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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-01-09 Transcription Page 1 ITEM NO. 2. SPECIAL PRESENTATION: OUTSTANDING STUDENT CITIZENSHIP AWARDS- LINCOLN ELEMENTARY. Lehman: If the folks from Lincoln Elementary would come forward please. This is a time we- during the school year we make citizenship awards, our presentations to outstanding citizens, which is really probably one of the really high points of our council meetings. It is one that I really enjoy. I talked to one of the parents tonight and obviously parents are very, very proud of these young folks. But their pride is nothing to what the grandparents are. I can tell you that right now. So if each of you would read your name and then why you have been nominated. Ryan McCurdy: First I would like to thank Mayor Lehman- oh, my name is Ryan McCurdy and I am in the sixth grade at Lincoln Elementary. First I would like to thank Mayor Lehman and the City Council for inviting me here tonight for this award presentation. Also I would like to thank the Lincoln Elementary teachers who chose me for this honorable award. I have been on the school safety patrol since fifth grade. I enjoy being a tech mentor for the kids at school and helping in the computer lab. I read to the kindergartners and I help the younger children whenever I can. I have been in Boy Scouts since second grade. I am always glad to help other members in my family, community and classroom. Thank you again for this award. I am honored. John Felder: My name is John Felder. Thank you for this award. I think I was chosen because I try my best on all assignments. I help my friends and younger students when they need it. I am a tech mentor, I am on safety patrol, and I am a student council member. Once again, thank you. Emma Palermo: My name is Emma Palermo and I am really honored to get this award. Several of the things I have enjoyed doing to help my school are safety patrol, media aid, and working on the school newsletter. I have also enjoyed helping raise money for the play structure my school is hoping to buy for next year. I just want to thank my parents and teachers for all of the support they have given me. I really appreciate being selected to get this award. Lehman: I will read one of the awards. (Reads award). These kids say they try their best. Don't you wish we could say that and be honest about it? Thanks guys. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 2 ITEM NO. 3. CONSIDER ADOPTION OF THE CONSENT CALENDAR AS PRESENTED OR AMENDED. Champion: Move adoption. O'Dormell: Second. Lehman: Moved by Champion, seconded by O'Donnell. Discussion? Karmer: I would like to make note of establishments that are up for renewal and new licenses for liquor in Iowa City. And how many times that they were cited for- people in their bars- were cited for possession under the legal age. The Union Bar had 83 visits to date through December and 181 arrests, for 2.18 arrests per visit. Godfather's was not on our list. The Airliner had 52 visits and 33 arrests for .63 arrests per visit. And there is a new license for Joe' s Place, which is being taken over by the owner of Sports Column. And at the Sports Column there were 79 visits and 153 arrests for 1.94 arrests per visit. For the whole city there is a rate of .94 arrests per visit. I would like to read a one sentence quote from Patrick White, the cotmty attorney, who signs off on these Iicenses that we received. He has- not a quote but to paraphrase- he has concerns about The Sports Column's 1.92 violations per bar check but he will still approve the license. I would like to make an amendment to consider the application for Joe' s Place being taken over by the owner of The Sports Column, and The Union Bar for separate consideration to see how they- to look at the ramifications for the health, welfare and the safety of the city. So, again, I would move that- Dilkes: You don't need a motion. Any Council Member can pull an item off the consent calendar for separate consideration. Kanner: Okay. I guess last time we did an amendment? Dilkes: I think it is because it (can't hear) asked us. But you don't need one. Karmer: Okay, then I would like to remove the Union Bar and Sports Column for separate consideration at our next meeting. Lehman: You can't do that. Dilkes: No, no- you do it at this meeting. If you want to defer an item you are going to need a motion. Lehman: You can consider them separately. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 3 Dilkes: You can take it offof the consent calendar and consider it separately. Kanner: Then can I make an amendment to defer it once I take it off of the consent calendar and then make an amendment to defer it to next week? Dilkes: You could. Kanner: I would like to remove that from the consent calendar and then- Lehman: So Joe's Place and The Union Bar you want to be considered seperately? Kanner: Correct. Lehman: Any other discussion? All in favor of the consent calendar with those two being considered separately? Roll call. Champion: I move to adopt the two remaining items on the consent calendar. O'Donnell: I second that. Lehman: Moved by Champion, seconded by O'Dormell. Discussion? Kanner: I would like to move an amendment to consider their license application for our next meeting, which would be a week from today. Lehman: May I ask why? Kanner: I think that- as we have been told- that this shouldn't be the only consideration, whether or not they have a high number of possessions under the legal age occurring in their bar. But I think it is an indicator of something that is not quite right. We have the county attorney saying he had some apprehensions about approving it. so I think that what I would like to do is us to have a week to investigate it if we so chose on our own. And to ask questions and to give it a little further consideration than just being pan of the consent calendar or in this case being just outside of the consent calendar. I am going to move for- Dilkes: I think we already have a motion on the floor. Kanner: This is an amendment to- Dilkes: It is not an amendment to the motion. Kanner: Okay. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 4 Dilkes: I think you have to vote on Connie's- I mean, you can discuss and vote on Connie's motion. A motion to defer it not an amendment to Connie's motion. Kanner: Okay. Pfab: Can you restate Connie's motion? Lehman: Steven, if I am not mistaken, you are absolutely correct in - Pat White had expressed some concern about it but as a recall in his memo he also indicated having some degree of confidence- I can't remember the wording- but his wording was he had a great deal of confidence in the owner being able to maintain the sort of record that Joe's Place had. Did that not- did you not read that? Kanner: I read that and I think it was good that he had that conversation. And I would say that we should as a City Council have that kind of conversation. Especially with people with these kinds ofindicators. I will probably vote to okay it but I would have preferred to put it off a week. But that was the motion I guess that came up first so procedurally we are going to go with that. And I don't think the sense of the council is to defer it. but that is what I would like to see. And, Ernie, I think it is in the best interest because to take a little more time for some of these that have these high indicators. And have a little more thorough discussion perhaps like Patrick White had. Either by appearing before Council as a group or individuals talking to him. Lehman: I have a question for you Eleanor. Can the Council refuse the grant a license if they meet all of the qualifications and they get signed off by the county attorney? Dilkes: Can I back up just a minute? Lehman: Please do. Dilkes: I met with Pat White on Friday to discuss the alcohol regulations that the council has wanted us to implement. In general- and also to discuss the letter specifically that you have in your packet and his reference to the number of citations for underage drinking- and I specifically asked him whether it is his position that the number of citations against individuals for underage drinking alone would be sufficient for license- disapproval of the license application. And he said no. He simply views it as an indicator that he needs to take an additional look. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 5 Kanner: And I would say- that is what I have been saying here. And I will say it again. I think it a good indicator that we need to take a harder look at it, Ernie. Lehman: I agree with you Steven, but I don't think that we have the latitude to deny a permit based on the number ofunderage citations. Not that I wouldn't like to. But I don't think that legally we can do that. Kanner: But we- well, I will hold off Ernie. Pfab: I have a question. Is this a point in time to ask how we are coming on the other way of working with- Dilkes: It will be on your work session agenda next Tuesday. Pfab: So this is not the time to discuss it? Dilkes: That would be my position. Lehman: Further discussion? Wilbum: One of the things that I had said when we talked about permits earlier was that once we have had the discussion that we are going to have at the work session and have whatever criteria worked out, that gives me a basis to say yea or nay whether or not they followed some of the additional consequences that we would set forth. And so I am going to go ahead and vote for this until we have had that- I don't see a basis for denying. I mean, the criteria you are saying is nothing that we can really enforce yet because we haven't done anything yet. So that is why I am going to-. Dilkes: I don't believe that you have grounds for disapproval currently. Lehman: Okay. Roll call. Motion carries. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 6 ITEM NO. 4. PUBLIC DISCUSSION (ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA) [UNTIL 8 PM]. Lehman: This is a time reserved on the agenda for items that do not otherwise appear on the agenda. The public is invited to address the council on any topic that you are interested in. If you address us please sign in, give us your name and address and limit your comments to no more that 5 minutes. Brandt: Good evening Mayor and council members. Thank you for allowing public comment period. My name is Lowell Brandt. You have received a letter from me. I have had the privilege of serving on the Board of Adjustments for the past five years. As you know, the Board of Adjustment terms are single five year terms so I have just ended my tenure on that board. At the time I was appointed to the Board and for the next four years after that, the gender balance on the Board consisted of three men and two women. We generally were of the understanding that it was desirable for the various city advisory boards to have a reasonable degree of gender balance. The Board of Adjustment is not a highly sought after appointment- as we knew. There often were very few applications and sometimes the appointments were not able to even be made until toward the end of the year which was the case this year. This year I am aware that there were at least two applications in front of the Council for the Council's consideration. There was one man and one woman. The council is advised of the current gender makeup of the boards, the applications are public, and I am curious as to the reason why the male applicant was chosen over the female. The published minutes do not indicate any reasons. The applications themselves are very different. Without going into detail with the applications, the one in describing experience and activities simply lists two professional activities and the other lists a variety of interests and activities both in terms of neighborhood activities and events. The question that is asked "what is your present knowledge of the Advisory Board?", the one application discusses exactly what it is that the Board of Adjustments does and the other responds very little. And then lastly it asks about what contributions can be made and again there is a distinct difference in the two applications. I am not familiar with the person who was appointed to the Board of Adjustment and I have absolutely no reason to question his abilities or integrity or whatever. But when there was a more equitable gender distribution choice possible and the level of interest displayed by the public applications seems apparent, I would respectfully request that the Council offer an explanation of how those choices were made. Thank you very much. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 7 Lehman: Well, obviously anyone on the Council can comment on this and I am not going to get into a long discussion. But I will say that I do not believe that there are- we have ever made an appointment at least since I have been on the council of a one gender over another based strictly on gender. Appointments that at least- my votes for applicants for Boards and Commissions are based on what I believe to be the qualifications of the person who is applying and not necessarily how well the application is written or how eloquent they are in writing the application. In this particular application I happen to know the person who was appointed quite well and have tremendous amount confidence in that person. And I don't recall- we do not choose generally speaking when we appoint boards and commission members to discuss the negatives of people who apply. We mention the names and as soon we have a name that four people agree on that is the person who gets appointed. By and large, I think our appointments have been good appointments. Does anyone care to comment further? Kanner: I had advocated for the person who had not gotten appointed, Robin Davisson. And I thought that she did have very excellent qualifications and had tumed in her application a number of days before we appointed- and then we got in at the last minute another application for the person that we did appoint. So I think that accepting applications at the last minute is a bad procedure. And actually the public should know we are going to be changing that by having a deadline a few days before- the Wednesday before the council meeting in which we will accept applications for a position. So hopefully this will deal with some ofthose problems ofthe last minute applications where we don't really have a chance to examine who the applicant is. Lehman: But that won't address the gender balance. Champion: No. I think it is fine that we are going to do a deadline Steven. But I don't think- you indicated that because somebody' s application came in earlier that that should have had preference. And I guess I want to point out that we have never had a deadline so that applicant that came in late deserves the same consideration as the other applicants since we didn't have a deadline. Now that we have a deadline that will definitely play a role. But you are indicating that because another application was received earlier it should have been the one that we took and I just want to point that out. Lehman: Just let me say that there is no definitive way that the Council has of knowing that we always appoint the person that might be best qualified for a position. Unless we happen to know all of the applicants personally- which I don't think has hardly ever been the case. We do what I believe is This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 8 our best in picking the people who we feel would best fill the positions that are available. I am not saying that we always do it perfect. But I think we do it in good faith. Any further comments? Any more public discussion? John Ries: Good evening. I am John Ries and I live at 915 Highland Avenue. And last month myself and my neighbors sent the City and the Council a letter requesting them to look at the possibility of signalization for Kirkwood. At this time I would like to ask the City Cotmcil if they would make that an agenda item in the future please? Lehman: We did receive the letter and I spoke with (can't hear) on the phone. Obviously the redevelopment of Sycamore Mall may be instrumental in creating more traffic for that area. I guess if there are four folks on the council who would wish to look at that again. Wilbum: At a work session? Lehman: At a work session, yes. O'Donnell: I thought it was on a future-. Champion: It is on pending. Lehman: It has been but I think it is a matter of perhaps of moving it up to a more timely-. It is an item that is on our pending list. It could be moved up with no problem I think Steve. Atkins: When we do the next work session I would certainly confirm it with you and I could let Mr. Ries know when it is scheduled. Lehman: All right, we will- Atkins: Get your phone number down there so I can check with you, John. Dilkes: Remember the next work session is really packed. Lehman: I know it can't be on the next one. But we will get it in the hopper. Atkins: And I will let Mr. Ries know. Ries: Thank you very much. Lehman: You bet. Any other public discussion? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 9 ITEM NO. 5c. PUBLIC HEARING ON AN ORDINANCE APPROVING A REVISED SENSITIVE AREAS DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR THE PENINSULA NEIGHBORHOOD, AN 82.1 ACRE RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD CONTAINING UP TO 410 DWELLING UNITS LOCATED AT THE WEST END OF FOSTER ROAD. [REZ00- 00221. Lehman: The public hearing is open. Mike Dill: Good evening. My name is Mike Dill. I reside at 572 Foster Road. I have been a member of- an officer of the Elks Lodge 590 here in Iowa City, and I have been a member with the Elks for over 15 years. My wife Nancy and I live across the street in a condo and we have lived there since 1993. In the last few years- the last three years- we have seen sewer, water, road and golf course construction all within the last three years. We have also seen our quiet neighborhood slowly develop. And we will undoubtedly continue to see changes as the years go by. And of course, traffic right now is on the increase on the Dubuque and Foster Road intersection and I consider that to be probably one of Iowa City' s traffic next nightmares. Last year our Elks Lodge celebrated 100 years in existence and our golf course has been an Iowa City landmark since 1930 and is considered one of the oldest golf courses west of the Mississippi. It is also known that Nile Kinnick did play golf on the Elks golf course when he was a student here at the University of Iowa. We are obviously proud of our heritage and history in our community. And we are a volunteer non profit organization who does serve the community. And regardless- even though it does say Elks Country Club, we are not a country club by any stretch of the imagination. But the Elks- we have worked with the city in exchanging land and we have moved our golf course for your development. And since then you have placed two sets of sidewalks and also an access road that intersects where the golf course used to be. And since they placed the- we have experienced visitors or trespassers walking down cart paths since the roads have been completed and we are trying to figure out what we can do to alleviate this problem. And know that we have moved two holes by redesigning the golf course, the development that you are considering is even going to place people in danger that we feel. This is not saying that we are not in favor of the development. We are just concerned about the safety and wellbeing of any potential buyers of the properties. And I just wanted to ask if any of you or if you know of anybody that has ever been hit by a golf ball before? They are very small, but they are very powerful. And does anybody know how fast a golf ball can travel? They really hurt. I mean, I have been hit with a golf ball before and it can leave a lasting impression that can last for a long time. When people can't see the golf ball and people don't pay attention, that is when it becomes a dangerous situation. Unfortunately Iast year we did This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page l0 have somebody at the Elk' s who did lose an eye during a golf tournament- that had his head tumed and wasn't paying attention and a ball came over and obviously hit him in the eye. And we had to settle with that. It was an unfortunate accident. But people can be severely hurt with golf balls. And small children will also be at risk. Forget the property damage of homes, windows, windshields and think of the danger and liability to humans. When a golf ball hits concrete it also picks up speed and it can go just about anywhere. We feel it is necessary and highly recommend that no streets or sidewalks parallel with hole number three. And I am just here to ask the Council if they would consider working with the Elk's to resolve some of these dangers. Lehman: Mike, I think- we did have a preliminary meeting a couple of weeks ago and I think that council- on behalf of the Council I indicated to the Elk' s folks- and we talked briefly about it last night. I have always felt the city has tried whenever we are involved in a construction project or a subdivision or whatever to work and be as compatible with our neighbors as we possibly can be. And I believe that the Council in this regard would be willing to do- would certainly work with the Elk's in as much as we can to address the concerns that you have. Obviously problems that occur in that subdivision because of the golf course or to the golf course because of the subdivision are problems that we all have. Whether they are Elk's club members, the City Council who will sit here and listen to the complaints, the developer, or the people who own that property. So we are kind of all in this thing together. And I would certainly believe that this Council and the city staff would do- we would work with you as much as we can to see to it that those difficulties are minimized. Obviously we can't make any promises without getting into it. But I would encourage you to visit with us about it. Dill: We are obviously concerned about the liability aspect. When we have already made an attempt to move the golf course so development can come in, and now development is going to be abutted fight next to the golf course. That is our biggest concern. It is that we have already done some things to try and alleviate potential problems and now those problems are encroaching up again. And we just feel it would be in the best interest that if we could work something out prior to- I mean, we are not trying to stop development, we are just trying to say hey there is a caution here and we need to be aware of this. And we would like to work with the city with this problem. Thank you. Lehman: Very good. Kanner: Mike? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 11 Dill: Yes? Karmer: A couple of things. Have you taken any kind of informal survey or formal survey of how many balls would land into what will become the peninsula development from those three holes? Dill: That particular hole number three is designed- it is a very straight shot. It is a very narrow fairway. People have a tendency to want to slice that to the fight because the trees are on the left. So when they slice it right it goes out of bounds. The city was kind enough to move trees that we had in the front of the golf course where we moved the road and plant those trees over there. Since then we have lost several of those trees so those are not going to provide any type of buffer as we had hoped before. But- I mean, you can walk through there any given day and pick up 10 or 15 balls easy. And some of them you can't find because the grass gets too high. I am talking about maybe 20 yards to the fight of the out of bounds mark. So, I mean, if you are planning on going right up to the out of bounds marker that doesn't leave a lot of room. Lehman: Might I suggest that some of this- this is the son of discussion that should take place with the staff and the developer and whatever. Dill: Right. Lehman: And I think we are certainly willing to listen. For the public's information- and I think it is important to point out- this is a project that the City of Iowa City undertook- grandfather' s lose their memories, I suspect- I keep wanting to say four years but I know it has at least been three years since the city first looked at this project. We had looked charrettes which were public meetings. We can't even spell charrettes we had two of them which were very well attended by the public. The concept for this project was laid out by a company from Florida- Dover Kohl. Not only laid out as far as density but housing mix, diversity of housing. In fact it was an actual layout plat- I suppose that would be a pre-pre-pre-preliminary plat. But it was laid out and drawn out as to where the roads were expected to be, where the houses were the houses were expected to be and whatever. This all occurred three years ago. And this project has been moving along for those three years. We put it out for bids once and we are not totally satisfied with the bidders that came back. So we put it out for bids again and that was almost a year ago. We have received a bid back probably nine or ten months ago, which we accepted. And the project as it is presently being proposed is essentially the same one that was adopted three years ago. So I don't think, Mike, from a- and I can't speak for the rest of the Council- but certainly from my perspective this is in keeping with what we said we were going to do for this three This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 12 year period. That is not to say that we can't see what we can do to buffer problems that we may be creating for each other. Dill: Right, I understand. Lehman: But the project- I think- because there has been an investment on the part of the bidder in excess of $400,000 in engineering and design fees- there has been investment on the part of the city- my guess would be Steve that our investment has been $200,000 or more not counting staff time. Right. And then the $2 million road and utilities. So we have relied heavily on this project occurring as it was proposed three years ago. And I doubt very much if we are going to see that project change. Now, if we can work with you folks and make it as compatible as we can I am sure we are happy to do that. Dill: That is our biggest concern. We are not trying to stop the development. And we realize that this plan had been proposed a long time ago and no one had made a bid for it. And we heard it was sold and then it wasn't sold. And we heard there was a higher bid and we don't know what happened to that either. We have not really had a lot of communication with the city since we finished the road. Lehman: It has all been in the paper though. This has been- Dill: I understand that but from the same token when the golf course was moved there was no plan in fact when we worked with Chuck Schmadeke and he was very easy to work with- he had no idea that there was a plan to put condominiums right on the line of where the golf course is. That is what we are talking about. We are not talking about the design. We are talking about where the buildings were proposed to be. Had that been the case when we moved the golf course, we would have asked for more room knowing that there were going to be condos there when we redesigned the golf course. That is where I am coming from. Kanner: One other question for you Mike. Did you get a chance to read the letter that our City Manager sent out with some suggestions? Dill: No, sir, I have not. Kanner: That was addressed to Gregg Gerrdes. Dill: Geerdes? Yes, he is here. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 13 Karmer: Yes. There are some pretty reasonable suggestions in there and as the Mayor is saying, hopefully we will be able to work together on ironing this out. Dill: Good. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. Lehman: Thank you Mike. Gregg Geerdes: Good evening, my name is Greg Gerdes and I am the person who received the letter that Mr. Kannerjust mentioned about. Yes, we received that letter shortly after the beginning of the New Year and I have passed it on to the people at the Elk's. Some of the suggestions are very technical. Such as relocating T boxes and things of that nature that need careful consideration. I appreciate and we appreciate the initial effort, which has been made. And we are certainly carefully considering those to see how far they go in solving the problem. What I would suggest makes the most sense in this situation. It is that everyone goes perhaps just a little bit slower in determining this issue. There is a very real safety risk here and I don't understand why we can't defer this matter for a reasonable period of time to hash out with the staff some of the safety concerns which we all now understand exist. We are not trying to stop development on the peninsula. However, we do feel that certain common sense things such as not putting a parking lot filled with windshields next to a fairway to which all right handers are prone to slice, is appropriate. We also feel that doing common sense things should happen now rather than waiting for a problem to occur. The analogy that I would make is this is similar to building a house next to an ocean. When you do that you build with the idea that there is going to be a storm tide coming in sooner rather than later and the best thing to do is to prevent the problem rather than dealing with it after the fact. We've got that opportunity to do that now and I would encourage you not to rush into passing this ordinance until such time as we have answers to some of these questions. I would also like to respond to Mayor Lehman' s concern regarding the timing of all of this. Yes, this has been in the works for four or five years. But it hasn't been until very recently that the details of the design such as the placement of the parking lots, the size and location of the backyards- things of that nature which really cause the problem- have been 'known. And what we are suggesting is that now is the time to take all of that into consideration and now is the time to make adjustments to the plan. And that it is not prudent to simply pass the plan and hope that these remedies are in fact accomplished later on. Thank you. Lehman: Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 14 Pfab: I have a question. It looks to me like the nub of the problem is that when you hit a golf ball it does like to go up in the air. So it is rather difficult to put a barrier up that the ball won't go over. If we can come up with a solution to that I think we are in good shape. O'Donnell: You could play with me because I skip the ground. Lehman: Thank you. Other discussion? Geoffrey Ferrell: Mr. Mayor and members of the Council, my name is Geoffrey Ferrell. I am the urban designer for the development team. If you will bear with me for what I hope are just a few seconds I will get this machine up and we can turn off the lights. We will try and do this as quickly as possible. It is a danger that we will talk too much because we have such a high opinion of this project. We are pleased to be involved with it. Technology is wonderful. Maybe I will start talking before we roll. One thing might be to give you a little preview. There is a continuing theme here to be explicit about which is the citizens got together, you hired Dover Kohl to come and help you decide what you could do to put an exemplary neighborhood up on that plateau. Which is a wonderful thing. And I would say is a great way to do planning. That is really planning as opposed to waiting for a developer to come to you with whatever and reacting to it. It is forethought. We are pleased to be able to come into that situation certainly where you have planned something this good up there. Lehman: This is the time during our television programs where you get the sign that says "technical difficulties". And then there is this beautiful music that plays. Champion: Oh well, we have waited three years for this project- I don't think five minutes will make much of a difference. (Several talking softly) Ferrell: These are technical difficulties. Lehman: If you would like we can take like a five-minute recess. Because we really- obviously I would like to give you enough time to make your presentation but if you would like a few minutes to get that we can take a quick break. Ferrell: I think if we restart this it will work. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 15 Lehman: Are you ready then? All fight, we am going to take four minutes. Five minutes? Champion: It is obviously bothering you that (can't hear). Lehman: At least we have got Windows 98. Ferrell: While we wait for this to restart- the process of the city and the citizens planning for what they want and then putting it out for bid is a great one. And throughout this lecture which I am going to go through more quickly will be the theme of here is your vision and here is that coming to reality. We are actually pleased we are able to stay so close to the Dover Kohl plan. I would think that I would have to point out the places where we changed something. And I will do that a couple of times in this presentation. But they were small- in part because it is such a good plan. Wilbum: Are we taking five or not? Lehman: Listen, we will go ahead and take five. You go ahead and get- wait? O'Donnell: I don't want to wait. Lehman: All we have to do is threaten to take (can't hear). Oh, here we are. Ferrell: Coming soon. I am a much better speaker when I have all of the pictures. Champion: We want the pictures. Ferrell: I am not a good speaker without them. This is a demonstration of technology at its best. There we go. I don't know why it did that. It is not doing it. I think I have two of these opened. The Peninsula- excuse me, it doesn't normally happen quite this way. Here is the Peninsula up on the plateau overlooking the golf course. The fields below (can't hear) your watershed. A beautiful spot here. Right here, there it is. That is the neighborhood. It has got a great relationship to downtown and the University. The site itself where the neighborhoods are being built were farmland so it is relatively flat. The plateau up there- gorgeous views. When the city decided it was going to do a great neighborhood you did the right thing. You looked at your own good neighborhoods to take lessons. Here you see citizens out looking and taking pictures. There are plenty of good lessons fight here. It is a great town. And then you all sat down with the help olDover Kohl and looked at the site and started drawing out what it is you would like to be on that site and then talked about it. And I think found out that there is a great similarity to your ideas. And here is what happened when Dover Kohl took all of that information back and put This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 16 it into one plan. The Peninsula- this is the vision on that plateau above the city. Comparing vision- we will say here is the reality. There is a piece of the site- there is some property that is not in the site. That is cut out but I think if you look it looks an awful lot the same. Here is part of your vision. This is on one of the roads on the edge of the site with an overlook. Here is the reality with getting specific lots, specific streets, etc. It is all there coming into reality. Here is a view down the street over toward the golf course- cottages. There is an accessory unit or a garage ~vith the house that would be fronting on the golf course. It is just like you are looking right down this street over the golf course. Here is a view of Emma Harvat square. There is a community building. It is like you are looking right in this direction. A view down- this is Moses Bloom Lane- there is a shot of the community hall and row houses. It is like you are looking right down here. There is the community hall and here are the row houses and the side of a townhouse. It maybe a little bold to call this an evolution but a change is we put through a narrow- I will call this a street, as an urban designer I can call it a street- but there are no cars down it. It is a pedestrian street going through an array of trees with small cottages on it. The picture on the right is (changes tape side). But they are using an example- this is a 1920's neighborhood in Tampa called Hyde Park. If you are ever in Tampa it is worth going to. It is very much the same thing- a sidewalk down the center, you can see the trees here and small one and two story cottages lining that. We added this square. This is Foster right where it comes into the property here. We added an entry square, which we have a grove of Sycamore trees. And these are live work units. The live work units not being an addition to the plan. Now, this is a page from the Peninsula brochure that Dover Kohl put together and the lesson we took from this plan is that you have a variety of housing types- apartment buildings, row houses, large houses, small houses, medium sized houses. And then this is a drawing actually from our first- the site has evolved since then but when we came for the competition and said we want this job we did this drawing showing how those different houses might be arranged on the site. Showing that they can be mixed. They don't need to be zoned with all of the apartments on one side and the single families on the other. An example- here is an estate house. The large house on the edge. A medium house- we are calling that a Peninsula house. A cottage- a small house. In here where you might have a kind of a duplex or a double cottage. A row house, accessory unit- it can be a rental apartment or extra space for a home office. And then the apartment house, which in the final plan we have two buildings there. We thought that was a little bit too large in scale. Now, we gave you even more variety than that. These different colors represent rough categories of building type or market level distributed through the site. You have the large estate houses, the medium sized Peninsula, cottages or small houses, town houses and liveworks, row houses which are attached but smaller, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 17 and then small apartment buildings and the bungalows which are on that pedestrian street that I showed you earlier. So we are actually increasing the diversity here. Something very important about this development process- this will get done not by one builder coming in and starting at one end and (can't hear) the houses out until he gets to the other. We are going to have multiple local builders working with us and multiple designers. And we are working within a code, which has the two main components. The first part will be amendments to your city-zoning ordinance. The second part will be private covenants and deed restrictions. The zoning amendment pieces are the regulating plan, the very specific site plan- very specific about what happens in the public realm with street trees and curbs and sidewalks- the building placement standards which are specific about the dimensional standards for those buildings- height, porches, placement on the lot. And then the private covenants and deed restrictions get into the architectural standards- a kind of dress code for the buildings- Iandscape standards [which are] a dress code for the landscaping on the lot, and then there is a Peninsula neighborhood architectural review board that monitors all of this. The regulating plan is much like a super specific site plan. Here is a little explanation of it- it includes first the real specificity in the public realm. Where the curbs go, where the sidewalk is, where the trees are planted- and also information about each lot and some extra rules. For instance, this dashed line- that is a street build to line. So buildings or their front porches will be on that line- so it controls the design of the place. Here is that- an early draft of that kind of detail applied to the whole site. And then here is what it looks like up closer. And this kind of information will be in each of our final plats as we go through the phases. And I will talk, I think perhaps more than you are used to, about street trees. Street trees are at least 50% of the urban design. We have been very careful. And there are some minor changes to this since we met with the city's- sorry I don't know the title- the city's tree person- arborist. No disrespect there. But there is great variety. We looked at trees that were- the first thing that is not here is things that were native or have shown themselves to be excellent adapters. The kind of particular forest that you have here now and that you used to have were part of our guide. And I am - I must say I am not that technically adapt so, questions on this I will not give you very technical answers on. Species etc. But we looked at- hardiness is extremely important. Spacing is different in urban design than it is out in the field. Canopy is really important. A sidewalk without street trees is like a room without a roof. And height- these are generally big trees. So you can get that canopy. This is, I believe, a Burr Oak. It is grown out in the field- but that is actually- most trees don't grow out in the middle of the fields by themselves. They grow in forests. A street tree is much like a tree in a forest. This is the same species- the same tree- grown here and in LA but the same in a forest- trees grow to the light. So they will get a This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 18 high canopy over our streets because of our close spacing. This particular type of tree (can't hear) is on that pedestrian street. So it has this kind of interest. Maples were chosen. We are looking at trees in their fall foliage as well as summer, for the kind of color and interest they can bring. This is a Black Gum (can't hear) and we are planting trees consistently on a street for a given distance so that there is a kind of synergy. So in the fall you will go down a street that has Black Gum on it and you will have this kind of color multiplied times thirty. So there is a certain kind of beauty. This is a Bald Cyprus, which we are using in one of the apartment courtyards. Ginkgo- Male Ginkgoes. I believe this is a (can't hear) Bean. And also trees- we are also looking at the bark. This is one of my favorite trees- Sycamore, which will be on that entry square. Because in the dead of winter they are an amazing interest and beauty. The building placement standards govern the form of the building. There is one for estate houses, the biggest house. Peninsula house, which is the medium sized houses- we will look at this up more closely. There is a big graphic component and then some (can't hear), which are generally redundant. Everything is abstracted- it is simple. And before I switch to the next slide- there are some particular things in here, which we have taken out. And I don't want to alarm the council or the city attorney. But the idea of how these controls happen- for instance on height, forgetting about the fence and the internal heights. But things are very explicit here graphically. So if you (can't hear) a lot in town and you want to know what kind of house might be built next to you, you can pick up the code for that type and look at it and see things in a clear graphic form and get an idea without having to read through multiple chapters of text. For instance, in this particular type a front porch is required. It has to be at least a third the width of the lot, at least 8 feet deep- things like that. The big issues- this controls some of the big issues that are really important to what makes that a good street. We also touch on uses, which these are elaborated and referred to your zoning ordinance. Now, in the private covenants and deed restrictions we go through the architectural elements one by one- windows and doors. They are talked about in materials- specifics on materials, configurations like the proportion of the windows, techniques, double hung, single hung etc. And we looked- we are still refining that but we are looking right here for the guidelines for what that should be. And it helps also working with local builders- the different window types. And porches- we have a really rich variety of those. Some things that as an architect are really great to come from the outside and look at the lessons that you've got here. And then quickly, we've done some quick studies of what the landscape might be on these lots. How these can be developed. And also see how much of a private courtyard you get on this small cottage lot. You can see the canopy street trees- they won't be quite this big when we plant them but we will do our best. And here is a small apartment building. There is actually a roof ridge up there- it makes the picture a little less awkward. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 19 With parking- with planting along the sidewalk- instead of parking since for some reason said that word- is going to be in accessed off the alley and in the back as all these traits. Now, those standards are how you produce streets like this. And the idea is we are establishing something here that will mature and our descendents will come back and look at this and realize the kind of pride that is in a place to make you plan this way for permanence and lasting beauty. And I will very briefly- in the covenants we set up there is a town architect- an architect here in town will be our town architect and be really the main watchdog. But the neighborhood amhitectural review board is composed first of the town architect, the chairperson- a representative of the city, and initially a developer representative. Eventually that will become a member of the Homeowner's Association. We have also a specific review process and then them is an evolving discussion of how the architectural review board and the city work together to make this thing go smoothly. And that is the end of my talk. I would like to introduce Terry Stamper. Terry Stamper: Good evening, I don't have any technology so we are safe. I won't take up much of your time, I think Geoff said about all of it. I just want to bring you up to date on the project and where we are. We have a town architect- it is Susan Licht. We have our builders- or at least we have five and we may get morn. They are all local builders. They specialize in different parts of this project so I think we are going to get really good coverage. We are working on the houses now. We have two or three. Today we spent all day with five amhitects at our house up on the Peninsula working on architecture for this row houses/townhouses. We worked on the liveworks today. We worked on a couple of the bungalows. We are starting- in February we are going to start- in fact, in the next few days we will be choosing our realtor partner here for the marketing. And then we are going to go quickly into a series of receptions with the public. We are going to come and do these small receptions where we can start explaining what it is that we are about and what we are trying to accomplish and what the city is trying to accomplish. And we will do this- it will increase over the next couple of months because we will have more and more materials. We are starting all of our- Peter Katz is here tonight. He is handling all of the marketing so he is putting together the marketing plan and all of the materials. We have- as much as ~ve can we have local content. We have a local graphic artist. We are doing most of our stuff here. We are trying actually to build that capacity we talked about before. We are on track unless something really weird goes wrong. I can't see that. We are on track to start construction, underground construction, this spring in April or May depending on the weather. And we are on track to start housing in July. So that is kind of the schedule. We are going to actually start the sales probably in April someplace. So if we will have two months of kind of pro sales and then This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 2o we will start sales. So it is coming along. We are really having a good time with this. It is attracting a lot of really good talent here. You have a lot of good local talent. And they are coming to us. People are now starting to come and hang around the house and say how can I get involved in this? So I want to thank you all for your consideration and if you have any questions we will answer whatever you need. Lehman: Would anyone else like to speak at the hearing? Karr: Can we have a motion to accept correspondence? Vanderhoef: So moved. Lehman: Moved by Vanderhoef. Pfab: Second. Lehman: Seconded by Pfab. All in favor? Motion carries. The public hearing is closed. We are going to take a short break. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 21 ITEM NO. 6. PUBLIC HEARING ON AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 6, CHAPTER 1 (NUISANCES) OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF IOWA CITY BY ADDING STANDARDS AND PROCEDURES TO CONTROL THE NUMBER OF VEHICLES PARKED, STORED, PLACED OR KEPT OUTSIDE ON PRIVATE PROPERTY. Lehman: The public hearing is open. Miriam Hussey: I am Miriam Hussey. I reside at 4 Heather Court. My property backs up to a property which would be affected by this ordinance and I would like to thank you for addressing this for some of us who have had a question about this for a great deal of time. I appreciate how difficult it is to come up with a reasonable number of cars to be parked at a residence, however I am still questioning if6 might be excessive since most houses probably have a garage that stores at least one. So I would still like to have you consider perhaps lessening this amount to maybe five vehicles. But whatever you can come up with we appreciate your finally addressing this problem that we have had for quite a while. And I am sure it will also help someone else in another section of town eventually. Thank you. Lehman: Thank you. Kanner: Ernie, since the majority changed the proposed ordinance maybe you could mention what the changes were. Lehman: The proposal would be that every residence would be entitled to store up to six vehicles outside their property. And if there are more than four licensed drivers in the home they would get one more storage or each person in excess of four. So if you had four licensed drivers the maximum would be six. If you had six licensed drivers the maximum would be eight. The question really on the number ofvehicles is what does constitute a nuisance? And certainly what constitutes a nuisance on a 60 foot lot is quite a bit different than what constitutes a nuisance on a lot that is 200 feet wide. And we are talking about a sort of a blanket thing that will apply all over the city. And the number six is the number that we are discussing here. O'Donnell: It should be brought up too that we don't have this much of a problem here in Iowa City. This is a tool to use when the problem does come up. And I am going to support it. But, again, we are doing an ordinance for a very rare problem. Wilburn: Will next week be the first time we vote on this? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 22 Vanderhoef: Yes. Lehman: Is there any other input from the public? First consideration will be one week from tonight. The public hearing is closed. Karr: Could we accept correspondence? O'Donnell: So moved. Vanderhoef: So moved. Lehman: Moved by O'Donnell, seconded by Vanderhoefto accept correspondence. All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 23 ITEM NO. 8. A PURCHASE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY AND DONNA AND VIC ZENDER FOR CONDOMINIUM UNIT 1-G IN TOWER PLACE AND PARKING AND THE DISPOSTION OF SAID PROPERTY IN ACCORDANCE THEREWITH. Lehman: This is a public hearing and it is open. Just for the public's information, the Zenders' have made a full price offer for unit 1 -G in Tower Place and Parking, which is $313,024. The public heating is closed. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 24 ITEM NO. 9. PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS, FORM OF CONTRACT, AND ESTIMATE OF COST FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE SENIOR CENTER PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE PROJECT, ESTABLISHING AMOUNT OF BID SECURITY TO ACCOMPANY EACH BID, DIRECTING CITY CLERK TO PUBLISH ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS, AND FIXING TIME AND PLACE FOR RECEIPT OF BIDS. a. PUBLIC HEARING Lehman: The public hearing is open. The original estimate for this project a year or so ago was, I believe, $358,000. It has been redesigned and the redesign estimated cost is about $90,000 less. Approximately $120,000 of that is going to be funded by private donations and pledges. O'Dormell: And is already raised. Lehman: Right. Any discussion at the public hearing? The public heating is closed. b. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING Lehman: Do we have a motion for the resolution? Champion: Move the resolution. O'Donnell: Second. Lehman: Moved by Champion, seconded by O'Donnell. Discussion? Vanderhoef: I am delighted. Champion: Yeah. O'Donnell: It is really nice that they were able to raise $120,000. And the overall cost has come down $90,000 and it is good. I have supported this from day 1 and I am ready to do this. Lehman: Roll call. Motion carries. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 25 ITEM NO. 10. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE TO LIMIT THE AMOUNT A PERSON MAY CONTRIBUTE TO MUNICIPAL ELECTION CAMPAIGNS. (FIRST CONSIDERATION). Lehman: This is first consideration. Wilburn: Move first. Vanderhoef: Second. Lehman: Moved by Wilbum, seconded by Vanderhoef. We have- for the public's information- we used to have an ordinance that prohibited contributions in excess of $50 per person to any council campaign. That was- we ~vere informed by our City Attorney a year and a half or two years ago that that probably would not stand up in court if it were challenged. A new ordinance prohibits contributions in excess of $100 for a campaign. In the case of a council campaign where a primary was involved, it would be $100 each for the primary and the general election. But this is- in the absence of any other regulations would limit the amount that any person can contribute to a campaign to $100 or less. Discussion? Wilburn: I think it is a fair amount. I think it allows people to exercise their free speech and support any candidate but I think it also keeps it within the range of the affordable to a person who is lower income. I also think it can help with the concem nationally about campaign finance reform. This sets a statement locally that this is something that our community feels is fair. And, again, attainable for some folks. So I support it to at least and try and get rid of any impression that there might be corruption associated with financing campaigns. Vanderhoef: Well said. I will just second that. Wilbum: Every once in a while I get one out. Lehman: It was well said. Any other discussion? Roll call. Motion carries. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 26 ITEM NO. 11. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE TO ADOPT THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF IOWA CITY, IOWA, AKA "CITY CODE, 2001." (FIRST CONSIDERATION). Champion: Move first consideration. Pfab: Second. Lehman: Moved by Champion, seconded by Pfab. Discussion7 Champion: It is housekeeping. Lehman: Well, this is according to State Code. It is something that really doesn't change anything except puts us in, I suppose, technical compliance with state code. Pfab: I believe from what I understand from the work shop last evening, we are over and above in compliance because we do this on a six week basis instead of five years. We do it on a rolling six-week basis. Here in River City. Lehman: Roll call. Motion carries. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 27 ITEM NO. 14. CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION. Kanner: I will start off. Lehman: Okay. Kanner: First I would like to make note of Martin Luther King day, which is coming up on January 15. And because of the holiday we are not going to be meeting for our informal work session. We will be meeting the next day at 5:00. And I am looking forward- I always look forward to that holiday. The principles that it celebrates are important ones- non violence and social change. Progressive social change. And I am also looking forward to the speaker that is going to be brought in by the University of Iowa this year- Angela Davis. She is a former candidate for Vice- President of the United States and also an activist for many years. And she will at the UI Memorial Union at 7:00, I believe is the time. So that is January 15 for Martin Luther King Day. And I also want to make note that on Tuesday January 30 there will be an environmental impact public meeting for the North Dodge Project that the city is proceeding on. And that is to ~viden in part North Dodge I believe from Governor u north to 1-80. Thank you. And so that will be at 6 PM, Tuesday the 30~ at Shimek School. That will be a public hearing. Thank you. Lehman: Ross? Wilburn: I believe on Saturday students from City High and West, I think I saw in the paper, are having a dance-a-thon supporting- this will tag along with the University's dance-a-thon coming up in February at the Iowa Memorial Union. And they proceeds go to support families with family members that have cancer. I am going to go see them. Lehman: Okay. Kanner: Are you going to dance a little? Wilburn: I might get out there? If they will let me, I don't -know. Lehman: You might just go. Vanderhoef: Give a lesson. Lehman: Dee? Vanderhoef: Okay, just two or three things. Number one- they are still taking applications from citizens who would like to learn more about our police This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001. Page 28 department and policing in general. It is called the Police Academy. If you have any interest in this call the Clerk's office and she can give you the information about how to sign up for it. I have a congratulations actually for our city building inspectors. Recently they were graded by the insurance service offices and got the top rating in effectiveness for their control and their use of the building codes and working with the public. The best rating is a 1. There were none given for ones or two and Iowa City was one of three large cities in Iowa that got a rating of three. And I think this is a congratulations long overdue. There is another meeting coming up on a public forum on election practices in Iowa elections sponsored bythe Secretary ofState Chuck Culver. It will be January 11 from 7-8:30 at the Kirkwood Campus in Cedar Rapids in the Green Room in Cedar Hall. And that is all of the announcements I have. Thank you. Lehman: Mike? O'Donnell: Nothing tonight Mr. Mayor. Champion: I don't have anything. Lehman: Irvin? Pfab: Everything is taken care of. Lehman: You know, in a way you would kind of like to be from Ames right now as well as Ames did in the bowl game. You know? Vanderhoef: Congratulations. Lehman: The Cyclones have got to be proud of themselves. O'Donnell: But it is always great to be a Hawkeye. Lehman: Yeah, but it is also great to be an lowan. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 9, 2001.