HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998-07-08 TranscriptionJuly 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 1
Council: Lehman, Champion, Kubby, Norton, O'Donnell, Thomberry, Vanderhoef.
Iowa City Staff: Atkins, Helling, Davidson, Craig, Karr, Dilkes.
Coralville Council: Fausett, Herwig, Lundell, Weihe, Jacoby, Schnake.
Coralville Staff: Hayworth, Holderness.
Iowa City School Board: Lynch, Levey, Galer, Mims.
Iowa City School Board Staff: Grieves, Palmer.
Johnson County Board of Supervisors: Lacina, Jordahl, Bolkcom, Stutsman.
JC Board of Supervisors Staff: Peters, White.
Tapes: 98-82, side 2; 98-85, side 1.
Local Option Sales Tax 98-82 S2
Lehman/Will everybody introduce themselves (introductions).
... sales tax... Iowa City Council... have given a tentative breakdown of how we
surmise we might be doing ours .... was some talk and interest on the part of us...
on joint ventures that we might cooperate on .... What areas you think we can be
doing some cooperating in as far as sales tax goes.
Bolkcom/...I have a question just generally about how people think the impact of the
Cedar Rapids/Linn County vote, what impact that's going to have on the Johnson-
Iowa City-Coralville question. And whether or not that's something worth talking
about as an issue prior to setting our minds to go to the voters with this? Whether
it's worth the effort and the cost?
Champion/I don't think it has any beating... There are 120 communities with an extra
1% sales tax.
/ 500 almost.
Weihe/...I don't think that would preclude Iowa City from putting it on the ballot. After
your discussions, have you changed any of your goals for the sales tax?...
Lehman/We have not talked about it, probably in the last month, 5-6 weeks probably.
The last discussion we laid a break down with public safety, transit, human
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services, library/cultural center .... Council really told the library board a year ago
that we would put the library bond issue on the ballot. Council subsequently has
indicated that they are not willing to put the library on the ballot without what we
perceive as a method the funding of the operation of that library, namely the sales
tax .... Those two have been hooked together and will be as a single issue.
...There will be other uses as for the sales tax revenue... but the chance for the
library to pass without funding to operate was some concern to council, so those
two have been hooked together. There's been no discussion for about two months.
...I think we committed ourselves to the library board to put the library bond
issue. I think we have told them we would do that. Then we said we would do it
but we really have to have a way to pay for it .... my feeling is the council will be
putting this on the ballot next spring, partially in keeping a promise we made to
the library board to put it on the ballot. The sales tax obviously part of that to fund
the operation of the library...
Kubby/So really nothing's different.
Lehman/Nothing's different.
Kubby/Except that we did fiddle with some language in the 40% that would be used for
capital improvements that mentions the library and roads and other things so that
when the library is paid off, if it passes, ...then it can be used for other things. The
other thing we did talk ...at one point is big new ideas, like someone threw out a
convention center. We said we want to not think about new ways to spend money
but things that we're already needing in our communities that we could...
Norton/...every seemed to agree ..... was pretty crucial but nobody seemed to have it in
their budget. So if we were going to do that, and incorporate something
specifically for roads, that would seem to me to be one possible place. I have
mixed feelings... about using sales tax for roads rather than road use... Want to
go to the state legislature and say that road use tax has fallen behind...
Lehman/Part of this first item on the agenda may very well be tied to number two or
whatever. Has the county discussed sales tax at all, what the proceeds might be
used for?
Bolkcom/We had just a general conversation about possible things to spend it on and
that included things like maybe more jail space or county space needs, roads,
senior programs, ...trails. But just a very general conversation. We haven't really
put percentages to any of that.
Jacoby/How much does it cost to put this on the ballot? ...and who foots that bill?
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Thomberry/$50,000.
Lehman/I think county wide is around $30,000, isn't it?
Bolkcom/The last special was about $27,000, which was a general election county wide.
Lehman/So the cost would be in the neighborhood of $30,000.
Herwig/I'd just throw out to you... I think that the Cedar Rapids vote, I disagree with
some of the others, that is going to be used as a point of measurement. I think that
it got a whole lot more difficult. I think that it's a much harder sell... I thought
Cedar Rapids would probably pass and then it swung dramatically the other way.
I think that this county is probably less inclined to be supportive than Linn County
was. I'd be real leery. I wouldn't put a lot of money on it's passage, based on
Cedar Rapids. I think there is a lot closer connection than many people realize.
Levey/
I think one other thing to consider is the school board also has authority this year
for the first time to pass a local option sales tax and we haven't really discussed it.
It's not going to go one the ballot in November because we haven't discussed it,
but it's there and maybe that's something... it would be school use. But if we
went and did it and you went and did it, it'd be a problem. I personally agree with
you that it would be a hard sell in this community if either of them...
Norton/You... have the option for a surtax. Your surtax on income is 5%... in this
district? ...some of them is 12%. Highland is something like that, maybe 19%.
Yours is one of the lowest in the region. I always wonder why you would look at
the sales tax. You have... other options it doesn't compete with the sales tax.
Palmer/It's totally different from this though...
Norton/You can't use those other funds for the same things?
Palmer/The 1% sales tax purpose is for infrastructure types needs. That 5% income
surtax is to help support general operations in the district.
Norton/Not capital things.
Palmer/Right.
Kubby/But are there possibilities to switch things around so that some things that are
currently paid for out of property taxes can be switched to either one of those
things? You want to go with the most progressive tax you can and the income's
the way to go if there's a way to shuffle things around.
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Lehman/Henry, am I correct in that the Coralville Council has really decided not to
discuss this prior to the first of August publicly?
Herwig/Jim, do you want to speak to that?
Lehman/I'm looking at the agenda here...
Fausett/I'd rather Henry answer that. I don't see how we can really have an in length
discussion much before August, just all the things we have going on our agendas
at the present time. We're having special meetings about every week as it is.
Kubby/Maybe these two items about spending are premature then.
Lehman/...if we're going to talk about sales tax we need to wait until the respective
bodies have had an opportunity to discuss it. Obviously we've just discussed it.
We have not talked about it for a couple of months. County is just beginning to
talk about it. Coralville hasn't talked about it. That would be... a much better
topic for our next meeting.
Fausett / That' s possible .... early on when it came up, most of the things that we
discussed were not something that would be an ongoing operational expense but it
would be used for .... things that we would not normally expect to be able to fund.
But I think we definitely would not want to tie it to anything operational like you
were talking... having funding for the operation of the library. That bothers me...
when you start talking about operating funds. So I don't think our council
would .... would be interested in something of that nature.
Lundell/... Our philosophical discussion was centered around the idea that projects that
would help the region. If we could combine on some project that would be
regionally beneficial to a lot of different people it would be probably more in line
with what we would line up with.
Lehman/I think really that' s why it's on the agenda here.
Vanderhoef/I was thinking along the same line, Diana. Regionally I would like to move
out into the region and for me the most important project that I could see for all of
us would be 965, and start working on the ring road concept that benefits all this
county ....
Jordahl/I think that's an important introduction that Ernie ..... appropriate for us to talk
about it here is this notion of what can we do together... that's why this meeting
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is to talk about joint things as Coralville moves to discuss the issue. It'd be good
if the background of our mutual I.D. is...we're informing them.
Stutsman/One area that the county is really looking at is our space needs .... we're just
talking about the county needs, and I didn't know if we're talking about space
needs if there could be any joint ventures in that area .... our most pressing needs
of course are the jail and the Department of Human Services but we're also
looking at... health department and senior center and our relationship with that
and things. But I think we should start thinking about a campus type thing, with
human services .....
LacinaJ Jail is very much a joint service-
(All talking).
Vanderhoef/Well, the senior center is another spot fight now, and it's sort of following
what the needs are there and whether there's any possibility for assisted funding
from the county towards space needs for the senior center.
Thornberry/ ..... each body should probably come up with the ways of spending the
money ..... what Henry said to that personally I don't think there's a prayer this
thing'll pass and I don't know how much time we all want to spend on saying
what we're going to use the money for until we know if we even want to put it on
the ballot.
Schnake / I think that's a point well taken, because being up there got me in tune to
what's going on in the area of Cedar Rapids. One of the major concerns was, I
think for several different types, every time you go around everybody has a
different project, and one of the biggest concerns that I think a lot of people out
there had was, okay let's put the tax here and then decide how to spend the
money. Well, philosophically, that really wounded a lot of people, and if you have
a pressing need and you've already got that need established, and then you say,
wow, how can we come up with the money for this? People are much more
willing to say this one percent would help and this would be a good thing, but to
say let's put in the local option sales tax and then say, wow, I've got this money,
how are we going to spend it? It's some what of an insult to the public. I mean,
they don't need additional money, and if you're going to propose a tax and then
decide how to spend it is probably not the most prudent way to approach it.
Kubby
/ Well, that isn't what is happening in Iowa City. As much as I am against the
sales tax, there is a pressing need for the library and that is what instigated the
whole discussion about sales taxes. So, if each of our cases may be different, and
that may be why we're having trouble talking about it.
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Schnake/And as you go around the room, everybody's got kind of a different idea about
how it may or may not be spent, and there' s a general agreement that it should be
a regional thing, and what type of things. That would be more palatable for
general passage, but then certainly you're library is not a regional-while other
people use it, it's not necessarily a regional need, where you might have more
people buy into it than that.
/ 965 though, could be argued to be reasonable.
Schnake/That's true, but that wasn't, I agree with that, I'm just concerned that the way
it's approached most specifically with all my feeling that marketing is everything,
and I'm just concerned that if this is something .... That really how this is
approached if it's something we really feel is necessary. If it is something that is a
compelling need to the area, than I think that it's extremely important that it's
approached that way. I'm not saying that I do feel it's necessary.
Norton/The collegian community will certainly have some of it's own priorities. There' s
no doubt about that. The general thing we might agree on is whether we, in our
individual communities think about that, assuming we continue to do so, should
be trying to incorporate a regional sense. The way we've thought about it so far
there was not a regional element, but we think there should be, then some of the
ideas that are thrown out about that might mean whether it's roads or whether it's
human services.
/ Or the jail.
Norton/Or the jail or whatever, trails...they're going to come and they're going to have
to be dealt with.
Bolkcom/I don't know how broadly we're defining region, but the library's clearly a
resource that's used by lots and lots of county residents, not just Iowa City
residents.
Lehman/Well, and I think, Dee, I think you're right, we've talked primarily about Iowa
City projects. I think there is a larger picture, that is why we're sitting here. But
there are projects that certainly may...we may want to cooperate among the
various entities to do. On the other hand, I don't think there is any question that
there is definite needs within each of our units, whether it be extra space for the
county, library for the City of Iowa City, whatever. Those things are going to
have to be addressed in addition to whatever items we might be able to do on a
regional basis... I absolutely agree that you don't impose a tax, and then try to
figure out how to spend it. If we don't have needs that we feel are severe needs
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and immediate needs, we can't hope to pass it. I think we can learn a lot from
Cedar Rapids. I disagree that Cedar Rapids defeating that tax is a blow. I think it
may make our job more difficult. On the other hand, it may make us do a much
better job, and I'd like to think the latter is probably true. I would like for us, for
our next meeting on Coralville and the county, school board with lesser degree
because they've also obviously be enrolled, but try to discuss what we feel might
be joint projects, that we could do together. Obviously Coralville had an
opportunity to discuss this, the county will have an opportunity to discuss it
further and obviously we can discuss this prior to our next meeting. One of the
things that did come up last night and obviously could be something that could
have interest to all of us is this Mormon Trek Boulevard alignment .... Jeff
Davidson, you're here, would you like to speak to us briefly?
Davidson/We've had several meetings either at the Johnson County Council: Mic can
come here? We've had several meetings at both the Johnson County Council of
Governments, as well as this venue, I think probably two at each, oh and than
there was also many between... it was on Deer Creek Road. At any rate to discuss
this issue and have gotten to the point where all parties seem to agree that it was
an appropriate issue to be addressed jointly. However, there seem to be some
frustration arriving at a solution regarding the financing of it .... that's the
principle issue that we've had, it is a situation where the city of Coralville has
done a development plan for the First Avenue quarter of which this is the very
south end of it. The University has some facilities planned, specifically for the
west side of the area... it's their property on both sides, but they have some
facility improvements that they feel the road is going to be upgraded, and then the
property is otherwise within the City of Iowa City's, so all three entities have a
pretty strong stake in this. The University has done some preliminary engineering
that shows the two improved the road between the railroad viaduct, and Melrose
Avenue would be about $2,200,000. This would bring it up to City standards with
sidewalks, and storm sewers and that sort of thing. Right now it's basically a rural
road with no sidewalks, no storm sewers, that sort of thing.
Kubby/How many lanes?
Davidson/I don't know for certain, Karen, if that replaces a four lane or a two lane road,
and I think the engineering that has been done is somewhat preliminary. The
University is also indicated that they feel that within the nature of the traffic that
is on that road now compared to when it was first built by the University. It was
initially built by the University to provide access to their property out there. I
think buying property and then the family housing property to the west... they
feel that the character of that road has changed significantly to where it's mostly
screw traffic now... that they would appropriately like to have it under the
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jurisdiction of the City of Iowa City. That has not been resolved, but it is a
position that the University.
Kubby/What kind of destination points are they planning there?
Davidson/There are planning on a new driveway access from Mormon Trek Boulevard
to their property to the west, which will serve...they have a sports hall of fame,
and .... swimming. They have taken the position of saying they don't feel that they
will be significant traffic generators compared to the amount of traffic that is on
the street already, but they do feel like it's one more factor to be considered in
planning for the upgrading of this road ..... I don't believe Iowa City or the
University, either one have a project programmed anywhere to do anything about
this in their capitol improvements program. Coralville does have some projects
programmed in the area a little bit further noah, and do feel that this is a link that
is important for their project as well, so that kind of lays it out.
Lehman/Jeff .... I think were going to start in August/September talking about CIP for
next year ....I am positive this will come up... I don't know where it's going to
appear in our CIP, but I know very well that it's going to be brought up because if
nobody else brings it up, I will.
Davidson/It'll appear in your CIP as an unscheduled, unfunded project and it'll be up to
the city council to determine that it should be put into one of the funded years,
which is at five years, Steve? One of the funded years, and then of course ...
Lehman/That's what I say, I think that's where I would like to see it appear, is in
someplace. Obviously this is a priority. In regard to the University, I visited with
a couple of folks from the University, at some length about this, and the new
facility their going to build is going to do service by Cambus every fifty or twenty
minutes. They do not envision that creating a lot of automobile traffic, and if it
works the way their talking about it working, and I have every reason to think that
it will, it's going to be very convenient for students to use that facility and catch
buses every fifteen or twenty minutes so they probably will not contribute
significantly to traffic on Mormon Trek. So there back with what you just said,
that most of that traffic is non-university generated traffic, but at this point it
seems to me, and that provided I know they talk to you, I would assume that the
engineering, the alignment-we have to have the alignment of the road before we
can really go much farther, and some ideas as far as the width of the road I am
sure this would probably be, somehow it has to end up with Mormon Trek south
of Melrose. I'm sure there has to be sidewalks on both sides or whatever, but until
that alignment is done and some idea of the size of projects. We need that
information before we can go any farther.
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Davidson/Yeah, and of course once the decision is made, that this is something we
should go forward on, the next step is designing and engineering a project, which,
we're talking about a $2,200,000 facility. You can count on 10-12% being the
design and engineering of the project. I've not heard anyone suggest that the
aligmnent should be vary significantly from what it is now, other than possibly at
the end down by the railroad viaduct where there is some improvements in the
alignment needed in order to get that curve working a little bit better .... but it
would be probably a $200-250,000 commitment to proceed with just the design
and engineering of the road, and then subsequently the construction.
Thornberry/Construction how far, Jeff?. Hwy 67
Davidson/Well, the project that's in question is between Melrose down to basically
Coralville's project, which is at the noah side of the creek .... Coralville's going
all the way, well up to the interstate basically with their project in face.
/ And we'd like to first a complimentary project.
/ I think there's a couple things that came up with that storm last week, there's
some drainage issues on the University property...
Weihe/The Coralville section also so there's some other issues that need to be dealt with.
The University, I know they don't plan on having a lot of back and forth trips for
cars, but I suspect that they're going to have more and more commuter lots out in
that area and less service, so those employees are using it. They certainly have a
lot of football traffic that' s generated on that road. I would talk to a couple of our
legislators and some facilities folks at the University. They were wondering how
they could pay for it because of their commitments already, and the legislators
just said it might not be inappropriate for them to ask for appropriations in
conjunction with the sports hall of fame, and it being more of a destination and so
I think that we need to encourage the University to keep helping us with that.
Then after the road is improved it may make sense that it is more of a city
maintained sort of road. But I think we need as much participation from them, if
possible.
Kubby/I mean one of the reasons we were talking about this at JCCOG, was because of
all the commuter traffic to West High, of both parents and students, and just the
safety factor.
/ 965 through would lessen that probably.
Norton/On the side between the Hwy 6 and the viaducts. That road is from Coralville to
Iowa City, is it not? That project does not involve University...could that part be
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done independently of the other side of the viaducts? It would obviously be better
to do it all at once, but...
Davidson/Yeah, the University would be involved, it's their property to the site, but then
the center line, I believe, is the corporate limits between Iowa City and Coralville,
between the viaduct and First Avenue, up to Hwy 6.
Lehman/There really is no point in improving that site...
Norton/We want to get those cleaned out. Well the drainage, I don't know if there is any.
Schnake/We'd have to get the main engineering part done out of the way before we
could even attempt that I would think. Anyway, that's a really hefty hunk of
chain.
Lehman/Jeff, is this something that's going to be worked out with your JCCOG as far as
the University's goes?
Davidson/Well what we agreed on at the last meeting of this group was that JCCOG to
form sub-committee to deal with the specific issues that sub-committee level, and
we'll be doing that at the meeting on the fifteenth. We didn't have a June meeting,
that's why it's taken us until then. I guess as much input as this body would like
to give as to what the role of that sub-committee should be, since staff will be
assisting that, we would appreciate what you hope to have that sub-committee
accomplish.
Thornberry/Find funding.
Herwig/It seems like there may be an opportunity here at least to resolve some of the
questions. If indeed the University is willing and anxious to get rid of Mormon
Trek, you have to decide whether you're willing to receive it. It seems that's a
great way to tie in appropriation as a condition for receiving it, and that might
spear head the effort.
Thornberry/So, Iowa City will take Mormon Trek if it were four lane?
/ If they get busted for $2,000,000, we'll take it off your hands.
Vanderhoef/And have the stormwater taken care of.
Lehman/Well, I guess.
Kubby/Put Hem'y on that committee.
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Lehman/I sense that this is a fairly high priority both for Iowa City and for Coralville,
although I don't know if we've addressed this specifically in council. We do have
the council is it a...it's a priority for me.
Norton/I don't see how we can do anything else.
Kubby/You have to look...for me. I have to look at all of the rooms in town before I can
that's a priority, but there are probably ten other priorities, and where does it fall
among those ten top priorities. I hesitate to say to them we had our meeting and
can really compare and contrast all of the places that have problems, because
there are many of them.
Lehman/Is this an important priority for us? I think yeah, we could say it is. I'm not
saying it's a top priority. I'm not saying it's a top priority, it's probably two or
three, or eleven or twelve, but I think it is something that we are going to have to
address sooner rather than later. Would you agree with that?
Thornberry/I would.
Norton/There's probably a leeway there.
Lehman/Jeff, I think that yeah, we have agreement that we need to move on this. The
committee needs to get started, I suppose keep us informed and the Coralville
Council informed as to where we're going.
Jordahl/I think the joint nature of this is emphasized on the focus of the school. We had
some people from Solon come in and talk to us about the condition of county
roads, and the issue was transportation to the school. It wasn't what the traffic on
the road, it was that people from here have to get to there through here. This is
true for residence of Coralville and residents of Iowa City because of the school
district. It's a real bottle neck to get to West High.
Lehman/It's terrible, that's exactly right. That's a school issue.
/ It's a safety issue.
Lehman/Absolutely.
Champion/Ernie, would there be a university represented in this committee too?
Levey/Is the school district represented?
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Kubby/The school district can come to JCCOG, but there's no vote, right?
Norton/They're always invited to JCCOG.
Weihe/We would like you to come to JCCOG...
Kubby/We'd be talking about all these issues there7
Lehman/But I also believe that on this committee they're talking about this road. If
anyone from the school district wants to be on that committee, I see no problem
with that whatsoever.
Levey/I'd be on the committee for the Mormon Trek .... I live there and I would be doing
it also as a west side person...
/ Sally's got you on the list...
Norton/The problem is that committee's not going to come up with money unless they
could stimulate something.
Weihe/But if they can come up with funding ideas...
[All talking]
Weihe/Because we've got four lanes going and two on both sides, I wonder if it is a
congestion and we can get some pollution control funds because of the way it
slows down traffic, much like the railroad issues. So I think there are some
creative funding sources.
Schnake/If you have enough different parties represented, ...involving the school
district that you'd probably get some more alternatives there...
Thornberry/A grant from the University of Iowa Athletic Department.
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Deer Creek Road 98-82 S2
Lehman/Okay. Deer Creek Road. What does Coralville have to say about it? We talked
about this very briefly the last meeting.
Fausett/Kelly, do you want to ...bring them up on Deer Creek Road situation?
Hayworth/...talked to Tom Scott about their commitments. If you recall, he had
committed some time ago that the quarry would be willing to participate in the
Deer Creek Road portion of the project. He came up with several good solutions.
He had suggestion for a potential on the extension of 965 that would be a very
short connection to Deer Creek Road as an interim and we'd have the long term
solution. He was also willing to commit that the quarry itself would... provide the
fill and also place the fill in some of the locations that need to be improved
from... a vertical problems... that the quarry would be willing to do that and there
was some locations that they would also be willing to actually donate the r.o.w.
also. There was the one big curve to straighten that out. He could provide the
ground on his side of the road to make that work. When we discussed it with
Tom, there was a couple of things that he suggested from a scheduling standpoint
that made a lot of sense. One is that he suggested that we try to get in the major
fill areas, get the culverts in this fall. He would be willing to the dirt work next
summer and then his suggestion was let that settle for a year so that then two
years out, we could potentially do improvement there. So that was ...his
suggestion of how things would logically work and from a construction
standpoint seemed to make a lot of sense to make it work. So that gives us a lot
more time to work out some of the improvement type issues but yet we would be
making some steady progress...
Lehman/For these improvements that would be along the proposed alignment of 965...
Let's just say that 965 were going to be constructed in five years. Would these
improvements be the same improvements that will be necessary for the extension
of 965 as it is currently conceived?
Hayworth/Dan, you could probably... Portions of it you could definitely... like the fill
areas on Deer Creek need... Yeah. Like Deer Creek need to be down no matter
what. If you used his alternative, that could be potentially the route for 965 for
some time. And so then yeah, the improvements would be taken care of for 10-15
years, whatever it's determined by this group is acceptable, but yeah it could...
help improvements for some time.
Norton/Kelly, I don't understand what happens out at the west end where it... hits Hwy
6. Isn't that offset intolerable?
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Hayworth/...Yeah. There would need to be a connection from the intersection that we
have over to Deer Creek Road. And if you recall, that was up about it... just past
the curves, is that right, Dan, just to the south of the curve point. What Tom' s
suggestion was is that there's a shorter term project that could be made that would
ultimately serve that property anyway that may shorten the connection from Deer
Creek to the 965 intersection and that would be the interim solution which in the
interim could be 10-15 years.
Lehman/The intersection of 965 extended?
Hayworth/Yes.
Lehman/Rather than hooking up the Hwy 6 West which I think is a bad idea.
Norton/A new bridge there?
Hayworth/There would have to be a bridge placed but the road section's a lot shorter
than what if you go all the way up to the point... and what his suggestion is is it's
an interim... that road would be developed and be ultimately used for whenever
some kind of development occurred there or whatever as a connection.
Norton/Later become a local road.
Hayworth/Yes. It would become a local road. And then you design it such that that' s not
a problem to continue the extension of 965 as development occurs or whatever
justifies the need to continue it on.
Jordahl/Kelly, as an interim step... when we discussed this before there was some talk
about a 45 mph design standard for Deer Creek Road which... under its present
design is carrying traffic at 65 mph. What's sense does it make to talk about an
interim design when we're going to actually have a road that will be serving the
purpose that we need 965 to serve that will be connecting to 965 at the
intersection with 965 that was designed to carry 965 and carrying cars off to the
noah to place where 965 is supposed to connect. When does it cease to be Deer
Creek Road and become 965?
Kubby/Could you repeat that middle part?
Jordahl/... Why is it that if what we want is 965, that we're trying to say that we're
building Deer Creek Road?
Hayworth/Because Deer Creek has significant for the interim portion, Deer Creek serves
as the connection for 965. For a significant time period until a bridge is placed
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over the interstate, most of or at least half of Deer Creek Road will be that
connection point.
Jordahl/Right now you come down Deer Creek Road, you're pretty much at the
intersection of 218.
Hayworth/No. You're at least a quarter of a mile off.
Jordahl/You're right. You're at the ramp there. You can turn around. It's 100 feet to the
ramp to go back noah. Maybe a quarter of a mile to the ramp to go south.
Hayworth/But the bridge crossing 218 is about a mile.
/ Isn't that 3/4?
Hayworth/½ mile south of that point.
/ The bridge crossing 218.
Weihe/...proposed 965 bridge.
Jordahl/Right. The proposed bridge. In terms of the function of moving traffic from the
intersection planned at Hwy 6 and 965 south can be performed by a road that goes
from that intersection to Melrose Avenue interchange and picks up 218 there and
goes south and connects to whatever it likes down there .... we've already got 218
that performs that function.
Hayworth/...That was a difficult discussion... There was a lot of reasons and there was
different suggestions from folks from Iowa City at the time to put it on the plan.
They wanted it to go all the way to Hwy 1. And that's really a separate issue from
what we were talking about here.
Jordahl/What I'm trying to do is raise the question of looking at what are we trying to
accomplish.
Levey/218 is a limited access highway and... Deer Creek Road that's going through
there, there's no development in there now. That could be at some point all
housing or... I don't know how it's zoned but it could be a feeder for
neighborhoods and so ...that would be an entirely different purpose than what 218
is a limited access road. You're saying that if we have one way we need the
other...
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Jordahl/No. I'm saying ...we need 965 to get down to Melrose. But once you're at
Melrose why do you need 965 to duplicate the purpose of 218 which goes on
south to Hwy 1.
Norton/...I think that's probably right... That's why it's in the longer run. We're talking
just close in on this section. Given your arguments, what would you do? Fix Deer
Creek along the line of Kelly' s outline only fix it to a higher standard?
Jordahl/Right. I'd build Deer Creek to the 965 standard and content myself with
understanding that in fact it extended 965.
Norton/Rather than conceive of two highways there.
Jordahl/Yeah. Why build two roads that do the same thing?
Norton/It's going to be kind of a funny road like that.
/ There' s a couple of things that you have to fix.
/ I think that the ultimate planning... is that the idea that the road comes from
Hwy 1 and the one coming from Hwy 6 that the connect would be 30 years out.
...It a long term process before those two would ever happen and we all realize
that... During our discussions, we anticipate that there will be a road going
potentially in both directions for a long time before that's ever connected. You're
fight. There's a lot of interim things that will happen before then.
Schnake/I think you have to look at cost first as benefit too. We've already brought up
the need for improved, particularly the school situation of getting people from
north backed out to an alternative access to the high school and this is a much
lower cost than going in and doing full blown extension, and 965, we need to look
at some of the shorter term benefits dollar for dollar as well as long range benefits
dollar for dollar.
Lacina/There's some other site issues like the quarry trucks not mixing with traffic and
some other things come into play as well.
Norton/Well of course they wouldn't be eliminated by this option.
/ If they facilitate it, they would be able to.
Norton/You would have to exits on to 6.
/ Right.
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Norton/The trucks would be using the west one.
Lacina/As opposed to kids going to West High using the other one.
/ Does the proposal call for two bridges ultimately, or just one?
Lehman/To be able to use one new one.
Norton/There'd be two then.
Lehman/Now where'd this new-going from 965 south would meet up with Deer Creek,
is that south of the quarry?
/ Yes.
Lehman/So then...I think that' s significant because most of the quarry traffic goes north.
That traffic would not be interfering with kids going to West High or folks going
to Westdale or whatever, that traffic would be separate from. I think that's
important that it be separate from, and the construction of that nine-sixty that
extended as far as Deer Creek goes would be needed anyway where the extension
of 965, so we're not building. We are not duplicating.
/ That's right.
Lehman/We're starting a project that may not be finished for thirty years, but this section
of it would not be a duplication of something to be done later.
Schnake / It seems like an opportune time, especially when their willing to do the fill
work, and do lot of that which we're going to ultimately need regardless of which
way we go with it.
Norton/How much of it would be-start from the opposite the mall, at the new 965
junction. How far will you go before it heads west? Dan, do you know about this?
Holderness/It going to head south-west to start with.
Norton/But you're going to go out toward the quarry, aren't you?
Dan Holdemess / Basically .... you'd hit Deer Creek south of the quarry entrance,
existing quarry entrance now, so that the quarry traffic and the Pelling traffic
would utilize Deer Creek Road, and go north to Hwy 6.
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Norton/It would probably go out in the open.
Holderness/Right.
Lacina/Deer Creek than kind of turns south-east at that point, so...
Lehman/All right. Jeff, we're going to need some maps here.
(All talking).
Lehman/Okay. Jeff, do you have anything you'd like to comment on this? First of all I
think it's important to know the northem portion of this is within Coralville's
jurisdiction, is that not correct?
Davidson/Well, I was just wondering when anyone was going to mention that.
Lehman/So I think we need to know who is building this road.
Davidson/Very important. This area that has been discussed is currently two thirds in the
unincorporated county, and one third in Iowa City. None of it's in Coralville.
Lehman/Okay.
Davidson/Now, most of that two thirds there is in the unincorporated county, most of
that, ninety percent of it will eventually be part of Coralville, according to the
land use again that we have between Iowa City and Coralville, and then a small
part of that unincorporated area will be Iowa City, and then all the area that of
course is currently in Iowa City will still be in Iowa City. So you know with
respect to working out the financing of this, I'm not sure what Coralville
annexation plans are in the area, but Kelly has indicated to me that because of the
existence of the quarry, that in fact a large part of this area, it may not be annexed
for many years in the future, and we'll remain in the unincorporated county. So
the county is still a player in this, I think in the long term.
Lacina/In terms of that annexation Jeff, I think you're talking about the existing
alignment of Deer Creek Road. If we're looking at 965 extended, and kind of
taking of the 965 intersection, and cutting across to where the road curves south
of the border, I guess that that's either in Coralville now, or will be before or
perhaps will reasonably be expected to become part of Coralville. Given the focus
that area of the industrial-commercial development on the south side of the
railway tracks there, in the short term, and the fact that the quarry not wishing to
be annexed, is not going to stop that ....
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/ Right, 965 is going to be quite at war with the rail bridge there, the road we're
talking about is going to be quite a bit east of the area that's not going to be
annexed.
/ Right, but from what we're focusing on, discussing on now, is the Deer Creek
Road, and upgrading that as an interstate.
/ No, what we're talking about building a 965 extension, an engineered
intersection of 965 right by the.
CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 98-85 SIDE 1
/ What we're talking about here is basically both of those things. It's a piece of
the new 965, as Ernie has said, and then going south to pick up Deer Creek Road
south of the quarry, so if it's part of 965 and part of it's Deer Creek Road now...
I'm just suggesting in addition to that since it's performing the most 965 why not
call it that way.
Davidson/Yeah, I don't know if you can see the map here-....Here's the 965 Hwy 6
intersection, here's the Deer Creek Road, Hwy 6 intersection, and here's the
existing corporate limits, of Coralville and Iowa City, so you can see this... is all
unincorporated Johnson County. Now this line right here, if you continue it
through it the dividing line between what will eventually be in Coralville, which
is all of this, and what will eventually be in Iowa City, which is all this. This area
here which is currently on Iowa City will be severed by Coralville. Some of it has
been already ..... with the mall project. Now what's proposed with the 965
extension is to-you come down something like this, and than over and down to
Highway 1, and I believe what Coralville suggested is that rather than build that,
you start building that, down to a point of about what Dan, right here?
Holderness/A little further north.
Davidson/A little further north? About right there, and then go directly over to Deer
Creek Road, something like that, so in other words this part would be along the
alignment of what we all intend 965 to be with Pellings' agreement, the county,
and Iowa City and Coralville, but then you'd have a small piece in through here
that would be for the what? Five, ten year interim period until the funding was
available to actually extend 965 over the interstate.
Norton/How much saving would that be over doing that first part of 965 all the way
down to where Deer Creek extends away from 2187
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/ Tremendous.
/ It'd be pretty significant because there' s a lot of grading that needs to be done
through there, and until you know what development scheme or whatever, you
really are shooting in the dark-
Norton/This would just be biting off a little bit. It would only be about half the distance,
I take it.
/ It would be actually a little less than half but that then gets back to your
question, John, because than that section of Deer Creek-
Norton/What do you do?
/ At least half of it will be in the county for a long time because the quarry has not
interest in annexing in, so that's where they should come back to the county that
at least half that Deer Creek will be in a long time.
Lacina?/Well, and that's a part of it-the northern part of Deer Creek Road from where
this would connect to Deer Creek and Hwy 6, yeah, that's a problem that the
county's going to have to deal with one way or the other, but I think it's
reasonable in terms of thinking about school children, going from and granting
that Coralville, is a peopled art and will naturally just follow through Mormon
Trek, there are going to be a lot of funneling on the west and a whole lot of
development up there before coming down 965, that's a natural route people want
to take to go to West High. So, it's reasonable and good to separate that school
traffic from the truck traffic that's on the current Deer Creek Road. It just makes a
lot of sense to me.
Norton/Still leads you if you start that little section of 965, to the standard you anticipate
for 965 in the future, then join with Deer Creek, which has a different standard at
the moment. So you're going to be having two roads with different qualities, I
take it. We're not going to figure the other part of Deer Creek we had upgraded to
that post.
Jordahl / Well, that's where I'm asking a larger question. I recognize that there is an
agreement about the alignment. I wasn't part of that agreement. I'm not saying
it's wrong, but I'm asking a question of, if we're building what is functioning as
965, on an existing alignment and modifying the plan to do that, maybe we should
think about modifying the plan to just simply use that portion of Deer Creek Road
as 965. Is there a reason we want there to be a separate Deer Creek Road?
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Norton/It will be because of the time, we aren't going to fit the south section for a long
while, so it will serve the purpose.
Kubby/And that question will come up again in the future once if we do this project, see
how it functions,
Norton/Yes.
Kubby/See what kind of development, where development is happening, and the timing
of that development. That question may have to be brought up again and again
and again at each step of the process.
Davidson/I think that the two answers to that question .... one is the access .... people
that may want to redevelop those properties to urban standards with urban
infrastructure. The other one is there was a great deal of output into the eventual
bridge over 218 and the best alignment for that. We considered several different
alignments and the way that the 965 extension is proposed to set up now gives
you a good bridge crossing at a ninety degree angle, a less expensive bridge, and
would be much more difficult to make this interim solution permanent and still
get over the interstate.
/ But you could decide not to go over the interstate.
/Yeah.
Jordahl/And join them at the interchange, the folded interchange, with Melrose and 218
in the same place, or slightly different places, and not go to Highway 1, because
you've got 218 going to Highway 1. We'll support the traffic on 218.
Davidson/Yeah, the City of Iowa City with their newly adopted comprehensive plan
modified their growth area, and extended it much more extensively than it would
previously because of the 965 decision. So I think it's intended, Jonathon. The
fact that further extension of 965 south of 218 will serve the redevelopment of
that area, it'll be the main arterial street in that area. To serve the redevelopment
of that property.
Kubby/It could seed our growth area, I mean we expanded it. Why not?
Thornberry/By the city council on the west alignment that was adopted, which went
down the section line, as opposed to crossing properties, cutting farms off, and so
on was done for a reason, and it was looked at extensively for a long, long period
of time and to not build 965 where we envision it on the west alignment down the
center line, and use Deer Creek Road. We don't see it eventually ending at
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Melrose. We eventually see it going down into Highwayl and possibly curving
around south of Iowa City and going east. We don't know and that's far in the
future, but to realign 965 is sort of...
Lehman/Well, I think what we're talking about, at least what I think I hear, and then
we're going to move on to the next topic-
Norton/I like the short term possibility.
Lehman/And I think we're looking at a-because 965 alignment, as currently projected, is
that it'll be a long, long, long term project, and the need on the west side probably
need to be met sooner rather than later. For the completion of 965, Coralville is
interested in seeing that Deer Creek be complete as an interim sort of project.
Until such time as 965 can be done, which could be in the twenty year whatever.
The construction of this as we've talked about it this afternoon, the northern
portion of it would hook up to 965, the same as the proposal item. Only a minimal
amount of the improvement would be duplication of the work that would later be
done for 965 as presently proposed. So it's a short term, and by short term we're
probably talking a number or years, but still it is an interim solution to the
problem on the west side. Is that a fair assessment of what- Is this something, Jeff,
that JCCOG will be working on, and with Coralville, the county, and Iowa City,
how is this perceived?
Davidson/Well, like the other issue, we were directed to form a sub-committee to see if a
smaller group could maybe focus on the issue a little bit better, and will be doing
that at the meeting on Monday too.
Lehman/We consider that done. Thank-you very much.
Kubby/Ifthere's no objections, I would love to skip to item 5 instead of 4-
Lehman/That is where we've just marked it on my calendar. We're going to go to 4 after
5 .... And that's my fault. I'm sorry. Please. Change in the delivery of alternative
or at risk services in the school district and who like to address this.
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Alternative At Risk 98-82 S2
Lynch/Well the issue came up, Karen had asked the school district if we would be
willing to present something regarding how the change in alternative/at risk
services is developing for next year, and I've asked Tim Grieves to at least begin
the discussion. Karen and I have talked, had some questions posed, and we want
to try to respond to those. There might be others that might have some questions
that relate to what all is going on, and it is certainly fair to bring it up here,
because I think obviously with the CEC looking different than what it did in the
past, it obviously has heightened interest. Interest that probably hasn't been there
in quite a long time. So, Tim, would you like to...
Tim Grieves/The easiest way to do that is to hand you a copy of this that we provided
our board when we got through this and so if you want to take one and pass it on.
I've got two documents here, the one document explains how we've kind of re-
aligned our senior high alternative education. Probably some of the biggest
changes is to look at comprehensively instead of just looking at the former CEC
program. The CEC program was really a seven through twelve grade program.
We focused on ninth through twelve grade, and looked at the high school
alternative program, and so that's what you have in front of you. The junior high
program will not longer be housed .... The central offices. There will be a senior
high nine through twelve grade program there that will be a little bit different. We
have first the one sheet. At the time the larger document was handed out, we
didn't know who the staff would be heading up the program. We have four out of
the five people that are hired. Those people are identified here. They have
exceptional experience in alternative education. You can read those folks'
backgrounds, so those are just a quick summary. The main document is
summarized in the larger document, and we took a look at the senior highs, being
West and City. The biggest difference now is that there will not be three high
schools in Iowa City school district any longer. There will be two high schools,
and this senior high alternative center will be an extension of both of the
comprehensive high schools. The options available are listed on that front page.
The comprehensive high schools, we're already expanding their at risk and
alternative education options within there schools. In fact at a time when the high
schools were literally in the last five years expanding about seven hundred
students in the ninth through twelve grade area, CEC went down about twenty to
thirty percent, and the at risk programming pretty much doubled in our
comprehensive high schools during that same time. And so there was a myth that
the only at-risk program that was going on was at CEC. That was not true. The
high schools really expanded their programming. So we wanted... when we did
this project, we took a look at all of the programs in the school district rather than
just CEC. We then took a look at what would we try to deliver for the next year
and we're still working on some of this. Many of the issues on the second page
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are taken care of. At the comprehensive high schools, we'll have the regular high
school programming ...Alternative education support, there will be 1½... at least
one teacher that works specifically for students that are at risk and that are having
problems. These teachers work with up to 80-90 students and they work with
those... those two individuals happen to be Amy Kanellis and Paul Breitbach at
City and Paul's at West. We'll be opening up a learning support center which will
staffed by half time person at each of the high schools. This center will allow the
comprehensive high school to provide some assessment opportunities that weren't
there before. We're going to use Kirkwood Community College. And actually a D
that should be on there that is later in the document is that you can't earn credit
right now through Kirkwood Community College in the high school diploma
program, which is number 3. Those can be offered now through that support
center at the comprehensive high schools so the students don't have to go off
campus. There'll be an option, and we're working collaboratively with Kirkwood
in that area. The off site center will be different, we'll have much of the same
opportunities, but the curriculum will be more aligned, so that those students will
have the opportunity to graduate from both City and West. There'll be counselors
at City and West that will guide those programs-their graduation programs. We
will focus one of the things that we have found that students lacked in graduation
is their focus on the core curriculum areas, and so those core curriculum areas
along with the fine arts and along with the work/study and school to work will be
the main focus at the off site center. Then the two options at Kirkwood, which are
currently options fight now, the high school diploma program and the GED
program. Now we can go into any more of those options that you would like to
talk about. Question for us?
Kubby/What about daycare? Will there still be daycare provided for the students?
Grieves/Yes, the daycare has not changed at all. The daycare will be located at the same
facility off of Bowery there by the Vine is were usually most people say. Same
staffing, and we had students last year from all four attended centers, and what I
mean by that is students that were going to Kirkwood, students at West, students
at City, and students at CEC. I anticipate the same situation this year.
Champion/Tim, were the students at the off site alternative center, were these kids
graduates of high school diploma?
Grieves/Yes. The diploma will be from City High and West High, and especially those
core curriculum credits will be aligned to match exactly and that was the biggest
change, probably Connie. They will match exactly with City/West.
Champion/That's great. I think that's a real positive thing.
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Grieves/Yeah, that was a big issue.
Champion/Uh-hmm. That's good.
Levey/I think that it's important to point out that we didn't make any cuts, financial cuts
in this area. We just reassigned people from the CEC to the high school, and so
we're delivering the service differently, but we're still funding it at the same
level.
Grieves / Yeah. At a time when we were looking at about a million dollars worth of cuts,
Linda's right, we did not feel this was an area we could consider any downsizing
at all, and in fact we just kind of redesigned the program, and redistributed the
staff.
Kubby/I know that you think there are a lot of upsides. What are the downsides? I mean
are there any projections about...I've heard a lot of talk in the community about
potential truancy of the students who are now in one of the two high schools that
were at the third one, that would go to CEC. Can you project any of the possible?
Grieves / Well, that was one of the concerns that we had with the past program, and we
had anywhere from twenty-five to forty-five percent truancy with that program,
and so our goal will be to do a better job with that. That is a group of students that
is having some type of crises in their life that has nothing to do with school.
They're either having some social or emotional crisis, so to say that we won't
have truancies, we're definitely going to have truancies, we're going to try to deal
with those the same way. Work with Pat White and the school attendance task
force. In fact the students were having problems, we will use that same program,
but to be able to predict with a brand new program, I don't know what that would
be.
Levey/But I think to address Karen's question, one of the things that the board is
concerned about is flexibility that there has been in the current program, whether
we're going to be able to maintain that because these students need a different
style of leaming. They have different leaming styles, and on the one hand we
want accountability so that their high school diploma means that it's a bona fide
high school diploma, and that they've taken certain courses. On the other hand,
we want to ...be accommodating to their learning style, and I think we haven't
worked that through yet, but the first year we're going to see where the problems
in that are.
Kubby/To have a flexible program, within a much more structured container.
/ That's a good way to say it Karen.
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Norton/Flexibility within structure, there you go.
Jacoby/For Iowa City school ....
Grieves/Drop-out rate is anywhere from two to four percent.
Jacoby/Then it's a different figure.
Grieves/Well, it's incorporated into the figure.
Jacoby/What happens with the tax money then, for instance a student is at City High
goes to Kirkwood... diploma... What happens to allotment .... That comes to the
school district?
Grieves/...comes per pupil basis on... third Friday in September .... Have to educate that
child .... All on an average .... Part of the funding problems... as our enrollment
grows... also funded in a year in advance ....This year's budget will be based on
97-98 school year's enrollment ....
Levey/There is also a perception... somehow the district is going to get a windfall by ....
Using Kirkwood for students. Could you kind of address that?
Jerry Palmer/We already have a program at Kirkwood. It is called our Reset program ....
Another alternative ....
Levey/The concem about the windfall.
Palmer/There is no windfall.
Grieves/Jerry had said there is no windfall in that program... we pay a fee to Kirkwood
Community College to educate those students that have dropped out of our other
programs or schools... sharing agreement .... High school completion program.
Jordahl/CEC use to be called a third high school... won't be one... I am curious...
physical extent... off site alternative center...
Grieves/We anticipate almost the same number of students .... Last year... 69 high
school students .... This program is designed... 55 to 70 high school students ....
Had 69-70 senior high students last year.
Levey/Staffing ratio... same... 15: 1 ....
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Lundell/And they granted their own diplomas .... Now they will not.
/ What building is this at?
Grieves/...same exact site as where CEC was .... Senior High Altemative Center ....
Diploma will be recognized from City and West High... core curriculum
credits... recognized across the country ....
Jacoby/...changes the credits.
Norton/Junior High ....
Grieves/Each Jr. High has developed a plan... allotted one additional staff member ....
They are going to need to develop that alternative programming .... 13 students ....
2 FTEs were assigned ....
Kubby/ .... I think there is some concern... there might be some negative impacts from
these changes... spill over into community responsibility .... Criminal justice
issues... recreation... Are there certain things you are tracking?...to kind of
monitor?...
Grieves/We try to work closely with DHS... Juvenile Court... probation officers .... Do
feel we have more options available to try to meet the needs... created at least two
additional options... recognized... more opportunities through Kirkwood...
expanded ....
Levey/ ....addressing outcome measures .... There are other things that we could look at.
Kubby/... science teacher in an altemative high school... kids might end up... needing
those long term adult relationships ....Kids will have to kind ofreapply to go to
the offsite center each year?
Grieves/Yes ....
Kubby/... less stable ....
Levey/There is a problem if we get an over application .... Some kind of priorities would
have to be developed... Staff that they have put together, gosh, their credentials...
are outstanding .... They have got the experience .... Really good people ....
Grieves/ .... Can you stay in this center throughout your entire high school career? The
answer is yes .... You have to set up a yearly plan .... That will work towards
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graduation .... What is the best place to meet that plan for that year .... We are
going to leave more options available ....
Thomberry/I was not aware the school system provided daycare. Is it for people going to
both high schools?
Grieves/This daycare is for teen parents ....
Thornberry/
Grieves/If they have a child that is zero to three.
Thornberry/How many children do you normally care for at one time?
Grieves/There are 14 slots available ....Ten of those slots are students ....Staff end up
paying for regular daycare cost ....A student also has to work one period of their
day ....
Thornberry/Volunteer?
Grieves/Yes ....
Thornberry/Someone who is in work study program? Is childcare during for the work
portion of the work study?
Grieves/The child can be cared for during that school day .... Part of their high school
program ....
Levey/
Grieves/...It is at least ten years.
Thornberry/That is good.
Weihe/Thanks for sharing...
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Bike Trail/West Side 98-85 W1
Lehman/Who is going to address the proposed bike trail on the west side?
Jordahl/I have had privilege of being involved with the idea of a trail system over the last
year and a half... Committee .... As the Board's representative to the Johnson
County Soil and Water Conservation District Clear Creek Watershed Leadership
Team .... We have been talking about idea... growth going on to the west...
opportunity to reserve some place... recreation, open space.
Lehman/Where is out there?
Jordahl/University has a trail... Finkbine... bottleneck on Mormon Trek... doesn't go
anywhere... Coralville doing a lot... expand the sidewalks .... Acknowledge...
save money... put people onto those sidewalks.. east west transportation in
Coralville... focus... wildemess trail...out to the Mall and points west .... Just
generally to follow Clear Creek .... Go the Kent Park... Amana Colonies...
hooking up to other trail systems... early stage... good time .... 965 down
south .... Ask these questions early in the process.
Weihe/...committee... There is a committee to discuss these same issues... Coralville
Park and Rec .... they didn't quite formulate.
Jordahl/...Marie Ware is part of the Regional Trails and Bicycling and the Soil and
Water Conservation... is doing a lot of leadership in her position in Coralville. I
don't know what might've happened since her meeting yesterday. That may have
been a Coralville meeting.
Hayworth/DOT obtained a grant for consultant... given consultant contract to do trail on
t
University property along Clear Creek from 25 h Avenue all the way back which
would connect into these... what John was referring to today... intent is to have
study completed by October, but the DOT is funding all that study completely.
/ To tie into some of what you said, certainly we're doing the big sidewalks in
Coralville... but along Clear Creek towards the mall we are also planning on
doing some of our local trail system connecting in with the trail system the
University Handcart site, our purchase of the Rotary Camp Park last year, and
we've got some REAP money that we've purchased additional money along the
Clear Creek watershed.
/ So you're really thinking fight along the Clear Creek.
/ We've done some forest studies and things like that to see where it may work.
But we would like to see it go much further and there might be some
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stormwater/wastewater issues that could be associated with this also... From your
supervisor's position there are some additional issues that could be tied in nicely.
As Tiffin grows, I think they're now voting member ofJCCOG. I think their
paaicipation is impoaant, especially with their wastewater situation and they have
a desire to get a trail system worked in too... lots of good things as a city in a
connection with things out in the county... maybe out to the Amanas now that the
Amanas are doing some other things too. That last little link between Kent Park
and the Amanas may be just as impoaant as the stuff between Tiffin and Kent
Park.
/ ...with 965 we've got to start somewhere and I just want to encourage group
input about this .... Local Option Sales Tax earlier and this is kind of a community
enhancement that might be considered there too.
Weihe/This will tie in with some of the other things that the Noah Libeay Trail is
hooking into the Coralville system and will hook North Libeay to Hwy 6 which
would if we can get the people all the way to the University, that would give them
the alternative to ride their bikes to work from Noah Liberty.
/ ... if the trail's coming down to the mall and we're talking about extending 965
south, what are doing with the trail south to West High where we could have kids
tiding their bikes from noah Coralville/Noah Libeay all the way to West High
without having to go all the way east to Mormon Trek.
/ I don't know ifthat's pan of any regional trail system at this point, so that's a
woahwhile question...
/ ...for Coralville to consider possibly in conjunction with the University is
overpasses for these trails .... It's one thing to bring a bicycle down to the mall,
another thing to get it across Hwy 6. At the intersection of Hwy 6 and First
Avenue in Coralville... my whole life I've watched people taking their lives in
their hands trying to run across Hwy 6 to get to Randall's. . . one of those
pedestrian overpasses...
Weihe/To meet ADA standards would be almost impossible now. 5% grade on one of
those would be starting at about McDonald's. . .
Champion/It is too bad.
/ Ceaainly the ones at the University now, they were grandfathered in...
/ They're building a new one though...
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/ It'S the bridge over the River Kwai, though.
/ ...JCCOG money, we helped fund that, so that's why I would encourage the
University to help us with Mormon Trek.
Norton/Mormon Trek will have bicycles, won't it? Certainly the crucial part of Mormon
Trek improvements if you can get them over there.
/ They're already along noah Finkbine. There's that trail... I'm thinking from
Coralville headed south to West High and whatever else. The University Sports
Facility's not going to generate any traffic.
Norton/...Camp Cardinal Road and through the woods.
/ ... What kind of coordination is going on? You mentioned a meeting that was
going on this afternoon that I didn't know about...
Thornberry/That's the first step of coordinating a project. Don't let anybody know
there' s a meeting.
/ There wasn't a meeting.
Lehman/Is part of this going to be coordinated with JCCOG.
/ Yes. I think it is.
Lehman/I would think it should be.
/ There's sort of a left turn when you get there from JCCOG to the Trails and
Bicycling Committee. I'm not part of JCCOG so I'm not our delegate here now.
/ But you have a delegate you should talk to.
/ Yeah.
Norton/...Tiffin to North Liberty and many of the connections you're talking about are
already involved in Noah Liberty trail connected system getting connected with
Coralville properly. That in turn getting connected to what we've got... and
getting it extended out to the county is crucial...
/ Does the county have funding for trails?
/ I'm going to defer that question to my more knowledgeable colleague.
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Bolkcorn/We have received funding... two ISTEA grants from West Overlook and
Prairie Du Chien... West Overlook's being constructed this year. Prairie Du
Chien probably next. We've also applied and scored well on improving the
Dubuque Street sidewalk which is essentially a sidewalk from roughly Butler
Bridge to the West Overlook Road. And that's probably a few years out yet.
We've been successful on two and probably three and now with the
reauthorization of T-2 1, we hope to continue to be able to apply for more money
in the future.
Thornberry/A trail sidewalk is, what, eight feet wide?
/ 8, 10 feet. I forget.
/ The Dubuque Project is essentially to upgrade that to a bona fide recreational
facility.
Thornberry/The same size that goes along Sand Road there.
/ ...if the county's getting involved in these things, then I think they also need to
have some discussion and mechanisms for maintenance of trails... already a
concern in Coralville and Iowa City... getting reserved funds...
Lacina/Which is a reason that in the past we've stayed away from dedicated trail...
liability, problem of extra condemnation... felt if we could increase the surface
area of the road... wider surface... start dedicated trails then open up ongoing
operational expenses...
Bolkcorn/...regional committee... subcommittee of JCCOG is really the place where a
lot of the regional stuff is going to happen...
Lacina/It needs to be because if we construct a trail that connects with nothing and then
there's a greater plan somewhere that has one going the other direction, we've not
met the need...
/ I think that' s largely happening.
Norton/...have master map, don't we?
/ It's working,
Norton/Sometimes there are dead ends for short periods while you're trying to get the
rest of the money...
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Lehman/We're reaching the end of the trails. Anything else...
Bolkcom/...thank you to Iowa City Council for waiving the land fill fees for all county
residents. It's been very helpful...
Lehman/...all share same difficulties... next meeting...
Weihe/...serious discussion about local option tax...
Lehman/...JCCOG appointing a couple of committees this week, one for Mormon Trek
and one for Deer Creek. Whether or not those will have an opportunity to have
met prior to our next meeting, might be nice to have a report from them
particularly in view of the possibilities of sales tax applying to those ...we are not
talking about something for the ballot for Iowa City before next year.
(Schedule discussion)
Lehman/...Wednesday, September 16, 4PM, Coralville Council Chambers.
/ ... emphasize that one of the challenges is for those here representing the school
board... like to have you attend or have a representative...
CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 98-85 SIDE 2
/ ...regional issues do come up. Your input would be very helpful.
/ I think Linda has volunteered.
White / Regional Planning Commission was organized in the mid '60's. The school
district was an active participant. Some of the initial leadership in putting that
intergovernmental organization together came from the Iowa City School Board.
People like Michael Bonfilio and John Dane... When we reorganized from the
Regional Planning Commission to JCCOG in the early to mid '80's... the then
school board said, we don't see its value and dropped out .... discussions today
illustrate need for school district to get back in organization...
Adjoum: 5:45
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8,
1998
WS070898