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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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 2 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? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 3 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 4 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 5 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 6 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 7 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 8 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 9 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 10 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 11 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? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 12 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 13 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? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 14 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 15 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... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 16 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 17 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 18 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 .... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 19 / 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 20 / 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? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 21 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 22 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 23 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 24 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 25 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 26 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 .... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 27 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 28 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... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 29 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 30 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... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session page 31 / 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session/Joint Meeting page 32 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... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of July 8, 1998 WS070898 July 8, 1998 Council Work Session page 33 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