HomeMy WebLinkAbout1995-04-10 TranscriptionApril 10, 1995 ............. Council Work Session
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April 10,
Council:
Staff: Atkins, Helling, Woito, Kerr, Ogren,
Davidson, Milkman, Nasby, Boothroy.
1995 Council Work Session 7:35 PM
Horow, Baker, Kubby, Lehman, Nov, Pigott, Throgo
Franklin, Kugler,
Tapes: 95-51, all; 95-52, all; 95-53, Side 1.
Review Zoninq Matters 95-51 S1
Franklin/ I would like to shift the agenda around .... and do the
exterior stairwells last so that we are back to back with the
Homebuilders' presentation.
ITEM NO. 6a.
Public hearing on an ordinance conditionally amend-
ing the use regulations of approximately 34.21
acres located west of Taft Avenue along Court
Street extended from RS-5, Low Density Single-
Family Residential, to CN-1, Neighborhood Commer-
cial (6.93 acres), RM-12, Low Density Multi-Family
Residential (12 acres), and RS-8, Medium Density
Single-Family Residential (8.14 and 7.14 acres).
Franklin/ First item then is a p.h. on rezonings in the Windsor
Ridge Development from RS-8 to CN-1, RM-12 and RS-8. This is
something we encouraged the developer to pursue because it is
creating... the kid of neighborhoods that we have been talking
about. What it is going to result in... there are different
housing types and there is also a neighborhood commercial
center and we advised that this be done at this point rather
than when it can actually develop so that it is in place when
people buy property in Windsor Ridge .... Up on the overhead
are the different areas that are to be rezoned .... This
drawing ...... shows the entire development project also. Let
me go through the conditions of the conditional zoning .... RS-
8 areas .... on the west side of this project is just south of
the proposed Court Street Extension... platted as an outlot
originally ..... Proposed as an RS-8...done under an OPDH as it
is finally developed. That is a condition that this be
developed subject to an OPDH .....
Kubby/ Isn't there still an outlot south of the creek left over?
\
Franklin/ Yeah, that is a parkway. (Refers to map). What we are
showing for the rezoning is north of there and that would stay
a green space. The creek and south of the creek to the s.f.
development.
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Kubby/ But it would be zoned RS-8 and be part of the overlay?
Franklin/ Yes.
Nov/ Why is this crescent shaped street designed that way?
Franklin/ That is a concept that is not being adopted at this point
in time .... an idea .... not locking it in to that design at
all at this point .... zoned RS-8 subject to an OPDH ..... That
is not what you are approving ....
Nov/
Franklin/ (Refers to map). The other RS-8 area is on the east side
and it is configured like this and includes the town
square ..... Stipulation that the RS-8 be subject to an OPDH
and that the open space which is shown as the town square be
preserved in roughly this kind of configuration. But we will
look at this again when the OPDH comes in .... Then we have got
an RM-12 (refers to map) on this corner of Court and Taft and
that .... is in an area where the topography .... intersection
is placed such that it has good site distance .... (refers to
map) ..... What this is doing is taking advantage of the
intersection of Court and Taft to define and area... and the
drainage area .... to define an area for a slightly higher
density of developmsnt. The stipulation on this piece is that
the development plan will finally be reviewed by Planning but
it would be done administratively ..... Last component is the
CN-1 zone... (refers to map) at the corner of Court and Taft
and the idea there was that this developed as a integrated
project .... talking about reduction in the parking requirement
for CN-1 ..... There is buildings along Court, along Taft and
then this was all parking in here ..... (refers to map) .....
Thought this really looks like an awful lot of parking on this
particular site ..... Said we got to get the parking down ....
What we did was ask the developer if he would wait a couple of
months while we worked on reduction of CN-1 parking require-
ments. He consented to that .... result ..... New concept plan
we have much less parking shown on the plan .... shared
parking .... Jeff is going to talk to you about that CN-1
parking reduction ...... condition of the CZA is that this
development, this whole concept, cannot take place until Court
Street is extended to Taft Avenue and that is an important
factor in terms of decisions you all make about the Court
Street extension and its timing on how important this is to
the city as well as how important it is to the developer.
Pigott/ Is that in the CIP?
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Franklin/ Court Street Extension is in the CIP .... '97 or '98. We
are going to be looking at the entire CIP soon ....
Pigott/ Any discussion with the developer about that?
Franklin/ Yes.
Baker/ The land in between is not owned by the same developer?
Franklin/ No, not at this point in time ....
Pigott/ Is there interest...of developer...contributing... to any
sort of costs of regarding the extension of Court Street?
Franklin/ Yes .....
Kubby/ ... are we going to be approving the concept for CN-i?
Franklin/ No. The CN-1 is also subject to review by the Planning
Department. It is administrative ..... It is the general
concepts of the neighborhood commercial zone combined with the
reduced parking. The assurance of the town square open space
concept is in the RS-8 zone, not in the CN-1 and that is
subject to the OPDH which you will see.
Kubby/ So those concepts are not in the CZA?
Franklin/ The concepts of the CN-1 ..... design provisions that we
adopted recently in the CN-1 .....
Kubby/ I was speaking more of the town square concept that is in
the RS~8. That is not in the CZA?
Franklin/ It is in the CZA as a condition... must have the town
square concept in it. The last condition has to do with
possible jurisdictional wetlands in the westerly RS-8. We show
the potential for wetlands on our sensitive areas map ..... If
it is a jurisdictional wetland they will have to have Corps
approval which is a condition of the zoning .... matter of law,
too.
Kubby/ Would our Sensitive Areas Committee be part of the
discussion in terms of designing an OPDH?
Franklin/ It depends on when this happens .... dependent upon Court
Street being extended, it is likely the Sensitive Areas
Committee will have finished their work before Court is
extended and this gets to us for development.
Kubby/ What about the Technical Advisory?
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Franklin/ The Technical Advisory Committee would look at it.
Baker/ Karin, this would not go back through P/Z?
Franklin/ Parts of it will go back through P/Z? The two RS-8
developments will go back through P/Z. The CN-1 and the RM-12
will go through Planning review, administrative review.
Kubby/
Horow/ Anything else?
Throg/ .... I want to praise Gary Watts for proposing this
innovative concept plan ..... model for development .... ought
to work with him to maximize the likelihood that it will turn
out to be as good as it could be. I really like the
integration of housing types .... income ranges .... commercial
town square ..... attempts to integrate all of those things ....
I do have some questions ..... One is I don't really understand
the western most RS-8 portion is there instead of being closer
to a CN-1 zoning .....
Franklin/ ...We talked about along this row of blocks having some
higher density and what we ran into was where do you stop it.
Where is the place of transition? We could do something ...
creating some sort of greenway buffer or something in
there .... talked about it during preliminary stages... (refers
to map)...concern was then the marketing of these remaining
s.f. (refers to map) ..... The issue here had to do with a
piece of land that was kind of left over because of the
alignment of Court Street, getting the proper grades... and
dealing with the Ralston Creek drainage area .... Had a piece
that really was not appropriate ..... I understand the
transitional questions ....
Throg/ .... Does seem to me that there is an opportunity to build
in a transition from apartment units to say town houses to
s.f. homes with reasonable consistent design themes .... move
it gradually from the higher density apartment units to zero
lot lines ....
Gary Watts/ Initially when we planned this .... We could integrate
that into it. It is something to consider. What you see there
is a plan but it is not cast in stone (refers to map).
Kubby/ Wouldn't there need to be some zoning changes?
Franklin/ There would need to be a zoning change to allow that to
occur .....
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Throg/ Build it in before housing is there .....
Kubby/ .... But because the concepts are what we have been asking
for ..... Don't want to wait to long .... not done piece mill.
Franklin/ (Refers to map)
Watts/ (Refers to map). It is market driven... lot of s.f. lots ....
people who want to retire... lot of calls like that .... CN-1
... town square .... gathering place .... going to incorporate
that in our trail system .... I think it is important .... We
want to be growing ....
Kubby/ .... diversity of costs involved .... some moderate priced
housing... not insured in any way.
Throg/ Two or three other observations .... CN-1, the easterly RS-8,
and the ~4-12 zones. I know there is going to be either OPDH
review or administrative review of the final design proposals.
I think there is a terrific opportunity to really integrate
the design of those three segments so that it feels like a
coherent whole ..... Real opportunity to integrate the design
in a much better way .... like to encourage that ....
Franklin/ (Refers to map).
Throg/ I am referring to the linkage between the portion below
Court Street and the portion north of Court Street. I think
they could be integrated better. A third point has to do with
the architectural design of that area .... pay attention to the
architecture of the buildings, you can create a space that is
really quite wonderful and unique for Iowa City. The last
point, there is some kind of stream or swail that runs along
the trail line coming from the south going up into the CN-1
zone.
Franklin/ (Refers to map).
Throg/ There are a bunch of fairly small trees .... wondering if
construction and design can somehow maintain the vegetation
along that swail so that it is integrated into the design.
H6row/ Thank you.
Watts/ As long as the elevations are okay and we don't have to move
any dirt. But the way it is natural I think we can conform to
it ..... We don't plan on taking out any trees unless we have
to.
Throg/ Thanks.
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Nov/ I wholeheartedly agree with the idea of putting something like
zero lot lines to face the neighborhood commercial rather than
the s.f. There needs to be a buffer in there.
Franklin/ Okay.
Horow/ Any other comments?
Throg/ I would like to praise the staff... and others
Franklin/ .... Gary was really good to work with on this project.
he was very open to new ideas ....
Kubby/ .....
Watts/ I think this is about the second, third or fourth largest
annexation in the history of Iowa City. So when you look at
Windsor Ridge, it is kind of exciting to plan it and be able
to plan a lot of it up front and to see it start to grow and
develop ...... cater to a lot of different kinds of people ....
Kubby/ For it to be a model for other areas of town ....
ITEM NO. 6c.
Public hearing on an ordinance amending City Code
Title 14, Chapter 6, entitled "Zoning," Article N,
entitled, "Off Street Parking and Loading," to
reduce the amount of required off-street parking
spaces and amend the parking area design standards
in the CN-1, Neighborhood Commercial zone.
Franklin/ The next item that I want to get into was the p.h. on the
required off street parking for the CN-1 zone. Jeff-
Davidson/ Here is one of those good ideas that we have been talking
about. As Karin mentioned, when we first took a look at this
neighborhood commercial area for Windsor Ridge, the required
parking for the proposal here using the average rate for
certain uses .... was 260 spaces which .... this did not even
reflect enough parking for the development. If residential
uses were to be added above the buildings .... that would even
add to the parking requirement. We have been thinking for some
time that the neighborhood commercial parking requirements
were probably a little excessive and this kind of gave us an
excuse to get in and look at it. We have been working with you
to try and develop some ideas about making this neighborhood
commercial zone something more towards what we want it to be
which is mainly something integrated into the residential
neighborhoods that people who live in the surrounding area can
use ..... We did take a look at the parking requirement. The
parking requirement for the CN-1 zone right now is the same as
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for the other commercial zones which .... trying to do
something very much differing in this commercial zone .....
First thing we did is we took a look around the country to see
what some other communities were doing that were trying to
integrate these type of developments into their communities
.... That did point out to us that maybe our requirement was
a little bit of excessive .... The thing that we finally
decided to do... establish some new requirements .... make them
suitable for Iowa City .... survey work of existing
neighborhood commercial zones ..... typical of what we are
looking to try to have happen ..... results of that in the
information you received ..... the parking areas of those
developments were not fully utilized and were essentially
providing pavement in excessive of what was really needed for
the development ...... Decided to make some recommendations to
you which you will be considering. I will just highlight those
real quick. Reduce the overall requirement for parking in the
CN-1 zone by 1/3 fromwhat it is right now ..... Other thing...
developers not be permitted to provide more than the required
amount of parking ..... Final thing is to have some
administrative flexible parking strategies for this zone,
namely promoting shared parking arrangements ..... This concept
of land banking ..... new here .... concept they are very
interested in ..... Initial proposal here .... (refers to map)
..... land banked area ..... parking lot that meets the city
requirements could go in there if need be. In the mean time it
is a green area and then the amount of parking that is
provided in here is reduce accordingly.
Kubby/ One of the things .... require some of the parking be behind
the building ..... (refers to map) ...... I like the concept but
I don't like the placement.
Davidson/ ..... We also would require it to be screened. In this
situation...this will at some point will be an intersection of
two arterial streets and it would have parking in the front
yard which I believe is permitted right now.
Kubby/ I. guess I am interested in talking about that concept.
Davidson/ ...Those land banked areas can't just be excessive land
in the development. It has to be such that we could configure
a parking lot in there and make sure it would work .....
Nov/ Can we assume that if it became parking it would also be
because there would be a new commercial building in there?
Davidson/ Or it could be a change of use. It could be that perhaps
a new tenant would want to have a dedicated parking area
solely for their use ..... might eliminate a shared parking
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arrangement that was happening .... Want to keep from
happening... if there is a problem of not enough parking being
provided, it is going to affect the adjacent residential area.
So we want to have a out .....
Nov/ How much... green between future parking and the sidewalk?
Franklin/ In terms of the setback requirements for buildings along
arterial it is 40 feet. But when we look at design, the whole
CN-1 we are going to do administrative review of that design
before it is developed. These kinds of concerns will have to
be taken care of so that we know that anything that is land
banked,that there is an opportunity there to provide parking
with the necessary required trees that has sufficient
screening from the r.o.w ...... Want to have that square
concept be friendly ..... So you have to balance out all of
those thin~s .... We will have to insure that what is land
banked on Court and Taft is going to allow us to have it
landscaped properly so that it won't be unattractive.
Horow/ Unless you wish to delay the p.h ..... I think that these are
the sort of details in the administrative review does comes
under Karin ....
Kubb¥/ That is a pretty major issue of a policy decision. That when
we want to require some of the parking ..... the
particulars .... It is a policy decision.
Franklin/ What you are dealing with here is an ordinance amendment.
You need to be comfortable with what is being introduced in
this ordinance .....
Throg/ I am quite happy with most of what you have proposed... The
land banking idea I am not overwhelmingly thrilled by .... I
see in the banked land .... land being set aside so it can't be
put to productive use ..... Wondering whether we can imagine
some way, quasi-permanent way, to use that land so that ....
you can put some activity on it so that it can be used
productively ....
Davidson/ .... Discourage somebody from planting anything in it ....
CN-1 zone that is by me in the First and Rochester area they
have picnic tables out in the green area ....
Horow/ Couldn't put playground out there.
Kubby/ Why couldn't you put something like a pole building that
could easily be dismantled...?
Franklin/ I am not following you guys.
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Horow/ We are going into minutia here, I think ..... Can't quite
figure out what on earth you would put there.
Franklin/ .... What you are saying is that the open space bothers
you? Because it could potentially stay as open space
forever ....
Baker/
Throg/ I am not saying open space just to be open space... It could
be a place where nothing ever happens .... not useful for
humans or for wild life. I like natural areas. I like urban
areas. Empty dead open space is not very interesting.
Horow/ (Refers to map).
Throg/
Franklin/ The land banking issue is obviously giving you some
pause.
Horow/ Could you give us a little bit more information on this in
terms of where you see this going, either here or in another
area? How we would use the open space in the land banked
situation. How is it used elsewhere ......
Franklin/ You have two separate concerns, Jim and Karen. Your
concern, Karen, if I might try to pin point it is the whole
concept of being able to put in the additional parking in some
fbture time or not.
Kubby/ My concern is making sure that in this ordinance there is
some review about where the parking is. That I don't want the
parking always to be in front of the building or all behind
the building .....
Franklin/ For the land banking concept to come into play and for it
to be converted to parking, there would be administrative
r~view of this ....
Kubby/ ...this is a separate issue of where the parking is placed
and some of the land that is banked might come into that
discussion.
Baker/ Is there wording in the ordinance that requires it to be in
the front?
Franklin/ No ....
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Kubby/ ...Where in the ordinance does it mention the location of
the parking in relationship to the front or back of the
building .....
Lehman/ Wouldn't that really be site specific?
Franklin/ It is .... Site plan review is one opportunity when we look
at a specific project .... plan for whole ten acres ..... When
you have seven acres of CN-1 we may have one lot that we are
looking at. There is not a restriction now in terms of the
parking whether it is in front of the building or in back of
the building.
Kubby/ In here there is no power on your part administratively to
talk about that when you are talking about that.
Davidson/ No but through that site plan review process we would
look at pedestrian flows and how the area .... to the degree we
can....
Kubby/ I go back to my original question to see if c6un¢il is
interested in figuring out a way to add to the ordinance some
opportunity administratively... to talk about that issue.
Pigott/ I would like to give. them leverage to negotiate with
someone.
Kubby/
Baker/ .... I sort of think it is in there now to do administrative
review.
Franklin/ For the land banking and if we have ten acres of CN-1
that we are dealing with. If we are doing a single site of CN-
1, even with this ordinance, if the choice is not to land
bank, we have the powers of persuasion .... of where to look at
the parking .....
Kubby/ Not to dictate that it is always in the back and always in
the front. But gives everybody flexibility and gives you some
power in the conversation.
Horow/ Do you want a different ordinance in front of you tomorrow?
Franklin/ It won't be tomorrow.
Kubby/ But we can continue the p.h. to look-
Franklin/ I think you can look at this and take public input. The
main focus of this is on the reduced parking requirements
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which you don't seem to have a problem with. So location of
parking and what is done with the land banked open space in
the interim.
Kubby/ So we can continue the p.h. and have two weeks to get some
information .... hold the continued p.h. and vote on first
consideration next time and decide to defer that or not.
Horow/ Council, is that your pleasure?
Nov/ I would like to think about more staff flexibility.
Horow/ Okay, in two weeks.
Nov/ Tell me again, Karin... what is the difference between 7 acres
of CN-1 or 10 acres? ....
Franklin/ By right you can have 7 acres of CN-1 zoning ..... If you
want to have 10 acres of CN~i zoning, slightly larger tract,
then you have to bring in a plan for the entire thing.
Nov/ What is there were 8 acres?
Franklin/ Anything more than 7-
Nov/ And 10 is an outer limit?
Franklin/ Yes.
Davidson/ The idea there is when you are getting into a larger
area, you are getting into something that could attract a use
inappropriate for a residential area.
Horow/ Anything else?
Davidson/ Karin, ask me to handle, if we may, go right to Item E.
ITEM NO. 6e.
Consider an o:rdinance amending Title 14, Chapter 6,
entitled "Zoning,,, of the City Code by revising
Article L, entitled "Provisional Uses and Special
Exceptions," Section 1M, entitled "Neighborhood
Centers," to repeal the access requirement for
neighborhood centers. (First consideration)
Davidson/ Most of you are aware that the Neighborhood Center of
Johnson County have requested a special exception to establish
the Pheasant Ridge Neighborhood center on the west side of
Iowa City .... in taking a look at that one of the things that
is required for the s.e. is the neighborhood center shall be
located with access to an arterial or collector street. Their
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site does have access to a collector street and a local street
and we believe that the access to the local street is much
preferred for that location. So we decided to look at that
whole provision and... to consider an amendment to delete that
basically .... For the zones that require a s.e. to establish
neighborhood center, we feel that the review provided by the
Board of Adjustment would get into any site specific case
where it might not be appropriate on a local street .....
Horow/ ...thank you.
ITEM NO. 6d.
Consider an ordinance establishing the Moffitt
Cottage Historic District for property located
between Muscatine Avenue and Ralston Creek, north
of Court Street. (First consideration)
Franklin/ Okay, other repeat items. First consideration on the
Moffitt Historic District.
ITEM NO. 6f.
Consider an ordinance conditionally amending the
use regulations of approximately 13.09 acres locat-
ed at 655 Meadow Street from RM-12, Low Density
Multi-Family Residential, and RS-5, Low Density
Single-Family Residential, to RS-8, Medium Density
Single-Family Residential. (REZ94-0020) (Pass and
adopt)
Franklin/ Pass and adopt on the rezoning on the east side from RM-
12 and RS-5 to RS-8. Okay, nothing on those.
ITEM NO. 6b.
Public hearing on an ordinance amending City Code
Title 14, Chapter 5, entitled "Building and Hous-
ing," Article H, entitled "Site Plan Review," by
adopting design standards for exterior stairwells
and exterior corridors on multi-family residential
buildings.
Franklin/ If you remember about a year ago we came to you with some
parking amendments. That was when we changed from parking
spaces per unit to parking spaces per bedroom and we included
in that ..... a prohibition on the use of exterior stairwells
and exterior corridors. At that time the council indicated
that you didn't want to consider a prohibition on that parking
ordinance and that we should take it back and do separate work
on it. Look at allowing exterior stairwells and corridors.
However, look at some design guidelines, standards, to deal
with this issue ..... we went to P/Z Commission... DR
Committee .... Board of Appeals. That is it. The main points of
the ordinance ..... applicability to general structures that
have three or more units where the units are above the ground
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floor and also where there is any residential units above a
commercial use ..... number is irrelevant in that particular
instance. This does not prohibit the use of exterior
stairwells or corridors. It does discourage them. It states
very explicitly that interior circulation is preferred.
Pigott/ What weight does that carry?
Franklin/ If somebody wants to do an exterior stalrwell or corridor
it doesn't carry any weight. It just says this is what we
prefer ..... If you are going to do exterior stairwells and
corridors, you have to go and talk to those terrible people in
the Planning Department ....
Baker/ I thought the sentiment of the council was .... to prohibit
on the front, probably on the side and force to the back.
CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 95-51 SIDE 2
Nov/
Pigott/
Franklin/ To require the front door is another issue. If you have
interior circulation it doesn't require that you have a front
door but it is more likely that you are going to have a front
door. The reason the front door isn't put on... circulation
system is on the exterior on the building and is on the back
of it. You may want to add a provision that says you have to
have a front door. What we focused on was the exterior
stairwells and the corridors .....
Nov/
Franklin/ We went from the prohibition to not prohibiting them and
this ordinance allows them on every face of the building.
However, it does require that you have certain screening
walls, a roof, and it also speaks to the type of materials
.. If you do decide to do exterior stairwell corridors ....
i~' has to be reviewed by the Planning Department. The
ordinance now has guidelines and not standards ....
Throg/ .... If ultimately the ordinance just contains guidelines
then a builder could build exterior stairwells without
following the guidelines.
Franklin/ Not without my approval ..... The approval of Director of
PCD, that is where it rest with.
Throg/ There is a certain risk of arbitrariness there.
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Franklin/ There always is .... balance between flexibility and
working through a project and having it absolutely in black
and white. You can never have it absolutely... or address
every single circumstance .... What you are always going to be
confronted with is you can't write flexibility .... into an
ordinance that is going to be absolute and not allow somebody
some discretion .....
Baker/
Franklin/ I could say no to a particular stairwell design. What
this enables is...someone to have stairwells and corridors on
the outside but it has certain design guidelines .....
acceptable... appropriate .... there is nothing that compels
the Director of Planning to approve what is deemed to be
inappropriate.
Pigott/ .... You cannot say no ....
Franklin/ That is right ....
Baker/ If they want to put an exposed stairwell in front, you have
ultimately no authority to say no to that.
Franklin/ I do have authority to say no to that because it would
not meet the guidelines. When exterior stairwells are located
on the elevation of the building facing a front yard, special
care should be taken to integrate the enclosing wall required
in subsection .... There has to be an enclosing wall as the
illustrations show you ..... That I can say no to... and the
judgement that is made then is does that enclosing wall fit in
with the architecture of the building ....
Horow/ Does the building fit in with the architecture surrounding
it?
Franklin/ No, that is not an issue ..... decided not to include in
site plan review .....
Horow/
Nov/ Karin, under what circumstances do we require a second exit
for fire safety? .....
Franklin/ I don't know. That is a Building Code and Housing Code
question.
Nov/ There will be some cases here where a second exit is needed
and we will ask for an outside stairwell ....
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April 10, 1995 ............. Council Work Session
page 15
Franklin/ And it needs to be designed according to these provisions
if you adopt this.
Lehman/ Wouldn't a fire escape be treated differently than an
entrance to a building? .....
Franklin/
Bob Carlson/
Franklin/ Bob Carlson said you can't put a fire escape on a new
building.
Nov/ Can Bob come up and say under what circumstances you are
required to have two exits on a building.
Bob Carlson/ It all depends on the occupancy. Basically if you have
more than two living units on the second floor you are going
to have to have two means of egress ..... An exterior stair is
exempt for that ..... It all depends on number of units... and
height of the building.
Nov/
It is possible to have X number of units all going out onto
the same exterior corridor and have two stairways on each end
of that exterior corridor and fulfill tile requirement.
Carlson/ Yes.
Kubby/ For me the biggest question is is this shall or is this
should? ....... I love... having these graphics...
illustrations... to be more clear what we are talking about
Franklin/ Scott Kugler did the work on this .... he also has some
slides to show you ....
Kubby/ Thank you for the illustrations.
scott Kugler/ A very brief slide presentation... show you some
examples of buildings .... good examples of buildings that have
exterior stairwells that were treated very nicely. (Presents
slides of building exteriors). I would be glad to answer any
questions you have regarding the specific of the ordinance.
Horow/ Thank you.
Baker/ Linda, is there any legal reason we could not prohibit
exterior stairwells?
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Woito/ No, not that I know of. I haven't really thought about it
much.
Baker/ Is there any legal reason why we could not just simply
prohibit exterior stairwells in front of a building?
Woito/ Assume you are going to base it on health, welfare, etc.
Throg/
Baker/
Lehman/ The last slide was the front of a building and it was very
attractive front of a building. I don't know if it is smart to
say no stairwells in the front .....
Franklin/ Concerns in the P/Z Commission meeting was that if there
was a prohibition on the front stairwells entirely, that that
would force it to the rear and we would have more situations
where there was not front door ....
Nov/ That is certainly possible. The idea of bare stairways and
freezing rain .... just unappealing ....
Kugler/
Kubby/ Page 4, 4. it says exterior corridors should not be located
on the elevations of the building that face the street ....
discouraging them but not prohibiting them, correct?
Franklin/ That is right.
Kubby/ That same language is not there for stairwells. Why is the
language different?
Kugler/ That goes back to the concern about the buildings not
having a front door .... treat it so that it is attractive ....
Kubby/ I am having the architecturally consistent idea .... but
wherever there is this enclosed wall, whether it is on the
front, the side or the back ..... I would like to remove that
distinction.
Horow/ I would go along with that.
Kubby/ .... Look at page 4 .... I would say the inappropriate wall is
inappropriate on whatever side of the building whether it is
the front or not.
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April 10, 1995 ............. Council Work Session
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Franklin/ Page 2, 2. it requires that the enclosure be a building
wall similar in materials and design to the exterior walls of
the structure. So that is requiring compatibility there.
Horow/
Kubby/
Kugler/ The reason 5. was placed in here was to give the review a
little bit more strength when dealing with the front yard
Kubby/ I would like to have that strength of language everywhere.
Franklin/ The architectural integration? Are there four people that
are saying yes?
Horow/ Yes. The word shall instead of should.
Kubby/ Whatever the strongest language which is #5, page 4.
Franklin/ The architectural integration is what you are concerned
about. Okay.
Horow/
Nov/ This exterior coordination is pretty vague .....
Kubby/
Nov/ Back of building .... may not have any architectural detail.
Horow/ I think that is Karin's responsibility in the review .....
Lehman/ I am interesting on what we hear at the p.h ..... Some of
these things may come up ....
Kubby/ .... I think it is productive to bring up the issues.
Baker/ .... There have been some really attractive apartment
buildings .... Not much faith in review process unless there
are stronger prohibitions than there are now ....
Franklin/ We are not going to make any changes for tomorrow. You
have got your p.h. tomorrow. If you want to make amendments to
the text, we need to make those on the floor so that people
will know what you are talking about ..... If you all agree
that you want the architectural integration in each of these
provisions as the language, then that needs to be brought up
during the p.h.
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April10,1995 ............. CouncilWork Session page 18
Kubby/ And then we can continue it?
Franklin/ Yeah.
Pigott/ Pictures...helpful .... help me .... the slides as well as the
sketches,
Horow/ Thank you ....
Baker/
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Apri110,1995 ............. Council Work Session page 19
Presentation by Home Builders Association Regardin~ the Proposed
Code Amendment AdoDting Design Standards For Exterior Stairwells
and Exterior Corridors on Multi-family Residential Buildings 95-
51 S2
Horow/ ...
Ernie Galer/ President of the Iowa City Homebuilders and we do
appreciate this chance to give our input from a practical
standpoint of things that are going to be changing .... Present
our viewpoints to you .... Glenn Siders does have some input at
this time.
Horow/ Are you intending to do this tomorrow?
Galer/ Glenn can't be here tomorrow. We thought we could cover our
thoughts tonight.
/ Give out presentation tonight. Give you a brief narrative in
writing for tomorrow,s meeting to go on record ......
Siders/ I thought we have same goals... We aren't opposed to the
ordinance. We aren't opposed to what we perceive as your goal
and that is to improve the looks... of a property ..... We
hopefully can generate questions... provide you with
statistics... offer recommendations for you to think about ....
We feel we can accomplish the same thing you are trying to
accomplish in this ordinance and possibly do it more
reasonably, less restrictive and hopefully maybe a little less
cost ..... I have pictures .... This ordinance will impact any
residential structure of three or more units .... It applies to
any building in any zone in Iowa City. I think it makes a
difference what zone ..... The first question that came to our
mind was how many structures are we talking about .....
Building Department ..... We found .... good for past 38 months
· . We found that pproxlmately 70 permits issued that
t~is ordinance would have an impact were
little more than 800 dwelling unit~. Of on ..... Represents a
those dwelllng unlts,
40-50% are condominiums .... multi-family structure... This
ordinance would have an impact on the s.f. dwelling unit
owner ..... Of the remaining 22%-Did I mention that 78% of the
buildings comply .... are enclosed. This ordinance has no
impact on 78% of the structures. Other 22% we have been told
by staff that 8 of the 18 buildings would probably be approved
as built under the current draft .... Talking about roughly 10
of the total 85 buildings...12% are going to have open
stairways that you saw on the slide ..... Roughly .... 50/50
front stairways .... and rear and side ..... What we think ....
you are trying to prohibit this type of thing (refers to
photo).
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April 10, 1995 ............. Council Work Session
page 20
Throg/ Glenn, some how I missed what you said.
Siders/ 15% of buildings built in the last 38 months have open
stairways or corridor or both systems.
Kubby/ Is that 12% on the nearest of that 38 months...?
Siders/ ..... I don't think so .... What we think should happen is
in the second group of pictures ..... We agree that those
should be screened or blocked off from public view, primarily
those fronts of buildings ..... On a side yard you could
potentially relax the regulation a little bit because we feel
that you don't necessarily need to enclose them... you can
possibly screen them from public view .....
Pigott/
Siders/ I have a couple of illustrations here to show you what I
mean ..... (Presents pictures)... why we think it is not
necessary to screen the stairway systems from the rear yard.
Most of these structures are serviced from the rear... parking
is in the rear .... service vehicles ..... Many of these
properties abut railroads... Ralston Creek .... substations ....
(Refers to photos). Stairway...12-16 foot enclosure .... 12% of
these buildings and look at the percentage of buildings that
are open on the front you are talking about 6-7% of the total
structures .....
Kubby/ So what is your suggestion of how to deal with that 6-7% in
the front?
Siders/ I am glad you asked that question. Somewhere .... Photos #14
and #11 ..... (Refers to photos). #14 is what you see from
~ublic view .... Stairway system right here..... open .... This
is entirely open but what they have done is they have built
about a four foot screening wall ..... which hides the
stairway .... (Refers to photos). #11 You got the stairway
system that is on the side of the property ..... corner lot ....
from the front that primarily is the view of what you can
dOo.. add more attention to the architecture here... take a
screening wall... and accomplish the same thing .... concern
when you start enclosing the system .... It omits the light
requirement ..... by enclosing ....
Kubby/ I would like
that Steve from
of that.
to make sure we get some confirmation about
HIS that a whole enclosed wall would mean all
Atkins/ (Can't hear).
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April 10, 1995 ............. Council Work Session
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Kubby/ I just want it confirmed with HIS about what Glenn just said
that by having it totally or one of those walls partially
enclosed that all the fire standards and the other things he
just said kick in. A high level of inspection and building is
required.
Siders/ (Can't hear) .....
Kubby/ Before we vote on this that is an important piece of
information.
Nov/ I think it is important that a wooden stairway have to meet
some kind of fire regulation .....
Siders/ Board of Appeals... they felt exterior systems was a safer
system for exiting an interior ....
Nov/
Pigott/ Glenn... You are not in favor of this ordinance?
Siders/ We are not in favor of the way it is drafted. We are in
favor of the concept .... make the buildings look nicer and
hide the stairways. We are in favor of that to an extent ....
don't think it is necessary to require that in the rears ....
sides, requirement could be relaxed a little bit. We have not
problem with the front ..... There other possibilities ....
Pigott/ And you have talked to staff about these things?
Siders/ Indirectly we have chatted with them... we have never
really sat down with staff ....
Pigott/ If there are alternatives that they could consider that
they don't know about ......
Kubby/ What would be helpful to me is to have in writing some of
your specific suggestions are in lieu of this from the whole
organization.
Siders/ That is very difficult...case by case .... To make a
building look aesthetically pleasing you can't say by putting
a roof over it... it is going to accomplish your goal...
Baker/ Glenn, you agree with the goal here .... You are saying
ordinance doesn't achieve that goal as well as an alternative
in your mind.
Siders/ Larry, it achieves that goal but it achieves it more
restrictively than we care ....
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page 22
Horow/ We have to move on. Glenn if you can get something written
back to us for tomorrow.
Baker/ ...If there is major revisions that they would suggest that-
Horow/ Let's let Glenn finish this.
Siders/ we are also opposed to the requirements that addresses the
exposed or unpainted or unfinished lumber. In many cases we
are required to use fire resistant lumber or treated lumber
.... It is costly to provide coverings for those materials ....
Concern about painting a step... We feel if you effectively
screen a stairway system from public view, why is it necessary
to paint or whatever.
Kubby/ My concern with the wolmanized lumber is some health
issues .... I need to go to Nagles and get their sheet on
wolmanized lumber... get you a copy ....
Siders/ One thing .... (refers to photo).
Kubby/ I have a request of information from staff that-
Siders/ Am I understanding that council will most likely continue
this p.h.?
Horow/ Yes.
Siders/ If that is the case it will give us the opportunity to sit
down and develop some language and offer some suggestions ....
Kubby/ My request from staff is that for the enclosed corridor I
would like a list of what this means .... other issues about
fire safety or whatever. That I don't understand .... I don't
want a narrative. I just want a listing of things that the
code says they have to treat that differently then if it was
exposed. Is that clear?
Franklin/ Yes.
Kubby/
Bob Carlson/ (Can't hear).
Franklin/ We have people from DR Committee...that has some input
.... on this issue.
Bob
Carlson/ ...Since I helped write the language that you are
looking at, two things: The reason we did should instead of
shall.. is the way the Code is written if is a shall the city
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page 23
can't weight it. If it is a should you can only if it is in
the best interest of the city .... Previous council did not
want to include in the Zoning Ordinance a requirement to make
buildings architecturally blend into the area they are in ....
CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 95-52 SIDE 1
Carlson/ .... Let's say we want to build our community to blend
together .... not hear as a board member .....
Horow/ Is there someone from DR that wishes to address this?
Ruth
Fox/ .... The DR Committee has recommended that the design
standards be changed back to the original language using the
word shall instead of.... should ..... We feel that if it is
going to be an ordinance, it should be a standard for
everyone .... We also feel that the language in the ordinance,
if it is made specific enough, would restrict it to apartment
complexes and visible sides of buildings which would be
relatively easy for the building community to know what they
were expected before they started their design process ..... In
lieu of not being able to change this back to shall we would
go ahead and say we think you should approve it more or less
as written. There were some verbages that were a little bit
confusing .... I am sure those will be looked out .... asking
that the builders keep the additions to the building in with
the architectural design that they have already started ....
They can do whatever style they want. They just have to make
sure that all of the parts of the building are integrated into
that main design .... Since the builders are talking a little
bit about possibly meeting with Karin on some changes to this,
I would suggest that someone from DR Committee be on that so
that we could have a little bit of input on that also .....
Kubby/
Fox/ There will be someone present tomorrow night, yes.
Dick
Gibson/ .... I think it is important that I tell you that I
believe that if this language said shall instead of should of
the P/Z Commission would not have passed it ..... It was touch
and go. The concern was control over design issues .... A great
deal of judgement needs to be exercised in these cases. There
needs to be some flexibility and interpretation .......
Horow/ I have asked the City Clerk if council would consider
inserting comments that we heard this evening into the
official record for tomorrow. Is that possible, Marian, to do
that? .....
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Apri110,1995 ............. Council Work Session page 24
Karr/ This is not the p.h .....
Kubby/ People or organizations who spoke tonight to come tomorrow
night ....
Horow/ All right. Well, we have to move onto the next issue.
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April 10, 1995 ............. Council Work Session
page 25
City Steps and CCN/Housing Commission CDBG and HOME Funding
Recom~endations 95-52 Sl
Milkman/ I wanted to start by laying out how this is all going to
work ..... for the consolidated plan. Look at it this way ....
program statements all together. Tonight just briefly
reiterate what the elements of the City Steps Plan are and
then Linda Murray, Chair of CCN is here and she will present
you briefly what the CCN recommendations area and the reasons
for them. Jim Harris is here for the Housing Comm~ission to do
the same for them. Tomorrow night is the p.h. on this... whole
thing has to be approved on April 25 .... because we have to
have it to HUD by May 1. The one thing... there are a couple
of issues where there is not agreement between staff and in
some cases the Housing Commission and CCN in terms of funding.
And so we may need to find another time to discuss those .....
Kubby/ Helpful to me to have one piece of paper that has the
projects, CCN's reco~u~endations and staff recommendations all
on one page. One for CDBG and one for HOME. Is that possible
to do?
Milkman/ Sure, we can do that for you for tomorrow night. Basically
what-
Atkins/ What Marianne is suggesting is making a special meeting
next week.
Horow/ Okay.
Milkman/ We have done this process in two parts. The first part was
identifying the needs... p.h.s .... sitting down and
determining what the priorities were and the Priorities and
Strategies Committees did that coming up with some strategies
to meet the needs .... we did that first .... That what was used
by CCN and the Housing Commission to determine the
allocations. We also... came up with a five year strategy and
that wonderful table that HUD has us put together which is
what it would cost to meet all the needs that there are in
five years ..... We decided we would do a table on our own on
what realistically we were going to have available...could
expect from federal funding .... these are all estimates ....
So, now, what HUD wants in here and the way it is being done
is they want something that is really performance oriented ....
They want to know how many households you are going to help,
how many units you are going to rehab .... Want you to put that
down in writing .... We have been somewhat conservative in our
estimates .... That is what the numbers are that you see in the
objectives for the various areas of need... Finally .... HUD
went back to its original income definitions. So forget
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April 10, 1995 ............. Council Work Session
page 26
everything I said back in January and we are back with
moderate income is between 50-80% median income. Everything
below 50% is low income and below 30% is very low income .....
If you have got any questions about the City Steps document in
general .... I would be happy to answer them.
Kubby/ Question about this term living wage .... would is still there
but it is a nebulas meaning?
Milkman/ The word is still there. It is in there .... we put in a
tentative $17,000-20,000 for a three person family ..... We
have not looked at it with two wage earners. We have looked at
it with one wage earner and that is something we can discuss
for a long time ..... Felt it was important ..... Term living
wage came up again and again.
Kubby/ I am glad ..... important... that we have added that concept.
And I hope we continue discussions about what that means ....
Milkman/ Other thing... we have gone from kind of before in CHAS...
basic policy was most money for whatever need is relates ....
That is still in there in terms of priority rankings .... We
did go to the overall goal of getting everybody to a level of
highest degree of self sufficiency ..... That has become the
overall goal .....
Horow/ ...Page 4, the JCCOG, 3rd paragraph down, made of members of
Johnson County Board of Supervisors and leaders of communities
in the county. Because it is not just small communities. I
would suggest just taking out the word small.
Milkman/ There are still some gaps and typos... let us know.
Linda Murray/ What I would like to do is comment briefly on a few
of the recommendations and what I believe is the thinking of
the committee ....
The first one is the City Housing Rehab
proposal...recommending full funding of $284,000... Some
discussion .... whether or not we wanted to fully fund this
project .... become a project we sort of routinely fund year
after year .... Like to say a little more about that...
Committee.° project did receive a #2 rating.
Adult Day Program...agree to disagree. We realize it is time
to take some action .... We are recommending $100,000 towards
the acquisition towards a new site .... Should give ADP a base
on which to build the amount needed.
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WS041095
April 10, 1995 ............. Council Work Session
page 27
Greater Iowa City Housing Fellowship/Burns Project. We are
recommending $150,000 be carried over from 1994 funds .... Also
recommending the $100,000 be allocated from 1995 funds .....
Concern amongst committee members about allocating more money
when the money from last year still hasn't been used .....
prevailing opinion was that the problem lies in the difficulty
in finding land in Iowa City .....
Baker/ Is this also one the staff agreed with the minority (can't
hear)?
Murray/ The HACCAP and Working Singles Project .... talk about these
two together and you will see why later on. Considerable
discussion over the Working Singles Project. It was
recognized... overcrowding at EHP ..... many con~ittee members
had a lot of questions and concerns over how the project would
actually be implemented ..... It was felt the proposal was
pretty skimpy in details. Finally ..... Marianne Milkman
proposed a compromise ..... $141,647 .... be allocated to
HACCAP and if the rest of the funding for this project doesn't
pan out or if HUD doesn't approve the disposition plan then
the Working Singles would receive first consideration for this
money .....
Life Skills. Discussion of funding for Life Skills, the issue
then came up on regarding on going funding of the same project
on a year after year basis. Life Skills, ESA .... Housing ....
are examples of these types of projects. CCN is
uncomfortable... for two reasons: If CDBG Funds are tied into
certain projects, it limits our ability to fund new ideas and
projects and 2- We are not sure that permanently funding for
any project is really the purpose of this money... It is the
Committee's opinion that it would be wise to try to develop
some kind of policy on this and we would like council to be
involved in this process since you are the ones who make the
final decisions on our recommendations ..... We are suggesting
that this dialogue take place during upcoming discussions on
merger of CCN and Housing Commission.
Kubby/ I have a question about the Transitional Housing. I am
unclear about the replacement in the city's public housing
will be. Will it be new construction or will it be new
vouchers?
Murray/ I don't think we have an answer.
Kubby/ ....
Doug Boothroy/ The disposition plan is due to HUD on May 31 and it
will come before you before that and I will be recommending
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WS041095
April10,1995 ............. CouncilWork Session
new construction. But you certainly
requesting voucher certificates ....
Kubby/ You are going in a good direction.
stock of units.
Boothroy/
page28
have the option of
We need to increase the
Nov/ Is there a separate discussion on allocating HOME funds? ......
Milkman/ Separate ....
Murray/
Kubby/ For the Furniture Project, is it a condition of funding that
$1,000 come from the landfill?
Pigott/ $10,000-
Murray/ It is not a condition but I am not sure the project survive
on $10,000 that we allocated.
Kubby/ How does that get solidified?
Murray/ That was one of our questions ....
Kubby/
Atkins/
Kubby/ My original question was the $10,000 from Landfill a
condition on the $10,000 of CDBG and the answer is no. And my
second question is how does that money from the landfill
decision get made?
Atkins/ I have the authority to do that.
Kubby/ At this time you are saying if we do allocate $10,000 for
the Furniture Project, you would then allocate $10,000 from
the landfill.
Arkins/ Seemed to make sense if your expression is $10,000 for the
furniture ....
Kubb¥/
Horow/ I have a question on the Institute For Social and Economic
Develop. I wondered whether the Committee discussed this in
terms of the evaluative tools? I know this was funded last
year. In looking at the proposal... wondered how you were
This represents only areasonably accurate transcription ofthelowa CIW council meeting of Apri]10,1995.
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going to monitor this? ........ There were only six people who
prepared their full business plan .... For how long did you
continue? What happened to the 18 who didn't make it...? What
is their selection process? .....
Murray/
Horow/ How is CCN planning on monitoring this?
Murray/ CCN monitors it the same way we do any other project. We
look at the figures and we go and talk to them,
Pigott/ Do you have one person that is assigned to monitor each?
How does that work exactly?
Murray/ People mostly volunteer for what projects.
Pigott/ They report back to the Committee as a whole ....
Murray/ I understand many of your concerns .... initial results seem
to be fairly nebulous and there were concerns... Committee
felt that IFED showed good figures for the rest of the state
as to getting people off welfare and into their own
businesses ....
Horow/ Which banks are they affiliated with?
Murray/ I don't know. Iowa State and First National in Iowa
City .... I don't think anybody on the committee is interested
in permanent funding of this project. We are willing to give
it a chance to get started and economic development is a very
high priority in City Steps .... We are very interested in
funding economic development projects but we don't seem to
have any coming to us. We believe that IFED has shown a good
enough background to continue funding for another year.
Baker/ .... local efforts versus state experience. 6 out of 24
actually finished the program .... looks like a poor rate of
completion.
Murray/ State is actually higher than Iowa City in terms of
starting businesses ....
Kubby/ I know of two different people who completed that program
and are doing business .... Not just their professional life
has changed but their personal life has changed .... impact...
then they become advocates for other people going through
these programs...
Baker/
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April 10, 1995 ............. Council Work Session
page 30
Murray/ ... I guess that we didn't really pick a figure as to what
was and wasn't acceptable .... Given the type of program... how
hard the program is it... 6/24 ratio actually seemed pretty
good to us.
Baker/ ...Just for overall program, is that a figure?
Murray/ At one point one of the presenters said a lot of people
come thinking this is going to be some magic...money for any
idea that they have and when they find out that they actually
have to work, good idea... market analysis .... that is when a
lot of people start dropping out.
Horow/ How long do they follow?
Murray/ They follow for two years.
Joan Hills/ We are following businesses that we started in 1988
(can't hear).
Murray/ They follow programs for as long as necessary .... follow up
is another reason why we continue to support IFED.
Joan
Hills/ From the Institute. The 6/24 ratio, we started these
classes in July and the proposal was written in February. The
classes are 15 weeks and many times it will take a client 6-9
months.even after they have finished the classes to really
start a business .... How many businesses really out of the
first year we won't know probably for another year. But we are
following businesses across the state that we started in 1988.
Pigott/ .... Apparently the Committee took some time to think about
the Housing for Working Singles Project and you said that
there were a number of questions that the Committee had in
regard to the Plan ..... If this program is not funded this
year, my question is will there still be an effort to seek out
the details on this by the staff? ...... Given the overflowing
numbers at EHP, there is a real need to do something .....
Milkman/ Seen the need for this for several years ..... So we
decided okay we have got to get something going .... ideas...
came up with this one. CCN is absolutely correct, it is not
fleshed out. There isn't a management plan for it .... We do
plan to continue working with it... What we envision right now
is that the city own the building but the program is run by
another non-profit. We don't see the city running the program.
Nov/ I think there needs to be some allocation for planning this
out and really making it work ..... Something like $10,000-
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April 10, 1995 ............. Council Work Session
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15,000 for somebody to sit down and plan it thoroughly ....
Plan needs to be done.
Milkman/ I agree with you .... We do have some planning funds in the
budget for our overall planning... Nice to have something
sitting there... if a house came on the market that would
really work for it even if we hadn't gotten everything worked
out yet, we could go after it.
Horow/
Kubby/ You have to be in just the right zone for a building like
that. It is hard ....
Horow/
Jim Harris/ I have to spread this out...three sources... Go back to
the City Steps for a moment .... We went around to a bunch of
different locations and held hearing .... one in particular ...
lower level of the First National Bank .... hearing from people
who were destitute or near destitute single parent families...
mostly women... issue came up about inadequacy about minimum
wage and difficulties of part time .... Person who was chairing
that was an officer from the bank and he raised the question
well, what are we going to do about the low wages that are
paid for the kind of people for the kind of jobs that these
people are getting. There was a stony silence .... shamed by
it .... embarrassed... fact that we didn't have some strong
statement about it .... I felt terribly hypocritical .....
I am going to follow the HOME money statement from the Housing
Authority decisions in the established order.
Owner-occupied Comprehensive Rehab. We felt that this was an
important program. We did rationalize a modest reduction...
suggesting that 6 projects be undertaken rather than seven in
light of the fact that $1,414,000 was the total requests and
we had $685,000 to allocate .... discerning
Tenant based Housing Assistance. And there was a fair amount
of mixed feelings about this .... Talked about this issue and
guidelines .... It didn't go over with us... high priority ....
But we did come up with a recommendation of $150,000 ......
Acquisition of Land for Multi-family Rental Units ..... Housing
Fellowship and Robert Burns partnership ..... I particularly
felt strongly that way... try to get some affordable housing
in the inventory is a very difficult thing but very central to
block grant funds .... The idea that it is very hard in this
market to operate... more willing to fund some additional
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money even though the money for the past year has not been
committed ..... On that basis we recommended $100,000 .....
Housing for Working Singles. There has been a fairly full
discussion of that...feel like it was already voiced... not
fully clear as to how it would operate .... We settled on
$100,000. There was considerable differences of opinion.
Down Payment Assistance for Manufactured Housing. Applicant
was first National Bank. We ended up with $80,000
recommendation ..... High interest rate for a mortgage for
manufactured housing ..... It is more or less permanent
housing. Consensus settled on $80,000 .....
Kubby/ Was there any discussion about the appropriateness or
inappropriateness of bank getting public funds to then loan
out versus taking their own funds to do such a program as part
of their CRA?
Harris/ That was certainly something that came to my mind. We
didn't confront that directly ....
Nov/ Is Jayne Sandlet here by any chance? We might ask her directly
here.
Steve Nasby/ On the First National money, $80,000, those will be
direct down payment assistance to the people. It won't go to
the bank. Making those persons credit worthy to get the rest
of the loan. The bank is not going to collect interest on it.
It will be a no interest declining loan to the person, not to
the bank.
Nov/ And when will the loan be paid back?
Nashby/ If they sell anytime between 0 and 5 years, all the money
comes back. If they keep the home for 5 years it is forgiven.
Nov/ So it is a grant?
Nasby/ A declining balance .... declines from 100% to 1 after five
years .....
Jim Harris/ (Can't hear).
Next item is contingency funds and we intruded on
that...recommended that the contingency funds be reduced from
$57,000 to $30,000 .... Trying to squeeze a little bit more out
of this ....
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April 10, 1995 ............. Council Work Session
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Program Administration Budget... gave staff a tough time ....
flying colors... agreed to go along with it ....
Nov/ And what is the Unprogrammed Funds for?
Milkman/ That is ..... HOME Match and that is the city's
contribution ..... That can be for any project .....
Kubby/ So it is a match for some specific project, not a match for
just the general allocation of HOME moneys? ......
Milkman/ It is up to you. It is that amount has to go in as a match
CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 95-52 SIDE 2
Pigott/ So we could throw it into these program .... ?
Kubby/ So why did the Housing Commission not recommend someway to
allocate that $150,0007
Milkman/ I guess because we didn't ask them to. It doesn't have to
be cash .... actual cash ....
Kubby/ Staff time doesn't count?
Milkman/ No .... Anything that is funded through the city for
affordable housing programs that could be funded with HOME
funds can be considered as a match. It doesn't have to be any
of these projects .....
Kubby/
Milkman/ I think a lot of these things are hanging out there .....
HACCAP Project is sort of hanging out there ....
Kubby/ Okay, since there are so many things out there we don't know
about, this gives us flexibility .....
Nov/
Marianne, I have some questions about the general system of
unspent money. There were a couple of CDBG projects that was
funded where the moneys were not spent. Do you .... in some city
bank account hold those moneys until there is a reason to
spend them?
Milkman/ We don't have those moneys. HUD has them. We never get any
money until we have spent it.
Nov/ What about something like the neighborhood centers .... where
did that money sit?
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April 10, 1995 ............. Council Work Session
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Milkman/ With HUD...letter of .credit.
Nov/ There isn't any interest gathered here or there?
Atkins/ U.S. Treasury.
Nov/ There was a discussion in the minutes somewhere about the ADP
and purchasing the Villa. What is the Villa?
Milkman/ Used to be called the Greenwo0d...near Roosevelt School.
Nov/ And it is a building used for what purpose?
Milkman/
Horow/ It was a nursing home.
Kubby/ Residential care facility.
Nov/ And it is on the market today?
Milkman/ That is my understanding.
Nov/ On another minutes...spending funds on rehab? Do you remember
why?
Milkman/ Yes, the reason was that it wasn't that they didn't want
to spend the money on rehab. It was a number of CCN members
weren't sure they wanted to assign a full $284,000 and the
motion was on the floor .... When later came everyone was out
of energy so they never did return to it .... It was they
weren't sure they wanted to allocate the full amount.
Kubby/ A good topic of discussion for us to enter into with CCN
about longevity with things that keep coming back ....
important to clarify ....
Pigott/ Maybe set some criteria.
Nov/
I don't think this is something you really ought to set
criteria for .... If a viable worthy project comes along, you
can then say we are not going to spend as much money on rehab
this year because we have something else that really deserves
this money .....
Kubby/ We have done it before with Shared Housing. We said three
years and you are out.
Nov/
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Horow/
Baker/ Marianne, could you very briefly go back over why the staff
recommended $100,000 be not allocated to the Burns Project?
Milkman/ Yes, the reason is that we did carry over the total of
$300,000 from last year .... We went along with the Housing
Commission's allocation of an additional $100,000 which.means
there is $400,000 sitting in a pot. $300,000 sat there all
last year. I do not feel it is a good way to use these funds
to have them sit year after year. I think we need to have
something there ....
Pigott/
Kubby/
Pigott/ Where did you want to put that?
Milkman/ Well, we had it in the Working Singles-
Nov/
I still think that program ought to be done somehow or
somewhere. Every time I think of the Citizen Building .... do
a joint project ....
Kubby/
Nov/ There was a potential for 50 more units ....
Milkman/
Nov/ ...maybe part of that could be dedicated to Single Working
folks.
Milkman/ The whole point of the way we were trying to set this up
to own something outright...no debt... have very low rents on
that ....
Harris/ ...I agree with what Marianne said about not putting it
into (can't hear).
Horow/ Any other questions?
Milkman/ After all of this...don,t know what we will hear tomorrow
night .... Do you feel we should meet again next week? ....
Kubby/ I need to hear the p.h. before I have strong feeling
about ....
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April10,1995 ............. CouncilWork Session page 36
Nov/ If there is somebody from First National Bank would like to
come tomorrow night and explain why they are doing this with
us instead of by themselves. I would appreciate it.
Atkins/ (Can't hear).
Kubby/
Milkman/ Jayne Sandler has set the program up ....
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Summer Council Schedule 95-52 S2
Horow/ Folks, you are doing pretty well in terms of the Monday and
Tuesday meetings but the rest of the week it is difficult to
know whether or not you will be here. If you could let us know
your schedules for the summer .... for May, June, July and
August.
Pigott/
Kubby/
Horow/ Marian is the one ....
Karr/ 4 July you are still scheduled.
Kubby/ No way.
Karr/ Are we going to cancel that? ..... up, back, cancel?
Horow/ Move it to 10 & 11.
Kubby/ Cancel ....
Karr/ Staff has got some projects coming up and it really is
imperative that we just know if we are going to re-schedule,
which way or if it is going to be cancelled which way.
Council/ (Discussed schedule).
Baker/ Starting July 5-August 15, I am scheduled to teach on Monday
and Wednesday nights.
Council/ (Discussed schedule).
Atkins/ Cancelling a meeting,
sufficient lead time,
special meeting ....
in and of itself, as long as we have
we are okay ..... contract... call
Karr/ We have a number of projects that engineers are looking at
schedules .... sooner we know.
Atkins/ We need to know if you are not going to be in town.
Council/ (Discussed schedule).
Horow/ We have already gotten the notice about the parade in
Coralville. Any concepts, any ideas?
Kubby/ I think we should definitely do it again...theme ....
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April10,1995 ............. CouncilWork Session page 38
Horow/ What about the rest of the summer ....
Lehman/ I will be gone June 5/6.
Karr/ Ernie, I have you down 1-9. Has that changed?
Lehman/ No, that is right.
Horow/ Gone...June 7-23/24.
Pigott/ Gone June 11-24 .... 11th or 17th...
Karr/ This is what we need to know as soon as possible ....
Council/ (Discussed schedule).
Kerr/ As you firm it up could you please give us a call ....
Horow/ Charlie Duffy and I got together .....
Council/ (Discussed schedule).
Atkins/
Horow/
Atkins/ I need some lead time ....
Horow/ Anything you have got, I want it to Marian ....
Nov/ Why 5:30?
Horow/ ..... Many of people get out of work at 5:00 ..... If there is
any need ~or us to have a special meeting that evening, we
could just have sandwiches and come back here .... Steve's
pending issues list. We have got to start thinking of some
special meetings .....
Atkins/ CIP review .... that one .... 2-Issue of policies on water and
wastewater .... big issues ....
Council/ (Discussed schedule).
CANCEL: June 19/20
July 3/4
RE-SCHEDULE: June 26/27
REGULAR SCHEDULE: May 8/9
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May 11
May 22/23
July 17/18
July 31/August 1
August 14/14
August 28/29
WORK SESSIONS/SPECIALS:
May 11 5:30-6:30 Sales Tax -County Admin. Building.
May 18 CIP 6:30 (tentative)
Ma}! 30 CIP (tentative)
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council Aqenda/Time 95-52 S2
1. Horow/ Anybody wants to volunteer for RAGBRAI 28/29 July for
Coralville .... They need volunteers. County Fair is that week.
Horow/ I have one other item and that has to do with 944 E.
Jefferson Street. This is the house that is being built to
create a duplex. The question that has been raised in my mind
is what value was the conservation district?
Franklin/ The conservation district was to prevent the construction
of any multi-family units and it was understood and I think
most of the people... understood that you could have s.f. and
duplex. What is being objected to .... is how this particular
duplex is being used ..... people are putting in more bedrooms
and more bathrooms per bedroom then would would expect for a
family to use and they for it is going to be rented to
students... issue of student usage of these properties ....
Baker/ (Can't hear)
Franklin/ In the duplex case it would be one additional parking
space ..... three bedrooms and three baths ....
Nov/ Women who called me...s.f. house with five bedrooms and five
bathrooms and it is filled with five students...
Franklin/ ......
Horow/ ...this does seem to be legally acceptable but outside the
spirit of what was intended.
Kubby/
Horow/
Nov/ Five unrelated people in a residential zone doesn't sound like
they are meeting the intention of the RNC-12.
Franklin/ In a s.f. house in a RNC-12 you can have two unrelated
people and two roomers which is a total of four. In a duplex
you can have two unrelated people and one roomer which is a
total of three in each side ...... Issue comes down to how many
bathrooms you are allowed to have ..... and who is living
there. And those were not issues that were addressed in the
RNC-12 and I understand the people's frustration with this ....
They saw s.f, duplex, and made that jump that this was going
to be families ..... have objections to this ratio of bathrooms
to bedrooms and what that then means ....
Horow/
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April 10, 1995 ............. Council Work Session
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Franklin/ ..... Probably is what is going to occur...right on this
corner .... The law does not guarantee that that won't
happen .... They may be coming to you requesting that we
institute some kind of law that talks about the ratio of
bathrooms to bedrooms.
Horow/ Why even bother having a neighborhood district?
Franklin/ It was to hold the lid on the allowable density and not
allow any more multi family development and that is exactly
what we will do.
Baker/ Page Street, there are some five bedroom duplexes
there .... per side ....
Franklin/ It is rooming houses where we don't permit rooming
houses ..... have to give 24 hour notice of inspection and it
becomes a den over night .... We can't say through the rental
inspection process this problem is going to go away.
Nov/ Five bedroom house had five related people in it ..... I told
her keep calling the HIS ....
3. Kubby/ When are we going to get a memo and a discussion about
the Public Housing Authority?
Atkins/ Housing Assistance Program and in general? You should have
that I hope within a week.
Kubby/
Atkins/ I need to confer with Linda.
4. Kubby/ In terms of sidewalk cafe vote tomorrow night .... I may
or may not want to vote on it tomorrow night.
Pigott/ I feel the same way ....
Kubby/ Interested in exploring...way that we can give public
r.o.w., like a corridor, through Zone 1 .... So that we could
have eight foot along the building but we could still follow
Iowa Liquor License by-
Pigott/
Kubby/ Like a hallway.
Pigott/
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April 10, 1995 ............. Council Work Session
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Lehman/ Lease the property to the restaurant and then kept an
easement ....
Kubby/ Trying to figure out how to do it in a way that is going to
be acceptable.
Woito/
Karr/ Staff recommended against it .... liability of the insurance...
and intent of the law.
Pigott/ Is Michigan's ....
Nov/ ...safety issue ....
5. Kubby/ About the Iowa Avenue sidewalk. I guess I would like us
to take another step... to find out what the barriers are for
the property owner who is not sure that they want to do this.
Arkins/ Don't want to spend the money .... Chuck and I talked about
this this morning .... Out of state property owner .... I did
ask Chuck to go back and make one more try with this person
.... have him check to do it by special assessment ..... I
don't have answer yet.
Nov/ I think it is reasonable to do a special assessment ....
Kubby/ Got a letter...we responded to Ernie Galer in terms of
the wood suggestion .... interesting to fast track that so that
this construction season we could begin implementing it ....
seems like it is a really easy thing ....
Atkins/ We will find out more.
Nov/ Might be salvage material also ....
Kubby/ Clean wood waste from construction ....
7. Kubby/ Linda had given us a memo about public meetings, public
records and suggested that we spend some time at a work
session talking about this issue. So if you could just
schedule that, Sue.
Horow/ Okay.
Kubby/ Do we need to do anything about the Neuzil tract
response? We were going to schedule a meeting like two years
ago and it never happened.
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Horow/ Where it is at right now is the Jack Neuzil who owns this in
Solon has talked with Karin about it .... It is up to me now to
talk with him. I need an indication from council that you are
interested in finding out. I would like to find out the exact
acreage and what its assessed value is right now and then see
where they are at.
Franklin/ Their intention has been for years to develop this
property. I don't think they are or would be adverse to
selling it for the right price .... very very high.
Horow/ What is your feeling about this in terms of Melrose Lake?
Kubby/ Do you think people have enough information?
Pigott/
Horow/ More than just numbers involved in this .... topography
residential streets ....
Franklin/ You are considering acquisition of this? ....
Kubby/ Unfair for us to say...
Horow/ I think it is more the basic information about the area.
Kubby/ Maybe at an information session to have a map, streets,
zones, current develop is ....
Baker/ Need a clear sense of the benefit to this city ....
Franklin/ Schedule a work session on it.
Pigott/ I was going to bring up... sidewalk cafes .... Jim
Clayton was interested in this proposal... lots of concerns...
I was interested in having us follow up...see if there are
other places .... If we could follow up ..... I do think if we
found a creative way to think about this.
Woito/ ...talked about some of the concerns ....
Pigott/ Were there restaurant owners there and saw that concern?
Woito/ No, we didn't have any restaurant owners there ....
Karr/ The restaurant owners that we heard from on our survey and
since that time, if they are interested, they are interested
in doing it for full service and are not willing to risk the
liquor laws in conjunction with it .... They would choose the
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full menu and be contiguous than to risk any problems with
serving full beverage.
Kubby/ Does that mean if we put thing south in Zone 2 without a
liquor license, they are interested in serving their menu
without liquor in Zone 2?
Karr/ Two issues that came up at the sidewalk committee meeting on
that issue was 1- Never approached any of the plaza cafe with
that Zone 2 concept and it would also mean that potentially we
would be treating sidewalk cafes on the plaza very differently
than sidewalk cafes in other zones and that was viewed as a
disadvantage .... try and make it easier and not have different
restrictions in different zones.
Horow/ We will continue this.
Nov/ ...like us to consider a sunset clause so that if there were
any problems we could allow it to expire... we could readopt
it.
Pigott/ .... long as we give it a couple of years .... really give it
a chance...
Throg/
CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 95-53 SIDE 1
Nov/
Throg/ I think one year is way too short ....
Pigott/ ....
Lehman/ Have we had any restaurant owners express interest?
Pigott/ Yes ....
Karr/
Kubby/ .....
Throg/ Every single person... has been enthusiastically in favor of
sidewalk cafes ....
Lehman/
Kubby/ Is there any way we can call Ann Arbor to find out how they
deal with...?
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Karr/ I have got that...
Kubby/ How they felt about thi;~ liability or safety issue?
Karr/ We certainly can call...if the question is the liquor law, it
isn't going to matter. It is what the state is going to
dictate .....
Kubby/ I feel like the question is is there a creative way to do
it-
Woito/ (Can't hear).
Pigott/ I wanted to thank you and Marian .....
10. Kubby/ The Open House, May 7. I don't know what that is about.
Atkins/ Dedication of Chauncey Swan .... Civic Center ....
Kubby/ ...will we get some details?
Karr/ Joe Fowler, who is heading it, ask me .... council members may
like to attendo..open up the Chambers... do voter
registration... precinct maps available ....
Kubby/
11. Nov/ Linda, when we asked for mediator costs, we asked Nila
Haug be given this information, not the city council.
Woito/
Nov/ My concern at the last meeting was was she aware...mediators
are expensive ....
Woito/ Do you want us to pursue this with her...?
Horow/ Yes but she has got to know that she has got to bear the
cost-
Kubby/ Half the cost.
Nov/ I don't know that she is aware that mediators could be
expensive.
Woito/ I wanted assurance from you that you wanted us to proceed.
Kubby/ The small claims court mediators wouldn't cost anything and
I talked to one of them in passing... Just have the people
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April10,1995 ............. Council WorkSession
call them to schedule something .....
other kinds of mediation.
Woito/ (Can't hear).
Adjourn: 10:50 PM.
page 46
They are willing to do
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of April 10, 1995.
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