HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-05-03 Transcription#2 Page 1 of 35
ITEM 2. PROCLAMATION.
a) 30th Observance of the Ending of the Vietnam War - May 7, 2005
Lehman: (reads proclamation)
Karr: Here to accept the proclamation representing the County Military Affairs
Association is Captain Jason Montgomery and John Mikelson. (Applause)
b) Senior Citizens' Month - May 2005
Lehman: (reads proclamation)
Karr: Here to accept the proclamation is Dr. June Braverman. (Applause) '
Lehman: This is really a Council proclamation. (Laughter)
Braverman: Johnson County Chapter of AARP is proud to be the catalyst in honoring our
23,360 seniors for their significant contributions to the vitality of our area.
Seniors, ages 60 and plus represent a tenth of Johnson County's population,
according to the 2002 Census. Seniors provide not only a large economic impact
on our communities, an impact which from Social Security alone is estimated at
eight million dollars per month, but also make a commensurate contribution
through volunteer services. Joan Cook, Director of Retired Senior Volunteer
Services with Elder Services reports some 400 volunteers who work daily in the
schools, our courts, the police department, home delivered meals, and many other
social agencies for a total of 21,000 hours per year. In addition to these
volunteers, there are countless other seniors involved in church work, hospice,
theatre, the hospitals, and a variety of other volunteer jobs. AARP thanks Iowa
City for the proclamation. AARP outreach celebrations of older-American's
month will continue in Solon tomorrow, North Liberty on Friday, Oaknoll on
May 17th, and Melrose Meadows on May 18th. Enjoy your seniors, we're
rockin'! (Laughter, Applause)
c) Bicycle Month - May 2005
Lehman: (reads proclamation)
Karr: Here to accept the proclamation is Mark Wyatt, Bicyclists of Iowa City.
(Applause)
Wyatt: Thank you for this proclamation. As you all know bicycling is a safe and
enjoyable form of recreation and transportation. Most times the simplest solution
is the best. When you have issues like traffic and parking and obesity, bicycling
may be used to reduce these issues by simply encouraging and accommodating
for bicycles. I would like encourage everybody to join us. We have a bicycle ride
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that we're trying to put together on May 18 meeting at 5:00pm at the Chauncey
Swan Park. Thank you.
Lehman: Thank you. Now we have a special proclamation at the request of councilman -
councilperson Vanderhoef. If you would tell us about it, Dee?
d) Neurofibromatosis Awareness Month - May 2005
Vanderhoef: I was asked by a friend of mine that I have worked with for a number of
years...he is the mayor of Belle Isle, Florida. He has twin daughters and one of
the daughters...two years ago, when she was a two year-old was diagnosed with
this disease. He's asking for all city councils across the nation to make the
proclamation and get awareness out. (reads proclamation)
Karr: Here to accept the proclamation is Dr. Adam Kanis, Children's Hospital of Iowa
at UIHC.
Kanis: Neurofibromatosis, or NF as it's a lot more easily said, is not rare. It affects, as
you said, approximately 1 in 4000 individuals. We follow, through the Children's
Hospital of Iowa, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, and Outreach Clinics,
over one hundred families with this disorder.., of all ages from infants all the way
through old age. The problems they have can range from relatively minor skin
findings to just catastrophic cancers. A very common problem they face is
ignorance about the disorder and hopefully this proclamation can help with that.
(Applause)
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ITEM 3. OUTSTANDING STUDENT CITIZENSHIP AWARD - LONGFELLOW
ELEMENTARY
Lehman: The next item on the agenda are the Outstanding Student Citizenship Award. If
the young folks from Longfellow would come forward please. How about I split
you up. I feel like a lucky guy. I've got three grand daughters. How old are you
guys? Twelve? I've got identical twins that are twelve so I feel right at home
with you guys. This is really a special time on the Council's agenda. We've been
doing this now for quite a few years but it is a really special time. I would
encourage the folks in the audience to listen to what these young folks have to
say. So many times I listen to them and I really, really wish I could say what they
were saying and be honest about it. So, if you would give me your name and then
tell us why you were nominated.
Coleman: My name is Kelsey Coleman and I am a sixth grader. I think I was nominated
because I get my work done at school and stuff. I think being a good citizen
means, like, to be part of a club or group that does good things and taking
responsibility for what you do. (Applause)
Schneider: My name is Clairee Schneider. I am sixth grade and attend Longfellow
Elementary School and I am eleven years old. Some of the things I am involved
in at school are the recycling club, Safety Patrol, and PALS. Earlier in the year I
helped read to the kindergarteners and did some activities with them. I previously
did a supply drive and have done two bake sales this year. Outside of school, I
have been doing band, recorder club, 4-H, choir, softball, alter serving at my
church and religious education. In recycling club I mostly did newspapers and
magazines because they are in the same bin and need to be sorted. Because of our
work, Longfellow Elementary work was given a tree from Iowa City Carton as we
recycled more than a ton of materials. In the choir, I have attended almost all of
the meetings including one performance day. I do all safety patrol posts except
two. One of my most favorite patrols is bus escort, because you get to be with the
kindergarteners and take them to the busses. I also helped with the supply drive at
school for the teachers so they can have more things in their classrooms and for
those students who are less fortunate. In PALS, you get to help solve conflicts so
everybody is happy with the agreement and the conflict. In band, I play the flute
and want to start playing the piccolo soon. In recorder club, I get to play the alto
recorder. In 4-H, I am working on two projects and have been involved with
many of their activities. When I alter serve at church, I serve almost every time
because I like to sub for other people. I also like to learn about my religion and
my religious education teachers make it fun for us kids. For my work on the bake
sales, I received the 2005 Human Rights Youth Award. I am very honored to be
here today and I thank you for this award. (Applause)
Lehman: That was exhausting. You're a busy girl!
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Fobian: My name is Rachel Fobian. I am a member of a very big family who has farmed
in Iowa City for a long time. I am also a student at Longfellow school and a
member of St. Mary's Church. ! think being part of a group is important because
I meet new friends and learn new things in groups. Being a good citizen is
important because people who help out in groups can make like better for
everyone. In school I try to do my best every day. When we started a recycling
program this year our class elected my friend, Kelsey, and me to be our class
leaders. We have recycled a ton, literally two thousand pounds of paper this year
and just planted a beautiful new tree that was donated because we recycled
enough. At home I help with my brother and sister and on the farm. At school I
am shy and quiet but I got chosen because the teachers I thought I took school
seriously. I hope you enjoyed my speech and thought I am a good citizen. I hope
to stay one. Thank you for giving me this honor. (Applause)
Lehman: I would say that's pretty remarkable. We have three plaques for you that express
how the Council feels about you. If your parents haven't told you, I'm sure your
grandparents will, they are very, very proud of you. This, I think, is a real honor
and we are very proud to give it to you. For outstanding qualities of leadership
within Longfellow Elementary, as well as the community, and for sense of
responsibility and helpfulness to others, we recognize these outstanding student
citizens. Your community is proud of you. Presented by the Iowa City City
Council. (Applause)
Champion: I would just like to comment that Longfellow is my favorite school, it's my
neighborhood school, and it did educate eight Champion children and it's still
standing. (Laughter)
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ITEM 4(t)1. JCCOG Traffic Engineering Planner: Changing of NO PARKING
8AM- 5PM MON-FRI signs on the south side of Oakcrest Street
between Sunset Street and George Street to NO PARKING 10 AM-4
PM MON-FRI.
Champion: Move adoption.
Vanderhoefi Second.
Lehman: Moved by Champion, seconded by Vanderhoef. We discussed this last night, this
is relative to parking on the south side of Oakcrest Street and Council's consensus
last night was that we would vote this down until such time as the neighborhood
comes to some consensus as to what they would like to do for parking. Any other
discussion?
O'Donnell: So we are not going to adopt this?
Lehman: No.
Champion/ Going to vote down
(All talking)
Lehman: All in favor say aye? All Opposed? (all ayes) The motion is defeated.
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ITEM 5. COMMUNITY COMMENT
Kelly: I don't think I can talk for 55 minutes but I'll try and keep it under 5. I'm Betty
Kelley and I'm vice chair of the Senior Center Commission and I'm here to report
on the Senior center Commission. One of the things the Senior Center
Commission is doing is attempting to plan for the next five years in strategic
planning. We're going about it a little differently this year. We have sent out a
mail survey out to all of our membership asking questions such as trying to find
out what people want to know about the Senior Center, what they want the Senior
Center to do, what's lacking at the Senior Center and what people are interested
in. We are also, the Commission and the staff, are also entertaining focus groups.
We have a list of things for a group of six to ten people on the same subject.
We're going to collect all this information and by the first of June and for two
days in June the Commission and the Participation Commission are going to
conduct a survey under the leadership under the United Youth Action Director,
which is Jim Swaim and Susan Hartung. We hope we come out with some
outstanding ideas for the Senior Center for the next five years. One of the things
that we are also interested in...we have had some interesting programs, which you
may be interested in. Under the Community Service workshops, that were
developed by two law students, Robin Dahl and Leighton Smith. First workshop
was 'University Design and How to Retrofit Housing for Aging in Place', which
was an excellent idea. In the next month they're going to give an opportunity for
these people to go see a house that was retrofitted for living. The second
workshop was one that was well attended which was on 'Living Wills and Other
Advanced Directives." Dr. William Dahl gave a talk on the prospect of health
care professionals and discussed legal and practical issues. These workshops
were co-sponsored by the Iowa Coalition of Human Rights and the Senior Center.
One of the things that is exciting is that this is the tenth anniversary of the New
Horizon's Band. You probably are all familiar with the New Horizon Band, who
presents about ten programs a year. It's under the leadership of Don Kaufman,
who is a professor in the Department of Music, in Instruction and Curriculum. On
April 24TM,the band performed at the Englert Theatre and we had a tremendous
crowd. Afterwards we had a reception for band members and those in attendance.
West Music was very nice to provide the refreshments for that. Three hundred
people attended, so this was an opportunity for a lot of people who hadn't been in
the Senior Center to enter the Senior Center and see what we're all about. One of
the things we're trying to do is to interest that very uninterested fifty to fifty-five
age group. We've done this by offering some beginning yoga classes in the
evening and they are fairly well attended. We're hoping that this is one way in
which the Senior Center can spread out its ages groups. The Senior Center now
has 882 registered members and we're going for more. Do you have any
questions on what we're doing over there.
Bailey: I have a question. I understand that there is a Task Force doing a Senior
Assessment as well in Johnson County and I know that the Senior Center is
participating in that. Are you working with that as well?
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Kelly: The task force, yes I am on the Task Force.
Bailey: Well, the Johnson County Assessment of Seniors...there is a study and I think
that that could feed quite well in to the Strategic Planning efforts.
Kelly: That's going to be under consideration and Reverend Welch, here, is one of the
spearheads of that thing.
Bailey: So it's an opportunity to gather some more information, I think.
Kelly: That's right, thank you. Any other questions?
Lehman: Hello, my name is Christy Wolfe. I am a full-time parent, three-time employee of
the University, half-time student, and a very tired person...but I am here because I
am also a member of the Board of Trustees Greater Iowa City Housing
Fellowship. Recently, we have made arrangements to have our first resale of a
home involved in the Community Land Trust Program and I would like to report
on the status of that program. My husband and I purchased a home through the
Community Land Trust Program and the Greater Iowa City Housing Fellowship
in 2001. We raise our two children there and we like it very much. In 1996, the
City provided the Housing Fellowship with $24,000 in federal HOME funds to
purchase a lot and construct a home to be sold to a low-to-moderate income
buyer. The Community Land Trust has maintained ownership of the land and the
homebuyers have entered into a long-term 99-year ground lease with the Housing
Fellowship. Homeowners then pay a $20 per month fee for full use of the land.
The trustees of the Housing Fellowship very much believe that this initial
investment of federal HOME funds on the part of the City has and will continue
to be an excellent investment of our community. The ground lease stipulates that
all sales of the home must be to low-to-moderate income buyers. Consequently
the sale price is determined using calculations based on the sale amount originally
and the current appraised value and the amount of time the consequent buyer has
lived in the home. It's a model used by other community land trusts and is fixed
and adjusted for the Iowa City market. The example...to present an example of
what we've done, in May of 1998 a buyer bought a Greater Iowa City Housing
Fellowship Community Land Trust Home for $92,000. That house was appraised
at $95,000 so they bought it for approximately $3,000 under the appraised value.
Based on the calculations for the sale pending, the appraised value of the house is
$122,000. The house is being sold for $108,500. It gives them a nice advantage
for having purchased a .... and it also keeps the advantage of keeping it in a low-
to-moderate income family. The Board of Trustees has been very happy with this
program. As a buyer of one of the Community Land Trust homes, we've been
very happy with the program and it's given us an opportunity to purchase a house
that we would not have been able to purchase given our circumstances at the time.
I just wanted to update you the sale of the first Community Land Trust house and
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let you know that the Fellowship is excited to continue working with the City
Council on other projects. Any questions?
Lehman: Thank you, very informative.
Berg: Hello, my name is Ron Berg and I am working with a group in Iowa City, the
Alcohol Awareness Work Group, who have been meeting since August of 2004 to
examine the concerns and issues around excessive and underage drinking in Iowa
City. I was present at last night's work session and I was impressed by the report
given by the Downtown Bar Association. We agree with many of their goals and
support the efforts that they're making, however, we think that there may be some
other solutions that should be examined that would impact the underage and
excessive and underage drinking in Iowa City. I am here to request that our group
be given an opportunity to present at a work session of the Council similar to the
opportunity given to the Downtown Bar Association. If this seems like an
appropriate request, I would welcome your instructions on how we should go
about scheduling such a thing.
Vanderhoef: I think it should be done.
Lehman: You got a yes. Get your phone number and name with the City Clerk or City
Manager and we'll schedule it.
Berg: Very good. Thank you.
Lehman: Thank you.
Burford: Good evening, my name is Helen Burford and I am with Friends of Historic
Preservation and I'm here tonight to invite you and people of Iowa City to
celebrate National Historic Preservation Month. At least five events have been
organized to celebrate this month and help people in the community have the
opportunity to recognize what efforts their neighbors have made to restore their
homes. Friends of Historic Preservation will be having the first of these events at
the Englert this Friday at 5:30pm. It's free and open to the public. We are having
Old House Master Bob Yap speak. He's titled his speech, "The Big Lie: Restore
or Replace" and I don't think we could find a better person to talk about this
subject, because Bob has roots here in Iowa City. During his college years he
lived at Wax Gaslight Village on Brown Street and he also lived in a historic
house on Davenport Street. Having grown up, he's gone on to have a column in
the Des Moines Register, have is own show on PBS, and he founded a school to
teach people how to restore properties for contractors with the Kentucky Heritage
Council. He's quite an authority on the subject and quite colorful. I hope you
will be able to join us on Friday evening at the Englert for this event. Then we
have on May 21st we have an open house at the Salvage Barn at the landfill and as
you know Friends of Historic Preservation operates that along with the City of
Iowa City, We salvage old house parts and we help people find things so they can
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restore their properties or find new uses for old thins and keep the environment
green and out of the landfill. On Sunday, May 22nd, there will be two additional
events that we're setting up. One is with the Longfellow neighborhood. There is
a history walk and they will describe the wonderful markers which Council
provided the funded for in the Longfellow neighborhood and we will have on
Sunday afternoon an open house to show off to you and other people in Iowa City
the house which you so nicely allowed us to purchase from the City and we have
over the months been working towards restoring it to be able to sell it to a family.
This is the house at 925 E. Washington in the College Hill Conservation District.
Finally, on Wednesday, May 25th, we will be hosting the Historic Preservation
Awards for the first time and those will be at the Englert...so join us and I hope
that you and the people of Iowa City will participate in this celebration.
Lehman: Thank you.
Loveless: Hi, my name is Peggy Loveless and I am serving as President of the National
Alliance for the Mentally Ill. I'm sure that you're aware that insurance parody
has finally passed in our state and this Saturday we are going to celebrate this
with our first annual walk for the Mind of America and we would like to invite
everyone to celebrate with us. It is at 9:00am at Lower City Park and we will
have lots of entertainment and the Walk also.., so please, everyone, come and join
us in our celebration. Thank you.
Lehman: Thank you.
Sanders: Hi, my name is Gary Sanders, and I want to thank the mayor for saying fifteen
minutes. I appreciate that. First of all, it, s really too bad you folks out there
didn't get a chance to watch the work session last night...because it kind of
reminded me of being in our wonderful new library. We had the fact shelf and we
had the fiction shelf and officer Troy Kelsay brought his material from the fact
shelf...talking about all of the arrests of young people for drinking underage,
public intox, and all that, which has, strangely enough, even sort of increased in
the six months that this alcohol advisory committee has been existence. Then, the
representatives of the alcohol advisory committee and they went to the fiction
shelf and presented an interesting story that 'after all statistics don't mean much,
you know'.., of course I'm sure their accountants in the bar business would have
another comment about statistics because it troubles me that we've given this
group six months and they've done nothing, really, because here's the bad
news.., and if we were all really honest with ourselves, we would admit it.
There's nothing these folks can do. You can give them six months or six years. It
won't matter because basically what we have in this town are candy stores. I
don't know about you but if I can get into the candy store and my friend could get
into the candy store but my friend could buy the candy but I couldn't, but we
could sit next to each other, I think you'd all agree that I'd wind up with candy.
We all know that. So...nothing is going to change. This group isn't going to do
anything. Now, you want to give them six months, give them six years - that is
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your choice - but let's be honest with the people out there. This is not going to
change, whatever this committee does. It's really interesting and what I urge all
of you to do...I met with Thomas Baker, who is the Associate Dean of Students at
the University of Iowa...here's four pages of people that the University Police
picked up for alcohol just in four months and that includes spring break - I mean
winter break when there was nobody- there's twenty-four people that had to be
taken to the University Hospital for alcohol overdosing and that's just University
Police force. That doesn't include the City of Iowa City Police force or the
Sheriff or whatever. That's twenty-four kids. All of their parents got letters and
you don't go to the University Hospital for alcohol unless it's really serious. I'm
sure you all know that. So, I hope you think about this. Where do we want to go
from here? Do we want to wait another six months? I know Bob Elliott had a
very good point last night...'What's the University doing about this?' It's
unfortunate that they have made three huge mistakes in the last twenty-five years.
First, they lowered the standards for students in the State of Iowa to come here.
We now have a huge subgroup of kids - very sweet kids - that have no interest in
academics - it's a party school. I think that we've been dealt a bad hand by the
University. They kicked the booze out of the fraternities and they've marketed us
in suburban Chicago. So, having been dealt this bad hand, what are you going to
do about it? What is your response going to be? I think, come Fall, we're going
to maybe have to pick some new players at the table if we can't have people who
are going to go to twenty-one and do something. I urge you, Mayor Lehman,
again to think about...you know...how you want your record to be known in the
future. In the last twenty-five years we have more than tripled the number of bars
and for all you folks, like my neighbor across the street, who have said 'It's
always been this way." It hasn't. Forty years ago there were seven bars
downtown and now there are over fifty. Things are getting way out of hand. I
hope you will think about it and I urge you all at home, on the Council, contact
the University, go to their website, they will provide you with not the names but
the numbers of these kids who are winding up in the emergency room. Thank
you.
Lehman: Thank you, Gary.
Cohen: Hi there, I'm Leah Cohen and I'll just take a minute or two tonight. I wanted to
update you on a couple of things. I am with the Iowa City Alcohol Advisory
Board. I just wanted to quickly point out just briefly the four committees that we
have working, which is our Educational Committee, our Ordinance Committee,
our Public Relations Committee, and our Compliance Committee. In accordance
with what we're doing right now, in particular, we just got word that had raised
about $2700 for the extended retail night that will be going on starting May 20th.
The kickoff will be in downtown Iowa City. Almost all the retail stores will be
open until 8:00pm on Friday nights, in accordance with the Friday Night Concert
Series, and I think May 20th is the Jazz Ensembles from City High and West High.
We also will have the first two weeks, which is the 20th and the 27th Friday nights,
we will have a barbershop quartet wandering around downtown and going in to
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the retail establishments. One of the members is actually a police officer here, so
that will be something kind of fun to do. The City has allowed that we will be
having tables and racks out in the street in a nice festive atmosphere. So we're
hoping that townspeople will come down and enjoy the summer of the arts
downtown. It's lots of exciting things happening and going on and we're just
really excited to get it going. We're working with the DTA on the advertising and
we have lots of TV, radio, and newspaper advertising going for it, so just wanted
to make sure that everyone knows to come on down to Iowa City on May 20th.
Thank you.
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ITEM 6. PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS.
c) REZONING APPROXIMATELY 29.26 ACRES FROM INTERIM
DEVELOPMENT RESIDENTIAL ZONE (ID-RS) TO PART LOW
DENSITY SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL ZONE (RS-5-10.92
ACRES) AND PART MEDIUM DENSITY SINGLE FAMILY
RESIDENTIAL ZONE (RS-8-18.34 ACRES), SUBJECT TO
CONDITIONS, FOR PROPERTY LOCATED ON SOUTH
SYCAMORE STREET EAST OF NORTH OF SOUTHPOINT
SUBDIVISION.
1) Public Hearing
Lehman: Public hearing is open.
Kohli: My name is Steve Kohli. I am the developer of record. If you have any
questions, I would be happy to answer them. I think the City staff did an
excellent job of presenting it.
Lehman: Papers are all in order, everything is signed and ready for us?
Kohli: That's my knowledge. Yes.
Lehman: Thank you, Steve. Public hearing is closed.
Kart: Could I have a motion to accept correspondence, first?
O'Donnell: So moved.
Bailey: Seconded.
Lehman: We have a motion and second to receive correspondence. All in favor?
Opposed? Motion carries. Now we need a motion.
2) Consider an Ordinance
Bailey: Move first consideration.
O'Donnell: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Bailey, seconded by O'Donnell. Discussion? Roll Call. Motion
carries.
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ITEM 9. ADOPTING IOWA CITY'S FY06 ANNUAL ACTION PLAN, WHICH IS A
SUB-PART OF IOWA CITY'S 2006-2010 CONSOLIDATED PLAN (CITY
STEPS), AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SUBMIT
SAID PLAN AND ALL NECESSARY CERTIFICATIONS TO THE U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND
DESIGNATING THE CITY MANAGER AS THE AUTHORIZED CHIEF
EXECUTIVE OFFICER.
a) PUBLIC HEARING
Lehman: Public hearing is open.
Wilburn: I will not be participating in the public hearing or discussions related to the
resolution. I work for an organization that receives Community Block Grant or
HOME funds and have a conflict of interest.
Lehman: Very well.
Hayek: Good evening, my name is Matt Hayek and I am the Chair of the Housing and
Community Development Commission. HCDC has gone through yet another
exhaustive round of funding for the FY06 HUD funds. Just to recap to give all of
you of what this organization does, we have reviewed hundreds and hundreds of
applicant materials, conducted site visits to numerous of the thirty applicants for
this year's process and we conducted three lengthy evenings meetings, including
some question and answer sessions with the applicants and some discussions
amongst ourselves, and then the horse trading, of course, at the end of the process
that brings us to the allocations that are before you tonight. We are
recommending partial or full funding for twenty-four of the thirty applications
this year. That totals over $1.6 million dollars, which is in addition to the Council
ear-marked projects. I just want to take this opportunity to commend HCDC
Commission members for their hard work and to thank the City staffers who have
worked with us throughout the year and really for the last four months who have
worked particularly hard. I also want to commend the applicant groups
themselves who sit through the meetings with us through the bitter end and put in
their hard work as well. I would be happy to answer any questions you have as
well. I know some of the applicant groups are here tonight.
Lehman: Just let me say, on behalf of all the Council, thank you so much for your efforts.
You folks make our jobs much, much easier. I believe, Bob, did you not serve on
that committee prior to being on the Council?
Elliott: I did and every year this commission does a virtually impossible job. They don't
end up perfect but they end up with a very, very strong set of recommendations
and my hats off to them.
Lehman: Just so you know that we do appreciate the unbelievable amount of work you do.
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Hayek: It is for all those involved.
Lehman: I guess we don't have questions.
Champion: No.
Bailey: No.
Lehman: Let me just make this comment.
Champion: It's going to be easy this year.
Hayek: No news is good news.
Lehman: No, but we did discuss this last night. We will be acting on the funding but not
necessarily the terms of the funding. Those may be...we're going to have some
discussions on those later, but the amount of the funding will be acted upon
tonight.
Hayek: Okay, I'll be in the back of the room.
Lehman: Okay, thank you.
Champion: A very non-controversial year.
Vanderhoef: Is this handout different than what is in the book?
Champion: No.
Dilkes: Yes, in light of your discussion last night, I made a small change to the...one of
the paragraphs in the 'therefore clauses' just basically noting that the agreements
would...paragraph four...that the agreements would be executed consistent with
the policies of the City Council regarding the terms that were in effect at the time
of the execution.
Vanderhoefi Okay, but the numbers have not changed?
Dilkes: No.
Vanderhoef: Okay. Thank you.
Eastham: Good evening, my name is Charlie Eastham. I'm President of the Greater Iowa
City Housing Fellowship Board of Directors. The Housing Fellowship had two
applications in this year's process. One for a Community Land Trust
Homeownership Program and another application for an acquisition rehab
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program, we entitle our School Choice Program. I am just going to talk about the
School Choice Program. Just to let you know, I am not asking tonight for any real
change in the Housing Commission's recommendation about this program or the
other application we had...but I think there are some things that I think we at least
ought to talk about in terms of the - our intent - of what the Commission has
enabled us to do and how we would like to proceed. The School Choice
Program's purpose was to acquire eight two-bedroom homes in six of the Iowa
City auxiliary schools attendance areas that have less than 20% low and moderate
income student enrollment in them. The idea for us is that we would like to
continue (TAPE ENDS) .... the locations for people who come to us to rent their
home. We have, in the last few months, asked people who have called us and said
they would like to rent a home from us or would like to apply to rent a home from
us, where they might like to locate in Iowa City or in Coralville and we have
found, not to our surprise, that most people would like to rent a home in a place
that's pretty close to where they are already living. Since many people are
already living in both parts of the community, people told us that they would like
to rent homes in almost all of the Iowa City School Districts including Twain and
Wood. The application we put together, however, wanted to focus on the schools
with attendance areas that have relatively smaller numbers of lower to moderate
income students enrolled at present. Our original application was for $812,000.
The HCDC records recommend $175,000 for this program. So, that will of
course reduce the size. The $812,000 was based on a number of
considerations.., one, higher house prices because of the locations and those
attendance areas have higher house prices. We stayed out of Roosevelt, Twain,
and Wood...some of the others places that have lower unit prices. We wanted to
meet your policy about paying the loan back so we were proposing to pay about
$24,000 per year in annual loan payments over a 30-year period of time. We also
realized that the DED, the Iowa DED, which is the other funding partner for most
of these projects, only provides about $25,000 per unit for acquisition rehabs
program unless the unit is built before 1978 in which case they will provide
another $25,000 in a subsidy in order to do lead-based paint mitigation activities.
Because of the lower amount provided by the Commission, we will probably
propose not doing older units, which means we will probably will want to
concentrate our activities in the Weber and Lemme attendance areas which have
the largest number of homes at a more modest price for this program and we'll
probably reduce the number down to two units or so. So, that's kind of where
we're at now. We do appreciate the work that the HCDC folks put in to this and
we're more than happy to continue to cooperate with you and the HCDC
Commission as we move forward.
Lehman: Thank you, Charlie.
Champion: Thank you, Charlie. We're lucky to have your organization.
Patton: Good evening. My name is Mark Patton and I am the Executive Director of the
Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity and I wanted to thank you all for taking the
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time to hear us tonight. I have served on community boards and the pay is low
and I hope the gratification is high for you. I am just here tonight to ask you to
examine our plea which is...we had put in two applications under this round. One
for community facilities, which did not receive any funding and that's fine with us
this year but we'll probably be back next year as that's relationship to our Restore
Project, which is a recycling project for building materials which we are fortunate
enough at this point to get some free space from the City of Coralville where they
are proposing the rain forest. The other proposal was for the housing section,
which we asked for $300,000 and were granted or recommended $100,000. The
point that I would like to make to you tonight is that because of the nature of our
program where we use volunteers, a lot of community input, we do
homeownership where the families pay full taxes, full property taxes. We usually
score very high in the rankings and again this year we scored the highest. But,
when it all boiled down, we were only recommended for 1/3rd of our request and
the reason, we believe, was that we had not extended our full allocation from last
year at the time when the committee was meeting. At this time we have an offer
accepted on a couple more parcels which would not only extend all of last year's
allocation but would extend half of what's recommended for this coming year.
Lots are very expensive, as you know, and we're trying to keep things affordable
but it's not always easy. We're also trying to be prudent. Not buy the most
expensive lots and if you don't know if already there are quite a few subdivisions
where we're not even in essence allowed to build. Habitat only builds simple,
affordable homes and when you have a 2400 square foot minimum and a three-
stall garage and brick front, that basically rules us out. In our eleven years of
history, we have built 34 homes. We have had no foreclosures or no defaults and
we do a lot of financial literacy training for our families, so we hope not only to
put them in home ownership but to make sure that they stay there and be a good
neighbor to everyone around. So, I would ask you for your consideration to
increase our funding. You have the ability to do that tonight, if you so choose, to
$200,000 to allow us purchase more lots in the future. Any questions. Thank
you.
Lehman: Thank you.
Hayek: Ernie, ifI could respond to Mr. Patton's comments. There is at least one letter in
your packets concerning the scoring criteria system that HCDC uses. This is a
nineteen or twenty question sheet that each member fills out as he or she reviews
the application and I think this was developed before my time on the commission
and we continue to use it and try to tweak it every year. A couple of the groups
have expressed concern about the fact that sometimes there is a discrepancy
between how someone, how an application scores, the number they actually get,
and the ultimate allocation recommendation coming out of HCDC. I think to that
I would say that it is my experience that the allocation ranking or criteria sheet or
scoring sheet is used by us as a guide as a supplement to our review of written
materials and some times it results in funding that matches the score and
sometimes it does not. If you look at the line by line criteria, you will see that
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some of them provide for obvious answers, yes, no, maybe, with little room for
discretion and others involve quite a subjective review of the application...so it's
difficult to gauge how effective the ranking criteria system is and every year we
go through a post mortem of the process and one of the questions we'll be asking
this year is 'Is this system useful to us?' and 'Does it help applicants?'. I think at
the end of the analysis the recommendations that come out of this commission are
based on the best judgment of those involved and not on a particularly objective
criteria or ranking system. I think that's a result of having a volunteer
commission consisting of people who are not necessarily experts in the field but
who devote their time to the task. We will be looking at that, I think, and the
issues raised after this process completed. Our good ones and ones we should
look at.
Lehman: Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak? Public hearing is closed.
Do we have a motion?
b) CONSIDER A RESOLUTION
Champion: Move to resolution.
O'Donnell: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Champion, seconded my O'Donnell. Discussion?
Vanderhoef: I would just respond to Mr. Patton. I understand the concern and I appreciated the
comment that we got from Mr. Hayek. Certainly this is not a reflection on what
your group has done over the years. You certainly are a large part of our housing
coalition of building low-income housing and we do appreciate it. At this late
date, to award $100,000 more to you means we have to subtract from someone
else and that is a very lengthy process and I'm not willing to do it tonight. I'm
sorry. That's just the way I feel about it.
Patton: We'd settle for half. (Laughter)
Vanderhoef: I understand that and having more lots would be great. I truly would like to be
able to give you more and I just can't.
Lehman: Other discussion? Roll call.
Karr: Motion to acceptance correspondence?
Vanderhoe~ So moved.
Bailey: Second.
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Lehman: We have a motion and second to accept correspondence. All in favor? Opposed?
Motion carries.
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ITEM 10. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 10 OF THE CITY
CODE, ENTITLED "USE OF PUBLIC WAYS AND PROPERTY,"
CHAPTER 3, ENTITLED "COMMERCIAL USE OF SIDEWALKS,"
SECTION 4, ENTITLED "TEMPORARY USE OF SIDEWALK
PERMITS" TO ALLOW FOR THE COMMERCIAL USE OF
SIDEWALKS DURING THE HOURS OF THE FRIDAY NIGHT
CONCERT SERIES. (FIRST CONSIDERATION)
Bailey: Move first consideration.
Wilbum: Second.
Lehman: We have a move by Bailey, second by Wilbum. Discussion? Roll call.
Karr: Mr. Mayor? Just to note, we will be adding second consideration to your special
meeting on May 6th, this Friday, to allow you to collapse as well.
Lehman: Thank you.
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ITEM 11. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING A CONDITIONAL
OCCUPANCY LOAN TO THE EXTEND THE DREAM FOUNDATION
FROM IOWA CITY'S COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT
- ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FUND
Champion: Move the resolution.
Bailey: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Champion, seconded by Bailey? Any discussion?
Wilburn: Mr. Mayor, I will be abstaining due to a conflict of interest. This involves the use
of Community Development Block Grant funds and I have a conflict with that.
Lehman: Thank you. This was recommended to the Council by the Economic
Development Committee. There is no discussion. Roll call. Motion carries.
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ITEM 13. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING DISTRIBUTION OF THE
"PROGRAM FOR IMPROVING NEIGHBORHOODS" (PIN) GRANT
FUNDS
Bailey: Move the resolution.
Wilbum: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Bailey, seconded by Wilburn? Discussion?
Wright: Good evening, ! am Mike Wright from the Longfellow Association. I am just
here to give our quick introduction to the PIN grant program this evening. As you
may know, we had seven grant applications this year coming to a total of
requested funds to $26,200, which is a tiny bit more than the funds that might be
available to us. We are very thankful for all the participation that we had from the
neighborhood in the process this year. In the process of whittling down from the
$26,200 to $15,000 the Neighborhood Council of Iowa City showed a great deal
of cooperation and good spirit in those negotiations. We owe many thanks to
Marcia Klingaman for guiding us through the process once again this year. We
have seven grants - actually we have six grants now, one has been withdrawn.
We have the Melrose Neighborhood, Southwest Estates, Northside
Neighborhood, Miller Orchard, Galway Hills, Wetherby Friends and Neighbors.
These folks will be giving a brief introduction to each of these in a moment. As
you know, we are asking to defer action on this because the Longfellow
Neighborhood Association has withdrawn their grant application due to some
objections from nearby property owners. Because of that withdrawal, we'll need
to renegotiate the funds for the remaining grants. Nonetheless, it was on the
agenda for this evening and we felt that we could go ahead and give you some of
the information.
Lehman: Let me ask you a question before we start. Are you suggesting that some of the
amounts that are in the other proposals may change by the time they come back to
us?
Wright: Yes, the Neighborhood Council of Iowa City will meet once again and because
Longfellow has withdrawn there is $2,000 more funds out of the $15,000 total
that would be available to the other neighborhoods.
Lehman: So what you're telling us is that the presentation you're making may not be
accurate?
Wright: The presentation will be accurate. The funds that would be going to each of the
six remaining ones would probably increase a little bit based on the renegotiation
from the Neighborhood Council. Can I answer any other questions before we
begin?
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Lehman: Go ahead.
Wright: We have just one or two minutes from each neighborhood starting with the
Melrose Neighborhood.
Kamps: Good evening, my name is Mark Kamps. I am an executive member of the
Melrose Neighborhood Association. Melrose Neighborhood is excited about the
project to develop a master plan for our neighborhood park, which is Brookland
Park. The park was established in 1924. No substantial renovations have been
made to it for many years, if ever, and for many years members of the
neighborhood have expressed a desire that the park develop into a more attractive
and more usable area. Recently, a large part of the neighborhood, including the
park, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, therefore we
would like to have the park renovated in a manner that would complement it's
National Register status. Because the Parks and Recreations Department is
considering making some improvements to the park in the near future, the
neighborhood thinks that it is timely and prudent to develop a master plan for the
park now, in order to coordinate with these improvements. We met with Terry
Trueblood, Terry Robinson, and representatives of Shoemaker & Haaland.
Shoemaker & Haaland developed the plan for the Benton Hill Park. Shoemaker
& Haaland's cost quote for the plan is $4800. Mr. Trueblood has been extremely
supportive of this plan and his department has generously offered to grant us
$2400 to go towards this cost and therefore the amount we are applying for from
the PIN program is a matching $2400. Anticipated improvements in the master
plan would benefit everyone who would like to use the park, not only those of us
who live in the neighborhood. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank the City
for the PIN program and to thank Marcia for all of her work in coordinating it.
Lehman: Great project.
Champion: I love PIN grants.
Vanderhoef: They make us feel good.
Lehman: It is a great project.
Schabilion: My name is Jeff Schabilion. I am on the executive committee for the Longfellow
Neighborhood and I want to give you a very brief explanation about why our
proposal was withdrawn. Approximately five years ago, all of the public
sidewalks in the Longfellow Neighborhood was examined by the City and those
that were found not to conform with public safety regulations the property owners
nearby were told to either repair or replace them at their own expense. There was
some concern among the neighborhood association that for some of the people in
the neighborhood that might provide a financial problem for them. So, we sought
a PIN grant to provide monies for low-income people to handle that replacement
and repair of the sidewalks. The project went very well, the PIN grant went very
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well, but there was one major flaw in that project and no consideration had been
given, no inspection was given for sidewalks that were missing. Now, sometimes
a missing sidewalk is no real problem. If you're the last house at the end of a
dead-end street, whether or not there is a sidewalk in front of your house really
isn't an issue of public safety, but there are some areas in the Longfellow
Neighborhood that lack sidewalks that are an issue of public safety and this year
the executive committee, when we put in our PiN grant, recognized two of those
areas that we thought represented issues of public safety. These are on Sheridan
Street. Sheridan is a collector, it's a busy street, and the two areas that were
designated at the coruer of 7th Avenue and Sheridan and at Rundell and Sheridan
are bus stops, designated bus stops and there are areas where there are no
sidewalks along Sheridan Street and the one by Rundell is adjacent to tying in
with the pedestrian natural trail that leads then to underpass under the railroad.
That's a very major pedestrian artery through there and there's no sidewalk along
there. So, we proceeded then with putting in a proposal to get the money to pay
for the installation of that sidewalk that is of course on public owned right of way,
City-owned right-of-way, the City made the provision to have an area for a
sidewalk. Anyway, as part of the proposal we informed the neighbors and some
of the neighbors objected, that is people that owned property adjacent to where
the sidewalk would go in. It's that objection that left us in an extremely awkward
position. Because as part of a neighborhood association you are supporting your
neighbors and we' re in the awkward position of the mediate neighbors didn't like
the proposal. Even though it's not on their property and they wouldn't have to
pay for it. So, being in that awkward position, we've withdrawn. The problem,
though, has not gone away.
Lehman: Thank you.
Eckman: My name is Judy Eckman and I am here on behalf of the Weber Playground and
the Southwest Estates PIN grant application. The two are side-by-side, Southwest
Estates and Weber Elementary School are right next to each other. Last year,
Weber staff, students, and families were survey and it was determined that there
was a great need for a second playground and fitness structure for this elementary
school. Next year, Weber will be the largest elementary school in the Iowa City
School District. When it was built in 1994, two playground structures were on the
master plan and only one has been built to date. When the school opened,
enrollment was approximately 320 students and today enrollment nears 500.
Some of the blacktop and playground area has been taken away to house a
temporary classroom building and that was playground space that the older
students were in need of because they do not have a structure where their recess
is. Students are in need of a structure for play as well as for health reasons. This
will not only be used during school hours but because this area is open to the
public it can be accessed at all times. With a budget of $70,000, we hope to have
a positive impact not only on Weber students, staff, families, and Southwest
Estates families, but the public as well. This playground and fitness structure has
overwhelming support from all the above mentioned and have had nothing but
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positive feedback regarding this undertaking. This one-time expenditure has a
fund-raising time frame of two years, of which we are about half-way through.
Fundraising began last year with Weber students selling cookie dough. This
project continues with a capital appeal letter to Weber families, which to date as
raised $9,846 from 61 Weber families. ON top of this money, the Weber
Endowment has donated $5,000, the PTA donated $4,000 in 2004 and $6,000 in
2005. The Before and After School Program has donated $1,000. We've also
received an anonymous donation of $10,000, matching corporate gifts of $1,000
from EcoLab and a $200 match pledge from Rockwell Collins. We've also
partnered with ! & I Foods (which is the local Wendy's here in Iowa City) and
have an ongoing Weber Night at Wendy's on Wednesdays from 5:00-8:00 at the
store off Riverside Drive. This program, in it's first month, has given us $528.
With a few other donations, our total to date has changed from your information.
We have raised $39,742. These numbers are very encouraging and with the
support of this PiN grant that will bring us to 63% of our goal. I'd like to thank
the City Council for their time, consideration, and support of this project. This
has the ability to improve the school, the neighborhood and the lives of many.
Thank you very much.
Smith; My name is Beth Smith and I am speaking on behalf of the Northside
Neighborhood Association. Happy Hallow Park, located at Brown and Dodge
Street is often busy with softball players, however, few children play in the park
because some of the playground equipment is broken what isn't broken isn't
really safe for smaller children. Because of the increase of the number of small
children in the neighborhood close to the park, we feel new equipment would
enhance the quality of life in our community. We welcome any steps that make
our neighborhood more attractive to young families. Also, the number of active
young adults in our neighborhood inspired the idea of a sand volleyball court in
the park if room can be found. After we applied for PIN grant to at least begin the
implementation of these ideas, we were delighted to learn that the Parks
Department has already allocated some money for play equipment at Happy
Hallow. The $3,000 or so from the PiN grants would allow us to add to what the
City will provide. A special item such as bucket swings for babies or a climbing
rock and would give our neighborhood and additional sense of ownership and
responsibility for this special little park. Thank you for considering our
neighborhood association to be a recipient of this grant.
Lehman: Thank you.
Elliott: My softball memories from Happy Hollow are myriad and enjoyable.
Knudson-Dion: My name is Mary Knudson-Dion from the Miller-Orchard Neighborhood
Association. I am here on behalf of that association to talk about the grant that we
applied for, for having an opening celebration for the Benton-Hill Park. First of
all, I want to thank the City Council for the great support that we had for that
park. It's a great park, I live right next door to it, we love it, and I've seen many,
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many people using it, so thank you so much. We want to celebrate it's opening.
We worked hard over many, many years to get this park going. We feel that it's
worth a celebration for all the work we put into to. In addition, our neighborhood
is cut in half by a very busy street so it's hard for the neighborhood to get together
and celebrate and get to know each other. To get a neighborhood feeling going,
we also want to have a celebration. So, we began with an initial request of $1800.
Since that time we've had several donations by neighborhood businesses,
including Kentucky Fried Chicken, to help donate some food items and paper
products to help us with the celebration. We need additional funds to complete
the celebration with some food and some musical entertainment. So, we ask you
then to please consider our PIN grant and again, thank you very much.
Champion: The park looks wonderful.
Knudson-Dion: It's just really wonderful.
Belman: My name is Marilyn Belman. I just moved into the area that is in Galway Hills.
It's a universal design that your first started and I (can't hear) I just moved in in
June and so I don't know a lot about what's happening. I know they have been
getting already. They had already had a__ in 2000 and did a lot of the initial
trees in the . The grant that we are asking for __ will continue in some
of the newer areas that have not yet established __ and also have not yet
established a community feeling. I just moved in and I got drafted.
I'm here to talk to you about the current application for the PIN grant. The
feeling was that trees are a way to establish __ and also are a way to
In the grant that was given in 2000, the money was given by the grant but the
people volunteered their time. They volunteered their organizational skills and
that's sort of what they had in mind this time. They weren't sure exactly how
much of the grant they would get. They had asked for $2750 for trees and they've
been in touch with the Forestry Division to ascertain which types of trees are
available and there are several small __ trees that are available. Then they had
for services. I think that was the part that they thought if that had to be cut
~t all...that we will do volunteer work again. So, that is sort of where its at.
Whatever you give would be wonderfully appreciated but also help our
community. We've had a potluck and an ice-cream social and it's given us a
feeling of a new neighborhood. I moved well. I want to first of all to thank you
for your providing this opportunity because it makes a big difference in things and
also just to ask you to endorse __ thank you for helping us last time and for
helping us this time. Thank you.
Vanderhoef: Nice to see you again. I wondered where you went. Now I know. She sold her
house and I didn't know where you went. Thanks Marilyn.
Anciaux: My name is Don Anciaux. I'm with Wetherby Neighborhood Association. For
the last several years, we've been showing movies in the park. We have a very
diverse soci-economic and racially diverse neighborhood. We feel this is an
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excellent way for us to get together and meet our neighbors. What we've been
doing in the past is that we've shown two movies a night. We found that because
of daylight savings time we were miming a little too late, so this year we decided
to rewrite the program and we're going to show one movie, starting around
9:30pm and we're also going to have a karaoke night. Now, we've heard that the
City Council has some fine voices in it (Laughter) and we'd like to invite them to
come down and with it being an election year, maybe the opposition might be
good. Again, we feel that this has been very beneficial to our neighborhood. Gets
us together, gets us talking to each other, and it's been a real pleasure to put this
on and see our neighborhood come together.
Champion: How many years have you done this?
Anciaux: I don't know, it's either three or four, I'm not really sure. In closing, we will not
be asking for any more money at all.
Vanderhoef: This year.
Anciaux: This year. (Laughter) If it comes back to be redistributed, we won't need any
more.
Champion: Okay, thanks.
Lehman: Thanks, Don.
Hayek: That's our line-up of the PIN grants this year. Are there any other questions from
the Council before we sign out?
Champion: Those are great.
O'Donnell: Great line-up.
Lehman: It's just a shame that we can't vote for these wonderful projects tonight and we
have to defer them until June...
Vanderhoef: I agree.
Lehman: However, I understand.
Vanderhoef: I don't think there are any objections up here, so I don't think there are any
worries for anyone. You just decide how to divide up the money.
Hayek: The Neighborhood Council will meet and will renegotiate our bottom line
amounts for each of the individual grant requests and will come back to the
Council in about a month or so. I just want to, on behalf of the Neighborhood
Council of Iowa City, thank Council very much once again for funding the PIN
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grant program. This has over the years been a marvelous resources for the
neighborhoods of Iowa City to improve the quality of life for our residences. We
thank you very much. I want to thank again all the folks that participated in the
PIN grants this year and we hope we'll back in front of you next year with some
more creative ideas for improving quality of life.
Vanderhoef: I wish I had $15,000 more to give. We get more smiles and thank you's for PIN
grants and $15,000 than we do for some of our multi-million dollar projects.
Wilburn: Thank you all for your involvement and you time.
Elliott: I was pleased to hear the presentations but especially from those neighborhoods
who have done fund raising on their own. The Weber Neighborhood has done an
unbelievable job of fund-raising. I think that this is something that we're going to
have to see in the future because I see the probability of people coming to the City
for funds is not increasing if anything it might decrease and I think this working
for obtaining funds from commercial and residents is a thing that is going to have
to happen in the future and I really commend you for the job you've done on this.
Lehman: Do we have a motion to defer to June 7th?
Vanderhoefi So moved.
Lehman: Second?
Bailey: Second.
Lehman: All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries.
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ITEM 15. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN
AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST A CHAPTER 28E AGREEMENT
BETWEEN CLEAR CREEK, LLC; SOUTHGATE DEVELOPMENT
COMPANY, INC.; THE CITY OF IOWA CITY; THE CITY OF
CORAL¥ILLE, AND THE IOWA CITY COMMUNITY SCHOOL
DISTRICT FOR DEDICATION OF A SCHOOL SITE IN CONNECTION
WITH THE PROJECT TO JOINTLY CONSTRUCT CAMP CARDINAL
ROAD.
Vanderhoefi So moved.
O'Donnell: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Vanderhoef, seconded by O'Donnell. In the comment it says that the
City's obligation is to pay 1/6th of the cost of that portion of Kennedy Parkway
that is not accurate. The correct item is $56,000. Discussion?
Elliott: I'm just very pleased with this cooperative project with Coralville, Iowa City, the
school, it is proactive, it is looking forward...it's the kind of thing that I hope we
will do more often and I .... the democratic process is not a terribly efficient
process but I think this is not quite as good a deal as we might have had earlier,
but we had to go through a democratic process and I am very pleased to be voting
on it.
Vanderhoef: You said it all.
Lehman: Roll call. Motion carries.
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ITEM 16. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION RECOMMENDING THE AWARD OF A
CONTRACT BY THE CITY OF CORALVILLE FOROAD EXTENSION
PROJECT.
Wilburn: Move to adopt the resolution.
O'Donnell: Second.
Lehman: We have a motion and second to recommend the contract be awarded to Streb
Construction Company of Iowa City with a low bid of $4,385,943.68, which is
significantly lower than the engineers estimate of $6, 463,000.
O'Donnell: That's a great bid.
Lehman: Discussion? Roll call. Motion carries.
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ITEM 17(a). CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AWARDING CONTRACT AND
AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO
ATTEST A CONTRACT FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE DUBUQUE
STREET / FOSTER ROAD INTERSECTION IMPROVEMENT
PROJECT [STP-U-3715(625)--70-52] PROJECT.
Bailey: Move the resolution.
Vanderhoefi Second.
Lehman: Moved by Bailey, seconded by Vanderhoef. We received three bids. The
estimate was $2,250,000. The low bid was $1,941,285.45, which has been
moved.
Champion: We've saved a lot of money tonight
Lehman: If you remember, it seems to me we did a rezoning in that area a little over a year
ago and one of their big concerns was that this intersection get redone as quickly
as possible and I think we're doing it probably in a more timely fashion than we
had even hoped.
Atkins: The Council deliberately pulled it off the unfunded list and made a deliberate
decision to move this thing up.
Elliott: Did we do something right?
Lehman: We haven't voted yet. Roll call. Motion carries.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 3, 2005.
#17(b) Page 31 of 35
ITEM 17(b). CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AWARDING CONTRACT AND
AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO
ATTEST A CONTRACT FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE MEADOW
STREET BRIDGE REPLACEMEMT AND DOVER STREEET
DRAINAGE BASIN IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT [BROS-3715(626)--SJ-
521.
Lehman: The engineer's estimate was $617,091. The low bid was $650,882.60. Public
works is recommending the awarding of that contract to Iowa Bridge and Culvert,
LLC from Washington, Iowa. Do we a motion to that effect?
Vanderhoef: So moved.
O'Donnell: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Vanderhoef, seconded by O'Donnell. Discussion? Roll call. Motion
carl'ies.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 3, 2005.
#18 Page 32of35
ITEM 18. COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS.
Lehman: Last night the Council decided to appoint Michael Shaw to the Housing and
Community Development Commission and Terry Smith to the Planning and
Zoning Commission.
Wilburn: May we consider these moved for Item 18(b) Planning and Zoning Commission?
Lehman: We have a motion to approve Planning and Zoning Commission. Do we have a
second?
Vanderhoefi Second.
Lehman: All those in favor? Opposed? Motion carries.
Wilbum: I will not be voting on Item 18(a). I cannot appoint people to the Housing and
Community Development Commission as they are responsible for the Community
Development and HOME funds and I have a conflict of interest.
Lehman: Do we have a motion to approve A?
Champion: So moved.
Bailey: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Champion, seconded by Bailey. All in favor? Opposed? Motion
carries.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 3, 2005.
#21 Page 33 of 35
ITEM 21. CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION.
Lehman: City Council Information. Robert.
Elliott: I have some extremely good news. On a night when we talked about
neighborhood improvements. The Dover Street neighborhood had a magnificent
improvement about a week ago. Molly and Chris Hartzler welcomed Kate
Madelyn in to their home. Six pounds, two ounces...one of the prettiest babies I
have ever seen. She's just sensational...but that's no surprise because Molly
comes from the Ainsworth area.
Champion: I thought you were going to say that you were moving out of your neighborhood.
(Laughter) I just want to remind people, especially those who think Historic
Preservation is expensive .... the whole purpose of this speaker at the Englert at
5:30pm on Friday night is to tell you that it isn't that...there are ways to do it that
are not more expensive and I hope that people who have objected to Historic
Preservation, for that reason, will attend this speaker at 5:30pm at the Englert on
Friday night.
O'Donnell: Nothing tonight.
Vanderhoef: Nothing, thank you.
Wilbum: Just a few comments .... a lot of these are related to community involvement and
neighborhood involvement. Earlier we had an opportunity to hear from the
representatives from the neighborhood associations about the work their doing
improving their neighborhoods through the PIN grants. There were several fund-
raisers this weekend and I appreciate the community coming out and supporting
all of them. Particularly, I'd like to thank the community for supporting the Crisis
Center Pancake Breakfast and the Iowa City Council and staff were well
represented giving back to their community and I very much appreciate it. Then
finally, last week we had an opportunity to attend the Youth Human Rights
Awards and some of the projects that the young people are involved with is
amazing...both in their schools and their neighborhoods and nationally and
internationally, so Iowa City is well represented throughout the ages, throughout
all ages in their energy and commitment to Human Rights.
Bailey: I just wanted to mention as I was walking to the Crisis Center breakfast on
Sunday, I walked through North Market Square and our PIN grant has bloomed.
Basically we planted daffodils last year and I would invite everybody to go visit
that. It' s a dramatic improvement on that park and I think that's a visible
reminder of PIN grants. I'd also like to remind everybody that the Project Green
sale is this Saturday from 9:00-11:30 at Carver Hawkeye Arena. For those of you
who may have lost plants last night, this is a time to replenish those plants and I
think the weather will be warm enough if you plant them this weekend.
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#21 Page 34 of 35
Lehman: Buy them, even if you didn't lose any last night. Project Green is a tremendous
organization.
Champion: I can kill one a day... (Laughter)
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 3, 2005.
#22 Page 35 of 35
ITEM 22. REPORT ON ITEMS FROM CITY STAFF.
Karr: Just a reminder that we will have a special formal agenda coming out tomorrow,
so it will be ready after 3:00pm. If you can not pick it up, please let us know and
we'll get you a copy. It will be posted on the website as well but their will be
some supportive information.
Lehman: Very good. Is there a motion to adjourn?
Bailey: So moved.
Lehman: Second?
Vanderhoef: Yes.
Lehman: All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 3, 2005.