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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-07-18 Transcription July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 1 of 46 Council: Bailey, Champion, Elliott, Lehman, O'Donnell, Vanderhoef, Wilbum UISG Rep: Austin Baeth Staff.' Atkins, Davidson, Dilkes, Fosse, Franklin, Helling, Kart, Knocke, Williams Tapes: 05-43, 05-44 TAPE 05-43 (Side 1) Lehman: Okay, Madam Franklin. Franklin: I haven't been called that in a few days. Okay. First few items are setting public hearings for August 2nd. A. CONSIDER A MOTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING FOR AUGUST 2 ON AN ORDINANCE TO REZONE APPROXIMATELY 92 ACRES FROM INTERIM DEVELOPMENT RESIDENTIAL (ID-RS) TO LOW DENSITY SINGLE FAMILY - SENSITIVE AREAS OVERLY (OSA-5) FOR PROPERTY LOCATED WEST OF KENNEDY PARKWAY AND EAST OF CAMP CARDINAL ROAD (REZ03-00019). Franklin: The first one is on the rezoning of 92 acres...this is the for the Cardinal Ridge Development on the west side. B. CONSIDER A MOTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING FOR AUGUST 2 ON AN ORDINANCE TO REZONE APPROXIMATELY 2.19 ACRES FROM INTENSIVE COMMERCIAL (CI-1) ZONE AND MEDIUM DENSITY SINGLE- FAMILY RESIDENTIAL (RS-8) ZONE TO COMMUNITY COMMERCIAL (CC- 2) ZONE FOR PROPERTY LOCATED BETWEEN NORTH DODGE STREET AND DODGE STREET COURT, EAST OF CONIC, LIN LANE (REZ05-00003). Franklin: Item B is a rezoning for a commercial area on the North Dodge Street Court and Dodge Street and Conklin. Elliott: Karen, I had a question on that. Franklin: On B? Elliott: Yeah. What's the occupancy rate for those buildings with commercial space on the ground floor? I know when we were talking about the situation on, what is this, Gilbert Street right out here?... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 2 of 46 Franklin: This is Washington, Gilbert is out there. Elliott: Yeah, Gilbert...ifI can get my directions right. There are quite a few vacant commercial spaces along that street and the street...I guess it would be Court Street... are most of these commercial spaces being taken and being used? Franklin: Well, this is in an area that does not have a lot of commercial right now. It's across from the HyVee on North Dodge Street, so it's really...I can't answer that...because there is nothing there right now...except it was residential and then part of it was commercial for Mayor's Youth...so I don't know. Champion: Isn't there an insurance company or is it a real estate company? Franklin: There is an insurance company that is farther towards town on the west of the hilltop...but the HyVee across the street is the closest commercial and then it gets the gas station that just closed that Roberts Dairy just took and then as you go down the street there's an insurance company and a - Elliott: There used to be a recruiting station there. Franklin: Yeah, armed services and then Hilltop. Elliott: I just wonder if you think the ground level commercial spaces would take a lot of walk-in traffic and how much... Champion: Offices have walk-in traffic. Franklin: Yeah, it depends upon what kind of commercial uses they are. Elliott: There would be plenty of parking then in front of them? Franklin: Yeah, oh yeah. Elliott: Thanks. C. CONSIDER A MOTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING FOR AUGUST 2 ON AN ORDINANCE TO REZONE APPROXIMATELY 3.16 ACRES FROM INTERIM DEVELOPMENT SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENT (ID-RS) ZONE TO LOW DENSITY SINGLE-FAMILY (RS-5) ZONE FOR PROPERTY LOCATED ON GALWAY DRIVE (REZOS-00008). Franklin: Item C is to set a public hearing for August 2 on rezoning of property to RS-5 and this is in the Galway Subdivision on the west side and it is in the extreme northwest portion of that project. Vanderhoefi Up by the street? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 3 of 46 Franklin: Yeah, it's kind of in the triangle formed by the existing development, Melrose Avenue and 218. Vanderhoef: Oh. Franklin: Okay. D. CONSIDER A MOTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING FOR AUGUST 2 ON AN ORDINANCE TO REZONE APPROXIMATELY 2.72 ACRES FROM FACTORY-BUILT HOUSING RESIDENTIAL (RFBH) ZONE TO PLANNED DEVELOPMENT HOUSING-HIGH DENSITY SINGLE FAMILY (PDH-12) ZONE TO ALLOW THE DEVELOPMENT OF 30 MULTI-FAMILY DWELLING UNITS AND 9,000 SQUARE FEET OF COMMERICAL SPACE FOR PROPERTY LOCATED WEST OF HEINZ ROAD (REZ05-00009). Franklin: Item D is setting a public heating for August 2 on rezoning of 2.72 acres and this is for a mixed commercial residential development in the Saddlebrook Project that is on Heinz Road. So, it would be between the existing club house on the west side of Heinz Road and the apartment buildings that are there. Okay. E. CONSIDER A MOTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING FOR AUGUST 2 ON A RESOLUTION VACATING ALLEY RIGHT-OF-WAY IN PENINSULA NEIGI-IBORItOOD FIRST ADDITION (VAC05-00005). Franklin: Item E is setting a public hearing on August 2 for vacating the alley right-of-way in Peninsula Neighborhood First Addition. That's the subdivision that is already being constructed. F. VACATING AND AUTHORIZING CONVEYANCE OF PUBLIC ALLWYS WITHIN THE PENINSULA NEIGHBORHOOD SECOND ADDITION IOWA CITY, IOWA (VAC05-00004). Franklin: The next item is the public heating, tomorrow night, and resolution of the vacation of the public alleys in the Peninsula Neighborhood Second Addition. That is the area that has just had the streets paved. Bailey: Is MidAmerican the reason we're doing this or are there other utilities driving this? Franklin: No, it's MidAmerican that is the impotis behind this. What evidently has happened is that MidAmerican has changed their policy in terms of putting utilities in the public right of way and that they no longer wish to put them in the public right of way, as I understand it, because if we require them to move them for any reason then they have to pay for removal, and so they are going to cease putting them in the public right of way to the extent possible. I don't know what This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 4 of 46 the ramifications are going to be of that in the larger picture. In this particular instance and Peninsula Neighborhood Second Addition, what we're doing then is all of those alleys that were private under the original platting, I'm sorry, we're public under the original platting, we're changing to private alleys. As far as the City is concerned, all that this changes is that we longer have responsibility for maintenance of those alleys, so from the City's perspective, it is a positive. We still will have access to them for the public to traverse them. There will be access for emergency vehicles, there will be access for garbage pick-up. Snow removal under whether they were public alleys or private was always to be done by the Neighborhood Association. The difference is that now the City will not have an obligation to maintain these for the life of the paving. What it permits is then the utility, for MidAmerican, to place their utilities within an easement within the private alley. Bailey: What about other utilities? They simply get an easement as well? Franklin: Yes. Bailey: And are we going to look at the broader ramifications of this policy by MidAmerican because it does seem like it would have - Franklin: We will have to look at it as subdivisions come in front of us and the ramifications are going to be different for every subdivision...it's there policy though. Champion: It's there policy but we (unclear) Bailey: Well, yeah, I agree with that, but I mean, there's got to be a flip side. Franklin: I don't know, I mean, we haven't evaluated it yet. Atkins: Karin, explain to me how that easement works? Is that an easement on each and every lot? Franklin: No. The easement that MidAmerican will gain will be within the new...within the private alley. So, they have a three-foot easement right now on the back of the lots. That's not sufficient to put in a utility. So, in the alley, they will be able to get the additional footage necessary to put that utility in the alley. When we do the next phase of the Peninsula, we will make sure that there is adequate space for those utilities so we're not dealing with this issue on the back end. But, likely what will happen, and the reason that Item E is there is so that all the alleys in the Peninsula Neighborhood are the same...that we don't have some that are public and some that are private. It would just be too confusing. Elliott: Have we thought about making all alley's private? I mean if a developer or home-buyer wants to have an alley, it seems like they ought to pay for it. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 5 of 46 Lehman: They are. Franklin: They are. Elliott: I just mean - I don't think the City should be owning alleys. Franklin: I'm trying to think of any newer subdivisions in which we have had alleys in which they are public alleys, and frankly I can't think of any. Elliott: My thought was why was it public in the first place? It seems like alleys should be private. If they want them, they ought to pay for it. I don't know why anybody would want an alley - but if they want it, it should be there's to pay for. Franklin: We can talk about that as we .... as we're going to be doing revised subdivision regulations and that would be part of that whole conversation. Lehman: Okay. Franklin: Okay. G. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE CHANGING THE ZONING DESIGNATION OF APPROXIMATELY 28.7 ACRES OF PROPERTY, LOCATED NORTH EAST OF HIGHWAY 2'8 AND DEER CREEK ROAD, FROM COUNTY RESIDENTIAL TO INTERIM DEVELOPMENT - OFFICE RESEARCH PARK (REZ05-00006). (SECOND CONSIDERATION) Franklin: Item G is second consideration on rezoning of the property 29 acres to the west of...it's part of the Clear Creek Master Plan on the west side...this is a Southgate and Bev Horton's property to zone it to ID-ORP. H. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVIING THE PRELIMINARY PLAT OF MWD DAVIS ADDITION, IOWA CITY, IOWA (SUB05-00003). Franklin: Item H is the preliminary plat for MWD Davis addition. That is the Menard's project. I. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE FINAL PLAT OF MWD DAVIS ADDITION, A PORTION OF WHICH INCLUDES A RESUBDIVISION OF LOTS 13-17 OF RH DAVIS SUBDIVISION, AND A PORTION OF OLDE OAK LANE IN RH DAVIS SUBDIVISION, IOWA CITY, IA (SUB05-00009). Franklin: Item I is the final plat on that. We're asking you to defer that because we do not have complete correct construction plans on all of that work. Lehman: Defer to August 2nd? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 6 of 46 Franklin: Pardon me? Lehman: Defer to August 2nd? Franklin: Yes, please. J. VACATING UNIMPROVED OLDE OAK LANE, EAST OF KITTY LEE ROAD. Franklin: Item J is a public heating and resolution and the vacation of the unimproved Olde Oak Lane. This is an area that was platted in the County that is part of the MWD Subdivision so we have to vacate that existing road to do the subdivision on top of it. K. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING TIlE PRELIMINARY PLAT OF VILLAGE GREEN, PARTS XXIII AND XXIV, IOWA CITY, IOWA (SUB04- 00017). Franklin: Item K is a resolution approving the preliminary plat of Village Green Part XXIII and XXIV. This is the one that we've had some discussion on of the 38 single- family, 38 zero-lot line that is down in the southerly portion of Village Green South next to the tracks. And that's it for me. Lehman: Alright. COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS Lehman: Next item is Council Appointments. Do we want to do those, quick? Elliott: Quickly. Lehman: Housing and Community Development Commission. Champion: Boy, we had a ton of good applications. I do think we should reappoint Jerry Anthony. Bailey: I agree. Lehman: Do we have consensus on Jerry Anthony? Elliott: You bet. O'Donnell: Before I answer your questions, we had an application from a person in Coralville. That's not .... Bailey: No, I checked. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 7 of 46 Karr: We don't have the procedure in place to deny an application, we just signal it out to you, but you do not have the procedure to appoint other than Iowa City residents. O'Donnell: Okay, thank you. Lehman: Okay. We got Jerry. Bailey: Kelly Mellecker. Elliott: Kelly Mellecker, I like. Champion: Thomas Niblock. I really like him. Baeth: I know him personally, he's a good guy. Champion: He's young, he's a student, he'll be around for a while. Lehman: Who is that? Oh, Niblock, alright. Vanderhoef: ! like...the other...Timothy Sexton, a student, he's a graduate student...in Regional Planning and he does research and follows up on that kind of activity...so I thought he had some good potential as a student. Elliott: I like Michael Larson, but did most of us agree on Kelly Mellecker? O'Donnell: I think we have four for Kelly. Bailey: Kelly. Elliott: Kelly. Lehman: Alright. Elliott: So, we have the last one to deal with...is this Niblock? Champion: Yes. Elliott: And the fact that you know him, we won't hold that against him. Baeth: Thanks, I appreciate that. Vanderhoef: I kind of like Timothy. Bailey: Timothy is the one with Urban and Regional Planning background? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 8 of 46 Vanderhoefi Working on his Ph - er, his master's. He's a graduate student, I don't know which it is...because I like Michael Larson too, but... Champion: It's a perfect time to get a student. Elliott: Kelly is a student, too, is she not? Bailey: She's working in a law office as an intern. Elliott: Hhhmmm...I think maybe you're right. For some reason, I think I had it... Champion: He's a...Thomas Niblock...he has been in Iowa City for 13 years. Lehman: How long as Sexton been in town? Bailey: 6.5 Lehman: 5? Bailey: 6.5 Lehman: What's your pleasure, folks? Timothy Sexton and Thomas Niblock has been mentioned. Would we like to choose between those two? Elliott: I like the undergraduate student, Niblock. Austin: I can tell you that he's probably one of the most responsible undergraduate students you'll find. He'll probably be very dependable. O'Donnell: That's fine with me. Elliott: Uhhmm...the other one was Sexton, is that right? Vanderhoef: I know he'll get straightened out, but some of his present knowledge is inaccurate on his application. So, that made me a little hesitant on him. He's talking about Housing Authority activities and we have nothing to do with those persay...he's the one that has done stuff in St. Louis, is that correct? Baeth: No, that's Tyler Mackie, the other undergraduate student. Vanderhoefi Okay, well, he said 'it's major function's include the distribution of housing vouchers to low-income residents' and the - O'Donnell: Who are you speaking of?. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 9 of 46 Vanderhoef: I'm speaking of Niblock. He has misconceptions of what the mission does, which doesn't mean he won't learn - I don't mean that at all. Champion: How come you're so quiet? Wilburn: This involves appointments to the Housing and Community Development Committee of which I have a conflict of interest and I can not participate in deliberations. Vanderhoefi He can just sit there and smile. Lehman: For Christmas I am going to get you one of those things where you just push a button and it will recite it for you. Vanderhoef: It will play the fight song and we'll know exactly what it means. Elliott: It should say Ibid or something. I think I like Niblock. O'Donnell: That's fine with me. That sounds like four. Lehman: Alright. Champion: There were a lot of good candidates. O'Donnell: There really were. A huge amount that applied. Lehman: Greg Roth okay for PCRB? O'Donnell: That's fine. Lehman: Michael Christians for Telecommunications? Wilbum: Yes. Elliott: That was tough. Lehman: Public Works update. ITEM 10. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST AN EXTENSION OF THE AGREEMENT WITH IOWA REALTY COMMERCIAL TO SELL AND LEASE PROPERTY IN THE AVIATION COMMERCE PARK. Atkins: Ernie, before Rick starts, Harry Wolfe is here. He has that agreement with commissions, there's no problem with that? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 10 of 46 Lehman: You mean the amendment to the real estate listing agreement? Atkins: Yeah, so he can leave. Lehman: Anybody have any issues with that? Bailey: No. Lehman: No, we're just not going to approve it, but other than that, it's fine. No, no issues. Update on Public Works Lehman: Okay. Fosse: Can I get started? Lehman: Please. Fosse: Okay, what I want to do tonight is to just share with you a little bit about our capital program for the summer. Did everybody get a handout who wanted one? This is a partial summary of what is in the capital program and what you'll see on the screen tonight is a partial summary of what's here. It's kind of a boiled down version. Lehman: Are you holding up two copies of the same thing? Fosse: Yes, I am. I'm down to two - so if anyone wants one -just let me know. Can I turn the lights down for this? Has everybody figured out where this is? That is the north tower of the Court Street Transportation Center. That's coming along nicely. What this summer will be remembered for will be the 'you-can't-get- there-from-here' type summer. We've got a lot of work going on our arterial street network. Iowa City has somewhat of a weak arterial street network. Champion: A bad reputation. Fosse: Yes, that part we're doing a lot improvements but to compound things because of that weak network, we don't have other arterials to fall back on while these are under construction, so it's more painful than you might experience elsewhere. Let's go through a take a look at some of the projects. One of the first ones is the South Grand Avenue project. It's a $400,000 project. It's joint with the University of Iowa and they're the lead agency on this one. It's a result of the study that we did with the neighborhood, the University, and the hospital, and the whole works. They're doing it in conjunction with their parking ramp project. In the same neighborhood is the Melrose and Grand Avenue improvements. In the same neighborhood is the Melrose and Grande Avenue improvements in which we are the lead agency. That's about $390,000 and that includes improvements This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 11 of 46 down at the intersection of Riverside Drive as well as to the turn area to help set up that one-way coupling. The Dubuque Street/Foster Road intersection improvements is going well. That's about a two-million dollar project for paving and signalization and that's going to solve some problems that exist in the area and it's also going to posture us very well for extending Foster Road through to Prairie Du Chen Road. That will be relatively easy and less expensive. We can get the road all the way through for less money than what this intersection cost. Lehman: That retaining wall out there is just going to be magnificent. It's just going to be a beautiful entryway into the City. Fosse: Thank Ron for that. Lehman: Thank you, Ron. Fosse: Ron is in charge of the design and construction of all of these projects. He let me do this presentation tonight so I'd still feel useful. He's here to answer any questions. Lehman: This is a good one. Fosse: It should turn out very nice. Even though it's messy now, we're already starting to work with Project Green on the landscaping plan afterwards. We've got a good history with them and working on other projects such as Melrose Avenue and the Highway 6 corridor. They've also put a lot of work into this corridor already - the Dubuque Street comer. Lehman: Are we raising the grade on that exit ramp off the interstate off of Dubuque? Fosse: We're not raising the grade of the low point in the street where it floods. Lehman: No, but it appears, as it crosses Foster Road, that the elevation - er, just between there and the interstate, the grade has been raised some. Fosse: Is that going up, Ron? Knoche: What you see there is the - the contractor raised that area for the dirt that goes back behind the retaining wall so there's about five foot of fill in there. That will go back and then the road will come down. Fosse: Thanks, Ron. Dodge Street and Highway 1 improvements. That's a seven- million dollar project. A joint project with the Iowa DOT and it's such a biggie that it's going to take about two years to finish out there. Now, related to this is the Fire Station #4. That's not in a funded year but we do own the land for it and we know that there's more soil on that land than we're going to need when we build the station. So, what we're doing is that we're doing the site grading for the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 12 of 46 fire station now and using that dirt to build Dodge Street. So, it costs the fire station nothing and actually saves us money on the Dodge Street project. We're always looking out ahead, seeing what else is on the horizon and see how we can capitalize on that. Elliott: That's Dodge and Scott? Fosse: Yes, old Dubuque Road goes up here. That's that intersection right there. Vanderhoef: Okay, where is Dodge? Fosse: Dodge Street is just off in the background here. Vanderhoefi So, we are in the north east comer of the signaled intersection. Fosse: Yes. Lehman: Right. Fosse: Moving offthe east side of- what's that? Well, it's all kind of cockeyed there. We all just adjust north. Pretend Highway 1 goes north there. Elliott: It used to almost be the back road out of ACT. Fosse: Yes, right in the there. The Meadow Street Bridge project is underway this summer. Iowa Bridge and Culvert is doing that. It's a $650,000 project. We're getting $391,000 from the feds for that work. Projected fall completion on it. Also, we're looking out ahead and building into it a component of the Court Hill Trail System. So, it's going to have the retaining wall, railing and grading done for that. Again, so that we're postured for future projects. Now, if you remember last summer when I gave you an update, I shared with you the Burlington Street Bridge Project and I showed the wimpy looking railing here and told you that it was every bit as strong as the concrete ones. It's been tested now and we do know that it is strong. (Laughter) It performed wonderfully. The material was fairly scratched but what we really like how this performed was the shape. You don't want to put an abrupt end to something so we designed it to convert horizontal energy to vertical energy and got the shape just right there, so there wasn't a lot of damage to the ear or injury to the person and it got the car stopped. It worked out nicely. Lehman: Sure did. Champion: That is amazing. Bailey: Thanks for testing that. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 13 of 46 Fosse: Yep, you can try it out for yourself if you'd like. (Laughter) Mormon Trek Boulevard Extension. We're still whittling away at that. To get all the way from Highway 1 around to Old 218 - which was 921 - is 9.3 million dollars and this summer's component of that was the $400,000 box culvert project to get us over Willow Creek. In the background there you can see one of the airplane hangars. We're continuing to work with the airport on that so that we can fit the two projects together to get through to the highway, to old 218. Here's the airport project. This picture is taken from the intersection of Mormon Trek and Highway 1 - up there by the new Ford dealer - and the runway is going to be extended, right towards you as you see it this picture here. This runway will be eliminated and then the runway that this plane just took off of, this one, will stay in place. So, that's the project that we're coordinating with. Then, continuing on across old 218 is where it tums into McCollister Boulevard. Now, we're down at the south end of town now, heading across the Iowa River. We're hoping to hit the hole between the buildings there. We're working with the University for the acquisition of that property. Getting over to the east side of the river, you'll find a portion of McCollister Boulevard is already built and that's part of Sand Hill Estates subdivision. That's where those corridor studies and the planning process is so important so that as development occurs, we get the right things, in the right place, at the right time. Now, this is eventually going to work it's way all the way around and T into Scott Boulevard and go up and come around the north end of town. This is getting back by that fire station...this is part of Scott Boulevard that we built a couple of years ago. I put this in because I wanted to show you this neat prairie planting that ACT has done. If you haven't been up there, you should check it out. There's a lot of nice, enjoyable prairie along the road there. It's neat because you can enjoy it at different scales, either whether you're driving by, walking by, or running or whatever you like to do or you can stick your head right inside and see what's going on in there. Now, I'll caution you, at the end of this day I had two wood ticks - so if you decide to stick your head in - do so with caution. I'm not sure that this is where I got them, but somewhere in the neighborhood there. Off on the west side of town we have the Camp Cardinal Road Project going on - a $6.5 million dollar project. Again, that's a joint project with the City of Coralville and it will link Melrose Avenue to Highway 6. Then we also have our asphalt resurfacing program going on right now. It's $586,000 total. Of that, we're spending about $113,000 on the maintenance of parks, roads or parking lots. Then, in addition to that $113,000, we're spending $57,000 building the access to the Peninsula Parkland - which initially will serve the dog park but will ultimately will serve the entire park down there. Now, taking care of our asphalt streets is important and we're in the middle of a project right now of crack sealing. This isn't a capital program - it's actually a maintenance project. I wanted to share this with you because you might get questions. After the sealant material goes down it's covered with toilet paper. O'Donnell: I saw that. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 14 of 46 Fosse: So, if people are asking you, 'What's this toilet paper all about?' - what it does is blocks up the excess sealant and keeps it from getting onto cars and is very effective at that. Before, it we used to sprinkle sand on it and that had variable success. Somebody in Nebraska thought of this and it works very well. Champion: I wonder what brand you use. O'Donnell: Charmin. (Laughter) Fosse: Judging by the delicate smell - (Laughter) Vanderhoef: Do we have to go along and pick it up then later? Fosse: No, it just wears away or gets worked fight into the asphalt material. Vanderhoef: Okay. Fosse: It doesn't strengthen the road, though. It's just there to protect the cars. The Iowa River Power Dam has been stalled for some time because of the fiver flows. Even though it has been very dry here in Iowa City, there's 3,000 square miles upstream that up until a couple of weeks ago has been taking a lot of rain, so the river level had not dropped. It seems to be going down now, hopefully they'll be back in there working soon if this dry spell holds. It's about a $1.7 million dollar project. Coralville is kicking in a little less than $200,000 and it's going to link the Peninsula and the Iowa River Corridor Trail with First Avenue in Coralville and then also provide you with some nice observation points to enjoy the fiver from. O'Donnell: If we get a good water level, how long would it take to finish that? Do you have any idea? Fosse: Two months? O'Donnell: Because I'd like to see the City of Iowa City do an official challenge to Coralville when we have the damn completed for a carp-fishing contest. Champion: Good idea. Vanderhoefi From the bridge? Champion: Yeah. Atkins: Rick, do you want to point out the bump outs? Fosse: Yeah, ifI can get my cursor back here. There is a bump out fight here and then there will be another one at mid-span over the fiver and those will be observation This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 15 of 46 areas and there will be railings there so you can fish or stand or whatever you want. Part of the purpose that they're there is to stage rescue operations so that our fire department can work from the downstream face of the damn rather than back here because if they're trying to pull people up against that water, you can't get that done. But if you can work back and forth from ropes between the observation platforms, that will work. So, we worked with both our fire department and the sheriff's office in the design of this project. Another joint project that we have going on is with the school district. That is on the Grant Wood Gymnasium. $450,000 is what we're kicking in and that is for the additional size and that is to accommodate recreation activities - community recreation - and it also covers wood floors in there. We're also working with the school district on upgrades to one of the ball diamonds at Mercer Park so that it's City High's home field over there. That has gotten to be about a $200,000 project so far. The school is kicking in a good majority of that. Court Street Transportation Center is coming along very nicely and it's in the home stretch. We'll have tenants in the day care and the bus station by...the end of the month, Jeff?....Yep, by the end of the month and then perhaps parking next month. So that's moving along very nicely. If you spin around 180 degrees you can see Moen's project that is going in there. It's in no way a Capital Project but I thought it was a cool picture so I put it in for you. Then some other projects that are in the works but are not under construction right now. One, that we bid already, and that was the Gilbert Street and Sand Road Project. That is joint with the County. It's a $4.3 million dollar project to reconstruct Sand Road all the way down to 480th Street. If you recall, the bids came in so high that we rejected the bids and that will be going back out for rebid later this year - so you can expect to see that again. Highway 6 to 420th Street. It's about a $2.0 million dollar project. It's a joint project with the DOT and it's going to improve access and safety along there by providing a center turn lane and then right turn lanes at select locations. So, I just wanted to do a summary of some of our joint projects. We've got a lot going on with other entities at all levels of the organization and a lot of times people don't realize that and I just wanted to make that clear. We've got a couple going on with the State DOT, two with the University of Iowa, one with Johnson County, two with the City of Coralville, and two with the School District. With that, I'll open it up to questions. O'Donnell: Great. Vanderhoef: Do you have time to sleep? Fosse: Ron's the guy...as I said earlier...he's... Vanderhoefi No wonder he didn't want to stand up and present tonight. Fosse: Well, he's got the next item, so we'll bring Ron up here and move on to that. Wilburn: Sand Road is closed now though, isn't it? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 16 of 46 Fosse: Yes, there's two things going on on Sand Road right now. The closest thing, and within the City limits, is reconstruction of the railroad crossing and then you work your way further south and the County is replacing a bridge in anticipation of the paving project. Wilbum: Alright. Fosse: Anything else? Lehman: Thank you, Rick. Fosse: You're welcome. Proposed Iowa Avenue / Peninsula Bridge Knoche: The Rocky Shore Drive Pedestrian Bridge Project is on the unfunded list. It's a project that has been out there...we've asked NNW to look at some location studies for us and try to figure out where the best location would be for pedestrian bridge along Rocky Shore Drive. This is out the current JCCOG Trails Map. The pedestrian bridge that you see there is actually the Iowa River Corridor - er the Iowa River Power Dam bridge. Where we're looking at is between Park Road and Crandic Park along Rocky Shore Drive. NNW has looked at four different locations for us and the first location - that doesn't show up very well - but the first location is at Crandic Park. The second location is right across from River Street as it comes down to Rocky Shore Drive and then the other two locations were down closer to where Park Road makes the curve. The idea behind this project is to get more accessibility to the Peninsula and not have to go all the way out to Foster Road and come back around and then also have some continuity from Coralville and into the campus. So, with that, we looked at the four alternatives. Alternatives three and four, there are some issues down there with some sight distance and also private property down there, so we've kind of taken those two locations out of the location study at this time. The first alternative is as Crandic Park. It's kind of changed a little bit. North is to the right. As far as the orientation, this is the railroad here and this is Rocky Shore Drive down below. What you see at the top of the page is the current well-house that is there. There is already the trail system on the Peninsula itself for the Water Treatment collection wells. There is approximately 530 feet of trail going back to the existing trail. About a 540 foot pedestrian bridge and then about 60 feet of approach bridge to get to the sidewalk that goes along Rocky Shore Drive. This location...one of the ideas was to try to stay as close to Crandic Park as we could. That way we could utilize the parking that is in the park there. So, that would be an artistic rendition of what the pedestrian bridge would look like. It would be looking from downstream, looking upstream from the park and Coralville would be directly behind. This rendition is just showing a typical premanufactured tress bridge. We're going to look into some other options of different styles of bridges. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 17 of 46 Whether it be just this style or a bow-truss bridge, similar to what we'll be putting on the Iowa River Power Dam. The second location is at River Street. This one has a little bit longer approach grading that has to be done to get to where this bridge would be located at. There is about 680 foot of trail.., so this is the trail system that is already on the Peninsula. At the end of this trail is another well house. It would be 680 foot of approach grading and a berm with a 330 foot bridge to get across the river, and there would be about a 5 foot elevation difference between where the trail would - er, where the elevation of the bridge to where the sidewalk would be at - so there would be a ramp that would go down to the existing sidewalk and then that way people could get across River Street and go on to campus that way. It shows the ramp off to the side.., shows the ramp on the east side of the river and then there would be stairs on the north side that way people can still access it on the north side as they came down the trail. The project, the numbers are a little bit higher than they are on the unfunded. Right now the unfunded list has it about $800,000. We're estimating right now between $1 million and $1.5 million dollars to do this project. We're also looking at some various 'funding opportunities that would be out there for the bridge. Lehman: I never sensed there was any particular rush to do this project? Atkins: Ernie, can I answer that for you? Elliott: I was going to say, this is out the blue. This would be very low on my list of priorities. Vanderhoef: Me, too. Atkins: I can understand how you'd feel that way. Just give me a crack at you. (Laughter) Lehman: Go ahead. Atkins: When you think about the Peninsula and the park and the investment that we have in there with trails and more. It's over 100 acres. The main access point now is going to be through a neighborhood. Whether we like it or not, folks moving in will know that. We have an access point at the Iowa River Power Dam where folks will be able to get into it. It seems to me that if we were going to make that available to folks, access points other than through the neighborhood would be advantageous to us, particular in getting people to use that particular park. That was the general thinking behind promoting the idea. I asked the staff to put something together. Again, we haven't spent a lot on this, but it would seem that that would give us three points that we could enter Peninsula Park and I guess I remain convinced that the Peninsula Park is going to become one of our more popular parks. That was the thinking. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 18 of 46 Wilburn: I personally don't have a problem with your investigating that. I was thinking back to... some of you went to that presentation about the Convention and Visitors Bureau about the marketing and visitation related to some of the athletic stuff...I spent the weekend on the Cedar Valley Trail between Hiawatha, Cedar Rapids, and Waterloo and I was just blown away by the number of folks coming down from Waterloo that I passed on the way up there going down to each lunch and spend some time in Hiawatha and then turn around that day or the next day and going back up. So, these transportation alternatives and park enhancements really do, I think, are congruent with those types of efforts, the tourism and just bringing folks to town, having friends and neighbors come to town. I'm not saying that I would make this my number one priority, but I think it behooves of us to be aware of what the realm of possibilities are as we look at trying to feature different amenities that are developing in the community. Atkins: This may not come offthe unfunded for a while, but I think with the investment that we have...and we've really enjoyed a really positive investment in the park. Remember, we substantially got all of that land through a federal grant. We secured the property with very little local investment in that project. Vanderhoef: That's FEMA money. Atkins: FEMA money, that's right, that's how we go it. Vanderhoef: We chose to do that instead of fix the road. Atkins: That was the thinking behind trying to open up the Peninsula. It seemed to me that the parking lot - alternative one shows a parking lot that would almost serve as a trailhead without having to make any investment. You can park your car, get on the trail, use Peninsula Park... Lehman: Steve, I think it's a really neat idea, but I don't see it being a priority. Atkins: I think it's a really neat idea, but I wish you hadn't of said, 'but'. Lehman: I just don't see...a million dollars for a bridge to go to a park. Atkins: We'd like to explore what other sort of assistance might be out there. Without undoing our other projects...more often than not, these are things that have to financed locally anyway, but if there are some grant monies available, we'd like to look around at it. Vanderhoef: I'm a lot more interested in the park development and so forth to the south of town to the sand pit area which I think would also be a huge draw to visitors, if we could get that all pulled together. I'm still pushing to get all of these other agencies involved in that so that we can do storm water into the sand pit area, get the trails filled, and have some other kinds of recreation that isn't with moving This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 19 of 46 water persay. So, this is very low on my priority list. My number one priority still is what you talked about earlier is completing the east side trail system and now we have one more link in there and that's still where I want my park and recreation money to go at this point. Lehman: Do you have the next item on the list, as well? Knocke: I do not. JeffDavidson does. Champion: We do need to complete those east side trails. Vanderhoef: That is my number one priority and has been. First Avenue Railroad Grade Separation Proiect Davidson: This project is one that together with the series of things that Rick went through and the project that Ronjust apprised you of. Quite frankly, you could probably leave the lights up. I'm not going through any other slides than this one, so we can refer toit. Just kind of what to apprise you of this project. This is also on the unfunded list at this time. The genesis of this project came from a project that I was helping the City of Coralville with, having to do with the extension of Highway 965 south of Highway 6 and we were discussing whether or not we would keep...we could have a grade separating crossing there or not. In talking with the engineer that was doing the study for that, I thought, you know, I've got another candidate here that would be just a really good idea for us to see if we could possibly separate the grade of the railroad and the street and that was at First Avenue. You see a rendering of what has been come up with as a proposal for your consideration. All I want to do tonight is kind of apprise you of the project, answer any questions about the project in general, and if you start to get too specific, I won't be able to answer the questions because we don't have any specific information other than what is in the study that you received a copy of. The notion here is to try to reduce the lost time issues associated with the back- ups that we have when there is a train across the crossing. There certainly is a perception in the public that it's getting worse. I'm not exactly sure if that's a perception or not, but it seems to be getting a little bit worse and we also have some issues with fire station three being located a couple of blocks away. I've had calls from people saying, 'I'm sitting in my car and there is a fire truck next to me and that is not a good thing' because presumably that fire truck was going some where. The other thing that I think was maybe minimized in some of the things that have been out there, but I received a call today from the principal from Southeast Junior High and she said this is a project whole-heartedly endorse and would encourage you to fund. In terms of incidents involving school children, fortunately, at least in recent history we have not had any serious incidents, however, the school still perceives it as being something and the parents of the kids...she indicated to me, the principal, that is was certainly a concern of there's and they'd really like to see this project done. A couple o£things. We did This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 20 of 46 evaluate taking the road over the road and what is our recommended alternative, which is what you see here, the railroad over the road. There are some real advantages to taking the railroad over the street. One is just the natural fall. I wasn't aware of it until we had the study, but between Bradford Drive and a little bit further south of the point that you see right here at the bottom of the screen, there's 29 feet of fall and so we're taking advantage of that and in our recommended alternative here, the railroad would go up eleven feet and the road would go down ten feet. That makes for a very nice project that I think would fit in nicely with everything else here. It would keep all the driveways open. The other alternative does not keep them all open. We'd have to relocate Southeast Junior High's driveway, which is north of the bridge, slightly, but it would still remain in tact. We do, as you can see, end up with some retaining walls. We think that that might make a nice public art project. In fact, we had a couple of renditions of possibly how that might work. Once again, that's a design detail that is far down the road but something that we think would be nice as well. All we're looking for tonight is, once again, get your initial reaction about the project. I've had a number of calls already since it's been in the paper of people saying they think it would really be a great project. Probably our next step would be to apply for some money at the State. I think most of you are aware of the Iowa Clean Air Attainment Program. This is $4.5 million dollars that comes - because fortunately, we don't have any urbanized areas in the state that are not in compliance with federal air quality regulations - the money gets put into a pot and allocated out to people to make applications. If there was one community or two that didn't meet the federal air quality regulations - they would get all the money - but, fortunately, it goes into a pot and it's distributed throughout the State. The railroad interchange relocation project in Iowa County used those funds. Our ongoing project that we have right now to interconnect all the traffic signals in town also uses these funds. We think this is a good candidate and as part of the study (TAPE ENDS) Tape 05-43 - Side Two Davidson: I've done a lot of the calculations already that we would need for the Iowa Clean Air Attainment Program, which they're due October 1st. So, if you want to give us just a general direction of whether or not you'd like us to see...what I would anticipate is...this is a $5.9 million dollar project...and so it's a very expensive project, but you saw some from Rick that were even more expensive, so I think that doesn't need to be anything that deters us from at least giving this a go. I think the Iowa Clean Air Attainment Program may be something that in maybe two or three years that we can maybe collect enough funds...you know, we're not going to get $4.0 million out of $4..5 million in the first year, but we may get a million a year for a couple of years. Anyway, we can at least give it a show and see how much money we can build up. There will inevitably have to be some local funds committed to the project - but what do you all think? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 21 of 46 Elliott: I have an observation and a question. Observation is most of the times during the day when I come in heading back to Dover Street from the west, I will routinely go down Kirkwood, turn on Summit, and go down the back road, whatever that road is by Deluxe Bakery - whatever street that is - because more likely than not there is going to be a train stopping traffic and when there is you can just see the string of cars heading back up Lower Muscatine Road. Davidson: I think, Bob, that we're going to talk about you a couple of agenda items here later. Elliott: Really. The other thing is...growing up in Chicago and seeing what happened to the underpasses in Chicago, because whenever it rained it became a swimming pool, this does not...you said it goes down ten feet...but is there ample drainage so there isn't flooding? Davidson: Yes, we had actually planned on bringing this to you a couple of a months ago and got thinking about some of the drainage issues and asked the consultant to look at those a little more closely. We do believe that we have the drainage issues at this level of study resolved to the point where we can go forward. That is something that during the design phase would require some extra attention to make sure that we didn't have that situation. Vanderhoef: The only thing that...I know you don't need it to see whether you can or can't separate them, that's fine...but I'm still very concerned about Mall Drive and the additional traffic that is on that street now that Sycamore has closed up there east entrance and only have the main entrance at the stop light. It has changed the driving habits of people headed for Sycamore Mall and are using Mall Drive to get to the First Avenue and to the mall back and forth. The other thing that is happening in this coming school year...so when Southeast says they'd really like the project...we may well have students between the Elizabeth Tate School going back and forth through there, too, and some of those students are old enough to have driver's licenses so we're adding more cars on to that...and in the middle of the afternoon on Mall Drive you can be backed up at least four or five stop light cycles to get on to First Avenue. If you come out of the Sycamore Mall on to Mall Drive. It backs clear up and around. We also have two day cares there so, at the rush hour, when they're picking up children or dropping them off, we've got to incorporate some more traffic lanes and turn lanes and stuff when we do this. Davidson: That's something that we may actually take a closer look at. A couple of years ago we did a study to look at a possible turn lane right about...Rick, how do you get the arrow to come up? Fosse: Wiggle the mouse. Davidson: Wiggle the mouse. I still don't see it. Well, there we go. Right in the middle of the screen you will see that there is a left turn lane there that's actually not there This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 22 of 46 and we would propose building that to add some capacity to First Avenue. Right by the white car, there, we would propose - Lehman: They're all white cars. (Laughter) Jeff, we know what you're saying. Davidson: You see the turn lane there, that turn lane does not exist. Vanderhoefi But what about on Mall Drive? Davidson: Well, we'd probably look at the capacity of the whole intersection. We're real tight there with capacity right now. There has been some suggestion of putting in some protected left turn lanes on First Avenue to get the left turners out of traffic, but it doesn't work in terms of overall capacity, but having that turn lane would be a good thing. Doing this project would be a good opportunity to see if that would work. Vanderhoef: Well, I think we need more capacity itself on Mall Drive. Champion: Well, you're going to get it. Vanderhoef: At least a third lane in there to turn in to the Sueppels...what you can see right here...then there is another drive that has a dental office and then you get down the line and you have the day care and Ace Hardware. Davidson: When you get down by Ace Hardware you're obviously getting out of the project limits of this particular project, but it would, when we decide to go ahead and construct this, it would be a good opportunity to certainly at the Mall Drive and First Avenue intersection and look at the overall capacity. If we can squeeze any more lanes out of it or see what the impacts are, that would be a good opportunity to do it. Bailey: That will change because of Tate, right? Champion: Pardon me? Bailey: The school entrance is there, right? Champion: Yeah. Davidson: It will be a factor. Vanderhoef: We'll have a lot of activity added in there. Davidson: It's not going to be as great a factor as some of the existing uses that are there already. There are much higher traffic generators. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 23 of 46 Wilbum: In terms of looking into this, you've got my...as a parent of a former South East and a future South East student, you've got my full support because it will eliminate my calls to the City Manager after having sat for 34 minutes waiting for a train to go by. Bailey: I think it would be one of the most popular projects that we ever do. Lehman: Did your call do any good? Wilbum: I felt a little better. (Laughter) Vanderhoefi He couldn't get away from you. (Laughter) Lehman: You sound as if there is a reasonably good chance that we could get some state funding for this. Davidson: We think it's worth a try. Lehman: I think this project has got some really, really, really good possibilities for federal funding. If the school district would support it, which I am sure they will, and I think they would support it enthusiastically, given our situation with the North Side Fire Station, our inability to fund that station, and the bottleneck that this presents for emergency vehicles, that's the kind of stuff, that when you go to Washington, in January or February and talk to those congressional senators and representatives, this really gets their ear. This is a safety issue, a school issue, a Clean Air issue, and the one that probably has the last weight, in Washington, is the Clean Air. Schools or kids and moms and dads and grandpas and grandmas...fire safety and emergency vehicles are obviously something that is important to...I think the project...we need to have this one ready to go when the funding is available. I think the funding could get there. Davidson: I think, that with the study we have completed already, I don't think we need to do any additional design work for the grant application in the fall, if we start getting some money from the program, which we would find out in February, maybe then we can do a little more design work and take it to the next step. Lehman: I would really encourage you to have something prepared for that trip in February. Davidson: And I'm not so sure that this report, Ernie, wouldn't cover what you'd need to go to Washington in February. Lehman: I won't be going. Davidson: Well, whoever is going. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 24 of 46 Lehman: I'm just saying that the safety issue, the fire station, and the schools...I mean, that's the kind of thing that I think really tums there ears...more so than a lot of the other political considerations. I think it's a natural. Davidson: Okay. Vanderhoef: But, after we get a our Iowa River Bridge. Lehman: You've got to have more than one iron in the fire. Are we in consensus? Elliott: No, don't put this in lieu of the North Side Fire Station. You can talk about... Lehman: No one said that all. Elliott: You did. Lehman: I did not say that. Elliott: You mentioned the North Side Fire Station. Lehman: I said we're having a problem, this would help us. Elliott: The North Side Fire Station still has to be a number one priority. It is a number one priority. Lehman: I think it still is...but you're reading it the way you want to read it. Elliott: But you mentioned the North Side Fire Station. I would rather that not be mentioned. Lehman: I was talking to a Senator. I wasn't talking to a Council person. Elliott: No...but I would rather it not be mentioned because I hope that we have a North Side Fire Station before this underpass goes up. Lehman: But when you're asking for the money, you use all of the arguments that you can come up with and that is a very good argument at this point. Hopefully it won't be next year. Davidson: Move on to the next item, Mr. Mayor? Lehman: Go. Traffic on East Court Street between Summit Street and Muscatine Avenue This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 25 of 46 Davidson: Next item is a request that you've received from a subgroup of the Longfellow Neighborhood Association. You received a petition, which I forwarded to you with the materials that we put together. Let's see...the petition went to you. It has to do with traffic on the portion of Court Street between Summit Street and Muscatine Avenue. The neighbors on that street expressed to you in the petition and in the attachments some concerns about increasingly heavy, fast and careless traffic. A couple of the...they gave you six suggestions to consider for controlling the traffic on this portion of Court Street. A couple of them involved what we would term traffic calming measures and this is a collector street and collector streets are eligible for the traffic calming program. So, the very first thing we did before coming to you tonight was to do a traffic study in accordance with the provisions of the Traffic Calming Program that you've adopted. What we found is the same thing that we found five years ago and that is that this portion of Court Street would not be eligible for the Traffic Calming Program as you have it structured right now because of the traffic volume which exceeds three thousand vehicles a day. There has been some questions about why we have that provision in there. This came from when we initially set up the program. We did research to other communities. At that time it was primarily Washington, Oregon, and California that had these types of programs and what we had found is that that threshold was necessary because of a whole new set of problems that are created if you attempt to put traffic calming features on streets that have higher traffic volumes. I have highlighted those for you and Emie highlighted them in the letter that went to the neighborhood five years ago. We believe those still are issues, however, the Traffic Calming Program is your program. You have the opportunity to do whatever you want with it and direct us accordingly. We also, in addition to the two suggestions which were made that were traffic calming ideas...you see them - they're highlighted at the bottom of my memo...closing the street to traffic with a barricade or installing devices such as speed humps, (unclear) or traffic circles, which we have used in other portions of the city. We also had the four other bullets that were suggested. Restricting trucks and commercial vehicle use...we didn't find, in the data that we collected, an inordinate number of trncks and large vehicles, but there are clearly some in the traffic stream. You know that you have the ability to enact an embargo of large trucks, such as you have done on First Avenue and Kirkwood Avenue. Without enforcement it's probably not terribly effective, but with enforcement, of course it would be effective. Lowering the speed limit to the school zone speed limit...at least the way we have the twenty mile an hour school zone set up right now, it would not be consistent with the other zones that we have established. You have heard me say many times that that's really not a very effective safety strategy because nobody goes twenty miles an hour. It's a very high level of people that do not comply with that. They also suggest removing the turn lanes at Muscatine Avenue. If that is something that you were interested in, we'd would want to do some additional research and actually model the capacity of what it would do. Typically we like to keep our arterial street intersections with a high a capacity as possible and that would kind of be counterproductive in this particular instance. I do acknowledge though that what the neighborhood is concerned about is a facet This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 26 of 46 of this neighborhood and that is that there are not very many ways to penetrate across the railroad tracks so there is cutting through of the Longfellow Neighborhood, there is cutting through in the Creekside Neighborhood - such as Mr. Elliott said he has even been known to do - that that does occur. There is some of that in order to get to...you know, in a two-mile stretch three are three opportunities to get across those railroad tracks. Scott Boulevard, First Avenue and Summit Street. The final option that the neighborhood suggested was to return Court Street to its original brick surface, which, once again, that's an option you have available to you. I did point out that if the desire here is to reduce noise, putting a street back to brick is probably not the greatest idea. Champion: It will decrease the use though. Bailey: Yes, it would. Davidson: We have suggested to you that what we feel would be the most effective solution...what we found in terms of the data we collected, I have to say, is what we typically find on these types of neighborhood streets and that is that the majority of the traffic is not creating a problem...but there is that small amount of traffic that is creating a problem and it's that speeding, reckless driving, and whatever the other terms were that the neighborhood used...we feel that an effective way to get at that is to direct enforcement to that area. I did discuss this with the acting police chief and he is all for us using our data to determine when the recklessly operated vehicles are there most often and directing enforcement to those times. He also thinks that's a wise use of the police departments resources. Champion: You put a stop sign in the middle of the block. How could people get up enough speed to speed? You only have a block and a half to go. Davidson: That is a location, Connie...that was an unwarranted stop sign when it went in and it went in in the name of school, child safety with kids walking to Longfellow. As we know happens at unwarranted stop signs, people don't stop. They roll through it - which creates kind of a different type of safety hazard. That is a location where we did a measurement of traffic going west bound on Court Street and found...in a before and after study...this was years ago when it went in...and determined that vehicles, once they got halfway down Court Street, beyond that all-way stop were going faster than they were before the all-way stop was put in...as though they had been irritated that they had to stop at the stop sign when there wasn't any reason to stop.., so they were actually going faster by the time they got halfway down the block and that's a phenomenon that happens with unwarranted stop signs. So, we're here tonight just to see if you'd like to do, if anything, and any other thoughts or ideas that you might have. Champion: Talking to some of the neighbors...and I went over to a Longfellow Neighborhood meeting when they were talking about this...I don't expect us to really do traffic calming here, that's...there's just too many cars that are going to This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 27 of 46 be diverted...we're just going to have another street calling us...but a couple of them, and it's not very many, but a couple people really feel that the truck noise is the most irritating and that people like from Nagle Lumber and Aero Rental and all those businesses that are driving big, heavy trucks use that as a cut through. So, I think we could address part of their concern by making this a track-free street so they have to use Burlington. They should be using Burlington...that's what they should use...they should go to Burlington from Gilbert if they're going to Nagle Lumber. O'Donnell: I don't understand why they wouldn't stay on Burlington rather than turning. Champion: Because it's a little bit further. Lehman: Well, and then there's the lights. Champion: Yeah, they miss the lights but... Elliott: As a person who drives that virtually multiple times every day, I too, Mike, don't understand why people cut through there. It's easier to just go straight down Burlington, turn on to Muscatine...I would be interested in the possibility of keeping tracks off there, but I think anything else...I think people have to realize that we're living in a growing city and on Dover Street...you know what's happened at Dover...when I moved in there - we, I should say - it ended at the end of our block and now it's a straight shot. Those are things that happen. Bailey: For living in a growing city...but I think we need some more enforcement because what is also happening is a complete disregard for the neighborhoods and speeding through neighborhoods and as more people drive SUV's and tracks, those are louder vehicles and so some of the truck noise that you maybe didn't see might be a result of the every day vehicles that people are using. I would also support some increased enforcement. Vanderhoefi One of the things that I think we should try, believe it or not, when you put that stop sign in there...then all of the straight shift vehicles are going through gear changes as they leave the stop sign, so if they did stop, then there is that revving up to get up to speed again...which I think creates more noise when you gear up and gear down versus making the turn at the comer and proceeding without a stop in the middle of that stretch. Champion: I think that would encourage more truck use, so I would not be willing to take that stop sign out. I remember when it was put in and I wouldn't even dare think about taking it out. Lehman: I don't think we'd ever take it out. Are we all in agreement that enforcement...stepped up enforcement is something we need to do? Okay, we're This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 28 of 46 agreed on that. The other issue that I've heard suggested is...now you have indicated a very small level of track traffic... Davidson: I would say an average level. Lehman: An average level. Bailey: What is average? Davidson: Typically 1-2.5%. Bailey: Okay. Davidson: And this was right in that vicinity. Lehman: 2.5% - you're talking about big trucks? Davidson: What our counters do is measure the wheel base of the vehicle so it's any long wheel base vehicle. Lehman: So if we prohibited trucks, what size trucks would we be prohibiting? O'Donnell: Commercial. Lehman: Well, you couldn't prohibited delivery trucks and whatever. Davidson: No, it's a large...whatever the tonnage is that we use on First Avenue and Kirkwood. It's basically a large straight truck or larger. Lehman: I don't have anything wrong with prohibiting trucks like that. Davidson: Do you recall what the tonnage ....16 ton and that's a large straight truck. Lehman: Is there any interest in posting that street for... Champion: I would try it. Bailey: Yeah. O'Donnell: I don't know what it would hurt to try it. Lehman: A truck would have to go down Burlington. That's not a big deal. Bailey: Actually, I think Burlington is easier because you don't have to stop. O'Donnell: I do to. I can't imagine turning to go down Court Street. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 29 of 46 Davidson: Okay, so a majority for...we would do that by ordinance. Elliott: Enforcement and embargo? Davidson: And of course, the enforcement will also have to be of the embargo, not just the (unclear). Elliott: You might check with enforcement...Dover Street after softball games is... they go ripping and snorting up there. Davidson: So you'd like us to prepare an ordinance for your consideration on that? Lehman: I think that I have...yes, there's consensus. Wilbum: Do any of your traffic studies show the frequency of Council Member Elliot travels the area? Davidson: We don't have a GPS unit on him. Bailey: We need a GPS unit for him. Lehman: Could we also get a decibel meter that checks the level of noise from his muffler? Davidson: I thought you meant when he was singing with his radio. (Laughter) Lehman: Do you use the radio with the windows open? Elliott: No, my wife has forbid me to sing. Lehman: Okay. Vanderhoefi I use that all the time to go to Kirkwood so I don't have to go down First Avenue. Re-survey of Oakcrest Street Davidson: Want to do Oakcrest now? Anissa, why don't you come up in case there are some questions. This is an item that you should be quite familiar with by now. Elliott: Oh, yes. Davidson: Anissa has been dealing primarily with the neighborhood, not myself, so you may have some questions. Vanderhoefi Lucky you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 30 of 46 Davidson: We're basically looking for what direction you want us to take at this point. A couple of things, you received a memorandum from Anissa dated July 14 about the follow-up survey that was done. You can see it wasn't all that much different from the original survey - only a 1% different. Since that time we did indicate to these people that we would let you know that there were two people that contacted us and I think filed letters with the Clerk, either to you or the Clerk, I can't remember. There was one person who had voted yes but that they had actually wanted to vote no, and there was another person who said we had not received their survey card and that they would have voted no. So, if you take those into consideration, it becomes 8-8. That's what the vote is. Now, what we have done is put an item on your agenda for tomorrow that if you don't want to change anything, you just need to take it off and vote on it separately, which is exactly what you did last time, but we thought since it had been proposed to make the change, we would allow you to make the change if you want to take the parking off. Approximately half of the neighborhood has requested to have it removed. O'Donnell: Jeff, how many houses are there total in the neighborhood? Davidson: Total? Twenty-three. O'Donnell: There are twenty-three and we had sixteen responses. Williams: Two who responded were vacant homes. We had eighteen out of twenty-three responding. O'Donnell: Who responded? Williams: The postmaster sends them back to me with a big vacant on them so I get them back. Elliott: Well, I would like to either have signs come down or I would be willing, because today I had one of the smallest and one of the largest of my council colleagues bend my ear about this, so I would be willing to consider the compromise. So, I would like either the signs come down as indicated in your memo or I would go along with the compromise. Bailey: The 10-47 Elliott: Yeah, the compromise. Bailey: That the neighborhood had come up with. Elliott: Yeah, before it fell apart. Vanderhoef: No parking, 10-47 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 31 of 46 O'Dormell: It seems like the 10-4 would kind of appease everybody. Davidson: Now, if you want the 10-4, we probably need to go back to the neighborhood and have another survey. Lehman: Oh, no. Elliott: Really, no, no, no. Bailey: We don't want another survey. Vanderhoef: No. Lehman: Can we amend this and change it? Davidson: You can do whatever you like. Lehman: Thank you. Regenia, you're going to make the amendment tomorrow night, we will do it, and it will be done. Vanderhoef: How about you draw something up for us so it's... O'Donnell: Have asked the neighborhood what they think? Lehman: We have asked them so many times, so many things... Davidson: One time. Champion: Then I think the neighbors have been caniving against each other. It's not been a good situation. Elliott: I think the neighborhood, in effect, told us 'do what you think is right' because they can't decide, so I think we ought to do what we think is right and if...I'll go along with the compromise, which is, what, Regenia, 10-4? Bailey: No parking 10-4, M-F. Elliott: Yeah. Champion: Is that even enforceable? Vanderhoef: Oh yeah. Lehman: By complaint at least. You just call. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 32 of 46 Bailey: And people will complain because we have every other... Davidson: We have been contacted by a couple of a people by the way who have called to say 'I'm tired of being harassed by my neighbors about this'. Lehman: What's the parking restriction on Tower Court? Is that 10-47 Davidson: I can't remember. That was one where there was a majority of the neighborhood in favor of taking it off but then you all decided to leave it... Lehman: We restricted it from certain hours. You can park in the evening but it's... Davidson: You could always park in the evening...this was during the day to keep the commuters out. Vanderhoef: Yeah, it's the commuters that fill them up so that the local residents don't have a chance at them to have a meeting at their house. Davidson: And the 10-4 is a way to get at the issue of commuters. Bailey: And you don't have to get up early to move your car if you have a late job or you're a student... Lehman: Or you just want to sleep in. O'Donnell: Was anyone sent the picture of the five cars parked in the... Bailey: Oh, yeah. Lehman: Now, isn't that a situation that we could, via complaint, those cars could all be ticketed from parking in the front yard since that's illegal? The neighbors just want to call so they'll be ticketed. ! believe that's true. O'Donnell: And that is true... Vanderhoefi They have to be on... O'Donnell: They'll now have a place from 10-4. I think what eliminates the problem is that people are going to be able to park over in that area and that's what I think a majority are after. Champion: I don't know what the best solution is, because I don't think there is a right one, I don't think there is a good one, and I don't think there is one that is going to make anybody happy, but I think that addresses the problem in the neighborhood and I'm not going to defer this to go on again. I'm just going to vote for it. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 33 of 46 Davidson: We're all for that. Lehman: Thank you, Regenia. Vanderhoef: Write it up. O'Donnell: We haven't decided...do you have to send out another survey? Davidson: No. Lehman: We can do whatever we want. Davidson: And you can...it's on-street parking and we have not identified a safety issue associated with it. We would recommend one way or another to you if we felt there was a safety issue. Lehman: I am sensing that there will be an amendment. This will be removed from the consent calendar, it will be amended and passed tomorrow night. Davidson: We will respond accordingly with the signage. Lehman: Thank you. Champion: Thank you, both. Davidson: She has been dealing with the neighbors, not me. Bailey: Thank you. Vanderhoefi You still have all your hair. COUNCIL TIME Lehman: All right. Council time. Uh-oh. We have a little time out. (Break) Lehman: Okay. Did you have anything for Council Time, Connie? Vanderhoef: I have one that has to do with the Scott Boulevard crossing, but that's at Washington Street and down at Court Street is where the nursing homes is and right now the bus stop is across Scott Boulevard on Washington. I may have those... Davidson: The intersection of Scott and Washington, okay. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 34 of 46 Vanderhoef: Okay, the people from the care center or the retirement home say that they can't safely get across to the catch that bus and there are not busses that do a bus stop on Scott Boulevard. So, a gentleman called me specifically, he's been shooting across there but his wife is with a walker and she won't go. I said 'There will be some breaks in the traffic, probably, when the stop light goes in a block away, but then the rest of the problem...I asked about the sidewalk system on the east side of Scott Boulevard between Court and Washington and there's no sidewalk, so it isn't going to help them even if they did take the walk all the way up the block, cross with the light, and walk all the way down to the bus stop. Davidson: Unless they walk down Scott Park Drive. There is a sidewalk on Scott Park Drive, which is the street parallel to Scott to the east...which, if I'm talking about the same housing units that you are, it's actually, instead of going down the hills, you just stay parallel with Scott and then go down. Vanderhoefi But the people with the walkers have a real challenge to get to that bus stop even if we put a light in, so I'd like somebody to take a look at it. He's wanting a cross walk painted in there. I said that that scares me big time because are not going to stop and you're going to feel unsafe. Lehman: Because they would be unsafe. Davidson: Let us talk about it. We'll get with Joe and Ron and see what the situation is. Champion: Jeff, while you're here...maybe you know about these other vehicles besides cars. In Washington you see those things you stand on and move and they're all over the place now. Davidson: Segway? Lehman: Yes, Segways. Davidson: Are they all over the place, now? Champion: Yeah, are they legal on the sidewalks? Davidson: Yes. Lehman: Downtown? Davidson: I don't think I've ever seen one downtown but as far as I know... Bailey: I've never seen one downtown. Champion: Me neither, but it looks ideal. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 35 of 46 O'Donnell: Are those the things I've seen at the airport? Lehman: Yeah. Champion: It looks like a walker...but it's... Bailey: A scooter. It's like a scooter... O'Donnell: What are those called? Lehman: A Segway. O'Donnell: I wouldn't try those for anything in the world. Davidson: As far as I know they're not illegal. Bailey: You get one and we'll all try it. Champion: Where do you get them at? Davidson: Beats me. Lehman: Segway, Incorporated. Davidson: Can you do it on the sidewalk? Champion: Well, not downtown, but... Elliott: If you boys and girls are done talking about your scooters, now. I hope sometime we can talk about...or maybe I simply need to be educated but the way we name streets...but the extension of Mormon Trek we're going to give a different name to. I wish we wouldn't. For instance, when we did Scott Boulevard, Scott Boulevard runs both north-south and east-west and when I think you're on a street it's just not conducive to people getting around well when you're on a street and suddenly you're on another street and you haven't turned off. I just wish a street would stay a street. Is that possible? O'Donnell: That's a really good point, Bob, but - Elliott: But you don't care. O'Donnell: I would like that idea. Lehman: Me to. Do you remember Captain Irish? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 36 of 46 Elliott: I thought Captain Irish was a great name but you said 'Nope' because we have to keep Scott Boulevard all the same name. Why can't we keep Mormon Trek all the same? O'Donnell: Well, follow Burlington down and what is it across the street? Vanderhoef: Grand Avenue. O'Donnell: Grand Avenue and if... Elliott: And if you follow Burlington you run into Muscatine. Vanderhoefi How about when we changed the name and I objected.., so I'm sitting here in Bob's camp on some of this stuff...but Hollywood Boulevard and somebody said they wouldn't even build on the west side of Sycamore Street if we didn't change Hollywood Boulevard to a different name over there. O'Donnell: We did change that. Elliott: Unaccustomed as I am to having someone agree with me...I'd like to talk about that some time. Another one is there was a letter in here about people being confused by transfers for the bus. I grew up in Chicago with street cars and even as a third and fourth grader on a street car by myself, there was no confusion about transfers. I mean, you got a transfer from 79th street, you went to Stony Island, you give them the transfer, you get on and you go...but why is there a confusion about transfers? Do we have some time kind of goofy policy? Bailey: What is the policy? Atkins: I don't know. One transfer is what you get. Atkins: This is the first I've heard about it. Lehman: We haven't had an issue with that in all the years I've been on Council until we got this letter. Elliott: I would be in fourth grade and I'd take a street car down 79th, we'd transfer to Stony Island and then on 76th street you transfer again. As long as you're going in the same direction... Atkins: But then you had to stop to feed the horse. (Laughter) Elliott: I want him out of here. (Laughter) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 37 of 46 Davidson: You can get off one bus, get on another bus - you get one additional trip. You don't get another one on top of that. You have to pay a new fare. There is reciprocal between Iowa City and Coralville. Lehman: It seems to have been working right. Atkins: We don't know that it's broken. Vanderhoefi Stay up there a minute, please. I'm having a little trouble on the consent calendar with all the changes in and around the transportation center. Davidson: Those are all items for the on-street parking around the transportation center. Vanderhoef: Right, but my question is, west of the alley on Court Street, down by the Rebel area. Is that where you're putting the cabs? Davidson: No, it's on the south side of the Court Street, right opposite the bus station. Vanderhoef: Across the street, okay, so those two meters stay up there. Davidson: Those two cab stands are on the comer and one right across from the bus station. When they're sitting at the cab stand, they would be pointing east. Lehman: Right next to the federal building. Vanderhoefi I was just concerned whether it was down by the Rebel because I thought those were important for the court house. Davidson: Down by the Rebel is where, during semester changes, we'll actually have spillover parking for the busses down there. So, that will be metered most of the time but then we'll hood the meters if we ever know that there will be more than three busses along there, then we'll need that area too. Vanderhoef: Covering for occasional use, that's okay. Davidson: Otherwise anyone and the courthouse can use them. Vanderhoefi I was concerned about the businesses as well as county business and post office business. Champion: They won't be affected. Vanderhoef: Well, it's pretty tight down there for parking anyway...for those... Champion: Well, it depends on how close you want to park. There's always parking on the street the county jail is on. There is always parking. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 38 of 46 Lehman: Alright, other council? O'Donnnell: Steve, I brought up one...Wilson Avenue and High Street. Atkins: Yes, we'll check that tomorrow. O'Donnell: Also, is anyone else interested in going to Parks and Recreation and maybe suggesting that we put a little bit of money into our City Park swimming pool and maybe... Champion: No, don't ruin that pool. O'Donnell: Well, I'm not to ruin it, I'm going to improve it for the young folks. Maybe put a couple of slides in there or make it more of aquatic center? Champion: I think you'd have to build a new pool. O'Donnell: Is anyone interested in building a new pool? (Laughter) Lehman: Why don't we have them check to see what is involved? O'D0nnell: I think that has a lot of merit... Bailey: But there's one in North Liberty and there is one in Coralville. O'Donnell: That's true, but there isn't one in Iowa City. Wilbum: I don't have a problem with asking Park and Recreation to look into so. I've had several people say they like City Park the way it is...for a lot of lap swimmers...and even with some children who aren't real comfortable with some of the magnitude and activity that happens with the slides. Champion: I would hate to touch it. I would agree. I don't think City Park pool is really not big enough to do that. It's just perfect for families, the depth isn't too deep at the short end. It's about the only place that you can take little kids to a pool. Mercer is too deep in the shallowest park, the Rec Center is too deep in the shallowest part. Lehman: I think we need to - Dilkes: Let's raise the issue and if you want to put it on the agenda then we'll put it on the agenda but if not, let's move on. Lehman: Steve, if you could ask Terry to just run it past... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 39 of 46 Bailey: Just to add to the list, I've talked to some Seniors who would like one of the those ramps in. Atkins: We have those at Mercer. Bailey: Right, but you have to put a ramp in. Vanderhoef: No, it's already built in it. Atkins: I thought it was. Bailey: Oh, it i~, okay. Champion: It's there. Vanderhoef: That's a 50-meter stretch. Lehman: Okay, put pools on the Parks & Recreation work session. Wilbum: Just a reminder to Council, I will be leaving for Phoenix tomorrow morning, so I won't be at tomorrow night's meeting. I'll be back in town on the 24th. Elliott: It's hot in Phoenix. Vanderhoefi Let me tell you how hot it is. Bailey: Are we still on Council time? Lehman: We're still on Council time. Regenia. Bailey: I just wanted everyone to know that Ross and I are working with a group of young people from UAY who are interested in becoming more involved in local government issues, so we may, depending upon what the group comes up with, be bringing some recommendations or suggestions in the next couple of months. Elliott: That meeting was held...I was gone someplace when that was held. Bailey: You went to another meeting. Elliott: That was a good one. I'm glad you were there. Vanderhoef: Do we have any costs...we've got the 45/55 City and State split on Item 11. Lehman: That's agenda stuff. Is there any more Council Time? AGENDA ITEMS This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 40 of 46 Lehman: Alright, Agenda. Go right ahead. ITEM 11. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST THE IOWA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION FUNDING AGREEMENT FOR THE INTERSECTION IMPROVEMENTS OF HIGHWAY 1 WITH KITTY LEE ROAD AND THE U.S. 218 EXIT RAMP, UST-001-5(82)--4A-52 AND UST-001-5(83)--4A-52. Vanderhoef: Do we have any costs on that, Jeff?. Lehman: Which item is it? Vanderhoef: 11. Davidson: Yes, we do. Total project cost is about $45,000. So, our local share is about $20,000, in round numbers. Lehman: Okay. Vanderhoef: And likewise...the signalization used to be 50 and then it went up to about $75,000...so when we're looking at the - Davidson: I assume Dee that that was just a further refinement after the project got designed. I know there is a little bit of pavement work with the Scott and Court signal... Lehman: Turn lanes. Davidson: Yeah, turn lanes. Vanderhoefi Well, there's turn lanes and stuff but is it still around $75,000 just to put in...so the Mormon Trek ones are going to be about $75,000. Davidson: Right, should be about the same - actually the Mormon Trek one... I think the mastheads would have to be longer anyway and I think we're going to size those such that we can add a fifth lane on Mormon Trek without having to change the signal out since that's a project that's in your CIP to do eventually. Vanderhoefi Okay. Davidson: So, that would make it a little more expensive, Dee, but not markedly. ITEM 7. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AMENDING THE BUDGETED POSITIONS IN THE TRANSPORTATION PLANNING DIVISION OF THE PLANNING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 41 of 46 BY THE ADDITION OF ONE HALF-TIME ASSOCIATE PLANNER POSITION. Vanderhoef: Okay, then Item 7. Davidson: Yes, that's the one that you had at JCCOG last week. Vanderhoefi This is confusing to me the way that this is written. It sounds like we're adding a half-time FTE to the City budget. Davidson: Which is what you're doing. Vanderhoef: Well, Karin tried to explain it to me outside and she's...I recognize that John's job... Davidson: We're taking a half-time position and making it a full-time position - so that's an addition of a half-time FTE. Vanderhoef: Say that again? Davidson: You're taking a half-time person and making them full-time, so that's an additional half-time FTE. Vanderhoefi But that's in JCCOG. Davidson: Right, but JCCOG is part of the City's budget when it comes to personnel. Elliott: Well...then...you're taking a half-time out of one budget and adding it to another budget? Davidson: No, it's just being added to the JCCOG portion of the City budget. Remember, JCCOG is... Elliott: Yeah, but Iowa City is losing a half-time person. JCCOG is - Davidson: No, in fact, Iowa City is keeping there's. In fact, you clarified it at the JCCOG meeting, Bob, that the Urban Planning division would continue to have their half- time person, of which John makes up half of that half now, that that would continue to remain in place. It's not moving a half-time from Urban Planning to JCCOG. Elliott: But this says the addition of one half-time. Lehman: Which is what it is. Elliott: There is already a half-time position. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 42 of 46 O'Donnell: And they're adding a half so it will be a full-time. Davidson: Right now there is two half-time positions. One in JCCOG and one in Urban Planning. John does both. We're adding a half-time so that he'll be full-time JCCOG and there will still be a half-time in Urban Planning. Champion: JCCOG is getting a full-time person. Vanderhoef: We understand that. Elliott: But this says the addition of one half-time associate planner position. Lehman: Which it is. Elliott: Because that is existing...that position. When you talk about positions, you don't talk about people. The position has been filled by John. The position remains there. John is not there but the position remains so there is no need to add a half- time position. Davidson: In Urban Planning, no there is not. Elliott: So this is not an addition. Lehman: Yes it is. It's changing a half-time position to a full-time position in JCCOG - who is also an employee of the City. Is that correct? Davidson: Yes, that is correct. Lehman: We're making a half-time position into a full-time position and we're retaining the half-time so we're adding one half-time position. Bailey: So, you said split... Elliott: Well, if we're talking about both budgets as if it were one budget - nothing is being added because you're taking a half from here and putting it here and the half here remains. Davidson: One other clarification. There are no additional City funds required because the City funded...the only 100% City-funded part is that half-time in Urban Planning, which exists now, and will be retained... Elliott: And it's still a half-time position, so the additional position is in JCCOG? Davidson: Yes, and remember we have the federal money and the Cambus money that will pay for that. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 43 of 46 Elliott: I guess I don't know why we're passing on a JCCOG. Lehman: Because it's a City employee. Davidson: JCCOG, Bob, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the City. (Laughter) Elliott: Then we invite the other people just because we're big hearted? Davidson: No, you have 28E agreement that says that you'll provide those services to the rest of the County. Elliott: I think, perhaps, it has sunk through the layers. Lehman: Well, it was confusing, Bob, I didn't understand it. Bailey: We'll all have questions tomorrow night. Lehman: Are there any other questions about this confusing issue that has just been clarified? O'Donnell: Yeah, but I'm afraid to ask. ITEM 9. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AWARDING THE VEHICLE TOWING AND STORAGE SERVICES CONTRACT TO BIG 10 UNIVERSITY TOWING, INC. Elliott: There's only one person who is confused. I have a question about Item 9. Steve, are you concerned that there was only one bid? I think if there is an RFP... Atkins: I was more surprised, Bob, more than concerned. The individual that bid it bid it at substantially the same rates. I think that if they had come in knowing that there was only one bidder, up the rates would have gone because traditionally it's gone back and forth between these two bidders. Elliott: So, traditionally, there's been two. Atkins: Yeah, and I was surprised. Next time when we go to bid this thing, this other bidder will be watching very, very carefully. We got a good price out of it but I was little more surprised than anything. Elliott: Surprise is okay, concern, no. Atkins: This is a tough business and they are usually rather competitive. Vanderhoefi This is the same one that we've had? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 44 of 46 Atkins: Yes, Holiday is other one that used to. Vanderhoef: It was three years ago. Atkins: You got it. Vanderhoef: And it was competitive bidding at that time. Lehman: Are we going to have the bids tomorrow night? (TAPE ENDS) ITEM 14. REVIEW OF CITY CLERK'S CERTIFICATE OF INSUFFICIENCY RE: MEDICAL MARIJUANA INITIATIVE. Elliott: I read the City Attorney's memo regarding Item 14...but I think we want to make sure that we're all on the same page on that. Champion: It's my understanding that the document, that the petition, is sufficient. Lehman: Certified insufficient. Champion: So that means that we have to accept it's insufficiency. Is that about as simple as it goes? Dilkes: That's pretty close. What I would suggest that you do is move, to make a motion to approve the Clerk's certificate of insufficiency and find the petition to be insufficient. Elliott: Okay. O'Donnell: And that really should be it. Champion: That's all we can do. Dilkes: If the petitioner here, Mr. Pappas, take his comments if he has some. Elliott: What was it, I think, one-hundred thirty-seven person hours on that? Champion: That's incredible. Lehman: I was amazed that a guy had that much time. Elliott: Thank you, I just want to make sure we're - Vanderhoef: So, you're going to make the motion? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 45 of 46 Champion: It's on the agenda. Dilkes: I didn't put the motion on the agenda, so somebody should... Elliott: We can simply move to accept the Clerk's finding - Dilkes: Move to approve the Clerk's certificate of insufficiency and then find the petition insufficient. O'Donnell: Good, that's number 14. Dilkes: I'll remind you tomorrow. Champion: Eleanor, explain that the charter only allows us to do that. Dilkes: What the charter says is that they can ask the petitioner if there is a finding of insufficiency by the Clerk and ask the Council to review the certificate. So, it's my opinion that the review is of the certificate and not of all the signatures. Lehman: Thank you! Okay, any other agenda items. SCHEDULE OF PENDING ITEMS Lehman: Schedule of pending items. O'Donnell: I would like to reschedule that to the next meeting. (Laughter) Elliott: Pending items, I'd like to talk about commission make up and process some time. Bailey: What does that mean? Elliott: Well, for instance, it's my understanding that one of the commissions, Planning and Zoning, the term is for six years and if we have an agreement that generally if someone serves one term and would like a second term - we go along with that. That's twelve years. Why is one term on Planning and Zoning six years? That seems like an inordinate number of years for that. ! would also think...maybe sometime meet with Historic Preservation. I think there are some things in there that inhibit them from moving forward the way they would like to and cause more friction than is necessary in the community. Bailey: With this young people's group, we might have some recommendation specific to commissions, so we should probably combine that discussion. That might be a few months. Elliott: I'll check with the City Attorney, too...I think some commissions are lacking some people with kinds of experiences and expertise that we need and I wonder if This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. July 18, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 46 of 46 we could at least have it as a preference and or a requirement. So, I'd just like to talk about commission make up or processes. Lehman: That makes the pending list. Atkins: You added two others, street naming and you had it as a work session - water slides, pools, other features. Did you want that to go to the commission? Lehman: Send that to Parks and Recreation. Let's have it come back to us. Bailey: We'll hear Park's priorities in July, right? Champion: Do we still have loading zones? Atkins: Downtown loading zones. Bailey: Do we want to talk about that sooner, rather than later? Atkins: It's just a matter of scheduling things. Champion: Let's talk about parking on Dubuque and loading zones. Lehman: Anything else for the good of the cause? Okay, we're out of here. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the July 18, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session.