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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-02-15 Bd Comm minutes *APPROVAL PENDING* ANIMAL CONTROL ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES - January 20, 2000 Meeting ATTENDING:Ursula Delworth, Shawn Lockhart, Diana Lundell, Mary Shafer (Chair) ABSENT: Jonelle Hankner STAFF: Denise Cassidy, Misha Goodman, Terry Koehn, Tom Widmer VISITORS: Janet Ashman, Linda Tomblin (Public); Erick Wakiaga (Press- Citizen) Minutes of the December 2, 1999 were approved. OLD BUSINESS 1. SHELTER STATISTICS. The 1999 statistical report was distributed and discussed. Adoptions are very good. 2. UPDATE ON GOALS. Goal 3 - Mobile adoption site increase. No action. Goal 4 - Exploration of medical services. In process. Goal 5 - S/N of Shelter animals. Plan will be presented at March meeting. Goal 6 - Information classes. No action. 3. COMPUTER SOFTWARE. Additional monies have been requested through the police dept. NEW BUSINESS 1. BUDGET APPROI~RIATION FOR CENTER UPDATES. Granted. 2. NEW APPOINTMENT. No action is needed, since it was ascertained that Shafer's term ends 1/12/2001. 3. CORALVILLE GROOMING SHOP. There are no criminal violations, accoring to Koehn. The investigation is on-going at the state level. 4. PET SHOP CLOSURE. Goodman reported that an Iowa City pet shop closed voluntarily due to animal care problems. 5. ELECTION OF OFFICERS FOR 2000: Chair- Shafer Vice-Chair - Lockhart (with Board's expectation that he chair in 2001.) Secretary- Lundell CITIZEN COMMENTS: Public member Ashman inquired whether Coralville will be considering pet shop licensing. Lundall replied that it would be discussed by the Coralville City Council. NEXT MEETING: Thursday, March 16, 2000 6:30 pm- IC Transit Building AGENDA OLD BUSINESS 1. Update on goals #3,4, and 6. NEW BUSINESS 1. Spay/Neuter plan for Shelter animals. Respecfully submitted, Ursula Delworth Secretary * APPROVAL PENDING* IOWA CiTY BOARD OF APPEALS MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 2000, 4:30 PM TRANSIT GONFERENGE ROOM MEMBERS PRESENT: Anna Buss, Gary Haman, Tim Fehr, Wayne Maas, John Roffman, Tom Werderitsch MEMBERS ABSENT: Doug DuGharme STAFF PRESENT: Tim Hennes (Sr. Building Inspector), Pat Hansen (Building Inspector), Dennis Mitchell (Asst. Gity Attorney) Andy Rocca (Fire Chief) OTHERS PRESENT: Rick Chambers (Chambers Electric), Dave Wright (Crown Electric), Shaunesy Daly (Crown Electric), Neal W. Bowling (Crown Electric) CALL TO ORDER: Acting Chairperson Roffman called the meeting to order at 4:35 p.m. ELECT OFFICERS FOR YEAR 2000 Chair: MOTION: Werderitsch motioned for Roffman to serve as Chair and Maas seconded the motion. Roffman was elected as Chair by unanimous consent. Vice-Chair: MOTION: Maas motioned for Werderitsch to serve as Vice-Chair and the motion was seconded by Haman. Werderitsch was elected as Vice-Chair by unanimous consent. CONSIDERATION OF MINUTES: Meeting minutes from the December 6, 1999, meeting were reviewed. MOTION: Haman motioned to approve with a second by Werderitsch. Motion carried by a 6-0 vote. DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL OF THE 1999 NATIONAL ELECTRICAL CODE AND THE PROPOSED AMENDMENTS Wright commented that he had reviewed the proposed amendments and felt that it was a good document. Hansen noted that former board member Robert Carlson had made the following recommendations at the last meeting: The first was to clarify Section 110-26 (a) 3 (c): Access and entrance to working space. His suggestion was to change the last line to read: "In all cases an access shall be provided to these areas which is large enough to accommodate the removal of the largest piece of equipment contained in that area." Secondly, Carlson recommended that Section 210-12 concerning arc fault circuit interrupters protection not be adopted at this time. Other items addressed at the last meeting were as follows: Maas recommended Section 14-5C- 23, entitled "Permittee, be edited to read: "...to any company who employs a duly licensed Master Electrician on a full-time basis who supervises the work of the electricians during the company's normal business hours." The purpose of this change is to ensure that the master electrician is available at any time that work is being done. Iowa City Board of Appeals Minutes January 10, 2000 Page 2 Henries pointed out another change which deals with the minimum size of service for a single dwelling unit located in a multi-family structure. Previously, the service was required to be sized as a single family unit, that is defined in the National Electric Code as a house, and the minimum size service to a dwelling unit was 100 amps. To help clarify this requirement Section 230-70 rating of service disconnecting means has been revised to specify the minimum service sizes required. Also, an exception was added to allow single dwelling units to be less than required provided certain provisions are met. [New discussion on the proposed amendments proceeded as follows:] Chambers noted that the 400 amp allows one to use Section 310-15(B)(6) which allows 400 KCMil in services rated at 400 amps. Hansen explained that previously the code stated that anything over 2500 square feet would require a 200 amp service. Now for homes of 5000 square feet or more the code will allow using a reduced conductor size. Hansen stated Section 210-52(C)(2)&(3) has been amended such that an outlet is not required to be installed in peninsulas and island counter spaces, but is allowed if the customer requests it. Hennes commented that there are two reasons for this. One is that cords hanging over the countertop present a danger and the other is during construction when the wire is roughed-in and laying exposed to all of the construction the wire is vulnerable to damage. Hansen noted that if a peninsula is more than four feet in length there would have to be a double duplex outlet at the wall. Hansen went on to talk about the use of PVC for overhead services. PVC can be used from the meter socket down, but not in excess of six feet. All overhead services will have to be in rigid conduit made of EMT, IMC or rigid metal. This will eliminate problems with open conductors. In Section 230-50 Chambers noted the wording does not include underground risers. Hennes clarified that the wording would not allow PVC to be used on the riser to a service. He agreed it needs to be allowed and then Roffman suggested taking out the words "after metering equipment". Hennes noted the exception would read: "Rigid non-metallic conduit suitable for the location shall be accepted in exposed installations in lengths of less than six feet total." Chambers inquired about wet locations in Article 100. He asked if this included the zone where a bath fan may be in front of a shower that is closer than three feet. Hansen confirmed this since most fans do have that specifically stated in their manufacturers directions. In Section 110-26-(0-1 (a) Chambers inquired why the dedicated space that was twenty-five feet in the 1996 Code and reduced to six feet in the 1999 Code was change to ten feet in our local amendments. Hansen explained that it was changed because the standard conduit lengths are ten feet. In general, when the conduits are being stubbed up and turned out they can not have duct work or other obstructions put in front of them. Requiring ten feet would protect the space for future access. Chambers then asked about Section 210-52(a)-(2). Hansen explained that there would not be a requirement to install a floor box outlet when an open-type railing serves as a guardrail for hallways. However, if a wall is constructed then a receptacle would be required. Chambers next asked about Section 210-52(h), Hallways. He confirmed with Hansen that in common corridors, hallways, and exit accesses of multi-family dwellings there must be an outlet within fifteen feet from any point. Iowa City Board of Appeals Minutes January 10, 2000 Page 3 In regard to Section 250-104, Chambers inquired about the connection remaining accessible. Hansen explained that the bonding to the grounding electrical equipment needs to be accessible. Chambers then asked about Article 336 which states that commercial construction requires conduit. Hansen stated that the construction requires anything but Romex. Chambers suggested in 336-5 that commercial uses should state that it is not permitted. Hansen said that it would be limited to the areas that there would not likely be any remodeling. Once the system is in place it will remain. In commercial construction there have been instances where the system has been replaced and is very costly. Regarding Section 518-4, Places of Assembly; Chambers confirmed that AC and MC Cable was being approved. Hansen confirmed it would read: "The non-rated construction Type AC or MC ..... " Chambers asked for an explanation on emergency switches on hot tubs. Hansen explained that Section 630-38 does not require single-family dwellings to have the safety switch. The amendment clarifies that privately owned units located in multi-family structures would not have to install the emergency switch. The next issue discussed was Section 14-5C-15 "Licensing". Hansen noted that the licensing requirements are proposed as follows: a Master Electrician's license shall be issued to any person who satisfactorily completes two years of experience as a licensed journeyman and passes the examination approved by the Board of Appeals. Part B states, a journeyman electrician's license shall be issued to any person who satisfactorily completes three years experience as an apprentice electrician and passes the examination approved by the Board of Appeals. This means in Iowa City an electrical company can not be started without a minimum of five years of experience. This will hopefully assure quality craftsmanship in the trade. Hennes noted that in Section 14-5C-8 "Powers and Duties of Building Official" (e), the statement that building officials shall deliver a notice via registered letter is not required. Instead it will read: "building officials shall order in writing a notice of violation." Hennes confirmed all of the corrections made to the code. MOTION: Werderitsch moved to accept the listed changes to the 1999 National Electrical Code. Buss seconded the motion and it was approved on a 6-0 vote. MOTION: Buss moved to approve the recommendations of the 1999 National Electrical Code and forward them to the City Council. Haman seconded the motion. The motion was approved on a 6-0 vote. ORIENTATION Mitchell noted that this would be discussed at the next meeting. OTHER BUSINESS Hennes informed board members that Doug DuCharme has been appointed to replace Carlson and will be at the next meeting. Hennes noted the tentative schedule for the adoption of the code is for it to go to the council for public discussion at the January 18th meeting and on the February 1st for it to have its first reading. The code will probably go into effect sometime around March 15 or April 1, 2000. The next meeting is set for February 7, 2000. Iowa City Board of Appeals Minutes January 10, 2000 Page 4 ADJOURNMENT Buss moved to adjourn the meeting with a second by Haman. The meeting adjourned at 5:25PM. offm hair Date Minutes submitted by Le Ann Dunne-Tyson hisbtdg/min/boal-10-00.doc IOWA CITY HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION IOWA CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY - MEETING ROOM A & C ~PFI (( DECEMBER 21, 1999 - 7:00 P.M. MEMBERS PRESENT: Joan Jehle, Mary Larew, Charles Major, Diane Martin, Rick Spooner MEMBERS ABSENT: Janice Simmons-Welburn Mettle Thomopulos, Jan Warren STAFF PRESENT: Heather Shank, Laz Pittman OTHERS PRESENT: Krishna Das 1. CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Martin called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES: Warren had called Pittman to request a change to the November minutes. On Page 6, 5th paragraph, the sentence should start with "Warren said..." rather than "Martin said..." MOTION: Jehle moved to approve the minutes from the November 30, 1999 meeting with the requested change. Larew seconded the motion. The motion was carried by a vote of 5-0. 3. RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL: The Iowa City Human Rights Commission (HRC) recommends a change in the definition of sexual orientation in the Iowa City Human Rights Ordinance. The definition will read as follows: Sexual Orientation means actual, history of, or perceived heterosexuality, homosexuality, or bisexuality. Sexual Orientation does not include participation in acts which are prohibited by City, State, or Federal law. MOTION: Jehle moved to make the above recommendation to Council. Larew seconded the motion. The motion was carried by a vote of 5-0. 4. GUEST SPEAKER - MARlAN COLEMAN - ICCSD EQUITY DIRECTOR The guest speaker was unable to attend due to weather/travel problems. Iowa City Human Rights Commission December 21, 1999 - 7:00 p.m. Page 2 5. OLD BUSINESS: People of Color Resolution - Document from Dee Vanderhoef Martin stated that the HRC discussed this but did not take any action at the previous meeting because they were unsure what their recommendation should be. Shank said that she contacted the individuals who drafted the resolution for municipalities and asked how the Commission could implement this at the City. She had not yet received a response. Martin said that she would let Dee Vanderhoef know that the HRC is looking at this issue. Subcommittee for Diversity Day, February 20, 2000 Martin and Pittman volunteered to oversee the Human Rights table during the first shift. Larew and Major volunteered to oversee the table during the second shift. Martin said that the table is reserved but she did not request that the table be placed next to the Hate Acts Rapid Response Team's (HARRT's) table. Jehle said that she still needs to reserve a table for HARRT. Martin said that she would let Jehle know whom to contact about the reservation. Commissioners agreed that the HARRT table should be placed next to the Human Rights table. Larew said that she and Spooner would also need to oversee the HARRT table so she may not be able to oversee the Human Rights table. Martin said that they would talk about this at the next meeting. Changes in HRC Application - Jan Warren Warren had faxed potential changes to the HRC application to Shank prior to the meeting. Updates included changing the date that the Commission meets and the time commitment of commissioners. Das suggested that the Attachment to Application for the Human Rights Commission refer to "residents" rather than "citizens" because of the international students living in Iowa City. Das also commented that people may feel more comfortable completing the optional section if the application states that the information will remain confidential. Shank stated that the information would not be kept confidential. Shank explained that only one page of the application (the criminal background check) is kept confidential. The remainder may be viewed by the public because it is a public application. The Commission reviewed Warren's suggested changes in the section asking for "information about yourself that would be an asset to the Commission." Martin said that the checklist seems clear except for the Iowa City Human Rights Commission December 21, 1999 - 7:00 p.m. Page 3 income category. Pittman said that an applicant may think that they need to write in their income. Martin said that next to "income," they should make a reference to the attached chad in the application pertaining to income. The chad shows levels of income and will further clarify what is meant by "income." Martin asked whether it would be helpful for the HRC to have a clean copy with all of the suggested changes available for review at the next meeting. Commissioners agreed that it would be helpful. Shank said that she would type up a new copy with all of the suggested changes and e-mail the copy to Martin. 6. NEW BUSINESS: Resignation of Jane Nelson-Kuhn - moving out of town Martin said that all of the commissioners received a copy of Nelson- Kuhn's resignation letter. Shank said that an advertisement for the open volunteer opportunity has been placed in the newspaper and applications received within the previous three months may be reviewed. The previous applicants would be contacted to see if they are still interested. Guest Speaker January meeting: Janelie Rettig - Human Rights Ordinance Martin said that they wanted to allow ample time for questions and discussion with Rettig at the January meeting. Commissioners agreed that they should attempt to reschedule Marian Coleman for the February meeting. (She was unable to attend this December meeting.) 7. REPORTS OF COMMISSIONERS: Spooner said that the Education Committee for HARRT has a lot of ideas for educating young people and he plans to dedicate as many hours as he can once they are organized. Major said that a partner's rights bill had passed in the Supreme Court in Vermont and he thought it was a positive step forward. Shank said the ruling indicated that same-sex partners should be allowed the same benefits as married couples but did not say that same-sex partners should be allowed to marry. Shank said that she still needed to read the opinion for further information. Major said he also brought along a copy of the letter to the editor about Karen Kubby that he had mentioned in a previous meeting. To recap, he Iowa City Human Rights Commission December 21, 1999 - 7:00 p.m. Page 4 said the letter blamed Kubby for a year's worth of abortions at the Emma Goldman Clinic and was against her receiving an award. Jehle said that she brought a copy of an editorial in the Gazette written by Das. In addition, she said that the Commission should still discuss the Breakfast and anything they may want to change. She said they had previously discussed limiting the time of the speakers; however, she felt that this was the most important part of the event. She questioned whether it was time-consuming for the HRC to introduce the commissioners and City Council members. She said that she did not want to limit the time for speakers. Martin said that the introductions help people to understand that there is a Commission and that it is a City commission. Spooner said that the introductions benefit people who want to know who the commissioners are. Major said that he thinks recognizing the commissioners and City staff is important and that the speeches are not that long. He said if people need to leave, they can leave. Larew agreed and said that she did not think that the length of the speeches was a problem. Shank said that she needs to reserve the room for the Breakfast soon. Martin said that the Commission should think about who they would like to have for a speaker. Larew said that the HARRT Media Committee is planning a media round table. She said Lyle Mueller and Mike Beck have agreed to be on the round table. She asked commissioners to suggest any other people from the media that should be invited. Commissioners offered their suggestions. 8. STATUS OF CASES: Shank said that case number 35 has been extended. A mediation agreement was signed and the case was closed, but the complainant has not followed through. She said this will probably be a contract violation. Martin asked about the other conciliation. Shank said that she has not heard anything since the conciliation. She called the attorney but has not heard from him yet. (Spooner left the meeting at 8:10 p.m.) Because there was no longer a quorum, Martin said that she would take a telephone poll of the commissioners about whether they would like Eleanor Dilkes to do some research before the January meeting regarding the possibility of the Commission having jurisdiction over the University of Iowa's human rights cases. This had been one of Rettig's suggestions and Iowa City Human Rights Commission December 21, 1999 - 7:00 p.m. Page 5 the Commission would be discussing their decision at the January meeting. 9. ADJOURNMENT: Jehle moved to adjourn the meeting. Larew seconded the motion. The motion was carried and the meeting was adjourned at 8:25 p.m. HRC122199.doc IOWA CITY HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION IOWA CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY - MEETING ROOM A ~ _ JANUARY 25, 2000 - 7:00 P.M. ' MEMBERS PRESENT: Joan Jehle, Mary Larew, Charles Major, Diane Madin, Janice Simmons-Welburn, Rick Spooner, Mettie Thomopulos, Jan Warren MEMBERS ABSENT: STAFF PRESENT: Heather Shank, Laz Pittman OTHERS PRESENT: 1. CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Madin called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. 2. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES: Commissioners reviewed the minutes. MOTION: Larew moved to approve the minutes from the December 21, 1999 meeting as submitted. Spooner seconded the motion. The motion was carried by a vote of 8-0. 3. ELECTION OF OFFICERS Martin stated that the floor was open for nominations for chair and vice- chair of the Commission. Major nominated Warren for chairperson. Simmons-Welburn seconded the nomination. Jehle nominated Thomopulos for vice-chairperson. Simmons-Welburn seconded the nomination. The Commission voted unanimously for Warren as Chairperson and Thomopulos as vice-chairperson. 4. RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL: There were none. Shank reported that the Commission's recommendation for a change in the definition of sexual orientation in the Iowa City Human Rights Ordinance would be on the Council's next agenda. 5. GUEST SPEAKER - JANELLE RETTIG The guest speaker was unable to attend and had not been rescheduled. Rettig told Shank that she had sent letters to everyone and had said all that she wished to say. Shank said that City staff Dilkes and Harken were working on a memo with an opinion about whether the Commission could have jurisdiction over the University of Iowa (UI). Iowa City Human Rights Commission January 25, 2000 - 7:00 p.m. Page 2 Martin asked about the question of possible jurisdiction over other state agencies in Iowa City. Shank said that she did not believe City staff were reviewing that because the University is so different from the state agencies. Shank said that she read one particular case that indicated a state agency would not be within the HRC's jurisdiction. Shank also said she learned that Iowa State University does not permit the Ames Human Rights Commission to perform any investigations regarding the University. In addition, Susan Mask from the Ul's Affirmative Action office said that she would be happy to attend a meeting if the Commission had questions after the opinion from Dilkes was complete. Warren said one reason the HRC wished to have Mask attend a meeting was because employees at the UI do not seem to know where to go when they have a complaint. Warren said that it may be simply a matter of finding out where commissioners should send people if they have questions. Shank said that she always directs UI employees who have a complaint about the UI to Susan Mask. Warren summarized that if a commissioner is questioned about where to go for assistance on an issue with the UI, the commissioner should refer the person to Susan Mask in Affirmative Action at the University (phone: 335-0705). Because the formal opinion from Dilkes was not yet complete, Warren asked that they defer this issue for further discussion until the March meeting. She said that one of the questions she had for Mask was whether Union members have different procedures from non-Union members for filing a complaint. Shank and Simmons-Welburn did not believe that the procedure was different for union members. 6. NEW BUSINESS: Human Rights Curriculum Shank said that she gave a speech to local teachers during their in-service day using materials from Minnesota's human rights curriculum. She said that she was advocating human rights education and discussed how it could be incorporated into the curriculum (such as in social work classes, language arts classes, or science classes). Shank asked teachers what the HRC could do to assist with this effort. The teachers suggested that the Commission write to legislators for more funding for schools. A principal suggested that the request be for more funding for programs rather than funds for human rights curriculum. Otherwise, teachers may be resentful and feel they are being mandated to add one more thing to their curriculum. Iowa City Human Rights Commission January 25, 2000 - 7:00 p.m. Page 3 Simmons-Welburn said that she wondered how the Commission could ensure that human rights would be on the agenda if they were to write letters requesting additional funds. Shank commented that she received a phone call from someone who said that most parents did not seem to be aware of any human rights education in the schools. However, Marian Coleman indicated that the schools do a lot. Simmons-Welburn said that she would like to hear specific information about the curriculum. Particularly because the multicultural diversity teams at the high schools are optional. Warren agreed that the HRC should ask about the intentional education on the issue for all students. Shank said that she also asked the teachers what the HRC could do starting now. She was advised to look at the after-school program. Commissioners commented that would only affect a select few. Warren said that the HRC should be looking at what textbooks the teachers are using and the general curriculum, rather than the supplemental/optional education. Commissioners agreed that it would be helpful to also invite the curriculum coordinator to the next meeting. Shank noted that she handed out two books to teachers that explain how to integrate human rights education into the existing curriculum. In addition, she has received permission to send out copies of a book on integrating the human rights curriculum. Because Jehle would not be in attendance at the February meeting, she requested that someone ask the guests whether they have seen the Teaching Tolerance packet. Letter from the Office of the Governor Commissioners received a letter discussing vacancies on state boards and commissions. Shank noted that there were no vacancies on the Civil Rights Commission; however, she copied the letter in case commissioners knew of people to refer for other appointments. Simon Estes and Edna Griffin induction Warren asked whether the HRC would be giving funds as requested in the letter. Shank said they normally only give contributions once a year or when cosponsoring an event. Shank said that if an individual commissioner wished to attend the banquet, the Human Rights Commission would pay for the ticket. Iowa City Human Rights Commission January 25, 2000 - 7:00 p.m. Page 4 Hate mail in email Shank said that she was forwarded a copy of hate mail received in an email by someone at the University. The individual wanted to let people know that this was happening. Shank said that the Southern Poverty Law Center is researching the incident. Attendance Chart Shank said that she included the attendance chart for commissioners' information. 7. OLD BUSINESS: Town Meeting/Forum Warren said that she asked Traevina Potter-Hall to serve on a panel about racial profiling. Potter-Hall said that she would. Potter-Hall, the wife of former HRC member Dereck Hall, was appointed by Governor Viisack to be the director of the Commission on the Status of African-Americans for the State of Iowa. Warren said that she thought Potter-Hall might also be a good speaker for the Human Rights Breakfast. Martin said that a local person usually speaks at the Breakfast and asked commissioners how they felt about having someone who is more active at the state level. Warren said that Potter-Hall just moved within the last six months and knows the community well. Jehle also suggested Paul Rettish and Janusz Bardach. Simmons-Welburn suggested Joe Knight. Shank said that the Breakfast would be held on October 26, 2000. Warren suggested that the Commission decide on a speaker for the Breakfast at the February meeting. Shank said that she would send out a list of possible candidates to commissioners. Warren said that the subcommittee would continue to work on the town meeting/forum at other times. Human Rights Commission Application Martin asked if the revision to the Human Rights application had been completed. The revisions had been made. Iowa City Human Rights Commission January 25, 2000 - 7:00 p.m. Page 5 Cultural Diversity Day Martin & Pittman previously volunteered to host the Human Rights table during the first shift. Spooner and Major will work at the Human Rights table during the second shift. People of Color Resolution Warren said that when this was first discussed, the Commission questioned the intention of this other than just passing a resolution. Warren said that it sounds as if the action that would come from the People of Color Resolution is that the laws, city documents, and ordinances would change. The words "people of color" would replace the word "minority." She said this is what the Commission would request of the City Council. Shank said that Dee Vanderhoef suggested that the HRC request that the Council apply this in any new ordinance. Vanderhoef also suggested changing the Human Rights ordinance first. Warren said that she did not really like that approach because a change to the Human Rights ordinance is not as meaningful as a change across the board. Shank said that she meant only to start with the Human Rights ordinance and move on from there. Pittman suggested that they also request this change for City documents that are being revised. Martin said that she did not think it was realistic to make changes to past documents. Thomopulos said that she had not been able to attend the previous two meetings and questioned why the Commission was taking this group's definition or interpretation of this as the authority on what "minority" actually means. Martin said that she did not think the HRC thought of this group as the authority, the commissioners in attendance just seemed to agree with the idea behind the resolution adopted by the Board of Directors of the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials (NBC- LEO). Simmons-Welburn noted that she had strongly agreed with adopting the resolution in a previous meeting. Thomopulos said that she always thought of the term "minority" as signifying a number. Simmons- Welburn said that the term is still loosely used to imply inferiority. Thomopulos said that she just wanted to get an understanding of how this was derived because there are so many politically correct labels. Thomopulos said that after hearing Simmons-Welburn's explanation, she agrees. Warren asked what types of documents would use the term "minority" most frequently. Shank said housing and employment documents would probably have the most, but federal documents require the term. Shank Iowa City Human Rights Commission January 25, 2000 - 7:00 p.m. Page 6 said that she spoke with Charles Yancey, the NBC-LEO president. He plans to speak with someone in the federal government about the resolution. She said that she would need to call him to find out what happened. Major said that he obviously would not want to change any federal documents if it could cause the City to lose federal funds. Commissioners agreed that of course, they would not have any authority to do so. However, Warren asked if Dilkes could offer an opinion on whether making this change to the language in the local Human Rights ordinance or other local ordinances could put the City in jeopardy of losing funds, cause delays, or cause confusion with documents from higher agencies. Shank said that she would check with Dilkes. 8. REPORTS OF COMMISSIONERS: Simmons-Welburn said there would be a speaker for MLK week on January 28th that she thought commissioners would be interested in. She said she would forward the specifics to Shank via eraall. Also, the Ul's Diversity Committee would be holding a forum on February 8th. She invited interested commissioners to attend. Martin said that she had intended to bring an article about hate mail in email and how this will become a larger problem. She also wanted everyone to be aware of an issue that came up with the HARRT team. She said if the Commission wishes to send a letter on behalf of everyone on the Commission, they cannot just take a telephone poll of each commissioner because it could be considered a violation of the open meetings law. Instead, one person would need to be appointed to make the decision, or the HRC would need to call a special meeting, or wait for a regular meeting. Shank said that a special meeting must be posted 24 hours prior to the meeting. Martin commented that in order for commissioners to receive the agenda by mail, Shank would need about 4 days. Shank said that the Commission could write a separate letter about the anti-immigration ads. Martin and Warren mentioned the delay and how the issue is no longer timely. Jehle said that she thought it was still worth speaking up about. Simmons-Welburn said that they could ask a commissioner to draft a letter on behalf of the HRC. Warren said that in the past when issues have come up, the Commission's approach has been to focus on the positive rather than criticizing the negative things. If a letter were written about the anti- immigration advertisements, the letter should have the tone of valuing diversity and valuing the contribution of immigrants. Martin said that she Iowa City Human Rights Commission January 25, 2000 - 7:00 p.m. Page 7 has a strong personal preference that the letter be careful about freedom of speech. She would not expect the newspapers and radio stations not to run the letters. Warren asked if the HRC really wanted to give this type of free reign to the letter writer when commissioners have concerns about the content. Martin suggested setting a special meeting. Simmons-Welburn suggested that a couple of people work on the letter. Warren said that because the advertisements are no longer running, the timing is not as critical. She suggested that the letter be written and reviewed at the next meeting. Thomopulos said that she did not see what effect the letter would have since it is so long after the fact and they would be using a positive spin. However, she would be fine with the decision to write a letter. Larew said she agreed that it would no longer be pertinent. Warren said that the HRC should only write letters to the editor for issues that they feel strongly about. Thomopulos said that she looked at the Commission as taking a leadership role, and in this case, the letter would be after the fact. Major stated that he wrote a letter to the Icon about the poor taste of newspapers running the anti-immigration ads and said that he would not mind if the Commission chose to write a letter. He said he noticed that during the Republican debates they decried Chinese human rights abuses but then take a different stand on gay rights in the military. He said that he does not think it is right that some of the Republicans look the other way with the military, and then treat human rights in China as a huge issue. Jehle reported that HARRT was very busy. Shank explained that the Education committee is going to determine a date for when the anti- defamation league representative is going to speak in Iowa City. Marian Coleman indicated that the schools will cosponsor the event and Shank said she assumed the HRC would also want to be involved. Jehle said that the next meeting of the Education committee for anyone th interested would be February 28 at 7 p.m. in 350 Lindquist Center. She also noted that she had minutes from HARRT's emergency meeting on January 13th about the anti-immigration ads. HARRT held a press conference on January 14th. Warren asked if HARRT had responded to the graffiti on campus. Larew said that HARRT met with the vice president of the UI students who is t the vice presidenrs ideas are wonderful. He was discussing having children paint murals stressing diversity in the hope that it would be more difficult to graffiti. Larew added she was told that there is a certain type of epoxy that could be sprayed over the painting so that it could not be destroyed. Iowa City Human Rights Commission January 25, 2000 - 7:00 p.m. Page 8 Jehle also said that she would be gone for the February and March meetings. Spooner asked how they distinguish between free speech and a hate crime when something like this happens. Shank said that graffiti on public property is vandalism and is against the law. A hate crime is when an act is directed at a particular person. Graffiti in a tunnel about a particular group is not necessarily directed at one person it is general hate speech. Therefore, it is not a hate crime. Spooner asked if there was a formal process for HARRT in determining and moving forward on a hate act. Jehle and Larew said there is not. Warren said that the HRC does not deal with hate crimes or hate acts. Jehle said Spooner's question would be a good question for HARRT. Jehle said that HARRT stays abreast of what is going on, but if something is being addressed in another way, HARRT will not necessarily have to take action. Larew said that she looks at hate acts that HARRT will take action on as something that is generally offensive to the whole community. Larew said that she had planned to bring an advertisement from the Des Moines Register that was placed by a group of nuns. The ad was in response to the anti-immigration ads and pointed out how different groups had contributed to society. She said that she would like to see the HRC publish a similar type of ad when an issue like this arises. Thomopulos did not have a report. Warren brought along an ad that said, "No one is born hating" advertising an event in Cedar Rapids. Supporters of the ad included schools, churches, individuals, etc. She thought this was something the HRC could think about for the Iowa City community. She said perhaps the Commission could spearhead or partner with others on something like this in the future. 9. STATUS OF CASES: Martin said that she performed a rough estimate of where all of the cases are in the process. Her estimate included approximately five cases in legal and one with a team. Pittman said that she is finishing a lot of investigations, but a lot of transcripts need to be completed. Shank said that they have a new transcriber, but the person is only allowed to work 17 ¼ hours per week. Pittman noted they were without a transcriber for a couple of months. Shank said that a new student named Elizabeth Harken is now working with them as well. Shank also noted that the last case on the list was going from a pre-determination settlement to a mediation. Iowa City Human Rights Commission January 25, 2000 - 7:00 p.m. Page 9 Pittman said a conciliation would be held March 23rd. She asked that anyone who had a conflict with that date let her know. 10. ADJOURNMENT: Martin moved to adjourn the meeting. Larew seconded the motion. The motion was carried and the meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m. HRC012500.doc IOWA CITY PUBLIC ART ADVISORY COMMITTEE THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 2000, 3:30 PM IOWA CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS MEMBERS PRESENT: Nancy Purington, Rick Fosse, Emily Vermillion, Sandra Hudson, Terry Trueblood, Gary Nagle . MEMBERS ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: Karin Franklin OTHERS PRESENT: None CALLTO ORDER Purington called the meeting to order at 3:33 P.M. PUBLIC DISCUSSION OF ANY ITEM NOT ON THE AGENDA None CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES OF THE DECEMBER 2 MEETING: Fosse moved to approve the minutes of December 2 with a second made by Hudson. The minutes were approved by unanimous consent. DISCUSSION OF IOWA AVENUE LITERARY WALK Franklin began by reminding the committee that the project will focus on the 200 and 100 blocks of Iowa Avenue as this will allow the time needed to put the walk together before construction begins. This project could involve a total of six block faces between the 100 and 300 blocks of Iowa Avenue. Hudson inquired if the uneven sidewalks will meet Iowa safety codes. Fosse said the standard for replacement of sidewalk now is three-quarters of an inch, but he would not recommend something with that much relief. Nagle said that the walk does need to meet the ADA standards of one-half inch. Purington noted that she has been concerned with too many artists, but she would be comfortable with each artist having a domain over a block. Nagle then said he thought there should be one artist who will develop a theme to give some continuity to the area; then individual artists could come in and do their work in the area designated to them. Hudson noted that there is a consultant who does this type of work. He has done several walks in Cambridge, MA. and other projects as well. Vermillion said she felt that artists could be selected who would be adaptable to each other. Their work would be complimentary to each other. Purington added that the pavement pattern could be the link between the three blocks that would tie the walk together. Franklin clarified that the patterned street pavement would be at the 100 block between Clinton and Dubuque and at the intersection of Dubuque and Linn Streets. Iowa City Public Art Advisory Committee Minutes January 6, 2000 Page 2 Franklin noted that the plan needs to be in place before construction begins due to the expense of making changes after the pavement has been put in place. Fosse said the 300 block will be started this summer. The 200 and 100 blocks will be done at the same time in another season. Franklin went on to say that as originally conceived the design would be laid out, but additions could be added from time to time as authors were recognized. Fosse added that perhaps a way to allow space for the work would be to have 4'x 4' pre-cast panels that could be lifted out and placed when the art is ready. The meandering artwork would have to be cast at the time the pavement is laid. Hudson commented that she feels that there definitely needs to be a theme. In Boston there was a theme that was associated with the community around it. There was a lot of neighborhood input that related to how the neighborhood perceived themselves. There could be a theme, but great diversity in the execution of the art with different artists and medium of art. Nagle said he felt very strongly that there needs to be continuity within the six blocks. Franklin presented a list of artists and other sources whose work appears to be appropriate for the literary walk. The committee reviewed the slides submitted as well as other sources available. They made their choices of artists to send out invitations asking them to submit their ideas on how to determine the theme and approach the project. The list of slides reviewed was as follows: John Anderson-Bricker Elizabeth Grajales Carolyn Braaksma Barbara Grygutis Marlo Bartels Jim Hirshfield Paul Benson Gregg Lefevre Andrea Myklebust & Stanton Sears Philip Rickey Claire Satin Robert Sunderman Mark Tomlinson Julio Teich Shirley Wyrick Steven Woodard Benson Shaw The other sources reviewed were as follows: Gordon Young (UK; "The Fish Trail", BCA report) Harriet Bart (Catt Hall, BCA report) Jack Mackie (Seattle; Dancer Series) Harri Aalto (Iowa; Architect's Sourcebook 14) Scott Parsons (Colorado: Architect's Sourcebook 14) The committee chose the following artists to send an invitation: Carolyn Braaksma, Mark Tomlinson, Barbara Grygutis, Jim Hirshfield, Gregg Lefevre, Robert Sunderman, Jack Mackie and Harri Aalto. (Ed. Note: Subsequently it was determined that Steven Woodward and not Robert Sunderman was appropriate for this project). It was decided that twenty authors would be selected to initially begin the project. The author selection committee suggestions were as follows: Kevin Hanick Susan Craig Paul at Prairie Lights Iowa City Public Art Advisory Committee Minutes January 6, 2000 Page 3 Connie Brothers Director from Iowa Women's Archives at U of I Media Specialist from Iowa City School District Purington volunteered to represent the committee for the author selections as well. Franklin will make the contacts for the author selection committee and set up a meeting time. DISCUSSION OF RELOCATION OF GUTHEINZ FOUNTAIN Franklin began by saying that the City Council would be looking for further direction regarding the fountain. She reminded the committee that they had made the recommendation to not locate the fountain at the water plant and that it was the sense of the committee to not re-install it at all. However, the council wishes to have it installed. Fosse then noted that the issue that was influencing him previously was a point that Hudson brought up; if $100K was going to be spent on a new acquisition would this piece be the choice at this price. Hudson said this idea is what determined her vote. Franklin said the council would like to have the committee's advice on where to place the piece. Fosse then said that Chauncey-Swan is the best place in his opinion. Franklin suggested putting it on a future agenda for discussion. OTHER BUSINESS Franklin noted that a special meeting will need to take place for the pedestrian mall sculptures. She gave the committee members a packet to review and at the future meeting a list of semi- finalists will need to be determined for the five sculpture pads. The timeframe will also need to be determined based on the availability of funds. The meeting was set for January 20, 2000, from 3-5PM. The next regular meeting will be February 3, 2000. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 5:15 PM. Minutes submitted by Le Ann Dunne-Tyson. ppddir/min/artl -6-O0.doc MINUTES Agenda item 3A IOWA CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES REGULAR MEETING - December 16, 1999 THURSDAY, - 5:00 PM Members Present: Winston Barclay, Linda Dellsperger, Mary McMurray, Mark Martin, Lisa Parker, Linda Prybil, Jesse Singerman, Jim Swaim Members Absent: Shaner Magalh~es Staff Present: Barbara Black, Maeve Clark, Susan Craig, Larry Eckholt, Debb Green, Heidi Lauritzen, Kara Logsden, Martha Lubaroff, Liz Nichols Others: Mel Sunshine, Gary Sanders CALL TO ORDER: President Martin called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. Public Discussion: Mel Sunshine addressed the board regarding the construction of a new library downtown. It has been his experience that the average person does not understand the issues. He feels the Press Citizen continues to put out information that is misleading to the public. People have not gotten the real answers to questions about a joint facility with Kirkwood. Sunshine feels that information that might clarify the areas of concerns like staff, salaries, etc. required for a branch needs to be gotten out as soon as possible. Sunshine feels there has been damage and we need damage control. Martin replied that he is in agreement and although we do put out information, he believes that somehow the information that gets out from us is not picked up. We do want to respond in a comprehensive and positive manner. The Board's response should dovetail with whatever a referendum committee might prepare. Singerman asked Sunshine for suggestions. She described the many interviews, mailings, focus groups, tours we've done. Sunshine suggested being very explicit about the costs of staff for a branch, including benefits. He suggested that maybe the Friends could take out a large ad and write editorials. Gary Sanders also addressed the Board. His advice was to keep information simple and attract people at a very basic level. He suggested getting together with the editorial boards of all papers, inviting them to sessions here, taking them to Sycamore Mall or other sites that keep getting mentioned as branches. He suggests inviting the people who write letters advocating branches to the meeting. Be ready with answers as to why this isn't feasible. Campaign needs to get started early in the year. Martin expressed his appreciation for their attendance at our meeting, and acknowledged that we have a lot of work to do. ICPL BOARD OF TRUSTEES AGENDA ITEM 3A DECEMBER 16, 1999 PAGE 2 APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Motion to approve minutes of special meeting of November 15. Dellsperger/Prybil Motion to approve minutes of regular meeting of November 18 as corrected. Parker/McMurray UNFINISHED BUSINESS Building Project: Architects came on Tuesday, December 14, with several different concepts. Craig described the second floor schematic design; pointed the differences in each design and how they were laid out. She described the first floor scheme. Reported that the staff reached consensus rather quickly. Architects returned to Milwaukee where they are working on much finer details as far as layout is concerned. They will send us back proposals and we will deal with them during the next two weeks by phone and fax and then they will return to Iowa City in two weeks. In response to a question, Craig responded that the public lounge will be on the second floor. Quick internet terminals will be on the first floor and co-mingled with catalog machines. These are intended for quick, drop in use of Internet; such as checking e-mail; additional computers will be on the second floor. The meeting room space will be increased by 600 sq. feet. The ICN Room is near the Meeting Rooms so that it could be used if necessary to allow some flexibility and expandability. The architects are tentatively scheduled to be here Monday, February 14 to make a presentation to Council. If Council likes the plan they could formally vote the next night on a resolution for a referendum. A discussion then followed about a schedule we might prefer for a referendum. Dellsperger spoke for having it with a regular election and not a special election in May. We have much work to do to dispel some of the myths that have come up. A suggestion was made to hire a public relations or marketing consultant. Craig replied that we cannot hire a public relations firm with public funds in order to advocate a position on a vote. Barclay feels that we can get the branch message out. Board asked about ads about branch libraries. Can we do that? Can we use gift funds? Craig thinks that if we are not in the middle of a campaign and if we have factual statements to make about branch libraries; and what they cost, we can do it. We do need to set up a meeting with the Press Citizen Editorial Board. Parker thinks we need to push for an early referendum date because it may likely be pushed back anyway. Martin passed around a statement that he received from concerned citizens indicating their perceived need for branches. Martin feels that there are issues that we need to dispel like myths about Kirkwood. A joint statement from Kirkwood and Library Board to dispel this myth would be helpful. We also need to listen to the people who favor branches. There is still the possibility of a bookmobile. Branches are in our long-range plans, after we expand this building. Singerman recommends pursuing a long-range plan for branches once the 2000 census figures come in. We need to diffuse the notion of branches as a solution now. We need to present an open and available countenance to the public. Maybe a Public Relations firm to help us decide how to ICPL BOARD OF TRUSTEES AGENDA ITEM 3A DECEMBER 16, 1999 PAGE 3 present information. A task force or sub committee to respond quickly to some of what is printed in the paper was suggested. Not responding at all is worse than feeling that we are defensive. Maybe a meeting with a group of editors will be a positive step. Barclay, Swaim, Dellsperger volunteered to serve on a Communications committee with Parker as an ad-hoc member. The charge would be to pursue some contact with editorial boards of newspapers. Eckholt and Craig will work on some type of informational packet to have available at the library and put on the web. We need to have agreement about what we say when approached by press, etc. Bottom line is a simple message backed up by lots of information. Craig questioned whether or not we wanted to have a special meeting in January to hear back from the new committee. A special meeting was scheduled for January 13 and then the regular meeting on the 27th' Construction Management: Craig provided some history. In 1996, the Westward he project was seen as very complex type of construction; moving staff around, and trying to run a library during the process. We brought in a construction manager three years ago because of these concerns. Project becomes more expensive due to working around people who are in the building. Craig consulted with the City's Director of Public Works who felt it was a good idea. Architects seemed to think it was a good idea. CPMI, the former firm we used, came to meet with architects on Tuesday. Craig was prepared to recommend that the Board approve the document to engage their services during the pre-schematic design phase. Since the initial contact, a local construction firm has been contacting people to say that we should not work with a construction manager. There has been some contact with board members regarding the qualifications of CPMI specifically and construction management in general. There is some discussion about revisiting the bid process for a construction management firm. Singerman recommended that we bid it again. If Board feels discomfort with CPMI it is not appropriate to rush a decision. Dellsperger asked what the City does when they build large projects. Craig replied that they have a Public Works Department who oversees the project. For some projects the city architect is used. The City plans to hire two consultants to supervise the Water Plant construction. Dellsperger asked if we could use City staff. Craig will ask about that. Recommendation is that we hire a construction management person to oversee what the architect is doing. Three years ago, we sent Requests for Proposals to five construction management companies. Singerman asked how soon we need to hire someone to do this pre-schematic phase. Craig said we would have to hire someone by early January. Singerman felt it is difficult to make a decision tonight since we need more information. Why choose a construction management firm to oversee the project? We need to have someone who will protect our interest. Craig called CPMI since we had worked with them before. It would be acceptable to go back and continue a relationship. She sees two reasonable alternatives. One is to not use a construction management firm at this time; the other is to issue an RFP to solicit bids from construction management firms to work with architects. Some follow-up is needed on CPMI. Craig will talk to Engberg about services we need and ask for recommendations about who might provide that assistance. Singerman thinks we need more information about why we need to do this. It would be foolish of us to make a decision until we have more information. Let's get the information to the Building Committee and have them present at a Board meeting. We have to be flexible. Gather information; decide ICPL BOARD OF TRUSTEES AGENDA ITEM 3A DECEMBER 16, 1999 PAGE 4 what we need, checks references and establish criteria to use to select a firm. Singerman recommends that the Building Committee look at the process we're going through with City Council, architects etc. in order to provide some type of overview that will avoid surprises. NEW BUSINESS Policy Review: Regular review of the Display Policy. Approved unanimously after a motion by Singerman/Dellsperger. Policy Review: Bulletin Board: Some small changes are recommended. Clarification of statement about posters that say we post for events that are sponsored by or benefit non-profit organizations and a statement clarifying the size of the poster and location of the event. A motion to approve was made and seconded by Singerman/McMurray. 804.2 Pamphlet Giveaways. There was a question regarding the statement concerning pamphlets that we might reject. There was some discussion about changing the word "reject" to "remove". Singerman requested that something be drafted to deal with an action that staff has taken in accordance to a policy that would allow for appeal. A separate policy will be drafted to indicate that there are steps to appeal a decision. All approve. Spelling Bee Team: A request was made to the Board to allocate $300 to sponsor the Library's team. Asked for volunteers. Dellsperger/Prybil moved approval. Passed unanimously. STAFF REPORTS The reception for Ellen Buchanan was a successful event. Approximately forty three of the people she interviewed attended as well as their companions and their guests. ICPL hosted a legislative reception this week for Johnson County state legislators and supervisors and Library Board members and staff representing county public libraries. Follow-up on Personnel Policies from November has not been completed. Inservice Day was held last Friday, 12/10. A more comprehensive report will come next month. Development Office report was in the packet. Reminder of days closed for holidays. PRESIDENT'S REPORT ICPL BOARD OF TRUSTEES AGENDA ITEM 3A DECEMBER 16, 1999 PAGE S Martin reported a problem he had getting into the catalog from home. When he reported it, the system was re-booted and it worked fine. Martin reminded Board to let Systems people know if they had problems. Martin has received a communication from Bob RoeIf and Bob Elliott regarding questions about branch libraries. He hopes to set up a meeting with the Building Committee and these two men to discuss the issues. ANNOUNCEMENT FROM MEMBERS Dellsperger encouraged all members of Board to consider a contribution to the Friends Foundation. COMMUNICATIONS Letter from Katherine Prescher DISBURSEMENTS Review VISA expenditures. Not available at this meeting Approve disbursements for November 1999. Parker/McMurray. Unanimous SET AGENDA ORDER FOR JANUARY MEETING · Task group with Swaim, Dellsperger, Barclay and Parker as ad hoc to work on information dissemination · Building committee will meet with the two gentlemen that drafted the statement favoring branches. · Craig to follow up on construction management issues. ADJOURNMENT: Adjourned at 6:45 p.m. Minutes taken and transcribed by Martha Lubaroff IOWA CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES SPECIAL MEETING 5:00 PM - JANUARY 13, 2000 SECOND FLOOR CONFERENCE ROOM Present: .- BarClay~ Dellsp~rger,:-McMfftr~y, Magalh~es, Martin, Parker, Prybil, , :,', ::i~ . ~ Others Present: 'Adam Lowenstein, Irvin Pfab, Kathryn Ratliffe, Gary Sanders Staff Present: Black, Clark, Craig, Eckholt, Lauritzen, Logsden, Lubaroff, Nichols Meeting was called to order at 5:07 p.m. 1. OLD BUSINESS A. Building Project Craig spoke about her memo regarding construction management and building related items, which was included in the Board packet. She met with Chuck Schmadeke and Rick Fosse from Public Works who felt that consideration should be given to using construction management during a building phase; although they did not feel it was critical to bring someone on board at this point. This plan would give us time to decide how we want to deal with the issue of construction management. Craig's recommendation is that we wait until a referendum passes and consider construction management at that time. In response to a question, Craig said that she knew there were construction management firms in Iowa. Once the referendum passes, we will move into construction drawings and design, which could be an appropriate time to begin that process which would then continue during the construction process. Design Work: The architects will be here next Wednesday between 3-5 p.m. to meet with Library staff, Building committee and City staff. They will make a presentation to City Council on February 14 during an informal session. There was some discussion regarding the amount of space designated to Children' s area. The square footage has been increased from the original building program. Prybil asked about the possibility of prohibiting smoking near the entry space to the lobby. Craig said that this had come up before and she will check with the City Attorney about whether we can prohibit smoking within a certain number of feet from the lobby doors. Craig asked whether Trustees want to hold a special meeting prior to the architects meeting with City Council on the 14th? One possibility is to hold a 4:00 p.m. meeting prior to the City Council meeting. Board requested that the special meeting be set and that the meeting with Council be a joint meeting so that they could interact with Council. IOWA CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY SPECIAL BOARD MEETING JANUARY 13, 2000 AGENDA ITEM 3-A, page 2 Report from Building Committee on meeting with Bob Roelf and Bob Elliott. They are strong proponents for a branch library and represent citizens who do not want to come downtown. The committee agreed in theory with their desire to have conversations that would begin a process to look at options for branches. The Board wants to make an effort to work with these people and begin to develop a multi-year plan to move toward the subject of branches. Recommendation is that a small group from the Board meet with these gentlemen to discuss a process that would result in the development of a multi-year plan. It was stated that City Council would have to be supportive of such a process. These two men said they were prepared to oppose any plan for downtown expansion unless there was a plan for branch libraries. Such a plan should explore the future of library service in this community. Swaim asked if Board/staff would be interested in visiting the Westdale branch of Cedar Rapids Public Library. His impression is that it is less than what we've talked about. It is a small space and a small collection staffed with only two people. Craig was asked contact Cedar Rapids Public Library to get operating costs. Barclay said it really was a reading room, mostly popular fiction. It could be something to think about several years down the road. One problem that we are dealing with is the perception that this is an either/or position. The Board feels that the next step is downtown expansion and then branches. Singeman pointed out that we need Council's cooperation before we think about a branch. It is ultimately Council's decision not ours. So far it has been made clear to the Board that Council would not support a branch. Swaim suggested that this may be the time that the Building Committee discontinue meeting with concerned citizens and perhaps one or two of the Trustees continue this process for them. The purpose of the building committee is to remain focused on the downtown project. Martin believes that a few Board members could begin discussions about remote services. Craig told the Board a previously scheduled report on bookmobile service was already scheduled for the regular January meeting and offered to add information about a Reading Room type branch. Magalh~es gave his report concerning his conversations with the marketing Manager of Old Capitol Town Center. His initial understanding, after talking with her previously, was that Madison Realty was not willing to sell any space. One of the partners of Madison Realty called him to say that they were not interested in having the library use any of the JC Penney space. Days later he called Magalh~es back to say that after thinking about it, felt it would be great to pursue a library presence in the mall. He realized that City Council had already chosen a particular option but if there was any way this could go further he would throw in his support. They would keep space on the 1 st floor but would sell us basement, 2nd floor and air fights. During that conversation he was very firm about the first floor being reserved for a retail occupant. In response to a communication from Madison Realty to the City manager, Atkins was clear that it was a Council policy decision to move forward with westward expansion and although his offer was attractive, we were not going to pursue it. It is important to note for the record that the offer includes only the basement and 2nd floor. It will stop a lot of speculation. As the building is currently constructed, the 2nd floor could not support book stacks. One would have to go back to the IOWA CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY SPECIAL BOARD MEETING JANUARY 13, 2000 AGENDA ITEM 3-A, page 3 very expensive type of reinforcement that we looked at earlier for this present building. Our quandary is that we have had to spend too much time putting some of these ideas to rest. We cannot ignore what people are saying and we need to respond but we cannot allow the ideas to derail us. Martin reported on a meeting that he and Craig had with Dr. Norm Nielsen, President of Kirkwood, to discuss the "Kirkwood" option. They got clear confirmation from Nielsen that at this point they are not interested in expanding their current library operation. They are embarking on a facilities expansion plan and library-wise they are satisfied with the addition of some study space. He wants to be open to community initiatives but at this time has no budget to add library space or staff. He indicated that if anyone had a question they could call him directly. He pointed out, as a matter of information, that he investigated buying Randalls and discovered the owners would not sell them parking places but would only lease them. The Kirkwood option has now been put to rest. It would be wise to draft something and get it to Council. Craig said that she would write a memo requesting a joint meeting on the 14th when the architects are present and in the course of the memo, inform Council of our conversation with Nielsen. Magalhaes suggested including information concerning Penney's desire to only offer the basement and 2nd floor. Pfab remarked that we needed to get as much information out to the public as quickly as possible. Communications Group: They have communicated by e-mail and will be scheduling a meeting to discuss process that would allow for immediate response to issues raised in letters to the editor. Parker passed around a draft of a letter that she wrote. She'll add the information about the 2nd floor and basement of Penney's and then send it to the paper. Committee will meet to put together a rapid response plan as well as general information about our space needs. Barclay asked about the legal aspect of what they can do as an arm of the Board without overstepping bounds. Craig responded that we need to remain in an informational mode; advocacy for a bond referendum has to be done on one's own without the direction of the Board or use of public resources. Board talked about other public forums and Singerman reminded the Board about her offer to schedule office hours. Martin, Swaim, Singerman and Parker are willing to do that. The Committee will address news releases, schedule meetings with editorial boards, and create public forums. FY01 Budget Request The budget hearing on January 25 is an oppommity for Council to meet with other boards, commissions and agencies. A presentation can be made to Council. What we know about our budget is that it will go to Council as we presented it to the manager. Included in the packet was the page from the City's proposed financial plan, which includes the budget, balanced three years out. Included was an increase for personnel expenses, as a placeholder, related to library expansion in FY2003 for $100,000. Craig was very pleased the because this demonstrates that the City can accommodate some increased operating costs of an expanded library. Martin asked for suggestions regarding what he might include in his IOWA CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY SPECIAL BOARD MEETING JANUARY 13, 2000 AGENDA ITEM 3-A, page 4 presentation. Singerman suggested that this might be a good time to talk about a bigger picture of providing library services over the next few years. Craig thinks something should be said about what a positive statement it is to see money set-aside for projected library costs. ADJOURNMENT Meeting was adjourned at 6:15 p.m. Minutes taken and transcribed by Martha Lubaroff MINUTES PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION JANUARY 12, 2000 MEMBERS PRESENT: Barbara Endel, Craig Gustaveson, Bruce Maurer, James Moxley, Matt Pacha, Rex Pruess, Al Stroh, Kathy Wallace MEMBERS ABSENT: Toni Cilek STAFF PRESENT: Mike Moran, Terry Robinson, Terry Trueblood GUESTS: Tony Malkusak, Jim Waiters FORMAL ACTION TAKEN Moved by Pruess, seconded by Manrer, to approve the December 8, 1999 minutes as written. Unanimous. Moved by Stroh, seconded by Gustaveson, to support staff's recommendation and not accept Outlot T in the Windsor Ridge, Part 15, subdivision. Unanimous. Moved by Endel, seconded by Stroh, to approve the Recreation Division Fees and Charges Proposed for FY2001 and Tentative Proposals for FY02 and 03. Unanimous. Pacha formally welcomed the new Commission member, James Moxley. OAKLAND CEMETERY/HICKORY HILL LAND Trueblood referred to a memo from the City Attorney to the City Council regarding preparation of a resolution to dedicate 30 acres of the Gaulocher property to park use and designate the remaining six acres of the ten acres eannarked for cemetery expansion for park use until such time as it is needed for cemetery use. She requested confirmation that the direction of the current Council with respect to how much acreage will be dedicated is the same as the last, so a legal description can be prepared accordingly. Trueblood asked the Commission if they would like to send forth a recommendation to the City Council with regard to this issue. Gustaveson questioned possible litigation against the City by the Gaulocher heirs if the City proceeded as stated. Trueblood indicated it was possible, but didn't know how likely it might be. Pruess referred to the November 29th letter sent by the Commission to the City Council setting out the action taken by the Commission on September 18, 1996 wherein the Commission voted against expanding the cemetery into the adjacent parkland. After discussion, the Commission did not feel it was necessary to take any further action. Gustaveson stated he did not agree with the previous Commission action, but would respect and stand by their decision. NOS: WINDSOR RIDGE, PART 15 Trueblood noted the location of Outlot T which the developer is proposing for open space and the Northeast District Plan illustration of "Lindemann Square" which is to the north along Lower West Branch Road. The Plm~ning and Zoning staff does not recommend acceptance of Outlot T, with priority in terms of required neighborhood open space being placed on acquiring land necessary for the creation of Lindemann Square. Moved by Stroh, seconded by Gustaveson, to support staffs recommendation and not accept Ou~ot T in the Windsor Ridge, Part 15, subdivision. Unanimous. Endel asked that the developer be made aware of the City's interest in acquiring land for the creation of Lindemann Square in future development of this area. Parks and Recreation Commission January 12, 2000 Page 2 of 3 POSSIBLE LAND SALE/MESQUAKIE PARK Trueblood reported there was not enough information at this time to take action on an offer to purchase property, which may be parkland, and the item was deferred. PROPOSED RECREATION DIVISION FY01 FEES AND CHARGES Trueblood noted some corrections had been made to the draf~ of the Recreation Division Fees and Charges Proposed for FY2001, which resulted in 41.54 percent of the division's budget being supported by non- property tax revenue. Moved by Endel, seconded by Stroh, to approve the Recreation Division Fees and Charges Proposed for FY2001 and Tentative Proposals for FY02 and 03. Unanimous. Trueblood stated final action to approve it would be taken by the City Council. FY01 BUDGET AND CIP REQUESTS Trueblood reviewed the FY2001 operating budget summary for each division of the Parks and Recreation Department. The Commission as a whole expressed concern the Natural Areas Manager position was not being recommended for approval and, in particular, with the increase in parkland inventory and trails without a like increase in personnel. Trueblood noted it is often difficult to get new permanent employees unless their salary is paid from a funding source other than the General Fund. Maurer referred to a statement in the newspaper that the City was concerned with the amount of parkland it was accepting and the need to develop a policy reducing the amount of parkland accepted. He stated in order to do this the City would have to abandon the Neighborhood Open Space ordinance. Trueblood said this was not necessarily the case in that land could be banked until such time as the City could properly develop and maintain it, one example being Hunters Run. Trueblood also noted that in the last ten years the bulk of the increase in parkland inventory has not been a result of the Neighborhood Open Space ordinance, referring to the Kickers Soccer Park, Waterworks Park and the Peninsula Parkland. Stroh noted the outcome would be compromising our ability to maintain parkland. Maurer was concerned with the perception that the City should stop increasing parkland. Endel stated it was disappointing to the time, process and element in acquiring parkland, with the last step missing in not being able to maintain it. Concern was also expressed about the half-time Recreation Program Supervisor not being funded, as this position is needed to expand and enhance programming for the youth of the community. Trueblood stated the joint meeting with the City Council and Boards and Commissions is set for 7 p.m., January 25, and this would be an opportunity for the Commission to express their concerns. Pacha noted he had a conflict; Pruess, Maurer and Gustaveson indicated they would be interested in attending this meeting. Pruess asked if staff was comfortable with the amount of funding for the City Park amusement ride enhancements, which is being reduced from $250,000 to $150,000. Trueblood stated it simply means plans could not be carried out in their entirety; he further indicated staff will be meeting with community groups to determine future plans for the operation of the rides. Pacha suggested that staff look at the dollar impact of contracting mowing vs. in-house. Trueblood stated some money has been allocated for contracting, with staff looking into contracting the mowing along Highway 6 to enable staff to devote more time to city parks instead of the state right-of-way. They will also be looking into smaller contracts with neighborhood residents to mow smaller parks. Parks and Recreation Commission January 12, 2000 Page 3 of 3 With respect to the capital improvement projects, Trueblood reported he is on the CIP committee and meetings have begun with the City Council to discuss the various projects. He noted the Commission's number 2 priority, Willow Creek Trail, Phase III, is not budgeted until beyond FY04. This is due to airport expansion plans, which will affect the route of the proposed trail and the $515,000 estimate to get under Highway 1. The Commission's number 3 priority, Iowa River Trail: West Bank-Benton to Sturgis Ferry and Pedestrian Bridge to Napoleon Park, is also affected by the airport expansion plans. The airport will be extending its landing zone and does not want a trail through Sturgis Ferry Park. Pruess stated he did not understand the airport's stance, noting the four-lane highway. Also, he noted bicyclists would have to use the highway and there have already been accidents. FEBRUARY COMMISSION MEETING Pacha indicated he had a conflict on Wednesday, February 9 and asked if the meeting could be rescheduled for either Tuesday the 8th or Thursday the 10th. After discussion, the meeting was rescheduled for 5:00 p.m., Tuesday, February 8, at the Recreation Center. A future meeting will be held at the new park maintenance facility. CHAIR'S REPORT Pacha recognized the letter from Jim Waiters responding to the January 3 Press-Citizen guest opinion by Richard Dolezal regarding Hickory Hill Park and accessibility. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:30 p.m. MINUTES (Preliminary - not approved) PARKS AND RECREATION COMIVIISSION FEBRUARY 8, 2000 MEMBERS PRESENT: Craig Gustaveson (arrived 6:15 p.m.), Bruce Maurer, James Moxley, Matt Pacha, Rex Pruess, A1 Stroh MEMBERS ABSENT: Toni Cilek, Barbara Endel, Kathy Wallace STAFF PRESENT: Terry Trueblood GUESTS: Tom Dunbar, Margaret MacDonald FORMAL ACTION TAKEN Moved by Pruess, seconded by Maurer, to approve the January 12, 1999 minutes as written. Unanimous. Moved by Maurer, seconded by Stroh, to recommend Terrell Mill Park as the site for the proposed skate park. Unanimous. SKATE PARK Consultant Tom Dunbar presented the proposed skate park concepts for the three locations selected by the steering committee - Terrell Mill, City Park, Mercer. He stated the steering committee was a good representation of skaters and interested parties, who attended five workshops to develop the design and evaluate sites. The criterion used to select locations was community, expansion, placement, parking, and safety. Dunbar stated some indoor sites were identified, but the time frame did not allow the ability to look at them, with Trueblood noting the budget also as a factor. After the sites were ranked according to a weighted system, the top six sites were Willow Creek Park, Happy Hollow Park, Mercer Park, Oak Grove Park, City Park, and Terrell Mill. Workshop participants narrowed the top six sites to three by eliminating Willow Creek, Happy Hollow, and Oak Grove. They felt Mercer, City Park and Ten'ell Mill had the best bus/bike route access, parking, and space for expansion, with Terrell Mill eventually chosen as the best site location due to excellent year-round access, size and away from a residential area. City Park was their second choice and Mercer Park their third. Dunbar noted that some individuals indicated the City Council may not want a skate park in Terrell Mill Park due to its "entryway" status. He stated the proposed location is adjacent to the existing shelter, which is a considerable distance from the street. He also noted that landscaping could be developed to obstruct the view, which would not deter from policing and security. Pruess noted Terrell Mill lacked available nearby supervision, restroom facilities and telephones. Trueblood stated at this point on site supervision is not planned, but the Police Department and staff would make periodic inspections. He also stated there is a telephone in the park near Taft Speedway, but likely a phone closer to the skate park would be installed. He stated staff brought up the issue of restrooms and concessions to workshop attendees. They felt it was not an issue, in that they could bring their own food and beverages, and a porta-potty could easily be placed in the park. Dunbar addressed the injury concern, noting the injury rate in skating is lower than organized sports. He noted incidents are lower and severity higher, but the sport today is safer than it has ever been. Pacha asked if fencing was included; Dunbar indicated it was not but could be added. Pacha indicated he did not feel the skate park would be an eyesore in Terrell Mill Park, and felt it would be nice and inviting in a park that is not being heavily utilized. Maurer felt Terrell Mill was the best site, which would give the park an identity and more usage. He felt any concerns with visibility from the street could be eliminated with proper landscaping. Stroh agreed with Maurer, and added the skate park would be like a Parks and Recreation Commission February 8, 2000 Page 2 of 3 piece of art in itself. Pruess felt it was important to have indirect supervision, similar to that given by the half-time program supervisor presently at Mercer/Scanlon. Trueblood noted that if this position becomes full time in the future, pan of his/her responsibilities would be skate park management. He also reported that the current program supervisor is resigning to take a full time job. Pruess noted the skate park in Terrell Mill Park could be an enhancement. With plans to extend the trail to the Coralville Reservoir, he could envision the skate park being a regional attraction, a place to stop and observe the skaters, something that the community should take pride in and not be ashamed of. Moxley favored Terrell Mill Park, but asked if the youth would feel cut off from their other friends who frequent City Park. Dunbar stated the youth have stated their skating friends would be with them. Moxley asked what the skate park's dominant color would be; Dunbar indicated gray. He asked if it was possible to use colored concrete. Dunbar stated colored concrete is not used much in the state due expense and maintenance issues. Trueblood reported Enders first choice was Terrell Mill Park, with Mercer Park being her second. (Gustaveson did not join the meeting until 6:15 p.m., at which time he indicated Terrell Mill Park as his number one site.) With respect to City Park, reasons expressed by various commissioners against this site were it is too congested, could be dangerous with youth running across the train tracks and roadway to get to the concession stands, possible interference with performances at Shakespeare Riverside Theatre, and the large number of family and company picnics. With respect to Mercer Park, the main reason expressed was the skate park's proximity to family residences. Possible funding sources, such as TEA 2 1, Land and Water Conservation and Recreation Infrastructure were briefly discussed. Dunbar indicated he could assist with filing a TEA 2 1 application. Margaret MacDonald expressed concerns that if the skate park were located in Terrell Mill Park the youth would not have anyone to demonstrate to, the problem with loud music is being transferred to her neighborhood, lack of available parking, concessions and restrooms, safety, and lack of supervision. She preferred the skate park to be privately owned. Moved by Maurer, seconded by Stroh, to recommend Terrell Mill Park as the site for the proposed skate park. Unanimous. Trueblood stated the City Council would hopefully be discussing the skate park at its work session on Monday, February 14. PRESENTATION TO CITY COUNCIL ON 1/25/00 Pruess reported Maurer, Gustaveson and he met with staff to discuss budget issues, particularly the Natural Areas Manager position and the part-time Program Supervisor position. A strong message was given to the City Council. He indicated the City Council felt the positions were needed, but noted the lack of funds. Maurer felt a full-time Program Supervisor to work with youth-at-risk was a very high priority. With this position being part-time, he felt there will be a merry-go-round of people, with the youth never having a consistent person to work with, noting again that the current person occupying this position has resigned to accept a full time job. COMMISSION TIME Pruess noted the Willow Creek Trail (Phase I) extends westward and dead ends. The Galway Subdivision is expanding and it would be possible to connect the trail up to a new residential street, Tiperary Street, using neighborhood open space funds. If this is not done, he felt people would be carving out their own path. Trueblood noted access was shown via a walkway to this area, with other possible funding sources being the Willow Creek Trail Phase II project balance and the intra-city bike trails allocation. Parks and Recreation Commission February 8, 2000 Page 3 of 3 DIRECTOR'S REPORT Trueblood reported on the following: Dogs and Leashes Some dog owners have apparently approached the City Council requesting that dogs be allowed to run free in Hickory Hill Park. The City Council has asked for a response from the Animal Control Division. A few years ago a group of citizens submitted a petition to the Commission requesting that Hickory Hill Park be declared a "leash free zone". At that time, the Commission determined this was not a realistic request but left the door open for the group to return with an alternative proposal. Such a proposal was never submitted. Streambank Stabilization Staff is in the beginning stages of working with the Riverfront and Natural Areas Commission and the Soil and Water Conservation Service for a pilot streambank stabilization project in Hickory Hill Park. Recreation Fees A council member has indicated he intends to propose that some of the recreation fees be lowered. Staff will be discussing this with the Council at their February 14 work session. City High Tennis Lights Information was provided relative to the neighborhood's most recent proposal, which would eliminate virtually all public play under the lights. The Commission's involvement may be needed in the future. City Park Log Cabins The cabins are in a state of disrepair. The question has come up as to whether the City should spend a considerable amount in renovating them or simply demolish them. This item will come to the Commission at a future meeting. West Side Drive Pond Information was included in the packet indicating a neighborhood association effort encouraging the City to assume ownership (and maintenance responsibilities) for this pond. It is possible that this issue will come before the Commission at a future date for a recommendation. Budget Update Staff will report to the Commission the final budget outcome at the March meeting. Joint Council/Commission Meeting The City Council has indicated its desire to have a joint meeting with the Commission to discuss future direction, including a parks and recreation master plan (budgeted this year) and the ability/inability to keep up with the department's growth, particularly as it relates to parkland and trails. Staff will keep the Commission apprised. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 6:25 p.m. MINUTES PRELIMINARY THURSDAY, ,JANUARY 20, 2000 - 7:30 P.M. CIVIC CENTER COUNCIL CHAMBERS Subject to Approval MEMBERS PRESENT: Ann Bovbjerg, Benjamin Chait, Pam Ehrhardt, Dick Gibson, Dean Shannon, Lea Supple MEMBERS ABSENT: Marilyp Schintler STAFF PRESENT: Sarah Holecek, Scott Kugler, Bob Miklo OTHERS PRESENT: Larry Schnittjer, Diedre Fleener, Tim Reynolds, Arnetta Gosse, Ann McLaughlin, John Ceurvorst, Casey Boyd CALL TO ORDFR: Chairperson Supple called the meeting to order at 7:37 p.m. PUBLIC DISCUSSION OF ANY ITEM NOT ON THF AGENDA: Therewas none. ANNOUNCEMENT OF VACANCIES ON CITY BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS: Supple invited those at the meeting to serve on a City board or commission. She said it is an opportunity to provide input into the workings of the City and gain an education from that input. Supple said the City also receives benefit from the opinions and experience of its citizens. RE799-0017/ANN99-0003. Public discussion of an application submitted by Plum Grove Acres for a voluntary annexation of 26.88 acres and to rezone 31.88 acres from Low Density Single- Family Residential (RS-5), County Highway Commercial (CH), County Local Commercial (C1) and County Multi-Family Residential (R3A) to Community Commercial (CC-2 - 12.9 acres) and Medium Density Single-Family Residential (RS-8 - 19.59 acres) for property located at the southeast comer of Rochester Avenue and Scott Boulevard (45-day limitation period expires January 30, 2000). Kugler said this is a request for the voluntary annexation of approximately 27 acres located on the east side of Scott Boulevard between Herbert Hoover Highway, or Rochester Avenue, and Lower West Branch Road, and a zoning of that property should the annexation be approved. He said the rezoning request would also include an additional five acres of property already located within the City limits. Kugler said the property along Scott Boulevard has already been annexed to a depth of a few hundred feet. He said the area already within the City limits is currently zoned RS-5, single- family residential. Kugler said the property proposed for annexation is currently zoned Highway Commercial in the County for one portion and Local Commercial for another portion along Herbert Hoover Highway. He said the balance is zoned R3A, which is the County designation for multi-family residential. Kugler said the proposed zoning classifications include just over twelve acres of property at the north end of the site, some of which is within the City limits, to be rezoned to CC-2, Com,rnunity Commercial, and the balance of the property to RS-8, Medium Density Single-Family Residential. Kugler said that since this is a two-part application encompassing both an annexation and a rezoning, the two items will have to be handled separately. Regarding the annexation, Kugler Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January 20, 2000 Page 2 said this is a voluntary annexation, and the City's annexation policy as contained in the Comprehensive Plan establishes three cdteria under which to evaluate voluntary annexation requests. He said the first criterion is that the property must fall within the adopted long-range planning boundary for the City. Kugler said this property is well within that boundary, which currently extends out to east of Taft Avenue. Kugler said the second criterion is that the development in the area proposed for annexation will fulfill an identified need without imposing an undue financial burden on the City. Kugler said, the Northeast District Plan recognizes the potential for additional commercial development within the Northeast District. He said many of the citizens participating in the neighborhood planning workshops, where that plan was developed, indicated they would like more convenient access to commercial services within this area of the City, and this intersection was identified as a potential location to provide some of these commercial services. In addition, Kugler said the Iowa City Care Center has approached the City in the past about possible annexation. He said that facility has some problems with its sewage treatment lagoons and is interested in connecting to the City's sewer and water system. Kugler stated that the City's policy is that only properties within the City limits can be connected to those systems. He said the annexation of this property would allow the Care Center to be contiguous to the corporate limits, and it could annex at some point in the future when those services are available. Kugler said there are two sewer projects programmed in the Capital Improvements Program right now for the year 2002 that would provide the sanitary sewer services necessary to service the application property as well as the Care Center. Kugler said the third criterion for evaluating voluntary annexation requests is that control of development on the property being requested for annexation should be in the City's best interest. He said since this property is at a major entranceway into the community and is contiguous with the current corporate limits, it would be in the City's best interest to have this develop within the City under the City's development standards, rather than County development standards. Kugler said it appears the conditions for voluntary annexation would be met with this proposal, and provided that the proposed zoning is in conformance with the goals and policies of the Comprehensive Plan, staff would recommend approval of the voluntary annexation of the 26.88-acre property. With regard to the proposed rezoning, Kugler said the current County classifications do grant the property owner some dght to develop those properties both commercially and for multi- family residential uses under the County ordinance. However, he said if the property is annexed, new zoning classifications must be established in conformance with the policies of the City's Comprehensive Plan. Kugler said the Northeast District Plan is the component of the Comprehensive Plan that would cover this area. He said the plan calls for the creation of a neighborhood commercial center in this general location, and clearly illustrates a potential development that is larger in scale than the other neighborhood commercial zones proposed in that plan. He said the intent is to encourage the creation of a commercial area that fits within and would serve the needs of the surrounding neighborhood, but also take advantage of its location at what will be a major intersection when Scott Boulevard or Captain Irish Parkway is extended to the north. He said it is likely to provide some regional services for the east side as well. Kugler said the applicant has proposed CC-2, Community Commercial, zoning, which allows a fairly broad range of commercial uses and has relatively few site development standards other than setback, building height, etc. He said this would not ensure that future development on the property would fit within what is envisioned in the Comprehensive Plan for this property, and staff would not recommend approval of a rezoning to CC-2 unless it were conditioned upon some subsequent review process whereby the development plan could be reviewed to ensure conformance with the Comprehensive Plan. Kugler said ideally, the end result would be an Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes Janua~ 20,2000 Page 3 integrated, pedestrian-oriented development that is designed in a main street or town square form, as suggested by the Comprehensive Plan. The center should provide services that will help meet the day-to-day needs of the neighborhood that will eventually develop around it. He said it would also contain a more broad range of uses than would typically be found in a neighborhood commercial zone to take advantage of the property's location at this intersection along this major entryway into the city. Kugler said rather than a straight CC-2 zoning without any conditions, or denying this application, because of what could potentially be developed there under CC-2 zoning, staff recommends rezoning the property, subject to future approval of a development plan that incorporates the design concepts mentioned in the Comprehensive Plan. He said if this approach is taken, a conditional zoning agreement would be needed to specify steps necessary to gain approval of that plan. Kugler'said this would be similar to the planned development process used for residential properties whereby the Planning and Zoning Commission reviews and approves a general concept plan, and then as final plans are submitted for the actual development projects, staff reviews those plans to ensure conformance with the overall plan. He stated that in the absence of some requirement like this, staff would not recommend approval of the rezoning to CC-2. Kugler said staff has similar concerns about the proposed RS-8 zoning, including the transition from the commercial property to the residential. He said the Comprehensive Plan and Northeast District Plan have some specific recommendations about diversity of housing. He said one way diverse housing types can be incorporated into a residential neighborhood is in and around neighborhood commercial centers. Kugler said conventional development in the P-S-8 zone might not be the most appropriate use for at least a portion of this property. He said staff therefore recommends that the parcel requested for RS-8 zoning be zoned RS-8 at this point, subject to the future approval of a planned development application, so the plan can be reviewed in conformance with the expected commercial development to the north if that rezoning is approved. Kugler said there was a wooded area on this property, and it appears that many of the trees have been removed. He said it is not known whether this area would have qualified as a woodland or a grove to be regulated by the Sensitive Areas Ordinance, but since the property is still in the County, the sensitive areas ordinance did not apply. Kugler said staff recommends that the proposed voluntary annexation be approved and that the proposed zoning plan be approved subject to a condition requiring the approval of development plans for the CC-2 parcel that meet the intent and general design provisions for commercial development contained in the Comprehensive Plan prior to the development of the property and subject to requiring the approval of a planned development overlay rezoning and development plan for the RS-8 parcel prior to development. Kugler said a draft of some possible conditions that could be incorporated into a Conditional Zoning Agreement were included in the staff report for the Commission and the applicant to consider. He said he has not yet heard whether the applicant would agree to those conditions. Kugler referred to 17 protest petitions submitted by neighboring property owners. He said he did not yet know whether the 20% threshold has been reached, but the threshold and formal protest procedures apply only at the City Council level and do not affect the simple majority requirement of the Planning and Zoning Commission. Kugler added that a 45-day limitation period waiver would be needed if the Commission intends to defer this item, as is typically done with rezonings, to allow a second discussion. He said he has informed the applicant of that waiver requirement. Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January 20, 2000 Page 4 Gibson stated that his son-in-law is the manager of the Iowa City Care Center. He said, however, that he did not feel he needed to excuse himself from consideration of this item, but did want to make this known. Ehrhardt stated that with an annexation, the evaluation of increased traffic on existing readways is needed. Kugler said a provision in the Comprehensive Plan refers to that, although he did not include it in the staff report. He said he would verify with the Transportation Planner that there are not problems associated with this and provide statistics to the Commission. Kugler said those issues were looked at in association with the development of the Northeast District Plan and some of the other mad improvements proposed in that area. He said the potential development of this property for commercial and residential uses was anticipated. Public discussion: Larry Schnittjer. 1917 South Gilbert Street, said he works for MMS Consultants and represents the applicant, who has granted the waiver of the 45-day expiration period. Schnittjer stated that the zone lines illustrated on the plan are as close as he could come to matching what was shown on the Northeast District Plan. He said at the current time, he did not have concept plans prepared for the site, as there are many steps involved before the application reaches that point. Schnittjer said the applicant wanted to get the annexation started so there would be a little more assurance from the City that the plans would go forward for the sanitary sewer extension to this area. He said it also gives the neighbors in the area the understanding that the applicant is proceeding under the guidelines of the Northeast District Plan. Schnittjer said he would answer questions from the Commission. Bovbjerg said in the middle of the lower portion is an outlined piece. Schnittjer said that is the existing lagoon site for the Care Center. Bovbjerg asked if pipes run from the Care Center to that lagoon. Schnittjer confirmed this. Bovbjerg asked what the disposition of something like that would be and if it would require special care as this property is developed. Schnittjer said there are standard procedures for cleanup and putting these areas back to some reasonable use. Regarding that lagoon, Kugler said as part of the review of the development plan for this property, staff would want details on what would happen and who needs to approve it. Bovbjerg asked if the rules for that would be State, Federal or EPA. Schnittjer said all of those entities would have some say in the matter. Supple asked Schnittjer if he had looked over the conditions proposed by staff. Schnittjer said he had read them bdefly, but had not yet discussed them with the applicant. He said he did not think the applicant's attorney had reviewed them yet. Diedre Fleener. 72 Goldfinch Circle, said she lives directly across from this property. She said she has several concerns about the proposal. Fleener said the biggest issue involves the fact that if the neighbors knew more about the development plan, they would be better able to state whether they opposed it or not. Fleener said she has concerns about increased traffic in the area, citing the intersection at Rochester and Scott as a very dangerous one. She questioned whether increasing the density with multi-density residential and having apartments in the area would affect the property values of neighboring properties adversely. Fleener said she is worried about increased lighting, increased crime and increased noise. She stated that almost every house in that area has young children living in it. Fleener said she wondered what would be built on that property that couldn't be put on the property for the commercial section. She asked specifically what the applicant wants to put there that couldn't be built there .under the lower commercial classification. She said neighbors would like to maintain the lower commercial rating to help ensure that it has nuisance-free, Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January 20, 2000 Page 5 residential-friendly businesses. Fleener said she had some concerns about the neighborhood commercial centers. She said in downtown Iowa City and the Sycamore Mall area, there are many vacant commercial properties. Fleener said it seems the neighborhood centers will only add to the deterioration of those areas. She said Coralville has been very proactive in creating a downtown area, and it would be beneficial for Iowa City to support its downtown and the Sycamore Mall area and support the increased commercialization of those existing commercial areas. Fleener said she is opposed to Scott Boulevard being extended. She said with the increased residential areas, it would be a better plan to move the extension out to Taft Avenue where the grade is much flatter for trucks starting and stopping, and the location is much closer to Interstate-80. Fleener said she appreciated the contingency plan of requiring the developer to get approval before putting any commercial use on the property. She said it would be nice to maintain the RS-5, low-density residential area, along the Scott Boulevard side of the property. Fleener said there has never been a sign posted on that property and asked if that were a requirement for all rezonings. Kugler stated that a sign should have been posted as part of the regular process, although sometimes after posting, signs have fallen down or been taken. He said he would ensure that signs are posted on the property as soon as possible. Ehrhardt asked Fleener if she were notified by mail, and Fleener confirmed this. Tim Reynolds. 65 Heron Circle, said he lives 205 feet from this property and was therefore not notified of this application. He said he thought most of the neighborhood is extremely against this. Reynolds said most of the neighbors already know the reputation of the developer, and it is not even close to being 50/50. Reynolds said the vagueness of the town square concept makes him think of strip malls. He said he knew that eventually Taft would replace Scott Boulevard for semis, and moving this out that far would be better. Reynolds said rezoning this to RS-5 instead of RS-8 would be much more acceptable to the neighborhoods. He said the houses along here are not average homes. He said a lot of families live there, and the traffic on Scott Boulevard is already a concern. Reynolds said he does not want to see businesses close by that will be targets for robberies. He said the Amoco just down the road has been robbed a number of times. Reynolds said Commission members would not want that in their backyards, and the neighbors do not want it happening in theirs. Ehrhardt said property owners within 300 feet are supposed to be notified. Kugler said he would check the list to ensure all property owners within a 300-foot radius are notified. He said staff has the applicant provide the list of owners from the assessors' office or some other source. Kugler said the list is labeled "property owners within 300 feet" of the property, so that hopefully everyone in that area was notified. Arnetta Gosse. 57 Goldfinch Circle, said her main concern is security. She said her house was broken into 18 months ago so that it really concerns her when she sees commercial coming right in her backyard. Gosse said she did not know a great deal about the commercial use, but felt it would be good to see a more detailed plan regarding the commercial area. Mike Wilson. 94 Heron Circle, said he had some of the same concerns as the other neighbors. He said he is new to the neighborhood and was initially attracted to the overall atmosphere of the neighborhood. Wilson said rezoning this land to commercial zoning worries him. He said it is difficult to foresee what will happen to housing values there in the future. Wilson said the turnover in housing is fairly brisk in Iowa City, and he may want to sell his house several years down the road. He said we cannot know what kind of shape the commercial development right across the road will be in five to ten years in the future. He said it would depend somewhat on Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January 20, 2000 Page 6 what kind of use goes in there. Wilson said he was glad to hear staffs recommendation not to approve the plan until we. see what exactly will happen in the future with that property. Wilson said the rezoning for the residential area is also somewhat worrisome. He said it depends exactly what goes in there to determine what kind of outlook the neighborhood will have in the future. Wilson said there are lots of children in the area, and he did not want to see a huge increase in traffic. Ann McLaughlin. 3419 Lower West Branch Road, said she agreed with the comments made by the other neighbors. She said the main concern is not having too much traffic. McLaughlin said there is a lot of traffic involved with a commercial zoning, and if this really needs to go to a commercial zoning, she would like the Commission to consider neighborhood commercial versus the other commercial. She said she liked the idea of having at least somewhat of a say as to what goes in there. McLaughlin said she was also concerned about water pressure. She said the water pressure on that side of the City is terrible, and the City needs to deal with it before a lot of new construction goes in here. McLaughlin asked if Scott Boulevard would go straight there instead of angling at the north. Kugler showed her the alignment illustrated in the Northeast Distdct Plan. He said it may be slightly different from that as the design plans have not been put together yet. Kugler said the street would go above two ravines located north of Rochester Avenue and meet with Captain Irish Parkway. He said existing alignment of Scott Boulevard that McLaughlin pointed out would probably stay at the same angle it is now. Kugler said the intersection of Scott Boulevard and Rochester Avenue will be reconfigured to make a four-way intersection when the street extension occurs. McLaughlin asked about the piece of property that is not included in the plan. Supple said she believed that to be personal property owned by the Zajiceks. Kugler said that property is a separate parcel zoned residential in the City. He said it is a non-conforming use. Kugler said it is not part of this application, but staff would look for the design of this development to eventually incorporate the redevelopment of that site, as that use is expected to leave at some point. He said staff hopes to integrate that property with the rest of this area, and would like the plan for this area, if the rezoning is approved, to accommodate the development of that property rather than have it be a stand alone site. Kugler stated it is not a part of this annexation or rezoning. John Ceurvorst. 85 Heron Circle, said he shared the concerns of the other speakers. He said his biggest concern is the lack of information and not knowing what is really being planned for this commercial area. Ceurvorst said the Northeast Distdct Plan mentioned that the commercial use should benefit the neighborhood, and he said he could not envision any commercial use the neighbors have access to within five minutes that is not already there. Ceurvorst said neighborhood commercial zoning might be more palatable. Ceurvorst said the medium-density residential zoning does concern him. He said it is a very nice neighborhood, and he had concerns about property values if multi-family housing is allowed. Casey Boyd. 640 Stuart Court, said he has lived on the east side his entire life. He said he knows the developers of this project and has heard the concerns of the neighbors. Boyd said the goal of any developer is not to create problems, but is to create more people like these people coming to this area. He said it would be beneficial for everyone to work together. Boyd said the developers' concerns are for the people and the east side as a whole. He said the developer cares about more than just money and has a vested interest in the property value of the east side, not just this one-time development. Boyd said he would like to see east side property values increase. Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January 20, 2000 Page 7 Bovbjerg asked Boyd if he were a party to this development. Boyd said he works at a business frequented by one of the developers and is related to one of the developers. He said the developer would like to hear what everyone has to say, and he means well. Boyd said he is totally neutral, but wanted to state his opinion so that the neighbors know it is not always the evil developer trying to make the big bucks. Ehrhardt asked Boyd if one or more of the developers would be willing to meet with the neighboring property owners. Boyd said these developers generally place their legal professionals in situations like this, but he thought it would be helpful for the developers to meet with the neighbors. Ehrhardt said the City has a Good Neighbor Policy that encourages developers to meet with people in the neighborhood. She asked Boyd to convey that information to the developers, and he stated that he would. Public discussion closed. MOTION: Chait moved to defer REZ99-0017/ANN99-0003, an application submitted by Plum Grove Acres for a voluntary annexation of 26.88 acres and to rezone 31.88 acres from Low Density Single-Family Residential (RS-5), County Highway Commercial (CH), County Local Commercial (C1) and County Multi-Family Residential (R3A) to Community Commercial (CC-2 - 12.9 acres) and Medium Density Single-Family Residential (RS-8 - 19.59 acres) for property located at the southeast corner of Rochester Avenue and Scott Boulevard, to the February 3, 2000 meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission. Shannon seconded the motion. Chait asked if the request seen by the Commission and the documentation attached to it, without being very specific, is not exactly what appears in the Northeast District Plan for that piece of land. Kugler said he believed the developers tded to approximate the zoning line that between the CC-2 and the proposed RS-8 zone as illustrated in the plan. He said the plan itself actually illustrates some residential uses in the area proposed for CC-2 as well as other housing types within the RS-8 area, rather than just single-family and duplex residences. Chait said staff has discussed the Conditional Zoning Agreement and those types of attachments that may be made to the application. He asked Schnittjer if the intent of the applicant is essentially to build something as close to what is represented in the Northeast District Plan as possible, knowing that is what the City is looking for. Schnittjer agreed that is the intent of the application and is the form the application has taken. Chair said the developer is trying to follow the work product of the Northeast District component of the Comprehensive Plan. Chait pointed out to community members that the City and the Commission have spent a lot of time developing this plan, with the input of the community. Chait recommended that interested parties get a copy of the Northeast District Plan and review it. He said a lot of citizens participated in developing it, and the Northeast District Plan suggests what that area could look like in twenty years or more. Chair said he is surprised at the "not in my neighborhood" comments. He said the Northeast District Plan was made with a very big commitment from the City to encourage participation by the interested parties, including area residents. Chait said what is being requested in this annexation and rezoning is what is already in the Northeast District Plan. He said the developer is essentially implementing what the City has already endorsed through the participatory process. Bovbjerg said while the Northeast District Plan is available, it has not already been laid in concrete. She said the Plan is made up of guidelines, and although it has been adopted, it is only an idea of how development may occur in the future. She said it is sometimes very difficult to look at the empty lot next to you and envision something else. Bovbjerg said this kind of Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January 20, 2000 Page 8 annexation and development will take time, and that is why the Commission will take time to consider it. She said she looked forward to having as many deferrals as needed to discorn what really should be done with this property. Ehrhardt said she is disgusted when prior to annexation, developers obliterate streambeds and groves of trees so that they do not have to deal with the Sensitive Areas Ordinance. She said she did not know if that was the intention here. Supple thanked those who participated in the meeting. The motion to defer carried on a vote of 6-0. CONSIDERATION OF THE JANUARY 6. 2000 PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES: Bovbjerg said she had a few corrections to make and would submit them to staff. MOTION: Chait moved to approve the minutes of the January 6, 2000 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting minutes, subject to changes to be submitted to staff by Bovbjerg. Shannon seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 6-0. PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION INFORMATION: Bovbjerg reported items considered by the City Council at both its informal and formal meetings that are of interest to the Commission. She said the Scott Park Drive/Hummingbird Lane application was deferred, because the legal papers are still being worked on. Bovbjerg said the 522 South Dubuque Street application was considered. She said the public hearing was set for February 1st for the South Central District Plan. Bovbjerg said the Louis driveway on Foster Road would also have a public hearing on February 1st. Bovbjerg stated that also scheduled for discussion on February 1st iS the area being proposed to change from CN-1 to CO-1 near the Rochester and First Avenue intersection, the Mercy Hospital application. She said there was some concern relative to some articles in the newspaper regarding what it really meant for this to be going to the City Council. Bovbjerg said the City Council would start getting information at the first public hearing on February 1st. She said if the Council feels at that time that there might be a majority of the City Council in favor of this, they would plan to meet with the Commission at its February 14 informal meeting. She said this is due to the Commission's vote recommending denial of this rezoning. Bovbjerg said she is concerned about the perception that what the Commission voted on is the same thing the City Council is looking at. She said in her view, it is not. She said she did not know if the City Council understands that what the Commission looked at was the zoning, and all the rest was dependent on that. Bovbjerg said she was not sure whether they had to go through the same zoning consideration first before looking at the actual site plan. She said the site plan, the applicants and the use are what have received the public attention. Miklo said the City Council would analyze the zoning in a manner similar to the Commission's, taking into consideration the Commission's recommendation. He said the Council's procedure is if there is an indication that there may be support for this rezoning on the City Council, then- they would have a conference with the Commission to get its perspective on the whole matter. Bovbjerg asked if a supermajority vote would be required, should the City Council's intent be different from the Commission's. Holecek said a supermajority vote would be required only if there is a protest by owners of 20% of the property within 200 feet of the property. Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January 20, 2000 Page 9 Holecek said there have been changes made to the application that were not necessarily solidified when the application was before the Commission. She said the City Council would be looking at the land use issues, similar to the analysis the Commission used. Holecek said subsequent to the Commission's decision, there have been some developments with respect to conditions. She said staff has changed its recommendation based on those additional conditions to address potential negative impacts of the preposed rezoning. Miklo said, at Mercy's request, staff met with th~ applicant after the last meeting. He said Mercy indicated they would take this request on to the City Council and wanted to know if staff would change its recommendation if they agreed to the conditions outlined in staffs original memo. Miklo said the original memo stated that if certain conditions such as no new access to First Avenue, a combined parking lot, and some landscaping and building site issues were addressed, staff felt this might work in a neighborhood commercial Setting. He said based on some changes in the plan, staff felt it met those conditions laid out in the original staff report. Ehrhardt asked about the bottom floor being employed for uses other than the Mercy Clinic. Miklo said Mercy was not willing or able to commit to what the uses would be. He said it was a suggestion after the first meeting as a way to make the plan more amenable, but there is not a commitment on Mercy's part to put a daycare or eider care facility there. Chair said Miklo is discussing the second part of the whole equation that the Commission didn't speak to, because it couldn't get there. He said he first heard of a change in the position of staff with regard to this project by reading a newspaper article just before the meeting. Chait said, as much as anyone on the Commission, he has been extremely supportive of the precess between the Commission, the community, and staff. He said his position comes not just from himself, but also from his interpretation of comments from fellow commissioners, staff and other factors he uses to guide his decision. Chait said staff changing its position totally wipes out everything he said and makes him the lone renger arguing for this higher standard. Chait said the bottom line is that the Commission didn't speak to anything staff is agreeing to, and he asked how staff could do that without some kind of conversation with the Commission. He said he assumed that in all prebability, Mercy would take this request to the City Council, and he had planned to ask for the opportunity to have a joint meeting with the City Council to lay out the reasons the Commission voted as it did. Chait said he spoke specifically at the last meeting about how this was a great plan, but was not consistent with the Commission's view of that zone and the land available for that type of use. He said it has nothing to do with how many access points there are, how the parking lots are connected, or how the building is set or landscaped. Chait said the issue is the zoning and the use of that preperty. Gibson said he was shocked when he read the newspaper article. He said the main reason for that is because he does not know how the game is played anymore. Gibson said if the rules can be casually changed in the middle of the process, then what is the point of having the Commission sitting and hearing these arguments. He said he seriously considered, if the City Council went ahead with this, resigning his position on the Commission. He said he still has not discounted that option. Gibson said he asked himself how is this game being played and what are the rules. He asked himself what the staff's obligation to the Commission is, if any, as he is beginning to doubt there is any. Gibson said after the last meeting, he complimented several Commission members on withstanding a lot of very high public pressure with regard to the requested rezoning. Miklo said when a case comes to staff that the Commission is going to review, staff makes a recommendation to the Commission, and that recommendation is also made to the City Council. He said in this case, the original staff report indicated staff felt under certain conditions, a CO-1, Office Commercial Zone, might be appropriate in this location. Miklo said what was on the table Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January20,2000 Page 10 at the time did not address the concerns that staff raised in its report. He stated that when the first recommendation was made, the applicant was not in agreement with the conditions staff wanted addressed and decided to take its chances with the request. Miklo said the request was voted down. Miklo said based on Mercy's commitment to many of the major issues, staff felt this was an acceptable zone change in this location. He said one of the main concerns in that area is First Avenue and the fact that there currently is an agreement that provides the property owner with the guarantee of a new curb cut on First Avenue if the property remains CN-1. Miklo said the fact that the applicant agreed to do away with that curb cut was an improvement in the situation. He said it was probably the primary reason staffs recommendation. Ehrhardt said Commission members repeatedly asked if the rezoning had to be looked at first - whether the Commission wanted this to go to CO-1. She said staff repeatedly said yes, that is the first thing to be looked at, and that is what the Commission addressed in its discussion. Miklo said staffs perspective was that staff could not agree to straight out CO-1 uses, but with some conditions, staff could. Kugler said the original staff report indicated that a neighborhood commercial zone did not necessarily have to be zoned all CN-1. He said staff felt there could be varying zoning designations, but that the design concepts set forth in the Comprehensive Plan are what is important. He said the plan was improved to the extent that if the revised plan had been submitted before the first staff report, staff probably would have recommended approval subject to conditions. Kugler said even though this would change the CN-1 zone and this was perhaps a more regional use than generally is intended for a neighborhood commercial zone, the design of the development as now proposed is such that it integrates fairly well with the rest of the zone and with the idea of creating a neighborhood commercial center. Chait said one of the things the Commission strives for is communication between developers and neighborhoods and so forth. He said this was a huge breakdown in communication between the Commission and staff. Chait said his personal opinion of the Commission's mission is one of technical interpretation, not political judgment. He said his commitment has been to support staff and to find a way to offer his unique perspective and feedback. Chait said his position is based on dialogue and information from staff. Shannon said he went to the informal meeting and did not have an opinion at that time. He said he therefore listened to staff, who laid it all out and recommended against the project. Shannon said there was also really good commentary from one of the other Commission members, and he listened to the other members' comments as well. Shannon said when he left the informal meeting, he had a pretty good impression of what should be done - that this area should be maintained as a neighborhood commercial area and not an office area. He thought that Mercy should go look for other areas already zoned properly. He said he didn't hear staff ever say that Mercy was really close if they do away with a curb cut or move the sidewalks together or move the building. Shannon said he heard the big picture was commercial versus office, and that's what he felt he was voting on, not a lot of tweaking of parking lots and other things. He said he also couldn't believe this when he saw it in the paper, and he has had several people ask him if he got something out of this change. Shannon said the applicant has a right to take this to the City Council, but staff changing its position after tweaking things like this disturbed him. He said it appeared to just leave Commission members at the curb. Supple stated that other developers have chosen to tweak their developments after the Commission voted no. She said they then come back before the Commission for reconsideration. Supple said she did not see any reason why Mercy couldn't have requested reconsideration, and staff could have suggested such a thing. She said staff has taken the Commission's vote and stomped on it. She said she was insulted by this. Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January 20, 2000 Page 11 Kugler said the plan staff is dealing with right now is the plan the Commission looked at the night it voted. He said he had not read the minutes thoroughly to see if it comes through, but he did make the statement that staff feels it would be a good plan on which to base these conditions, if the Commission could get past that first hurdle of whether it was appropriate to rezone the property. Kugler said the Commission had its discussion and could not get past the first hurdle. He said staff did not really change its recommendation, which initially was that through design, perhaps staff's concerns could be addressed. He said the final plan addressed those, and staff stayed consistent with its recommendation. Gibson questioned the quality of staff's judgment at this point. He said the Commission took an extraordinary, potentially misunderstood, and strong stand, in his opinion, in defense of the CN- 1 zone. He said staff clearly had to understand that was what was going on. Gibson said at the same time, staff traded off to get a curb cut back, which is really nothing. He said as far as he was concerned, staff jerked the legs out from under the Commission in defense of the viability of a major zone that has been the issue of numerous, endless conversations. He said staff is now apparently saying it doesn't make any difference. Gibson said if the Commission can't count on staff to defend the concept of a zone without going through a process, of which there has been plenty of precedent for how to go about doing it, only to trade it for a curb cut, he did not understand that. He said he has lost a tremendous amount of faith in staff over this. Gibson said staff cannot estimate what damage has been done in terms of its relationship with the Commission. Gibson said staff's statement that a curb cut was saved trivializes this whole thing. He said those things were all in front of the Commission members, who knew they could probably skip over the defense of this zone and get a curb cut eliminated, one parking lot eliminated, nice trees, and the difference in the setback, etc. Gibson said the Commission chose not to do that. Gibson said in the first place, staff came out against this. He said staff then made some changes, which were rejected by Mercy. Gibson said suddenly after the Commission took action defending this zone, staff has said those aren't bad ideas after all, so we're going to side with Mercy and forget about what the Commission did. He said that is the message he heard, the message that was in the newspaper, and he suspected that was the message the City Council heard. Chait suggested that a cooling off period is needed. He said he still did not feel the Commission is even communicating about what the breakdown is here. Chait said Miklo is still discussing the plan and the way it has been adjusted, which doesn't speak to the Commission's concerns about zoning. Chait said he loved that plan, and in terms of all the arguments for the site, topography, etc., Mercy did a great job on the site plan, but the Commission never had a conversation around that, because it was stuck with and committed to that zoning issue. He said everything staff is talking about is different than what the Commission is saying. Miklo said staff should have anticipated or addressed a procedure for when something like this happens. He said after a vote of the Commission, if there is continuing dialogue before an item goes on to the City Council, it needs to be determined what staffs role is in relationship to the Commission, City Council, and the applicant. Miklo said perhaps there should have been a reconvening or at least a way to address this. Chait said the Commission already has that. He said there is a process where the Commission sits down with the City Council and has a meeting of the minds or at least shares opinions. Chait said if there is a change, the item needs to come back before the Commission, and the Commission needs to get enrolled in support to somehow get on the same page to send it on. He said he would be comfortable requesting a joint meeting, so the Commission can explain its position. Chait said he can't ask for a joint meeting with the City Council when the Commission isn't on the same page with staff. Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January 20, 2000 Page 12 Bovbjerg said some years ago the Commission denied an application that then went forward to the City Council. She said when it went to the City Coundl, it was different from what the Commission and what staff had seen. Bovbjerg said there was a discussion then about what was going on. She said at this point, because there is uncertainty and misunderstanding, the City Council would do well to know what the Commission's process was as well as Commission members' feelings, opinions, and conclusions. Bovbjerg suggested a meeting with at least some Commission members, some City Council members and some staff people as well, in order to explain what the process was and where things are now emotionally, physically, and procedurally. She said it would do well for this to come to a public hearing without any baggage on it, so that sometime between this meeting and February 1 ,t would be a good time to discuss this with members of the City Council. Chait suggested this should be discussed with staff before talking with the City Council, so that the Commission isn't out in the cold with everyone else on the same page. Miklo stated that the Commission and staff are not always in agreement. Supple said the Commission does not like being overridden. (Supple left the meeting at 8:55 p.m.) Gibson said he would like to have a fairly clear definition come out of this. He said sometimes the Commission is at odds with staff, but in this case, it was absolutely not clear that staff was not thinking along the same lines as the Commission on this. Gibson said staff has some kind of obligation to make it clear when staff is opposed to the action the Commission is about to take. He said that would then free staff up to do whatever it wants to at the City Council level. In terms of the plan reviewed by staff, Miklo said the issue was not just a curb cut and that there were a number of other items, although the curb cut was a major factor. He said the feeling staff had at the last meeting was that this should have been deferred. Miklo said that may not have been cleady stated, but staff did say there was a plan that was coming close to what staff thought needed to be done. He said the Commission felt more strongly about it than staff and voted it down, because it could not get past the land use issue. Miklo stated that the first staff report and staffs follow-up memo states that staff was getting pretty close to something that was a compromise with Mercy. Shannon said he could not get by the fact that the building would be over twice the size of what Mercy said it needed. He said Mercy never did say what the rest of the building would be used for, and he wanted to see the cards laid on the table. Gibson said another thing that troubled him about this whole proposal is the contention that nothing else could be done on this particular parcel because of the grade and so forth and that it would have to be an expensive development to work here. He said that argument totally ignores and discounts how the price on a piece of land is set. Gibson said if that land is so encumbered by its topography, then eventually the price of that land will come down to the price where someone can afford to develop it without doing anything extraordinary. He said the Commission often blows right past that fact in dealing with these things. Gibson said Chait's comments were very good with regard to this, but apparently people are willing to ignore the fact that there is a lot of land that is propedy zoned that can be developed with no extraordinary cost. Gibson said to cave into those kinds of circumstances is troubling. He said all it says is that we're willing to give that developer whatever he is asking for that piece of land, reasonable or not; the developer should spend whatever he needs to develop that piece of land, and the Commission should turn its back on the zones, its sense of what the zones are, the appropriateness of the development, and everything else. Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes January20,2000 Page 13 Gibson said the price should be responsive to the reality of the developability of the land, and if it isn't, it is because the Commission tends to cave into the idea that we have to let this kind of development occur; otherwise that piece of land won't be sold or developed. He said that argument doesn't hold water; that piece of land could sit there as a ravine for 100 years and not cost this community one cant, because there is plenty of land to be developed in Iowa City. Ehrhardt said she would like to negotiate, a date when the Commission could meet with the City Council. She said she would also like to discuss this matter with staff at a different time. Chait said he would like to clear this up with staff before going on to meet with the City Council. Bovbjerg said that could be done. Bovbjerg asked Commission members to leave her written notice of openings in their schedules in the near future so she could arrange a meeting with as many people who could attend as were interested. She said' the goal of this would be resolving this zoning matter. Shannon said that if everyone operated this way, there would be no need for the Commission to meet. He stated that if every applicant changed their ideas after the Commission voted and took the new plan to the City Council, this City would be a backwater. Chait said fortunately that doesn't happen. He said the breakdowns are opportunities for learning. Bovbjerg said what comes out of impasses and misunderstandings is discussion. She said that is what the Commission is about and is also what staff and the City Council are about. Gibson said he would be gone the week of February 3rd and would be unable to attend that meeting. Shannon said he would be also be gone in February and would be unable to attend the meetings on February 14 and 17th. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 9:07 p.m. Dean Shannon, Secretary Minutes submitted by Anne Schulte ppdadmknin/pzl -20-00,do¢ PREUMINAR PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2000 - 7:30 P.M. iubject to pr0val '.'] CIVIC CENTER COUNCIL CHAMBERS MEMBERS PRESENT: Ann Bovbjerg, Benjamin Chait, Pam Ehrhardt, Marilyn Schintler, Dean Shannon, Lea Supple MEMBERS ABSENT: Dick Gibson STAFF PRESENT: Scott Kugler, Bob Miklo, Dennis Mitchell OTHERS PRESENT: Bob Downer, Tim Reynolds, Diedre Fleener, Dave Fleener, Becky Hassler, Mike Wilson, Bob McNamee, Larry Schnittjer, Kim DeMoss, Nancy Jones, Janice Sweet, John Cruise PUBLIC DISCUSSION OF ANY ITEM NOT ON THE AGENDA: There was none. ANNOUNCEMENT OF VACANCIES ON CITY BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS: Supple said a list of current vacancies is available at the City Clerk's Office. She encouraged those at the meeting to serve on a board or commission. Supple said dedication to the workings of the City is educational for the volunteer, and the input is invaluable to the City. REZ99-0017/ANN99-0003. Public discussion of an application submitted by Plum Grove Acres for a voluntary annexation of 26.88 acres and to rezone 31.88 acres from Low Density Single- Family Residential (RS-5), County Highway Commercial (CH), County Local Commercial (C1) and County Multi-Family Residential (R3A) to Community Commercial (CC-2 - 12.29 acres) and Medium Density Single-Family Residential (RS-8 - 19.59 acres) for property located at the southeast corner of Rochester Avenue and Scott Boulevard. (45-day limitation period waived to February 3, 2000) Kugler said this item was deferred from the last meeting to allow a second public comment session. He said the notification requirements for surrounding property owners were discussed at the last meeting. He said staff did a cursory review of the surrounding property owners' list and initially believed that all property owners within 300 feet were covered. Kugler said there are actually more properties on the list submitted by the applicant than there are properties within 300 feet. He said the list actually included additional properties to the southwest. Kugler said 45 property owners in the area were notified, but it appears owners of one or two properties northwest of the site were not. He said signs are now posted on the property. Regarding the traffic, Kugler said the Transportation Planning Division has looked at the potential impact of this development on surrounding streets and tried to estimate the vehicle trips per day that might be generated by both the residential and commercial components proposed for the site. He said the transportation planners noted that, given the nature of the neighborhood and surrounding streets, most of the traffic to and from the commercial development there would be pass-through traffic - traffic already in the neighborhood that may take advantage of commercial uses at that corner. Kugler said the estimate is that perhaps as many as 2,500 or 3,000 additional trips per day might be generated by commercial development at that corner beyond traffic that is already in the neighborhood, and that includes both the residential and the commercial component. Planning ad Zoning Commission Minutes February 3, 2000 Page 2 Kugler said the transportation planners looked at how that level of traffic might affect surrounding streets, and it appears that Rochester Avenue and Scott Boulevard would basically receive the brunt of that additional traffic. He said that would bring traffic volumes on those streets up in the range of 9,000 to 11,000 vehicles per day, including current traffic. Kugler said those levels would be at the point where the City would start to consider left turn lanes at intersections like First Avenue and Rochester Avenue and perhaps Scott Boulevard and Court Street. He said there also may be a need for a traffic signal at the corner of Scott Boulevard and Rochester Avenue, but it would require a study to know at what point the signal would be needed. Kugler said this development and additional development in the Northeast District would contribute to the need for that traffic signal. Kugler said he had more information about water pressure in this area of the City. He stated that water pressure in this area is not ideal, although it is well above what is considered the minimum necessary for that industry. Kugler said the Water Plant Director, Ed Moreno, indicated that additional development in this area would not result in anyone else having decreased water pressure. He said it is not a water flow problem; the problem is that this area is much higher than most other areas of the City, and it is simply a matter of gravity. Kugler said improvements planned for the water plant site and, eventually, a new pumping station out on the east side may result in a slight increase in water pressure at some future point, but nothing substantial. Ehrhardt asked if the entire area at the north end of the site has been designated County Commercial. Kugler responded it was not the entire area. He said the area to the east of the current corporate limits has a portion that is zoned highway commercial and a portion zoned local commercial. Ehrhardt asked about the area already annexed along Scott Boulevard that has been designated RS-5. Kugler replied it has been designated RS-5 ever since it was annexed. Ehrhardt said the residents along Scott Boulevard, if they asked, would have been informed for some time that that land was zoned RS-5. Kugler said as far as he knew, the first City document calling for commercial development there was the Northeast District Plan. Bovbjerg asked about the County zone R3A. Kugler responded that it is the County's designation for multi-family residential. Bovbjerg asked about the R3A density. Kugler said he would have to study the County's ordinance further, but thought the density would be limited by however the property could be sewered. He said a property developed in the County could not connect to the City's sanitary sewer system and would therefore require some on-site means of sewage treatment. Bovbjerg said this would allow multi-family residential uses, but would not dictate multi-family residential development. Kugler said he believed single-family uses are also permitted in that County zone. Shannon said one of the explanations for why this was happening is that the Iowa City Care Center would like to be brought into the City because their lagoon is failing. Kugler said that was mentioned in the first staff report, but is not necessarily why the applicant filed this application. He said it would be an additional benefit of this annexation for the Care Center, which has in the past expressed an interest in annexation, because its property would then be contiguous with the City. Ehrhardt discussed community commercial zoning versus neighborhood commercial zoning. She said the Northeast District Plan supports neighborhood commercial and not a larger scale commercial development. She stated that the minutes make it sound like the intent is for a larger scale commercial development. She said the commercial zone proposed in this case would be larger than the typical neighborhood commercial zone. Ehrhardt said staff has suggested this would be acceptable for other uses that draw people from outside the neighborhood as per the Northeast District Plan. She said she did not read that in the Plan and needed more justification as to why this can't be neighborhood commercial to have the kinds of Planning ad Zoning Commission Minutes February 3, 2000 Page 3 uses that we want there, rather than opening it up to community commercial and being strict and tough about design review. Kugler said there is no reason this could not be neighborhood commercial if the applicant and the Commission felt that was most appropriate. He said the Northeast District Plan does mention a neighborhood commercial center at this corner, but that does not necessarily mean CN-1 zoning. Kugler said it can be done with a mix of zones if design issues are addressed. He said staff feels in this situation a neighborhood commercial center can be created in the CC-2 zone that can also take advantage of the existing through traffic in the neighborhood. He said the commercial area could function to provide some needs for the northeast side that perhaps can't be provided for in the CN-1 zone. Ehrhardt asked for an example. Kugler said the commercial area could include a larger scale restaurant or a larger scale grocery store. He said there are limitations on some types of uses in the CN-1 zone, as with the office use proposed at First and Rochester, which are not limited in the CC-2 zone. Kugler said during the workshop process for the Northeast District Plan, there was mention of community commercial needs in the neighborhood, and the plan shows this property as a potential location for it. He said in drafting the Northeast District Plan, staff was careful to show a larger scale development there, but also emphasized the neighborhood element so that what happens there also serves the neighborhood. He said in this context, it is important that the City be able to deal with some of the design issues and help integrate the commercial development into the neighborhood. Kugler said it was his recollection in putting together that plan that this commercial area would be something a little more substantial than a typical neighborhood commercial zone. Ehrhardt asked if there were uses allowed in the community commercial zone that staff would be discouraging if they were proposed here. Kugler said the intent is not necessarily to control the types of uses that go in here, but to look at the design of the development and make sure it can be integrated with whatever residential development happens to the south. He said staff would deal with some of the aesthetic issues that are desired in a neighborhood commercial zone versus a typical community commercial zone and look at ways to make vehicular and pedestrian connections with the neighborhood around it, rather than having it be an isolated commercial zone. Kugler said those are the types of things suggested in the Plan that staff would be looking for in a concept plan. Ehrhardt said uses are suggested in the Northeast District Plan. Kugler said it suggests neighborhood-type uses. Ehrhardt asked if there were uses staff would not want in that area. Miklo said staff would not want to see uses such as car sales, which would require a special exception in the community commercial zone. He said if someone applied for such a special exception, there would be reason to deny it, given the direction in the Comprehensive Plan. Supple asked what kind of zoning a property is usually given when it is annexed, if there is no development plan at that time. Kugler said the zoning is typically established along with the annexation of the property. He said there is not a default zone if something is annexed. Mitchell said when a property is annexed, it needs to be zoned at the same time. Kugler said it needs to be zoned something, whether it's an ID zone for interim development or a zone that can actually be developed. Supple stated that staff's most recent memorandum said everyone was notified and asked if that was now found to be incorrect. Kugler responded that he rechecked the list address by address and was unable to identify from the list of property owners a tie to two of the lots. He said he also did not see the Zajicek name on the list. Supple asked if this therefore needed to be deferred again. Kugler said the notification process is not part of the ordinance - that it is not a requirement, but a policy. He said the general idea is to get the word out to give people a Planning ad Zoning Commission Minutes February 3, 2000 Page 4 chance to make their opinions known. Kugler said the signs are also posted surrounding the property in question, and the letter encouraged people to notify others who may be interested and who may not have received the letter. He said one of the three property owners who did not receive notice by mail submitted a protest petition early on so it is evident that the notice got to them in one way or another. Ehrhardt apologized to the neighbors, on behalf of the Commission, because the sign was not posted until after the first meeting. She said part of the notification process is for the sign to go up as soon as the application is submitted. Bovbjerg said there is an ID-RS zone for interim development for residential zoning and asked if there were a comparable interim development designation for commercial. Kugler said staff discussed that with the applicant at one point. He said the zoning ordinance is somewhat unclear in that the interim development zone doesn't say these are the extensions that can be put on the classification. He said it does mention residential, office park, and a couple of other zones, but does not mention commercial zoning. Kugler said the applicant was not interested in entertaining that possibility, so staff didn't look any farther at that zone to see if it were something that could be done legally or not. Public discussion: John Cruise, 920 South Dubuaue Street, said he represented the applicant and was available to answer any questions. He said staff has recommended in favor of the application and has set forth conditions in a Conditional Zoning Agreement. Cruise said the applicant would agree to those conditions. Cruise said if this land cannot be annexed into the City as proposed, the applicant would prefer to keep the land in the County. He said three different families own the company, and they are putting the property on the market. Cruise said they would either sell it as a City property or County property, but one way or the other, they need to market the property, and that is the reason for this application. Cruise said the annexation and rezoning would also bring the property into the City so it can be connected to City sewer as part of the City's public improvements plan. He said then the Care Center could eventually tap onto City sewer. He said there is nothing in the works as far as development of the property, but it would probably be better to develop it to City standards, rather than County standards. Ehrhardt asked if the owners of the property had met with neighboring residents and if the applicant is aware of the City's good neighbor policy. Cruise said he did not believe any meetings were held. He said that is generally for development projects, and he did not believe it was in the procedure for annexations. Bovbjerg asked about the oddly shaped four-sided piece of property [the lagoon site]. She said engineering people at the last meeting said they knew it would take special care, and she wanted to make sure the people who own it and would potentially be marketing it understood it would take special care. Cruise said they absolutely did. He said that piece of ground is owned by a company that he personally owns. He said it is actually on option to Plum Grove Acres, and because Plum Grove Acres has the right to that property, it is included in this rezoning. Cruise said the idea is to get in here and get sewer connected to serve this ground and the Care Center as well. He said the sewage lagoon would be taken care of in the proper fashion according to what the engineers at MMS say. Supple asked about the trees that used to be on this land. Cruise said the owners are clearing and grading the land for sale and development in whatever fashion it can go. He said they have cut down trees and done a little grading and will continue to get this land, as well as all of the Planning ad Zoning Commission Minutes February 3, 2000 Page 5 parcels that Plum Grove Acres owns, ready for sale. Cruise said he did not think anything improper had been done. Bovbjerg asked what kind of erosion control and inspection is required when a developer grades ground in the County. Cruise said he did not know; he said Larry Schnittjer would have to respond to that. Bovbjerg said that has now become a County concern, and it affects everything downstream, a lot of which is City property. Cruise said the trees that were removed were all volunteer trees. He said they do not cut down trees that have value. Cruise said they are cleaning up the site so someone can look at it and evaluate it, and hopefully they will get it sold. He said he expected it would be years before anything is actually developed there. Bob Downer, 122 South Linn Street, said he is the attorney for the Waverly Group, owners of the Iowa City Care Center. He said he was authorized on their behalf to speak in favor of this application and to clarify their reasons for supporting this. Downer said the trapezoid-shaped parcel representing the lagoon serves the Iowa City Care Center and has since its construction in the 1960s. He said there have been concerns expressed by the DNR and others regarding that lagoon. Downer said the lagoon is presently is in compliance with all applicable requirements, but will likely require expansion in the reasonably near future, in the event the property is not annexed and connected to the City sewer. He said there have been some disagreements in the past with Cruise regarding the responsibility for that lagoon. Downer said fighting over who should rebuild the lagoon was counterproductive, and we should be looking toward getting a sewer into that area, eliminating the lagoon, and hopefully better serving the entire area there by doing so. He said that is the objective of the owners of the Care Center. Downer said if this application is acted upon favorably, the owners of the Care Center will immediately petition for the annexation of the Care Center property. He said it has not been done before, because the Care Center being contiguous to the City of Iowa City is dependent upon the annexation of the property under consideration. Downer said the Care Center strongly supports this annexation and rezoning request, and would hope to be in a position to petition for its own annexation shortly. Tim Reynolds, 65 Heron Circle, said there was a comment at the last meeting that the neighbors have a "not in my neighborhood" attitude. He said the problem is that the neighbors don't know what is going to go in here. Reynolds said the owners, who are local, are immediately going to sell this, so that some other company is going to come in and do whatever it wants, depending on how this is zoned. Reynolds said he is for housing going in here at an RS-5 density. He said right now if the property is sold as proposed for rezoning, the logical thing to put in would be businesses associated with the traffic in that area. Reynolds said the traffic in that area is mainly commuters and semis, because Scott Boulevard is a truck route. He asked what type of business is attracted to that type of traffic. Reynolds said regarding water usage, there could be a car/truck wash there. He said the first thing that comes to his mind is Al's Liquor Barn and Pawn Shop. Reynolds said the neighbors are terrified about what could go in there. He said there are no rules in concrete, and Kugler can't tell the neighbors what can and cannot be there. Reynolds said right now it looks unlimited. He said as soon as the new people take over, they could put whatever they want in there. Reynolds stated that the forest was made up of volunteer trees. He said the tree removal happened very quickly; one day the trees were just gone. Reynolds said there is a lagoon, Planning ad Zoning Commission Minutes February 3, 2000 Page 6 which contains medical waste that has been washing into it for over 30 years. He said he doesn't trust the developere to do what they are supposed to do; they are the same people who cut down the trees. Reynolds said the neighborhood is dealing with these kinds of concerns. He said until he knows exactly what will go in there or has a feeling for the restrictions on what goes in there, he would not be comfortable. Reynolds stated that every summer all the neighbors get together for a big neighborhood picnic, and that doesn't happen in every neighborhood. Diedre Fleener, 72 Goldfinch Circle, said she has done more research on the topic since the last meeting. She said her main concern with the rezoning involves the commercial portion of the property. Fleener said she could see a need for the annexation and the need for the Iowa City Care Center to be annexed in the future to obtain water and sewer benefits. Fleener said she read the Northeast District Plan, including the statements that the plan involved input and hard work on the part of many committee members and citizens of the community. She said it describes the vision for the commercial portion of the property to be as follows, "A neighborhood commercial center is proposed at the northwest portion of the Lindemann Hills neighborhood at the intersection of Scott and Rochester. This neighborhood center should be developed in a main street or town square design that ensures its compatibility with the surrounding neighborhood and provides the goods and services, such as small restaurants, retail shops, offices, grocery or convenience store, dental and medical clinics..." She said the Plan also notes that there could be upper floor residential use of the commercial buildings, and some other public service businesses could also be located there. Fleener said if this wasn't the intended use, then the Plan is very deceptive. She said it bothers her that a lot of planning and time went into this, and it makes it look very nice and comfortable and cozy for this neighborhood center, but now the plans are changing greatly. Fleener said the Iowa City Zoning Ordinance describes the CN-1 zone as being intended to permit the development of retail sales and personal services needed to meet the day to day requirements of a fully developed residential neighborhood. She said it discusses the types of uses that can be established in the zone and states that it should be generally nuisance free to the surrounding residences. Fleener said this classification seems to fit perfectly with what the plan is for this area. She said the only problem she saw with this classification is that it limits the commercial area to three to ten acres, and Plum Grove Acres is requesting rezoning of 12.29 acres. Fleeher said she would prefer either an exception allowing the 12.29 acres within the CN-1 zoning or a reduction in the number of acres for this commercial property to ten. Fleener asked what the developer is proposing for this property that doesn't fit in with the CN-1 criteria and why it needs to be upgraded to the CC-2. She said the wordsome thing about the CC-2 zone is that it typically features a number of large traffic generatore requiring access from a major thoroughfare. Fleener said this is already a very busy street, and the area will continue to grow. She said we don't need to be increasing the traffic at that intereection. Fleener said the Northeast District Plan describes the preservation of natural features and mentions the potential wetlands and hydric soils in conjunction with the sewage lagoon for the Care Center. She said the Plan states that, "As development occurs in this quadrant, woodlands, wetlands, stream corridors and hydric soils should be incorporated into parks and open spaces, and development should incorporate sensitive features including groves of trees and wooded areas as amenities where possible and make natural landscapes available for public access." She said it also mentions that parks and neighborhood greens will be developed within three to four blocks of every residence in Lindemann Hills, and she wondered where the green space was planned for this portion of the property. Planning ad Zoning Commission Minutes February 3, 2000 Page 7 Fleener said she has concerns as to whether the developer has any intention of complying with the neighborhood plans. She said they downed the majority of the trees on the property, most of which were situated in low lying areas in the swells and drainage portion that would not seem to interfere with placing residences on the property. Fleener said a recommendation was forwarded to Plum Grove Acres at the Commission's last meeting to discuss the plans with the neighbors, and to her knowledge, no attempts were made to meet this request. She said rezoning signs were placed after the last meeting, but none were up prior to the January 20th meeting. Fleener stated that her neighbors, Ann and Marry Hanrahan, were not notified by mail, nor was Mr. Zajicek. She said these things don't indicate an interest in the neighborhood by Plum Grove Acres, but shows they are interested in their own pocketbook. Fleener said she is very wary of the developer's plans, and the neighbors just want to make sure the right decisions are being made for their neighborhood. Fleener said she did not know much about the ownership of Plum Grove Acres, but if this is sold, who knows what type of development and vision the new owners will have for that corner. Fleener asked if there are any requirements for environmentally friendly lighting when a commercial development goes up. Kugler said there are. Fleener said she had concerns about what kind of buffer there would be between the residential area and the commercial area. She stated that the zoning rules state that there has to be a buffer between commercial and residences that are within 100 feet. Fleener said her property is right at the one hundred-foot line, so that no buffer would be required. She said she appreciated the Commission's help in making the right decision for the neighborhood and the City. Ehrhardt said staff is recommending in favor of this application with the conditions for review as the developers come up with a plan. She said the neighborhood would have input into how they feel about it. Fleener asked if the neighborhood would again be notified at that time. Kugler said the conditions staff is recommending would require approval of the development plan before the Planning and Zoning Commission, and the same notification requirements could certainly be applied to that type of application, even though technically it is not a rezoning. He added that signs are placed for a subdivision application. Miklo said such a condition could be added to the conditional zoning agreement to require notification of property owners within 300 feet. Ehrhardt asked Fleener if the neighbors are more comfortable with that. Fleener said she believed that contingency is necessary, but she had concerns that there may be a totally different Commission at that point. Ehrhardt stated that the intent and the comments are still on the record, even though the Commission members might be different. John Cruise, said the Conditional Zoning Agreement the applicant would agree to actually puts the Commission in much more control of the property than it has now and provides for a less dense and more compatible use of the property than is available under the County zoning ordinance. He said the County R3A zoning would allow the construction of apartments now, if the developer wanted to construct a sewer system. Cruise said the County highway commercial and the County local commercial zoning would allow storage facilities and the like there. He said the property owners would like to see something like Coralville's Riverview Square here. Cruise said this kind of commercial space is needed on the east side. He said there are no particular plans for that area now, and he guessed it would be five years before someone actually comes in to develop there. Dave Fleener, 72 Goldfinch Circle, said he wanted to know what could go in a CC-2 zone that cannot go in a CN-1 zone. He said there are already nice-sized commercial buildings in the form of Sycamore Mall, Econofoods, Best Buy, and Randalls. Fleener said the neighbors don't know what the intent of this is, and he did not know why, if this is to be done at all, that it needs Planning ad Zoning Commission Minutes February 3, 2000 Page 8 to be a CC-2 zone and not CN-1. Fleener said the trees were uprooted quickly, and no signs were posted until after the January meeting. He said now wanting to go from a CN-1 to a CC-2 zone gives the impression that something is already done, but the neighbors just don't know about it yet. He said it seems deceptive. Beckv Hassler, 32 Goldfinch Circle, said she has lived in this neighborhood since 1992 and said it is a family neighborhood. She said neighbors have concerns about what the addition of various commercial properties will do to property values. Hassler said the expectations upon moving into the area did not include a large mini-mart with lots of lights and traffic. Hassler said there is a lot of commercial space available on that side of town. She stated that one-half mile to the south is a small commercial area and one-half mile to the west is another commercial area. Hassler said she also had traffic concerns, as it is already very difficult to turn left onto Rochester Avenue from Scott Boulevard. She said she also had concerns about the lighting. Hassler said she wanted to make sure everything that is developed in the neighborhood will be very neighborhood friendly. Ehrhardt said the City has new lighting guidelines. Kugler said the guidelines basically require that all lighting be downcast and shielded, so the light doesn't spill onto adjacent properties. He said there is a requirement that for any commercial or multi-family use that there be no more than one foot-candle of light at the property line. Mike Wilson, 94 Heron Circle, said the biggest issue the neighbors have is trust. He said looking back at some of the things that have happened: the removal of trees, the lack of signs and the area being zoned CC-2, which would allow for bigger retail and businesses, raises a lot of questions about what exactly will happen with this property. Bob McNamee, 3345 Lower West Branch Road, said he lives about one-half block from this area. He said he agreed with the comments of the other neighbors. McNamee said there seems to be an intent to push this through. He said the neighbors are not necessarily resistant, but want to find out what will go in there. McNamee said he thought the question of what could potentially go in here has been evaded. Kugler said the types of uses allowed in the two zones are not all that different; the difference is mainly the scale of uses allowed. He said the CN-1 zone allows any type of retail or personal service uses. Kugler said there are some retail and personal service uses listed specifically as permitted uses in the CN-1 zone, and they are basically unlimited in terms of floor area. He said any retail and personal service use not specifically listed is limited to 2,000 square feet, whereas in the CC-2 zone, that size limitation doesn't exist. Kugler said restaurants are limited to an occupancy load of 100 persons or less in the CN-1 zone, and grocery stores and offices are limited in size, although through the special exception process, some of those types of uses can be approved at higher levels. He stated there are a couple of uses in the CC-2 zone that are not permitted in the CN-1 zone, including meeting halls, clubs, and food lockers. In terms of provisional uses, Kugler said small animal clinics are permitted in the CC-2 zone, with a separation requirement between residential properties of 200 feet, but are not permitted at all in the CN-1 zone. Kugler said there are a number uses that are only permitted by special exception in the CC-2 zone. He said some uses, including auto and truck-oriented uses, such as drive-through facilities or a truck stop require a public hearing before the Board of Adjustment. Kugler noted that some of these uses are not permitted in the CN-1 zone, although that zone includes filling stations and convenience stores, and has drive-through provisions for drugstores and banks. He said with the exception of cemeteries, funeral homes, and transient housing, other uses permitted by special exception in the CC-2 zone are also permitted in the CN-1 zone. He said the difference is mainly the scale of the uses. He added that in the CN-1 zone, there are Planning ad Zoning Commission Minutes February 3, 2000 Page 9 design provisions that need to be followed, and staff is suggesting the type of conditions applied to this CC-2 zone should be similar to what would normally be in a CN-1 zone. McNamee said he basically supported most of the neighborhood comments. He said he would prefer the lower commercial zoning for this area. Larry Schnittier, MMS, 1917 South Gilbert Street, asked Kugler to read the first bullet of the Conditional Zoning Agreement so that the public has an understanding of the process this property will need to go through. Kugler read, "In order to insure that the development of the subject property occurs in conformance with the policies and objectives identified in the Comprehensive Plan, the following conditions are agreed upon by both parties: Prior to any development activity occurring on the proposed CC-2 property, the applicant agrees to submit for approval a preliminary conceptual development plan to the Planning and Zoning Commission which illustrates the following: 1 ) a conceptual layout of the proposed development including proposed locations of streets, trails, and other private or public rights of way or drives within the development and a general arrangement of potential buildings, parking areas, and open spaces, and other defining elements that help illustrate the general character of the proposed development, and 2) the conceptual plan should illustrate an integrated commercial development that conforms to the commercial development concepts described in the Northeast District Plan, which emphasizes the commercial uses and not the parking areas as well as the design provisions of the neighborhood commercial zone, including, but not limited to, design provisions for clearly defined pedestrian routes between various business and uses within the development, a vehicular circulation system that allows circulation between the various uses and businesses within the development, rather than individual, isolated parking areas for each use, and the provision of adequate, pedestrian and vehicular connections to existing and future surrounding residential neighborhoods, particularly the proposed RS-8 parcel located on this property." Kugler said there are a few additional conditions mentioned to help describe the process to go through for approval of that preliminary plan and final plan. Diedre Fleener asked if this property were zoned CN-1 and someone purchased the property later and had a more definitive plan, could it then be upgraded to CC-2, with approval of the Commission and with neighborhood input. Kugler replied that any property could be rezoned upon application and approval by the City Council. Fleener said that would provide more protection and security for the neighborhood to have the property be CN-1 in the meantime. Kim DeMoss, 12 Goldfinch Circle, said she supported comments made by the neighbors. She said there has been a feeling of lack of trust and possibly some deception. DeMoss said the clearing of the trees and the lack of signs leaves an uneasy feeling with herself and her family. Nancy Jones, 9 Heron Circle, said from her understanding, this request has been in the works, as far as zoning, for something like five years, and everyone was supposed to be notified. She said when she bought her property, she knew nothing about this. Jones asked why notification was limited to property owners within 300 feet. She said she has two small children and would not like to see a major commercial development in the neighborhood. Jones said the street is busy enough as it is, and there are probably over 100 children in close proximity to the street. She said she was afraid for their safety. Public discussion closed. MOTION: Shannon moved to approve ANN99-0003, an application submitted by Plum Grove Acres for a voluntary annexation of 26.88 acres for property located at the southeast corner of Rochester Avenue and Scott Boulevard. Bovbjerg seconded the motion. Planning ad Zoning Commission Minutes Februa~ 3,2000 Page 10 Ehrhardt asked those attending the meeting if they felt there had been sufficient time for input on this item and if they had enough opportunity to communicate with each other and the Planning and Zoning Commission. The consensus of those attending was that enough time had been allowed. Bovbjerg said she thought the annexation was a good thing for many reasons. She said it solvs,cl some headaches and would be good for the whole neighborhood. Ehrhardt asked what would happen if the annexation were approved, but the rezoning was not. Mitchell said the application would go forward to City Council, and the City Council would have to rezone the property to a zone permitted in the City. He stated that if the Commission does recommend approval of the annexation, but is against the rezoning, it might want to at least make a recommendation to the City Council as to what it thinks the appropriate zoning would be. Supple said she would be voting yes on the annexation even though she would be voting no on the rezoning. She said the annexation would be beneficial to both the community and the developer. The motion carried on a vote of 6-0. MOTION: Bovbjerg moved to approve REZ99-0017, an application submitted by Plum Grove Acres to rezone 31.88 acres from Low Density Single-Family Residential (RS-5), County Highway Commercial (CH), County Local Commercial (C1) and County Multi- Family Residential (R3A) to Community Commercial (CC-2 - 12.29 acres) and Medium Density Single-Family Residential (RS-8 - 19.59 acres) for property located at the southeast corner of Rochester Avenue and Scott Boulevard, subject to the conditions outlined in the staff report dated January 20, 2000. Shannon seconded the motion. AMENDMENT TO THE MAIN MOTION: Bovbjerg moved to amend the main motion to read to approve REZ99-0017, an application submitted by Plum Grove Acres to rezone 31.88 acres from Low Density Single-Family Residential (RS-5), County Highway Commercial (CH), County Local Commercial (C1) and County Multi-Family Residential (R3A) to Neighborhood Commercial (CN-1 12.29 acres) and Low Density Single-Family Residential (RS-5 - 19.59 acres) for property located at the southeast corner of Rochester Avenue and Scott Boulevard, subject to the conditions outlined in the staff report dated January 20, 2000. Ehrhardt seconded the motion. Bovbjerg said she thought that rather than going to an interim development, the Commission should start with a basic, low, non-threatening and very fitting designation. She said any of these zones could be changed with a planned development, and the applicant could come in with a subdivision plan that could change the character and therefore the density or could change the density, therefore the character. Bovbjerg said as a base density and base use, this would be best for everyone. She said the people who are selling this and the people who are buying this would know what those zones are. Bovbjerg said it would be straightforward and in keeping with the neighborhood. She said she realized that neighborhood commercial doesn't necessarily mean CN-1, but she thought that kind of designation could then be worked on carefully with a good plan. Supple said she thought 12.29 acres is somewhat large for CN-1 zoning. Kugler said the CN-1 zone is actually limited to between three and ten acres, and any CN-1 zone between seven and ten acres requires a plan at the time the property is to be rezoned. Mitchell said the City has no Planning ad Zoning Commission Minutes February 3, 2000 Page 11 provision to allow a CN-1 zone to be greater than ten acres, presumably because if it is greater than ten acres, it becomes inconsistent with the intent of that zone. He said the area to be rezoned to CN-1 would have to be reduced to ten acres or less. Bovbjerg said adjacent to the 12.29 acres is the Zajicek property, which could be folded into that. She said she is appalled at the desserts of concrete and bright lights all night at some of the places that have recently been done commercially. Bovbjerg said she wants to protect this as a place for neighbors and other people to come and have a neighborhood commercial area near them. She said she sees this as a residential area with some commercial. Mitchell said his best recommendation, if the Commission is not comfortable with CC-2 zoning, would be to vote that zoning down and recommend that staff and the developer come up with something else before it gets to the City Council level. Miklo said it would be difficult to send it on to City Council without some recommendation. Chait said he could support CN-1 on this property at this point. He said if the Commission votes against this, it will go on to City Council. Chait said if the sentiment is not to go with the CC-2 rezoning, it might be more prudent to withdraw the motion, defer the question, and give the applicant time to make the modifications that would allow this to be CN-1 and something the Commission could support. Bovbjerg said she could go with a deferral if it could be worked out. Chait said the 12.29 acreage would have to be shrunk back to something that is within the parameters of what is permitted in the Neighborhood Commercial zone. He said if the applicant is willing to do that, the Commission might be able to support this project, and the neighbors would be more comfortable with that. Ehrhardt said there was still the question of the residential zone. Bovbjerg said she was mainly concerned about big boxes of buildings and lots of them. Chait said he thought the neighborhood commercial zoning would address that. He said he was okay with the proposed RS-8 zoning and did not hear opposition to multi-family residential uses. He said he thought it would be a reasonable compromise to decrease the commercially-zoned area to three to ten acres. Supple said it would have to be more than that, because the Zajicek property would have to be included in the ten acres. Kugler said he did not know how large the Zajicek property is. He said if the intent is to have that redevelop at some point and become part of that commercial zone, the zone would be subject to the same restrictions, unless at some point those restrictions are changed. Chait said that isn't on the table here and isn't part of this application. He said that is supposing something will happen that may not. Kugler said if the intent is to defer, the applicant would need to waive the 45-day limitation period. Ehrhardt pointed out the Commission is not promising that if the commercial area is reduced to ten acres then this will be approved. Bovbjerg agreed that deferring this to work on conditions is no guarantee of approval. Mitchell said if the commercial area is greater than seven acres and is to be rezoned CN-1, then a plan would also have to be submitted before it can be rezoned. Chait said that is another review process for the Commission and for the neighbors. He stated that if that can be something that works in a CN-1 zone, given the proposed Conditional Zoning Agreement for this application, the Commission would approve it. He said it is not a guarantee, but when the Commission tells the applicant to go do something and he does, the Commission cannot come back with a whole different set of conditions. Chait said he was speaking for himself. He said if the Commission denies this and it goes to the City Council, the City Council Planning ad Zoning Commission Minutes February 3, 2000 Page 12 would have to come up with its decision without anything other than reading the minutes of this meeting. Supple asked Cruise if the applicant would be willing to waive the time limitation for another two weeks. Cruise said he absolutely would. He said the best thing is to try to work out these issues. Cruise said the applicant wants to have a piece of property that is desirable for someone to build a retail center on. He said the applicant really does not have any objection to seeing it built in the way the Commission and the neighbors would like to see it built. However, Cruise said the applicant is totally opposed to the CN-1 zoning. He said the applicant has been sitting on CN-1 zoned property and feels it is pretty worthless. Cruise said he doesn't feel the CN-1 zone is a very reasonable zoning classification; it doesn't seem to work in Iowa City. He said before the applicant would agree to a CN-1 zoning, they would withdraw the application and stay in the County to work with County zoning. Cruise said as far as doing as Kugler suggested to include a provision in the Conditional Zoning Agreement to require the owner come back before the public with a development plan, the applicant is willing to do that. He said the CN-1 zoning is so restrictive as far as the uses and square footage allowed that it just scares everybody away. Cruise said this company sat on the property next to Dan's Short Stop for many years and was never able to entice anyone to come in to develop it under the CN-1 zoning. He said they also have CN-1 zoning on Scott Boulevard where the Amoco Station is and have been struggling to get that property sold and used. Cruise said for property at this particular intersection, he believes CC-2 is the right zoning. He said the applicant is quite willing to defer, but will be arguing to maintain his request for CC-2 zoning. He said the applicant would be amenable to writing up restrictions and procedures to ensure that the development will look really good. Cruise said he did not believe the owners would ever be willing to come in under CN-1 zoning. Chair said the property at First and Rochester that is in the process of being rezoned is also a Glasgow property. He said that property supports the position Cruise is making about Neighborhood Commercial (CN-1) zoning. Chait asked if the Commission would want to look at modifying the CN-1 zone in some way. He said deferring this wouldn't get anything worked out, because the applicant is not going to move away from the CC-2 zone. Chair said based on that information, the Commission could vote approval or denial at this meeting. He said there might be merit in the idea of having the Commission revisit the Neighborhood Commercial zone. Supple said she would be in favor of revisiting Neighborhood Commercial zone. She said apparently on this issue, Neighborhood Commercial is not a consideration, although the Commission could vote that way and send it on to the City Council. Bovbjerg said she did not know if deferring this for two weeks would give more time to work on the plan. Chait said he did not think it would. Bovbjerg stated she is very concerned about CC- 2 running wild. She said property changes hands, and good intentions can be lost. She said she is very concerned that the conditions be carefully adhered to, and the Commission should err on the side of caution when this comes back before it. WITHDRAWAL OF THE AMENDMENT: Bovbjerg withdrew her amendment to the main motion regarding the change in commercial zoning, and Ehrhardt withdrew her second. Bovbjerg said the amendment from RS-8 to RS-5 is still on the table. She said her concern is the ratcheting up of density from whatever it could be in the County. Bovbjerg said she is wary that a mathematical density is arrived at and then big buildings entirely out of keeping with the adjacent neighborhood that would be put up. She said this type of development could also put a burden on the streets. She said she would like to see this be a low density RS-8, as she did not like to see people packed into an area. Bovbjerg said if people know this is RS-8 and there will be scrutiny and neighborhoods to be blended with, then the buyer should look at the Planning ad Zoning Commission Minutes February 3, 2000 Page 13 minutes and the conditions to see that he cannot put up large apartment buildings with lots of concrete. She said if those conditions are added, then she could go with an RS-8 zoning. Ehrhardt said she could see this as a planned development with a higher density than RS-5. Supple said she would vote no on this rezoning. She said it is in the best interests of both the community and the developer for this property to be annexed. However, Supple said rezoning it in this manner is premature, because there is not a plan. She said Schnittjer indicated he put the line designating the border bet~;=~en the CC-2 and the RS-8 as close as he could calculate to the line shown on the Northeast District Plan. Supple noted that the Northeast District Plan is conceptual, and the line doesn't need to be in exactly that same place. Supple said when the development plan is formulated, the developers may realize they need less commercial zoning or maybe more. She said without some kind of plan knowing where there will be streets and buildings, it is impossible to tell how much land is going to be appropriate for that. Supple said she would like to see this plan phased. She said she is not necessarily opposed to the requested CC-2 zoning, but she would like to see something that phases from an intense use to a less intense use to a less intense use going down to probably RS-5 from CC-2. She said high density residential could be located inbetween the commercial and the low density residential. Supple said merely dividing this parcel of land into two blocks and calling it a plan isn't a plan to her. She said there are a lot more creative possibilities here, and she is open to almost anything but a lack of information. Supple said she is open to just about any plan that is well thought out, comprehensive, and conscientious. Supple said there are four rules to development. She said the first rule is to respect the land, and she feared the applicant had already failed on the first rule because of the trees that had been cut down. She said she regretted that, but noted that there are three other rules. She said we could work to meet those other three rules. Supple stated that the other three rules are: be compatible with the neighborhood, be beneficial to the City, and be profitable to the developer. She said this could be accomplished, but not just by dividing this large parcel of land into two lumps. Supple said she would like to incorporate this land into the City limits with an RS-5 zoning, with the intention of rezoning later. She said this would give the applicant time to create an inspired development that is compatible, beneficial and profitable. She said there is not any zone that says this is what it is now, but we don't intend to leave it this way. She said however, that is really the zoning she would like to have on it. Supple said she is in favor of seeing this land develop, but she is not open to a Don-plan. She said she would vote no on the rezoning and recommended the annexation be accepted at RS-5 for the entire parcel, with the understanding that the intention is to rezone this later. Given the mixed feelings on the Commission and the applicant's willingness to defer, Miklo asked if the Commission would defer to allow the applicant and staff to look at alternatives to find a zoning solution so the Commission could send a clear recommendation to the City Council. Supple said she did not think it necessary to send a clear message to the City Council as one voice; she said there are six voices at the meeting and to try to make it into one voice would be in error. She said diverse opinions are what create the best development we can get. Supple said she did not see any reason to defer unless the applicant requests it or a member of the Commission is undecided. Ehrhardt said she agreed with Supple regarding deferral. Ehrhardt added that at some point the Commission should have a discussion regarding how to get the message to property owners and developers that cutting down a grove of trees prior to an application for annexation is not appropriate. She said there is a lot of land that will be coming in that contains groves of trees and streambeds, and there is nothing now preventing the destruction of the trees or streambeds. Ehrhardt said the Northeast District Plan says that development should integrate sensitive features, including groves of trees and wooded areas as amenities and where Planning ad Zoning Commission Minutes February 3, 2000 Page 14 possible have natural landscapes available to public access. She said this can be in the plan, but the property could all be graded to eliminate those features before it comes to the Commission. Ehrhardt suggested working out something in the Fringe Area Agreement to prevent this kind of destruction. She said the message should go out to developers that the Commission would not accept this. Ehrhardt said that is one of the reasons she would vote no on this rezoning. , Schintler said if the Commission makes this all RS-5 and the property is sold, all RS-5 housing can be built here, and the Commission would have no say. She said that is not consistent with the Comprehensive Plan either. Supple agreed, but added that RS-5 is not the highest and best use of the land, so it is probably not what the developer would do. Bovbjerg stated if the Commission feels that realigning or redesignating or rethinking the lines on this would be beneficial, she would withdraw the amendment and motion and offer a motion to defer. She said she feels strongly that what goes to the City Council should be well thought out, well founded, and well stated. Bovbjerg said the City Council would look for direction on this, and the decisions on land should by made by the people who have wrestled with this, including staff, the applicant, the Commission and the neighbors. She said she would prefer to back off to see what can be done. Ehrhardt said the owners are going to sell this land, and the developer will not know what the zoning is so would not be able to come up with a plan. Bovbjerg said the developers would have to have a plan. She said the concerns revolve around where the lines really are and whether they are based on traffic, topography and what's across the street. Bovbjerg said the buyers have to know what they can or cannot do and what kind of hassle they will have to go through. She said new lines could come up in the next couple of weeks that could give the Commission a basis for telling the City Council this is okay. Shannon said he is a big supporter of Neighborhood Commercial zones. He said the price of gas is rising and in the future, these neighborhood centers will be frequently used. Shannon said someone in the audience said they didn't have any trust, and he agreed. He said he did not trust reliance on a lot of clauses. He said if the Commission was made up of different members, he did not know who would support those clauses. Shannon said he would not have faith in that either. He said these people deserve something to be for or against, and right now they can't see anything on paper. Shannon said he would also like to see a definitive plan. He said he could support the RS-5 zoning. Miklo said some of the neighbors' concerns included some sort of buffer between them and the CC-2, and that is something staff could explore with the applicant, perhaps with some CO-1, Office Commercial, along Scott Boulevard, in combination with CCo2 with conditions. He suggested deferring this to see if the applicant would consider something other than the CC-2 zoning that is on the table. WITHDRAWAL OF THE AMENDMENT AND THE MAIN MOTION: Bovbjerg withdrew the main motion and her amendment to it. Shannon and Ehrhardt withdrew their seconds. MOTION: Bovbjerg moved to defer REZ99-0017, an application submitted by Plum Grove Acres to rezone 31.88 acres from Low Density Single-Family Residential (RS-5), County Highway Commercial (CH), County Local Commercial (C1) and County Multi-Family Residential (R3A) to Community Commercial (CC-2 - 12.29 acres) and Medium Density Single-Family Residential (RS-8 - 19.59 acres) for property located at the southeast corner of Rochester Avenue and Scott Boulevard to the February 17, 2000 meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission. Shannon seconded the motion. Planning ad Zoning Commission Minutes February 3, 2000 Page 15 Chait said the process calls for a 45-day response. He said he understood that discussing CN-1 versus other zones might not be appropriate at this point. Chait said discussing politics is also not part of the Commission's responsibility, as the Commission makes technical, not political decisions. He said he does not disagree with the moral aspect of tearing down trees, but what a landowner does with land that is in the County, not in the City, is not the Commission's business. Chair said the Commission could send a message by having an opinion about being offended by this, but the Commission really does not have a right to do that. He said deferring is not sending a clear message. He said redefining a zone takes a lot of time and is in violation of the commitment to turn these things around in 45 days. Chait said the conversation the Commission is having is confusing as to what the Commission's responsibilities actually are. He said the applicant has made it clear what he wants and that he will stay in the County if he doesn't get that. Chair said deferring violates the Commission's responsibility to the 45-day limitation and to use the information given to vote approval or denial. Ehrhardt said she would vote against deferral. She said she did not think the Commission was going to get a specific plan. Ehrhardt said she did not think the owners were in a position to develop a plan, but just want to sell the property. Bovbjerg said she would like to defer, because there is goodwill on the part of the applicant to make this acceptable. She said the applicant would rather be in the City, and having this parcel come into the City with a good, clear recommendation is far better for everyone. Bovbjerg said she respected the 45-day period, but in the past a number of applications have been deferred for various reasons and have been improved and rethought for technical, compatibility and further analysis reasons. She said she did not feel the Commission should be limited and strangled by the 45-day limitation period. Bovbjerg said there is a chance to have the kind of zoning that the Commission thinks would be a good use of these parcels. She said she would like to have at least one more chance to work on the rezoning of this parcel. Schintler said she agreed with Bovbjerg with regard to deferring. Chait asked if the applicant doesn't get the zoning he wants and is annexed and takes this to the City Council, can he withdraw the request at any point. Miklo said the annexation could always be withdrawn. Supple said she would vote to defer in the interest of fairness to the applicant. The motion to defer carried on a vote of 5-1, with Ehrhardt votin,cl no. Supple informed those in attendance that this item would be on the Commission's agenda again on February 17. REZ00-0001. Public discussion of an application submitted by Christian Retirement Services, Inc. for a rezoning of a 0.2-acre site from Medium Density Single-Family Residential (RS-8) to Low Density Multi-Family Residential (RM-12) zone for property located at 703 Benton Court. (45-day limitation period expires February 17, 2000) Miklo said there was a previous proposal to zone the northern lot of this parcel to RM-44. He said ~hat was recommended against by the Commission and deferred by the City Council, with instructions to staff to investigate code amendments that would allow parking for high-density uses in other possible zones. Miklo said since that time a code amendment was approved that would allow non-required parking for multi-family zones in other multi-family zones by special exception to be approved by the Board of Adjustment. Planning ad Zoning Commission Minutes February 3, 2000 Page 16 Miklo said the applicant is now requesting RM-12 zoning on the previous property as well as the rest of the properties they own in this block on the west side of Benton Court. He said they are proposing the lowest density multi-family residential zone. Miklo stated that staff feels RM-12 would be appropriate as a transition between the existing high-density multi-family RM-44 zone that contains Oaknoll and the medium density residential RS-8 zone to the west. He said the Comprehensive Plan actually contemplates a transition in this area, which the RM-12 zone would be in compliance with. Miklo said staff feels this proposed zone change is in compliance with the Comprehensive Plan as well as with the policy of having ze,qe changes occur at rear yards and not at the street as is currently the situation here. Miklo said staff recommends that if this rezoning is approved, there be conditions placed on it to assure that the future development on this property in terms of size, scale and placement of the buildings on the site is compatible with the medium density single-family residential development to the west. He said the traffic question in this area was reviewed, and there would probably not be an immediate change as a result of this rezoning, as the parking lot that is already there would stay in place, and the existing homes would stay there for some time. However, Miklo said when this area is redeveloped, there would be a slight increase in traffic. He stated that if it is for elderly housing, there would generally be a lower traffic generation rate per unit than other housing, although there would likely be more units than are currently located there. He said based on the overall traffic on Benton Street, it would be less than a 1% increase. Miklo said staff recommends approval with conditions pertaining to the height, design, and placement of any structures on the site. Ehrhardt asked if the applicant agreed to the Conditional Zoning Agreement for the revised application. Miklo suggested asking the applicant. Public discussion: Bob Downer, 122 South Linn Street, said he is the attorney for Christian Retirement Services, the owner of the property in question. He said the ordinance change approved by the City Council 'resulted in the modification of this application from RM-44 to RM-12. Downer said there really is nothing that has changed since the last time this was before the Commission except that the one property on the west side of Benton Court that was not owned by Oaknoll is now under contract to be purchased by Oaknoll. Downer stated that the original application has therefore been amended, at staff's suggestion, to include all the property on the west side of Benton Court. Downer said nothing has changed regarding the immediate plans for Oaknoll. He said the reason for the application is to be able to use the lot at the north end of Benton Court on the west side for parking in conjunction with Oaknoll. Downer said Oaknoll would be willing to enter into the same type of Conditional Zoning Agreement that was proposed previously. He said Oaknoll is happy to give any kind of assurance that this property will be used for no purpose other than parking for Oaknoll, except with the approval of the City upon the submission of a proper application. He said there are no other proposed uses for the property at this time. Downer said the reason the additional property was included was to avoid the possibility of spot zoning for one parcel of less than 10,000 square feet with no RMo12 being contiguous to it. Downer stated that this area with the five platted lots is just short of one acre in size. Downer said the last time this was before the Commission, comments were made that the property could always be sold, and there could be a freestanding multi-family dwelling constructed there. He said theoretically that is true. Downer said Oaknoll has been a buyer of real property since it was founded in the 1960s and has never sold real property. He said Oaknoll has purchased property making up its complex in ten separate transactions. He said Oaknoll does not contemplate that it will ever sell real estate, as the land is needed for Planning ad Zoning Commission Minutes February 3, 2000 Page 17 purposes of meeting the objectives of this non-profit corporation. Downer said while the concerns are theoretically true, consideration should be given to the nature of this applicant, the type of operation it has, and its commitment to the Commission and the community with regard to its mission. Ehrhardt asked if a representative from the neighborhood association has been contacted about this and what the neighborhood feelings were about this. Downer said not on this occasion; he said there was csntact the last time this application arose, and Oaknoll at that time invited people in the neighborhood to see the long range plans for Oaknoll. He said there was only one response at that time. Supple said she was concerned about the potential for building an apartment building here, as she did not feel it is an appropriate place for an apartment building. She asked what protects this land from being developed with an apartment building. Downer responded that the Conditional Zoning Agreement and any conditions lawfully placed on the rezoning would serve as a form of a restrictive covenant that would prevent modifications of use of the property without notification to the City. He said City legal staff indicated they could not lawfully request this, but Oaknoll could voluntarily offer it, which it did. Downer said Oaknoll would continue with that voluntary offer together with the most stringent Conditional Zoning Agreement that could lawfully be entered into that would maintain the northernmost lot as a parking lot and continue the use of the three existing residences on the property where they are presently located. Downer said one of those residences has just been substantially remodeled, and remodeling is contemplated for the residence Oaknoll is in the process of purchasing. He stated that these properties are not to be torn down or moved in the near term, because there has been a substantial investment in refurbishing them. Downer said staff is essentially satisfied with the level of commitment made the last time, but anything that would give further assurance, Oaknoll is willing to do. Mitchell said, regarding a Conditional Zoning Agreement, the City cannot regulate uses. He said Downer has prepared a restrictive covenant that Oaknoll would voluntarily record, naming the City as a third party beneficiary. Downer said the City would then be in a position to enforce that just as if these were covenants within subdivision. Bovbjerg said she assumed the motion with the Conditional Zoning Agreement was a synopsis of the longer, legal papers, and Mitchell confirmed this. Public discussion closed. MOTION: Shannon moved to defer REZ00-0001, an application submitted by Christian Retirement Services, Inc., for a rezoning of a 0.2-acre site from Medium Density Single- Family Residential (RS-8) to Low Density Multi-Family Residential (RM-12) zone for property located at 703 Benton Court, to the February 17, 2000 meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission. Ehrhardt seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 6-0. Ehrhardt asked if staff had notified the neighbors about this application. Miklo said the agenda for the meeting was sent to Bill Knabbe and all property owners within 300 feet. REZ99-0004. Public discussion of an application submitted by Charles McComas and Haywood Belle for a rezoning of a .48-acre site from Planned High Density Multi-Family Residential to Planning ad Zoning Commission Minutes February 3, 2000 Page 18 Sensitive Areas Overlay (OSA) zone for property located at the northwest corner of Prentiss and Linn Streets. (45-day limitation period expires February 27, 2000) Miklo said this property is in the PRM, Planned Residential High Density Multi-Family, zone. He said that zone has a number of design provisions requiring the Director of Planning to sign off on the basic building elevations and concepts. Miklo said staff feels the design of the first level of the building needs more work. He said staff has been in contact with the applicanrs architect and expects to have an agreement on the design of the first level of the building before the next Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. Miklo said this application is before the Commission because the land contains a critical slope of greater than 25%. He stated the applicant is proposing to use the provisions of the Sensitive Areas Ordinance to reduce the setbacks from 15 feet to 13 feet on Prentiss Street and from 15 feet to 10 feet on Linn Street, which will allow more surface parking on the north side of the property without encroaching into the slope. Miklo said with the design provisions of the PRM zone, moving the building closer to the sidewalk calls for careful consideration of the design of the first floor to make it pedestrian friendly with techniques such as landscaping, terraces, changes in materials, architectural treatments, etc. He said if an agreement is reached regarding design, staff feels this is an appropriate area in which to reduce the setback to avoid the slope. Miklo said this area of the community is intended to be an urban neighborhood where the buildings are closer to the street. Miklo said there are some technical details regarding the flood plain that need to be addressed on the plan. He said there is also reference to the landscape buffer. Miklo said typically ten feet of landscape buffer is required here, but the Planning Director can waive .that if certain things are done to meet the intent of the buffer requirement. He said discussions have included a five-foot buffer with a solid hedge in lieu of ten feet of grass, and that would be reflected on the plan. Miklo said staff recommends deferral until those outstanding issues are resolved. Bovbjerg asked if cars could go in and out of each of the doors if this area flooded. Miklo said that was discussed, and the intent is to raise the building up out of the flood plain by one foot. He said the entrance doors are designed as a one-way circulation, but in an emergency situation, residents would adapt and go both ways. Ehrhardt asked if the setback were not approved, would the mass of the building be less. Miklo said it would be potentially less, because there wouldn't be as many units and less parking would be required. He said because this zone is intended to be high density residential, staff is encouraging a large building. Ehrhardt stated that she has seen many apartment buildings around town that have families with young children, but virtually no green space. Miklo said if that is a concern here, the Harris Hill Park is nearby. Ehrhardt asked that it be kept in mind that not all apartment buildings have only students as their residents. Public discussion: Janice Sweet, 510 Ronalds Street, said she is the architect for this project. She said the intent of the applicant is to construct a building that is highly efficient, but she is working hard to address the concerns of staff and feels they are close to reaching an agreement. Sweet said there will be terraces and setbacks on the front of the building, but generally it will be done fairly efficiently. She said she is working with staff to add some things to make this development pedestrian friendly, especially on the Prentiss Street side. Public discussion closed. Planning ad Zoning Commission Minutes February 3, 2000 Page 19 MOTION: Schintler moved to defer REZ00-0004, an application submitted by Charles McComas and Haywood Belle for a rezoning of a .48-acre site from Planned High Density Multi-Family Residential to Sensitive Areas Overlay (OSA) zone for property located at the northwest corner of Prentiss and Linn Streets, to the February 17, 2000 meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission. Shannon seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 6-0. CONSIDERATION OF THE JANUARY 20, 2000 PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES: MOTION: Shannon moved to approve the minutes of the January 20, 2000 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, as amended at the informal meeting. Bovbjerg seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 6-0. OTHER: Miklo stated that the next informal meeting to be held on February 14 would be held in the Senior Center Assembly Room. Miklo said the City Council has a question regarding the Bud Louis rezoning. He said the City Council is considering the alternative of having the driveway remain open until there is future development to the west or until the Louises move from the building, whichever came first. Miklo stated that in the interim, there would be an escrow. Ehrhardt said Karin Franklin felt this would be about a two-year period. Ehrhardt asked how "development" would be defined. Miklo said staff is considering suggesting that development be specified as ten units. He said that could be specified in the Conditional Zoning Agreement. The consensus of the Commission was to meet with the Council to discuss this. Miklo said the joint meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission and the City Council would be held on March 6 and could also include discussion of the Mercy Hospital application at First and Rochester. Ehrhardt suggested scheduling time at some point to discuss the idea of asking staff to not make a recommendation on applications, but just to give the facts under consideration. She said it could be done on a six-month trial basis. Supple scheduled it for discussion at the February 28 informal meeting. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 10:14 p.m. Dean Shannon, Secretary Minutes submitted by Anne Schulte ppdadnVmin/p&z2-3-O0.doc Planning and Zoning Commission PLEASE SIGN IN NAME ADDRESS POLICE CITIZENS REVIEW BOARD MINUTES - January 25, 2000 CALL TO ORDER Chair J. Watson called the meeting to order at 7:04 P.M. ATTENDANCE Board members present: L. Cohen, P. Hoffey, and J. Watson; members absent: P. Farrant and J. Stratton. Staff present: Legal Counsel C. Pugh and PCRB Assistant S. Bauer. Lt. M. Johnson was also in attendance. CONSENT CALENDAR Motion by P. Hoffey and seconded by L. Cohen to adopt the Consent Calendar. Motion carried, 3/0, Farrant and Stratton absent. RECOMMENDATION TO COUNCIL None NEW BUSINESS None OLD BUSINESS Plans for Meeting with City Council J. Watson advised the Board it will probably not meet with the Council until late March or early April. Watson did write to the Mayor, a copy included in the packet. Watson distributed a draft working document entitled "PCRB Concerns/Issues," which the Board might wish to discuss with Council. After Board discussion, Watson stated he will bring a re-drafted document to the next meeting. PUBLIC DISCUSSION In response to the Board's inquiry at the last meeting concerning data collection on race-based traffic stops, Lt. Johnson stated it is the Chief's intention that data be collected for a year prior to any analysis of that data occurring. At present there are no plans to release any additional reports until that year has gone by. What the Chief is involved in now is attempting to find somebody who is willing to crunch this information and draw information from the data. MEETING SCHEDULE Regular Meeting February 8, 2000, 7:00 P.M. (Chair Watson will be absent.) · Special Meeting February 22, 2000, 7:00 P.M. · Regular Meeting March 14, 2000 · Special Meeting March 28, 2000 BOARD INFORMATION Watson stated he looked at the PCRB budget, which is approximately 940,000.00. The Board has spent about 39% of its budget through the first half of the year. STAFF INFORMATION None. EXECUTIVE SESSION None EXTENSION REQUEST Motion by P. Hoffey and seconded by L. Cohen to grant the Chief an extension to February 3, 2000, to complete his report on PCRB Complaint #99-06. Motion carried, 3/0, Farrant and Stratton absent. L. Cohen expressed concern about the two recent extension requests. When the Board met with the Council last year, the police department requested that it have 90 days within which to file the Chief's report, 30 of those days to used by the City Attorney's Office to review the report. The Board requested that Chair Watson call Chief Winkelhake to discuss this concern with him. ADJOURNMENT Motion for adjournment by L. Cohen and seconded by P. Hoffey. Motion carried, 3/0, Farrant and Stratton absent. Meeting adjourned at 7:38 P.M.