HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999-04-06 Transcription#2a Page 1
ITEM NO. 2a. OUTSTANDING STUDENT CITIZENSHIP AWARDS. (Shimek
Elementary)
Lehman/While I walk around here if the students would come forward please. What
school are you from?
Allie Gnade/Shimek.
Lehman/Shimek. OK. Would you like to read yours first? State your name first and
then read it.
Allie Gnade/I'm Allie Gnade. First I'd like to thank you for this award. It's quite an
honor. And I'd like to thank all my teachers, especially Mrs. Morgan, Mrs.
Monserud, and Mr. Zoeckler for selecting me and for giving me many great
oppommities. I'd also like to thank my parents, Chris and Gary Gnade, my 4-H
leaders, Joy Nelson and Susan Zacharis, my dance teacher, Diane Danhieux, my
ELP teacher, Mrs. Hayes, the school custodian, Fred Stevens, and my writing
teacher, Tamara Blair. To me being a good citizen involves helping others and
trying to make our community and world a better place. The things I've done to
be a good citizen are: last Spring I gave speech with one of my friends to the
school board about the budget cuts. I've done many community service projects
with my 4-H club such as cleaning up cemetery grounds and making holiday
banners for kids in the hospital. I've learned a lot in 4-H and I've shared with
others what I know. I'm a school patrol officer and I've won a gold badge. I've
been a member of green team at school. I've participated in several invention
conventions. I've danced in several pre-community performances with
Terpsochore School of Dance and I volunteer with Center Stables where I help
younger kids with the horses and with arts and crafts. I do these things because I
like them and I enjoy doing them. Again I'd like to thank everybody here and
everybody who has supported me.
Derek Robertson/Hi, my name is Derek Robertson. I'm in sixth grade and I am 12 years
old. I happen to be one of three people chosen for the Outstanding Citizen Award
at Shimek. I have been told I was picked because I am responsible, and I am
polite and nice to other people and I get my homework done. At Shimek
Elementary I am a patrol officer and I won the gold badge for the month of
January for responsible service. I also help in our school store. My homeroom
teacher is Ms. Monserud, she' s a nice teacher and has a lot of respect with kids
our age. She also teaches social studies and Mr. Zoeckler teaches math. You can
tell he wants to push us so we can learn. Mrs. Morgan the science teacher wants
us to experience the things she teaches, for example, we dissected a cows and a
pigs eye not too long ago. I would also like to thank Ms. Monserud and Mr.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#2a Page 2
Zoeckler and Mrs. Morgan for giving me this exciting oppommity. Some of my
extracurricular activities are baseball, basketball, football, hunting and track and
field. I think these activities have made me more disciplined as a student-athlete.
What I appreciate most about this award is having my hard work pay off.
Sadie Smith/My name is Sadie Smith. First I'd like to thank everybody who helped me
win this award. My teachers, Mrs. Morgan, Mrs. Monserud, Mr. Zoeckler, my
ELP teacher Mrs. Hayes, my writing instructor and good friend Tamara Blair, my
family, all my friends, my peers and everybody else. I think being a good citizen
is not only being responsible for yourself but also helping others to succeed.
Helping people in even small ways is a great way to eam people's respect.
Whether I'm on the safety patrol as the captain or helping another student as a
peer it is very rewarding to be trusted and respected by so many people. When
you show that you can be responsible for yourself and other people the people
around you trust you with more and more duties. Sometimes these duties are
frustrating but often they are enjoyable. I am the captain of our school safety
patrol, I also volunteer at a stable helping out with chores and a riding camp in the
summer. It is wonderful to get to do all these things and even better to know that
I can be trusted with responsibility.
Lehman/You know you guys are very appreciative for your school and your teachers and
your parents but you know you guys eamed the award, they may have helped
you, but you earned it you should be very very proud. I have certificates for each
of your and I'll read one of them. (Reads Proclamation). And we really are proud
of you, this is probably the best part of the council meeting. It goes down from
here. Thank you.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#3a Page 3
ITEM NO. 3a. MAYOR'S PROCLAMATIONS.
Lehman/The first one is DARE day. (Reads Proclamation). Now therefore, I Ernest W.
Lehman, Mayor of the City of Iowa City, Iowa do hereby proclaim April 8, 1999
to be DARE day in Iowa City, Iowa.
Karr/Here to accept is DARE officer Joel Myers.
Joel Myers/If I could I would just like to take just a moment and thank you on behalf of
the more than 450 students that are currently being served by the DARE program
this year. There are four officers that are trained in Iowa City that are providing
this education to these kids and I want to say thank you to the schools, and I want
to say thank you to the council for it's continuing financial support of the program
and thank you to the police department for the opportunity it provides me to teach
these kids. These three kids that just received this award Mr. Mayor are my
DARE students and I'm very proud of them. Thank you very much.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#3b Page 4
ITEM 3b. WEEK OF THE YOUNG CHILD - APRIL 17-24
Lehman/Next proclamation is Week of the Young Child. (Reads proclamation). Now
therefore, I Ernest W. Lehman, Mayor of the City of Iowa City Iowa do hereby
proclaim the week of April 17-24 to be week of the Young Child in Iowa City and
urge all citizens to support and encourage all of our community organizations
working for the well-being of young children.
Karr/Here to accept is Donna Johnson & Tricia Windschitl.
Donna Johnson/Thank you and we hope everyone takes that week to both enjoy children
and to thank their caregivers particularly on Friday the 23rd which is the Teacher
Appreciation Day.
Lehman/You also have some activities for that whole week I believe.
Johnson/Yes.
Lehman/I think one of them is out at, is it the Moose?
Johnson/Yes that's on Wednesday.
Lehman/The 21 st which I will be there.
Johnson/Thank you.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#3c Page 5
ITEM 3c. ARBOR DAY - APRIL 25
Lehman/Thank you. Third proclamation is Arbor Day. (Reads proclamation). Now
therefore I Emest W. Lehman Mayor of the City of Iowa City Iowa do thereby
proclaim Sunday, April 251h to be Arbor Day in Iowa City and I hereby urge all
citizens to provide in participate in tree planting and preservation projects
throughout the year.
Karr/Here to accept is city forester Terry Robinson.
Terry Robinson/Just like to thank the council for their past support and future support I
hope. We'll see you out planting trees somewhere along the line and hope that
maybe you can participate in our Arbor Day activities. We're going to be a little
early this year, we're going to be the Sunday before Arbor Day on the 251h so
we'll be there but thank you very much
Lehman/Thank you
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#3d Page 6
ITEM 3d. FAIR HOUSING MONTH - APRIL
Lehman/This is Fair Housing Month. (Reads Proclamation). Now therefore, I Emest W.
Lehman, Mayor of the City of Iowa City Iowa do hereby designate the month of
April 1999 to be Fair Housing Month in Iowa City. I urge all citizens to join in
this observance by resolving to fight discrimination in their personal daily lives
and by making themselves aware of the Fair Housing Law in the ways in which it
applies in our community.
Karr/Here to accept is Human Rights Coordinator Heather Shank.
Heather Shank/On behalf of the Iowa City Human Rights Commission I'd like to thank
you for signing this proclamation.
Lehman/Our pleasure.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#4a Page 7
ITEM NO. 4a. SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS.
4a. Iowa City Kickers Soccer Club
Lehman/I understand there is a presentation from the Iowa City Kickers Soccer Club.
Kubby/When they come they usually bring money.
Lehman/What's that?
Kubby/I said when they usually come they bring money. Like bearing gifts.
Doug Ginsberg/Hopefully I can keep with your theme of making this a good part of the
meeting. My name is Doug Ginsberg, I'm President of the Iowa City Kickers
Soccer Club and we are committed to the city as well as the city committed to us
and we appreciate that alliance and allegiance. We have committed in the past
we've given some money for the development of the fields and to see that
flourish, it's in the second phase I believe or the second of a three part phase.
What we are here for tonight is we're putting together two concession stands out
at the park, it will be equipped with storage, some offices and first-aid and I
would like to present tonight on behalf of myself, the coaches, the volunteers and
least of all the kids. The first part of a commitment, a check in the amount of
$80,000 and hopefully.
Champion/Doing great.
Kubby/Wow.
Lehman/Thank you very much. This makes, how much have you contributed totally?
Ginsberg/Totally, around $200,000.
Lehman/$200 and some thousand dollars these folks have contributed to the soccer
program in Iowa City, I mean I think that's just.
Ginsberg/And we're not done.
Lehman/No, I know your not. Thank you very much.
Ginsberg/We want to see it (can't hear).
Lehman/Well we do too. Thank you.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#4a Page 8
Vanderhoef/Thank you.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#4b Page 9
ITEM No. 4b. TENANT-TO-OWNERSHIP PROGRAM
Lehman/Tonight we're going to recognize some folks that have taken part in our Tenant-
to-Ownership Program. It's a program that the city has participated in and we've
embraced I think rather strongly. It's a program where we help folks with a
down payment and that down payment is a basically a forgivable loan that enables
folks to own their own home. And we think that is a terribly terribly important
sort of thing for all of us and I think if this community can help our folks who live
here own their homes then we've done a great service to the folks that live here.
So tonight we'd like to recognize some of those. And by the way I have the keys
to these properties, I had gold plated, by Herteen and Stocker, they did that at no
charge, which I thought was really kind of cool, I've got those. Cause we have
certificates of achievement. It should read, "The City of Iowa City and the Iowa
City Housing Authority would like to recognize the achievement of self-
sufficiency and home ownership obtained by Keith and Nancy Seering family,
their successful participation in the Tenant-to-Ownership Program is proof that
with determination, dreams, can become reality." Keith and Nancy and Also
Frances Gartzke and family. This is really what it's all about folks. I am so
pleased and I know council is too, this is a great opportunity for you folks and for
us too Frances here's your plaque, and there's Keith's. Which one is Wayne
Avenue, OK there's the, (can't hear) I suppose you could if (can't hear).
Congratulations. OK. And I think we have another thing here. Well we have two
other things.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#4b (la) Page 10
ITEM 4.b (1 a). Certificate of Achievement
Lehman/We the members of the Iowa City council recognize the presence of Cub Scout
Troop #220 at our April 6, 1999 formal council meeting. Sean Chittick, Garrett
Hartley, Jacob Neilsen and Christopher Waddell are in attendance to witness their
troop leader Keith Seering become their owner of his home presented by the Iowa
City city council.
Keith Seering/At this time I'd like to take the time to say a few words. Without this
Tenant-to-Ownership Program it would have been absolutely impossible for me
to purchase any home at any time. I've tried for, my wife and I have tried for over
25 years to purchase a home. Three years ago we heard about the Tenant-to-
Ownership Program. We worked real hard to honor our pledge to the city to rent
and pay rent properly to gain our strength in the community. As we did so we felt
better, we got closer to all of you through the program and I want to thank you at
this time for the strength of the program, keep up the good work and I'd like to
see more of it. Thank you.
Frances Gartzke/Emie, council I'd like to say this key I'm going to share it with other
people that need to get into this program as well that deserve the recognition as
much as I did and everybody else, Deb and Maggie have put a lot of work into
this program and Doug. And it needs to continue cause there's other people out
there that deserve the opportunity just as much as I do. Thank you.
Lehman/Thank you. This program really doesn't work without a lot of people putting a
lot of attention and effort into it. Maggie, I think you've done an admirable job.
Council has been very very adamant and strong behind this and I think that's very
great, but we've also had to have the cooperation of financial institutions within
the community. And we have had that and I would like to present to this
certificate of appreciation, "The City of Iowa City and the Iowa City Housing
Authority would like to acknowledge the active participation the Tenant-to-
Ownership Program by the Hawkeye State Bank, their participation enables the
dream ownership to become a reality for low and moderate income families.
Hawkeye State bank person/Hawkeye State Bank is very proud to have participated in
this program with you folks and quite honestly that is business and every day we
see deserving people who would like to own homes, and should own homes and
they can't and it's very rewarding to get the opportunity to participate in a
program that helps a very deserving individual as Frances to purchase her home.
Thank you.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#4b (la) Page 11
'Lehman/Thank you. And I might add there was also a certificate for the Iowa State Bank
which were unable to be here to accept it, but we do really appreciate your
participation. Without the team effort on this it just plain wouldn't work so we're
very pleased.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#5 Page 12
ITEM 5. CONSIDER ADOPTION OF THE CONSENT CALENDAR AS
PRESENTED OR AMENDED.
Thornberry/We need to amend this right?
Lehman/No we need a motion to approve first.
Thornberry/Move to approve the consent calendar.
O'Donnell/Second.
Lehman/Moved by Thornberry, seconded by O'Donnell to approve.
Thornberry/And then to amend.
Lehman/To amend in what regard?
Thornberry/To delete #C2.
Lehman/C2 OK.
Thornberry/Is deleted.
Kubby/And I would like to take Item E3a out for separate discussion.
Lehman/Is there a second there for that?
Karr/We don't need a first and second if you can just adopt it as amended with the
deletion of 5c and separate consideration.
Lehman/All right.
Thomberry/As amend.
Lehman/Right. Is there any discussion of the items that are in the? One of the things
that we are setting here is a public hearing for April 20th which will regarding
sewer and water rates that will be public hearing two weeks from tonight.
Norton/Well the other important is the plans and specs for the Iowa Avenue parking
facility.
Lehman/That's (can't hear).
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#5 Page 13
Kubby/No, no
Norton/Oh that's the one we deleted just now, that's coming up, is that deferred
indefinitely?
Lehman/It'sjust def, I would, well it's not.
Eleanor Dilkes/It's been deleted and we anticipate bringing it back next time.
Lehman/Yea. Other discussion. Roll call. Motion carries. We'd like to address Item
E3a which is a parking prohibition on the south side of Tower Court. I would
entertain a motion to I suppose approve the recommendation by city staff. We
need that motion before we can discuss it.
Vanderhoef/So moved.
Thomberry/Second.
Lehman/Moved by Vanderhoef, second by Thomberry. Discussion.
Norton/Well this is a torture issue and recommendation that is before us is to remove
parking from the remaining one side that is to remove parking all day other on
that street which is a fairly substantial move and (can't hear) I think then but we
have had several survey's, at least one serious, one formal survey and one
informal survey done and their seem to be a majority of people of folks on that
street that wanted it parking removed from prohibited all together so I'm tempted
to go along with, inclined to go along with that majority but there's considerable
difficulties I think if taking it off all together.
Thornberry/I would like to amend this, I've had discussions, phone calls, etc. and I
would like to amend this instead of having it from 8-5 maybe we could amend it
~'om like 10-2 which would essentially eliminate all day parking of people
coming and parking there on the street, taking their bicycles out of the car, biking
the short distance to work, and their car is there all day long. I know that the
survey's have said that the parking should be prohibited and that passed not
overwhelmingly, but it was more than 50 percent. But to eliminate absolute no
parking, I would like to amend this to have no parking ~'om just 10-2.
Lehman/Is there a second to that?
Vanderhoef/Second.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#5 Page 14
Lehman/Seconded by Vanderhoef.
Thomberry/I think this would kind of help out a little bit and still eliminate that all day
parking to keep it.
Norton/Kind of a storage for a day I mean.
Thomberry/Yea, we could try that.
Kubby/I'd like to hear from our transportation, or our traffic planning person if we're
going to make changes, I'd rather hear about what the, maybe are there any
unattended consequences. Are there other options?
Thomberry/Well I just thought of it on the way down here and I thought gees, no parking
all day, I get home from work and I can't park out from and I.
Jeff Davidson/I think with respect to consequences one thing where you just to be aware
of is that we have a number of neighborhoods surrounding downtown that have
commuter parking all day long. And you may just want to consider the
precedence setting part of this, you may have requests from other neighborhoods
especially the college hill and north side neighborhoods. Although the near south
side is also getting to have more and more commuter parking. Our last survey
showed that. During the day and it affects the permanent residents of those
neighborhoods similarly.
Thornberry/Jeff, let me ask you this. What if someone were having a party, a tea in the
afternoon?
Norton/There you go.
Thornberry/And they had four or five people coming over in cars, could they get a
special permit to park?
Davidson/Sure, it is certainly possible to have that set up that way.
Thomberry/OK, all fight so that possibility is there. OK.
Champion/I.
Norton/Jeff. Oh pardon me go ahead.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcfiption of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#5 Page 15
Champion/Well I have a problem with this whole procedure. We discussed this before,
and asked that the neighborhood have a meeting to discuss it among themselves.
We did not ask for a resurvey is that correct?
Davidson/That's correct.
Champion/Now, it bothers me that it comes back to us in the form of a petition from a
few of the neighbors who decided they do not want parking. They haven't had the
neighborhood meeting as far as I know and then it comes to us, and all of a
sudden it's on the agenda and we're all ready to pass it. It seems to me if it comes
to us in that form then you have to have another public heating or you need to
resurvey the neighborhood yourself or something. It just bothers me that
somebody can get a bunch of people to sign a piece of paper and all of a sudden
it's on our agenda to pass, I just don't like the whole procedure, and I'm not going
to support it for that reason.
Kubby/I'm not going to support this either and I've been kind of philosophical basis tom
because when we allow the neighborhood to decide what happens it's because it's
not a safety issue and so then it's let the people decide and I tend to like that
process and so if I trust the process I should trust the majority to decide. But in
this because of the geographic nature of that street that there really isn't an easy
side street to go on where it's going to create more parking problems for other
sections of the neighborhood, and we might see other neighboring streets come in
for the same thing. I just don't think this a good thing for the neighborhood.
And I would of preferred that the neighborhood would have gotten together.
Because when you have somebody sitting at your door stop talking, it's kind of
one-on-one conversation which is a real different atmosphere when you have a
round table discussion and people have the benefit of each other's comments. I
think there are different outcomes and feelings. I think there are some hard
feelings on Tower Court and I hope they have a block party and work through any
of that stuff. So I'm not going to support this.
Norton/Jeff did you, when we were talking about deleting parking all together in
response to what I take to be at least a reasonable majority of the residents, did
you object to that too for the reasons that that might be a precedent and other
people are going to come and ask to have their whole street have parking banned
all together on the near noah side?
Davidson/No we did not Dee. As Karen's indicated when we assess on-street parking
matters, and I will say that these neighborhood issues are fairly prevalent with
respect to on-street parking. We do get a lot of requests to consider these matters.
If their is not a safety issue involved and frequently with some of the narrower
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#5 Page 16
streets there are safety issues involved and we do not recommend a certain action
that the neighborhood would like to have because we need to make sure
ambulances, and fire tracks can get down the street. However, as Karen's
indicated in this particular instance and in any instance where there is not a safety
issue identified and a majority of the neighborhood would like to see a particular
action it comes to you as a recommendation for that reason.
Norton/Well then why would you particularly object to trying this 10-2 ban?
Davidson/Do not object.
Norton/That might be something to try and still be reasonably consistent with the
majority view out there. I guess we might have to go to the drawing board if it
gets to be a huge problem and given that people can, let's say they had a luncheon
meeting of some kind they can get a certificate or if they have a workman that has
to park a truck there for renovation of a house or something those can be
accommodated.
Davidson/Yes they can.
Kubby/Does that cause confusion in any way? I mean where else in the city do we have
kind of that odd hour, maybe we do.
Norton/(Can't hear).
Kubby/(can't hear) And parking is prohibited it's either prohibited totally or it's
prohibited from 8-5.
Norton/Yea, I was thinking 8-5 when I came, but I just now heard somebody who's
interested in trying 10-2 and I'm trying to think through the logic or illogic or
whatever it may be of that.
O'Donnell/Well I think they followed the process, they've done the survey, 62 percent
want to go with it.
Thomberry/It's just an idea.
O'Donnell/This has been an ongoing problem and I'm prepared to try it. We can always
change if we hear any.
Norton/How do you stand with the amendment though, the 10-2 thing?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#5 Page 17
O'Donnell/I like the 10-2, I think that will effectively handle the problem these folks
have.
Lehman/Jeff have we done this anywhere else in town?
Davidson/I'm not familiar with the 10-2 prohibition.
Lehman/No, no, I mean have we prohibited parking.
Davidson/Not that it's not a wonderful idea.
Lehman/Have we prohibited parking on both sides of any street where there isn't a safety
issue?
Davidson/Yes, there certainly have, there certainly is one.
Lehman/And has that been done at the request of the neighbors.
Davidson/I think more certainly more typically Ernie, it has been done in an instance
where it was traffic flow considerations.
Lehman/Now that's safety issues, that's why I ask. Is there a place?
Davidson/Well traffic flow is a little bit different than safety strictly speaking. Certainly
on arterial streets, that would be our policy although there are few arterials where
we haven't done that. I'm not aware right off the hand that there is another local
street where the neighborhood has requested to have no parking on (can't hear).
Champion/What about the Manville Heights area, there's no parking over there.
Davidson/Yes, Manville Heights does have some 8-5 during the week prohibitions and it
is also a commuter parking issue in that neighborhood. Basically by this action
what your doing as a council if you were to approve it is saying on this particular
street commuter parking is inappropriate.
Lehman/Well.
O'Donnell/Well, do we have a stock pile of 10-2 signs?
Davidson/We'll get some 10-2 signs Mike.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#5 Page 18
Lehman/Well I think our policy has been since I've known council that when we survey
neighborhoods we have we've gone by their wishes. I mean we have done what
they've asked us to do as long as there's been a majority. I have a real problem,
I'm going to support this because it would be unfair to the neighbors to change
suddenly our policy. However, I think we need to rethink our policy. Because I
find it very difficult to imagine a street sitting absolutely empty with no cars on it
throughout the day, it's sitting there not being used, it bothers me and I think we
should rethink our rules that we have for prohibiting parking. I don't think now is
the time because they've compiled by our own rules so I'll support it.
Norton/Which one the 10-2, the 10-2 thing?
Lehman/Well, OK, how's that.
Thornberry/Well that's not in stone, I mean you can have 11.
Norton/9-3.
Thornberry/11-1 I don't know.
Norton/What's before us right now 10-27
Kubby/10-2 is the amendment on the floor.
Lehman/How many people prefer the 10-27
Karr/We have a motion on the floor if you'd like to vote on it.
Lehman/Well we have, we have an amendment on the floor.
Norton/Yea, we've got.
Vanderhoef/That's correct we have both.
Lehman/I'm asking that.
Norton/We're not voting on the substance of the amendment we're just.
Thornberry/It's been.
Karr/No.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#5 Page 19
Lehman/We have to vote on the amendment.
Karr/Yea.
Thomberry/On 10-27
Kubby/If people have (can't hear).
Norton/Point of order, point of order.
Lehman/Yes.
Norton/Are we, is it to vote on the amendment, or to put the amendment before us?
Karr/The amendment is moved and seconded it is before you.
Lehman/It is before us, now were voting on the amendment.
Kubby/So if someone has a definite idea it may make a difference as to how people vote
on the amendment.
Vanderhoef/Well I'm going to support the amendment, it concerns at dead end part of
this street is a real concern to me and it I don't know how it breaks out with the
number of yes's and no's on the parking. However, when their isn't the side
street for that far end of the street to put their guests parking someplace else. I
think we need to advertise more clearly that this is a policy that they can call and
get special exception for some parking when they have an activity happening at
their home.
Kubby/The streets long, if we could certainly do a mailing to everyone on the street
actually, which might be a good idea.
Vanderhoef/But I'd like to try this 10-2.
Norton/Your going to go the 10-2 thing?
Vanderhoef/I'd like to try it.
O'Donnell/Yea, let's try it.
Vanderhoef/And I certainly won't let our traffic.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#5 Page 20
Lehman/Other discussion on the 10-27 All in favor of the amendment say aye. Motion
carries Kubby and Champion voting no. Now on the motion as amended which
would be to prohibit parking on Tower Court from 10-2. Is there a further
discussion? All if favor. It passes by 2, Kubby and Champion voting no.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#6 Page 21
ITEM NO. 6. PUBLIC DISCUSSION (ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA) (UNTIL
8:00 PM).
Lehman/We ask whoever would like to address council to sign in with your name and
limit your comments to five minutes or less.
John Jones/Hello, my name is John Jones. I'd like to say, first of all I was quite pleased
to hear about the housing program. I do like to commend the city council and I
think their something great. Quick comment on the DARE program if anyone has
checked students who are exposed to DARE are more likely to try illegal drugs
than students who are not even in the same school. Before you go commending
the police or any DARE program you may want to think about that. I'm really
here because again another student from the University of Iowa wrote a nice little
report.
Thornberry/John, I have a question on that statement you just made. I haven't seen those
statistics.
Jones/Just check web sites against the DEA and you'll find the statistics are of federal
statistics.
Thomberry/Whose, I.
Jones/Just check, just go on the Internet and type in DARE and do a search.
Thornberry/Whose.
Jones/A DRC.net is a good web site.
Thornberry/I mean are these are these statistics, I mean anybody can put out statistics on
the web but.
Jones/Right, but except they they.
Thornberry/Well I don't know.
Jones/Well you look. I mean anyone can put statistics in a city council meeting right?
Thomberry/I just wondered whose statistics they were?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#6 Page 22
Jones/Just go look. Well like I was saying, the police did an excellent job over the
weekend, 61 citations just ~'om the weekend. Of course 50 were for alcohol
possession, and public intox., and we all know what public intox means, it means
we don't know if anyone had any alcohol in their system. There was assault and
one criminal mischief. So, how was this done? Of course the police went bar
hopping over the weekend, they went to the Que, they went to One-Eyed Jake's,
Sports Column, Fieldhouse, Union Bar, Bo-James. I imagine if anyone really
cared and we didn't want to give citations to people or stop them from going into
bars, we could just put one police officer at each bar all night but you know that
might actually stop the revenue stream or something. I have a little point to this
story which is on Monday, I meet someone whose 14 years old and now he goes
to a special school, he was kicked out of West High. His ~'iend was kicked out of
West High too for alcohol, he's 15, he was in the hospital when they gave him his
citation for being drunk in public. Now that 15 year olds in jail. He's in
detention, he'll be in detention until he's 18 for alcohol, and I'm not even going to
ask, but I would imagine that a few people in this room probably actually drank
alcohol before they were 21 much less they were 18. And I don't know what
we're, how the police are helping anybody by sending the child effectively to jail
until their 18 cause they had alcohol. I don't think it's right, I mean what is the
lesson that this person is going to leam. He's going to learn well he's young and
that youth is wasted on the young and soon as he's 18 they'll let him out of
detention and then he can go down to One-Eyed Jake's or Sports Column or w hat
have you and then he can get his $90.00 ticket and then we he turns 21 no one will
care anymore.
Champion/I don't know the story that your talking about but I find it kind of hard to
believe that a child is put into detention because he was caught with alcohol. I'm
sure there's a lot more to that story than (can't hear).
Jones/The bottom line is this is the straw that broke the camel's back apparently.
Champion/Right.
Jones/
OK. And someone who has an alcohol problem as a 15 year old, setting them in a
room, and I don't know if you even saw this special Geraldo Rivera on youth
detention centers. I mean we're not teaching these people anything, we're not
help, it's not a success strategy. I mean you talk about let's have a DARE
program. Why don't we have an alcohol program in the schools, why don't we
send people from AA and/or from Recovering Alcoholics to high schools and talk
about it means to be drank. And what's appropriate behavior and what's not. I
mean instead we just have the police going down to school, picking up a couple
kids, the next thing we know they guy gets to sit in a lockup. I mean a 15 year
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#6 Page 23
old. I don't know what his future is, it doesn't seem like it's going to be very
good. But again the larger point is how many more citations do we have to have
possession of alcohol by 18, 19, 20 year olds? Every weekend, you know, the
weather gets warmer, we're going to see more and more. Is that what we want
police doing? I mean there was only, to say there's only one assault in Iowa City
over the weekend is saying that we're either the safest community in the whole
world or police just missed a few instances.
Kubby/So basically are you suggesting that we have other priorities for the police?
Jones/It would seem quite obvious that other priorities would be more appropriate and/or
there could be other strategies even just them going into bars, especially bar
hopping and just tagging people at random apparently, I'm just saying here 's your
ticket. I mean it just seems like it's an extra tax so I think we could have much
more effective policing and I wish we would direct the police to help us avoid
problems and avoid having 15 year olds stuck in detention rather than just simply
give people tickets. Thank you.
Lehman/John, I think that you did, there are some very valid points. One of the points
though that I think that I have a problem with is that police enforce state laws and
you know the police didn't put this guy in detention. The courts did.
Jones/
You know OK, and the lovely city attorney knows that there's a lot of discretion in
this wo~d and some people get breaks and some people don't. OK. And we ought
to think about what we're doing and why we're doing it. You don't just enforce
laws blindly, but enforce laws. I have people pass me every single day on Benton
Street when I'm doing the speed limit, 20 in the school zone, there's not one cop
around there. I've never seen one person pulled over for speeding. There kids
there that go out on Friday, Thursday, Saturday night, plenty of cops, plenty of
people getting tickets, you know. I'd rather have people pulled over for speeding
in a school zone than getting a ticket for having a beer. Thanks.
Lehman/Thank you.
Terry Smith/My name is Terry Smith, I live at 2220 Balsam Court in Iowa City. I'm
also the manager for Mid-American Energy here for our Iowa City operations.
With me tonight is John Fuelling. John's also from Iowa City and he's our energy
consultant here in Iowa City with Mid-American. Got a little bit lighter issue to
talk about I guess. John and I are here tonight to kind of announce the recent
merger with Mid-American Energy and Cal Energy that was closed on March 12
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#6 Page 24
and to more importantly to reaffirm our local commitment to you, to the council
and to our local customers here in Iowa City- Coralville area. As you know Mid-
American Energy was Iowa's largest utility with 1.2 million. Our subsidiaries in
the real estate market were also the second largest residential real estate business
in the United States. On March 12, Mid-American was bought out by Cat Energy
of Omaha. Their holdings include Northern Gas & Electric, a utility in the United
Kingdom with 2.2 million customers. Power Generating Facilities in California,
New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and the Philippines.
They also include gas exploration projects in the North Sea, Poland and Australia.
All of this now comes together before you in the name of Mid-American Energies
which will be head quartered in Des Moines Iowa. But our real reason here
tonight is to convey our promise to you and to announce our global days of
service which will add to the 3.5 million dollars that we annually contribute to
charities around the world. We brought with us this small card tonight. John
decided to bring this down we wanted to reduce our postage expense and any
burden on the post office.
Lehman/I thought you'd give us a check or something.
Kubby/Somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 grand.
Smith/I can't beat the 80 grand you've already received tonight so.
Lehman/The bill's in the mailer.
Smith/
This card simply states that with the merger of Cal Energy and Mid-American
Energy is forming the new Mid-American, we the employees a rededicating
ourselves to provide world class service to you, our customers and to the
communities. We are joining in Global Days of Services, a new program which
encourages all employees to volunteer for the community organization of their
choice, and for each day of volunteer work employees perform during the next
year, our company will contribute to the community in organizations a share of
Mid-American's $250,000 for Global Days of Service. Today we become a
larger energy company. We will continue to be the same friends and neighbors
you've always relied on. We're focusing more intensively than ever on serving
our customers and our community. Because your an important part of that
community we wanted you to know and thank you for being our valued
customers.
Champion/Thank you.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#6 Page 25
Smith/We also have just a slightly smaller packet of information for you that gives you
more detailed information about the new Mid-American Energy, as well as the
Global Days of Service program that we have.
Champion/Terry while we have you on camera or the microphone, what do you
anticipate happening at the year 2000?
Kubby/Yea, give us an update OK.
Smith/
We did announce today that we are on target with our Y2K project, which means
we will be completed with all of our median and high priority projects by June of
this year. We do not anticipate problems, we are very dependent on others,
communication companies and we're all interrelated but we have been doing what
we think is necessary to prepare for it, we think we are prepared. In November of
this year we rolled out with 100 million dollars worth of new software
enhancements that make our computer systems ready. We've been focusing on
the other systems that we have since then and it's been about a 3-year project for
us at this point. We feel we are ready.
Thomberry/I hope (can't hear) my house.
Champion/I don't need to buy a lot of wood.
Smith/I'm not going to buy a generator for my house I guess it's the best way I can
handle that.
Lehman/I would worry if you did.
Champion/We're going to watch your house closely.
Smith/Thank you.
Lehman/On behalf of the council I really would thank you for encouraging your people
to become involved in the community. I think that is tremendous on the part of
any business, I think it's good for that business, it obviously is good for the
community, and it's very good for the employees so on behalf of the council we
would thank you for that.
Smith/Thank you very much.
Derek Maurer/Hi, I'm Derek Maurer, I live at 508 Kirkwood Avenue and.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#6 Page 26
(End of Tape 99-41 side 2)
Maurer/And my confidence that some of the projects that were to be funded with a
revenues from that tax will still go forward. I'm particularly thinking about the
library expansion, it was worthy of support. It was worthy of inclusion, as a tax
funded project. I think it's worthy of support in some other way as well. I'd like
to reiterate a suggestion I read in the Press Citizen guest opinion of two or three
months ago from a woman in Iowa City who suggested that perhaps the library
could move to the new parking structure on Iowa Avenue. Now I know the senior
center is also interested in some of that space and I know that your concerned
about revenues that the city anticipates generating from retail space. But as
outlandish as I thought that idea was at first, the more I thought about it, the more
it really intrigues me that here's a structure that's going up, it's planned, it's big
and strong and our library needs a home, if it vacated it's current home, there
would be space that the city could dispose of in some way that would also
generate revenue. Perhaps in such a way that it could help support operating
expenses. I don't know if this is really feasible in end or not but I do want to
encourage you to look very creatively and think outside the box for ways to
accomplish these projects that were so worthy a couple of weeks ago that we
needed to raise our sales tax. The projects didn't go away, we're not going to get
the tax. Please do consider ways to fund these projects. Thank you.
Lehman/Derek, I suggest that you voice your concerns to the library board. Their
meeting this week and I'm sure their going to be recommending this to us, but if
you have ideas I would really communicate that to the library board.
Maurer/Thank you for that suggestion.
Norton/One other comment Derek, they need at least 31,000 square feet on one floor
plus other floors, and there are less than that in the.
Kubby/Whole thing.
Norton/The space available in the. So they need a lot of space on one floor, in particular
for the children's programs.
Maurer/Well I guess.
Norton/And so we'll.
Maurer/When I hear a comment like that I hear of ways to box in our thinking and
maybe it's time to put everything
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#6 Page 27
Norton/We'll look at it.
Maurer/Out and really get flee and wild with our thinking and then figure out what we
can do from there. Thank you.
Norton/We certainly will.
Lehman/Thank you Derek.
Bennett Brown/Hi, Bennett Brown, 200 S. Summit. I went up to say a couple things
about vision and it's role within the community. You all know the saying that
"you should think not of ourselves or of our children but of seven generations
from now" when we make plans. And in this community that applies to
transportation, to housing, to agriculture, to industry and so on. And I want to
focus just to illustrate what I mean on transportation. This community or many
modes of transit that people use, bus, biking, walking and of course the
automobile. And a community can emphasize one of those modes of transit over
another and encourage it's citizens to use one over another and which mode of
transit is encouraged by this community is made clear if you look at what we
devote our public dollars to if you look at what we devote our public land to.
Consider new construction, the money spent on traffic management, the money
spent on cleaning and repair and on parking. Consider how much land is devoted
to the streets and parking in this town, and I think it's clear that people prefer the
automobile in this town but it, their also encouraged to use the automobile over
other modes and I'd like to think about the impact of that. What else could we
do with the resources that we devote to streets, to parking and to the maintenance
to those things. We could have covered bike lanes for instance, we could have
street shelters that encouraged carpooling or ride sharing as well as bus riding.
We could also devote money to things other than transit if we found cheaper ways
to have people moving around, for example, the library expansion. I went to
Oakland and visited with people on their Y2K committee. And they took me on a
tour of the town and one of the stops was a six-dwelling unit apartment building
in which they had removed, they had given the people a change in variance that
allowed them to remove the parking spaces that they had. They had a three car
garage and a driveway that extended along the length of a very deep lot and they
pick-axed that driveway, they left one parking spot beyond the sidewalk, removed
the concrete and replaced it with gardens from which they've harvested their first
year of vegetable crops and they've replaced those three-car, three car stalls in the
garage. One of them has become a bike repair shop that is run by the community,
and used by the community. And the other two are now combined and are a
community center that's carpeted and used for everything from neighborhood
meetings to a Spanish class. Their approach to Y2K is to use the public hype
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#6 Page 28
around it in order to promote changes in the community that needed to happen
anyway in order to make the community more sustainable. If we were to shift to
more sustainable methods of transport besides the automobile, not only would we
spend less of our public dollars on it or the time of our public employees who
enforce traffic laws and clean the streets and so on. But we would also keep
dollars within the community. Every time people drive and spend money on
gasoline, that most of that dollar leaves the community and if people were instead
to use other methods of transit then that dollar might stay in the community and
tum over more times and grow our local economy. In terms of what long-term
vision we have in this community and what are things going to look like seven
generations from now. I wanted to share with you too overheads and a couple of
photos. This first overhead, I was told that the lights would need to be off to be
able to see this. Oh, thanks. Yea, the colors really aren't visible, but suffice it to
say that this is the arterial, a map from the arterial study that your staff produces.
And the darker colors you can't see which color it is, but if it's darker then it
indicates that that street is more congested so any of those arterial, all the lines are
arterials and anything that's traced is congested beyond grades C which is what's
considered minimally acceptable in this community. And this is now, and in
order to reduce congestion on three of those streets, Dodge, Rochester and Court,
Muscatine. The, you've proposed extending First Avenue, for example, and the
question is what will this community look like seven generations from now? And
if this is considered woahy of addressing a problem, if this is to congested for
now, will it be better 30 years from now? This map, also from that traffic study is
a 30-year projection and the colors are lighter so it's a little misleading but if you
compare these two maps side-by-side, maybe I'll just pass them up to you, or if
you want to look at them during your break, or whatever. The number of streets
here that are congested, far more miles that are congested and the level of
congestion is much worse. The green dots, for example, there's only one place on
the current map where there are twice as many cars as the street can handle, and
that place on the current map is right here, and that long stretch of green dots,
which is the heaviest congestion is First Avenue. This map represents what
happens if we extend First Avenue and Captain Irish as is currently shown in the
Noaheast District Plan that your considering tonight. So my point here is what is
the long-term vision? Is it to have a viable car-transit? If so, I don't think that we
will accomplish it. And if you look at any other city I think you'll agree with me
that the more streets you build the more cars use it. To be more specific about
another aspect of this. What is the impact of having 80 percent or so of our land
in this city, and I estimated that just from an aerial photo of Iowa City. Eighty
percent of our land covered by either pavement or rooftops. What happens to the
water that was once absorbed by one square foot that fell on one square foot, now
the water that falls on twelve square feet is absorbed by one square foot, or
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#6 Page 29
whatever the ratio comes out to be. In other words, water runs off this concrete, it
doesn't go into the ground.
(People talking, adjusting machine)
Brown/This is a view from the Larson property, this is the first, this is the Captain Irish
construction. And the reason I took, yea, that's great, the reason I took this photo
is twofold, first of all the color, the guy that developed the photo made me ten
copies of this because he thought it was just too yellow. He said that couldn't
possibly be dirt, but if you look at my shoes, you'll see that it is in fact the color
of that dirt. We inherited on this land, you know hundreds of generations of
people that lived in this community before us let~ us with some of the best topsoil
that god put on this great planet. And it's been turned over and is now underneath
a lot of clay. And even that clay is not staying there. I took the photo because, I
don't know if you can see the black lines there that are in the foreground, but
those are about 3-4 inch deep ruts that are from erosion, and granted this is new
construction but even so if you look at any stream that runs through a developed
neighborhood you see that kind of erosion. The one stream in this community
that I know of that does not nm through a developed neighborhood is a minor
tributary to Ralston Creek, which is Hickory Hill park. It begins in Hickory Hill
Park and it is clear, even I walked out there during that recent rain storm on what
was it Saturday night, was that first big thunderstorm of the spring. And even
then that water was clear. In contrast, two days later the creek, this crossed ravine
which you see going off to the upper right. This is that creek two days later and
this is a tributary of equal volume and I don't know if you can see the color of that
water but it's the same as the color on my shoes. And the fact that it ran over the
trail, you can see the divot in the trail where it washed away the gravel, is because
the ground cannot absorb the water when it's, that wasn't even concrete yet, that
was just you know, grated soil, grated clay. So, what I'm trying to say is "What is
our long-term vision and what do we want this community to look like seven
generations from now and what will it look like if we continue on our path, and
what other paths are available? Thank you.
Lehman/Thank you Bennett.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#7a Page 30
ITEM NO. 7a. PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS.
a. ADOPTING AND INCORPORATING THE NORTHEAST DISTRICT
PLAN INTO THE IOWA CITY COMPREHENSIVE PLAN.
(1) Public Hearing
Lehman/This is a continuation of a public hearing that was started one week ago. The
public hearing is reopened. Anyone that would like to speak sign in and before
we start the public hearing, this will not, you know we do have on the agenda
consider a resolution, this public heating will be continued, it will not be closed
tonight, probably won't be closed two weeks from tonight but, sign in and limit
your remarks to five minutes or so.
Larry Schnittjer/I can do better than that, I'm not going to talk very long at all tonight.
I'm Larry Schnittjer from MMS Consultants again. Discussed this with you last
week and I want to reiterate that and probably make more clear that my objective
and the discussion I've had with about this is to basically to attempt to convince
the council and hopefully the future commission when they review it that these
areas should not have delineated streets, or proposed delineated streets for design
concepts, illustrated on them for two reasons. One is it it gives the neighborhood
maybe a false sense of security or whatever as to what may or may not happen.
The plan that, I have studied plan to, not to a great degree but quite a bit, and the
plan that is currently illustrated is not workable. There are major changes that
will be necessary to make it work. Granted we've all talked about being flexible
but I don't want to see neighbors upset or landowners upset because they can't get
the density that they're thinking their getting. Or neighbors upset because their
not seeing a street or a green spot where they want it. So I would like to have this
plan be more general in terms as far as the pictorial parts, if they want an
illustration to neotraditional or conservation housing fine, but don't try to relate it
to a specific place.
Kubby/Could you give us a specific example in the plan where something that is here as
an illustration just is not feasible in your mind?
Schnittjer/I have not studied the entire plan, I only picked one area, the area south of
Lower West Branch Road because I have topography on that area and I know
what the ground looks like and in one, there are several instances where I've
analyzed it not to a great degree but I've reproduced it as well as I could your plan
onto that topography and for instance, there are three streets there in one location
that are north-south off of Lower West Branch Road. Those three street have a
cumulative elevation difference of about 30 feet. Says we step down the hill.
And normal subdivisions we try to avoid those types of street lines. But if we try
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#7a Page 3 1
to take that out of the whole picture then the whole concept of the modified grid
gets severely distorted.
Lehman/Your going to meet with city staff on Monday aftemoon?
Schnittjer/Right.
Lehman/Is that correct?
Schnitzler/Home builders are going to be meeting with the staff.
Lehman/Right. And I think that I'll be there and I know there will be and I know there
will be at least a couple other council folks. Because I we're interested in the
questions that you have and obviously and the answers.
Schmttjer/I'm not trying to criticize the plan per say, because I know put a lot of hours in
it but I guess it takes a lot more than a lot of hours to design a subdivision and or
design any piece of ground. You have to know what your looking at and it takes a
lot of accuracy to make it work and staff didn't have time for that kind of
accuracy and I appreciate that.
Lehman/Thank you Larry.
Norton/Emie I want to make it clear that the people that are going to be there, there's
only we're limited to having only three people at that meeting I take it so.
Lehman/That's fight.
Vanderhoef/Some of us won't come.
Lehman/No, but we will and there will be a report.
Norton/From them.
Lehman/That will be given to us by the Home builders as to the questions and answers
that were at that, will be at that meeting. We'll all get a copy of it.
Dennis Spencer/Good evening once again, my name is Dennis Spencer. I live at 607
Pepper Drive in Iowa City and I'm the president of Home builders Association.
I'm here to one, to ask you, for your contingence on this matter, which you've
already decided upon so I thank you for that. Two, there's a, tomorrow aRemoon
we have the honor of spending some time Congressman Jim Leach. He's going
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#7a Page 32
to be in town, we're going to show him around Iowa City, Noah Liberty,
Coralville, take him on a short tour. We're going to end up in a subdivision in
Iowa City where there will be, I think several of you have been invited to that and
where or all of you are actually invited to that I believe. But where there will be
a you know like a press conference and chance to, you know to talk, for him to
talk about some of the issues and that kind of thing. I'm saying that because a
long with his visit came a press packet for essentially from the Home builders
Association and some information from his office. But particularly what I'm, I
want to read a couple of paragraphs so you'll have this information which I think
can be related to this Northeast Planning District and some of the issues that we
have. In the past 50 years, home builders have built 75 million new homes and
apartment units, or three of every four housing units in the country today.
Millions more have been remodeled and rehabilitated. The home ownership rate
has increased from 44 percent to 63 percent today. And in recent years a strong
economy, low interest rates, and approvement in the housing finance system have
opened the door for home ownership for millions of minorities and immigrants
previously unable to buy a home. The quality of the new homes has also
improved steadily over the past fifty years, making today's new home more
comfortable, more durable, easier to maintain and much more energy efficient
than ever before. The benefits of this housing growth, the benefits of this housing
growth reach far beyond the housing market. New home, new housing
construction has helped lift the nation's economy to new heights creating millions
of jobs in the home-building related industries each year. It has expanded the tax
base and generated billions of dollars and tax revenue for local governments and
triggered spending for goods and services that account for about four percent of
every dollar spent in the US annually. It has also contributed greatly to the
individual financial security allowing America's 69 million home owning
households to accumulate 5 trillion dollars in home equity. Which accounts for
close to half of the net worth of these households. Housing projections, the
nation's population is projected to grow by about 30 million people over the next
10 years. More than a million new households are being formulated annually.
America's home builders will have to construct between 1.3 and 1.5 million new
homes, new housing units each year just to meet the underlying demand for
shelter during the next decade. Removing barriers to affordable housing.
Housing is one of the most important and largest industries in the nation.
Accounting for about 12 percent of the economy, however, it is one of the
nation's most heavily regulated. Perhaps in no other industry must the producer
obtain a permit or undergo inspection for each individual unit of the entire
production. Builders are often subject to a layering effect with numerous
regulations, are staffed on top of each other by all levels of govemment, federal,
state and local. These layers can add between 20 and 35 percent to the cost of a
home. Which translates into thousands of dollars making it difficult for even
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#7a Page 33
impossible for families to own theft own homes. In 1994 NAHB found that
development costs and fees added an average of $21,000 dollars to the cost of a
$200,000 home. And this is in highly regulated markets, which hopefully we
won't become that. NAHB estimates that one-half million households failed to
qualify for a mortgage on a typical new home for every $1,000 dollars increased
in the sale price. I think that's the most important point that I have for you
tonight, if there's two million homes built nationally, which it's just under that in
1998. The state of Iowa there's 8,262 was in 1998. Actually, that's one month
short of 98 because that doesn't include December so a little bit off. Locally we
had 154 permits for single family homes. If you take those percentages that
means that 25 percent of the people, of the 154 people that bought new homes in
Iowa City last year would not qualify for that particular home, that doesn't mean
they wouldn't qualify for a home, that means that their qualification for the home
would go down. In other words they would be settling for less homes. But I can't
equate to is how many would fall out of the market all together because I really
don't have any kind of a breakdown of how many people bought that very entry
level home. But I can from personal experience. I build in a subdivision called
Walden Hills, which is probably the, probably in Iowa City the entry-level to new
home to the new home buyer. We have from $105,000 to roughly $155,000.
Most of that being in the $127, 000 to $140,000 dollar range, the bulk of our sales
have been in that range. So I can tell you from personal experience that I lost two
deals last year by less than a thousand dollars. Now I' m not saying that was
totally due to financing and that kind of thing. Information I wanted to relate to
you so. Thank you again for continuing your discussion on this.
Lehman/Are you going to be at the meeting on Monday?
Spencer/Yes sir.
Lehman/I would like you, I'll be at that meeting but I think you need to relate what
you've just said to what we're talking about. The Northeast Plan.
Spencer/OK. That's totally what I'm trying to do so I'll guess what I'm saying is for
every increase in development costs which Larry is referring to, every increase in
you know, permitting costs, whatever it might be, it's a serious effect on the
market so.
Norton/I just want to add one comment there and it goes to Larry too. I think what we're
looking for now and I'm sure the staff is, is actually specific paragraphs and
sentences that are somehow in your judgment won't fly, so that we can actually,
cause we can only get this plan focused on new wording if that isn't the wording
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#7a Page 34
that we're, and I'm not saying that would happen, but that's what we need, I
think, that's what your trying to say too isn't it Larry, that we need to get down to
the nitty gritty here.
Lehman/I think we do, there may be concepts and I I wouldn't want to discount, there
may be concepts that may, they may object to but I think that in order to point
those out we really do need specifics, you know this. And like, now Larry, I think
you did mention a specific in a specific area. That's something we can address,
that's something we can ask staff about at, particular's I think are much easier to
address, it would help I'm sure in the heating process, which by the way will
probably go for at least a couple more meetings. But I would help us I think to
have specific questions that we can get answered from our staff on (can't hear).
Spencer/Very good.
Lehman/Thank you.
Spencer/Thank you.
Jim Spratt/Hello again. Jim Spratt, an Iowa Citian and I must say that the remark that
regulation does add costs, I'm sure it does, but god help the home buyer in that
Northeast sensitive area portion of this city who buys something that isn't very
carefully looked at and highly regulated in terms of whether he'll end up in a
ravine after they statute of limitations has run out on the builder and the
developer. There are some very dieely things out there and therefore it will have
to be looked at very carefully. And it will cost, there is no question about that.
But your fight Mr. Mayor that it's particulars and I'm really astonished to hear of
the first speakers remarks about the three tier drop off's for some streets in that
design that I can't believe that the city planners aren't aware of the topography of
that area and to be blunt, something 's wrong that it has to be brought up to you
folks who should be, don't mean to say your rubber stamped, all the wfinkles
should have been clear or at least clearly stated and then you weigh the difference
and you make the decision in the interests of the all the citizens of the community.
I'm really disappointed. I'm disappointed with whom I don't know because I
don't know whether it was an oversight on the part of the planners. I don't know
if the developers chose not to partake, if the builders chose not to partake, since
let's face it you folks are the one that are going to have to decide so you know,
what happens in the meantime, why bother, I don't know. But it's really a
disappointment to hear this kind of discussion at this point particularly when you
have such talented people in the building, the developing, the engineering of areas
in this town, folk within the city and in private business here in town. And I
would make a plea that they all get together and have a good chat, and please
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#7a Page 35
continue the conversation and keep it on a regular basis, not just when it gets to
the city council. Thank you.
Lehman/You know, and I think that's the whole purpose of the public hearings is to
many many times what appears to be inconsistencies and difficulties turn out to be
more misunderstandings than anything else, and that's really why we're talking
about it. We would like to clear up these sort of things before we act and we'll
take however long it takes to do it.
Spratt/Some of these I can't believe that they weren't taken care of you know over the
last year. That's, I just don't understand.
Lehman/We'll figure it out.
Bennett Brown/Bennett Brown, 200 S. Summit and I'd like to apologize for speaking
twice but they really were separate, they belong into separate places. I'd like to
address one very particular thing in the plan, it's shown on the Bluffwood map on
page 14 and also in the text on page 17, and it relates to Hickory Hill park. This is
the Bluffwood neighborhood, the white space on the left is.
Kubby/Mr. Bennett could you move that over so more.
Brown/Well, OK. You want to see the whole there for a second. So here's the
Bluffwood neighborhood. The street, the windy street there is Captain Irish, here,
First Avenue is fight here, Hickory Hill Park is this area here. And Hickory Hill
Park actually extends well off of this map, but there' one particular area of
Hickory Hill Park that I want to call your attention to, that's very dear to my
heart. If you haven't figured that out already. This trek is the Larson trek, it's 80
acres, and on the plan it's shown with two cul de sac's and the cul de sac's are
single-loaded along the tip of this cul de sac meaning there's only houses on this
side of the cul de sac and this cul de sac is single-loaded along it's length on the
western half of the cul de sac. I estimate that there are 3 to 5 lots, 3 to 5 houses on
the tips of these two cul de sacs that overlook a very special place within this city.
And I'd like to show you some photographs of that, before I do that I'm going to
show you a contour maps so you know where you are. So I'm going to zoom in
on this area here. Again this is the Larson trek here, so the two cul de sacs
roughly and I wish I could them to, I wish I could tell you exactly where they are
but the USGS maps, this is a blowup of US Geological Survey maps, and it just
doesn't line up with the map that was produced to create that plan you know, it's
from the fight of way pattern, and as you get further from the city center you get
more and more distortion so I can't tell you exactly where the cul de sac's are but
it should be looked at very carefully and I think it needs to be modified in the
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcfiption of the Iowa City council meeting
of Apfil 6, 1999
F040699
#7a Page 36
comprehensive plan before you put it in there. One cul de sac comes up from here
and roughly ends on that hilltop there, that circle. The other cul de sac comes
from here and ends roughly on the other circle. This is a ridge line separated
along it's northem part by a very thin forested ravine from the park and this part
of the ridge line simply looks over the park with no trees you know may one or
two trees along a barb-wired fence that overlooks the park. I'm going to show
you a few photographs, the first one, their all taken from the tip of the pen so,
from right there there's a trail that goes fight there and it comes out into the open
space and I would like to take any of you for a walk in the park and show you
where I'm talking about so. 337-2769. The first photo I'll show you looks west
to the let't and looks over the creek onto the other side of Hickory Hill. The second
photo also from the tip of the pen looks noah onto the Press Citizen land that's up
here. The third photograph, tum another 90 degrees and looks east onto the
Larson land. OK. The fourth photograph that I'll show you is from this southern
part of the park so that I can show you what the 200 foot buffer that is currently in
the plan would look like. How do you adjust the light? Oh. That pretty much
everything your seeing lies within Hickory Hill Park with the exception of the
wooded area on the far ridge line which is zones RS-8 that is wooded and
therefore protected under sensitive areas ordinance. The rest is a ravine that's all
within the park all the way to the tip of that creek where it hits Dodge Street. The
creek you can't see but it's in the bottom of that I don't know if you call it a
ravine but that creek. Tum 90 degrees to your fight in photograph and now you'll
be, this is looking west. Now your going to look north. So you see the trail I'm
standing on and you also see the tree line on your right which is growing
essentially out of a barbed-wire fence that separates Hickory Hill Park from the
Larson land. Tuming 90 degrees again to look onto the Larson land, I don't know
if you can make out the barbed-wire fence but you can tell where it is from the
trees and the land that's on the other side of that barbed-wire fence is planted in
com and as I understand it it's reasonably good agricultural land. It also as you
can see overlooks the park. If you were to walk a hundred, I'm told from Dave
Purdy who talked to Scott Kugler that their current estimate of the buffer that' s
indicated in the plan is 190 feet. That the closest house after you've crossed that
cul de sac and crossed through their front yard to get to the house would be 190
feet from the park. That 190 feet takes you just over the top of that ridge line so
standing where you are in this photograph you wouldn't be able to see someone's
feet as they stood on that house's doorstep, but you would be able to see their
knees. You would also be able to see the entire house not only from this point in
the park but also from the entire part of that photograph that I showed you first, so
right now if you stand anywhere in this photograph you can't see buildings. If
you leave the comprehensive plan as it is, you would be able to see three houses,
which would be magnificent for the people who end up buying those three houses
and for the developer that ends up selling those three houses. What I would
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#7a Page 37
propose as an alternative is and to go back to the TOPA map, or actually to the
comprehensive plan. Would someone hold that? What I would propose instead is
that the three lots or so that are at the end of those cul de sacs be removed, that
the cul de sacs be shortened and that rather than having two apartment buildings
which are, one here, one there and one there, that the comprehensive plan show
four or six apartment buildings. The developer would lose three single family lots
and gain two or four six-dwelling unit lots in exchange for those single family
lots. I, whether or not that is a taking, whether or not it is legal for the city to
require that and have hard line in the plan, no houses may overlook those fields. I
don't know whether that's a taking and I'm not certain that the city attorney
knows yet whether that would constitute taking. But I would ask that you include
hard language in that plan that no houses overlook the park, and if the Larson's or
the developer that they sell that land to claims that is a taking, that down the road
that the city look into, that the city defend that position and if it is not
defensible??? that the city either buy it, gather individual citizens to buy it or at
that point back down. But the leave the door open to me seems to be a mistake.
Thank you very much.
Lehman/Thank you.
Brown/Oh I did want to show you one more photo. This photo is a house that's 200 feet
from the park judging from the right of way mouth. This is taken from a trail
within the park and you know, that's an emotionally different experience than
what you have when your in those noah fields where it's open. And this is a
different situation, I'm not claiming to compare apples to apples here your on the
creek bed so your looking up, these houses are not on the ridge line. You know,
the visibility is different, but it's a hugely different impact.
Noaon/You can get that feeling any, can't you about anywhere going along the edges of
7th Avenue extended there? In the park, your looking at the back of houses if you
walk along the east edge of the park?
Brown/That's what I, the 7th Avenue development is what I just showed you, that last
one.
Jim Throgrnorton/Good evening, how are you? My name is Jim Throgrnorton, 715 N.
Linn Street in Iowa City. You know my dad built houses, he was a really good
builder. Builders are good people, they perform a very valuable service. But
that's not the point, and there's nothing in the plan for the Noaheast District that
questions the fact that builders are good people and they perform a valuable
service. The plan won't keep builders from building. All it does is encourage
providing an opportunity for building new developments in a different way that
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#7a Page 38
has routinely been done conventionally been done for the past 40 years in the city.
So I think you really have one simple question to ask yourself with regarding to
the Noaheast District Plan, act, make it two questions. First, whether you want to
encourage patterns of development that offer alternatives to the way things have
been conventionally been done over the last 40 years. Just alternatives, that's all
so that people have an oppommity to live in a different kind of development. And
then secondly whether you want to continue a move toward a pattern, a new
pattern of development that the people of this city have expressed a sympathy for
and a wide variety of political processes over the past three or four years. When I
was here last week I mentioned them, Division 2000 process, the whole
comprehensive planning process, the Noaheast District plan, workshops, the
peninsula planning process, and so on. I could keep elaborating but I won't. So
and then lastly you might ask yourself what you thought of the design plans that
the consultants from Florida came up with in regard to the peninsula. Ask
yourself whether you like them, whether you found them attractive, whether you
think those kinds of development ought to be encouraged in the city. And if you
answer yes then you should be suppoaing the Northeast District Plan. Thanks.
Lehman/Thank you Jim.
Derek Maurer/Yes, I'm still Derek Maurer, I still live at 508 Kirkwood Avenue. And
like many people and like Jim I really truly admire the amount of work that the
staff put into making this process a participatory process. I did participate in both
Division 2000 and in the planning sessions that were held about a year ago at this
time. I did feel that that gave me an opportunity to express my values and to try
to have an influence and to get together with my fellow community members to
talk about the future of our community. That being said, I'm nonetheless rather
disappointed in one particular aspect of the plan, although there are many things
about it I like the general design concepts, or things I look forward to seeing
implemented and I know our staff is committed to these. Nevertheless, the one
aspect that I really have a hard time expressing my feelings about is the First
Avenue extension. I guess the reason it touches me so is that I believe a lot of
these things about paaicipation and the value of participation and I guess I believe
that strongly enough that people ought to be allowed to make their own mistakes.
And we went through a planning process. we had an election a year and a half
ago, people pretty strongly said we don't want that First Avenue hooked up to
North Dodge and Interstate 80. We went through a planning process where the
great majority of people also expressed their dislike of that proposal and their
rejection of that proposal. Very clearly they expressed that. And we come to find
that that particular question about which feel most passionately in this whole plan
really has been put off limits. It's been put off limits by our same city staff that
are making other wonderful contributions to the future of our city. I guess I feel
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#7a Page 39
that this is the triumph of technocracy over democracy and I must express my
disapproval of that notion that there are certain technological standards to which
we must adhere no matter what. I don't believe that, I believe that people have
expressed themselves very strongly and if our city staff consider that to be a
mistake then so it. And I would ask Karin and her staff whom I admire very
much to please be open to the possibility that sometimes that when you allow
people to participate they might come up with a conclusion that is far different
that what you think is appropriate. Nevertheless, we have much verbiage in our
comprehensive and in this North District Plan, Northeast District Plan, that pays
homage to the value of participation and I find that in conflict with one of the
main points of this contention in this plan which is the extension of First Avenue.
So that being said I want to express one other thing, which is I had the privilege of
seeing some of Bennett's maps last summer and these projections for the amount
of traffic that we can look forward to on our arterial streets frankly horrifies me.
That is not the city I want to live in. And I can't believe that's the city anyone
wants to live in. I live on a busy street, Connie you live on a kind of a busy
street.
Champion/Very busy street.
Maurer/Your going to get an oppommity to see what it's like when traffic really
decreases this summer, when they close the Summit Street bridge.
Champion/I can hardly wait.
Maurer/A lot of people who live on busy streets, would like to see the traffic go away
somehow. We're told the traffic has to go somewhere and gosh the neighbors
over here don't want their street widened, and the neighbors over here don't want
this street widened. But we have to consider the good of the whole city. Well I
think the neighborhood are telling you something. They're telling you look for
ways to ameliorate our traffic dependence. Our dependence on single occupant,
or low occupancy vehicles for the bulk of our transportation needs. It's not
sustainable, Bennett just gave a little while ago a number of really good reasons
that it's not in our communities best interest. And yet I find that this particular
plan does very little or nothing to address that and in fact in extending First
Avenue really buys into the notion that we must simply accommodate traffic and
that we can do nothing to manage or lessen it and so I disagree with that. I know
I'm standing up here sounding like Mr. Negative, but so be it I have to express
my feelings. Thank you very much.
Lehman/Thank you. Can we have a motion to continue public hearing?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#7a Page 40
Norton/So moved.
O'Donnell/Second.
Lehman/Moved by Norton, seconded by O'Donnell. All in favor. Hearing will be
continued until the 20th. That was the motion.
(2) Consider a Resolution
Vanderhoef/I move to remove the resolution, defer it indefinitely.
Lehman/Moved by Vanderhoef.
Norton/Second.
Lehman/Seconded by Norton to defer the consideration of the resolution indefinitely. Is
there discussion.
Champion/No. (can't hear).
(END OF TAPE 99-44 Side 1).
(Champion/That we're going to pass it (can't hear). I tumed the microphone off. I really
think we ought to have a date I don't think there should be an indefinite.
Lehman/Connie, I think the reason we talked about being indefinite on this is because we
really have got a lot of things to go over. You know, there are going to be a lot of
questions for staff, there are going to be some questions posed to next week by the
home builders. Their going to come back to us, there may be even the possibility
that we send this planning and zoning, so I don't think it's possible for us to, you
know, I, obviously we are going to act on this but I don't think we know when.
So I guess that's why we're saying indefinitely.
Norton/No.
Vanderhoef/That certainly was my intent.
Thornberry/So that it doesn't appear every.
Lehman/So that it doesn't appear every week, yea.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#7a Page 41
Vanderhoef/Well the point being is a lot of people make plans because they think it's
going to be on the agenda, that specific time and then it doesn't happen, it's like
we're dragging our feet. We're trying to do this in a very orderly fashion and
make sure that we have all this input before we close our public hearing and
before we vote on it so.
Kubby/How will the public know when the date is? Just putting it on our agenda.
Lehman/No.
Kubby/I don't think is enough for this particular issue because.
Norton/It'll give them some idea.
Vanderhoef/OK.
Kubby/It's been much more community wide so if we're going to defer it indefinitely I
hope that we would make the investment of some higher profile publicity in the
paper, maybe some display ads, a mailing to people who have some interest. And
I just don't want to target the people who have been here because there might be
other people who might want to observe the vote and the discussion. So as long
as we invest in a higher profile advertising of when the date does come for us I'm
OK with indefinite.
Vanderhoef/Some publicity is appropriate and we recognize that if we send it back to
planning and zoning for anything we will close this public heating and announce a
new public heating at a later date so then we'll go forward with process again.
Kubby/So there would be a public heating at planning and zoning as well too?
Norton/Yes.
Thomberry/True.
Vanderhoef/That's right.
Norton/I don't think we can predict the time.
Lehman/Don't think we can predict the time.
Vanderhoef/We can't predict it.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#7a Page 42
Kubby/Do people agree about the increase of (can't hear) advertising?
Vanderhoef/Definitely to keep people informed.
Lehman/I think we have to really, yea we have let people know. I really believe.
Kubby/I don't want to dictate what that is but just that values out there.
Lehman/No.
Vanderhoeff That value of site worthwhile.
Lehman/But I really think those folks are going to start probably going to follow this
process very closely.
Thomberry/It's just not fair to have it on each, each, and then their afraid to leave gees
what if they act on it, you know.
Kubby/Well that's not the only choice is to have it every meeting or to have a date.
Cause we could have a date two months from now.
Norton/I think it still needs to be made that we, there was a lot of publicity about the
development of this plan a year ago and there were many public meetings. Where
everybody was invited, I still am distressed as I know some of you, rest of you
are. That some of the input that we're not hearing right, is not there, when it
should have been in a timely fashion, it just, really negative attitude (can't hear).
Thornberry/And we can't go back, we just have to move forward.
Norton/I know we can't but I just want to make the point, I want people to hear it.
Kubby/Yea, it is kind of ironic, but usually it's the other way around where established
communities have had something at stake like the home builder to the
development community have seemingly easier access to the system and a history
of access to the system whereas the general public doesn't and this is kind of
turned around somehow so it's just kind of interesting. And I hope that cause we
had great experience with a mix of kind of the general public and the development
community during the peninsula process, where variers??? I think started to break
down. When your in real small group conversation about what you want to see
and that people could talk to each other real easily and I know that there was some
hesitation, at least expressed at our public meeting last time by the home builders,
they felt that they would be met with hostility and I guess I want to repeat a
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#7a Page 43
comment that I made then is that one of the ways we break down those barriers is
by participating in the same room together. And so in the future district plans,
and I think this has happened in the past district plans, I'm not quite sure why the
Noaheast Plan was different. Because I think on the south plan there was a mix
of people there. That I think that mix happens in the other eight plans that we're
going to do or whatever the number is.
Thomberry/Seems like each plan is getting a little tighter, and a little bit more specific
and I think where it's gotten to the point now where people are getting a little
maybe worded or concemed that it's too tight, some maybe not tight enough.
Norton/Different options.
Thomberry/But I.
Noaon/Different options being gord??? at each case.
Thornberry/That's right.
Lehman/I think that's exactly right. That the peninsula property impacted very very few
people. This impacts a lot of folks and there's going to be a lot more interest.
Thomberry/Yea, so did the Southeast District, we didn't have the interest in the south
that we've had in the peninsula.
Lehman/How did.
Champion/That may be, the planners might be trying to tell the developers something,
that may be, but going on now is not what we want be.
Thomberry/It's not the people, it's staff that's doing the, that's putting it a little tight, it's
not the people.
Lehman/Well I think it's, this is a product that a lot of work by a lot of folks, including
staff obviously.
Thomberry/Sure.
Lehman/I think it includes the neighbors as well, and that's why we're having public
hearings.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#7a Page 44
Thomberry/Well this being so close, this close to the Hickory Hill Park is as it is and
didn't have that contingent in the south perhaps.
Kubby/You bet, people feet very passionately about the (can't hear).
O'Donnell/Some do.
Kubby/And very protected.
Lehman/All in favor of deferring the resolution say Aye. The resolution is deferred
indefinitely and we're going to take a break.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#7d Page 45
ITEM
7d. CONSIDER A MOTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING FOR APRIL
20 ON AN ORDINANCE CONDITIONALLY CHANGING THE ZONING
DESIGNATION OF APPROXIMATELY 14.91 ACRES LOCATED EAST
OF SCOTT BOULEVARD AT WASHINGTON STREET FROM MEDIUM
DENSITY SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL (RS-8), LOW-DENSITY
MULTIFAMILY RESIDENTIAL (RM-12) AND COUNTY SUBURBAN
RESIDENTIAL (RS) TO PLANNED DEVELOPMENT HOUSING
OVERLAY (OPDH-8; 8.36 ACRES), LOW DENSITY SINGLE-FAMILY
RESIDENTIAL (RS-5; 5.43 ACRES) AND LOW DENSITY
MULTIFAMILY RESIDENTIAL (RM-12; 1.12 ACRES), AND A
REQUEST FOR A PRELIMINARY OPDH PLAN TO ALLOW 72
DWELLING UNITS ON 8.16 ACRES (REZ00-0004)
Norton/Move to set the public hearing.
O'Donnell/Second.
Lehman/Moved by Norton, seconded by O'Donnell to set the public hearing and we
should there is a note in here we've been asked to vote after the hearing and I we
should consider that I suppose. All in favor of setting the public hearing.
Karr/Motion considering correspondence.
Thornberry/Moved.
Vanderhoef/Seconded.
Lehman/Moved by Thornberry, seconded by Vanderhoef. All in favor. Motion carries.
Norton/Pardon me, one question about this. Is there any chance we can get the
background on this set of proposals that are being or which we're setting the
public hearing before the, I mean this week or will it be out two weeks from now?
In other words I'm trying to think it's a pretty complicated set of issues involved
here as I look at the minutes of the P & Z March 18 meeting. Therefore I'm
wondering how soon we'll get these materials, is that a fair question, the sooner
the better put it that way.
Lehman/Well if we could get it a week from this Friday. In other words.
Norton/No, this Friday.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#7d Page 46
Atkins/This Friday.
Norton/This Friday because a week from this Friday is the regular packet. I'm talking
about like Monday or this Friday or Monday if there's anything available so we
can start thinking about it.
Lehman/Yea that's fight. I think it's a good idea.
Norton/(can't hear) weekend if we can possibly get it. Yea. OK.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City cotmcil meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#8 Page 47
ITEM NO. 8b. PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS, FORM OF CONTRACT, AND
ESTIMATE OF COST FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE IAIS/CRANDIC
INTERCHANGE PROJECT, STP-A-3715(12), AND DIRECTING CITY CLERK
TO PUBLISH NOTICE.
Lehman/Public hearing is open. Public hearing is closed.
Thornberry/Moved adoption of resolution.
O'Donnell/Second.
Lehman/Moved by Thornberry, seconded by O'Donnell to adopt resolution. Discussion.
Thomberry/That's a dandy.
Champion/Yep.
Lehman/This is a dandy, this is.
Champion/(can't hear).
Lehman/Really exciting to relocate a lot of the rail cars that currently block Gilbert
Street, it's a million dollar project, $800,000 is paid by Department of
Transportation I think, 20 percent by the railroads.
Norton/Don't forget they block Kirkwood too.
Lehman/Yea I know they block.
Norton/And Highway 6.
Lehman/All right.
Champion/And Gilbert.
Thomberry/This basically doesn't cost us anything, 80 percent by IDOT and 20 percent
by the railroad.
Lehman/Good deal. Roll call. Motion carries.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#9 Page 48
ITEM NO. 9. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION DETERMINING AN AREA OF THE
CITY TO BE AN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AREA, AND THAT THE
REHABILITATION, CONSERVATION, REDEVELOPMENT,
DEVELOPMENT, OR A COMBINATION THEREOF, OF SUCH AREA IS
NECESSARY IN THE INTEREST OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH, SAFETY
OR WELFARE OF THE RESIDENTS OF THE CITY; DESIGNATING
SUCH AREA AS APPROPRIATE FOR AN URBAN RENEWAL
PROJECT; AND ADOPTING THE NORTH GATE CORPORATE PARK
URBAN RENEWAL PLAN.
Vanderhoef/Move adoption of the resolution
Thornberry/Second.
Lehman/Moved by Vanderhoef, seconded by Thornberry.
Kubby/Well I think these things are really important. If someone would give a real quick
synopsis of what this, not necessarily the details of the plan but what this actually
does. If you would Karin.
Karin Franklin/What this does is it outlines an area which is Noahgate Corporate Park,
in the poaioned that is zoned C01 and RDP, and allows us to provide tax
increment financing to any business which would choose to locate and
development in this corporate park. We would evaluate those businesses as they
came in and requested the assistance through tax increment financing for
compliance with our financial assistance guidelines. Basically what it allows the
company to do is to receive financing either for public or private improvements or
for the facilitation of their project and that money is paid back to the city by the
taxes that are generated on the added value that is a consequence of their
development.
Lehman/But a think the main point is this is just enabling legislation.
Franklin/That is correct.
Lehman/That allows them to apply for, gives nothing except makes it possible to make
the application.
Franklin/That's right. And as each company wants to get involved in this, it would come
back before city council.
Lehman/Right.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#9 Page 49
Thomberry/And each one would stand on its own, some maybe getting more than others
(can't hear).
Franklin/That's correct.
Lehman/Or nothing.
Thomberry/Right.
Lehman/All fight.
Norton/This is a, well it's a question that kind of troubled me. And I guess maybe we
acted on this issue in February or sometime earlier. The certain circumstances is a
phrase that comes up every now and again in this thing that that posed a need for
going this particular route, or the possibility of going to a tax increment financing
that is progressed in development on it's own. Is that right?
Franklin/Tax increment financing is an incentive to act as a catalyst to development
theoretically. So the circumstances can be one, I mean the state code pretty well
defines when you can use tax increment financing and economic development is
certainly one of those critefia that you can use.
Norton/And if you do tax increment financing for one let's say, commercial enterprise
that were to come in. That doesn't necessarily you have to do the next one.
Franklin/No.
Norton/Each one will be looked on it's own merits.
Franklin/That's correct. Because we have our adopted financial assistance guidelines
that would be evaluated in the context of those guidelines and so there's certain
things that we're looking for as a community before we make the decision to
invest public money that is the taxes. And those guidelines have to do with the
number of jobs, the wages that are paid, that sort of thing.
Norton/Do those economic guidelines apply to at all the owner of the whole property
that current owner?
Franklin/Only if the owner applies for tax increment financing. So if the owner of the
property wanted to engage in a project or do some public improvement
Norton/(can't hear).
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of Apfil 6, 1999
F040699
#9 Page 50
Franklin/And have it paid back through the taxes that would be generated by that
improvement they would go through the same application process as anyone else.
Thornberry/They would have to be deemed eligible.
Franklin/That's correct.
Thornberry/Not just because they apply?
Franklin/That's right.
Vanderhoef/And you said last night also that any existing property that went through a
redevelopment or an addition would be accepted as a possibility for.
Franklin/They are also potentially eligible. You have to have some increase in value in
order to create the increment which creates the tax increment financing. OK.
Lehman/Other discussion. Roll call. Motion carries.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#10 Page 51
ITEM NO. 10. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING THAT GENERAL
PROPERTY TAXES LEVIED AND COLLECTED EACH YEAR ON ALL
PROPERTY LOCATED WITHIN THE NORTH GATE CORPORATE PARK
URBAN RENEWAL PROJECT AREA, IN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY,
COUNTY OF JOHNSON, STATE OF IOWA, BY AND FOR THE BENEFIT OF
THE STATE OF IOWA, CITY OF IOWA CITY, COUNTY OF JOHNSON, IOWA
CITY COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT AND OTHER TAXING DISTRICTS,
BE PAID TO A SPECIAL FUND FOR PAYMENT OF PRINCIPAL AND
INTEREST ON LOANS, MONIES ADVANCED TO AND INDEBTEDNESS,
INCLUDING BONDS ISSUED OR TO BE ISSUED, INCURRED BY SAID CITY
IN CONNECTION WITH SAID URBAN RENEWAL REDEVELOPMENT
PROJECT. (FIRST CONSIDERATION)
Norton/Move adoption of the ordinance.
Champion/Wow.
Thornberry/Second.
Lehman/Moved by Norton, seconded by Thornberry. That's a long sentence.
Champion/I've read it several times but I have no understanding of what it means.
Could you give a quick explanation.
Norton/Oh yea.
Lehman/Well all it really says is that we, if someone does apply and we do grant.
Champion/All the taxes.
Norton/The monies go into the kitty.
Lehman/Provide the money goes into a kitty and the proceeds principal plus interest is
used to pay off the improvements.
Champion/OK.
Lehman/That's all it really says I believe. It does identify all of the entities that would
have been eligible to receive the taxes.
Atkins/And we also prefer that's a separate account on a kitty.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#10 Page 52
Norton/Yes.
Lehman/Yea. All right.
Norton/Well it says (can't hear) in the budget, fight.
Lehman/All right. Further discussions. Roll call. Motion carries.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#11 Page 53
ITEM NO. 11. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CITY CODE TITLE
8, CItAPTER 8, ENTITLED "POLICE CITIZENS REVIEW BOARD," SECTION
3, ENTITLED "DEFINITION OF COMPLAINT; COMPLAINT PROCESS IN
GENERAL," SECTION 6, ENTITLED "POLICE CItIEF'S REPORT TO TIlE
BOARD; CITY MANAGER'S REPORT TO THE BOARD," AND SECTION 7,
ENTITLED "DUTIES OF THE BOARD; COMPLMNT REVIEW AND
GENERAL DUTIES," AND ADDING AN ADDITIONAL SECTION 11,
ENTITLED "TIME COMPUTATION," REGARDING THE TIME LIMIT
ALLOWED FOR FILING OF COMPLAINTS AND FOR REPORTS TO THE
BOARD AND CITY COUNCIL. (SECOND CONSIDERATION)
Kubby/Move second consideration.
Champion/Second.
Lehman/Moved by Kubby, seconded by Champion. Discussion.
Thornberry/On this complaint process in general.
Lehman/This is only deals with the time.
O'Donnell/With the time periods.
Dilkes/With the time.
Lehman/It only deals with the time, the other is process (can't hear).
Thornberry/That's why I asked about the complaint (can't hear) in general.
Lehman/Council Man/That does not include.
Dilkes/I think that' s the title of the section that' s being.
Lehman/Further discussion. Roll call.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#13 Page 54
ITEM NO. 13. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AWARDING CONTRACT AND
AUTHORIZING MAYOR TO SIGN AND CITY CLERK TO ATTEST
CONTRACT FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE 1999 ASPHALT
RESURFACING PROJECT.
Lehman/The estimate on this project was $1,049,751. The bid was from L. L. Pelling
Co. $1,123,202 and the public works is recommending the award of this project to
L. L. Pelling.
Thornberry/Move adoption of resolution.
Vanderhoef/Second.
Lehman/Moved by Thornberry, seconded by Vanderhoef. Discussion.
Kubby/Just to make a note, it's a nonunion company but it's also a local company.
Cover it was asphalt.
O'Donnell/It also doesn't make a difference, because we don't have any control over
that.
Thornberry/No, we only got one bid.
Lehman/OK. Is there any further discussion? Roll call. Motion carries.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#14 Page 55
ITEM NO. 14. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO
SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN MSS
CONSULTANTS, INC. OF IOWA CITY, IOWA, AND THE CITY OF IOWA
CITY TO PROVIDE CONSULTING SERVICES FOR THE SOUTH AIRPORT
AREA DEVELOPMENT.
Thornberry/Move adoption of resolution.
Norton/Second.
Lehman/Moved by Thornberry, seconded by Norton. Discussion.
Kubby/Last night I had asked the landscaping area thinking that this was a larger area of
land that MMS was going to help put together and wanted to expand the
landscaping because it says just including trees, shrubs, and grass. And I think
there' s a lot more potential than to just that strategy of landscaping but staff didn't
get a hold of MMS and it's a very small footprint of land that we're talking
about. For some reason I thought it was much larger. And so there really won't
be much room for this other kind of landscaping strategy so I'm complying with
the current language and appreciate the communication.
Lehman/Well with costing almost $84,000 you would have thought it was bigger
wouldn't you? This is work, where the public works facility will be located so,
and I think it's something we need to get working on. Further discussion.
Kubby/Oh, I guess I just want to make the point that when we do develop that whole part
of the park that there might be opportunities, once we do the sensitive areas
inventory that there might be opportunities for wetland prairie restoration or just
various kinds of more sustainable less maintenance kind of landscaping. And
there' s a big trend to do that. And it's great for wildlife, it's great for water
quality, it's great for the maintenance budget and so for those places where it is
appropriate I hope we lean into that direction for further aspects of it.
Lehman/It's not good for deer is it? We don't want deer in the airport.
Vanderhoef/Well there are some things to do with water that we don't want at the airport
too so we'll have to be very careful with what we plan down there.
Lehman/OK. Roll call. Motion carries.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#19 Page 56
ITEM NO. 19. CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION
Champion/I just wanted to ask people to be sure to send the red cross money if you can.
They, I don't think most citizens realize that they are our first responders to
especially fire, which is a most common local problem. And a lot of people have
been displaced and the Red Cross helps them find a place to live, gives them
money to replace clothing and they really have had their share of thickens of fire
so I hope people will consider premier donations to the Red Cross and they do ask
that you don't send goods because these people don't have any place to put these.
They really need money. Thank you.
Norton/I'd like to add something. Is there, what are we in just in a run of bad luck here
Steve with our. The city seems like one disaster after another, is it just bad luck?
Kubby/Two blue moons the first quarter.
Atkins/Two blue moons.
Norton/Is it the moon?
Atkins/Yea.
O'Donnell/Must have been the full moon.
Lehman/Well Karen and I were talking about this today and I talked to Andy, and now I
suppose is a very appropriate time to at least mention until we can do something
more concrete but our appreciation to the fire department and police department
they've certainly had a way above and beyond the call of duty. We're so
fortunate that no one was hurt in those fires. Those were big fires, they could
have been some huge problems and I I'm sure that I speak for the council we
should express our gratitude to those folks and I think we'll probably make a little
more formal presentation.
Champion/And the water department.
Norton/And the water department too.
Atkins/Let's now mention the public works folks, because the water pressure was there
when it needed it.
Lehman/It just, everybody did so well, and I think that.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#19 Page 57
Kubby/Our people were put to the test.
Lehman/Absolutely.
Thornberry/Things worked the way they were suppose to.
Lehman/Absolutely.
Kubby/Going back to the water, I mean we did get a memo, I just wanted to talk about
that a little bit. And you know we're spending a lot of money on our water plant
on water pressure issues, on water availability and quality. And one of the
benefits of this expenditure of your water rate fees is that the ground storage
reservoirs are part of that comprehensive plan and the improvements that we made
that were part of your increase in your water bills helped us fight that fire at
Mondo's. There was good communication between the (can't hear) and water
department and so they made sure those ground reservoirs were full so that
pressure was up. The water provided 321 thousand gallons of water for fire
fighting purposes, which is about two-thirds of filling of Mercer Park Pool. And
so it's real important to see this interconnections between the water rate raising,
the projects getting done, and the effects on the community that are real positive.
Norton/I think we ought to add in there that we got good support from other fire
departments too, Coralville and others surrounding, I guess seven different
communities, Solon and so on. That's part of our 28E agreement where we do the
same for them and we have in the past, but it works both ways and it's very
effective.
Kubby/I have one other thing. It's about trails, we got a nice update on the Iowa River
Corridor Trail from John Yapp, our transportation kind of our bike guide. And
people may have been expecting that Burlington to Napoleon Park trail would be
completed but because of weather it's a little slower, but it will be completed and
we hope by June or July depending on weather. There's one, I think Channel 2
was talking about "The Year of the Tomado", I'm not quite sure where that comes
from, if we're expecting more severe weather than normal or not but anyway, we
expect this part of the trail to be completed by June or July. And this particular
project is the single largest segment of the trail which is 2 ½ miles and will
connect Burlington Park up, will connect a whole bunch of trail segments
actually. And so I'm really happy to see these projects going and I think it would
be fun for us all to take a bike tour of the city.
Lehman/Take a hike.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#19 Page 58
Norton/Should take a bike trike, hike.
Kubby/Yea.
O'Donnell/Will the bus fit on those trails?
Lehman/No.
Norton/Just barely.
Kubby/These trails are paid for from a variety of funds, local funds, federal funds, some
state funds once in a while and I just think, in terms of some of the comments that
were said tonight about investment and all kinds of transportation systems this is
an important one to note. That's all I have for tonight.
O'Donnell/I've got a couple things. Steve, where do we stand on the cemetery
expansion?
Atkins/I'll have to check on that.
Lehman/Well we've authorized.
O'Donnell/We have authorized, but I haven't seen anything happening so I was just
wondering.
Vanderhoef/So for just (can't hear).
Atkins/I'm pretty sure it's in the specific (can't hear).
Vanderhoef/It's in this year's.
Norton/And it's in the budget yea.
O'Donnell/And so we are moving along.
Atkins/I will get you a memo on that.
Norton/First phase is in the budget.
Vanderhoef/First phase this summer.
Kubby/Didn't we cut it back a little bit.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#19 Page 59
Atkins/Yes. We did.
Vanderhoeff Yep. We stayed.
Lehman/(can't hear) last for only last for 300 years.
O'Donnell/I think 280 years.
Lehman/Yea.
O'Donnell/Also, I wanted to caution everybody, Saturday night, I live on Park Road and
I was driving down Rocky Shore drive, and there were three deer standing on
Rocky Shore Drive. I want to caution everybody if your driving at night to really
be careful. Because it's a very dangerous thing. I also wanted to comment that
fire downtown really changed the complexion of our downtown. I carded the
Whiteway Supermarket when I was a little kid on my paper route. And it's really
sad to see the building like that gone. That's all I've gone.
Thornberry/Yea, I'm on a first name basis with some of the deer, I took a picture of
some, I was looking out my back door and they were looking in. And I said wait
a minute I went up and got my camera and came back and they posed. And.
Kubby/Maybe they'll mow your yard.
Thomberry/They, I'll tell you, I, it's getting (can't hear). Steve, on the comer of
Riverside Drive and Highway 6 bypass where that Highway 6 makes that left turn
there if your going south on Riverside Drive and you mm left on Highway 6,
where Highway 1 and 6 meet.
Atkins/Highway 1 and 6. OK.
Thornberry/There's a, it's a double left turn, and I know that you said that that's IDOT
and their responsible for painting stripes on there, but I tell you, that's a pretty
busy intersection that people in the lea lane, sometimes when they turn left onto
Highway 6 kind of swing over to the right a little bit and horns are blinking and
lights are honking, and.
Atkins/Call IDOT.
Thornberry/IDOT won't do it fight away.
Atkins/I'll ask em for you.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#19 Page 60
Thomberry/Can we do that or?
Atkins/I doubt that we can.
Norton/Well that's true with several other places.
Thornberry/Something kind of needs to be done, it's in the city limits and it's dangerous
intersection.
Atkins/I'll call em.
Norton/Say, it's even worse turning off of Riverside onto Burlington cause there you get
run right into the railing of the bridge if the person on the inside. But we need
some painting pretty heavily. Are we using those fancy paints in some of those?
Atkins/Epoxy. I asked Chuck that question today and I haven't gotten an answer back
from him. I didn't talk to him today.
Lehman/I believe last year we did kind of a pilot project.
Atkins/Yes, we did.
Lehman/And I think we, Rick kind of told us at the time, that if it worked we would be
doing so much each year and would have to redo them every five years.
Atkins/Yep.
Lehman/But my understanding was that we probably would be doing some more epoxy
work in addition to the regular work.
Vanderhoef/The one I would like to know about then is whether North Dubuque Street
was one of those streets? I was noticing yesterday the yellow paint out there was
a no passing zone, is quite bright. The white is gone so I'm curious whether.
Lehman/Well we can check with Rick.
Vanderhoef/The lane marker's were gone.
Norton/Another one that's important is Gilbert. Gilbert Street you know, when we put in
the widening at Burlington is very very difficult for people who are not used to it
and the paint there is. So I don't know, maybe it's too early in the Spring for
these requests but.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#19 Page 61
Champion/(can't hear).
Atkins/We'll find out for you.
Lehman/As soon as the weather gets good.
Thornberry/Well anytime anytime you've got a double left turn, it's pretty important to
get that delineated pretty carefully.
Atkins/While our mentioning it, these types of concerns, and obviously the break in the
weather causes people's attention to go out. Let's not forget that last summer we
lost about 5 or 6 weeks of normal maintenance activity while we were picking up
brush.
Norton/True.
Atkins/So we got behind and so folks who were expecting projects we're going to get to
them, it's just hopefully we won't have another one of those this summer.
Vanderhoef/Is there some way that we can do an assessment right now, when I was
looking at (can't hear) Dubuque yesterday it obviously it hasn't had it's spring
sweeping and so forth and I know that's coming along. But is there some way
that we could get an assessment of a lot of these arterial' s and particular areas
where there is heavy wear and is that an appropriate thing for maybe some of the
street sweepers to do as they go around.
Kubby/You mean in terms of the condition of the street or the lines.
Atkins/The lines.
Vanderhoef/The lines, the paint.
Atkins/I'll ask that question Dee. I'll let you know.
Vanderhoef/Just apossibility.
Atkins/Sure.
Thornberry/That's a good idea.
Vanderhoef/They know the road.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#19 Page 62
Thornberry/As their doing the sweeping, they could identify deep chuck holes.
Atkins/They know it better than anyone.
Lehman/Oh, I think they do.
Vanderhoef/They sure do.
Thornberry/And the sweeping has started has it?
Atkins/Yes.
Lehman/Oh Yea.
Thomberry/Because there's going to be an awful lot of sand to pick up, it didn't seem
like that bad of winter but it seems like there's an awful lot of sand.
Atkins/Awful lot of sand.
Thornberry/I don't know.
Vanderhoef/Are we not using more sand now?
Atkins/Yes.
Vanderhoef/And less salt so our streets do appear dirtier in the spring now so that's one
consequence we have to put up with.
Atkins/Next week is the downtown cleanup too.
Lehman/Right.
Atkins/That will be all week long.
Norton/I have only more, and it's I've brought up a number of times. Are the lights at
City High going to stay just the way they are and wait till see what the neighbors
do about planting new trees to protect themselves or are they going to be able to
shield those. I find it kind of unfommate that ordinances on things as important
as light don't apply to a lot of the light generators like the University or schools, it
seems to me I wonder why that exception is there.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#19 Page 63
Atkins/I have a call talking to Terry about purchase of shields. Please don't hold me to
this, but I think there was interest in some of the school folks saying well maybe
we would, that you know we made a contribution to help you with the project,
your having difficulty with your neighbors, that it's your responsibility to correct
those situations and that's where we left it.
Norton/But other than, for example, we adopt a new lighting standard, it's not going to
bear on the situations like that is it?
Lehman/No it's not.
Atkins/I think the legal question whether their (can't hear).
Kubby/That's grandparented in anyway.
Atkins/Yea.
Lehman/Well, it's the ordinance specifically says it does not apply to other governmental
(can't hear).
Atkins/I will find out specifically Dee and answer your question.
Kubby/Steve, I was confused by your last comment. Does that mean that you kind of
said to the school district it's your dollar to midigate, not ours?
Atkins/Basically that's what I intended.
Kubby/OK. I was thinking it was the other way around for a minute. Thank you.
Atkins/No.
Lehman/All right.
Thornberry/I just want people to be aware that now that's it's starting to get a little
warmer the bicycles and motorcycles are out, and just to be aware that their going
to be probably more on the road than they have been before so just keep your
eyes for them, sometimes they don't signal properly, they do and we don't see
them, but just to be aware that they're on the road more. And the last thing that
I've got is on this Northeast District, I was wondering if we could get together as
a council sometime and go out and take a look at that. And just walk the area and
see where exactly that's going into, that we feel that that's the best, location for
Captain Irish or Scott Boulevard extended or whatever it's going to be called.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#19 Page 64
We did that, Karen and I got that, PC 23B or 3 or whatever it was for the start of
it, and it worked out pretty well for the neighbors perhaps we could do that as a
council sometime, take some 4-wheel drives out there.
Norton/I would like to, that would be.
Lehman/I think that's a good idea.
Thomberry/Maybe put little flags up where it's going to, where's it's proposed and just
to see.
Norton/And to check those views that Bennett was showing us the pictures of.
Atkins/The little flags to propose (can't hear) is a pretty big tradertaking it.
Lehman/Well if we were able to go out there with Chuck and Rick and would show us
where the roads are proposed, I think it would be beneficial to all of us, I think as
we get along in the process and get more questions then I think I'd.
Atkins/How about the front end of a work session? It would only take an hour.
Thornberry/Yea.
Atkins/We can go out and look at it, come on back.
Lehman/We could have a picnic.
Atkins/Well we could do that too.
Kubby/Rick we could see the citizen plan had an alternative.
Atkins/Yes.
Kubby/And so I think we should be able to see where that would go too.
Thomberry/I mean I've walked it, and I've been out there, and I live not that far from it
but just to see exactly where it's going to go would be nice.
Atkins/My only concem is that looking at it at ground level, I'm thinking that maybe an
aerial would be the better.
Norton/But I'd like a helicopter fide.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City cotmcil meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
# 19 Page 65
Atkins/An aerial photograph and lay it lay the.
Thornberry/Well I've seen it, I've seen the area from the air but I don't know exactly it's
proposed going so I'd.
Atkins/Well let's talk to Doug and see what we can set up for you.
Lehman/OK.
Kubby/The issue of the view from Hickory Hill you really need to be on foot.
Atkins/No, your right for that particular.
Atldns/I'll get that. I'11.
Thornberry/That's all I have.
Vanderhoef/Thanks for bringing that up, Dean if you hadn't I was going to do that so
that's fine.
Thornberry/I'm sorry. We talked about that.
Vanderhoef/Yea we sure did. Just one announcement. A new neighborhood association
is being formed in southwest Iowa City in the Horn area and they have set up a
meeting on April 22 at 7:30 at Hom Elementary School. Their special topic the
first night will be Y2K preparations, healthy or historical is their title. So if you
are interested in number one and starting an association and specifically about this
subject please go.
Lehman/Mr. Norton.
Norton/Nope.
Lehman/Well I've got a couple things. First of all I understand the Holiday Inn,
according to the paper has been sold. The new owners are going to spend I
believe I read 4 million dollars which I think is really exciting for downtown.
We've got our streetscape project getting started. I also understand that Madison
Realty has taken possession of the Old Capital Center, I think that's.
Atkins/I don't know that.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#19 Page 66
Lehman/If that's true that's really exciting for those folks and I think for the whole
downtown. And I'd like to thank Mr. Helling and the city and the county
assessor, we went to Des Moines this moming at 5:30 and met with a legislative
subcommittee. Actually I think that it Dale might be a better judge of it than I but
I think that it was probably worth our time to go there. I don't think they
expected us, I don't think they expected, we I think we kind of, well, you can.
How did you think it went Dale?
Dale Helling/I thought it went well the fact that those of us represented from other
communities, our legislators and a few other folks outnumbered the paid lobbyists
about ten to one was important.
Kubby/A certain senator I asked was very (can't hear).
Norton/What did you do to actually testify or did you just talk to a committee, what did
you actually do?
Helling/It was a subcommittee, the way, the house ways and means committee. And we,
they were looking for input, I think they got it.
Thornberry/Were there folks ~:om other communities there?
Helling/A few, assessors from Story county, Polk County, Ames.
Thornberry/It would be interesting to hear why you went and what you talked about if
the public (can't hear).
Lehman/Well we went, there's been an interpretation of the rules in Iowa regarding
property taxes where condominiums are taxed at a residential rate and there's
been a move by the, on the part of a number of apartment owners to change those
apartments into condominiums because apartments are taxed as commercial
property at a much higher rate than residential and the concern is that the more of
these units that are changed fyom apartments to condominiums, there's a great,
there's a loss of revenue for the municipalities and they really they are taking
advantage of what appears to be a loophole in the law. So I think the, it's a
question of fairness, it's a question of equity, what's the difference between a
condo and an apartment actually, there really probably isn't any. And we I think
tried to make that point to the legislators that we really felt there was a question of
fairness and equity. I think they heard us, whether or not they do anything about
it I don't know.
Thornberry/Were there any of the legislatures that you talked to from Johnson County?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#19 Page 67
Lehman/Oh yes.
Norton/Oh yes, Dick Myers is on the committee isn't he?
Lehman/Well Joe Bolkcom was there, he attended the meeting, Minette Doderer was
there. We saw Dick Myers before the meeting.
Helling/And Bob Dvorsky.
Lehman/Bob Dvorsky was there, so.
Kubby/They don't see us there very often.
Lehman/No, I think that's right.
Kubby/And even though we have lots of opportunities to see them at home I've heard
them mention at various venues that they don't see us there so I think they were
very happy to see (can't hear).
Lehman/I really think it was a good move to go even though we did have to get up at
4:30 in the morning. But anyway, I really thank Dale and the city and county
assessor I thought did a nice job so. Anyway we did it.
Atkins/One quick item and thanks to Dee for reminding me. We are in the process of
putting together a neighborhood association to help the folks in the Hom area.
Please keep in mind a good portion of that is not in the cities limits. And I think
I'd like to encourage you Ernie to write a letter to the mayor of University
Heights. I don't want those folks to have an expectation that we adopt something,
they don't agree with it, to (can't hear) I'd like to draft (can't hear).
Lehman/No, I think that's probably a good idea, we probably, I think it would be well to
write a letter to the mayor of University Heights encouraging University Heights
to participate in this particular deal.
Atkins/Horn is in, Hom schools is actually in the city of University Heights.
Lehman/Right.
Atkins/But I thought just a short note to them. There's always that sensitivity between
the two towns and let's not.
Lehman/Yea, I can.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699
#19 Page 68
Atkins/OK. I'll take care of that for you. That's all I have.
Lehman/Motion to adjourn.
Thornberry/So moved.
Norton/Second.
Lehman/Moved by Thomberry, seconded by Norton. All in favor. Meeting is
adjourned.
(End of Tape 99-44, Side 2)
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting
of April 6, 1999
F040699