TBRA, it could not leverage the State funding anyway. So, that's, you know, that's the policy answer we've gotten from the State. And they have put that to us in writing. So, I guess that defines their policy. Norton/ Did the Committee go back and look at the thing as for the land acquisition, the second purpose? Did they review the Bums proposal taking out the tenant-based rental assistance? That's TBRA for those who may not know. And look at it for the land acquisition point of view? Head/ Well, to be fair to all the applicants submitting their applications within the time- frame, the deadline, and that was the application that he submitted. It would be unfair to other applicants, then, to allow an applicant to change their project in mid-stream. So, the Commission felt it was necessary to review his original proposal as submitted, and not to take a substitute project. Lehman/ Are you saying that the second project was submitted after the deadline had been met by the other applicants? Head/ That is correct. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #8 page 25 Vanderhoef/ But the second project is one that is a viable project using leveraged funds? Head/ I beg your pardon? Vanderhoef/ I said the second project that was submitted is a viable project to use leveraged funds? Head/ Yes, I believe it would be. Norton/ What about the question that came up a minute ago, Maurice, what strings, if you wish, can the local housing authority put on the Federal Section 8 certificates and vouchers? Head/ I think Maggie would be a better person to answer that question. Maggie Grosvenor/ Okay. I was wondering if we'd get to this. The FSS is a voluntary program. Norton/ And what's FSS? Family Self-Sufficiency. Grosvenor/ Attached to the -- Family Self-Sufficiency. It's voluntary, but HUD comes in and they dictate how many units of Family Self-Sufficiency that you must incorporate in your program. So, we have a certain amount of Section 8 that we are targeting towards Family Self-Sufficiency. When you're talking about the TBRA funding, that we can make mandatory. You see the difference? One's voluntary, one's mandatory. We can make mandatory Family Self-Sufficiency contracts to be signed. Kubby/ Can you use them for your Family Self-Sufficiency quota from the Feds, the TBRA folks? Grosvenor/ Not if you leave them in the TBRA. You'd have to move them over from the TBRA over to Section 8 in order to do that. Vanderhoef/ And then they lose the demand. Norton/ What period of time do you, in the TBRA program that is proposed by the City and has presumably been funded or recommended for funding by the committee, how long does that program go on? That is, the Federal program, I take it, the subsidy continues, assuming the money doesn't disappear. But what about the City one, would that be a two-year program? Grosvenor/ The TBRA funding is basically a two-year program. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #8 page 26 Norton/ By that time you would hope to move people to a more self-sufficient position? Grosvenor/ Right. The goal of Family Self-Sufficiency is within five years, or they attain their goal sooner than that. If they don't, then the stipulation that they go in on a TBRA funding, then we would merge them with the entire Section 8 funding. Norton/ I see. Kubby/ Thanks, Maggie. Lehman/ Thanks, Maggie. Audience/ (Can't hear). Bob Bums/ My name is Bob Bums. And I'd like to clear up some of the questions that were raised, and then make my presentation if that's all right. But I'm representing the, I'm the architect and the owner of the Iowa City IHA Senior Housing Project. And first of all, the reason we applied for the Tenant-based Rental Assistance, it was part of our total project so we could serve the very low income, elderly, and persons with disabilities. We wanted to target the zero-, the thirty-percent income levels. And we saw that's the way to do it. We have a waiting list of 55 people based on just, with no advertising, from just operating the Citizen Building Apartments which has the same tenant profile. That's with no advertising. And our tenant profile in that building, about 2/3 of the tenants are in that income category. So we were trying to put together a new construction project that would be able to serve that very low income tenant. A Tenant-based Rental Assistance is an eligible use of Home Funds, both State and Local. And we assumed that it was going to be eligible for a match. In fact, we applied, when we applied for the tax credits back in November, we also applied to the State Department of Economic Development for State Home Funds. And on that application to the State DED, it clearly stated in the sources and uses of funds that one of the sources was City Home Funds, and it's specific use was for Tenant- based Rental Assistance. Now, I don't want to make this a criticism of DED's evaluation process, because in fairness to them, but unbeknownst to us, they were not, they did not evaluate any of the home applications for State Home Funds until after the evaluation of the tax credit applications. So we didn't learn that it wasn't going to be an eligible use until about five minutes ago when Maurice said that they got, that they received a clarification from the State. We had an inclination after we submitted the application to the City for City Home Funds, we did have some conversations with them, and that's when it first surfaced that it may not be an eligible match. And they told me at that time that they would consider any from of assistance from the City. Tonight, evidently, Maurice has gotten a clarification that Tenant-Based Rental Assistance isn't going to work as a match. So I say that's, I mean, it's, if you can, ifI was clear in what I was This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #8 page 27 explaining, it's, it's an example of these overlapping sources of funding to put together affordable housing these days, and the conflict in the evaluation and the conflict in the timing of the applications. So I appreciate Charlie Eastham's offer, but I guess it's a moot point at this juncture. But we had anticipated that maybe this might be the case, so we submitted a second application which was for a, which was not considered by the Housing Commission. But essentially what it would have done, we would have, and I don't have details of that with me tonight, but I'll come back and explain it to you at a later date. Essentially what it would have done is that it would've, the City would award $233,000 in Home Funds for acquisition of the site. $233,000 was the amount that we had requisition for Tenant-based Rental Assistance. That would go towards the purchase of the site which already is in the, it's actually a $250,000 purchase agreement for phase I, for the first building. That had already been established. But that's what the use of the Home Funds would go for. At the same time, a limited partnership would provide $233,000 in private rental assistance. So under that scenario, the $233,000 for the land purchase would be an eligible use for matching funds for DED, they'd be satisfied, and we'd still end up with $233,000 in rental assistance, which the partnership would contribute as equity capital. So that, I guess it's still on the table, except that we're, we are, we lmow that there are other qualified applicants and good projects. We don't have any quarrel with any of the other projects that are requesting funds. And I hate to see any funds be taken away from anybody that's going to be funded. It's just unfortunate that we're in this predicament that we have so much need but not enough funds. But with that, I'd like to at least tell you a little about my project. Letunan/ Bob, make it quick. Is this relative, I mean, is this relative to something you hope to get funded from this grant? Bums/ Yes. Lehman/ Okay. Bums/ Because it's still, it's still a possibility that some of the projects might not be able to go ahead. Lehman/ Okay. Bums/ And so I think it's relevant. And this is actually a third option which would require fewer dollars from the City. It won't take long. Lehman/ This is an option that you haven't already presented to the Committee? This is a new option, is that what I hear you saying? Bums/ This is the, -- This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #8 page 28 Kubby/ Is it the same project but a new way of using the money within the same project? Bums/ Yes. Lehman/ Okay. Bums/ It just wouldn't be used for Tenant-based Rental Assistance. I need the overhead projector. Kubby/ So Bob, you're suggesting that if other projects don't go through and money is returned to the Committee to then reallocate? Bums/ Yes. Kubby/Okay. Lehman/Bob, if you're talking about something, this would be for funds that are not used or contingency funds that are not presently allocated, is that correct? I want to get this straight. Are we talking about something in the present allocation, or are we talking about something that if something doesn't work out as recommended to us, this would be an option for use of funds not used elsewhere? Bums/ Well, I don't know how you, I mean, I'm not part of the process of deciding which projects get funded. I'm just part of the process of presenting our projects. Norton/ Let's ask Maurice. Head/ This project has been -- Bums/ we're eligible for our funding, we just didn't score enough points. Lehman/ Well, I guess, more importantly, is this approach, has this been presented to the Committee, or is this something they have not seen? Bums/ I'm presenting to you the same application tonight that I presented to the, to the Housing Commission. Lehman/ So essentially we're seeing -- Kubby/ (Can't understand). Lehman/ The same thing that they have already seen. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #8 page 29 Burus/ It's with the Tenant-based Rental assistance. It's the top item. This is what we presented. Lehman/ This is the same thing they saw? Burus/ It's the same thing. Lehman/ Okay. Burus/ I think if you let me go through it quickly, you may see what I'm getting at. These are the points of the positive aspects of this project. Number one, that it included tenant-based rental assistance for zero- to thirty-percent, very low income elderly and persons with disabilities that would help leverage new construction of thirty dwelling units based on a waiting list for 55 applicants. The project has the correct zoning. It would be the first phase of four phases. We would be paying full property taxes at $29,000 a year. The project meets the City STEPS priorities of high, meeting the needs of the elderly at zero- to thirty- percent median income, high in terms of accessibility needs because all of the units, all thirty units would be accessible to the handicapped. And that rental in the City STEPS, rental assistance is the most important need identified by low- income persons themselves. The project uses leveraged funds. We have $1,500,000 in private funds, and it would leverage $525,000 in State funds. It also includes donated funds. The construction loan commitment fee was waived by the construction lender. The project caps the rents at the fair-market rent for the life of the project, and the one-bedroom and two-bedroom rents are $387 and $494. There's local ownership of the project. I want to make this clear that we own the site. We bought the site for phase one from the developer of the subdivision. There's local management who are not only compliance monitoring, but also day-to-day operations. We'll be managing this property similar to the way we do the Citizen Buildings, in our office. The development is in a mixed- income, mixed-use, mixed residential-use neighborhood, Walden Hills subdivision, and included in our application were local letters of support from IMPACT, which was part of the University of Iowa Mental Health Clinical Outreach Program, and Hillcrest Family Services. This is the ranking system, or this is the ranking of criteria that the Housing Commission and the Council has set up for this, for these funds. And I just wanted to point out one of the areas where we were not able to receive any points in the ranking, and I think this is important to bring up at this time. And I've highlighted leveraging resources where you can receive a maximum of 25 points. "Does the project allow for re-use of CDBG Home Funds?" You can receive zero to nine points there. And you can see, under item "f", a grant would be considered no-repayment, and receive no points. So when we applied for Tenant-based rental assistance, it's considered a grant. So in this category, there was no way we could get any points in item "1". And if we had received nine points, we'd have been up in the running where projects This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #8 page 30 were receiving funding. Now, my point here is that if we're, we're not alone, but at the time we were asking for the tenant-based rental assistance, we were still paying full property taxes as part of the operation of the project, which would represent $29,000 a year in year one, and usually that increases as time goes on, for the life of the property. Kubby/ What is the re-use of CDBG and Home Funds in your original project proposal? Bums/ There was none. Kubby/ So, why should you have gotten nine points? Bums/ Pardon me? Kubby/ Why should your project have gotten nine points? Bums/ I'm just saying that this, that this category, we're not able to get any points. Because it's considered a grant, but we are paying property taxes. And I'm saying that there's no place in the ranking, or in the ranking criteria to award for property taxes other than item "3" which says "Proj ect leverages other financial resources." We're already doing that, too, by bringing in $1,500,000 in private funds and State funds. So we may have received a number of points in that category. So all I'm saying is that we wished to think that there was some way that the property taxes could have been included as a ranking criteria. And lastly, our original request was for $233,344 in Tenant-based rental assistance, and then I guess we had the second modification of that that I explained to you just a few minutes ago, flipping the land and private rental assistance. Another option would be to reduce the request for funds to a $175,000 loan. And what that would do, if $175,000 were available, we could still do everything else that I listed, all of this would still apply, including the fair-market rents. The only thing that we wouldn't be offering is the tenant-based rental assistance. And that would have to come from the Section 8 program, through the Iowa City Housing Authority. And that's the way we actually operate the Citizen Building. Vanderhoef/ So that would be ongoing, year-in, year-out forever, if we go with the Section 8 versus if we get the rental assistance up front and it doesn't apply then. Bums/ It's all based on the tenant need. Norton/ Yeah. Bums/ Section 8 is tenant-based. Our tenant-based rental assistance was going to be tenant-based. It depends on the need of the tenant. Our rents are going to be capped at the fair-market rent in either scenario. So -- This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #8 page 31 Norton/ Ernie, I'm having a little, I'm feeling a little discomfort from distorting the process here just a little bit. You know, I can imagine others, Bob, with all due respect, who might have their, whose project wasn't rated, and they're not presenting, and we're going to have a hearing like we were the Housing and Community Development Committee here pretty soon. It seem like, I'm just uncomfortable whether this is going to be considered by that Committee, and are we going to continue this hearing so we have time to study these things? Lehman/ Right. I would suggest, and obviously it would require the concurrence of Council, that Bob perhaps offers the Commission an opportunity to take a second look at this if they choose to. But I think that that's their call. If they want to, obviously, we can if we choose, do the same thing. But I would feel much more comfortable, personally, if we get a, we did get a clarification letter on another project. Norton/ Yeah. Lehman/ From Maurice. And I would personally be more comfortable if that Commission looks at this, and if they choose to re-evaluate what they've done, or at least come back to us and say we affirm what we've already decided, we think maybe this project is worthy of some reconsideration. But I would really like to hear that from that Commission. I want to hear them tell us what you're telling us. I think that's important to me as a Councilperson. Because -- Norton/ It gives everyone a fair chance, others who might be in his position, or similar, might have the same feeling. I don't know what range of appeals, if there are provisions for that the Housing Commission has, but I think they should look at it. Lehman/ Yeah, I would like that, personally. Does the Council concur with that? Thomberry/ I do. O'Donnell/ I do. Vanderhoef/ I think it needs to be considered. Lehman/ I think that's the way we'll leave it. That Maurice, they may choose to look at it again, re-recommend, confirm what you already did, as you did on another item. I think that's the appropriate way. Obviously, Council can choose not to concur with you if they choose not to. But I do think that from a procedural standpoint, it's only fair that we receive an amended report if you have one, or a confirmation of your original report before we can say yea or nay. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #8 page 32 Champion/ The other thing I'd like to see, I mean I think this is a wonderful project, I think it just got going too late. And I think that's interesting about no category for like something that's going to keep property taxes. But I'm wondering if we could hear what all the options for this project were going forward from the Commission eventually. Some ideas. And I'm sure the Staff is anxious to respond to you. I just want to make sure it's clear to the Council and to the Staff and to the Commission that I don't want to slow down the process of moving forward and getting the funds committed from HUD and the City. Champion/ We have to vote. Bums/ So I want the process to move forward. There's lots of ways to solve these problems. Norton/ Yeah. Lehman/ Bob,-- Bums/ We're not going to, we can -- Norton/ We're not going to, we have to meet a deadline, but we'll be continuing the hearing, yeah. Lehman/ We'll continue the hearing until the 12th, receive that report, and we will vote on the night of the 12th. Kubby/ So the only process problem that comes up is that even if some of the projects we end up voting, with a yes vote on, if some reason they can't be done, the money goes back to the Commission to recommend to us. In the past what they've done is looked at projects as they were submitted originally. Norton/ Right, that's my point. Kubby/ And so the same process question's going to be there. I mean we can ask them to look at it again, and say yea or nay, we want to look at it or not, and then they can answer us, but I suspect that unless we open it up for anybody to, you know, just kind of start over again, which maybe we'll choose to do, but a lot of, I think it just causes some issues of fairness. And even though it was not Bob's intention to, like, put something in new, it was because of a matter of timing. And if there's a way we can, as a City, give any kind of feedback to the Department of Economic Development about these timing issues, so that this kind of problem doesn't happen. I mean, Bob is a really responsible developer, creating new This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #8 page 33 affordable housing, and he has this knack for putting all these funding sources together in a way that no one else in this community has been successful at. So if we can be helpful in negating the timing problem, that would be great. Head/ Okay. Well I know that the Housing and Community Development Commission looked at this project very carefully. And they can certainly read it again and -- Lehman/ It's your call. Head/ The Commission recommendation, they looked at this project very carefully and I think they want to go forward with the recommendations that they have made to City Council. As you know, in July, Staff has planned to come back to City Council with a criteria for an affordable housing funding pool. I've talked to Mr. Bums about this. He intends to apply for that money, should it become available by City Council and approve the criteria and make the money available, at that time, he can apply for that pot of money and hopefully be able to meet his timelines going forward to be able to implement his project. But that's the whole idea of having an affordable housing funding pool, so that we can respond to projects on a year-round basis that fall outside of our CDBG and Home Allocation process. So we will be bringing that back to you in July and hopefully if that will be approved, Mr. Bums can apply for that money. Lehman/ Thank you, Maurice. Thomberry/ Maurice, I talked with you the other night and the other day about the Institute for Social and Economic Development and that also did not get funded. There were a lot of good programs that didn't get funded. There's a finite amount of money, and as Ernie alluded to earlier, I wouldn't want that job to allocate to a different organization, because there are a lot of good ones out there. I have been active in trying to see if money was available for the Institute for Social and Economic Development, because it does a lot of good things, too. So you are going to be re-evaluate, but that's your game. That's what your, that's what your Norton/ And the Commission, yeah. Thomberry/ Supposed to be doing, and you've been doing an admirable job, and there's a cut-off point someplace. And we talked earlier about do you fund everybody a little bit so that none of them can do their job, or do you fund a bunch of them well enough that they can do their job and not fund some of them at all. It's your call. It's tough. It's tough. Kubby/ Well, it's their call and recommendation, but ultimately it is our call. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #8 page 34 Norton/ Yeah. Kubby/ We have the, I mean, well. I mean we have made changes in the past, and I'm sure we'll make changes in the future. John Hayek/ Mr. Mayor, is the Public Hearing still open on this? Lehman/ Yes, it is. Hayek/ On this item? Okay. My name is John Hayek. I represent Riverview Place Partners who are one of the applicants for the funding here. I am relatively new to this project. The general partner of Riverview Place Partners could not be with us tonight, but I do have a message from him, and that is basically that they hope to be able to go ahead with their project. They were very pleased that their project was ranked very highly by the Committee. They're very pleased about that. They wanted me to report that they have their construction and long-term financing in place. They believe that they meet all State Home Loan match requirements. They are working with the City Staff now on zoning issues, and they're anxious to move forward with their project and hope that the funding recommendations made by the Committee will remain in place as far as their project is concerned. Thank you very much. Lehman/ Thank you. Jason Friedman/ Hi, good evening. My name is Jason Friedman. I reside at 1812 Gryn Drive, but I'm representing the Institute for Social and Economic Development in Iowa Cit. I'm director of that program, and I'm asking for the Councils' consideration to ask the Housing and Community Development Commission to review their decision not to continue our program in Iowa City. It is a program, small business development program. We are a nationally-recognized non-profit organization that has the mission of helping low-income, unemployed and under- employed individuals start small businesses to become economically self- sufficient. We were founded here in 1988 and have grown over the years to become a statewide organization. With CDBG funding the past four years, we have helped start or expand 24 businesses in Iowa City. we're happy to say that 19 of those are still existing today. And we've helped those clients access over $225,000 in capital, a lot of that coming from local banks here in town. Currently we have 25 people in our training program going on right now at the University of Iowa Community Credit Union on Mormon Trek. These businesses are, among others, a pet store, a kid's gymnastic business, a Chinese restaurant, a landscaping business, a jewelry business, a youth clothing store, a hat manufacturer, among others. Last week, I was in Washington, DC at a conference of organizations like ISED across the country, and there we were honored by Senator Tom Harkin and First Lady Hillary Clinton for leading the country in working with more welfare This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #8 page 35 and low-income individuals than any other micro-enterprise organization in the country. Without CDBG funding, unfortunately, we would have to close our doors in Iowa City with the exception of welfare recipients. Those folks are covered under a contract that we have with the Department of Human Services. We understand there were some issues that came up that I have something here to hand out to you folks to address. And I won't get into them in detail, but there was an issue about our ability to raise other funds, since we have been funded for several years under CDBG. And as a non-profit, we have to work very hard to raise funding from other State government, Federal, and other funders. And we have been very successful in recent years in getting other funding. However, the funders that we've been able to get that funding from have asked us to focused on rural Iowa, small, depressed communities, and inner-city areas in the larger cities like Des Moines and Davenport, so that we have a funding gap right now. And that gap happens to be for smaller cities like Iowa City. However, what we have done is we've had some preliminary discussions with Hills Bank, who is a supporter of small business development in Iowa City, and we are talking about them coming on-board and defraying some of the cost of the program through funding from them. We're going to move aggressively on this, and we're also going to attempt to develop a consortium of banks in Iowa City that are promoted, that are interested and committed to community development and small business development, to try to raise some funds where we can lessen the amount of requests that we ask from the City and develop a public-private partnership. There was one other issue, among others, about tangible job creation. And we could perhaps go around to the small business owners that have retail storefronts, and those that are home-based businesses, who will tell you, I'm sure that not only have they created jobs for themselves and others, but in fact, that income is of major importance to them and has made the difference in helping them become economically self-sufficient. So we would ask your consideration to ask the Commission to review that funding decision. Thank you. Lehman/ Thank you. Kubby/ Jason, your last point that you made was clarifying that there was a concern that the jobs weren't full-time jobs, necessarily, but you're referring to a survey that your organization did saying -- Friedman/ We did a, thank you, Karen -- Kubby/ Saying that the income that was generated, if not full-time work, was very important for their self-sufficiency. Is that correct? Friedman/ Yeah, thank you. We did a survey of our businesses, and we got a response from sixteen out of the nineteen. And basically, right now, nine of the sixteen are full-time and it's their primary source of income; three of the business-owners, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #8 page 36 it's a part-time business supplementing a full-time or part-time job; and four of them are part-time right now, and their goal, and we're working with them to become full-time businesses. For those that are operating the business on a part- time basis, we asked them how important is the income from the business to your overall family income. Eight of them said "very important" and six of them said "important." And that was, once again, that's twelve, I'm sorry, fourteen out of the nineteen altogether. So, our goal in our program is not to create hobby businesses and side businesses. Our goal is to help people become economically self-sufficient through starting a business. That's why we're here, and that separates us from other small business agencies that have different goals. Norton/ What is the nature of the follow-up assistance you give to some of the clients that you've served in the past? Friedman/ That's a good question. I'm glad to give you some clarification on that. Our clients, and we've served about 150 since we started in Iowa City, go through a 13-week training program which is designed to build a business plan, financial statements, and the marketing plan to get their business going. Those of you in business know that a training program isn't all that unique, frankly. After that process is over, we work individually with those people to help them finish their business plan, get financing and start up. And frankly, from our perspective, the most critical time is in the early weeks, months, and even first years of business ownership, which the statistics show you, the failure rates are quite high. And so frankly, even though we're asking the City to fund two training programs, the reality is all of those folks that complete the class will need intensive follow-up assistance in the weeks and months and early years after they start. And so right now, what we have through the grateful funding of the City, we have lots of clients who are in business or in the process of starting businesses, so that we have a, it's a full-year program. It's not just two separate, isolated training programs, and then we see what happens. So it's a continual process which does require the resources. Kubby/ One of the reasons some Commission members didn't give as many points to your program is that the overhead was higher than other small development, small business development organizations that had applied. Is there a way to reduce the administrative costs for this part of the program, for these training sessions, if not for the whole office for at least the part of the program that CDBG monies go to? Friedman/ That's a good question. I guess there's two answers. One is, we can certainly look at that, and I'd be happy to review that with the staff, although we understand that our administrative costs are within the allowable range under CDBG guidelines. But the answer to the other part of your question was, is our overhead rate higher, administrative costs higher than other small business This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #8 page 37 agencies, and the answer is yes. And there's not much we can do about that for the simple reason that we're a non-profit organization. We need those resources, we don't have other resources to supplement our overhead. We need the grant dollars to administer the program. There are other small business development organizations that get annual appropriations from the government that in fact don't need this grant to subsidize overhead, and they can use other funding from the State or Federal government to subsidize those costs. As a non-profit, it's impossible to do that. The program requires overhead in order to run it, and that can only come from this grant. But we can certainly go back and review that with the Staff. What we're trying to do, frankly, is to develop a public-private partnership here in Iowa City so that we can bring in other private funders and reduce the overall request to the City so that you're getting the same product, the same services, but at a reduced cost to the taxpayers. Kubby/ I mean we wouldn't want that overhead to be so low so that people who work in the office wouldn't have a wage so that their family wasn't self-sufficient. Friedman/ Thank you. Lehman/ Please. CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 98-61 Norton/ And at the work session, we'd get a chance to talk in a little bit more detail about the issues that are still pending here. Kubby/ So that should be a separate item with allocated time, instead of Council Time at our informal. Norton/ Right, right. Lehman/ Does Council concur with that? Champion/ Yes. Vanderhoef/ Yes. Lehman/ Is there a motion to continue the public hearing? Norton/ So moved. Vanderhoef/ Second. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #8 page 38 Lehman/ Moved by Norton, seconded by Vanderhoef. All in favor- (ayes). That was the motion to continue to May 12th. The motion is carried. we're going to take five minutes. Kubby/ There may still be other people who are here to speak. I don't mean to be rude, but --. Lehman/ I'm sorry. Julia Rembert/ I'm just going to take a couple minutes. I promise. Norton/ That's okay. Rembert/ I've got to go, too. I'm Julia Rembert, and I live at 4510 Napoleon Street Southeast, but I work at the Emergency Housing Project at 331 North Gilbert. And we were recommended for partial funding through the CDBG process. And I want to tell you that although we didn't get our full request, and of course that would have been wonderful, we understand that there were a lot of other really good projects that needed to be funded as well. And with our recommended level of funding, we will be able to make a world of difference within the shelter. It's cool right now, this is just the perfect time to live in Iowa. But this summer, it's going to get really, really hot. And we have a perennial problem with trying to keep the shelter cool enough for people to be comfortable enough to work at long jobs, either by day or by night, share bedrooms with four or more people, and get enough sleep so that they can become self-sufficient and get back up on their feet from being pretty stressed out and pretty homeless. And so having the resources to put in central air conditioning is going to make a big difference in the lives of all those folks that go through our shelter, over 600 each year. It's also going to reduce our costs which will help us with our administrative overhead and just our light and utility bill. And it's going to be really helpful in supplementing that great facility that is so homey and so helpful to so many people in Iowa City. And so I just want to say thank you for all your work and also for the work that the HCDC and I would urge you to seriously look at going ahead with the recommendations of the Commission. I'm going to go home, I've got a nine- month-old I've got to put to bed. Thanks. Lehman/ Thank you. Norton/ Need an emergency shelter. Gretchen Schmuch/ Hi, I'm Gretchen again, the Chair of the Housing and Community Development Commission. And I just, before we ended this one, to get some clarification from you. The CDBG and Home stuff has to be at HUD, I understand, in two weeks. We do not have any meetings planned, and if there are This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #8 page 39 specific directives you have for us, we need to call an emergency meeting and get things going very soon. I'd be glad to make comments about our budget or about anything said tonight. But I would also like a directive from you in terms of where do we go to get something suitable to HUD in two weeks? Lehman/ My only thought, if you have any different inclinations than you have already given us, let us know by the 12th. Schmuch/ Okay. Lehman/ If you do not, we will consider your report as it was presented. Norton/ Won't-- Lehman/ That's my personal, I feel personally. If you want to reconsider anything, reaffirm anything, change anything, that's your call. Schmuch/ At our last meeting, we decided that we agreed upon the budget as it stood, although individuals would have made changes, as a Commission, we felt this was a fair budget. So we would not be reviewing this unless we had a directive from you. Lehman/ That's fine. Norton/ Can somebody from the Commission turn up on Monday night to facilitate us as we discuss the two or three issues that are pending at least for some of us? Schmuch/ I'd be glad to do that. Norton/ That would be helpful. Schmuch/ You bet. Lehman/ That's fine. Schmuch/ Okay, thank you. Lehman/ Thank you. Now we're taking five minutes. Kubby/ Thanks, Mayor. BREAK This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #9 page 40 ITEM NO. 9 PUBLIC HEARING ON PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE FLOOD INSURANCE RATE MAPS. Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #9). This gets updated, I think, periodically. Public hearing. is open. Kubby/ Are the, I mean, I know why we didn't get the maps in our packets, are they at the City Engineer's Office? Karr/ They're also in my office. Kubby/ (Can't understand). Lehman/ Chuck, would you like to just tell us a little bit about why we're doing this? Champion/ In thirty seconds. Charles Schmadeke/ I don't really know. Rick doing Lehman/ I like brief comments. O'Donnell/ That one takes the cake. Schmadeke/ Rick has been handling this project. We recommend that we extend the public hearing for two weeks. We have gotten a lot of comments from the public, and we're still getting comments from the public. I think we can give them another two weeks. Atkins/ Chuck, I think we can explain, the purpose of the floodplain maps is the insurance program, so that folks who do live in those areas that are susceptible for flooding, I think, are not only required to have insurance, but then the Federal government has some sort of subsidy to assist folks in doing that. Kubby/ Right. And those lines change about where people flood over time because of development and erosion and concrete being laid. Atkins/ And to the best of my knowledge, and Larry Morgan from Shive Hattery who represented the City's interests on that, is here, I understand is substantially computer-modeling. And that you identify where the river is, you go through a whole elaborate, I hate to say this, mumbo jumbo, with respect to the technical aspects of the thing, -- it's a technical term, Larry -- but you -- Champion/ I don't think the engineers would like that term. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #9 page 41 Atkins/ Well, I meant that gently. I wasn't trying to -- and that it identifies where the river course, the floodway is likely to be. And therefore, which folks are eligible for the insurance. If you want to get a mortgage and you do own property, you have to have the insurance. Lehman/Right. Norton/ But, I had a couple of calls about this from people who were concerned about property values or resale values and so forth, and maybe people who were suddenly as they felt being swept into the floodplain. And I understand now, the point of the time-lag here would be to give people an opportunity to bring in evidence about where the high-water marks literally are on their property, right? Schmadeke/ That's right. Norton/ With some kind of evidence about that, I take it? Schmadeke/ That's right. And then we -- Norton/ And possibly get the floodplain contour refined. Schmadeke/ That's right. Norton/ Okay. Lehman/ Well, is it not true though, even after we have the public hearing. and we act on this, they can still do that. Is that not true? Schmadeke/ They can do that -- Lehman/ At any time if they find they are incorrectly labeled, they can have that changed. Schmadeke/ That's right. Kubby/ Or if you go for a mortgage in the floodplain, you can have it, you can pay an engineer to have an exemption. Lehman/ Yeah. Kubby/ Even though you're still on the line. Thornberry/ Well, things happen over time -- This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #9 page 42 Norton/ Yeah. Thornberry/ That the floodplain in Iowa City has changed considerably over the last twenty years, and things that were in the floodplain twenty years ago may not be now. Norton/ Yes. Thornberry/ All of the, all of that area down along Gilbert Street was all floodplain at one time, and then they built the little dam for, not little dam, larger dam, for Ralston Creek, and that eliminated a lot of places. Now, what if, what if you identify properties that are in the floodplain that did not flood in the flood that we had. Norton/ In '93. Thomberry/ In what we'd call a hundred-year flood. It would seem to me that anything that didn't flood then shouldn't even be in the floodplain. Atkins/ I'm not so sure about that. I think that there's, there's, and Larry again would have to speak to it, there's, there are measurements that you have to do. There may be properties that did not get wet in '93, that still could be susceptible to it, and it's a matter of how the Feds measure this thing. I think, as Karen pointed out, element changes and there are just different pressures that cause the flooding. Thornberry/ Well, good Lord, if we're talking about global warming, if all of the icebergs melt, you know, we're all going to be under. Atkins/I don't think global warming is factored into it. Thornberry/ We're talking big floodplain here. Atkins/ Yeah. Lehman/ Dean, would you retract that statement? I don't want to factor that in. I think the question, obviously -- Atkins/ That's a huge engineering contract if you want that. Thomberry/ Well, yeah. Lehman/ But there are questions about this. Norton/ Here comes one. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #9 page 43 Joye McKusick/ I'm Joye McKusick. And since you're here and I'm here, and this is the issue that brought me, and this is the newspaper article which brought me. And I will quote just briefly from this article from the 17th of April that was in the Cedar Rapids Gazette, and it's quoting and using Rick Fosse, our City Engineer, as some of its reference. And Rick said that "while the information was taken from topographical photographs taken during the '93 flood, Fosse said there is room for improvement. 'We hope people will come in, look at the maps, show us areas where our data might not be completely accurate. We want to make sure that these maps are as accurate -- maps accurately reflect what happened'." And that's why I'm here. And I'm sorry that my communication got to you at such a late date. That's a family saga and some of you are familiar with some of my family sagas that I won't bother you with tonight. But my address that I live at is 820 West Park Road. Which when you see the maps, which I had hoped you would have an opportunity to see in more detail before I addressed you, but I understand why you are not, you would find that my home that I live in now, at 820 Park Road is exactly on one of the flood level elevations that is given as 652 as the flood elevation. On down Normandy Drive, I own another home which I have rented out since 1982, but I've owned the home and have been the first and only owner of the home. It's elevation, directly into the house, is listed as 6515. Now that means in the distance from my house down to my house on Normandy drive there is a flood-level river drop of only 6 inches. I would challenge anyone to put a level beam on that site and come up with 6 inches of fall. We're talking about a part of the river that historically the boats could not navigate because of the fall in the river between Burlington Street Dam and the Dam in Coralville. I understand that what we're using for elevation data has been collected by the National Geographic -- by the Geologic Survey, and also by Corps of Engineers earlier on than that, but Geological Survey has been into our streams for a very long time. Where, when, and how, this kind of an error is in there. But at any rate, I also own a vacant lot which I acquired since the flood, because in fact, I was very sure the morning I went down there to view both properties, there was only about an inch and a half to two inches of water over that particular property. There is a survey marker on that now that would indicate that that property needs at least a foot and a half of fill to place it above the City's requirement for new construction of being above the 100-foot elevation. Something is haywire here, because the house that was not damaged, I had flood insurance on it, the water did not get into it, if in fact it's that elevation, then this elevation, just 140 feet down the street, isn't that much different. So, this is my problem. And part of the problem comes up with the use of the topographic photos which are taken from directly overhead. My property at 805 was completely surrounded by water. There was water touching the foundation of that property on all sides. But the house itself stayed dry. High and dry, by at least three inches, closer to four. But the important thing was it was in fact dry, and the water that I'm talking about was a water that according to a stand-mark that was put in on my other property, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #9 page 44 at 820 Park Road, with the floods of '46, that water that particular morning was at least a foot higher than it had been with the '46 floods. So, in addition to the aerial view not demonstrating that that house inside was in fact dry, the other thing that the aerial view has done to the maps of that area is put some homes, because it shows ground all around them, it does not also indicate that those homes have full basements. Some of the greatest damage in our entire neighborhood during the flood was folks who were trying to keep their basements dry. And the foundations were thusly very weakened by having the aquatic balances upset. So on the one hand, it gives that property a 500-year exemption if I may put it that way, and it puts my property in the 100-year flood. So we have some inequities there in that way. And those equities balance out to mean something like this. I checked today. I do not carry the flood insurance on my home anymore. I did have it during the flood. I do not carry it because I thought it was getting exorbitant and I'm in a position to be my own insurer, fortunately. But anyone who would want to buy my property most likely would not be in the position that I am financially. And anytime now that you have to go through a lender at all, for any floodplain property, you must carry the Federal floodplain insurance. For me to carry Federal floodplain insurance to the tune of $100,000 on my little house down there on Normandy, and this is for the structure only, and this is for the flood insurance only, would come to a total of $595. That's for $100,000 worth. And if you're thinking in terms of any new construction, as I must think about, if in fact I don't donate my lot to the City, why, it becomes another matter entirely on today's financial standards. So, I thank you very much for your time, and these are the main points. I've had association with that property since 1944, when my folks put in a victory garden after buying a comer off of the cornfield at that particular spot. So if you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer them. Norton/ You're prepared. McKusick/ Thank you. Kubby/ Thanks, Joye. Lehman/ You know, I think this points out a problem, certainly, how do folks who feel their properties are not properly designated get the designation -- first of all, how do they find out? And second, how do they get it changed? Larry Morgan/ I'm Larry Morgan from Shive Hattery. While plans are on file at Marian's office, the City Clerk's office, Rick has plans, and people are welcome to call our office and we'll come out and we'll provide a sheet of whatever drawing, whatever sheets they're looking for. We have under-scale drawings, we can make prints for anybody that wants them. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #9 page 45 Lehman/ Okay. Then how, if they, this lady for example, feels there is a discrepancy between her properties. How would she go about having that discrepancy changed on the maps, if you will? Morgan/ Well, it's a matter of proving it, you know. And granted, these are aerial photos that were taken about two years ago for the most part. Some of the area on the Iowa River, we did not re-photograph, but most of the area, most of the area we did, and the area along Normandy Drive, we did, because of the concern in that area. I understand it's a very flat area, and one-foot of elevation change can take several feet as you go down Normandy Drive. So three to six inches can be quite a difference. That area, all along Normandy Drive, except for three or four houses, right near where she was talking about, are shown in the floodplain. Surprisingly, they're very much like the 1985 budget study grant shows, almost identical. And remember that the Corps, since the '93 flood, has changed the discharge for the 100-year flood, raised it some 5,000 cfs, I believe. So whether or not we saw the 100-year flood in '93, I don't know if anybody can say. Some places certainly we did. Kubby/ But isn't it, it's really a matter of the actual elevation of your lot, and not how the house is constructed on the lot. Is that true? Morgan/ Yeah, we don't necessarily try and show, we don't have elevations on the foundation of each house. We do have contour elevations at the, on the ground at the house. And those, remember, are only accurate to within a foot. I mean, you can't, you can't, we haven't gone out and taken an elevation on each house. Lehman/ So if a person is concerned, or wonders, they can contact you or City Engineer's office. If they find what they believe to be an inaccuracy, they have the opportunity of coming to you or to Rick. Morgan/ Certainly. Lehman/ And somehow proving that the map is not correct. Morgan/ In the final analysis, whether you buy insurance or not buy insurance, is up to the individual. And as the lady pointed out, to their lender to finance. Lehman/ Well, if it's financed, I don't know that it's their choice, is it? Morgan/ Well, no. If you're financing the house, then it's the lender's requirement typically. Lehman/ Right. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #9 page 46 Thomberry/ So you're saying, Larry, that just because a house didn't get wet in the last flood that we had, if the area was completely, did you take that into consideration at the last flood, if the whole property's under water except the house is dry, does that still mean it's in the floodplain? I guess it does. Morgan/ I thimk it very certainly does. Especially if there happens to be a basement. And again, we don't discern whether there's a basement under a house or not. If there's a basement there, you certainly have some risk, whether or not the water is above the first floor level or not. Thornberry/ Did you take that last flood under consideration when you're re-mapping or rezoning the floodplain? Morgan/Certainly. We have information on the last flood certainly. Again, not on every house or every street. But I think it's surprising how close our mapping now, this year, is to the '85 flood study. In some areas, it's not as close. The biggest differential is along the Iowa River. And that's because it, the theoretical discharge for the 100-year flood has been changed by the Corps study since the flood. Summit Creek, it actually went down. I think Willow Creek, there's several instances where the 100-year flood has actually lower than it was before, by as much as two feet. Kubby/ So, we need to continue? Lehman/ I think we need to continue this, if for no other reason than folks who may be watching this can have an opportunity to visit with you and Rick and to understand exactly what we don't understand. Morgan/ We welcome questions. Lehman/ I appreciate that. Thornberry/ So if they wanted to go and look at a map, you've got a big map there at Shive Hattery, Larry? Morgan/ We have a full set of maps, sure. Thomberry/ And your location is? Morgan/ 2834 Northgate, behind the Highlander Inn. Thornberry/ Behind the Highlander. Morgan/ North side off of Dodge Street. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #9 page 47 Champion/ Thank you. Lehman/ Can we have a motion to --? Kubby/ I move that we accept correspondence, to accept the letter we got tonight. Lehman/ Okay. Thornberry/ Second. Lehman/ Moved by Kubby, seconded by Thomberry. All in favor- (ayes). Motion to accept correspondence is accepted. McKusick/ I'm sorry. IfI may, just one more thing? On the question of the cost and the problem of how do you find out? The only way that you can find out if in fact the house you're going to say build is going to need this attention, is to go through all the hoops of drawing up the plans, getting the elevations, getting this information all approved, going through your finance officer, knowing how much money you have down and how much collateral you're going to need to borrow. I talked to Jeff Nielsen in the Trust, in the Loan department of First National Bank this morning. They take that information. They do not make the final decision here in the local office. They send it automatically to a third party, unnamed. And that third party, using the FEMA maps that you are being asked to approve here eventually, a revised, maybe edition of them. This third party then comes back and tells the bank what level of insurance needs to be covered for this particular house and makes the final determination as to where we are. So this is why it really is important at the local level for you to acknowledge the responsibility you have to your individual taxpayers that their properties are, in fact, appropriately listed as they stand. And Dean, as you mentioned, that some of the territory over to the north side of the river, Taft Speedway and on, would be in a different level of floodplain, that is true. But as that much fill is put in in one area, it has to reflect someplace else. Thornberry/ Yeah. McKusick/ So-- Thornberry/ Things change real quick. Kubby/ And then we could have the kind of other responsibility we have too, that is difficult as it may be to add more people who have to have flood insurance, it's our, also our public duty to make sure that if they need it, that it's there. Because otherwise it's the public tax-dollar that pays for that. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #9 page 48 McKusick/ Absolutely, Karen. But if you need it, it must be there. But -- Kubby/ But if you don't, the annual expense is pretty amazing. McKusick/ You also can find yourself in a position her, in some of these homes that are not big homes by the standard that is being built today, and the kind of people who are inclined to be attracted to water and a riverfront, and to the size houses that are there, they're really not going to be of the means to be in a position to go indefinitely with how much absolute annual cost with an unknown federal government -- this, just this past year, the government had added on three new taxes of their own onto this. Kubby/ I live in the floodplain, I pay that. McKusick/ That add up to $105 more dollars for each one of these people, regardless of how they come out as to the amount that they carry. I would have a choice if I wanted to carry $20,000, just as a -- but someone with a mortgage has no choice. Their mortgage determines the choice. Thornberry/ You're in the floodplain, Karen? Kubby/ You bet I am. I tried to exemption because I have a berm around my house, but no go Thornberry/ Because of Ralston Creek? Norton/ I thought we were trying to keep people away from the floodplain. Kubby/ Well, I'm stuck right in it. Thornberry/ Natural wildlife. Kubby/ That's where a lot of affordable housing is. Lehman/ There's a couple of questions that I would like answered before the next -- we're going to continue this -- but if, apparently this is something that's required by the Federal government, in other words, we have to identify the floodplains. By, are we, are we being asked to approve a map, is that what we're going to be doing? Atkins/ Yes. Norton/ Ultimately. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #9 page 49 Lehman/ By approving the map, are we certifying its accuracy? Atkins/ To the best of your ability, yes. Lelm~an/ Our ability, obviously, is not too great in this. Kubby/ So we have a (can't understand). Atkins/ No. Understand, that if you have an individual, and I think Karen's observation is that you can't just jut it around, folks, as you see fit. Lehman/ There are rules. Atkins/ Yeah, there are rules. And that this is a program that is designed to provide protection for people that own property in the floodplain. You know, the bottom line is that these houses flood, who's the first source they turn to for assistance they don't have, it's the Federal government. Why did the Federal government give the City $700,000 to buy 100 acres of land to say don't build there? I mean that's the principle. Norton/ Yeah. Atkins/ They'd rather head it off now and take care of these things. And again, if you jut it around someone, you have to keep in mind that there are other properties that may have very much a difference of opinion. Thornberry/ Some will flood more than others. Norton/ Yeah, I've seen, there was a news show some weeks ago that pointed out that people in some sections of Louisiana have been flooded out, and then got insurance, and have been going through it four or five times. And what we're trying to do is try and protect the floodplain is what we'd like to do, right? Keep everything back off. Kubby/ Well, that would be a change in our floodplain ordinance, to allow people to build in the floodplain. Norton/ Well-- Kubby/ That's a whole nother issue. Atkins/ We're also protecting the folks that are currently there. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #9 page 50 Lehman/ And you're protecting future buyers. Atkins/ Absolutely. Lehman/ Really making the public aware that these properties are in the floodplain. Atkins/ Yeah. Lehman/ Do we have a motion to continue this to May? Norton/ So moved. Thornberry/ Already did that. Champion/ We already did it. Lehman/ Did we vote on it? Champion/ No. Thomberry/ No. Karr/ No, I'm sorry, I think you did that for the previous one. I don't have this -- Norton/ We didn't continue this one. I move we continue the hearing. O'Donnell/ I second that. Lehman/ We've got a motion and a second. All in favor- (ayes). It will be continued to May 12th. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #10 page51 ITEM NO. 10 PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS, FORM OF CONTRACT, AND ESTIMATE OF COST FOR CONSTRUCTION FOR COURT STREET EXTENDED, PHASE I IMPROVEMENTS, ESTABLISHING AMOUNT OF BID SECURITY TO ACCOMPANY EACH BID, DIRECTING CITY CLERK TO PUBLISH ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS, AND FIXING TIME AND PLACE FOR RECEIPT OF BIDS. a. PUBLIC HEARING (continued from April 7) Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #10). This is a continuation of a Public hearing. from our last meeting. And this is, I guess obviously, regarding the extension of Court Street. Public hearing. is open. Ted Rittenmeyer/ I don't have one of those stickers, but I'm Ted Rittenmeyer. I live at 3621 East Court Street, and I was here three weeks ago. Four weeks ago, yesterday, we heard the first word that we knew about on the extension of Court Street, and a site problem from Elmira on Court Street which was, a mistake was made seven years ago, the engineering consulting firm made a mistake, I guess. The City Engineer's office also made a mistake, they approved it. One, I have a little problem understanding that the engineering firm that made this mistake seven years ago is now the engineering firm that's trying to tell us how to solve the problem. That bothers me a little bit. Last Thursday, in the mail, we got a letter from Rob Winstead telling us that the final plans had been taken to the City Clerk's office, and that they were available there. And so I went down Thursday afternoon and looked at them, and I don't claim to know very much about plans for streets, but I did have a couple of questions, and two of the engineers were home sick that afternoon, and the one who came down was not familiar with the project, but did tell me that somebody would call me, and I'm still waiting for that call. I spoke three weeks ago at this meeting in favor of a three-way stop sign at Elmira. One of the primary projects as far as, or objects of city government is to protect the safety and security of its citizens. And I honestly believe that a three- way stop sign there would do a lot more for safety for everybody concerned than this right-in only thing that they have designed to put on Elmira, making Elmira not a one-way street, but only one way to get off of Court Street onto Elmira, and then not being able to get back onto Court from there. My driveway is probably 125 feet from the tip of the hill. The engineers tell us that three-way, four-way stops don't work very well unless the amount of traffic is somewhat equal. I would question the equalness of the traffic at about 400 feet west of Muscatine Avenue on Court Street where one of the stop signs is for an alley, right west of where Seaton's used to be. The other thing that, or one other thing is, it appears there's a rush to get this done this year. I understand it was put into the 1998 program. What can be put into a program can be taken out, I think, or deferred. We understand that one of the things that's very important is the secondary access to Windsor Ridge, and they can have a secondary access to Windsor Ridge This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #10 page 52 anytime they like, right out onto Taft Avenue, which they intend, right after the taxpayers pay for the Court Street extension, 1,700 and it's their plan to take it on from there and take it to Taft Avenue. I see no reason why they can't put an access in there to Taft Avenue now, and continue the other later. I really don't think that in four weeks, people who are not engineers or planners, I don't think it's enough time for us to have had an opportunity to think of some other ideas. We were presented with cutting the street down, which nobody liked. And other than that, we've been presented with the right-only turn onto Elmira. I would ask, I guess, you at this time to consider deleting this project from the 1998 program. Thank you. Lehman/ Thank you, Ted. Champion/ Why don't we do, try a three-way stop sign there? We do have that one at Court and the alley. Lehman/ Jeff, would you like to help? Jeff Davidson/ Yeah. To clarify the all-way stop at Court and, it's actually the intersection of Court and Oakland Street, that was not recommended by City staff at the time it was put in. It was put in, I believe, at the request of the Longfellow PTA Association. And it does not meet the warrants for an all-way stop. However, it is not an arterial street, which is the distinction that we see between the location at Court an Elmira. The arterial function of Court Street ends at Muscatine Avenue. It then goes on up to Burlington Street and continues. The portion of Court Street between Muscatine and Summit Street is a collector street. Lehman/ Jeff, how many? Rittenmeyer/ (Can't understand). Davidson/ It does not, sir. Lehman/ Jeff, I realize the recommendation from Staff, and I've read the correspondence that we got from Staff on it. And obviously, there were several options. One, making Elmira in-only, three-way stop, cutting down the hill, and whatever. Are all of those, I mean obviously all of those alternatives were considered. I'm thinking out loud which I probably shouldn't do. But obviously, as development occurs, there's going to be increased, more and more and more traffic as time goes by. Is it possible to build, extend the street and not do anything until the situation requires it, if you will, until traffic gets enough? I don't know, obviously, I'm no planner. But there, are there, is there the possibility of some other option other than a one-way in? I mean, could the three-way stop at some point be implemented, could be tried? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #10 page 53 Davidson/ Yeah, there certainly are other options. And of course, you have the discretion to implement any of those options on this particular street. And the gentleman who just spoke said that there have been several considered, and we do feel that the one that is being recommended, of the fight-in only, in Elmira is the best solution. Not an ideal solution. We do understand and are sensitive to the effect that that's going to have to the folks on Elmira. We do feel that for the safety of that intersection, it is the one we recommend. We do have some very great safety concerns about even establishing an all-way stop at that location, because where you have an all-way stop like this, and quite frankly, the one at Court and Oakland is a good example, where you do have that imbalance of one street being a main street and the other having very little volume. It's simply disobeyed. And especially at a location where there are children and there are children in this neighborhood, the notion of a child being taught that well, where there's a stop sign, the car will stop and you can cross, that worries us very much that the car won't stop, that the car will roll through the intersection. And that's one of the main reasons why we're not recommending it. Kubby/ And higher speeds, too. O'Donnell/ Why do you need the three-way stop? Why don't you just have a stop sign coming out of Elmira? Davidson/ I believe that's the way the intersection's controlled. O'Donnell/ Right now it is? Davidson/ Yeah. O'Donnell/ Why change that? Davidson/ The sight distance concern is the problem, that the gentleman alluded to, that we did discover the sight distance problem when we were planning to continue the street east. Norton/ Well, Jeff, if you try the right-turn only option, now physically, that's just a sign. Davidson/ We are planning some physical changes to the curb. Norton/ Will there be other changes? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #10 page 54 Davidson/ Changes to the curb such that it would be a more logical right-in only, and it would be difficult to make a left turn out of it because of the reconfiguration of the curb line. Norton/ So if you do that, and then you decide after experience on Court Street as, because right now it's not going to be carrying much, I suppose, but ultimately it begins to carry more, that you could reconsider. But what you do won't be, will it be such that you could go back and undo it if it -- Davidson/ Certainly, certainly. Norton/ If experience suggests that? Davidson/ And I think if that gives you any more ease in making a decision, there's nothing that's being proposed here this evening that is -- Norton/ That's irreversible. Davidson/ That couldn't be changed in the future if that was something you decided to do. Even the curb line changes that I just outlined here. Norton/ That would not be a huge operation. Davidson/ It is not such that they couldn't be changed. Thomberry/ Dee, I'm more inclined to leave it the way it is, and if it doesn't work, look for other traffic-calming or other ways of doing it. But leaving it like it is now, I've driven that a lot. Norton/I have, too. Thornberry/ And I've looked at that a lot. And it's probably going to go through, but I'm not willing really to make that a right-turn only and have the road curve like that. I'm putting myself in that house and saying would I like that? It would be a son of a gun. I wouldn't like, that just, I think a stop sign there, and the people going on to Court Street, well, it's like pulling onto a freeway from a ramp, you know. Norton/ Not quite. Thornberry/ People are in a hurry here. Winter might be a little bit of a problem. Norton/ You don't have an acceleration lane, there. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #10 page 55 Vanderhoef/ The wintertime with traffic moving also on Court Street from the east going west concerns me that you can't get going all at once when you get out there. Thornberry/ The chances are there will be more houses built in Windsor Ridge. O'Donnell/ So then the more traffic -- Thornberry/ Maybe he won't sell any. Norton/ Dean, suppose you leave it as it is, and people are going to, it's going to be hairy getting out onto Court, I mean, you're going to be at considerable risk. So presumably, if that is a real risk, people will do the other thing, won't they, go out on Scott Park or some other? Davidson/ Well, obviously, Dee, the reason for us recommending the change to the right- in only is because we believe there will be people who will take the chance of trying to exit the street, and that's something that we feel, we feel Eleanor might have some words to say about that. Dilkes/ I just put my microphone down. Norton/ Uh-oh. Dilkes/Yeah, I think it's, I think one thing you have to factor into your decision is once we've identified this sight-distance problem, I think the do nothing option poses some liability problems. Kubby/ And I'm hesitant for us to say, well, traffic-calming is something for down the road on Court Street, because our calming traffic policies don't go for arterial streets. Vanderhoef/ That's right. Kubby/And Court's an arterial. Thornberry/Well, that can be changed. Kubby/ Well, it's not, we do it that way for a reason. There's a rationale for it. Thornberry/ I know. Kubby/ So that we put people on arterials and get out of the neighborhood streets. So there's a conflict in values if we change our policy. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #10 page 56 Thornberry/ I know. But there are specific instances like this one, that there's always that one thing that's going to, it doesn't fit the mold. And this one doesn't fit the mold. It just, I'm still in favor of building little strips that go along that bother you, but you know when you run over those things that there's a stop sign coming up. Now, I don't see why that can't be put on at Court Street or? O'Donnell/ Because you can't sleep within 300 yards of it. Kubby/ Right. Davidson/ I was going to say, the gentleman here might be in to tell you he can't sleep at night if you put those in. Thornberry/ Well, you can put them further on down. Champion/ Well we'll have the sight problem. Kubby/ So someone else can't sleep. Rittenmeyer/ (Can't hear). Lehman/ Microphone, Ted. Kubby/ Ted, you need to come up to the mic. Can you speak here? Thanks. Rittenmeyer/ He just mentioned that people tend to slide through stop signs when there's not a lot of traffic. I'd sure rather have them sliding through that stop sign up there and coming over the hill at 15 miles an hour rather than 37 when I'm coming out of my drive. And it -- Thornberry/ Yeah. Rittenmeyer/ I just would feel a whole lot safer with knowing that at least it'll slow them down, this stop sign. They won't come up there at 35 miles an hour, and they're going to put a 25 mile an hour speed limit on it, that means that the average speed's going to be about 35. Thomberry/ Yeah. Rittenmeyer/ They come popping over that hill, and I get my little blue pickup into the street. O'Donnell/ So there's really two options. The three-way stop, or one-way right on Elmira. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #10 page 57 Lehman/ Jeff, I have one more question for you. If we did as you are recommending, and make Elmira one-way-in only, would that curb, could that curb continuation be made in asphalt like we've done with the downtown parking, to see how it works? Davidson/ It could be done in asphalt, Ernie, or it could be left just the way it is. We believe there will be a higher incidence of people violating it if it's left the way it is. But you could establish it with the existing street configuration. Lehman/ Well, I think, first of all, and Ted has asked us that perhaps we should take it off the program for this year, and I don't think that is really going to be something that we can do. I mean, there's too many other things that are in the mill right now. I think that has to happen. But I would hate to see us go in and put in concrete curbs and gutters and everything and assume that's going to be the permanent solution. If we could do that in a fashion that is temporary, if you will, and if it works out, great, fine. We make it permanent. If it doesn't work out, obviously, there may be another option. But, I just think we need to leave alternatives open, but at the same time, we have to move forward. Kubby/ It's an ugly option, but it's an option. Champion/ I think the asphalt would really be ugly. Is there that much difference between asphalt and concrete? It's not a lot of it. Davidson/ As you know from the asphalt islands we put in downtown, they're not real attractive. But they are more temporary, that's true. Norton/ No doubt. Thornberry/ Well, they're still there, downtown. Lehman/ They won't be. Norton/ I think we should take this in steps because if you have to take that out and go to the stop sign, and however much you may not like that option, you can do so without a big, vast expense. So I think we should dig, take one step at a time and do it temporarily as you suggest, Ernie, but I think that would be consistent with your recommendation, wouldn't it? Lehman/ I could support that. Thornberry/ I don't think I can support the right-in only option. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #10 page 58 Norton/ Temporary? Try it. O'Donnell/Wait till we try a three-way stop. Thornberry/ There's not one single person that lives in that area that wants that thing. And I was elected by them. And I think -- Norton/ You were elected by everybody. Thornberry/ And I think maybe, I think maybe, that just the stop sign or maybe a three- way stop sign would be less obtrusive, less expensive, and more appreciative by the neighbors. O'Donnell/ And it can always be temporary. Thornberry/ And those, I'll tell you what, it doesn't take a whole lot to pull a stop sign out of the ground. I went to college. Davidson/ Just one clarification, Dean, and the rest of the Council. I was not at the neighborhood meeting. I'm substituting for Rob who's out of town tonight. Just to quote the very last line of his memorandum that you received, "At least one person continues to feel that the all-way stop is the best solution. Others appeared to concur with the right-in only option." I think there was -- Norton/ Some consensus. Davidson/ A pretty consistent opinion with many of the neighbors, not all, but many, that the right-in solution was agreeable. Thornberry/ Well I didn't hear many, the last meeting that were in favor of that one-way in. Kubby/ It was after the meeting, they met again. Vanderhoef/ After, yeah, this is a second meeting. For me, it definitely is a safety issue, and with due respect, Dean, I think we also are elected to put things in place that we know probably ought to happen, and the expectation of the voters is that we will provide safe intersections and ways to travel about our City. And for me, this is a high enough safety issue that I'll go with the right-hand turn. Thornberry/ I'm not saying, Dee, that I want to put something in there that's not safe. Vanderhoef/ I understand that. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #10 page 59 Thornberry/ All right. Is this the safest? No. The safest would be to block off the intersection. That would be the safest way. Don't want to do that either. So I really don't know what to do. Norton/ Well, let's do it in steps, then. Lehman/Well, are there four folks who would be interested in trying the temporary right- turn only? Champion/ I don't like it, but Ill go for it. Vanderhoef/ Yes. Thornberry/ The right-in only. Champion/ Right. And-- Lehman/ On a temporary -- CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 98-61, SIDE B Lehman/ If we don't like it, we can always take it out. Kubby/And actually, it's, the temporary nature is so hard to know, I'll talk about this when it's time to vote, but we're going to have a piece of land that's not going to be developed for a long time, with land that is in the process of being developed. So the nature of that neighborhood is going to be continually changing for at least ten years in terms of what the traffic's going to be like. So -- Norton/ What's the implication of that? Kubby/ What are the effects of the traffic, and if the right-turn only is going to really be functional for awhile. Norton/ What's the implication of that for the vote for the right-turn only option, Karen? Kubby/ I'm sorry? Norton/ What's the implication, that you're arguing for the right-turn option only? Kubby/ That the temporariness of it is very nebulous to me, because we're not going to see the effects of traffic on Court Street. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #10 page 60 Norton/ I understand. Kubby/ And the conflict at Elmira for many years. So I don't think it's as temporary as we're maybe talking about it. But I'm for it. Norton/ Okay. Kubby/ But ! don't think we should fool anybody about when, how do we evaluate it is what I'm talking about. It's not going to happen in a year or two years. Norton/ But I didn't suggest that it was going to be evaluated right away, it's going to have to be there for quite awhile before the traffic will be such that -- but either option, if you put a stop sign there, would have the same problem. It's not going to be a fair test because you don't know what's the action is. Kubby/ I think a stop sign causes us problems down the road on a major arterial street with lots of developments heading on the east side. Vanderhoef/ The other thing that I see that is a positive in this whole thing is to make it known now so that the traffic pattern gets developed as the rest of the land and these people move into this area, that they all learn it in one way and not have to change it later on. Champion/Well, I'm going to support this for safety reasons, but I would ask the Council to consider not using asphalt, which would be very unattractive. Kubby/ I agree. Champion/I'd rather go to the expense of putting in the proper construction, and then if you have to rip it out, rip it out. But just don't put in some ugly blacktop in there with some yellow line around it. Kubby/ A curb and bigger right of way if that's possible so that people could choose to do plantings or have greenspace there. Champion/ Yeah. Kubby/ Can we put grass in it, Jeff2. Norton/ Who's going to mow it? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #10 page 61 Davidson/ Yeah, what we had proposed doing was simply bringing the curbline out between the sidewalk and the curb there would be a wider area, but it would be a planted area. Champion/ Good. Kubby/ Yeah. Vanderhoef/ That's a lot more attractive than what we put in downtown. Thomberry/ Before you sit down again, I will, since you said you had another meeting since our last meeting, with the neighbors, you're saying all but one said that they'd like to have the right-turn-in only? Davidson/ The figure is at least one person still feels that the all-way stop is the best solution. Others appeared to concur with the right-in only option. I was not at the meeting, but that's what Rob said. Rittenmeyer/ (Can't hear). Norton/ That's right. It's, it's not altogether clear numerically what exactly you're talking about, but there was, it wasn't as though everyone were against the right- ill. Davidson/ That's correct, Dee. O'Donnell/I want the project to move forward. We have to understand that we've said temporary, so let's go with it. Norton/ And how about the decision, how it's done is left up to them? Lehman/ Yeah. Vanderhoef/ Right. Lehman/ You decide. I think, you know, obviously, if it's done nicely and attractively, it's going to be far more acceptable than -- Norton/ On the other hand, that may mean that somebody thinks it's a permanent solution, and we're never going to change our minds. Lehman/Well, -- Champion/ I don't think it'll be on the Council (can't understand). This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #10 page 62 Norton/ Okay. Thornberry/ I doubt very seriously, realistically, that that will ever be changed. Once it's done, I think it's going to be done. Really. Lehman/ Well, we could debate that all night. Thomberry/ You can call it temporary all you want. Champion/ I move we vote. Lehman/ Well, wait a minute. Is there anybody else who'd like to speak before we close the public hearing? Chris Steffan/ I'm Chris Steffan, a consultant from MMS. I also have to live in the neighborhood out there, and I was at the meeting along with my cohort Don Avalon who's done most of the work on the project out there. We had ten, twelve people there, -- Audience/ (Can't hear). Steffan/ Right, counting me. We talked, went through all the different scenarios with the people. We felt that it was necessary to present all of these options to them, to let them have an idea, you know, what we were considering, you know? Try and find the best one out of ones maybe that there isn't one that is the best or anything like that, but weighing all the things. I think a lot of people, there was a lot of discussion about the three-way stop, but I think, as we went through all of the options, I think we came down to more people felt comfortable with the one-way- in option as opposed to anything else. When we talked about the sight distance problems and pulling out of Elmira and those kinds of things. I guess I wanted to also add, with regards to the temporary nature of this thing, in order to create this one-way-in situation, right now, the curb radiuses out there are like twenty feet on that street. In order to make a one-way street so it's one-way-in entrance, we need to make the one radius a little bigger so that we can get the garbage trucks, the emergency vehicles, those kinds of things through there. So we have to modify the wegt comer of that intersection of that, as well as doing gome kind of igland affair on the other one. So, we have some cost numbers. It's not a big item, but there, in terms of if we were just going to do the asphalt thing, then we can't modify that one curb to make it comfortable enough so what happens is that when the garbage truck wants to make the turn, he's driving in the guy's front yard. So that's a problem. So if we don't cut that curb, then we have to make the other side of it wider, then the opportunity's there for somebody to, we've taken away the safety issue, then somebody can sneak through there and not stop at the stop sign. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #10 page 63 So you know, those are the kinds of things that we struggled with, and we came to this conclusion. And I guess I just wanted to share that with you. Council/ Thank you. Lehman/ That helps. Public hearing. is closed. Do we have a motion? b. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING Thornberry/ Move to consider the resolution. O'Donnell/ Second. Lehman/ Moved by Thornberry, seconded by O'Donnell. Any further discussion? Kubby/ There is. And though I've supported the zoning changes out there, I'm not going to support the building of the road at this time, mostly because of some just kind of timing issues with how efficient development happens. And that I really believe that when we're putting in new arterial streets out at public expense, although we're going to get money back incrementally as development occurs, there's a whole expanse of land in-between current development sites and developing sites, and there's a ridge that's not going to be developed for awhile, and I just don't think it's an efficient use of our Capital Improvement Program monies to do this street at this time. So I'm going to be voting no. Thornberry/ But, Karen, and I, isn't part of that that the road's going to be built with public funds, and part later when it gets to Windsor Ridge? Kubby/ Yeah, and the part that we're paying for is the part that's not going to be built for awhile. Thornberry/ Right. But I mean, we're not paying for the whole street, as a matter of fact. We're saving money if you look in the long run, if it goes eventually. Because they might want to withdraw that offer later. So that we'd be putting it through all ourselves anyway later on, at a higher cost. Kubby/ Could be. Maybe, maybe not. That's -- Norton/ But, pardon me, even on the section we're building, isn't there going to be some repayment for anybody that has a curb cut? Lehman/Curb cut. Kubby/ I acknowledge that. Yeah. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #10 page 64 Norton/ So there will be some help. Kubby/ Right. But I just don't want, when there's so much competition for road monies in this community because we're growing in almost every direction, that I think we should put those monies in areas where development is happening in a fluid fashion and not in a skipped fashion. O'Donnell/ I think we should vote on this. Lehman/ Further discussion? Norton/ Did we have a commitment to the Windsor Ridge to get this extended? Was there some kind of a --? Lebanan/ Well-- Kubby/ It was requested, and we put it in our CIP at this date. O'Donnell/ But it hasn't been approved. Lehman/ Well, we also approved the engineering on it some time ago, with the tacit agreement that we would do it. Kubby/ I'm not saying there's no rationale to do it, I'm saying I have a rationale for not doing it. Norton/Okay, okay, yeah. Kubby/ That I think is valid. We can vote. O'Donnell/ Let's vote. Lehman/ Roll call- (yes; Kubby no). This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #14 page 65 ITEM NO. 14 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY AND STANLEY CONSULTANTS, INC. OF MUSCATINE, IOWA FOR A TRAFFIC STUDY OF THE SOUTH GILBERT STREET CORRIDOR BETWEEN BENTON STREET AND STEVENS DRIVE. Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #14). This an area that's been of some concern. We visited with the folks last night. Thornberry/Move adoption of the resolution. O'Donnell/ Second. Lehman/ Moved by Thomberry, seconded by O'Donnell. Discussion? Kubby/ I would like us to, this is the first time, I believe, that we've had a website for a specific project, so I'd like u s to monitor how many people visited that website and what kinds of information we got from it to see if it's something that we want to continue on as kind of a new thing for us. I think it's good to expand, but we should evaluate that as well. Lehman/ Other discussion? Is this a roll call? Karr/ It's a resolution. Lehman/ We have to read this through three times and it's supposed to start next week? Karr/ No, resolution. Norton/ Resolution. Kubby/ Roll call vote, but one vote does it. Lehman/ Okay. Roll call- (yes). Motion carried. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #18 page 66 ITEM NO. 18 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN MMS CONSULTANTS, INC. OF IOWA CITY, IOWA TO PROVIDE CONSTRUCTION SURVEY SERVICES FOR THE WILLOW CREEK INTERCEPTOR SEWER PROJECT. Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #18). Thornberry/ Move adoption. Lehman/ Moved by Thornberry. Vanderhoef/ Second. Lehman/ Seconded by Vanderhoefi Discussion? Kubby/ Darrel Courtney would be cringing right now. Norton/ We need to be clear that this one is not the same as the previous one. We have two processes. Lehman/ Right. One's Stanley, one's MMS. We've got the watch-or and the watch-ee. Roll call- (yes). Motion carded. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #19 page 67 ITEM NO. 19 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND CITY CLERK TO ATTEST AMENDMENT NUMBER 2 TO THE AGREEMENT DATED NOVEMBER 23, 1993, BETWEEN HOWARD R. GREEN COMPANY AND THE CITY OF IOWA CITY TO PROVIDE CONSULTING SERVICES FOR IMPROVEMENTS TO THE IOWA CITY WATER SUPPLY AND TREATMENT FACILITIES. Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #19). I think this is paying for services that have already been performed. Champion/ Yes. Lehman/ And this dates back to a contract that was from 1993. Thomberry/ Move adoption. O'Donnell/ Second. Lehman/ Moved by Thomberry, seconded by O'Donnell. Discussion? O'Donnell/ Getting late. Lehman/ Roll call- (yes). Motion carried. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #20 page68 ITEM NO. 20 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AWARDING CONTRACT AND AUTHORIZING MAYOR TO SIGN AND CITY CLERK TO ATTEST CONTRACT FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE WILLOW CREEK INTERCEPTOR AND LATERAL SEWERS PROJECT. Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #20). The Engineer's estimate was $8,550,000. Kenko of Minneapolis, Minnesota is the low bidder at $7,326,298.47. Thornberry/ Move adoption of the resolution. Kubby/ Second. Letunan/ Moved by Thomberry, seconded by Kubby. Discussion? Roll call-- Norton/ I think -- Lehman/ Oops, I'm sorry. Norton/ I think this is a biggie that we're getting underway here, a huge project that has a huge impact on all the City west of the river, I guess I'd say. Not only the south part of town. Lehman/ And the west part. Norton/ And the whole west side and northwest. Kubby/ And it will help current residents as well as new residents. Norton/ It certainly is not, it certainly is to relieve certain problems on that side of town now, I think, over at Sunset, isn't it, Sunset and Highway 1 ? Vanderhoef/ (Yes.) Lehman/ Right. Vanderhoef/ I'd just like to note that we had five bids that came in under our estimate, plus two more which is really exciting when we get that many bids. And the second thing is that the low bid came in $1,000,000-plus below the bid, or below the estimate, excuse me. Champion/ That's a pretty healthy amount. What do we do with all this money we're saving? Norton/ Oh. We'll have a review. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #20 page 69 Kubby/ Well what happens is like, this time, we had a lot of savings in that we didn't have to increase our water rates the same amount and sewer rates as we had projected, so that's what happens. Which is good. Norton/ Part of that was from slippage. Lehman/ And it's actually money that the rate-payers aren't having to pay for. Champion/ Oh. Kubby/ Right. Lehman/ Roll call- (yes). Motion carried. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #22 page 70 ITEM NO. 22 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AWARDING CONTRACT AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND CITY CLERK TO ATTEST CONTRACT FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE SCANLON GYMNASIUM COMPLEX IN MERCER PARK. Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #22). Again, this estimate was $1,422,668. The low bidder was Selzer-Werderitsch Construction of Iowa City with $1,454,300. And we did receive, I think, six bids on that. Thomberry/ Move adoption of the resolution. Vanderhoef/ Second. Lehman/ Moved by Thomberry, seconded by Vanderhoef. Discussion? Kubby/ If we approve this, that means that we are accepting the two alternates which we should do. Lehman/ Yes. Norton/ (Yes). Lehman/ Roll call- (yes). Motion carried. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #23 page 71 ITEM NO. 23 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AMENDING THE BUDGETED POSITIONS IN THE ENGINEERING DIVISION OF THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT AND THE AFSCME PAY PLAN. Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #23). This is, I think, an additional cost of approximately $900 per year. And this is for inspectors that we have under our employment who inspect construction projects. And apparently we're saving a lot of money on this. Thornberry/ Just a comment that water and wastewater facility projects totaling approximately $12,000,000 will be under construction this summer. That's, that's a hell of a cost. Lehman/ That's a lot of money. Steve, did you want to comment on this? I saw you -- Atkins/ Chuck can probably speak better to it. If you recall, this is a somewhat minor amendment to the pay plan which you have to authorize. It's $900. The principle behind this is that we chose to go in-house for inspections rather than contracting them. And if I recollect, we were close to $1,000,000 in savings by going this way as opposed to others. Understanding that these positions are directly relevant to the construction projects. When the projects are no longer underway, these positions are eliminated. Lehman/Right. Atkins/ Okay. Lehman/ Did he say it for you, Chuck? Schmadeke/ He said it for me, yeah. Thomberry/ Move adoption of the resolution. Lehman/Moved by Thornberry. O'Donnell/ Second. Lehman/ Seconded by O'Donnell. Discussion? Roll call- (yes). Motion carded. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #24 page 72 ITEM NO. 24 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AWARDING ARCHITECTURAL CONTRACT AND AUTHORIZING MAYOR TO SIGN AND CITY CLERK TO ATTEST CONTRACT FOR COMPLETING CONTRACT FOR COMPLETING CONTRACT DOCUMENTS PHASE OF THE CIVIC CENTER THIRD FLOOR AND POLICE DEPARTMENT SECOND FLOOR EXPANSION. Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #24). These were things that we had listed in our CIP and this is a drawing of a contract authorizing actually the construction drawings. Thornberry/ I'll move adoption of the resolution for discussion purposes. Lehman/ Moved by Thornberry. Vanderhoef/ Second. Lehman/ Seconded by Vanderhoef. Discussion? Thomberry/ For discussion purposes, right? Norton/ Well, there's been a lot of questions. Do you want to start? Thornberry/ No. Norton/ Well, I -- Vanderhoef/ I-- Norton/ Go ahead, Dee. Vanderhoef/ No, go. Norton/ Well, I was just concerned about the implication that, I'm assuming that in blessing this we are not committing to the project. Lehman/ We are not. Norton/ We are committing to a set of plans that will be possible on the shelf, despite what may be urged on us from some quarters, there's no commitment to proceed beyond the paperwork, right? Champion/ I think we've made it clear that we're not looking beyond that at this point. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #24 page 73 Vanderhoef/ Well, I've been struggling with this. I recognize that we need space, particularly for the rental space that we have outside of this building, to get that group of people moved into this building. However, I don't see going forward with this project at this time, and to go ahead and have the plans completed at the cost of $37,000 or a bit more, I'm not sure that it's prudent to spend that money and then go forward and put it on the shelf. So, I have a real problem. On the one hand, I want this space, and on the other hand, I don't think this is the time for us to do it. Kubby/ I agree with Dee. Norton/ Does that follow that this is the time to do the project, Dee, the fact that we go ahead now and get the plans, the construction plans together, is it true that they're going to be unusable a year hence? Because I kind of agree that we may not want to move on the project right away. Vanderhoef/ I don't know that they wouldn't be usable. There might be some changes, yes. What I see is a plan of $37,000 on the shelf. And I know that those construction plans can be brought forward in a relatively short period of time. And I would, I guess I would like to defer this project for awhile. Lehman/ I have a question. Steve, how long does it take to come up with construction drawings? Atkins/ We'd anticipated this should be ready sometime in June if you awarded this contract. It's a couple months. Lehman/ So it would take about two months to prepare construction drawings that we could at some date in the future then put out for bids. Atkins/ Yes. Kubby/ I guess I'm willing to say, at this point, that I don't want to go forward with this project. And it's not that it's not needed, it's just like my vote early on with the Mercer Park project, that there are lots of competing needs and desires in the community and that this is just one I'm willing to say no to, as much as, I mean, I see on a weekly basis and hear from employees about space needs. But we did just do this building five years ago, and one set of renovations and space needs. And there are just other things that we need to do, and I'm willing to say no to some stuff in order to say yes to other things. And this is one of those things, on this end of it, I'm willing to say no to. And I understand the desire to see the plans, to better visualize it and make a decision about the costs. And I just am willing to say no on this end of it. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #24 page 74 Norton/ Not even to proceed with the plans at this point, in other words. Kubby/ I will be voting no on this item. Norton/ I see. In other words, to manifestly slow down the whole operation. O'Donnell/ I think the space is needed. I think that we've, we've already directed Staff to do this several weeks ago, and I will be supporting it. Lehman/ Well, I think, I will be supporting it personally, because I think it takes at least two months off the process when and if we decide to do the addition. I also think it makes it much, much easier, at least for me, to make a decision as to whether or not I want to do the project sooner, rather than later, when I can see exactly what we're talking about. Champion/ See the plan. Lehman/ I can see the plans, I can see what it looks like. Thomberry/ Very important. Lehman/ I can say hey, I don't think we need that for a year or two, or I think yes, I think this is something we need right away. So I think being able to visualize it and get an accurate cost estimate is important for me, and I think this is doing what we asked Staff to do. I will support it. Vanderhoef/ Well, there -- Thornberry/ Since ! haven't spoken yet -- Vanderhoef/ Okay. Thomberry/ I'll say my little piece and be quiet. We are renting space now, across the street and other places that if this project were completed sooner rather than later, it would free up money that we're not throwing, as Mr. Norton aptly puts it, sand down a rathole. That we could be moving into this building as opposed to renting space hither, thither and yon, and put all of the pieces of the puzzle together under one roof. And to, in order to do that, in a specific period of time, you've got to have a plan. And I think that all for this is going to be taken into consideration when the plans are made, and when we get our windfall, it could be done, boom. We won't have to wait two, three, four months, in order to get the plans done, and we can go ahead and do it when it's needed, like I said, sooner rather than later, so I will be supporting it. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #24 page 75 Kubby/ But where's the windfall? Norton/ Oh, no. Vanderhoef/ Well, the plans, I spent some time down here today and there are some drawings for how the space will be used and all of that, and there are some preliminary figures on the cost on this. And I guess what I'm saying is I'm not ready to proceed with the construction, therefore I'm not ready to spend the $37,000 for the plans, more plans, than what we already have. I could see enough of the plans that I saw today that I'm satisfied with what the plans are. Thornberry/ You like the space availability, but you just, since you're not ready to start construction, you don't want to do the plans. Norton/ Well this is -- Vanderhoef/ That's exactly right. Norton/ Is this motivated, may I ask, again, this is getting sticky, is this motivated at all by the status of anybody involved in this project? I mean it's just a worry that you'll get too much momentum if you get the plans together then there'll be too much momentum to go ahead with the project? Because I'm not in favor of moving real promptly on the project until we see how several things shake out this fall. Vanderhoef/ Well that's why I would prefer to defer this. Norton/ The whole thing? Vanderhoef/ Until after that time. And that's -- Lehman/ All right. Dee, I agree with you. I'm not ready to move on this, either. But I remember building Brookside Drive box culvert from plans that had been on the shelf for several years. It was ready to go. We met the contractor, we built it. I mean the plans don't spoil. Thornberry/ Mr. Mayor, I'd like to call a question. Lehman/ No. Roll call-- no, roll call. Vanderhoef/ We'll do that after. Dilkes/Norton? Sorry, it's on my card. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #24 page 76 Thornberry/ First out of the bag. Kubby/ That's his job. Norton/ We don't keep votes here. Dilkes/ I'm pretty attached to my cards. Lehman/ So that was a yea? Norton/ I said yes already. Lehman/ (Roll call- (yes; Kubby and Vanderhoef, no). Kubby/ We have such angst about what votes on this. Lehman/ Item-~ Passed on a 5-2 vote. Karr/ Could we have a motion to accept correspondence so we can announce the vacancy at the next meeting? Kubby/ Sure. Vanderhoef/ So moved. Lehman/ Motion by Vanderhoef. Thornberry/ Second. Lehman/ Seconded by Thornberry. All in favor- (ayes). Motion passed to accept correspondence. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #25 page 77 ITEM NO. 25 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION CERTIFYING UNPAID WATER, WASTEWATER, SOLID WASTE AND RECYCLING CHARGES, INCLUDING FEES AND PENALTIES, TO JOHNSON COUNTY FOR COLLECTION IN THE SAME MANNER AS A PROPERTY TAX. Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #25). These are delinquent bills -- Champion/ So moved. Lehman/ Moved by Connie. Connie got in there. Champion/ Go. Thomberry/ Second. Connie moved. O'Donnell/ Second. Lehman/ Seconded by Thornberry and O'Donnell. Discussion? Karr/ I'd like to note that that's revised material in front of you this evening. Kubby/ It doesn't look like anyone's going here. Lehman/ No one's here to comment on it. Champion/ Oh. Lehman/ Are you talking about the letter we received? Vanderhoef/ Yes, and some people were -- Karr/ The new listing of the accounts. Lehman/ Oh, the new listing. Kubby/ Here comes Don. Lehman/ Here comes a body. Kubby/ You don't have any comments for us, do you? Lehman/ No further comments. Roll call- (yes). Karr/ Could we have a motion to accept correspondence? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #25 page 78 Vanderhoef/ So moved. Norton/ Second. Lehman/ Moved by Vanderhoef, seconded by Norton. Correspondence received. All in favor- (ayes). This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #26 page 79 ITEM NO. 26 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION RESCINDING RESOLUTION 92-316 AND ESTABLISHING A NEW POLICY FOR USE OF FUNDS DERIVED FROM HOTEL-MOTEL TAX. Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #26). This is diverting some of the revenue of what is it, approximately ten percent, that would be going to the operation of the Mercer Park Gymnasium which we just approved the contract to build. Discussion? Kubby/ Well, I'm going to be voting no because I think that ten percent -- Karr/ Move to put it on the floor first. I'm sorry. Thornberry/ Oh, move to adopt the resolution. Lehman/ Oh, I'm sorry. Moved by Thornberry. O'Donnell/ Second. Lehman/ Seconded by O'Donnell. Kubby/ I think we should still have ten percent from this go for parkland acquisition. Vanderhoef/ Karen, I don't disagree with you. I had a lot of trouble with this one, also. However, when it goes into enlarging, that is acquisition. It's a, when they talk about constructing, improving, enlarging, that could be construed as acquisition. I Kubby/ But it's less restrictive. Vanderhoef/ Yeah. Kubby/ Inclusive, but less restrictive. I hear you. Vanderhoef/ And there are things out there that need attention as far as maintenance of our new parkland areas. However, I will continue to support purchases of parkland as the opportunity arises. Norton/ Yeah, that's the way I feel. There are other options for doing the things that this fund was doing before. So, I think we can get more flexibility this way. Lehman/ Further discussion? Roll call- (yes; Kubby, no). This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #27 page 80 ITEM NO. 27 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION ASSESSING LIQUIDATED DAMAGES AGAINST CABLEVISION VII, INC. Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #27). This is the liquidated damages in the amount of $250 per day which will be assessed against TCI beginning February 27, 1998 until such time as the system is completed in accordance with the contract. Thornberry/ Move adoption. Kubby/ Second. Lehman/ Moved by Thornberry, seconded by Kubby. Discussion? Kubby/ I think this is, in a certain way, a hard decision, because they were offered more money, but that I think that it's a wise decision because we're not asking for anything more than what we agreed to, and we're not expecting anything less than we agreed to, and we're not allowing this company to use us for their own promotion in that way. And we're just asking to live up to the agreement, so I'm glad that we're going this way. Thornberry/ Not just that, Karen, and I agree with you. It also helps them along in completing this project, being that it's a per-day charge instead of a flat-fee for (can't hear). Norton/ Yeah. I think we should, I'm going to support it now, even though I didn't earlier. Because I think it's appropriate to get behind this together. But I think the Committee recommended that we do it the other way, our Commission. So we should acknowledge that we're taking a position that was not recommended to us by our Commission. Lehman/ Well, I just have one comment. Had the cable company started construction in a timely fashion, it would have been completed a long, long time ago. And I certainly don't -- I'm going to support this, but I certainly don't want to give the impression that there's any malice or hard feelings. This is just complying with an agreement that was agreed to by both the City and TCI. Kubby/ Although I do have some strong feelings that they knew they had an agreement, and they started really late, and that was their choice. And so I don't want, it's not malice, but I am upset. Lehman/ Well, I think that's what I said. Kubby/ This company who made an agreement with us, and then made a conscious choice to start very late. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #27 page 81 Champion/ Well, I think they made an agreement with the public, and didn't keep it. Lehman/ I think that's what we're saying. We're just saying it without malice. Kubby/ That's okay. Norton/ But I don't want it to be understood -- Kubby/ Just so it's not non-emotional. No malice is okay. Norton/ The Commission, I don't want to, the Commission recommends the other way of proceeding, you understand. The Commission recommended the other way of dividing this and bringing in a larger amount of money overall. But between us and the citizens and the subscribers who are presumably suffering specifically from the delay, so I, but I don't want to think they were being sympathetic, either. They thought they were being hard-nosed in their way. Lehman/ Well, since you insist on bringing that up, Dee, my personal view of allowing them to settle in the manner that was recommended by the Broadband Communications Commission was allowing them to use this as a sales promotion tool for not performing their contract on time, and I find that -- Norton/ Oh, I would not have, I would have included language to preclude that possibility. Kubby/ I like your -- Norton/ Let's go. Lehman/ Roll call- (yes). Motion carried. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #29 page 82 ITEM NO. 29 CITY COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #29). We did have an application last night. That person does not qualify. We're going to have to re-advertise for someone to fill that position. Thomberry/ I don't know that it's not the fact that they're not qualified. I think -- Lehman/ No, qualified under our -- Kubby/ For this position. Thomberry/ I think this person was definitely qualified. Lehman/ We know that. Didn't qualify under the regulations that we set forth. Champion/ Right. Vanderhoef/ And those regulations mean that it is a downtown business. The business has to be there. And that's what disqualified this person. Karr/ Or property owner. Vanderhoef/ Right. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #30 page 83 ITEM NO. 30 CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION Lehman/City Council Information. Who would like to go first? Champion/ Well, is this time and the opportunity to announce that Dee Vanderhoef is going to take over the Convention Bureau representation? Lehman/ Actually, I think you just made that into a motion. Moved by Champion. Kubby/ Second. Lehman/ Seconded by Kubby that Dee Vanderhoefbe representative of Council at the Convention of Tourism. Kubby/ Thank you for being willing to take it. Lehman/ All in favor say aye, please -(ayes). Opposed- (none). Thank you, Dee, very much. You're officially appointed. Vanderhoef/You're welcome. Champion/ That's great. Lehman/ You ran that one through, Connie. Now, is there anything else? Champion/ No. I want to go home. Lehman/ You want to go home. Karen? Kubby/ I'll make mine really quick. Two events I want to remind people about, and I'll do them in chronological order. The first one is a celebration of May Day which is a typical celebration for working people just to celebrate their solidarity and the Iowa City Federation of Labor, and the American Federation of Teachers, Local #716 of which I am a member is having a celebration from 11:30 to 1:00 downtown by the fountain. Sing some labor songs, it's an open mic, anyone can come and talk at the mic. And secondly, Saturday, May 9th from 9:00 to 11:30 a.m. at, I'm always forgetting, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, it's the only place big enough for the annual Project Green Garden Fair of Perennials. So don't miss that. Plants that were kind of born and raised here in Iowa City so they can handle the weather. Great place to get some wonderful plants. That's it. Lehman/ Mike? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #30 page 84 O'Donnell/ I just wanted to announce that the Council will be performing, I don't know the date on this -- Norton/ June 13th and 14th. O'Donnell/ June 13th and 14th, and Dee Norton will at least be there. Norton/ Yeah. June 13th and 14th. O'Donnell/ Also, I wanted to thank a local radio station, KCJJ. They had a fund-raiser for the Crisis Center and collected, I understand, over $4,000 cash, and 4,000 pounds of food. Thank you, KCJJ. Thornberry/ I would like to just mention and see, Steve, if this could be a possibility, or the rest of the Council, that in residential areas, where there is parking on one side of the street all the time, if that, if that could be moved, in residential areas, I'm not talking about Dodge Street or anything like that, that could be moved from day to day, odd days, even days, back and forth. Didn't we used to do that, or still do that? Atkins/ We still do that. Kubby/ In certain areas. Atkins/ Northside. Thornberry/ I'd like to have more streets do, be able to do that, or enforce that. Should I bring you street names? Atkins/ Sure. Kubby/ Why is that? Thornberry/ There are cars, I've had some people come to me and say they'll push their car forward maybe a foot. And -- Kubby/ But if they're not driving their car, that's good. Thornberry/ And well, it's not running. Lehman/ Street storage. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #30 page 85 Thomberry/ And, that's not the purpose of on-street parking is not for street storage. It would cause them a lot more consternation if they had to at least turn it around and put it on the other side of the street every other day. Kubby/ Right. Although an unintended consequence is that those people who aren't driving their cars as frequently, every day will then turn their car over and figure well, instead of walking to the store, I've got my car turned over, I might as well drive it. Thornberry/It's probably better for a car to start it once every six months or something than just to let it sit there. Atkins/ Well, we have a 48 hour rule. Thornberry/ I understand, but it's only if someone calls in and complains. And they didn't want to call in every single day so. Atkins/ Okay. Thornberry/ If, I'll bring you some street names that I would recommend moving from one side to the other is not going to be a big deal. Atkins/ And we also do a postal card survey of the neighborhood. We ask their opinion before we do these things. That's the common process. Champion/ I have some trouble with that. If people are living in an apartment and parking their car and not driving it, or ifI have a weekend guest and they're parking their car on the street -- Lehman/ They've got 48 hours, that's two days. Champion/ Well my guests stay a little longer than that. Lehman/ Have them move their car then. O'Donnell/Well, I would, too ifI were invited to your house. Thornberry/ It's a motel. And the food's great, too. O'Donnell/ It's not working, Dean. Lehman/ All right. Dean, do you have anything else? Thornberry/ Nope, that's all I have. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #30 page 86 Lehman/ Dee? Vanderhoef/ All right. We get to have a couple of people in the Parks and Recreation that have done some outstanding work. We have a Steve Roberts who's been a maintenance person at the Rec Center at Mercer Park, at City Park Pool, and the Civic Center. He's a jack-of-all-trades, and he was recognized by the State Association of Parks and Recreation as an outstanding maintenance person. The other person that I would like to acknowledge is Matt Pacha. He presently is Chair of the Parks and Recreation Commission, and this man worked tirelessly for the, for the kids project. And just tonight, we let the bid for the building of the Mercer Park addition. This man and his team produced over $400,000 of contributions for this project. And this is really outstanding public and private activity. And thank you very much, Matt. That's it. Lehman/ Dee? Norton/ I first just want to mention, perhaps for, again, and thank, extend thanks to John Shaw for his work on the Historic Preservation Commission, and to make absolutely clear to everybody who hears this that his departure from that Commission was entirely a matter of a State law that requires Officers of the City, as he was considered to be, who were owners of a building, cannot participate in a contract but not bid. So he didn't fit the exceptions, and he got, it was a situation entirely out of his control and out of our control, and we have nothing but the highest respect for his work on that Commission, and his enthusiasm, not just work, but enthusiastic work. Now, another, I also wanted to comment, Steve, to you, or Dave Schoon, or whoever, about the downtown guide. I thought, we got a copy that went to downtown businessmen, and I thought it was quite nice. And I take it this is something that will be kept up to date so that there are no illusions about who's supposed to do what to whom. And I think it's a very, very commendable effort. Atkins/ There may be illusions, but -- Norton/ Right. But, also, I want to call your attention that Dodge Street is still very rumbly. When you go up the approach to the Dodge Street bridge, you bounce right out of your car. Champion/ Wake you up. Norton/ Well, somebody was going to grind it down. I think we've still got problems, so take a look at it, will you? Atkins/ I'm pretty sure it's on the list. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #30 page87 Norton/ Is it on the list? Okay. Atkins/ I'll check it for you, then. Because you called it in. Kubby/ Traffic calming. Norton/ Oh, traffic calming, that's right. It's rumble strips, Dean. Atkins/So you don't want it ground. Vanderhoef/ He didn't hear that. Lehman/ Move it out to Scott Boulevard. Norton/ No, just take a look at it. Atkins/ Okay. Thornberry/ Let's rumble. Lehman/ I've got a couple things. Mike and Connie and I met with the neighborhood folks a week ago Sunday night, talking about the neighborhoods, and we had a very nice visit. Also, last Saturday, and that would be the Arbor Day celebration, planting of trees and starting the counting of the trees and mapping in Manville Heights. And it was rainy and it was lousy and there must've been close to forth people. Yeah, it was real nice. And they offered to give me a tree, but I didn't take it because I was afraid it might be worth more then $2.99. And I'd like to remind folks again the Crisis Center breakfast, Sunday, at St. Wenceslaus Church. Next Saturday, the Charette is going to be held at the ParkView church on Foster Road. And that's going to be relevant to the peninsula property. It could be a very, very important thing as far as the City is concerned, and I will certainly encourage everyone to go to that. O'Donnell/ That's Saturday? Lehman/ That's Saturday, May 2nd, 8:30. O'Donnell/ Okay. Lehman/ I hope all of the Council folks -- Karr/ 9:00 to 2:00. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. #3O Lehman/ How come they want me at 8:30? Norton/ You probably have to make a proclamation. Vanderhoef/ Cooking breakfast. Kubby/ He wants that half hour. Lehman/ The other thing, I noticed in today's paper, the County is in the process of setting up their committee that will be a committee comprised of County folks, Coralville folks, a couple members from the Iowa City City Council, and some riders of SEATS. We're going to be appointing two folks to that board. I would like to suggest that we appoint Dee Norton and Mike O'Donnell. I don't know at what point we need to make that appointment. Thornberry/ I'd second that. Champion/ Do we need a Staffperson on this? Lehman/ No, I don't, this committee is made up -- well Staffpeople are obviously invited. Atkins/ We will attend on their behalf, but we would not vote. Champion/ Oh, okay. Atkins/ Someone will staff it on behalf of Mike and Dee. Lehman/ And I suspect that committee will be getting started rather soon, hopefully. Lehman/ Will you accept that appointment, Mr. Norton? Norton/ Yeah. Lehman/ Mr. O'Donnell? O'Donnell/ Sure, I will. absolutely. Lehman/ I think it's a very important committee. Norton/ We will pick up the torch from you and -- Dean, we'll pick up the torch from you and Dee. Lehman/ All right. We're done. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998. page 88 #31a page 89 ITEM NO. 31 a REPORT ON ITEMS FROM THE CITY MANAGER. Lehman/ Steve, do you have anything? Atkins/ Yeah, I have one item for you tonight. Somewhat of a heads-up and to ask your assistance. We have CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 98-62, SIDE A Atkins/ Speeding. Please, whenever you have a chance to talk to friends, and I say this to the audience, when you see these projects, please, please slow down. I will promise you vigorous speeding enforcement because it's very, very dangerous. There's particular concern about the Captain Irish Parkway/Dubuque Street because it's 45. We're going to ask for a lower speed limit. But anything you can do to put the word out, we've got to get folks to slow down. Champion/ Steve, do we double the fines in construction areas like the -- Atkins/ I think that's a State law. I just, I can assure you that I want to protect those workers and -- Champion/ I think that really helps control the speed in construction areas. Atkins/ Well, just, whenever you can talk about it, tell people to slow down. That's it. Lehman/ Thank you, Steve. Eleanor? Dilkes/ Nothing. Lehman/ Eleanor, did you have a birthday last week? Dilkes/ Well, yes. Lehman/ Well, happy birthday to you. Council/ Happy Birthday. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting April 28, 1998.