HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-12-07 Transcription
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ITEM 2 OUTSTANDING STUDENT CITIZENSHIP AWARD -
Lincoln ElellIentary
LehllIan: If the students frOllI Lincoln would COllIe forward, please. This is
sOllIething we've been doing for quite some time, and it's something I
think the Council enjoys as much as anything we do. Obviously, you've
got some pretty proud parents, but you also have some extremely proud
grandparents, even if they aren't here I can tell you that. So what I would
like you to do, if you would give your name and then indicate why you
were nominated.
Mueller: I'm Kap Mueller. I'd like to thank the City Council, as well as the
teachers and principal at Lincoln School for sending me the Outstanding
Student Citizen Award. I feel very honored to be a recipient ofthis award.
I think I received this award mainly because I try to be a good role model
in class, and I help out my classmates. I also enjoy working with younger
children. I am captain of the safety patrol, and I am on both the newsletter
and yearbook committees. I try to have a good attitude about things I do
in school. I give people positive comments and I try to be polite to
teachers and fellow students. I appreciate my teachers expressing their
high regard for me with this award. I will try my best to continue to make
them proud of me in the future. Thank you again for this honor.
(app lause )
Kreiter: I'm Emily Kreiter and I would like to thank my teachers and Mrs. Cleric
for selecting me to receive this award. I think I was chosen to represent
Lincoln School for the Outstanding Citizen Award because I volunteer to
read to kindergartners every week. I got chosen to be a safety patrol
captain, and I help out in the lunchroom and in the classroom, and I got
chosen to be the editor of the newsletter. I thank you for this award.
(applause)
Wiechert: I'm Megan Wiechert and I want to thank my teachers and my principal,
Mrs. Cleric, for selecting me to get the Outstanding Student Citizen
Award for Lincoln School. The most important reason I think I was
chosen to receive this award is that I'm a safety patrol captain. I also help
with lunch serving, and I read to the kindergartners every week. I write
articles for the newsletter and help out in the classroom. (applause)
Lehman: This award reads (reads Outstanding Student Citizen Award).
Elliott: Ernie, I think I figured out why I like this portion so much. When I was
in, I grew up in Chicago and went to Avalon Park Grade School, and I
wanted desperately to be a patrol person and wear those nifty belts that go
across and around. I never made it, and I wanted desperately to do that.
This is terrific. I'm really happy for you.
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Council llIeeting of DecellIber 7, 2004.
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Lehman: Thank you, Bob. With Council's perllIission, I'd like to move items 6, 7,
and 8 up to this point, if that's. . .
Karr: Do we have a motion?
Bailey: So moved to amend.
Champion: Second.
Lehman: We have a motion to amend, and a second. All in favor? Opposed?
Okay.
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CouncilllIeeting of DecellIber 7, 2004.
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ITEM 8 AUTHORIZING CONVEYANCE OF A SINGLE FAMILY HOME
LOCATED AT 2614 INDIGO COURT TO A PUBLIC HOUSING
PROGRAM TENANT
Lehman: Public hearing is open. Public hearing is closed.
O'Donnell: So moved.
Bailey: Move the resolution.
Lehman: Moved by O'Donnell; seconded by Bailey. Discussion?
Wilburn: Just congratulations to everyone on the new home ownership.
Vanderhoef: Yes, I think this is a wonderful thing. These people have qualified, after
living in public housing, they now have qualified for their own home loan
to purchase this house, and they should be very proud of the activities that
led up to making this possible for them.
Lehman: Roll call. Motion carries. The Housing Authority's Ownership Programs
have been in existence for almost seven years. With the assistance of
these programs, thirty-five families have received hOllIe ownership. We
are acknowledging our local lenders who provide mortgages for the three
home sales approved tonight. These lenders have supported our Home
Ownership Program since their inception. We would like to publicly
thank your institutions for these valuable partnerships, and specifically
thank you, the loan officers, for taking the time to match mortgage
products with our programs, creating affordable home ownership
opportunities, and I would like, I think maybe, we're going to come up
here, but I think we would like the bank representative, as well as the
home owners, to come up at the same time. (applause) You know,
without these partnerships, this absolutely could not happen, and I
certainly want to thank the folks from the lending institutions. Scott from
the Hills Bank, thank you. Christy, thank you, and thanks to the bank.
Dave. Okay, and we have two of our three homeowners here tonight.
Kathleen, that would be you. This is pretty cool. (applause)
Congratulations, we are very pleased and proud. And Kathleen Thornton,
we're very, very happy for you folks, and I think, may not be the same
picture, hey, let's give these folks a hand. (applause) And somebody told
me there's going to be a Kodak opportunity. Oh, okay, thank you folks,
very, very much.
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Council llIeeting of DecellIber 7, 2004.
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ITEM 3 CONSIDER ADOPTION OF THE CONSENT CALENDAR AS
PRESENTED OR AMENDED
Champion: Move adoption.
Bailey: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Champion; seconded by Bailey. Discussion?
Elliott: Mr. Mayor, could we take out and handle individually the Brookland Park,
G.!.
Lehman: G.I., okay. Other discussion? Roll call.
Champion: Move adoption of G.l.
Lehman: Moved by Champion.
O'Donnell: Second.
Lehman: Seconded by O'Donnell to adopt G.!. G.!. was a no-parking restriction
that was going to be put in place on Brookland Drive. We have been
informed that the neighbors have gotten together, reached a compromised
solution which would be presented to us at the January 5th meeting on the
Consent Calendar. January 4th, I'm sorry. Discussion? Ifwe do need to
vote this down in order to approve the compromise, which seems that
everyone likes. Pardon? Oh, all in favor? Or, all opposed? All in favor?
Motion is defeated. Thank you.
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Council llIeeting of December 7, 2004.
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ITEM 4 COMMUNITY COMMENT (ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA)
Lehman: If you wish to visit with Council, please sign in, and give your name, and
limit your comments to five minutes or less.
Goldberg: Good evening, how are you? Would I be able to bring these up?
Lehman: Yes.
Goldberg: Well, good evening, my name is Chuck Goldberg and I'm at 3146
Hastings A venue. I also work at the Sheraton Hotel, feeling as though I
reside there sometimes, as well. Myself and Leah Cohen are here this
evening to represent the Iowa City Alcohol Advisory Board, which was
officially formed in October ofthis year, and had their first official
meeting on November I, 2004, where we established a Mission Statement
that I would just like to read briefly for you. Our Mission Statement reads
as follows: To provide proactive, effective community-based leadership
for the prevention of excessive and underage drinking in downtown Iowa
City, establishments in the community. This Mission will be
accomplished through a voluntary advisory group that creates and
oversees informal guidelines for businesses, owners, and operators to help
combat excessive and underage drinking, as well as to the education and
promotion of sensible community policies for businesses that serve
alcohol, contributing to a responsible social environment, and positive
image for the community of Iowa City. You were just given two packets,
and the two packets that you were given were a Council packet and a
packet which is currently being distributed to all liquor license holders in
Iowa City, and I'd briefly like to just recap what's in these packets. In
your Council member packet, you'll see that there's a copy of the Iowa
City Alcohol Advisory Board member list; proposed guidelines that we
started to share with licensed holders; minutes from our November 3rd
formal meeting, November 10th informal meeting, November 29th informal
meeting, and December 1 st formal meeting; and we will get a copy ofthe
2004 driver's license booklet, which is being provided to us to help aid in
finding false identifications. We'll provide a copy to you at a later date.
In the establishment owner packets is a letter that's going out to all the
establishments and operators. The second page of that is an invitation to
our January lih meeting, 2:00 PM. It's an open meeting to all
establishments in Iowa City, and at this time, I'd like to extend an
invitation to you as the Council, and to the City, to also come sit in on the
meeting, hear what's going on, be able to give input, and take away, I
hope, what you find to be enthusiastic, energetic focused thoughts and
action plans to continue this movement going forward. I'd ask that you
either R.S.V.P. to myself or Leah Cohen at some point to let us know if
you're coming so that we can make all the arrangements necessary. I'd
like to just talk briefly about our group, and our group is made up of
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eleven individuals. Eleven board members currently, representing a
diverse group of people, community business people, entertainment
establishment owners, Chamber of Commerce; we're currently searching
for someone in the education or health field to round us out, to put
together guidelines, to put together action steps, and to hopefully put
together plans that we can bring back to the Council, as well as our peers,
in making Iowa City not only a safe environment, but an environment
where people can enjoy themselves, enjoy themselves responsibly, and an
environment that we can all be proud of. We're going to do that by
creating four committees, and those committees have already been
established and have already begun work as you'll see in the minutes. The
first committee is a Compliance Committee, and that Compliance
Committee has been put together to work with all of the establishments
closely in utilizing our proposed guidelines correctly, and to make sure
that we monitor ourselves. I think the big word is, is that we need to show
responsibility and we need to show actions, not just words, and this
committee is focused on showing that responsibility means action to the
Council and the community. The second committee that was put together
was an Ordinance Committee, and this committee was put together to help
formulate suggestions for the City, to assist all of us working together, to
include not only ownership and City Council, but staff that work at the
establishments as well. They are a very key factor in the success of our
project, of our group, and we need to make sure that the staff has complete
buy-in, and when I say staff, I'm talking about the in excess of 1,000
students, adults, people that work in the entertainment field or
entertainment venues here in Iowa City. They need to buy-in to this in
order to make this work, and our goal is to make sure that we're working
with them to have that happen. The third group, or committee, is an
Education Committee, and they will continue helping educate owners,
operators, and the public on issues associated with excess drinking, and
the fourth is a Public Relations Committee, and they were put together
solely to help build the image ofIowa City and downtown Iowa City. I
think that, you know, the issues that have surrounded this for years, and
probably before I arrived here, have been clouded over and clouded over,
and there's just been words, and I think we need not only to rebuild
relationships, but we need to rebuild images, and we're going to work very
hard with the City to do that, and I think, I hope that this gives you an
overview of what we're doing and how we're doing it. We'll be making
periodic presentations to the Council just to fill our obligation of
communication to you, which was asked of us, so I hope that this answers
those questions, or at least shows you that we'll be here to do that, and I
would be open to any questions, if you have any, before I step down.
Lehman: Thank you, Chuck.
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Bailey: I do have a question, if that's okay, Mr. Mayor? Have you also considered
some kind of neighborhood outreach committee? I know that a lot of
neighborhoods are impacted by what occurs on the weekends downtown
Iowa City.
Goldberg: We have not. What we have actually thought about though, is once we get
moving and get a little steam, and we actually have our act together, is to
start including neighborhood associations or neighborhood people into the
board. We're eleven people now. The board can grow to 13, 17, 19...we
do believe we need to bring the neighborhoods into it, but we wanted to
make sure that we had a focus and an action plan before we took on more
than we could actually provide results for.
Bailey: Thank you.
Goldberg: I'd just also like to say thank you for allowing me to witness what you just
did with the housing people tonight. It really restores faith when you lose
faith and you see things in the city, and it's a wonderful project you have,
so I would please encourage you to keep it up and keep providing that type
of assistance. Thank you.
Champion: Thank you so much.
Bailey: Thank you.
Cohen: I'm going to talk very briefly about the specifics of where we're at, a
couple of specific things. I know we've talked in the past, but there's been
all talk and nothing been done, so I'm going to try in five minutes to tell
you all that we have done, which has been immense in the past two
months, we feel. Again, we want to invite you to the open bar meeting on
January lih. We have scheduled our meetings for the first Wednesday of
every month at the Chamber, and 2:00 PM, and we've had lots of people
that have joined our meetings, that have come and gotten good
information, we feel. Weare in the process of distributing the packets to
the various bars and restaurants downtown. CBS, CB 1 0 district is
basically what we're working with; however, we have had liquor licensees
throughout the City come to us and say 'Can we be involved?' We
haven't gone much further on that yet, but we think in the future we
probably will. In the ad specifically, just to tell you, which will be
included in your packet, several things that we're doing. One, we are
asking all licensees that are under twenty-one to advertise, when they put
an ad in the paper or in their windows, whatever; "19 to socialize, 21 to
drink" or something along that line. We have asked, there are bars that
have the 18-exception that were advertising" 18" with liquor ads, so we
have asked them not to advertise eighteen with liquor ads, that they could
do it with dance ads or whatever they had the exception for. Excessive
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drinking ads - we have asked them not to do "21 pitchers for 21 dollars,"
those sorts of things. We've asked them not to run any kind of promotion
with undercost drinks, or under cost. For instance, .25-cent drinks, those
sorts ofthings are under cost. No punch cards; those sorts of things.
We've also asked that we reduce the signs in the windows downtown in
regards to particularly a lot ofthe beer signs that have the big ads in them.
We think people, if you walk around down there, it's really reduced
considerably. It's a real fine line that we draw with where we set up
guidelines and trying not to interfere in people's businesses, so we've
spent a great deal of time putting these basic guidelines together, and we
feel that we've had tremendous compliance. The monitors, we have set up
a monitor program. Ijust brought you one ofthe red shirts that we have
had made up for monitors, which says "monitor," and what the idea of that
is we put in your packets specifically responsibilities ofthe monitors.
We've asked that anyone over a hundred and twenty-five capacity, when
they feel they're going to have a busy night, in particular Thursday,
Friday, Saturday nights is what we're suggesting, that they have an on-
duty monitor in their establishment. People will get to know this, see it.
They're basically there to help prevent underage and excessive drinking;
to walk throughout the establishment through the evening to check
problems, if there's overdrinking, overcapacity; if people need cabs; deal
with safety issues; broken glass; wet floor - those sorts of things; be
available if the police would come in for any kinds of questions. Those
sorts of things. So the monitors are also in place with those. Let's see.
Just to let you know, one thing, and I know in the mayor's letter he did
comment about how are we going to measure at the end of this, how we
know any kind of measurement, and we're trying to formulate something
on that. We still are working on it. We have not come up with that, but a
couple of things we have seen very clearly is, for instance, we had a
meeting with all the mainly big bars downtown before the Wisconsin
game. We talked about additional staff; what we needed to do to put
monitors in place; to detect underage, or excessive drinking, actually, is
what we were more worried about; not letting people in your
establishment if they'd been excessively drinking. We had tremendous
success that weekend. There were very few problems. We think it is
partially attributed to people taking responsibility for their own bars too.
We have set up educational programs. We have a speaker coming in
February, name of Bob Anastus, who will work with, it's also Greek
week, so it's being coordinated with that, and we've gotten the funds
together for it, and he is an expert national speaker on excessive and over-
consumption, and he will be at the University. You'll be hearing about
that, that we're going to work with the student body in regards to him. We
had contact from our V AP here in town. They had, within a couple of
weeks, they had sixteen date rape cases, thirteen of which were in private
residences, and we're very concerned about it was an organized effort.
Mainly punchbowl sort of situations. We had a meeting; within two days
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we had a meeting, we had flyers made up, and we had them put in thirty-
five establishments downtown in restrooms, which is where I feel people
read them. I don't know if that's true, but (laughter) the women's
restrooms in particular. But, we had those up, and we have had
tremendous success from that, you know. That just really got the word out
to students, within a very short time, over a weekend, we were able to do
that. We had KCJJ radio; we were on there for about an hour, kind of
promoting, talking about our board, and what we're doing. Those sorts of
things. We're getting lots of calls. Calls from people I've never heard of
that are wondering on wristbands detecting minors, all sorts of questions.
We are having December 9th, this Thursday, we're having a fundraiser for
our V AP and she is helping us put together for every semester, something
that we can do for educational with the bars, at the start of every semester,
so we're having a fundraiser for that, and I believe we have about twenty
or twenty-five participating in that, that a portion of proceeds this
Thursday, will go towards that. So you'll see lots of signs downtown in
regards to that. Basically, that's a lot. (laughter) I feel like I've said a lot.
It's just going very well. We're very excited about it. We're very excited
about cooperation and what we're seeing happen with it, and we will
continue to keep in touch with you. We didn't want you to think we were
ignoring you. We've been very, very busy, and we will look forward to
continuing this semester and to another presentation in May. Thank you.
Any questions?
Champion: Doing great.
Karr: Motion to accept correspondence?
Wilburn: So moved.
Bailey: Second.
Lehman: All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries.
Benz: Good evening, I'm Lori Benz. I live at 2012 Dunlap Court, and I'm also
a member of the Senior Center Commission. Ijust wanted to give you a
very brief update on some activities and developments at the Senior
Center. We, as of November 16th, there are now 860 memberships at the
Center. 690 of those, approximately, are City residents. We're feeling
very encouraged by the kind of response that we've received this fall with
some targeted recruitments, special activities, a variety of approaches to
bringing in new members, and that's showing up. I also wanted to let you
know that we've received notice that the Center is a beneficiary of the
Eleanor Hughes Estate; going to be, we've been told it's going to be a
significant bequest, and we're very grateful and looking forward to that.
Mrs. Hughes was a long-time resident ofIowa City and a long-time user
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of the Senior Center, very active there. I wanted to let you know that we,
one of our activities to attract new members has been to develop letters,
individual letters to the individuals who have retired in the past year from
the University ofIowa, both faculty and staff, and we feel that that is a
very new, very direct outreach effort that we're hoping again to tap a new
segment ofresidents here for the Center's use and benefit, and finally, I
just wanted to mention that you probably know this past year has been an
on-going celebration of the Center's 100-anniversary, and on December
13th at 2:00 PM will be the final presentation by Loren Horton, called
"Changes in Progress: A Century in Review" and it is a review of the
tenth decade of the Center's existence. That facility started out as a Post
Office, as you well know, and he's done a wonderful job of reviewing
each decade. I'd be glad to answer any questions. Otherwise, I'll thank
you very much for your time.
Lehman: Thank you. Anyone else wish to address the Council?
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ITEM 5 PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS
a. 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 GILBERT-LINN STREET
HISTORIC DISTRICT.
Lehman: Public hearing is open.
Maharry: Good evening. My name is Michael Maharry. I live at 903 E. College
Street, and I am the Chair of the Historic Preservation Commission. I
would like to present to you the Gilbert-Linn Historic District, but mostly
I'm here to thank you. Much of the Gilbert-Linn Historic District lies
within the Iowa City Cultural District. When you voted unanimously last
August to support the Cultural District, you recognized the impact that it
will have, as far as economic benefit, in Iowa City. I believe you were
bold and visionary, and very forward thinking to include Iowa City
amongst the first cultural districts of the state.
Lehman: Mike... uh, we have to keep the doorways clear, for fire code. I think we
have speakers in the lobby, do we not?
Atkins: And TV.
Lehman: Yeah, there's a TV and speakers, but the doorways have to be kept clear
for the fire code, so if you're in front of the doorway, either come in and
find a spot, or wait in the lobby.
Champion: They could stand over there behind the camera.
Lehman: Right.
Maharry: Sorry, I didn't realize what was going on behind me.
Lehman: No, I'm sorry for interrupting you, but we really need to do this. There's
also some room up here in front. Well let's try again, Mike, but we do
need to keep that doorway clear.
Maharry: I was just commenting on your support for the Cultural District, because it
is tremendous, and both local businesses and the University are in your
debt because of it. This historic district is an extension of that support.
How? The resolution you voted for 7 to 0 on August 31, stated, "The City
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Council of the City ofIowa City continues to endorse the preservation and
rehabilitation of historic buildings with the District as one of its main
cultural assets." And I will tell you that that resolution means a lot to the
Historic Preservation Commission. To hear your unanimous support for
the preservation and rehabilitation of historic buildings within the District,
really reaffirms to the Historic Preservation Commission members that
their efforts, week after week, are worthwhile, and again, we thank you. I
realize that there are those who do not support this District, but I do not
count you among them. You have consistently recognized the long-term
benefits to the community that come from preserving our neighborhoods.
College Hill has a large number of rental properties, and you deemed it
worthy of protection. Governor and Lucas is predominantly rental
properties, and your support created a new District. So, again, the
Commission thanks you for your support, and I would like to tell you that
you have great support for your vote as well tonight. You have unanimous
support from the Historic Preservation Commission. You have unanimous
support from the Planning and Zoning Commission. There is a letter of
support from the Northside Neighborhood Association. There is a letter of
support from the Neighborhood Association ofIowa City, representing
thousands of neighbors. There is grass roots support for your vote tonight
from the citizens ofIowa City, who put together a Comprehensive Plan for
Iowa City's future. This document is our roadmap and it says to continue
to name Historic Districts. Most of all, it seems there are a few Gilbert-
Linn neighbors here who will support you in your vote this evening, and I
will close and let you hear from them. I will just say that a shiny new
historic district will make a great gift to the citizens of Iowa City this
holiday season. Thank you. (applause)
Lehman: Thank you, Mike.
Shaw: My name is John Shaw, and I live at 437 S. Summit Street, which is a
Historic District in Iowa City. The historic neighborhoods in Iowa City
are an economic asset to the City. They have real monetary worth. It
seems to me that the responsibilities you all have as members of Council
is to help this community protect and maintain the worthwhile and
valuable assets within the City. This is also an issue of property rights. A
property owner in an historic neighborhood should be afforded the right to
invest in their property with the reasonable expectation that the investment
will not be negated by inappropriate and devaluing activity on the property
next door. I, as I stated, I live in an historic preservation district. I am
former chair of the Historic Preservation Commission, and it is my
experience that the things that are asked of people in historic districts are
no onerous or not, do not represent a great deal of effort on their part. In
fact, the projects are generally improved at little or no cost to the owner,
when they go through for the Certificate of Appropriateness. I urge you
all to support this vote for the district. Thank you.
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Champion: You know, thanks, John. I think we all ought to give John a round of
applause for that gorgeous Englert Theatre, and he donated all of his time
as an architect, and the colors are spectacular. Thank you, John.
(applause)
Shaw: I would ask everyone in this room to support the theatre by buying tickets.
(laughter)
Lehman: Thank you, John.
Powers: Hi, my name is Jamie Powers, and I live at 1029 Bowery Street, which is
in the Longfellow District, and I also own, probably own a business in a
historic district, Delux Bakery, and I'm here tonight to say that being a
part of a historic neighborhood, as a business owner, has been such a
privilege to me. I never saw the Historic Preservation Commission as
putting restrictions on any of my rebuilding processes. I saw it as a
positive and a very progressive process to keep the neighborhood a
wonderful place for all ages to visit. I received so many comments from
elderly persons and middle-aged persons who come back to the shop to
visit, and are very relieved to find it alive with grace and dignity. We
have such a beautiful thing going on in Iowa City. We all know it, amidst
all the commercialism, all of the neighborhoods that seem to look the
same these days. I feel that it is our responsibility to continue to be
progressive and preserve our neighborhoods, and I ask you tonight to think
about it, and if it doesn't happen tonight, to please continue to think about
it, because it really makes Iowa City what it is, and what we all love it for.
Thank you very much. (applause)
Gaulding: Hi I'm Jill Gaulding. I'm probably, I guess, the first resident of the
Gilbert-Linn Street District to speak to you tonight. I appreciate you
listening to what may be a stream of comments, and in light of how many
people are here, I'm going to try to be shorter than I usually am, those of
you who may have heard me speak on the phone can appreciate that effort
on my part. (laughter) Speaking of which, I sent to all of you a sort of
summary of my thoughts on the pros and cons of this, and so that should
also stand in for the thoughts that I wish that I could share tonight, but the
key word for me is, echoes nicely off of what we just heard. I would use
the word diversity for it. I'm a big fan of diversity. It's one of the reasons
I moved to Iowa City a while ago. The fact that I could live in a town that
has the kind of diversity that Iowa City actually can treasure, given it's
place in a state like Iowa. Horace Mann School is an incredibly diverse
school, and I was very excited to be able to place my children there, and
that's another one of the reasons why we chose to live in this district, but I
think that there's a stream of diversity related issues that relate to this
particular choice that you're making tonight. The most direct is to
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preserve the diverse housing stock in this particular neighborhood, and
being a sort of nerd, I've actually researched this and found that's a
common advantage that people realize when they're looking at historic
neighborhoods. To counter what some people might think of as, the
minutes they think historic preservation, they think fancy houses, elitism,
and so on, but it's actually just the opposite because the housing stock that
you're preserving is housing stock from an era when neighborhoods were
intrinsically diverse. That's the way they were built, and that's one of the
things I like about the neighborhood that I live in is the variety of the
people who live there, because ofthe diversity of housing stock, and I
think that translates into a diversity of, like I said, people living there who
then add diversity to the whole downtown area, and that's the point I want
to end with tonight is thinking ofIowa City as a thriving, urban location,
in order to keep that a true statement about Iowa City, we need a diversity
of people walking through those downtown streets, shopping in the stores
and buying things, and those of you who are owners, know that I'm one of
those people who does stop in and buy things. I do that in part because
it's convenient, and in part because I value the diversity of stores
downtown. Ifwe lose the Northside neighborhood as a diverse, urban
living opportunity for people who move here, or want to move into the
neighborhood, then we lose the diversity of downtown businesses. I
mean, and I like a thriving bar as much as the next person, and I'm sure
when my kids grow up they'll want to be in those downtown bars too, but
we don't want to have it be 100% bars downtown. We want to have all
sorts of businesses, and we need all sorts of different people living
downtown to make that work, and I think that this is one of the ways that
you, as a City Council, can help insure that kind of diversity across the
board. So, I really appreciate you considering it carefully tonight, and
thank you. (applause)
Lehman: Thank you.
Mitchell: Hi, Dennis Mitchell, 122 S. Linn Street. I'm here on behalf of H&G,
which is a partnership which owns two properties located within the
proposed historic district. They're located at 214 E. Davenport and 420 to
422 N. Linn Street. I think it's one thing for us to feel strongly and have
values about wanting to preserve the historical values or the futures of our
properties, but I think it's another imposing those values and beliefs on
other property owners, and it seems to me that where we're adopting an
ordinance that does impose restrictions on property owners, that aren't
related to safety, that you ought to have overwhelming support for that
type of ordinance. It's my understanding that you've received letters of
protest from approximately 55% of the property owners within this
proposed district, and it just seems to me with that level of opposition to
an ordinance like this, you know, this is the type of ordinance I would
really urge you not to consider passing at this time. Thanks.
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Lehman: Thank you, Dennis.
Plahutnik: Hi, my name is Wally Plahutnik. I live at 430 N. Gilbert, in the District,
and I'd like to take just a moment and ask everyone here who has come to
support the Historic District if they could just stand up for a second.
Here's a group of people who have come out on a Tuesday night. Many,
many from within the District, and quite a few from outside the District,
from other historic districts. Thank you very much. This seems to be an
argument of windows and siding. Restrictions on what a person can or
cannot do with their property. Many restrictions, zoning and housing
restriction, enforced throughout the community currently, but right now
there seems to be a window and siding issue. I'd like to point out that we
do not move neighborhoods by the block. Someone doesn't come in and
say 'well, here's a block on Iowa Avenue, between Dodge and Goveruor,
let's make it look like south Johnson Street.' It happens a window, a
porch line, a roofline at a time, and it happens over the course of a decade,
or two decades. So, yes, this is an Îssue about restricting people's property
rights in terms of what they can do to their home. It is for the betterment
and continuance of a neighborhood. You guys are all here, elected for a
certain period of time, but unfortunately you are not charged with short-
term management of the City. While you are in office, it's also your job
to do what you can for the long-term management ofthe City. This is one
ofthose long-term problems. Property owners, like myself or like H&G,
have very many short-term issues. Next year's repairs for them, perhaps,
a five-year depreciation, how they're going to arrange that on their house.
For the City, and for the people who live there and will be living there, ten
years, twenty years from now, this is a long-term issue. And I really ask
you to consider the long-term issue because we are going to lose the
Northside, a window, a porch at a time. You come back to a house in ten
years that's really, people have been allowed to do as they wish with it, in
a very economical way. The next person buys it and says, 'well there's
really not much to do with this one except tear it down.' And it will
happen, so please, consider the long-term because that is your charge here
tonight. (applause)
Walton: My name is Victoria Walton, and I also live at 430 N. Gilbert Street. I'm
in favor of the proposal and I urge all of you to please support it. Ours is a
neighborhood that deserves City support, specifically as identified in two
excerpts from Iowa City's Comprehensive Plan. The first would be,
portions of the central planning district located to the north and east of
downtown, contain older neighborhoods where issues of neighborhood
integrity are of concern. The second, the integrity of existing
neighborhoods, especially those adjacent to downtown, and the University
ofIowa campus, will require on-going efforts. We purchased our home in
part because we appreciate the architecture of many of the older homes in
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the neighborhood. Much has been said about the property rights of those
who oppose the local historic district. As a property owner, I ask you to
speak up now for the rights ofthose who do not wish to find ourselves, a
decade from now, living in an area that might resemble south VanBuren,
south Johnson, south Lucas. Please help our neighborhood retain its
history and character, as well as encourage increased neighborhood pride
by establishing the Gilbert-Linn Local Historic District. Thank you.
(applause)
Lehman: Thank you.
Barrett: My name is Tim Barrett. I live at 1302 Ginter Avenue. Very recently my
wife and I finished construction of a garage, detached from the house
(TAPE ENDS) ... the garage for frankly half the price, it would have been
a half-way decent garage, but we were determined to build something that
did justice to Howard Moffitt's original design sense. The neighbors kind
of watched this go on, month after month. We hired a builder who took a
lot more time than somebody else would have taken, but in the end, we
think it added a lot to the neighborhood, and over the long haul, will be a
wise investment on our part, but I think this historic preservation thing is
not really so much about what's good for the neighborhood or long-term
investment, it's really about a bunch of people who can't be here tonight.
They're all dead and gone. And they're the people who built these
structures. They can't speak, but they exist in those dwellings and those
structures, and all of us here tonight are responsible to them. If we don't
live up to those responsibilities, those structures are likely to be gone
forever, and we're all going to be responsible. I urge you to support
Historic Preservation in Iowa City. Thank you. (applause)
Rapson: My name is John Rapson. I live at 715 N. Johnson Street. I moved here
twelve years ago from Connecticut, and before that lived in California,
and we moved into this house that we think is a beautiful house. We love
the house, and we've put a lot of work into it, my wife especially. Twelve
years of work. We moved into this house, we had two grade school
children, and one middle school child, and they could walk to City Park,
and they could walk to the Library. They could walk downtown for ice
cream. They could walk to school. And it seemed an idyllic place, and
we were surprised that there were not many children there, and there are
children there now. There are young children that make this neighborhood
so hopeful to us, and they are people who are investing in the houses, like
we are, and who are making them places where they want other children to
come and sip lemonade on our porches and do the kinds ofthings that
neighborhoods used to be able to do, and that we value about getting
together for street parties with each other to bar-b-que and so on, and it's
changed a great deal in twelve years. I urge you please to support this new
initiative. (applause)
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Pascoe: My name is Judith Pascoe and I'm a member of the Iowa City Friends'
Meeting. The Quaker Meeting House at 311 N. Linn Street has been a
mainstay of the Northside Neighborhood since the early 1960's. The
members of the Meeting discussed the pros and cons of the Historic
District proposal in detail, and we came to a consensus that the
designation would help maintain the diversity and integrity of the
neighborhood. The Iowa City Friends enthusiastically support the Historic
District proposal, out of a belief that it will advance the good of the
greatest number of people, both now and in the future. (applause)
Blank: My name is Jackie Blank, and I live at 830 Rider Street in Iowa City, and
I've been a long-time realtor in Iowa City, and as such through the years, I
have been asked by potential employers of people coming, that they would
like to have come to this city, to sell the city to these people, who may be
very enthusiastic about the job, very enthusiastic about the idea of coming
to a smaller town but they want to know where they can live, and many of
them are urban people, and many, many of them ask to have vintage
homes. The vintage homes that are in such very, very short supply in this
city, probably because many of them were usurped by the University, by
various buildings, and so very little is left. Very few places where you can
live and, as they people have mentioned, be able to walk downtown, and
feel not like you live in the middle of a country, but in a real town with a
neighborhood. So, I think that the history of houses that have been in the
historic districts that we already have, show financially, I can tell you from
my business, they maintain and increase their value. The town is enriched
by these neighborhoods. It's why the city, I think, thought of trying to
redo this sort of place by doing the Peninsula, but a place like the
Peninsula, as nice as it is, doesn't allow people to walk downtown and to
have a real authentic house. Not a copy, but a real house, and the
architectural heritage in this part of the city that we're now asking to be on
the Historic Preservation District, is very, very precious, and I hope that
you will all consider strongly maintaining that. (applause)
Walker: Good evening. I'm Tim Walker. I live at 621 N. Johnson, on a block that
has become quite a bit more livable because we've been very assertive
about making sure that all of the codes there are enforced, and it has
worked to very good effect. On this issue, I just want to point out a couple
of things that are pretty unique about our neighborhood. One is that it is
one of the few places in town where there are a lot of starter homes, you
know, little funny, affordable homes that are affordable because the way
that place was in-filled, left lots that about this big (laughter), you know,
that's why I could afford to buy a house, because I had no lot. There are
no new freestanding affordable starter homes being built anywhere in the
state that I know of, certainly not in this area. So, that is a resource we
need to protect. And following up on what Ms. Blank said about these
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properties holding and growing in value, there are two ways to own a
property, and enjoy its appreciation and value. One of the ways is to be a
good steward ofthe property, which is what the Historic overlay is going
to promote. Another way is to buy it, own it for a while, and extract as
much value from it as you can before you dump it on the next person,
who's going to extract value from it and not reinvest in it. That is the
worst, that trend is the worst enemy, I believe, of our neighborhoods as
they should exist as neighborhoods, and again, just as a matter of property
rights for those of us who are owning our properties and acting as
stewards of our properties, our neighbor's property values are maintained
because of our individual stewardship, and the people who oppose this
because they're afraid of its effect on their investment, I think are taking a
really cynical view toward the issue. Thank you. (applause)
Lehman: Thank you.
Eckhardt: I've reached the age where I can't write and talk at the same time
(laughter) anymore. I have lived...
Lehman: Would you give your name first.
Eckhardt: Oh, Pat Eckhardt, I live at 514 N. Linn Street. I have lived in that same
block since 1971. First seven years in a house on Fairchild Street, and
then we moved around the corner to Linn Street because we had an extra
bedroom and two parlors, and we had kids, and back then there were kids
in the neighborhood and I'm glad they're coming back, and just like me
getting older and taking more pills, one of the things that endangers a
historic neighborhood is these old houses need more care. You can't do
something to them, you need to protect them a little bit, and we need your
help. Now, your job, we are not voting here, all those in favor of a historic
district and all those opposed, that's not how this works here. You have to
study and know the issues, and do what's best for the public. That's your
charge, and I ask you to do that. Now there are people against this historic
district, and I don't think they're "kooks" and they do have some good
points. I think they're sometimes, they've been misinformed, but I think
that I'd like to know what they would like to do with that freedom that
they think we would take away from them. What are they going to build
there? What are they going to do? And why, if you care about your
historic house would you put vinyl siding on it? Why would you do that?
I'm, I can't understand that, but there are benefits in preservation, and
neighborhood pride, protection ofthe neighborhood, and to protect those
old, fragile wooden houses. That's what we have, they take a little extra
care, a little extra effort, but imitation historic houses just are not as good.
So I ask you not to shirk from your duty, to do your studying, to be ready,
and a beautiful neighborhood is not a thing to waste. Thank you.
(applause)
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#5 Page 19
Palmer: My name is Jan Palmer. I live at 803 Bowery, and I walk up to the
Northside at least twice a day. I make at least two round trips, and
purposely chose not to have a car because I wanted to live in a town, not
in a city, and I wanted to live in a neighborhood, not a place, and I think
what's most essential for me is best told through a story, or an explanation
of how I came to be in Iowa City. I grew up in Manhattan, but my family
had land in rural Pennsylvania and built a small cabin on it. So I grew up
very urban and also rural. And until I moved to Iowa City, I had not found
a place in the United States where I could experience my cosmopolitan
mind and my down-to-earth town/country soul. And I think that what we
have here in Iowa City is something extraordinarily precious. It is not
something that's easily found elsewhere, and it certainly is not something
that can be replaced if it's lost. And I think that the visual dimension and
the mixing of community, and the sense of history, all of that is an integral
part of maintaining the culture ofIowa that I chose to come to. I did my
undergraduate work for two years in Iowa and when I looked for a
graduate program, I chose to come back here because of the culture, and
because, and I found that with the combination of the University and the
town ofIowa City, I've been able to put my body, mind, and soul together
for the first time. Thank you. (applause)
Lehman: Thank you. After this next speaker, if there's anyone who wishes to speak
in opposition, give them an opportunity, and we're going to continue this
hearing for about another ten minutes, and then we're going to close the
hearing and take a short break.
Higley: That's cool. I'll be quick. (laughter) My name is Michelle Higley, and
I'm kind of unique tonight; I'm the landlord/owner. Recently purchased a
house on 414 N. Gilbert that I had rented for ten years prior. I urge you,
as the City Council tonight, to vote in favor of this. It's long awaited, long
past due. I'm a relocated Southerner. I love this neighborhood. I'm here
with almost all but maybe two of my neighbors on Gilbert Street tonight,
and I'm very happy to see that we're all here and all of us here in numbers
from this entire district. And I'd still like to see that 55% that he says that
there is, and Ijust don't think that there's 55% one way or the other. I
think that everybody wants to see pass tonight. Thanks. (applause)
Lehman: Thank you.
Toomey: Hello, my name is Tim Toomey. I'm third generation Iowa City. I'm an
engineer and a small contractor, licensed and bonded contractor, and I do a
lot of work on the old houses. A couple comments about, someone said
that neighborhoods don't go block by block. Well, they do. When I grew
up in this, when I was young, my paper route was between Prentiss Street
and Capital, from the railroad tracks to the other side of the Iowa
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Memorial Union. And that's nothing but a big parking lot now. So they
do go block by block. Someone mentioned Howard Moffitt's name here.
There was an apartment building in uptown Iowa City that should have
been preserved, was torn down, Moffitt Apartments. That's where the
Iowa City Library now is. So, these things do happen. That Moffitt's
Apartments was one of the most interesting buildings this state, this
country, has ever seen, as far as that goes. Comments about my
experiences with vinyl siding. If you build a new structure, you put on the
inside walls, you put what's called a vapor barrier, plastic. That keeps
water from migrating through the walls. On the outside, they put Tyvek
up, and that's a moisture barrier, not a vapor barrier. It keeps rain, water,
but allows vapor to pass through it. You can put vinyl over that. If you
take an old house, they come through, their vinyl guys, first thing they do
is knock off all the architectural details because it's not going to fit nicely,
so they're not going to do it. Next thing they do is they put up some
Styrofoam, you know. You ever have a Styrofoam cooler? How much
water leaks out of it? How much vapor passes through it? Well, that's not
for insulation value; it's to give them a smooth surface to attached the
vinyl. Vinyl, again, how much moisture passes through that? So, when I
look at people who want to take an old turn-of-the century home and put
vinyl on it, I know that that house will not be there in fifteen years. I have
the experience of going to houses with the vinyl, pulling off the vinyl
because they decided they wanted to build an addition and they already
had vinyl, and I can take a screwdriver and go through every, the bottom
of every stud, all the way through because all the moisture. . . there's no
vapor barrier on the inside. Water migrates, hits the vinyl, hits that
Styrofoam, drips down, settles to the base of it, and it's gone. Those
houses will not be there in fifteen years. They're all over the place. If you
pull it off, the vinyl, you, sometimes it can be preserved. You're going to
find it's all black and mildewed and everything, but they still can be
brought back if they, if it hasn't been on there long enough to totally
destroy the wood. That's about all I have to say about it. Thank you.
(applause)
Lehman: Thank you, Tim.
Paulson: I'm Sarah Buss Paulson. I live at 416 N. Linn Street, and I don't know
whether it's the season, but I feel like I'm channeling "It's a Wonderful
Life" (laughter), and I support this proposal and I urge you to support it. It
seems to me that in so doing you'll be supporting the spirit of Bedford
Falls, but I didn't come up here mostly to speak in my own voice. When I
heard about this proposal, it occurred to me that the University surely had
an interest in what was going on in our neighborhood, and so I contacted
President Skorton to find out, you know, what his opinion was about this
matter. Unfortunately, I did so rather late, so he wasn't able to say
anything official, but he did tell me that he is very supportive of historic
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#5 Page 21
preservation and understands the importance ofthe Gilbert-Linn District,
how close it is to the University, and he sent me a letter indicating both the
general support of Historic Preservation that the University has, and
understanding of how important the neighborhood is, and as you'll see at
the end, indicating that ifthere were more time, this is something that he
would put forward to the University Campus Planning Committee as
something they could make a judgment about. "Dear Sara, I read with
great personal interest your letter regarding the Historical Preservation
Commission's recommendations for designating the Gilbert-Linn Street
Neighborhood as a Historic District. The University has a long-standing
tradition of appreciation for the principals of historic preservation. The
University recognizes the importance of historic preservation, and
documenting those structures that are integral to our past. The University
has on multiple occasions been the recipient of an Iowa City Historic
Preservation Award for our efforts in restoring buildings oflocal, state,
and national significance, including the Old Capital Museum and Shaffer
Hall on the Pentacrest and the Day House, the home of the Iowa Writer's
Workshop, and the Shamba House, home of the International Writing
Work Program, both on Clinton Street. As you may be aware, the
University owns no property within the boundaries of this proposed
historic district; however, because the Gilbert-Linn Street District provides
residents for our faculty, staff, and students, we are interested in its future,
as well as its past. As a strong advocate for the University's Shared
Governance Process, I cannot speak on the University's behalf, without
first seeking the advice and counsel of the University Campus Planning
Committee. I would, however, be pleased to ask them to look at this
proposed historic district designation from the perspective of the
University's interest. Please let me know. Sincerely, David J. Skorton,
President." (applause)
Slabach: Hi, my name's Nichole Slabach and I own a house at 411 N. Linn, and
228 Church Street, and it's been amazing to hear the things that so many
of you have said that live in these houses. I am a landlord. My girls, both
my houses are filled with women. They love our houses. We've taken
great effort to restore them, actually the people we bought them from, I
should say. My husband and I can barely hammer a nail, but they went to
great effort to restore them and they're beautiful, and we are in the process
of repainting one and we painted the other one last year because we don't
want vinyl siding, but for me it's more than an issue of vinyl siding or
windows. For me what it has come down to, I found out about this by
someone calling me saying 'do you realize what's going on. There's
going to be this vote a week form now, or a week and a half from now,'
and I'm just like 'what is going on?' and I didn't have proper, I felt like
proper notification or you know, all of you feel very passionate about this.
One of you can come to my house and explain, you know, this. I mean, to
my understanding, I can't just tear down my house and put up a brick 24-
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#5 Page 22
plex where it is, just because of how it's zoned in Iowa City anyway, and
so it can't become like some of the other neighborhoods that have been
mentioned, because I can't just put up a brick 12-plex, and you know, I
just wish there could have been better notification. Another thing that felt
weird to me, was that as this has been proposed, let's do this national
historic thing, and that might be fine, but then someone said 'in Des
Moines, only like 2% or five of them' or whatever my memory is terrible,
you know, but it's very rare that they do to the local historic preservation.
But to my understanding, most ofthe Iowa City ones have went to the
local historic preservation level, so to speak, which I know does have
much more stipulations and a say in how things are done, and so yeah,
maybe this step is not that big of a deal, but because Iowa City so often
times then goes the next step of the local historic preservation, that's
where my antennas go up. So, I guess that's all I have to say. Thanks.
Lehman: Okay, we're going to wrap this up pretty quick. Go ahead.
Launspach: Hi, my name is Phil Launspach. My family has owned and managed a
property on the 200 block of Davenport Street for about forty-five years,
and so I've seen the neighborhood and the changes over the last forty-five
years, and quite frankly, there haven't been that many changes over the
last forty-five years. I think one of the big problems, there have been
problems with this district from its inception. I know that the local district
is actually different, or believe it's different, than what the state is looking
at as a state/national historic district. Is that the case or no? That's the
case, okay. I also feel as she did, that there was poor notification from the
inception. I think originally it went out in some kind of a newsletter. I
know that the meeting that I went to at the Historic Preservation
Commission, there were very few people that showed up. I asked them
why; their understanding was that it had already been passed. It was part
of the National Historic District, and I said this is completely different;
this is the local district. Most of them didn't realize that this is much more
restrictive than what the national designation is. Originally I was told by
City staff that in order to force a super majority, required 51 % of the total
property area to be opposed to it. Then later we found out that it was 20%
of the property which included the public right-of-ways. Then we found
out later that it was just 20% of the district, and didn't include the right-of-
ways, so I felt like there has been a lot of misinformation along the way,
as well. I believe, as you well know, that these good people here are
historic preservationists, and I understand where they're coming from, but
I think the bottom line here is we have a vast majority ofthe property
owners have sent you letters, mostly notarized letters, that they are not in
favor of this, and I understand that a lot of these people here are in favor
of it, but a lot of these people here don't own those properties and aren't
going to have to deal with these problems. So, I think that the bottom line
here is I think you should consider the majority of the property owners
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#5 Page 23
that are against it, even though they're not here tonight. They did take the
time to send you letters and they are concerned about it as well. Thank
you.
Lehman: Thank you.
(person in audience) Could we have a show of hands of the property owners who are
wearing orange stickers, please?
Lehman: This isn't a popularity contest, folks. Now we're going to take one more
and then we're going to take a quick break, and then we'll start Council
discussion.
Offut: My name is Chris Offut. I live at 309 Church Street. I'm one of these
people who asked Jackie Blank to find me an old house and she did. My
first thought when I heard about this was, you know, I work really hard for
my money and I, no one is going to tell me what to do with my house, so I
made some phone calls and I was told that there were guidelines in the
form of a pamphlet. So I went and read it. It's at the library, and it's also
on-line, and as I read it, I was surprised more and more how reasonable
these guidelines were. There's nothing irrational, and there was nothing I
couldn't agree with, even with my long-term ideas of an addition, a
garage, a porch, etc. My fantasies of a perfect home in Iowa City. I
moved into this neighborhood because I like living where there's people
on the streets. There's students on the streets. There's children on the
street, and there's also my neighbors on the street. I think it's easy to
write a letter or an email to the City Council. It's even easier to sign a
form letter to the City Council, but I believe it takes a big commitment to
show up at a City Council meeting, and there are over sixty people here
tonight with that commitment. That's who you see here tonight. People
who are committed to their homes. Not just to their homes, but to their
neighborhood. People who have made investments to a neighborhood. I
respect people who put financial investment into property. But myself and
my neighbors, are investing our entire lives in the neighborhood. It's
where we raise our children. It's where we send them to school. It's
where we walk our dog. It's where we pick up trash. It's where we watch
our neighbor's houses when they're out of town. This makes a
neighborhood. Tonight the fate of my neighborhood, of our
neighborhood, of your constituents' neighborhood, is in your hands, and I
ask for your support with this designation of the historic preservation
neighborhood -- for myself, for all sixty people who are here, for all of
Iowa City, and for my children in the future, thank you. (applause)
Lehman: Thank you. You know, we can't keep this all night. We have sixty folks,
I know the vast majority of you folks support this, and we truly do
appreciate that. If someone has something to say that has not been said,
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no, no, I'm serious, and I know you're all very serious, and that's why
you're here and we really appreciate this, but we could literally go on all
night, so if someone has something that hasn't been said, we'll do it, and
at 8:30 we will adjourn the hearing, and only those folks who have not
spoken will be permitted to speak between now and then.
Kane: Good evening. My name is Tom Kane. I live at 420 Ronald Street. I own
two properties in the area of Linn Street, and I don't think that rules and
regulations make a neighborhood, and I have enough difficulty
maintaining the properties, given the City's Housing Authority and the
inspections. I don't need another layer of authority telling me, you know,
what I need to do in regard to turnings on the porch, in regards to back-
plastering the foundation, and in regard to a whole lot ofthings that are in
this historical thing, and diversity was accomplished without the historic
preservation thing in Iowa City. Thank you.
Lehman: Thank you.
Futrell: My name is Sue Futrell, and I'm a long-time resident of Iowa City. I've
been here thirty years. The first fifteen years I was a renter and I lived in a
lot of different neighborhoods in town so I have fond feelings about a lot
of different neighborhoods. For the last fifteen years I've been a
homeowner and for the last five years I've lived at 311 Fairchild Street,
which is in the proposed district, and am also now a landlord of a small
rental property, which is in the Longfellow District, so I'd like to speak
from a perspective of maybe understanding some of the different ways
people look at historic districts, but because I've lived in a lot of different
parts of town, I just want to say two things that at least I didn't hear be
emphasized. I also wanted to say that there are actually sixty people out in
the lobby with stickers on, plus the people who are in the room, that
couldn't fit. (laughter) Iowa City has lots and lots of neighborhoods, and
very few of them are designated historic neighborhoods, and in fact, most
of the neighborhoods even within walking distance of downtown, are not
designated historic neighborhoods, so there are lots of laces where there
are opportunities for investment property, and for people to have whatever
type of housing and lifestyle they want, but there are very few historic
neighborhoods left in town that are as diverse and intact as the near
Northside, and I think if for no other reason, that trying to maintain that
variety in our town. A week ago I looked at the letters the City was
getting, pro and con, and I just want to close by pointing out that I
understand not everyone in our neighborhood agrees about this, and that's
obvious, and there's a decision that's going to have to be made that will
hopefully have the best interest of the larger city in mind. Of the letters
that came in as of a week ago, there were letters from forty people,
representing fifty-four properties in the neighborhood that were opposing
the designation. Seven of those were actually residents of the
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neighborhood, at least according to the addresses that they had on their
letters. Of the people who wrote in supporting, and this was a week ago
and it doesn't include many of the people who are here tonight, there were
twenty-two individuals representing twenty-eight different properties.
There were nine rental property owners, and eighteen residents ofthe
neighborhood in that group, so although you're not going to make
everyone happy and there are people who view the neighborhood
differently, depending on whether they live in it or not, I guess what I
want to close with is saying the people who live in this neighborhood are
the ones who have the most at stake in terms of what you decide to do to
help us maintain and preserve the quality of the neighborhood, so thank
you for your efforts on behalf of Historic Preservation. I hope you'll take
one more step tonight. Thanks. (applause)
Buxton: Good evening. My name's Jim Buxton. My wife Becky and I live on
Muscatine A venue, and we own and manage three properties in the
proposed district. 403 N. Linn, 225 Church, and 402 E. Davenport. I'm
here before you tonight to express my strong opposition to the proposed
historic district. We've got people that have spoken this evening,
owner/residents that are for it and against it; landlord owners who are for
it and against it. We've been meeting with a small committee over the
past two or three months, trying to organize opposition to this, and I have
a list with me this evening, current as of just a few hours ago,
demonstrating that there is approximately 54% of the people opposed that
actually own property there. There is the same percentage, more or less,
of square footage that's opposed, and also number of properties. So, I
guess what we are asking is that you will take into account the wishes of
the actual property owners that will be effected by these three pages of
rules and restrictions that would be applicable to our maintenance and
improvements of our properties, and just take that into account, and at this
time, I will leave this list, and it has the statistics and it's also got the
individual names, and square footage, and property addresses of all the
people that are opposed. So, thank you for your time, and we hope that
you vote in opposition of this measure. Thank you.
Lehman: Thank you.
Wilburn: Move to accept correspondence.
Karr: We can do it all at the end.
Lehman: Okay.
Wilburn: Withdraw the motion.
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Lake: My name is William Lake, and we own a property at 404 and 404 'Iz E.
Davenport. All these folks here were talking about kids, we have our
children living in that duplex. Both of our daughters live in that duplex,
and I guess the thing that I want to make sure that the Council knows is
that we want to as a property owner be able to do what we can do to that
property to help them out with utilities in any type of way that we can,
whether that's putting some siding on that property, putting some vinyl
clad windows, some thermo panes in there, or whatever. We just would
like to have that option. So, I've been affiliated with that property for
probably thirty years. I've owned it for maybe a couple of years, and own
a couple other properties in the area, and I just think it's infringing on the
rights of the owner, you know, when they take that three-page letter and
say you cannot do this, you cannot do that, or you cannot do this. I'lljust
be done with it and say that I'm opposed to it, and also state that I think
the percentage is about 56% against or 54%, so in the area I just want the
Council to make sure and take a look at that and take that into
consideration. Thank you.
Lehman: Okay, one more. That's you.
Kapsa: I'm Walter Kapsa. lawn properties at 320 and 324 Davenport Street.
I've owned the property at 320 since 1982. The one at 324 since 1991, so
I'm a long-term owner of property in this neighborhood. That
neighborhood, my street, two, three of the people, neighbors of mine that
object, are owner occupied. I just don't think there's any need for this.
That neighborhood has not changed very much in the whole period I've
been there, and I think before something like this is imposed on a
neighborhood, there should be a fairly overwhelming consensus that this is
the way that the property owners wish to go. That's it.
Lehman: Thank you.
Karr: Motion to accept correspondence?
Lehman: Public hearing is closed. Do we have a motion?
Wilburn: Move to accept correspondence.
O'Donnell: Second.
Lehman: All in favor of accepting correspondence? Opposed? Motion carries.
We're going to take a break for about ten minutes. (TAPE OFF)
Lehman: I would consider a motion for first consideration.
Bailey: Move first consideration.
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Wilburn: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Bailey; seconded by Wilburn. Discussion?
Champion: Well I'll be happy to start. I'm not bashful. You know, obviously, most
people on the Council know I'm very much in favor of this designation. I
think historic preservation does many, many things, and it certainly does
provide neighborhood integrity, and I've been on this Council for seven
years, and we make a lot of decisions every week, but some decisions we
make truly effect the future of Iowa City, and I think we need to look at
long-term, and not immediate needs of a few people who are against
something. When I think about decision we've made that will have long-
term effects on Iowa City, I think about First A venue; about the
renovation of downtown; the Moen Building; the new Library; Mormon
Trek extended; Camp Cardinal Road; the Peninsula property; and I think
about the Englert Theatre, which I think I got on a bandstand (laughter),
and I think the other major thing we've done is conservation districts to
protect our neighborhoods, and in the long-run, it will bring much
economic development to Iowa City, because those are the kind of things
that are very important to a community. So, I'm urging this Council to
pass this, despite the lack of support from landlords in the district. The
support certainly comes from people who are living there, and also from
some landlords who own property there. So, I hope you'll all look beyond
what the letters in the packet and what people have said tonight, and look
fifty years down the road and where you want Iowa City to be and
preserve this last great neighborhood, close to the central part of Iowa
City, that helps prevent urban sprawl. That's all I have to say.
Lehman: Thank you, Connie. (applause)
Wilburn: I would echo what Connie said. There are times when you're making
generational decisions up here and since my time on Council, I've tried to
support the value of historic preservation and its up to us on Council to
really make that happen and work out the logistics of that, and at times,
that means regulation, and it means when you have regulations, there are
going to be rules and guidelines that have to be followed in order to make
sure that happens. It's not just a matter of an ordinance about, well, this
isn't a case of safety, as was mentioned earlier by one of the owners.
We're talking about historic preservation, and I think that it is important to
nurture and encourage reinvestment in those types of neighborhoods to
continue to keep the historic character and nature of the buildings that are
there. Well, I guess that's all I really want to say. I think that I'll try to
continue to do these types of things, which are consistent with our
Comprehensive Plan and it's important that historic preservation plan be
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included as part of that Comprehensive Plan, and I'm going to try to
continue to make that happen when and where I can. (applause)
Bailey: And I'll be supporting this as well. I'm a strong supporter of historic
preservation and what is most important to me, is the people that are
affected day to day by this designation, are overwhelmingly in favor of it.
These are the people whose wealth is in those homes. I mean, we're not
talking about investment property for the sake of investment. We're
talking about their wealth and their livelihood and their life, and I know
that it's a pedestrian neighborhood. We walk by these houses every day,
and it's so vital. We are a city of neighborhoods and this is a jewel of a
neighborhood and it must be preserved, and we know it's our oldest
neighborhood in Iowa City, and the thought that some of these old historic
homes, the O. C. Carpenter home that's on the corner of Davenport Street,
could be changed in anyway, it would just break, I think, our collective
hearts because this is so important. (applause)
Elliott: Unfortunately, people will not be applauding what I have to say because
I'll be voting against this. I think that the decision was easy for me to
reach. The vote will be difficult for me to pass, because what I've heard
tonight are many, many very sincere, very, very many people who really
feel strongly about this, and some of them have spoken eloquently about
it. I don't think that I would disagree with anything that I have heard
tonight. I agree with everything, but whether the percentage is 60, as I
first thought it was, or tonight it's come out to be 52 to 54% in opposition
to it. I think people who own property and do not live on it, even though
they pay approximately twice as many taxes percentage-wise, as those
who are resident-owners, they don't have more rights, but they don't have
fewer rights, and I think the majority has expressed to the Council that
they are in opposition to this, and I will be voting against it. I do not do so
with a terribly happy heart because I know it's going to be disappointing
to some people. I will say this, please do not think of this as a final
decision for Iowa City. There are years ahead, and I think that you should
pick up the spear and continue the charge to do something, whether it's
historic preservation. Michael Maharry and I had a very nice, very long
conversation Sunday afternoon, and we talked about a number of things
that could be done for the neighborhood, and don't give up on historic
preservation. Don't give up on looking into other, more innovative ways
to keep neighborhoods, maintain them and in fact, improve them, and with
that, that's all I have to say. (applause)
O'Donnell: Well, I don't expect any applause either. I had many calls today, and one
comment tonight kind of resonated with me, when she said 'I didn't know
anything about it. I wasn't informed,' and I have a problem with that.
I've never voted against any historic designation, and this really troubles
me doing this; however, when you have 52 to 56% of the people that are
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against this, there's either a lack of understanding. Their
misunderstanding was put forward. This will fail this time, but I think it's
probably going to pass the next time, so I encourage you to do it again
with proper notification. (applause) (TAPE ENDS)
Vanderhoef: . . . everyone. Yes, there are restrictions for this area. We have, I've talked
to a lot of residents over the last two days. In fact, I think my phone is
permanently attached to my ear, and that's okay. That's what I'm here
for. So, I'm not complaining. The economic hardship has not been
spelled out well for me. As I read Historic Preservation minutes and I
think my Commission members are much more expert in these things than
I am, and it appears that there are usable products out there that are not
super-expensive as they used to be, and there's more and more products
coming on the market on a regular basis to do replacement windows and
suitable siding for houses, but I too am troubled by the garbled
information of what's out there, and I amtroubled with the numbers of
objections. I could support waiting on this and looking to you folks, both
those opposed and those that are for this Historic Preservation designation,
to really get the facts on what it does cost in economic hardship for taking
care of these homes. We do regulations at City Council level on a regular
basis. It just doesn't happen to usually affect a whole big neighborhood,
and therefore, it doesn't get this kind of a public hearing. In fact, many
times we have to hold the public hearing and no one shows up, or it may
be a developer. Those aren't easy decisions to make either. So, what I
would like to do is to, since it appears this is going to fail, I'll let you
know that yes I do support historic preservation, but I don't support during
this time of total upheaval, so I would like to send it back for more
education of everyone, and certainly, we are required, I believe, Mr.
Mayor, to take it back to Planning and Zoning if it appears that the
ordinance is going to fail, and I think that's what we ought to do, and
enlist our Commission in helping us educate our community to really
understand how this can be done at not an economic disadvantage for
everyone, and bring this forward, hopefully, in a very positive way, so that
more of you are satisfied with the results.
Lehman: Because this is a zoning issue, and because more than 20% of the property
owners have opposed it, we are required by law to have a super majority,
which in this case, would be a vote of six votes, in the affirmative in order
to pass it. We also have a Council policy that requires the City Council,
when we vote or appear to be voting in a manner not consistent with
Planning and Zoning Commission, that we have ajoint meeting with that
Commission, prior to our vote, and it is obvious tonight, that there are
more than one of us who are not going to be voting in favor of it. I will
just briefly give you, everyone's given their position. It would be unfair
for me not to at least say something. I support historic preservation. I
think it's a tremendous thing for this community, but I think perception is
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as much, perception is reality, and if we give the perception that the City is
shoving something down the throats of52% of the property owners in a
district, that does not bode well for historic preservation. I believe that if
the comments that were heard in this room tonight were heard by the 52%
who object, that there wouldn't be 52% any more. There are so many
good things about historic preservation. There are so many good reasons
why a property owner, whether they are landlords or people who live
within the district, should be in favor of historic preservation. My guess is
that we need to do a little better job of letting these folks know how they
can benefit from it, so we don't sit here and look at 52%. I would like a
motion to defer to the January 4th meeting, at which, and during the
interim we'll try and meet with P&Z.
Vanderhoef: So moved.
O'Donnell: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Vanderhoef; seconded by O'Donnell. All in favor? Opposed?
Motion carries. We will try and schedule a meeting with P&Z, between
now and the 4th, and then we will vote on the 4th.
Elliott: Thanks to all the people who showed up tonight. It was most impressive.
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#9 Page 31
ITEM 9 ADOPTING IOWA CITY'S CONSOLIDATED PLAN, KNOWN AS
CITY STEPS, FOR 2006-2010, AUTHORIZING THE CITY
MANAGER TO SUBMIT SAID PLAN, TECHNICAL CORREC-
TIONS AND ALL NECESSARY CERTIFICATIONS TO THE U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT,
AND DESIGNATING THE CITY MANAGER AS THE AUTH-
ORIZED CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER FOR THE CONSOLI-
DATED PLAN (a.k.a. CITY STEPS)
Lehman: Public hearing is open.
Wilburn: Mr. Mayor, I'll be abstaining due to a conflict of interest. This involves
the Comprehensive Plan and I didn't vote on it before due to the funding
mechanism.
Lehman: Thank you. Public hearing is closed. I'm sorry. Okay, I'm sorry. Public
hearing is open on the consolidated plan.
Santangalo: Patti Santangalo at 3035 Stanford Avenue. I've been attending a lot of
public, or housing meetings, and things like that. I know that besides
some typos in this draft, at least that I have, I don't know if they've been
corrected in yours or not. I've got a number of those, but a couple of
things that I did find is the Greater City Housing Fellowship is noted as
having utility allowance. We did not get that grant so we no longer have
money for utility deposits, and that's on page 32 and 107 in this book. I
have no idea what it is in yours. It's under 2 C. A., I think, and let's see, 4
D. B., I think, somewhere in there. A lot of the problems I've discovered
with housing in this area, besides not having enough, is I've also been
attending the scattered site housing meetings and if they propose not to
have any housing below Highway 6 and east of the river, that's the only
place there are affordable lots in Iowa City. If they close that off, there's
not going to be any more affordable housing built, unless you open up a
way for us to add more. I took, I was one of the five people who took part
in the current homeless and housing tour this year, and there's no way to
get from downtown to Eastdale and back in an hour, because the bus only
runs once every hour. There's no way to get from southeast Iowa City to,
if your job is at Hy-Vee, you have to come downtown and go out. You
can't go, you can't get there in less than an hour. If you have kids that you
have to drop off, it doesn't work. We need a lot more support for busing.
There are no ways for kids, people in the southeast side to get to church on
Sunday. There's no churches down there. And no buses. And most of
them do not have transportation. Shelter House, of course, I spent last
Friday night at the overflow. Earlier this year, the overflow overflow. We
had to turn people away from Shelter House and from the overflow. It
just, there's a lot of need, and not a lot of help, it seems. I'm not sure what
else to talk about, but I just know that there's a lot of problems that they're
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#9 Page 32
not getting help. I've been, I used to pick up someone from downtown
and take him out to church on Sundays. He had a heart attack while he
was downtown. He currently had heart surgery recently. I haven't even
heard, there's no way to find out how his heart surgery went. But, we
served 175 kids at the "Gifts for Parents" on Saturday, and that did not
include any ofthe kids that are homeless, because the Homeless
Children's Trust was at the same time, down in south Iowa City. Ifwe
had included their 150 kids, we'd had 300 kids, or more, and like they say,
I don't know if you got to see, if any of you watched the movie that was
done for the Homeless Forum on that Tuesday night of "hunger and
homeless" week. The average age of a homeless person is ten. They
don't have a choice, and there's a lot of things going around that just, we
just need to do a lot more than what we're doing, somehow. And pulling
off a lot of the money for Economic Development doesn't help the
situation. It's pulled right offthe top of the CDBG Funds. Economic
Development doesn't help when all it gets is less than living wage jobs.
Somehow we need to get Coralville to pull in and go back to getting some
affordable housing, because there's nothing over there either. And that's
where a lot of the minimum wage jobs are, out in the Coralville, Coral
Ridge, but I just needed to come say something. There was somebody
else here that was going to say some things too, but she had a daughter
who had to go to bed, so she couldn't stay (laughter), but thank you.
Lehman: Thank you.
Klein: Hello, I'm Garry Klein from 628 2nd Avenue, and I haven't, I'll be honest
and say that although I've been following the City Steps process, the
document itself is a daunting task, and I will admit and maybe some of
you will admit too, that you haven't quite gotten all the way through it yet.
I did read the Executive Summary, and I do want to point out, or at least I
want to say that I think it does a pretty good job, at least from the hearings
I went to, of summarizing the needs of the community. I'm very, I'm
always happy when I read something I recognize, so it's, it's very good to
see that. As someone whose also on the Shelter House board, it's nice to
see that the issue ofhomelessness of course is recognized, as well as it is
in the Executive Summary. I guess what I want to say is that you know,
City Steps, now that I've had a chance to read the one from five years ago,
I realized that it really aspires to great things. It really does, and there's a
lot of good things that can be pulled from it and done. The problem with
it, it seems, is it's a document that the teeth seem to be missing, and it
relies on the goodness of the economic development community to step up
and do some things. I guess my concern is, here we are again doing
another document that we hope good things come from, and my concern is
that the economic development community may not step up to the plate,
so to my, often I like to think of the needs of human services as not just
being about what the city can do or what the county can do or what the
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churches can do or even what individuals can do, but what we all can do
together, and my hope is through the City Steps plan that people, as they
do take the time to read it, will get excited about parts of it and want to
step up and do some things to increase the amount of transitional housing
that is available because, you know, what good is it to put people in
homeless shelters if they can't aspire to something greater than that, and to
have a place to live, ultimately. What good is it if we don't create living
wage jobs as opposed to minimum wage jobs, so again, I think City Steps
is a fine blueprint. My hope and my desire is that the economic
development community, as well as all of us, will step up and support
what the document has to offer. So thank you for your time.
Lehman: Thank you. Anyone else like to speak? Public hearing is closed.
Karr: Motion to accept correspondence.
Elliott: So moved.
Vanderhoef: Second.
Lehman: Motion and a second to accept correspondence. All in favor? Opposed?
Motion carries. Public hearing is closed. Do we have a resolution...
Bailey: Move the resolution.
Vanderhoef: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Bailey; seconded by Vanderhoef. Discussion?
Elliott: I think the things that were said were very good, and needed to be said.
While there is more to be done, more that we could do, more that we
probably should do, I think we also need to reflect on the fact that Iowa
City has done a very remarkable job of which we should be proud. We
should be proud of what we have done, of what we are doing to the extent
that we're doing it. We have more to do. The job is not finished, but let's
not overlook the very good things that we are able to do for those who are
less fortunate than some of us.
Vanderhoef: Well, I would just like to comment, Garry, the frustrations as many years
as I've been on Council now, and yet we have done so much, and
certainly, the private community has stepped forward. If you look at the
number of fund raisers and so forth, and new facilities that have been
partners with our federal dollars that we get annually as a recipient city of
CDBG and Home Funds. So, I would applaud my economic development
community in the things that they have done, and I never have totaled up
what the cost would be, but there's a place in this plan, for those who
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#9 Page 34
haven't read it, that talks about the number of dollars needed to meet the
goal of each of these categories, and it's pretty daunting, and there isn't
any city that I know of that even puts out that much money in one year.
So, yes, it's a blueprint. I think it's a real stable blueprint. I think we have
made a couple of changes this year in recognizing higher needs and
recognizing even a place where we have done quite a bit and we have
lowered the need for that. So I compliment the City staff and the
community, and the Council, for what they've done, and I'll support this
plan and work towards it.
Bailey: I think the City staff has done a great job. I mean, we have an incredible
needs assessment here, and some priorities that are clearly identified, and I
would challenge this body to really work on these in the up-coming years.
I mean, they've clearly identified some gaps in service provision in our
community, and one of the things that I heard, Patti mentioned, and we
heard it I think last night, is transportation. And it's certainly something
that we can look at addressing. I think that we all recognize that that's a
challenge, and we want people to be able to get to work, and get to
daycare, and do their shopping, and I think that's something we can look
at addressing in the upcoming year, and Garry, I would suggest that you
read it. It's riveting, and Patti, I commend you for getting through the
entire document. (laughter)
Lehman: Other discussion? Roll call. Motion carries.
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#10 Page 35
ITEM 10 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE 2004-2005 DEER
MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR lOW A CITY (DEFERRED FROM
11/16)
Champion: Move the resolution.
Wilburn: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Champion; seconded by Wilburn. Discussion?
Elliott: I uh, something else about which I have something to say, unfortunately.
I'll vote for this tonight, but I will not feel good about voting for it because
I think for several years we have spent an exorbitant amount of money that
need not be spent when we have needs in this city for so many things that
to spend, I think I looked at a 3-year period, we have spent an average of
$345 per deer for something under 1,000 deer that we have killed. We
have, for instance my understanding, I talked with a person today. We are
spending a great deal of money to have the meat processed. My
understanding is that there is a state program whereby if we provide meat
for the state to use, the state will take care of those processing costs which
run $15,000 to $18,000 a year. There's just a number of things, I hope
that in the future, and starting very soon, this Council will work with the
Deer Task Force to look at, and very seriously study, alternative ways.
For instance, if we are going to have sharp-shooting, and in the past we've
had at least one sharp shooter from Iowa, why can we not have people
form Iowa doing that, rather than paying the firm from Connecticut. I
would be in favor, and the DNR agrees that we should use bow hunting in
some areas where it is not appropriate for sharp shooting because of close
quarters. There's just a number of things that we should do. That said, I
will vote for it and we need to do it this year, and there's not time to do
anything else.
Champion: We'll disagree on that.
Lehman: Other discussion?
Bailey: I think governance in a diverse community is a balancing act, and I
commend the Deer Task Force for coming up with the constraints they
have. I think they've done a lot of work, and they've listened to a lot of
people, and I think that's really important. This is a tough vote for me to
make, but I go back to the balancing act, and I talked with somebody
who's active in Friends of Hickory Hill Park and I recognize the damage
that's happening to some of our public property, and that we have
identified; a number of deer population that we can manage, and that can
live with us in this community, and we certainly need to do the sharp
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shooting this year to get back to that number per acre, which I believe is
thírty, so I'll be supporting this.
Lehman: I would just echo what you said. The Deer Committee's job is one of the
most difficult jobs of any committee we've ever appointed in this
community, and I think they've done an absolutely outstanding job of
looking at the alternatives, thoroughly discussing them, and
recommending to us the only alternative that they feel is feasible. So, I
will also support it.
Vanderhoef: One thing I'll just comment on, Bob, when you talk about the cost per
animal, remember that all the meat that is taken from these animals,
figures into that, and that's money that goes back out into our community,
and our people get that free to take home and cook, and they're also used
in all of our public facilities that serve free meals, so we do have some
pluses coming out of those dollars spent.
Elliott: And I'll point out that for less amount of money, we could provide the
same people with porterhouse steaks.
Champion: I don't.. . (laughter)
Lehman: Roll call. Motion carries.
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ITEM 16 CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION
Bailey: First of all I'd like to congratulate Hands Jewelers on their 150th
anniversary. I saw Bill Nusser here tonight, and I think it's just a great
downtown asset, and love their store, and consider this a hint when
purchasing holiday gifts. (laugher) I also wanted to update the Council on
the 28E agreement with the Senior Center. Bob and I met with Jay, Linda,
and Karen on, I think it was October 25th, and Supervisor Neuzil
suggested that we wait until after the election, and the new board of
supervisors and they discussed the issue among themselves, and we'll get
back together probably after the first of the year. Did I miss anything with
that, Bob?
Elliott: Absolutely not.
Bailey: Okay, so that's where that is, so we're still working on it. That's all I
have.
Lehman: Well, no, while you're there why don't we talk about setting a date for our
Council, setting priorities for State Legislature. We talked about that last
night, and we have our calendars, I hope. We had hoped to meet. . .
Atkins: You know, you pick the date, that doesn't...
Lehman: No, no, for us to set.
Atkins: Just us?
Lehman: Right, just for us. Right. (several talking at once) And I...
Champion: What is our first budget session?
Lehman: Well, it's going to be in January, but is it possible to have a meeting yet
this month? I don't... well I am dreaming. (several talking at once)
Pardon? I have no problems with mornings, I love mornings. (several
talking at once) 8:00 AM on Tuesday the 14th? Connie? Does that work?
Okay, 8:00 AM Tuesday the 14th.
Karr: Just for scheduling information for this room. Two hours? Three hours?
(several talking at once) Okay, fine.
Lehman: Okay, thank you, Regenia. Ross? I'm sorry.
Vanderhoef: While we're doing dates, may we talk about dates that we're available to
send off to P&Z?
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Lehman: P&Z meets next week, so it would probably be a regular P&Z meeting,
next Thursday would be a meeting, I suspect. The 16th... we need to
confirm that.
Dilkes: I don't think they've had any discussion about it. Sometimes they'll
decline to meet, and so maybe we should see if they want to meet, and I
think Karin had anticipated doing that at their next meeting next week.
There she is.
Karr: Yes, and if so inclined we could take a look potentially at January 3rd at
the earliest.
Lehman: Which would be before our work session?
Karr: Correct.
Lehman: All right. Ross?
Wilburn: I want to remind the public and those who are in need at the holiday time,
that Project Holiday is December 21st and December 22nd at the old Pet
Degree store near Big Lots at Pepperwood Plaza. Toys, food, Salvation
Army, Crisis Center, the Visiting Nurses Association, and Elder Services
sponsor this. Secondly, I had a good time at the Association of Retired
Persons holiday gathering yesterday, singing and eating a few cookies,
probably a few more cookies than I usually do, but they also gathered
some food for the Crisis Center food bank, and they gathered some things
for, I believe, Heritage, and finally just want to congratulate Council
members, Bailey and Elliott, are completing their first twelve months on
the Council. Hopefully, it's everything you hoped for, and otherwise,
happy holidays everyone.
Vanderhoef: I have nothing tonight, other than to wish everyone hàppy holidays, and I
look forward to a new year.
Champion: I just want to remind everybody that the Englert did open, and the City has
been paid back. Isn't that correct?
Atkins: They, yeah, the property has been transferred. They have the title now.
Champion: They've had the title to the money, and if you haven't been there, it is
totally dual, and it's absolutely beautiful and you won't even believe it
when you go in.
Vanderhoef: I'm going Thursday night.
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Wilburn: December 19th Iowa City Community Band at 2:00 that afternoon. A
Sunday.
Elliott: Garry Klein stole a line from "A Streetcar Named Desire," and I'll steal
one from "Casablanca" when I say, Regenia, I am shocked, shocked, to
think that you would use your Council time to plead for a gift. (laughter
and several talking at once) One ofthe things that I would like the
Council to look at, two of the leading financial institutions in the Iowa
City/Cedar Rapids corridor are making significant expansions on their
facilities, and they've been hung up for some time, finding out what kinds
of electronic signs they can put up, and I would like for the Council to see
ifthere isn't some way we can assist that to move along much more
efficiently.
Lehman: Steve, is that being addressed?
Atkins: As I understood it, it goes to P&Z in January.
Lehman: Okay.
Elliott: Oh, and happy holiday everyone.
Champion: Yeah, happy holiday.
Lehman: Same thing, happy holiday. You know, we won't meet officially again
until next year so certainly happy new year to everyone, and we are so
fortunate in Iowa City, we will have the opportunity to see a really great
football game play in a bowl. We don't appreciate so many things in this
community, we just take them for granted, but that bowl game on January
1 st is going to be (can't hear) football team for the University of Iowa, and
you know, we're all just a little part of it, so happy holidays. Steve?
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ITEM 17 REPORT ON IREMS FROM CITY STAFF
Atkins: Happy holidays, thanks.
Lehman: Eleanor? Marian? Do we have a motion to adjourn?
Vanderhoef: So moved.
Elliott: Second.
Lehman: All in favor? We are adjourned. Thank you.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of December 7, 2004.