HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-11-16 Transcription
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ITEM 2 PROCLAMATION
a. Family Week - November 21-27, 2004
Lehman: (reads proclamation)
Karr: Here to accept the proclamation is Brian Johns, representing the Church of
Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints. (applause)
Johns: I know you've got a long meeting, but Ijust wanted to take a minute or
two and thank you. First, I want you to know that I represent not just the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We have others here from
other faiths, and many who aren't here from other faiths, who share a
concern and love for families. So, on behalf of all of us, thank you, Mayor
Lehman and the City Council, for this proclamation. As you know,
Governor Vilsack also signed a proclamation proclaiming Family Week
next week in the State ofIowa. My wife and I have three girls. We're all
here tonight, and it's easy to get just a little frightened when we look at,
when I look at raising a family in the world these days. There are a lot of
bad things, drugs, alcohol abuse, and things that, the list could be uglier
and longer I suppose, but there are a lot of good things, and we believe
that families ordained of God, and that happiness in marriage and family
life is most likely to be achieved when founded on our principles of faith
and love and compassion and forgiveness, work, and wholesome
recreational activities. Not only that, but as one author put it, "Happy
families are our greatest national resource, and ordinary families are
extraordinarily important to our communities and our country." And I just
had one idea or suggestion that we've done in our family, and that's to
take one night a week and just devote it to families. Don't schedule other
things that night. Spend time together. Play. Teach. Nurture. Enjoy
being together, and I believe, and I know from personal experience, that
just that one thing will do a lot to strengthen the bonds oflove and the ties
that bind our families together. On behalf of all of us again, I want to
thank you. Thank you in particular for the efforts that you give in
developing policies that are friendly towards families and making them the
fundamental unit of our society. Again, sincerely, thank you. (applause)
Lehman: Thank you. We do need to keep the door open. If you folks would move
over, just along the wall. Sir.. . yeah, just move up the wall a little bit. So
the door is open for the fire code. Thank you.
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ITEM 2 PROCLAMATION
b. Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week - November 14-20,
2004
Lehman; (reads proclamation)
Karr: Here to accept the proclamation is Ruth Beyerhelm, Local Homeless
Coordinating Board. (applause)
Beyerhelm: Hi. I'm Ruth Beyerhelm, and I am one of the many members of the
Johnson County Local Homeless Coordinating Board, a group that gets
together once a month from agencies around town that deal with hunger
and homelessness on a daily basis, and we work together to try and
coordinate our services so that we're not duplicating each other, and we
are, as I'm finding out, I'm relatively new to the Board, finding out that
there are a group of really strong advocates for hunger and for
homelessness issues that affect our community drastically. I would invite
you to come to any of our meetings. I think it's the second Tuesday of
every month, here in this room. Just to give you an example of what we
do, we are meeting next month with representatives from the University of
Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Their Social Work Department, because
we're having some difficulties with homeless people kind of falling
through the cracks, when they're released from the hospital. We're
working together to try and solve that problem. So, I'm excited about the
work of the Board, and I thank you so much for acknowledging these
issues that affect so many people in our community, and for supporting us
in our work. Thanks a lot. (applause)
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ITEM 2 PROCLAMATION
c. National Hospice Month - November 2004
Lehman: (reads proclamation)
Karr: Here to accept the proclamation is Hospice volunteer Ann Sullivan.
(app lause )
Sullivan: I just want to thank you on behalf of the Iowa City Hospice. I think it's a
wonderful organization that touches the lives of probably everyone here at
some time, and we hope that people will become aware, help in any way
that they can, and again, we'd like to thank the City ofIowa City for the
recognition. (applause)
Lehman: Thank you.
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ITEM 3 OUTSTANDING STUDENT CITIZENSHIP AWARD-
Mark Twain Elementary and Shimek Elementary
Lehman: The next item on the agenda is, this is the fun time -- Outstanding Student
Citizenship Awards. If the folks from Mark Twain would come up,
please. (applause) You know, we've been doing this for a lot of years,
and we have a lot more fun doing it. You guys probably appreciate this,
don't you? Not near as much as we appreciate giving it. This is really an
important part of our Council meeting, and we're all proud that you're
here. And I think there's some folks out there that are really proud too, so,
if you would give your name and then why you have been nominated.
Spears: My name is Tristan Spears. When I think of the word citizen, I think of
helping others, being responsible, and caring about where you live and the
environment around you. The ways I try to be a good citizen are
participating in student council for three years, and from that working with
other kids to help make the community better. I also participate in playing
the cello and soccer, outside of school. With this, I'd like to thank the
City Council and my teachers for this award. (applause)
Martinez: Abel Martinez. When I think of being a citizen, I think of helping other
people, cooperating with people in the community, and being involved at
school with fundraisers. The ways I try to be a good citizen are
participating in fundraisers set up by the student council, doing my best on
my schoolwork, and participating in tae kwon do outside of school. Thank
you, City Council, for this award. (applause)
Risk: Hi, my name is Evan Risk. I am a 6th grader at Mark Twain School. I was
picked from my class for the Good Citizenship A ward. Outside of school,
I do extra activities such as baseball, basketball, and cello. Inside of
school, I also do activities, such as my fourth year of conflict manager,
and my third year of patrol. I especially like working with little kids. I
would like to thank my teacher, and the City Council for this award.
(applause)
Lehman: I'm going to read one ofthese. (reads award; applause) We're twice as
lucky tonight because we get Shimek as well. So the folks from Shimek
come forward. You know, while these kids are reading why they're
nominated, it's kind of cool just to sit out there and think if you could
honestly say what they're saying. I mean, this is pretty cool stuff.
(laughter) We're not scared, are we? No one has ever bitten anybody.
We've always had fun. Okay, I'm going to let you start. Give us your
name and why you were nominated.
Rocklin: Good evening, my name is Noah Rocklin. I would like to talk about my
citizenship, specifically my role as citizen of my school, class, and family.
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In my school, I am a member of the school safety patrol, a group of
volunteers who promise to enforce school rules and do (can't understand).
I frequently get requests from other students in relation to homework and
other assignments. When helping my classmates and friends, I try to be
clear, as clear and kind as possible. I also help my family with such things
as helping keep my room neat, the dog walked, and dishes clean. All of
these things are small, but I would like to believe that they just trying to
help, no matter how little or big, is the mark of a good citizen. (applause)
Zalesky: Hello, my name is Nicolette Zalesky and I'm a 6th grader at Shimek
Elementary. The reason I think I was nominated for this award is because
I'm responsible, and not only did my teachers nominate me, but also my
peers. At this time my friends and I are starting to raise money for the
Animal Shelter, and in the past I have raised money for the Ronald
McDonald House. I also baby-sit, am on school patrol, the green team,
and I help tutor at school. I would like to thank my friends and my family,
and the people who nominated me for this award. Thank you. (applause)
Bodnarek: Hello, my name is Kennedy Bodnarek. I see citizenship not only as a right
but a privilege. I know this for a fact because my family moved to the
U.S. eight years ago, and we still have three more years to wait before we
can apply to become American citizens. I was selected for this award
because I contribute back to my community by caring about the future. I
have served meals to college kids at my church, volunteered to baby-sit at
weekly bible study; I'm a member of green team, which helps make the
world and the environment around our school more beautiful. I'm a
member of Youth Group, which not only cares about the future of us
children on earth, but once we have passed away, accepted Christ, and
gone to heaven. Sometimes I help my friends out with helping them with
homework. And also sometimes after school I walk younger children
home from the bus. I hope that one day I can become a citizen of the
United States. Thank you. (applause)
Lehman: I think the future's in pretty good hands. Thank you, folks, very, very
much. (applause)
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ITEM 4 CONSIDER ADOPTION OF THE CONSENT CALENDAR AS
PRESENTED OR AMENDED
g. Correspondence
1. JCCOG Traffic Engineering Planner: Change NO
PARKING 8AM to 6 PM MON-FRI to NO PARKING
ANY TIME signs on the south side of ßrookland Park
Drive
Champion: Move adoption of 4. g. 1.
Karr: 4.g.9?
Champion: Oh, yeah.
Lehman: Okay, we have a motion by Champion; seconded by O'Donnell, for
adoption of 4. g. 9., which is the Brookland Park Drive parking change.
Discussion? I think there may be, yes, please. If you wish to speak to
Council, come to the podium, sign in, give your name, and your comment.
Leonard: I'm Paul Leonard. I'm a resident at 506 Brookland Park Drive. The few
points I wanted to make about this, the issue is whether this is part-time or
full time no parking, and I strongly favor the full time no parking, as a
resident of this area. This is an abnormally narrow street. It also comes
up to a sharp corner with Brookland Place. When there are parked cars on
Brookland Park Drive, you can come up to that comer very abruptly, with
little or no warning ofthe car in the intersecting direction. Our driveway,
and we actually share this driveway with other residents in the area, so it's
more than one house worth of driveway, also makes part of that
intersection, so there are several comings and goings coming up to this
intersection, and when there are parked cars, the lane oftraffic, the east
bound lane on Brookland Park Drive, is essentially over in the west bound
lane, and you've got cars coming at each other in unexpected places with
very little warning. This is a bit exacerbated, frankly, because we're a
mixed neighborhood, by which I mean we have some younger, less
experienced drivers, don't know quite how fast cars can come out of
nowhere, and come up on that corner quickly. Second of all, this is a
street with no sidewalks on either side. So, the pedestrians are out in the
street. I'm one of those pedestrians every day when I walk to work, so
that particular thing is a very personal issue for me. I know that there was
a safety assessment made, which I'm assuming considered the passage of
emergency vehicles on this very narrow street. The concern that I have
about this is that in the real world, it's hard to enforce parking laws
exactly. Is that car nine feet from the curb, or is it eleven, or nine feet
from the corner, eleven feet. Is it one a half feet from the curb, or is it two
and a half feet. And without such rigid enforcement, things that in an
ordinary street might not be a problem, are going to quickly become a
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problem in terms of passage of emergency vehicles. So, as a real world
matter, as opposed to the idealized world where cars park exactly eleven
inches from the curb, I think that really it is a significant safety issue.
Thank you very much.
Lehman: Thank you.
Karr: Mr. Mayor, just for the record, it's 4. g. 1. is the memo. 4. g. 9. is the
letter dealing with the matter, but 4. g. 1. is the item we are considering at
this time.
Lehman: All right. Noted. Any other discussion?
Manriquez: My name is Joe Manriquez. I'm a resident of 404 Melrose Court. I live
with myself and two other roommates in a duplex there, and we, the
parking issue is the toughest issue that we face living where we live. We
share a driveway with the residents ofthe other side ofthe duplex. So all
three of our cars are stacked one on top of the other, and there's no
parking on the street from 8 to 6 during the day. So when we have
maintenance men come, like we had last week, it's a pain. We had to park
on the lawn so the maintenance man could get into our driveway so he
would have some place to park during the day. At night, when people are
coming or going, and we have friends or family that want to come to our
house, or study groups, or anything of the like, they usually park on the
side of the street. During the day, it's completely open from 8 to 6. Let's
see. I guess the width of the street, this summer there was a lot of
construction on the street, and the street was widened, and parking is
probably, like I said, the biggest issue we face every day just living where
we live. And I strongly urge you to keep it open just as far as living with
our neighbors, there's nowhere to park within, I don't even know, a mile
of our house, if we didn't have this side street. Every day when parking is
allowed on the side street, it's just a lot on one side of the street, and
there's not a lot on the other. So, we park our cars right next to the curb
there, and I haven't had any trouble. Not that I'm an expert, but I haven't
had any trouble driving up and down the street at all. And there was a
safety report and we did receive that letter, and the letter said that there
wasn't a safety issue, wasn't a safety concern. I don't know what goes
into assessing that situation, but I assume they probably took into account
emergency vehicles. I think a little bit, ifthere are some concerns, I know
we have neighbors that try to enforce the 8 to 6 no parking every day. I
know I've been out there about 8: 1 0, and talking to a police officer in the
morning and left my car there over night, and he said 'you know
somebody called the police and had you ticketed' and I would just
suggest, we live on the opposite side of this gentleman. He's down the
street from us. I don't know. If a car's there in the morning that needs to
be moved, I would suggest maybe continuing to call the police if it's that
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close, and I think that's about all I have. I don't think it's a huge problem,
and I'm sorry that we had to come here to discuss it. We weren't invited
to the Neighborhood Association's so we had no opportunity to discuss it
with our neighbors previously. Thank you.
Lehman: Thank you.
Diehl: My name's Paul Diehl. My wife and I live at 513 Brookland Park Drive,
and I wanted to address some ofthe issues that the other Paul addressed,
and some of the issues that have been raised by our neighbor on the
corner. This summer the street was repaved for the first time and well, in
my experience. We've lived there almost thirty years and it's probably the
first time it was repaved since it was laid back in the mid-twenties. As a
result ofthat, it was repaved because they were separating the sanitation
sewer from the storm sewer, which had been combined and that created
basement problems, which thankfully we're not here to discuss with you
tonight. As a part of that sewer project, curbs were put on the street, and
they never had curbs before. So the parking is dramatically impacting the
width ofthe street. I can prove that by the improvement of my yard. I
would have people parking a foot and a half to two feet up on the yard
because there was no curb or any barrier to keep them from doing that,
and that allowed a wider street. There's no, as Paul pointed out earlier,
there are no sidewalks for pedestrians to use on that street. It is a major
flow-through, just like Brookland Park, just like Melrose Court is a flow-
through. There are people that have disabilities that use that street.
Mothers that push strollers that use that street. Bicyclists, one uni-cyclist,
which is interesting, and others, just ordinary pedestrians, and let me tell
you, if there are cars parked on that street, when you are pulling out of a
driveway, you cannot see them. Now, the response that I got to that when
I contacted the City street engineers was 'you need to be more careful
backing out of your own driveway', and I take that on my self as my
responsibility. But as you know, we're a town of visitors. And we're in
the football stadium area, and our driveway is used a lot to make wide
turns. Somebody pulls into our driveway quickly, and backs out quickly,
and cars are parked on both sides of our driveway, they will not see the
people that they're going to hit, and occasionally I go out in my
wheelchair. They're not going to see me. Although I'm trying to see
them, because I don't want to prove our point by being a victim here. So,
that safety issue to me is a very limited safety determination. If you mean
by safety issue the street passes because emergency vehicles can get down
it, I can't address that. Perhaps I can. Paul addressed the theoretical
world versus the real world, but there are safety issues far beyond those,
and those involve not being able to see the people that are using the street
because they cannot use sidewalks that are not there. Now, added to that
is the other issue, which is increasingly dangerous since last summer, of
the intersection of Brookland Park Drive and Brookland Place. With cars
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parked on the south side of Brookland Park Drive, cars coming around the
corner from Brookland Place, on to Brookland Park Drive, stay in their
lane, but cars that are going east on Brookland Park Drive have to get into
the left lane to get around the parked cars, and from the direction of
Brookland Place, it looks like a curve. From the standpoint of Brook land
Park Drive, it looks like a comer. It is a very strange place, and it is no
place to have cars further complicating this issue, where there are two
driveway shared by at least four residences. So given all those safety
concerns, given the fact that all of us have parking issues, we have a long
driveway. The length of our lot, and we have to move cars out of the way
all the time when we have friends and we use it ourselves, and it's up to
the residents to provide parking, and the residents on the comer with the
duplex provide six parking spaces, including their garage, and perhaps
another on the alley, which I'm less sure about. So, it seems to me that the
overriding safety concerns versus the need for parking is the central issue
here. Thank you.
Lehman: Thank you.
Walker: Hi, I'm Jean Walker, and I live in the Melrose Neighborhood. I'd just like
to underline that it is very narrow street, and so with the parking on one
side, it does make it very difficult to back out safely, and then when there
is snow, ifthere are cars parked along the street and the snow plow can't
remove that snow, and so that makes it even narrower because a foot of
snow along the cars, as well; and then I won't repeat anything that the
other neighbors have said, but I just want, I had a question and that is
already there is a discrepancy between one end of Brookland Park Drive
and the other. The west end, it is no parking during the day, 8 to 5, 9 to 5,
something like that, but on the east end of Brookland Park Drive, it says
no parking during that time Monday through Friday, so more parking is
allowed on the east end of Brookland Park Drive than on the west end,
where it looks as though the street is more open. So I had that question of
the discrepancy, as well as the comments that the neighbors have said.
Thank you.
Lehman: Thank you.
Parker: Good evening members ofthe Council. My name is Eric Parker, and I
live with Mr. Manriquez at 404 Melrose Court. Ijust had a couple things.
First of all, you know, thanks for taking the time to hear a parking issue.
Champion: It's a major issue all over. (laughter)
Parker: When we were informed ofthe change, I called Anissa Williams down at
City Hall, and she informed me that they sent out a survey and they had
done the safety issue, or the safety issue study, and that there was no
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problem with that. Obviously, more safety issues have been brought up by
our neighbors. She also informed me that the initial complaint went
through the Melrose Neighborhood Association, and that our rep is Ms.
Walker, and I got a chance to talk to her the other day, and I asked her if
she could give me the names of the folks that were in favor of this, and she
said she'd have to get back to me. Because it would be much better if we
could resolve some ofthe issues dealing with the parking in a neighbor-to-
neighbor kind of way, instead of in Council Chambers, and she got back to
me and she said that no one thought it would be advantageous to speak to
us before that. So this is the first time, us that are opposed to this
resolution, we've heard the other side, which is unfortunate that we
couldn't understand both sides a little bit better. You know, basically it
comes down, it's something that I'm sure the Council is used to balancing
the interest of renters versus permanent residents, and how bad this issue
really is, is kind of, I think what you've heard kind of inflicts the issue. I
took, I kept track of how many cars were on the street this week. On
Tuesday, we had two cars overnight; Wednesday we had three; Thursday
we had two; Friday we had two; and Saturday we had six. So, again, it's
just a balancing act that you folks are going to have to see both sides and
make your decision. Just a couple more things. Changing the parking on
Brookland Park Drive will seriously inconvenience me and my
roommates, you know, as Joe said, we rely on the on-street parking on
nights and weekends for ourselves and visitors, our parents, study groups,
etc. You know, it would certainly be different if we were one or two car
households, like most of our neighbors. Instead on our side, like was
brought up, we have three parking spots and we have three cars, which
would seem to be adequate, but the closest parking spot for anyone to
come visit us, is, we're not really sure how far away, aside from the
parking ramp, and that's just a huge inconvenience, and you have to weigh
that against the safety issue. Just a couple more notes that have been
brought up. I would argue that Brookland Park Drive is not a major
through street. The stop sign on Greenwood and Myrtle limits the traffic
to only come in from one direction, so you kind of have it, kind of
mitigated there. The big thing is certainly game day, six or seven times a
year when we have traffic all over the place, and everyone has to deal with
it. We don't have alley parking at our place, and it's just, like he said, the
safety issues versus the inconvenience issue, and you're just going to have
to weigh that as to how it works out. Some great stuff tonight, but I'd
encourage you to vote against it, but I also think some great arguments
have been made on the other side. So, thanks.
Lehman: Thank you. Council, discussion?
Champion: Well, I think this is one of those golden opportunities again where if we
had neighborhood parking stickers, we could solve this problem by
allowing parking on one side of the street, twenty-four hours a day, and
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then you have little passes you give your guests that they have to take our
to their car and put on the windshield. We've talked about doing this kind
of thing. This is a perfect solution to this problem. The reason there is no
parking is because University students park there all the time, and the
neighborhood never gets to use the parking. It's just too close to the
University. So, I'm not going to support this, but I support the problems
the neighborhood is having, and I don't know if other Council members
are interested, but I think that is a perfect solution to this problem, and I
know Regenia has mentioned that she would be interested in talking about
it, and I think we could do it relatively quickly, and designate a couple of
neighborhoods that are real handicapped with parking. So that's where
I'm going to stand on this. I'm going to push that we do that for this
neighborhood, and for part ofthe north side neighborhoods, as well, which
would solve their safety issues and not punish renters, and I think it is a
punishment for renters because they're doubling up usually and ifthey
have guests, there really isn't any place to park over there. There's
nowhere.
O'Donnell: And I agree with Connie. I'd like to suggest we defer this until 12/7, so
we can have further discussion on it.
Lehman: Is there a second to defer?
Elliott: I would second that.
Lehman: We have a motion and a second to defer. All in favor? Opposed?
Elliott: I would like to suggest that we do have what I understand is a strong
neighborhood association there. I think one of the best things, Connie,
I'm glad you're feeling better, but I do disagree with you on part
(laughter).
Champion: As usual! (laughter)
Elliott: It would ease things immensely if the neighborhood association could
come back and give something to us that the neighborhood itself agrees on
would be the best way to resolve this, in fairness to all ofthe residents.
Lehman: I would suggest that, Eric, you call and discuss this with your neighbors,
but we'll have it again on the ih. I would like to go out and take a little
tour, personally, and look at it. I think you can expect us to do something
either positive or negative on it December ih. Okay.
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ITEM 5 COMMUNITY COMMENT
Walker: This might be on the agenda, but the mountain lions. I know. . .
Lehman: We do not have mountain lions on our agenda.
Walker: It's not on the agenda?
Lehman: No, so if you want to talk about mountain lions, you can talk about
mountain lions.
Walker: Oh, I'll wait until it will come up on the agenda.
Lehman: It's not on the agenda.
Walker: Under correspondence?
Lehman: Yeah, but that's not an agenda item.
Walker: Oh, okay. So, sorry. It's just that I know that the City Council received a
letter from a person living in University Heights, and Ijust wanted to
express my concern about what has happened to other various mountain
lions that have been found in the state. They have either been run over, or
shot, and I had talked with Misha Goodman and she had described the
character ofthe mountain lion and that it really tries to be elusive and it's
not going after people, etc. Now I understand that obviously a mountain
lion in a city is bad news, but I wish that there would be some sort of work
that could be done with the DNR to find some sort of solution so that
there's not carnage of the mountain lion, and also in regards to that,
whether there could be some sort of information that could be given to the
public about mountain lions and what one would need to do if you came
across one, etc., just for information for the public. So, thank you.
Lehman: Thank you.
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ITEM 6 PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS
b. Changing the Zoning Designation from Medium Density Single-
Family Residential (RS-8) and Neighborhood Conservation
Residential (RNC-12) to Medium Density Single-Family
Residential/Historic Preservation Overlay (RS-8/0HP) and
Neighborhood Conservation Residential/Historic Preservation
Overlay (RNC-12/0HP) to Designate the Ronalds Street Extension
of the Brown Street Historic District
1) Public Hearing
Lehman: Public hearing is open.
Maharry: Good evening, my name is Michael Maharry. I live five blocks away on
College Street, and it's wonderful to be able to walk down here to Council
Chambers on a nice night, and see wonderful young civic leaders as well.
I am the Chair of the Historic Preservation Commission, and would like to
present for your consideration the Ronalds Street Extension to the Brown
Street Historic District. I think if there were a showcase of what a historic
district can do for a neighborhood, Brown Street, as well as Summit
Street, I think, would be very good examples. The Commission feels that
this expansion fits in very nicely to the current district and recommends its
approval. Now, a little bit about the district, briefly. There are fifty-nine
homes in this area, and according to our Historic Preservation architect,
who prepared this survey, 94% of these buildings are deemed historically
significant. The oldest one being built in 1847, so that is 157 years old.
That is at 614 N. Johnson Street. In this district, there are eight different
architectural styles and forms in the homes, and this area of town
represented two important aspects of Iowa City history. Number one, as
you might imagine, the growth ofthis area parallels the growth of the
University ofIowa, and number two, it's actually a very important area of
Bohemian American settlements. Goodtown, mind you, is the most
prominent Bohemian area in Iowa City. I would be very neglectful if I did
not mention that, and so would the residents of Goosetown. They would
remind me of that. But Ronalds Street is also very quite important for
Bohemian American settlement in Iowa City. A listing of occupations of
some of these early neighbors is quite revealing. Lawrence Denniny was
an engineer for the Burlington to Cedar Rapids and Northern Railways
companies, circa 1860, and he lived at 613 E. Ronalds. Margaret Cannon
was a child welfare nurse at the State University ofIowa around 1919. So
there were English professors, grocers, retired farmers, widows, butchers,
bakers, but no candlestick makers that lived in the district, as well.
Twenty-eight homes as you may have seen on your maps, it's marked with
an asterisk, and those are homes that were deemed key properties and are
of such quality that individually they are eligible for listing on the
National Register of Historic Places. So that fact, along with the
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previously mentioned 94% of the total homes found to be historically
significant, was evidence for the Historic Preservation Commission on
September 7th, to vote six to zero to send it forward to the Planning and
Zoning Commission. On October ih, they approved it, seven to zero, to
recommend that finding it, that it was consistent with the City's
Comprehensive Plan. So with that, I will either answer your questions or
have other people speak if they would.
Lehman: Thank you, Mike.
Ponto: Good evening, my name is Jim Ponto. I live at 618 Brown Street. My
wife and I have lived in Iowa City about twenty-five years. More than ten
years ago we moved to Brown Street, for a large number of reasons.
Predominantly it was just the character of the place. We just loved it. A
great place to raise kids, and so on. Over the last ten years or so that
we've lived there, we've noticed not only maintenance, but improvement
of the street, and we feel that is in large part due to it being a historic
preservation district. There's not a lot of turnover of property on Brown
Street, but in the last ten years there have been, and I've been very pleased
to see that many of those properties have been purchased by families with
young kids, and so there's an influx of youth, and I think that the
appealing aspects of being in a historic preservation district are what drive
people and want people to live there. I think Ronalds Street extension is
very logical and it's a nice fit, and I think would be a wonderful addition.
I urge you to vote for it. Thank you.
Lehman: Thank you.
Burford: My name is Helen Burford, and I live at 604 Ronalds Street, and my house
was built my Leo Grimm, who was a postal worker, and if we become a
historic district, it will be one of the key structures in the district. And I'd
like to thank you for this opportunity to consider creating this district and
the extension to Brown Street. As I speak tonight, I realize what is
valuable to one person might not be valuable to another. However, my
family and I value historic towns and we view the north side as a historic
neighborhood. There are many features of this area that are important to
us. It's not just our home. It's important that it's a compact area. It's
important that it's walkable to downtown. It's important that it's walkable
to the University. It's important that it's a mixed-use area. That there are
stores in the area. It's important to us that there's a diverse range of
housing in the area. Not every house is four bedrooms, some are two,
some are just for one person. It's also for us that it's transit friendly, that
the bus is there. It's easy to get around. Meet the people on the streets
who live there. We enjoy the tree-lined streets. We like the broad range
of styles and sizes of the houses, not (TAPE ENDS) There are homes that
are there from the 1950's. We enjoy also living among students,
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professionals, older people. Basically what it is, it's the quality of life in
the area that really is important to us, and I think that's in large part
because of the fabric ofthe community. But part of the quality ofthis
neighborhood are the homes, and historic buildings again are the fabric of
the community. It's our responsibility, and I take it as my personal
responsibility, to respect the craftsmanship of the people who built these
homes. I also know that there have been lots of issues about 'is this
infringing upon my rights' but the community already enforces building
codes. This is an ancient tradition from the Babylonians, and being asked
to consider one or two more steps in how I take care of my home, or what
I do for the community, really is no impediment to me. I see lots of
benefits from having this area as part of the Iowa City community historic
district. I think it's important to underscore a sense of history for Iowa
City. I also see it as a way of reinvesting in the community where there
are lots of people here who are trades people, and this gives them
opportunities to work in the community on restoration projects, just
generating local employment. I believe it also enhances recruitment to
Iowa City. I also believe it attracts people who are looking for cultural
institutions and art institutions, and most importantly as a neighborhood, I
want you to know that I went door to door to talk to people on Ronalds
Street to see if they would come this evening to show you their support.
There really is a lot of support within the neighborhood for having the area
become a historic district. Not everybody was able to come tonight, but
I'm sure you know and you can see, that there have been letters written by
people in the community, so this is a concept that I hope you'll be able to
support.
Lehman: Thank you. Pubic hearing is closed.
Karr: Motion to accept correspondence.
Lehman: I'm sorry.
Karr: Correspondence, please.
Lehman: Motion and a second. All in favor?
Vanderhoef: So moved.
O'Donnell: Second.
Lehman: All in favor? Opposed? A motion?
2) Consider an Ordinance (First consideration)
Bailey: Move first consideration.
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Wilburn: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Bailey; seconded by Wilburn. Discussion?
Elliott: As the senior member of this group in terms of age, I think it's interesting
to me, at least, to point out that forty years ago when I was working on the
local paper, the Brown Street area was considered by many to be a
blighted area, and I just second what some of these folks have said that
historic preservation has done for that area, so I certainly will be voting in
favor of this. I do have some mixed emotions. We did receive a letter
from a woman who identified herself as owner of a property that is an
appendage to this. It kind of hangs down in a peculiar location, and it
seemed to me that it would be appropriate to eliminate that house, but I
was informed that some feel it has historic significance and more
important than that, I don't think there's anyone else on the Council who
would agree with me, so I will be voting in favor of this.
Lehman: Okay, let's see how the rest of us vote. Roll call. Motion carries.
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ITEM 6 PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS
c. Consider a Resolution Approving the Preliminary Plat of
Saddlebrook Meadows, Part 1 (SUB04-00030)
Wilburn: Move adoption of the resolution.
O'Donnell: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Wilburn; seconded by O'Donnell. Discussion? Karin? I just
wanted to wish you a very happy birthday, from all of us.
Franklin: Thank you.
Lehman: I feared that perhaps you would leave after the P&Z items and we
wouldn't have the opportunity to express our good wishes. Discussion
folks? Roll call. Motion carries.
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ITEM 7 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION SETTING DATES OF A
CONSULTATION AND PUBLIC HEARING ON PROPOSED
AMENDMENT NO.1 TO THE NORTHGATE CORPORATE
PARK URBAN RENEWAL PLAN FOR THE CITY OF IOWA
CITY
Vanderhoef: Move the resolution.
Bailey: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Vanderhoef; seconded by Bailey. Discussion?
Vanderhoef: This is something that just is going to enhance our city in that it keeps
some industrial, light commercial out in that area, and certainly we have
had people come to Council recently that were looking for places to buy
out in that area. So, I'm delighted to make this part of the district.
Lehman: Right. This is active rather than reactive. Which is good. Other
discussion? Roll call.
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ITEM 8 CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 5, "BUSINESS
AND LICENSE REGULATIONS," CHAPTER 2, "VEHICLES FOR
HIRE," SECTION 5-2-8 "VEHICLE FOR HIRE REQUIRE-
MENTS," OF THE CITY CODE BY DELETING (B)
"DISTINCTIVE COLOR SCHEME REQUIRED" AND
REPLACING IT WITH A NEW (B) "DISTINCTIVE COLOR
SCHEME REQUIRED" TO CLARIFY LANGUAGE (SECOND
CONSIDERATION)
Vanderhoef: Move second consideration.
Lehman: Moved by Vanderhoef.
O'Donnell: Second.
Lehman: Seconded by O'Donnell. Discussion?
Hatch: Yes, I have some discussion. My name is Tom Hatch. I'm the owner of
IC Cab, and okay, I'd like to submit that there's a whole bunch of stuff
here that maybe isn't apparent on the surface level, but once you dig a
little bit deeper. There's all sorts of consequences to taking this action,
under the proposed action. One, how many colors do. . . the language is a
distinctive color. Well, what do we mean by distinctive? Are we talking
about pearl, eggshell, white.. .that's the first thing. Second thing is, that
there's.. and this affects at least three cab companies that I know in town,
and ours in particular, but there's another cab company, as well as us,
where 90% of our car is white. Okay? Who's going to decide, or what
mechanism is there going to be to decide, who gets white? Is it going to
be a coin toss? Rock, scissors, paper? I'm thinking of a number between
one and ten? You know, it would be arbitrary, and you know, while I'm
not a lawyer and I didn't spend last night at the Holiday Inn Express, I can
say that if! was on the short end of that stick, I'd be seeking counsel. The
other thing is, there's plenty of cities in this country where there's one
color for cab companies. You look out in the street, and that is it's yellow.
Hello! How do they deal with the confusion? I mean, (can't hear). And I
further this a bit, that if this was systematically chaotic, you'd have
probably heard from our friends in Coralville, where, and I'll get to this in
a minute, as far as the licensing goes, that process is far simpler. Okay?
There's inefficiencies in the way that the cab business here is regulated.
What's not regulated, interestingly enough, is hours of operation, I mean,
how many hours can you sit behind the wheel not regulated? What do you
charge for fare? Not regulated. And unlike anybody else in the
transportation business, no D.O.T. physical. No random urinalysis. No
anything. All that's unregulated. Okay? What is regulated, and I would
submit that it's a duplication of effort on a number oflevels. Every year
in the City ofIowa City, if you own a cab company or if you drive for one,
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you need one of these. Your cab badge. $7.50 at the City Clerk's office.
To get one, you need a D.C.I. background investigation every year. Okay,
it seems to me that this is information readily accessible by a couple
keystrokes to begin with. Ditto, your motor vehicle record, every year to
get this, and it gives something readily accessible with a couple
keystrokes. Now, to make it even more, I don't want to be too vitriolic of
this, but Romper Room-esq. Okay, you then have to take that information
and copy it onto two special pieces of paper that the City provides you
with; one green one and one white one. Okay? Now there's certainly, you
know, legitimate issues in regulating who drives a cab. Okay?
Lehman: We're really dealing with colors on the cabs, is what we're talking about.
Hatch: The colors on the cab, this is what I'm saying, okay? I don't know where
the confusion is coming from, frankly. The third shift police officers we
deal with? The convenience store.. . you know the adults who are sober
downtown at night, okay? The convenience store clerks; the rest of the
cab companies, even the inebriates who are jumping in, which is primarily
the, I mean, 80% of our business is in 20% of the (can't understand), is
what it amounts to, and it's usually downtown. It's usually late. And it
comes from the periphery. It comes to the center, and it goes in the
opposite order late at night when the bar close. There's no confusion
there. Okay? So I submit that there's a whole host of issues that are
brought up by what seems like a fairly innocuous change in the regulation.
And for that matter, you know, like I say, the biggest problem I have is
that if you've priced a paint job on a car lately, it looks like it's about
$3,000 bucks, so times, one times two times three, and I would suggest
that there's all sorts of things that can be done to the cab regulation and it
maybe wouldn't be a bad idea ifthere was a committee established to go
over some of this. For example, the City ofIowa City requires $1 million
in General Liability.
Lehman: We're only talking about colors.
Hatch: I understand all this, but what I'm saying is there's plenty of the
regulations that should be revisited, but by comparison, that's $250,000 to
Cedar Rapids, it's $300,000 to Waterloo. That's a real cost. Okay?
There's not enough margin to begin with here, you know, and to put this
further burden on, it affects like I said at least three companies that are
straight cab companies, and I think it would also affect, and I'm not sure
exactly, a number of the airport shuttle services, as well. So I would
submit that maybe we should talk about this a little bit more. Maybe if we
got a committee together to go over the cab regulation in its totality. That
might not be a bad idea, but this, you know, change or amendment in
regulation to me seems unwarranted, unnecessary, and I've searched for
this word for a long time without trying to, you know, balancing my
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anxiety against you know being vitriolic, but I think the one I arrived at
would be silly. Thank you.
Lehman: Thank you. Marian, would you like to explain.
Karr: I'd just like to clarify one thing. The current ordinance requires that each
vehicle be furnished with a distinctive color scheme.
Lehman: Scheme is the...
Karr: .. . and each vehicle. What happened is we had companies coming in and
as they add new cars, the company wants to change the color of that
vehicle, rather than paint it. So what we have is within companies
discrepancies within color schemes, and it puts staff at awkward spots to
already look at a color scheme approved by another cab company. So
what we've been interpreting this code for years is each company shall
have a distinctive color scheme. Doesn't say that you can't use the same
color over. So you can use red and white. You can use green and white.
You can use... we're not changing how we've been enforcing it for years.
What we are is clarifying that each company have a distinctive color
scheme. The current companies will see no change at all in how it's being
enforced. But new companies will be informed that we do have
distinctive color schemes.
Lehman: What you're saying is that all the vehicle of one company need to be, have
the same distinctive color scheme?
Karr: That's correct.
Lehman: Okay. And we'll, you can speak again later, Tom. Go ahead.
Green: My name is Mick Green. I'm from Marion, Iowa. I'm the owner/operator
of Airport Shuttle Service. They're licensed vehicle for hire with Iowa
City. I'm here to request that, from the City Council, that we be able to
change our color scheme from blue with blue letters, to silver with blue
letters. Reason I'm asking this is we use Chrysler vans. Currently I have
six Chrysler mini-vans and one large Ford 1 O-passenger vehicle. The
reason we're asking this request is Chrysler has informed us that the color
that we use now, the last time it was manufactured was 1999, and it's kind
of a teal blue, and there's a million of them out there, and it was really a
nice thing because it was easy to replace vehicles. We replace usually two
vehicles a year. The point came up of painting. Painting is not a viable
option because, as the gentleman stated, often times you can spend $3,000
to $4,000, which we'd have more invested in the paint job than the
vehicle, some times. So that's not really a viable option for us. With
checking with Chrysler, they said we should probably look at silver, which
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to my knowledge nobody is using that color now, and we would like to
have silver vans with blue letters.
Lehman: That's not something Council has any issue with, that's between...
Karr: No. You can change the color scheme at any time you want, Mick. It's
just you want to change your existing licensed ones as well? You want to
run.. .you can change your color scheme at any time by filing a change in
the City Clerk's office, and being sure that that color scheme isn't being
used by anyone else. Do you wish to change the current cars you have
license? Are they all going to be silver?
Green: No, what I'd like to do is...
Karr: That's the problem.
Green: What I'd like to do is phase this in like over a three year period, and I was
told, we did some research, to come down here and address the Council.
To make a formal request.
Karr: We can, again, the color schemes can be changes at any time. What we're
running in to is if companies have more than one color scheme.
Green: Well, I guess I would like to go on record, I would like to have silver with
blue letters.
Dilkes: I think what the gentleman is asking is that there be some provision, and I
don't know what that would be for a change in color, and a phase-in of
that color. I don't know what period oftime we're talking about, or I
communicated with Linda Kirsch, his attorney, and said that we
understood his dilemma, but there was no authority in the code, as it's
now written, to allow different colors on different cars of a single
company. I suggested she would have to raise that with the City Council,
and said that the color scheme issue was on the agenda tonight, and told
her that, as Marian did, a letter did to all the cab companies that it would
be on the agenda.
Karr: We certainly can allow a grand fathering in. The problems that we have
heard are two-fold. The confusion is from citizens, who when they call a
certain cab company, have an expectation of what type of car or color to
look for when they get in. It's a security for them, that they called a
certain company, that they know is red and white, and when another one
pulls up, they're very concerned that it's the right one. The other thing is
that we receive a number of complaints each year from taxi companies
themselves of people painting their cars to look like their competition, and
so we try as much as we can to, we have eleven companies right now, and
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again, you can change colors at any time, providing that they are far
enough away from the existing companies licensed. And ifthe Council
would like to consider grandfathering, certainly we can take a look at that,
as well.
Champion: Well I certainly think we have to allow people to gradually change a color
scheme, and the color they're using is not available. They would never be
able to afford to paint all their cabs. Nobody would be able to afford to
ride in them.
Elliott: I think the question, however, is whether or not they can phase it in.
Karr: This doesn't take effect until March.
Champion: The other thing is, I don't know, it seems like we're making something
pretty simple very complicated.
Elliott: I'd like to have staff look at it and come to us with a recommendation.
Bailey: (several talking at once) .. . lack of clarity and this is to clarify a current
ordinance regarding color, as far as I'm following this, and so this is the
staff recommendation, we've got it.
Elliott: Except there is no provision for phasing in. Is there a reason why that
cannot be?
Dilkes: The Council can direct us to do a grand fathering, phasing thing. You can
direct us to eliminate the color altogether. You can do whatever you want.
Frankly, I'm certain that eliminating the color scheme from an
administrative perspective would be far favorable to dealing with this
color scheme all the time.
Karr: And we recommended that to you in December 2001, and that didn't
(several talking at once). Yes, they can keep their color scheme. We're
just clarifying that each vehicle isn't a distinctive color scheme. Each
company, that's all we're doing.
Dilkes: This is not a change. It's just simply a clarification in the language
because the argument has been made "oh I can make every cab a different
color."
O'Donnell: How do we put a provision in for.. .the airport shuttle? (can't hear) that
they can grandfather this in, is that possible to do that?
Karr: We can certainly take a look at that, and currently they have seven
vehicles listed, which would be blue color, and they've got a couple of
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them that are 1996. The other ones are much newer. The question is how
long do you want to grandfather them in?
O'Donnell: Did you not tell us two to three years?
Green: Three years because we replace usually two vehicles a year. That's what
our budget allows, and we could probably within three years have it all
done. I would probably either have to paint the large vehicle silver, or
maybe replace that one. That's considerable cost. That's probably about a
$25,000 vehicle in itself. This is just, we saw this problem coming, and
we thought we'd better address it. We're assured by Chrysler that silver is
the staple in their line-up, and that it will be there, which gives us the
ability to...
Karr: I will be very happy to look at the color scheme, but as it currently stands,
I have one licensed silver vehicle already. So, unless the silver is
distinctive enough, I can't promise.
Green: Well, when I looked at my sheet, I didn't see any company that had silver.
Karr: I do. Now it may be a different silver, Mick. You could bring it in and we
could take a look at it.
Green: Which company is that?
Karr: Silver Shuttle.
Green: I didn't even know they existed. (laughter)
Champion: How could you? There's thirty of them.
Dilkes: I think there's a misperception that we don't have many cab companies,
and how many.. .we currently have eleven.
O'Donnell: Is there anybody interested in deferring this?
Champion: Well, I think we've got some.. .we're creating a monster.
O'Donnell: Well, absolutely. I would like to maybe have time to talk about this.
Champion: I mean, we ought to think about some distinguishing feature that the cab
company has to have.
Lehman: You mean like a sign with their name on it?
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Champion: Yeah, like a sign with the name on it. (laughter and several talking at
once)
Green: Which we do have, we're required to have 2-inch letters. We have it on
either side of our vehicle.
Lehman: Right.
Karr: They're required now to have that. Licensing for the cab companies are in
March of each year.
Bailey: You know, this is a relatively simple issue. This is a relatively simple
change. If we want to accommodate these kinds of things, can we just go
through with this and come back? Instead of deferring something that is
very simple.
Lehman: I would concur with that. This is really kind of...
Dilkes: You could collapse this one and be done with it tonight, and then look at
the other issues.
Lehman: And then look at other issues...I think that's a good idea.
Bailey: And then bring, I don't know what this grandmothering thing would
entail. ..
Wilburn: It would also, you would have to address...it wouldn't be an issue in this
case, but you'd have to address, because the color is being phased out or
not available, but you'd have to address whether or not someone can use a
color that someone is being phased out of. (laughter and several talking at
once)
Elliott: Well, let's vote on this, and have a recommendation.
Bailey: We can get some input from these experts, and develop something that's a
little more comprehensive instead of deferring this and rushing through.
This is very simple.
Lehman: I sense that grandfathering is not going to be a problem.
Green: Thank you.
Lehman: The rest of us think that we will.. .however, you may have a silver
problem.
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Green: Honestly, I had a sheet provided to me that had all the colors on it. I don't
know if it was updated or not, but we picked silver because nobody else
had it on that sheet I had. So, I don't know.
Lehman: Well, this is something, I think, we can.. .
Champion: We have to discuss this further.
Lehman: Right.
Heyn: My name is Paul Heyn. I'm an owner of Old Capitol Cab, here in town. I
guess one of our slogans is "ride red," so we're red. I'll probably be one
of the only ones here speaking tonight in favor of having a color for the
cabs. I know it sounds kind of germane to the average person why you
have a different color for cab companies, or color schemes. There is a
silver cab, by the way. He just started recently. So, it's just a single van.
We do have eleven companies. I think there are only two companies that
have more than a half dozen vehicles. A lot of companies are single, or
two-vehicle companies. That's why there's a lot of confusion. There's
probably.. .we ride fourteen or fifteen vehicles. Yellow Cab here in town,
obviously they have a color and they'd be interested in keeping yellow.
That's their name. They ride a dozen to fourteen vehicles, and then the
other companies combined run about twenty vehicles, if you include the
shuttle services, which are based primarily airport services. We get our
paint jobs for about $1,000 here in town. This year we've painted
fourteen vehicles alone. So, I don't see painting vehicles as a large
expense to someone else. Ifit is, or if they're paying too much for that,
they should check around business-wise. We've never had a problem with
it. What we like about the clarity of the color is the safety issue, and I
think this is what's been addressed before, is people calling for a cab and
you can say that, yeah, you look out front of your place and you should be
able to tell what color a cab is when you look out. It's not true with a lot
of the customers that we pick up that live in apartments that are fifty yards
off the street or far enough away that they have to look to see what color
the company is. We get a lot of calls, just problems back and forth with
companies. We've worked with pretty much everybody here in town. I
don't have too much trouble solving this within ourselves, of people
stealing calls. Somebody calling for a cab. Somebody hears it over a
scanner, which they can hear our radio scanners back and forth. Our
dispatchers make sure that we let people know to look for a red cab.
When you go out, look for a red cab. Look for a red cab. It's color, color,
color. A lot oftime somebody will hear a call; they'll try and get to it
before we do; and a customer sees a cab, and thinks that's the company
they called. What we try to do is we try to build patronage within our
customers to trust us. Professional cab company. What we do, who we
are, and when somebody else takes that ride, well, there's now a safety
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issue of you riding with somebody different than us. We think that we're
a different company than a lot of others. We provide a very professional
services. The grandfathering, I'd be against that, just to speak it here, just
because you're going to have that discrepancy again of which color is it.
The average person has no clue. All's they know is that color changed,
and I guess what we'd hate to see is we'd.. .1'11 address the gypsy cab
issue, that's people that will take their personal car, go downtown on a
busy Saturday night, follow a cab, one of us around. Somebody flags us
and we've already got people in our car going a different direction, so we
say we can't take you because I'm going south and they want to go north,
this person behind, in their own personal vehicle, then will have seen
somebody flag a cab, will just roll their window down and say, "Hey
where do you want to go?" Big safety issue for Iowa City. I guess our
biggest concern is, what happens when somebody finally gets in one of
those cars and doesn't reach their destination? So, I think a color scheme,
from a safety issue, is something that's good for Iowa City. And I guess
I'll just leave it, and any questions you have, I'd be happy to answer. But
I agree with having a task force or a group to get together to discuss all the
other issues we have in the cab companies. I think between ourselves
we'd probably be able to come up with a lot of things that most people
wouldn't be aware of. Thank you.
Lehman: Thank you.
Hatch: If! understand Marian correctly, our point's moot, and so basically I'm
just guilty of not reading as closely as I should have and muddying the
waters. So, basically the only thing that's going to change is you couldn't
carry two, or three or four. . .
Karr: It's the same thing you and I talked about a couple weeks ago, Tom.
Hatch: Well I feel like an idiot. Anyway.. . thanks. (laughter)
Lehman: No, no, you're not an idiot. Any other Council discussion?
Wilburn: So we can collapse this and...
Lehman: We can if we want to. Whoever made the motion, if you'd like to
withdraw it, and...
Karr: Vanderhoef/O'Donnell.
Lehman: Would you withdraw your motion?
Vanderhoef: I will withdraw.. .
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O'Donnell: Second.
Lehman: We're about ready to...
Vanderhoef: Okay, I move 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 to be finally passed, be suspended. That the second
consideration and vote be waived, and that the ordinance be voted on for
final passage.
O'Donnell: I second that.
Lehman: Motion by Vanderhoef; seconded by O'Donnell to collapse. Discussion?
Roll call. Motion carries.
Vanderhoef: I move that the ordinance be finally adopted at this time.
Bailey: Second.
Lehman: Motion by Vanderhoef; seconded by Bailey. Discussion? Roll call.
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ITEM 11 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION SUPPORTING THE
DEVELOPMENT OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN lOW A CITY
BY WHISPERING GARDEN IHA LIMITED PARTNERSHIP
Wilburn: I will be.. .this is Item 11, right?
Lehman: Right.
Wilburn: I will be abstaining due to a conflict of interest. This involves the usage of
Home Funds and I work for an organization that is a recipient of
CDBG/Home Fund.
Bailey: Move the resolution.
Vanderhoef: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Bailey; seconded by Vanderhoef. Discussion?
Vanderhoef: This has been a tough one to look at, for me, even though we didn't have
written guidelines at the time that these dollars were awarded for the '04;
however, at the time we had a lot of discussions about the fact that we
were trying to scatter the sites for the housing and to be aware of impacts
on schools. So, I will be voting no on this tonight because I truly want this
moved around the city, out of the Grant Wood School district.
Bailey: I'm going to support this and for the following reasons. We've made a lot
of assumptions about impact on schools, and we have a task force working
on that, and clearly from reading their minutes, it's a very complex issue,
and I feel like we are acting on some things that are already decided, and
the impact ofthat is a reduction in low-income housing in our community,
and I think that that's creating a problem, or continuing a problem, that
I'm not interested in perpetuating. I know that this is in the Grant Wood
School district. I know that Grant Wood is quite well staffed to deal with
kids in that district with, who come from difficult situations, but housing
stability, or lack of housing stability for families, causes even more
problems, even greater problems than going to a school that has a high
percentage of low-income kids. So I'm going to be supporting this, and
probably as I anticipate, in the minority supporting this.
Lehman: Other discussion?
Elliott: I will, I oppose this, and will vote against it on the basis of both
geographic location in an area that already has an inordinate
concentration, and so geographic location and concentration. I'll be
voting no.
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Champion: Well I think this...1, what you're saying is true, Regenia; however, I do
know, and the school district also knows, that we have created problems
by not distributing low-income housing. Children oflow-income and
high-income learn best when they're inter-mixed; when there's a pretty
even mix; all groups learn better when they're inter-mixed. And I think
we are putting a burden on the schools, and I think the school district
would agree with us. They asked us to look at this originally, so they must
think it's a problem.
Bailey: But the problem is the market, I mean, these are the.. . southeast Iowa City
is where there's low-priced lots, and that's the problem, and so we are
foregoing the possibility of having twelve additional affordable units.
Champion: I think we're going to look, I think we've talked about looking at
developments that are requiring...1 can't think of the term you used,
Eleanor. . .
Lehman: Inclusionary zoning.
Champion: Inclusionary zoning. I mean, I don't think this is something we're going
to drop and ignore.
Dilkes: Wait a minute. There was a question as to what inclusionary zoning was.
It's not my understanding that that is being contemplated in the rewrite of
the Development Code.
Champion: No, we talked about looking at it; asking that we look at it, that we could,
remember Ijust asked you if we could do that, and, so if we're interested
in doing that, that is one way to address the land issue.
Bailey: Right, but that's a future issue, and essentially for two years we're not
having any low-income development, that housing, because the southeast
side is the place where you can afford to build these kinds of units. And
we will, I'm sure we will have the opportunity to further discuss this.
Lehman: Any other discussion? Roll call. The motion fails 5 to 1; Bailey voting in
the affirmative. Yes?
Bob Burns: Mr. Mayor? Is there a reason why you didn't recognize comment
(can't hear)
Lehman: Well we had discussion and routinely that's the time that folks from the
audience get up.
Burns: I had raised my hand but you didn't see it.
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Lehman: Oh, well routinely people don't raise their hands, but if you wish to
address the Council, please.
O'Donnell: The vote's already...
Lehman: And the vote's over, but if you'd like to speak to Council, please.
Bums: My name is Bob Bums, architect, 319 E. Washington Street in Iowa City.
I just want to point out to you again that these lots in Iowa City are the
only duplex lots where the ground is level where we can build a simple
one-story duplex building for affordable housing. There are no other
places in Iowa City to do that. I've checked with a realtor, as recently as
last week, and I would urge you to, someone who, I think you can
reconsider this motion. I would urge you to go back and reconsider this
motion because we have a contract with the City to provide affordable
housing. We have a loan agreement and a note, a promissory note to pay
the City back to build affordable housing, and these are the only lots that
are available, as I said, to build a simple, one-story duplex building in
Iowa City. It's the only place. I have a contract with you're, and you just
denied us the opportunity to receive scoring points from the Iowa Finance
Authority, where we have to submit our application, so we ask you to
reconsider the motion.
Lehman: Is there anyone who would like to reconsider?
Elliott: Not I.
Lehman: Okay.
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ITEM 13 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO
SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST A DEDICATION OF
SCHOOL SITE AND COST SHARING AGREEMENT BETWEEN
CLEAR CREEK, LLC; SOUTHGATE DEVELOPMENT
COMPANY, INC.; THE CITY OF IOWA CITY; AND THE CITY
OF CORALVILLE
Lehman: We've been asked to defer this.
Bailey: So moved.
Dilkes: Indefinitely.
Lehman: Indefinitely. Motion by Bailey.
O'Donnell: Second.
Lehman: Seconded by O'Donnell. All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. Are
we okay on 14?
Dilkes: We're okay on 14. I've, we've added a provision that makes letting the
contract on a school site agreement.
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ITEM 15a CONSIDER A RESOLUTION RECOMMENDING THE AWARD
OF A CONTRACT BY THE CITY OF CORALVILLE, lOW A FOR
CONSTRUCTION OF THE CAMP CARDINAL ROAD SITE
PREPARATION PROJECT, AlK/A THE CAMP CARDINAL ROAD
PRELIMINARY CLEARING PROJECT
Lehman: And we have received seven bids, and the engineer's estimate was
$192,200. Low bid was Veith Construction at $173,530, and pardon?
Champion: They backed out, didn't they?
Dilkes: They withdrew their bid because they had a misunderstanding as to...
Lehman: All right. Public Works is recommending the award go to the Connolly
Construction Company ofPeosta, Iowa, at $194,980. Do we have a
motion to...
O'Donnell: Move the resolution.
Vanderhoef: Second.
Lehman: Moved by O'Donnell; seconded by Vanderhoef. Discussion? Roll call.
Motion carries.
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ITEM ISb CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AMENDING RESOLUTION NO. 04-
222, AND AUTHORIZING AND PROVIDING FOR THE
ISSUANCE OF NOT TO EXCEED $7,000,000 AGGREGATE
PRINCIPAL AMOUNT OF A SENIOR HOUSING FACILITIES
REVENUE BOND OF THE CITY OF lOW A CITY, lOW A, FOR
THE PURPOSE OF LENDING THE PROCEEDS THEREOF TO
THE BORROWER; THE EXECUTION AND DELIVERY OF A
LOAN AGREEMENT AMONG THE CITY, THE BORROWER
AND THE SERVICERPROVIDING FOR THE REPAYMENT OF
THE LOAN OF THE PROCEEDS OF SAID BONDS AND THE
SECURING OF SAID REPAYMENT OBLIGATION; THE SALE
OF SAID BONDS; THE EXECUTION OF A PLEDGE, SERVICING
AND PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT; AND THE EXECUTION
OF OTHER DOCUMENTS RELATED THERETO
Lehman: Do we have a motion to...
Wilburn: Move adoption of the resolution.
Lehman: Thank you.
Champion: Second.
Lehman: Motion by Wilburn; seconded by Champion. These are bonds that we're
going to sell for Oaknoll, which is a tremendous opportunity for the City, I
think, to work with a really, really great citizen of the community.
O'Donnell: Absolutely.
Lehman: Discussion?
Elliott: This is the same thing we had done for A.C.T.
Lehman: That's correct. Roll call.
Atkins: Not really. There'll be a lot of "thereofs" and "wherefors" if you want me
to exp lain it.
Elliott: I'm tired of.. .no. In general this is what we're talking about.
Atkins: In general we're helping, we're pledging our support, our good...
Elliott: Good. Thanks, Steve.
Lehman: I would like to know who holds the wording for this, but no on second
thought, I'm not going to ask. (laughter) Roll call. Motion carries.
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ITEM 16 COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS
Lehman: Last night the Council agreed to the appointment of Douglas DuCharme
for the Board of Appeals. Parks and Recreation Commission - Phil
Reisetter and Matt Pacha. For the Senior Center Commission - Jay
Honohan and Betty Kelly. Do we have a motion to that effect?
Vanderhoef: So moved.
Champion: Second.
Lehman: All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. We will be re-advertising those
appointments that were not made last night, and those need to be in by...
Karr: December 1 st at 5.
Lehman: December 1 st at 5 :00 for the next meeting.
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ITEM 19 CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION
Bailey: Nothing here.
Wilburn: Nothing tonight.
Lehman: Dee?
Vanderhoef: I was late tonight because I was having a birthday party with my youngest
granddaughter who turned two today. So, I had birthday cake with her
before she had to go to bed.
Lehman: Mike?
O'Donnell: I'll say once again, the guys picking up the leaves have done an incredible
job. We should recognize that. And are we sending a letter regarding the
traffic problem over on River Street? We all got an email about. ..
Atkins: Sorry, Mike, I didn't see it.
O'Donnell: Yeah, the school issue, about crossing and the traffic going fairly fast.
Atkins: Oh, the one we talked about last night. Oh, that one, I just, yes we.. .I'll
see it's taken care of, yes.
O'Donnell: Okay, that's it. Thank you.
Lehman: Connie?
Champion: Thanksgiving dinner Thursday.
Lehman: Your house?
Champion: At the Rec Center, isn't it?
Lehman: Yes. I can't go.
Atkins: I have to miss too. I'm giving a speech for the Rotary so...
Lehman: Bob?
Elliott: Some of us didn't have much to say about the vote on affordable housing.
That does not mean that each of us did not give a great deal of thought.
That's a very sensitive questions, and we're trying to deal with it as best
we can, and on the Council we have different opinions, but that doesn't
mean that any of us don't think it's a very important question.
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O'Donnell: Well said.
Champion: Can I revise my all done? (laughter)
Lehman: Yes, I didn't think you were. (laughter)
Champion: Well, I do think we seriously have some parking situations in Iowa City
that are difficult to deal with for residents and guests, and I don't know, I
think we should talk about a neighborhood parking sticker, for very
limited areas.
Lehman: Well, Connie, 1. . .
Bailey: The Northside is doing a survey.
Champion: Oh, okay.
Atkins; I thought there was one under way, Connie. I'll check for you.
Champion: Okay, great, fine.
Lehman: We've talked about. ..and then nobody seems to want it, but okay...
Atkins: Let me find out where that is and I'll report back to you.
Lehman: There is a meeting, and Marian, if this isn't correct, tell me. December 1 st
is the public meeting for the Charter Review Commission. It's going to be
kind of a general community meeting where they're going to discuss
various aspects of the Charter, to kind of confirm that what we're doing is
okay, or that they'd like to make some changes.
Karr: They have two major issues they'd like input on: the election of mayor,
and then the Council district representation issues.
Lehman: Now, my suspicion is, that if three or more Council people attend that
meeting, they are unable to speak.
Karr: I don't believe that's...
Dilkes: No, the idea for this meeting is that people will break into different groups
so I don't think that should be a problem. There is going to be a coming-
together, so as long as you aren't speaking as a group I think it will be
okay, so I think you should all come if you're interested.
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Karr: As you mentioned, Ernie, this is a little different than your other actions,
because you must accept these recommendations or forward them to the
voters.
Lehman: I don't think I'll be able to be there, but I think it's a meeting that Council
would enjoy being there, and it would be good to have our input.
Vanderhoef: Is that at 7:00...
Karr: It's at 5:30, Room 1 at the Library.
Elliott: December 1 ?
Karr: December 1.
Vanderhoef: I will not be there. I will be at National Convention.
Lehman: I'll be at Enzer's, as usual. You know, I'd like to wish everybody a very
Happy Thanksgiving. You know, tonight the first proclamation was one
about family, and I think there's no holiday more important (TAPE
ENDS) significantly greater than the (can't hear).
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ITEM 20 REPORTS FROM CITY STAFF
Lehman: Steve?
Atkins: Not a thing, sir.
Lehman: Eleanor? Marian? We have a motion to adjourn?
Bailey: So moved.
Lehman: We haven't got a second.
Wilburn: Second.
Lehman: All in favor? Adjourned. Thank you.
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