HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-05-15 Transcription#2 Page 1
ITEM NO. 2. MAYOR'S PROCLAMATIONS
a. Community Development Day
Lehman: (Reads proclamation).
Karr: Here to accept is Kathleen RenquiSt, HCDC Chairperson.
Renquist: I would like to cordially invite all 0f you to the June 1 celebration that we
are having at the student built house at 1830 High Street. It is from 4 to
5:30 p.m. There will be a short program at about 4:45. And there will be
some awards that will be presented. And I want to thank all of you and we
have a token of our appreciation for all of you. Little bags for everybody.
Champion: Oh, how nice. Thank you.
Vanderhoef: Being the original bag lady, I love this. Thank you.
b. Systems Unlimited Week
Lehman: (Reads proclamation).
Karr: Here to accept is William Gorman, Executive Director.
Gorman: Thank you City Council. We really appreciate it and notice you do have a
long agenda so I will be brief. There may be just a couple of factoids to
know about Systems Unlimited. Iowa City is our home base and has been
for 30 years and it always shall be but we are a large decentralized agency
providing support and services to individuals with significant needs. We
have staff literally delivering services in 45 different cities in east central
Iowa. We have over 480 staff- 300 are part-time and 180 are full-time.
And we are funded by 30 different counties as well as federal Medicaid
funds and state funds. So, we are a- quietly we go about our work of
delivering supports and services but being an actually pretty large business
in the Iowa City area. And we really do believe we have a partnership
with the City and certainly with Johnson County. And we do appreciate
your ongoing support over all of these years. And hopefully we will have
30 more good years. Thank you.
Lehman: Thank you.
c. Mormon Pioneer Day
Lehman: (Reads proclamation).
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Karr: Here to accept is Ken Richardson, President of the Mormon Trek Heritage
Society of Iowa City.
Richardson: I am here representing the Mormon Trek Heritage Society of Iowa City,
which is a local non-profit organization. And on behalf of the society I
accept this proclamation and thank the Mayor and the Council for the
declaration of a Mormon Pioneer Day for Iowa City and also for all that
you do for the citizens of our City. The 3rd annual Mormon Trek Heritage
Festival will be held on June 9 from 4-7 p.m. out at the Hawkeye
Intramural Fields, which is just off of Mormon Trek Boulevard and
accessible despite all of the construction. Adjacent to the University of
Iowa is Mormon Handcart Park. And might I add that we are hopeful that
the City will aid us in our efforts to put cultural interest signs on Mormon
Trek Boulevard, which will direct people to this historical site. The
festival commemorates the departure of the Mormon Hancock Pioneers
from Iowa City. It is sponsored by our society and co-sponsored by the
University of Iowa student govemment, by the Friends of Historic
Preservation, by the Johnson County Historical Society, and by West
Music. The festival will feature live music by A1 and (can't hear) Murphy
and by the Drollingers and a barbecue dinner by Smokin' Joe' s Barbecue.
There will plenty of pioneer crafts to keep children busy and lots of
pioneer games and activities for the entire family, including several
authentic wooden handcarts to practice loading up and pulling across Iowa
prairie. We invite everyone to wear clothes from the 1850's and to bring
their cameras. Admission to the festival is free for everyone and we hope
the entire community will come and find out about the role the Mormon
Hancock Pioneers played in the early days of Iowa City's history this June
9 and in subsequent years to come. Thank you very much.
Lehman: Thank you.
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ITEM NO. 3 CONSIDERATION OF THE CONSENT CALENDAR AS
PRESENTED OR AMENDED.
Champion: Move adoption.
Lehman: Moved by Champion.
Pfab: Second.
Lehman: Seconded by Pfab.
Vanderhoef: Mr. Mayor, I ask you to remove item 3d(1). I have a conflict of interest
on that item.
Lehman: Okay. Other discussion? There have been four additions and I think the
additions have been added so it has been amended. Heating no
discussion? Roll call. Motion carries. Do we have a motion to approve
item 3d(1)?
Champion: Approve item 3d(1).
Pfab: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Champion, seconded by O'Donnell. Discussion?
Kanner: I had a question. The final cost on this was $1.225 million?
Atkins: The thing you caught last night was a mistake on our part, the correct
number is as shown there.
Kanner: It was about 20% over the bid- were there add items to put it that far over?
That seems somewhat significant.
Atkins: First of all, I have it at about 10% over. Okay? $1.1 and $1.27 Okay.
And to the best of my knowledge there were a number of add items. In
particular when they got into the street there was something to do with the
sanitary sewer that had to be corrected. You fix it on the spot. Okay.
Lehman: It isn't unusual-
Arkins: Excuse me for correcting your arithmetic.
Kanner: No, it probably is closer to ten.
Atkins: Thank you.
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Lehman: It isn't unusual for final estimates to be higher. It is rather common for us
to make additions during construction projects.
Atkins: Particularly on projects, Eruie, such as when you are digging into a old
street and if you discover a bad water line, a bad sewer lines- it only
makes good sense to replace them right on the spot.
Lehman: Other discussion? Roll call. Motion carries, 6-0, Vanderhoef abstaining.
Is that correct- abstain?
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ITEM NO. 4. PUBLIC DISCUSSION (ITE1V~S NOT ON THE AGENDA).
[UNTIL 8 PM].
Lehman: This is a time on the agenda that is reserved for the public to comment on
items that do not otherwise appear on the agenda. If you wish to address
the Council please sign in, give yonr name and address, and limit your
comments to five minutes or less.
Benz: Good evening. I am Lori Benz. I am the city representative to the Senior
Center Commission. And I just want to take a few minutes of your time
this evening to give you an update on the Center' s activities and plans.
First of all, I want you know that the staff has been working very closely
with parking facility staff to plan a smooth transition from the permit
holders in Chauncey Swan Parking Ramp to the new Tower Place Ramp.
And I would like to distribute to you a brief plan that they have put into
place. Let me just summarize it by saying that a lot of consideration has
been given to moving the permit holders- and there are about 360 of the in
the Chauncey Swan Ramp- to use of the new Tower Place Ramp and
doing it in some kind of orderly fashion where the permit holders become
used to using that ramp and having their parking tickets validated and so
on. So, beginning June 4 that is the process that you see described here. It
will be put into place by the staff and volunteers at the Senior Center. And
then July 1 will be the actual implementation of the permits so that those
Center users will be using that parking ramp with validation occurring
only for that ramp. So we just wanted to let you know that there is
thought being given to having some kind of orderly transition. The other
item I wanted to let you know about- and a few of you are on this
committee so you are well aware of it- but the 28(e) review committee for
the Senior Center has been reconvened and will start meeting I understand
in early June to consider those agreements that affect the Senior Center.
Jay Honohan is the Commissioner representing the City, who will be
participating. And Carol Thompson is the Commissioner from the County
who will be participating on that committee. I also wanted to thank they
entire Council for the proclamation you issued last month for our
volunteer recognition event. Mayor Lehman was there to help read it with
the Coralville Mayor. I must say that we thought the whole event was
very well received. We had a very terrific speaker who has been- it was
videotaped for Senior Center Television and them have been a number of
requests for copies of that tape. So if you didn't get a chance to come or
see it you can still view that on Senior Center TV. I also want to mention
that the Center is in the process of planning for its 20th year celebration,
which will be occurring in September. And that will include recognizing
11 volunteers who have served continuously since the Center opened,
which is pretty remarkable. They have a huge group of volunteers, but
some special recognition will be planned for those people. And finally I
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want to let you know that the Cen~er is applying for EIder Hostel Institute
Network Affiliation Status, which means that they will- if they receive this
status they will receive the support from that organization to put into place
an elder hostel institute for learning in retirement. This is not to be
confused with the elder hostel that is nationwide. This is going to be a
peer directed locally developed elder hostel program. And we will be
telling you more about that as that unfolds. So, thank you very much for
your time this evening.
Champion: Do you know the day of the- I am sorry, was somebody else going to ask-
when the ramp will be finished?
Bentz: When will the ramp be finished?
Champion: The skywalk.
Bentz: Okay, the skywalk I understand is under construction fight now with some
steel supports going up. I asked the same question today and they could
not give a definite opening date. Hopefully it will not be too long after the
July 1 opening, but we don't have a definite date. Did someone else have
a question?
Kanner: Yes. Speaking of volunteers, I would like you to convey my thanks to the
Senior Center for their Senior Distinction Award Ceremony. That
honored- what I consider one of the super volunteers in the City, Reverend
Bob Welsh. And it was a nice ceremony. I saw Irvin was there. I don't
know if anyone else was there from the Council. And a full house was
there with some nice music and some speakers, and I appreciate the event
that you put on every year for honoring one of Iowa City's own.
Bentz: Thank you. I have to agree that this is an opportunity to really recognize
people who have made some extraordinary contributions. Anything else
that I could answer this evening. Thank you.
Lehman: Thank you.
Karr: Motion to accept correspondence?
Vanderhoef: So moved.
O'Dormell: So moved.
Lehman: Moved by Vanderhoef, seconded by O'Donnell. All in favor? Motion
carries.
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Bums: Good evening Mayor and Council Members. Thank you for the
opportunity to speak with you this evening. We are here to-
Lehman: Bob, could you give your name?
Bums: I am sorry, I am Bob Bums, architect and developer, office in Iowa City.
We are here to request you establish housing enterprise zones in Iowa City
as quickly as possible. By so doing affordable housing in Iowa City
would qualify for a 10% state income tax and a sales tax refund on
construction costs. The tax credit would raise equity capital and thereby
reduces the need for local funds. The housing enterprise zone tax credit is
in addition to the federal low-income housing tax credit, which is another
major source of raising equity capital. Investment demand for federal tax
credits is high because of the interest of national corporations. However,
only a few corporations are Iowa based. Only Iowa based corporations are
able to use the state tax credit. As of June 1 Iowa based Alliant Energy
Corporation, who are investors in 14 of our other properties, will be able
to invest in Iowa City developments. Prior to June 1 they were only able
to invest in their service territory. After June 1 they will be able to invest
in Iowa City. Housing enterprise zones are another tool to foster the
development of low-income housing, quality housing in Iowa City, and we
request that you establish these zones as quickly as possible. I can assure
you that we would put the equity capital to good use. Alliant Energy is
standing, ready, willing and able to invest in another one of our properties
here in Iowa City. So we would encourage you to move forward with this
concept. It has been established in 1998 and we have used it on other
properties. We are pleased now that an Iowa based corporation will be
able to invest in Iowa City.
Kanner: When you say as quickly as possible, what kind oftimeline are you asking
for?
Bums: We had initially asked for a June 1 timeline. I don't know whether that is
possible or not. We have talked to City Staff and I know they are
researching the topic but I don't know whether that is possible or not. It
sounds like it is not.
Lehman: Steven, I think we- I talked to Steve Nasby and I think we are going to get
information on this from the staff. It probably isn't going to be by the 1st
of June but we are going to get information and then the Council is going
to be asked whether or not we want to pursue this. But staff is working up
information for the Council now. Actually we started I think 2 weeks ago
tomorrow working on it.
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Bums: If it is impossible to do it by June I we can understand that. We don't
know all of the constraints that you have to work under. So beyond that
we would like you to move forward anyway as quickly as possible.
Lehman: We are looking at it.
Bums: So I am just here to urge you to do that and to let you know one of the
reasons why we are behind it is by making it publicly known that Alliant
Energy, a utility company that is not currently providing energy service to
Iowa City, is willing to invest in an Iowa City property under this federal
tax credit program and the enterprise zone if it is established. So I think
that is good news and I want to share it with you. So thank you very
much.
Lehman: Thank you.
Pfab: Mayor? Emie?
Lehman: Yes?
Pfab: I have a real short prepared statement I would like to read now ifI could.
Is that okay?
Lehman: I don't think it is during public discussion. This is-
Pfab: I will read it later.
Lehman: Save it and we will read it during Council Time. Other public discussion?
Newman: I am Michael Newman. I live at 1234 Bums Avenue. I have watched you
guys many, many nights. I don't get here all the time because of the time
difference of buses but I heard several people talk and I would like to
commend our police department. I think they do a good job. I think they
are very courteous. They do make mistakes at times. I do too. So I am
not perfect and neither are they. But I do recommend that we have a very
good staff here. And I thank you very much.
Lehman: Thank you Mike.
Shrader: Robynn Shrader, 1104 Weeber Circle. I thought there might be a Council
meeting that my neighbors and I could skip until I opened the morning
papers. As you might have guessed, here we are again to speak to you
about the Weeber Harlocke matter. According to this moming's paper,
the City Manager directed Terry Treeblood not to follow through on the
direction he was given by the Parks and Recreation Commission last week
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to seek an asking price from Southgate for their 4 acres on Harlocke
Street. Today's paper reported the Mr. Atkins wanted the City Council to
weigh in on the idea of a park on Harlocke Street prior to any City Staff
contacting Southgate. I didn't realize that the City Council needed to
affirm Commission decisions to pursue potential properties for parks. The
Commission unanimously and enthusiastically supported the idea of
exploring acquisition of that land l~om Southgate. And I think that they
should be allowed to continue their work. This would then culminate in a
recommendation or not for your consideration. The City has a
Neighborhood Open Space Plan that indicates the largest deficit of
parkland currently existing in district 5. Councilor Vanderhoef worked
really hard on that document on behalf of all citizens, and I thank her for
that work. I urge the City to respect that plan and allow the Parks
Commission to work to decrease that deficit. The deficit is real. This is
not about creating a park to avoid development as was commented
recently in the press. It is about protecting what little open space is left in
a very dense area. It is about the best use of a parcel hemmed in by time
and poor planning where it now has substandard access for dense
development. And district five deserves the same consideration as any
other district under the Neighborhood Open Space Plan. It is clear from
what was reported in the paper as well as what has been indicated to me
personally by Southgate, that they are willing to discuss selling that land
to the City for a park. We would simply like for the City to ask the
appropriate questions to determine if the asking price is within the City' s
means. We as a neighborhood have already indicated and will do so again
tonight a willingness to apply our time and energies to create a means of
financing the land acquisition. I don't fault Southgate for filing their
petition, as they are exercising all of their options for protecting their
investment. Lawsuits commonly occur in the course of doing business
and are also frequently settled out of court. Several Councilors have told
me today that this can't be discussed because of the litigation. I don't
believe there should be a blanket of silence an inaction now placed over
this issue by the City, while it seems clear that the other party in question
is willing to talk about other solutions. We certainly are. I am told that
the City has not a policy but an attitude that mediation is a legitimate
means to settle lawsuits and other disputes. Mediation has the potential to
result in a favorable outcome for all of the interested parties in this matter.
All that I have been told about Southgate and my personal interactions
with their staff indicate that they are awell-meaning corporate citizen. I
don't want to assume nor should the City assume the Southgate would not
pursue another resolution concurrent with the legal action that they took in
the ordinary course of doing business and protecting their investment.
Until the questions are asked, the City cannot know how willing Southgate
might be to demonstrate their corporate citizenship and reach come
agreement that is harmonious with the needs of the residential neighbors.
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So I am going to ask several specific questions and respectfully request a
response. Will the Council direct Terry Trueblood to follow through on
the Parks Commission instruction to contact Southgate regarding a selling
price? If your answer is no, can you please tell me a specific reason why
this process can't proceed? And is the City willing to apply their tradition
of mediation to this situation and seek a resolution outside of court? We
would certainly like to see all the parties involved resources spent outside
the courtroom in a more productive fashion.
O'Donnell: Jump fight in there.
Lehman: I can't comment.
O'Donnell: Can't comment.
Pfab: I guess I will comment because I don't see this as a lawsuit. I see it as
these people going to court to work around a decision that we made. And
I don't see that as a lawsuit. I think it is just going to court to see if they
can get what they couldn't get here at the Council.
Champion: You know, as I told you on the phone today, we are going to have an
executive session where we can discuss what steps we can take from here.
We just can't do it in public. So, we are not forgetting about you. But we
just really can't discuss it fight now.
Dilkes: I think it is fair- I think the two issues can be separated- the lawsuit and
whether you decide to pursue the issue of purchasing the park. I think the
problem last night was that it wasn't on your agenda to discuss. I mean,
you hadn't given the 24 hours notice that I think the neighborhood should
have had and everybody else should have had and that you are required to
give under state law in order to discuss something. And so that is why it
wasn't discussed last night. I don't know about the issue of the
recommendation from Parks and Rec and whether that should have
proceeded without your involvement. I think Steve's position was that
you needed, particularly given the history of this project, to at least
address it before that contact was made. But the reason it wasn't
discussed last night is because we hadn't met the open meeting notice
requirement.
Lehman: Then do I hear you saying that that could be placed on the agenda for a
work session?
Dilkes: Yeah, I think you need to place it on the agenda and give the appropriate
notice.
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O'Donnell: And I think that is what we talked about last night.
Lehman: I don't think it is though. Do we want that placed on a work session
agenda?
Pfab: Yeah.
Vanderhoef: Well, what we said last night- and it still holds for me- is to have our
closed session first and then I would follow it up with a public one.
Lehman: Well, we probably will have that anyway. But Eleanor says these are two
distinct issues and we don't need the executive session to decide whether
or not we want to put the parkland acquisition on a work session. Are
there four folks who would like to do that?
Pfab: I certainly would.
Lehman: Put it on the agenda for a work session?
Vanderhoef: Fine.
Shrader: Thank you.
Davis: Brian Davis, 427 South Johnson Street. Excuse me- I just wanted to talk
to the Council for a second because there has been some dialog on what a
City Councilor's function on the JCCOG is. Specifically l was a little bit
worded about the assertion that because the majority of the City Council
decides on an issue when the City Councilors- I believe there are five of
you is that right?
Lehman: Six of us.
Davis: Six. When the six of you that serve on the JCCOG go and represent Iowa
City there, all six of you should vote unanimously in favor of the way the
City Council voted on the issue. And there has even been some talk about
an ordinance, which would require this. Thanks. I disagree with this is
and the reason is it is kind of an age old governmental question of
minority rights because 51% of people think one thing that doesn't
necessarily mean that everybody has to abide by this policy. You see this
at a lot of different levels of government and I wanted to commend Mr.
Kanner for voting the way that he feels is right. I think that the reason
Iowa City has 6 representatives on the JCCOG and not just one which
carries more weight than Coralville's representative or North Liberty' s is
because we are a large and diverse city and have a number of different
view points about such things. And these should be represented to the
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JCCOG. I hope you guys will rethink your position as to what your
function is when representing the Council to the JCCOG and certainly I
hope that an ordinance isn't passed which requires every member of the
JCCOG representing Iowa City to vote in the direction that the majority of
the City Council had decided upon. Thanks.
Lehman: Thank you.
Kanner: We are going to be discussing this issue at a work session and Eleanor and
Steve could you tell us when the proposed resolution will be ready for
discussion?
Dilkes: I believe the Council asked for it on June 11 and it will be ready then.
Atkins: That is what I understood Steve, June 11.
Kanner: June 11 ?
Lehman: Other public discussion?
Kanner: And when will that be available for the public to see?
Dilkes: Whenever the packet goes out, which is June 7.
Kauner: I would ask the Council if we can delay that. It seems to me that we
should have some more time, especially myself, since this is directly at my
votes. If we can delay the work session for another two or three weeks so
that I have a chance to review it and to bring it before legal counsel if
necessary and for other people in the public. I think four days is not really
adequate to have a chance to discuss that or to- basically it is one business
day to get back to staff here. I would ask that we put it on the work
session two or three weeks or possibly longer after it becomes available to
the public.
Champion: This would be an ordinance that would require three readings also?
Dilkes: No, it is just a resolution. And just to clarify, I think the minutes reflected
we would put it on the formal. We can certainly put it on the work session
if you want us to but we would need you to tell us that is what you want to
do because I think the direction was for me to prepare a resolution and put
it on the formal.
Karmer: In any case, whenever it goes on I think I would like to have some time. I
think that is only fair.
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Pfab: I would support your effort. I believe that is a fair request.
Vanderhoef: Since I am going to be gone for at least one meeting in July I would prefer
that it be done at the last meeting in June so that I can be present for that
vote.
Kanner: Why not do it in August Dee?
Lehman: I don't think a whole lot is going tO change between now and the 11th Of
June.
O'Dormell: I don't either.
Kanner: What are you talking about Emie?
Lehman: I mean, I think we've got lots of time to think about it. We've got three
weeks.
Kanner: I don't have the resolution before.
Lehman: We know what it is going to say.
Kanner: No we don't Emie, and I don't know the basis for it.
Lehman: Well, are there-
Kanner: Emie, is that faimess? Is that your idea of fairness and democracy?
Lehman: I don't think it is fair not to support what your Council tells you to do
either.
Vanderhoef: We talked about it.
Kanner: (can' hear). Then give it a few weeks. What is the big hurry? You want
to rush it through?
Lehman: What is the pleasure of Council?
Vanderhoef: I think we move ahead.
Pfab: I would-
Vanderhoef: We have discussed it quite extensively at the work session before.
Pfab: I would move that-
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Lehman: We don't need a motion.
Pfab: Okay, then I would suggest that we give Mr. Kanner enough time to look
at it and-
Karmer: Not just me Mr. Pfab, for the public and for democracy's sake and
fairness' sake in general. I want you have more than one business day to
look at a proposal and get back to Staff on that.
Champion: I think maybe we should discuss this at Council Time. I don't think it is
appropriate that we are discussing this during open discussion.
Vanderhoef: There would be three business days if we get our packets on Thursday.
There would be Friday, Monday a~d Tuesday before our Tuesday night
meeting.
O'Donnell: I think that is plenty of time and I think like Ernie said, what is going to
change?
Kanner: Actually, the public might be (can't hear).
O'Donnell: It is a philosophical difference Steve when, you know, I believe when we
go to JCCOG that we represent our city as each of the other members from
different communities do.
Dilkes: I don't think we should turn this iuto substantive discussion of the issue
because it is on the agenda. You just need to tell us whether you want us
to put it on the June 12 agenda or the next one or whatever.
Lehman: May I suggest that we leave it on the 12th and if we want to defer it at that
time we can certainly do that.
Dilkes: Will do.
Lehman: Is that agreeable?
Pfab: It is not agreeable with me but that is fine.
Lehman: We can certainly defer it.
Kanner: It is not agreeable with me. Ernie, I think this is typical of you of trying to
rush things through and if you had any sense offaimess you would push it
back and urge people to consider it a month later. What is the big hurry
Ernie? Are you afraid of something Ernie?
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Lehman: Steven if you had any sense of fairness we wouldn't be talking about it in
the first place.
Kanner: What?
Lehman: I said if you had any sense of fairness we wouldn't even be talking about
it.
Kanner: I am not the one pushing through things.
Lehman: All right. No. If we choose to defer it certainly we can do it at that time.
Is there any further public discussion?
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ITEM NO. 5c. PUBLIC HEARING ON AN ORDINANCE CHANGING THE
ZONING DESIGNATION OF APPROXIMATELY 0.83 ACRES
FROM PUBLIC (P) TO CENTRAL BUSINESS (CB-10) LOCATED
SOUTH OF IOWA AVENUE BETWEEN LINN STREET AND
GILBERT STREET. (REZ01-00005).
Lehman: The public hearing is open. And I would-
Vanderhoef: Just for information, this is talking about the new Tower Place
combination building of parking and commercial.
Lehman: Right. And I think the public heating is the appropriate time for Council
people who have questions about this to get answers. That is the purpose
of the public hearing as opposed to the night that we have first
consideration. So, if there are questions from the Council, please feel flee
to ask those questions. The public hearing is closed.
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ITEM NO. 5f. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE SENSITIVE
AREAS OVERLAY PLAN FOR WALNUT RIDGE PARTS 8, 9,
AND 10, AN APPROXIMATE 35.15-ACRE RESIDENTIAL
SUBDIVISION LOCATED ON KENNEDY PARKWAY. (REZ01-
0003) (FIRST CONSIDERATION).
Vanderhoef: Move first consideration.
Lehman: Moved by Vanderhoef.
O'Donnell: Second.
Lehman: Seconded by O'Donnell. Discussion?
Pfab: I will be voting against this. I believe that there is a lot of questions here
and I think some of the statements that indicated very strong approval by
the City Forester did not- in fact he did not make that statement and I see
that it was approved 6 to 1. There was a (can't hear) in it and I sat in on a
number of these. I think that this is a mistake because of the damage that
was done to the property prior to the developer coming in and asking for
additional consideration.
Lehman: I would just like- at the public hearing two weeks ago- the original staff
report recommended denial and the staff at the public hearing indicated
that they were comfortable with the proposal. So basically we have a staff
that is comfortable and a Planning and Zoning Commission which
approved it. Is there any further discussion?
Kanner: I am also going to be voting against it. I think Southgate- they made a
mistake before and they corrected it to a certain extent and they want to
invade into trees in a buffer line that is set up by the Sensitive Areas
Ordinance and I think it is not a good slope to go down and I think that it
could be- instead of going into the buffer zone I think that the
development could have slightly smaller houses. It could work that way.
There is a number of other options that also could work because of that.
And because I would like to make sure the streets are not further damaged
I am going to vote against this.
O'Donnell: Planning and Zoning voted 6-1 and they put a lot of work on it. Staff has
recommended approval. And I will be supporting it.
Lehman: Roll call. Motion carries 5-2, Karmer and Pfab voting in the negative.
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ITEM NO. 6. PUBLIC HEARING ON AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 3
"CITY FINANCES, TAXATION, & FEES," CHAPTER 4
"SCHEDULE OF FEES, RATES, CHARGES, BONDS, FINES AND
PENALTIES" OF THE CITY CODE, TO INCREASE
WASTEWATER SERVICE CHARGES AND FEES IN IOWA CITY,
IOWA.
Lehman: The public hearing is open.
Champion: Do we- I wonder if the public has any understanding of what this is really
about.
Lehman: I don't know. Back in 1995 the Council decided to move forward with
two projects that were of significant cost- one was a new water plant and
one was a new sewage plant. The sewage treatment plant was under a
mandate if I am not mistaken from the federal government to meet effluent
standards that the old plant was unable to make. We at that time set out a
schedule of fees that we were going to adhere to to try to finance those
two projects. This is the final increase in charges. I believe it
approximates about 5%.
Atkins: It is 5%.
Lehman: During the period of time since we have started those projects we have
had significant- we have had bids come in significantly lower than the
estimates. So we have been able to accomplish I think a fair amount more
than we thought we would back in 1995. But this is the last of the planned
increases. My suspicion Steve, if I am not mistaken, is that rate should
level off and then hopefully start to decline as bonds are paid off.
Atkins: The budget you adopted anticipates no additional rates for the three-year
plan. I would remind you and remind the public we- it is a regulated
industry. And the federal government changed the roles on us once before
and they can change them again.
Champion: Thanks Emie for giving that nice explanation.
Lehman: Okay. The public hearing is closed.
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ITEM NO. 7. THE IOWA CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY'S UPDATED
ANNUAL PLAN.
Lehman: This is a public hearing. The public hearing is open. Anyone wish to
speak to the Authority's updated annual plan? The public hearing is
closed. Do we have a motion?
O'Donnell: So moved.
Pfab: Second.
Lehman: Moved by O'Donnell, seconded by Pfab. Discussion?
Kanner: I had a question for Maggie, our Director of the Housing Authority. One,
again, it is a nice looking document and I appreciate the work you are
doing. I had a question about the resident advisory board. How is that
working? It talks about that a little bit in the plan. Can you just briefly
say how people can get involved with that if they like and how it functions
to help the whole situation of public housing?
Grosvenor: Resident advisory boards work a little bit differently in this political
structure. For one, if the governing board of the Housing Authority were
not the City Council they would have to appoint a resident to that board.
(Changed tapes) In other words, we had consolidated public housing
projects and there would be resident advisory board within those projects.
We have no projects. So then we go the next step- so what do we do? We
just call different residents and ask them if they would be willing to
participate in looking at this plan. And we called until we got how many
ever in the plan to agree to do this.
Kanner: Did anything stand out about their advice or anything that they
mentioned?
Grosvenor: There was no advice. They all got copies. We had one call in and say she
was going to come to the meeting because she was interested to see what
other people would have to say. I said we received no comments.
Kanner: Do you think it would be worthwhile to maybe once in between or
something to try to get folks together to get input for like a focus session?
Grosvenor: On the public housing side it is fairly easy because we are the landlord and
we work directly with those clients and they pay rent every month.
Section 8 is very difficult. We service all of johnson County, half of
Iowa, half of Washington. We service about 1200 clients- families. And
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so to get a consolidated group out of that jurisdiction I think would be very
difficult.
Kanner: (Can't hear) get that input.
Pfab: I guess- Steven- I would ask in what way do you have of communicating
back and forth with the clients? With the people that you serve? I mean, I
am just curious. This is not a difficult-
Grosvenor: I don't know what you are asking. I mean, they can call us and we send
them mailings and requirements and they can make appointments.
Pfab: How well do you stay in touch with these people after they are approved?
Do you have any-
Grosvenor: Do you mean all of the clients that we serve?
Pfab: Right.
Grosvenor: The minimum requirement- you know, we are required to have some
contact with them- is once a year. That is the absolute minimum. That
doesn't happen very often. Any changes that happen within the family,
they are required to notify us. We don't contact them.
Pfab: So they have certain obligations that they have to meet to keep you
informed?
Grosvenor: Correct.
Pfab: Okay.
Kanner: Thanks.
Lehman: Any other questions?
O'Donnell: Thanks Maggie.
Lehman: Roll call. Motion carries.
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ITEM NO. 8. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING ACQUISITION OF
A SINGLE-FAMILY LOT LEGALLY DESCRIBED AS LOT 6,
BLOCK 39, EAST IOWA CITY, UNDER THE AFFORDABLE
DREAM HOME OPPORTUNITIES PROGRAM.
Wilbum: Move adoption.
Champion: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Wilburn, seconded by Champion. Discussion?
Boothroy: As I noted for you last night, this is a project that is having a lot of
community involvement. And I wanted to acknowledge tonight that the
participation of Mercy Hospital, Mike and Judy Cilek, as well as Caldwell
Banker, in helping us with this project. And we have other organizations
that will also be involved soon. And we will be making announcements
about that. Secondly, just to mention, this is a house that is going to be
using universal design techniques. What that really is about is designing
building spaces and using building products that make homes universally
usable by all peoples- all people, all shapes, sizes, all levels of abilities and
disabilities. So this house is going to be an effort to lift awareness in those
areas to show that by making doorways wider, hallways wider, stepless
entries, and doing some other types of things that homes can not only
serve people for a long time depending on what their skill levels are, but
that they can be very attractive and appear very spacious and not clinical.
So, I urge you to approve this resolution.
Pfab: I have a question. Are you prepared to make any announcement at this
time or this an appropriate time for (can't hear) and the public how these
sponsors- how they would be (can't hear)?
Boothroy: The lot owners are Mike and Judy Cilek and we will be purchasing that lot
at below the purchase price that they paid for it. Caldwell Banker Realty
is going to be marketing the property for us and also working with the real
estate community to lift their awareness about these issues. So it is not
only- it is education as well as providing us some assistance and marketing
skills, which we appreciate. And Mercy Hospital is providing a subsidy to
the project to help make it affordable. We want to put this on the Parade
of Homes for 2002. And so we have contacted the Home Builder's
Association and I am optimistic that they are going to participate with us
on that. I have also contacted AARP of Iowa and there is interest though
we haven't formally received that there is interest on their part. And
certainly in terms of advertising the house on their website and through
literature, this is an opportunity for them to get involved in something that
really hasn't happened in eastern Iowa. They did something similar to this
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#8 Page 22
in the Des Moines area but it hasn't happened in this part of the state. And
so I think they are very interested in doing something along those lines.
So that is some initial contacts that I have made and there are some other
organizations in the community that I haven't called yet but I am sure that
they are going to be involved as well.
Pfab: I want to thank you for making this public and I also wish to at this point
thank your sponsors- the sponsors- for helping with this project because I
think this is probably one of the most dynamic projects I have seen some
through Iowa City in a long time.
Boothroy: Thank you. And there are a couple of other people here that want to
speak.
Pfab: Okay.
Shank: Good evening. My name is Heather Shank, as you know, I am the Human
Rights Coordinator for the City of Iowa City. I am here tonight to show
my support for this Dream House project. I think this is absolutely terrific
and I will tell you why. In the last few months Doug Boothroy, myself,
Jerry Nixon from the Cable Department, Angela Williams from the
Community Development department- we have all worked very hard to
bring to the public awareness the acute shortage of housing for persons
with disabilities. Now there may be housing that is advertised as
accessible in some areas, but several people will go in with their
wheelchair but they will be unable to get into the bathroom. So only using
one room in the apartment is not accessible. And it is not acceptable. And
so by showing people what can be done through universal design and how
absolutely beautiful it can be and accessible and can be used by all sorts of
people and can actually be used by persons for a long period of time and
they can be independent in their homes as they age, this is a wonderful
idea. By allowing this house to be built it shows contractors and builders
and everyone else out there that this is possible and this is important. So,
that is what I have to say and thank you so very much.
Lehman: Thank you Heather.
Ruff: My name is Keith Ruff. And I strongly urge the Council to pass this
because many people with disabilities would rather own a home than pay
(can't hear) then keep paying rent and have nothing except a roof over
their heads at the end of the rental. Thank you.
Lehman: Thank you. Other discussion? I think we will enthusiastically support
this. Roll call. Motion carries.
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ITEM NO. 9. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE CITY CODE OF
THE CITY OF IOWA CITY, IOWA, BY ENACTING NEW
SECTIONS NUMBERED 4-2-3,. ENTITLED "LOCAL REVIEW OF
APPLICATION/INVESTIGATION OF APPLICANT"; SECTION 4-
2-4, ENTITLED "NOTICE AND HEARING"; AND SECTION 4-2-5,
ENTITLED "CIVIL PENALTIES"; REVISING SECTION 4-5-4
ENTITLED "REGULATION OF PERSONS UNDER LEGAL
AGE"; ENACTING A NEW SECTION 4-5-6 ENTITLED "SALES
TO INTOXICATED PERSONS"; AND ENACTING A NEW
SECTION 4-5-7 ENTITLED "LIMITATIONS ON SALES," ALL OF
WHICH PROVIDE FOR THE REGULATION OF ALCOHOL
SALES. (SALES CONSIDERATION).
Vanderhoef: Move second consideration.
Wilburn: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Vanderhoef, seconded by Wilbum. Discussion?
Kanner: Yealn, I would just like to state why I am voting no on this. There was in
the papers perhaps a bit of misunderstanding. Although I went along with
the process for a year I thought it was flawed but I still felt there were
positives outweighing the negatives. The reason I am not voting for this
ordinance is mainly because of the Mayor's proposal and the majority's
acceptance of the resolution to drop the banning on drink specials. I
thought that was a key component of the ordinance and I thought it made
it one that was not worth passing in addition to the increased undercover
police that will be called for in the bars. I felt that there is a better way
that we can look at this problem in a more holistic fashion.
O'Donnell: I will be voting no but not quite for those reasons. I said early on that I
believe the ordinance is not going to be effective unless it is countywide. I
think the ordinance is really targeted at people who are not breaking the
law. And I just cannot support this as it is. I believe in the civil penalty
part of it. But again, when we pass something it is a major policy change
for the city and we tweaked it as we went.
Pfab: That word?
O'Donnell: That word. I am just uncomfortable with it and I will not be supporting it.
Lehman: Let me just say I make no pretense or statement that this is the perfect
ordinance. I don't think any of them are. I think the question here is are
we willing to take something rather than nothing and I am certainly
willing to do something that is perhaps not perfect but certainly does
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#9 Page24
address a problem that we have been telling folks we are going to address
for the last two or three years. So I will support it.
Vanderhoef: I agree with you on that Emie. And I agree with Steven. I was interested
in limiting drink specials. However, I am committed to moving forward
with what we have at this point. If it becomes a problem and we see that
we need to readdress drink specials I think this Council will look at them
again at a future date and for that reason I will go ahead with the
ordinance that we have in front of us.
Lehman: Other discussion?
Wilbum: I agree. I think it is a beginning for us. So let's go.
Pfab: I will be supporting this. I think getting control of the situation here in
Iowa City is a long journey and I think this is the first step.
Lehman: Roll call. Motion carries 4-3, Kanner, O'Dounell and Champion voting in
the negative.
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ITEM NO. 11. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AWARDING CONTRACT AND
AUTHORIZING THE MAYOI~ TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK
TO ATTEST A CONTRACT FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE
TRANSIT PARKING LOT RESURFACE PROJECT.
Lehman: We received two bids. The low bid was $85,412. The estimate was
$101,000. Public Works recommends the awarding of the contract to LL
Pelling of North Liberty.
Pfab: Move the resolution.
Vanderhoef: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Pfab, seconded by Vanderhoef. Discussion?
Vanderhoef: It really is sad that we have to keep redoing this parking lot because it is
sinking and floating around.
Lehman: I saw sinking funds somewhere in the budget. This is it.
Vanderhoef: This is a real sinking fund.
Logsden: I just wanted to add one thing that the DOT Blue Book allows us as due to
the unstable nature of the parking ~ot allows us to go over 25% above or
below the amount that is awarded. So, it could go up to $106,765 and we
do have a grant and we still have about $140,000 left. So no matter what
we end up we will be well under budget. But it could go up to $106,000
with that. That is a future that we did get permission from the DOT to put
into this contract.
Lehman: Further discussion? Roll call. Motion can'ies.
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ITEM NO. 12. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE TERMS ON
WHICH THE CITY WILL PURCHASE LOT 49, PARK WEST
SUBDIVISION IN IOWA CITY~ AND AUTHORIZING THE
MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST
DOCUMENTATION OF THE SAME.
Vanderhoef: Move adoption.
Wilbum: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Vanderhoef, seconded by Wilburn. Discussion? I think this is
purchasing a lot to make accessibility to a trail.
Atkins: Yes.
Lehman: -access to a trail easier and not going over private property.
Atkins: What was happening Emie, is people that were seeking the trail were
going in a straight line basically through people's yards and whatever.
And we believe by buying this lot it will sort of open that up and will
cause a natural point for folks to- it should make it a lot easier and no
longer be a nuisance to the neighborhood.
Lehman: Further discussion? Roll call. Motion carries.
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ITEM NO. 14. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING CABLEVISION VII,
INC.'S REQUESTED RATE INCREASE AND ESTABLISHING
MAXIMUM PERMITTED RATES FOR BASIC CABLE SERVICE.
Vanderhoef: Move adoption of the resolution.
Lehman: Moved by Vanderhoef.
Wilburn: Second.
Lehman: Seconded by Wilbum. Discussior~.9 Dale, would you kind of tell folks
exactly- I think I see in the paper last weekend that Council is about to
raise the rates and whatever- let' s ~ell folks precisely what Council is
about to do because Council is not real sure.
Helling: Assuming you are going to vote yes on this Council is about to approve
the rates because they fall within the guidelines set by the Federal
Communications Commission. YOu are about to exercise all the authority
you have over rate regulation and it is very little.
Lehman: Which is zero.
Helling: Which is just about zero, yes. The FCC sets out the guidelines and the
formulas and as long as the cable eompany's rates are within those, which
means they are below the maximum permitted rate that is calculated and
that you establish, then you would approve that and that is the extent of
your rate regulation. The maximum permitted rate is I think a little over
$1 a month higher than the rate that the cable company is actually
proposing to charge. It may be even a little more differentiation than that.
Pfab: I would just ask you did we have any input in deciding the rules?
Helling: None.
Pfab: Okay. I was afraid you were going to say that.
Lehman: Dale, is this- is the City's action indicating that their computations are
correct?
Helling: Yes.
Lehman: I mean, what we are really doing is affirming that they are abiding by the
terms that are applicable to that.
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Helling: The calculation of the maximum permitted rate- and that is what we
follow up on and we make sure that their calculations are correct or that
they are close enough to ours. The main thing in order to approve the
rates are you want to make sure that the rate that they are actually going to
charge is lower than the maximum they are permitted to charge. And in
this case it is substantially lower.
Kanner: And actually our consultant found that they calculated the rate a little bit
off and I see it is corrected here in the resolution to the correct rate.
Helling: I think it was less than 2 cents difference, yeah.
Champion: It is too bad you can't deduct money from your bill for poor service or
poor programming. But we can't.
Lehman: Okay.
Vanderhoef: Is that a complaint there Connie? Do you have a complaint there?
Champion: I don't have it.
O'Donnell: It is also too bad that we aren't more in line with other cities like Cedar
Rapids and Davenport who I understand receive substantially more for
less money. This is going to pass but competition would be wonderful in
Iowa City.
Champion: Yes.
Kanner: The review is going on now unless (can't hear) finished it. Every year or
bi-annually a review to the Telecommunications (can't hear).
Helling: Oh, the Tri-annual Review. That is primarily service issues and that sort
of thing. There is no rate regulation involved in that.
Kanner: I am just commenting on what Conhie and Mike were saying. So if
people do have any comments now especially is the time to get them in to
you or to the Telecommunications Commission that we have.
Helling: Right, call the Cable Division office. Yes.
Lehman: The other thing I think that we should probably point out is that there was
another cable company that has been authorized to provide service for
Iowa City. This is not just a matter of competition. There is another
company that is authorized to provide that service and they have chosen
not to. It is probably a function of the size of the community.
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O'Dormell: That is true but they also had to come in at that same contract rate and I
look for them to come back when we renegotiate. And let's hope they do.
Pfab: I have a question. Are we actively soliciting other bids?
Lehman: Not till the contract is up I wouldn't think.
Helling: We have. We have actually sent out letters and tried to identify what is
known as "overbuilders"- people who are willing to come in and build a
system and compete. The problem is that that is very difficult to do
financially in a community this size because it is expensive to build a
physical plant and to build the head in and everything to open up to
customers. And then you have to take or virtually steal the customers
from the existing monopoly. So there aren't very many people who are
willing to do it and if they do it they are only going to do it in areas where
the financials indicate that there is a potential to make money. Generally
speaking, a community this size doesn't offer that opportunity.
Pfab: I have one question. How are the courts ruling on- is it following the same
routes for using a certain structure that the existing company uses? Is it
(can't hear) or something like that? Is that something that you are aware
of?.
Helling: Well, normally speaking, the federal laws give cable companies- these are
the providers of cable television service- a real break in terms of what they
have to pay- reduced rates to use the existing infrastructure in the
communities. But beyond that there are court cases now where the other
utilities are fighting it and I don't know how that is going to come out.
There is a case now pending before the Supreme Court.
Pfab: Does the potential bidder- do they get- are they at a disadvantage to the
present provider on something like that?
Helling: No.
Pfab: Okay, so that part is an equal playing field?
Helling: Should be. Yes.
Lehman: Okay. Roll call. Motion carries.
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#16 ~ Page 30
ITEM NO. 16. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING DISTRIBUTION OF
THE "PROGRAM FOR IMPROVING NEIGHBORHOODS" (PIN)
GRANT FUNDS.
Lehman: Do we have a motion?
Champion: Move the resolution.
O'Donnell: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Champion, seconded by O'Donnell. Discussion?
Vanderhoef: I would like to-
Lehman: I think there is going to be a presentation.
Vanderhoef: Oh, okay.
Lehman: Are we having a presentation on the- yes. Why don't we just start with
that.
Felling: My name is Margaret Felling. I live at 825 S. 7th Avenue. On behalf of
the Neighborhood Council of Iowa City I would like to thank you for the
opportunity to address the Council and present our program to improve
neighborhoods for the fiscal year 2002, commonly known as the PIN
grants. The Neighborhood Cotmcil of Iowa City is composed of members
of different neighborhoods meeting monthly to discuss common concems
such as housing, traffic and transportation, safety, development issues,
neighborhood wellness, and welfare. The City budgets $25,000 per year
for neighborhood improvement projects. The process of the PIN grant is
as follows. The neighborhood comes up with ideas, submits grants to the
neighborhood coordinators, has two meetings in which we review the
grant before submitting them to yon the Council, this evening. This year
we had $34,700 in requests but neighborhoods agreed to cut their requests
to insure funding within budget. PIN grants foster this atmosphere of
cooperation and sharing. And we invite more neighborhoods to become
involved in this process. The neighborhoods have worked hard to prepare
a wide variety of requests. We have a slide show here tonight to
illuminate what our PiN grant requests are about. We will present our
grants and we will be glad to answer questions at the end. This first grant
is being presented by the Longfellow Neighborhood Association asking
for spring leaf and brush pickup. This just illustrates the need for kind of a
massive cleanup in our neighborhood, just filling the bags is not quite
adequate often. Especially in a year when the leaves fell off the trees in
the spring instead of the fall. The next slide is the Summit Bridge
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Railroad Bridge historic plaque. We dedicated this a year ago June 1- this
fantastic bridge- and we would like to have a plaque on the bridge that- a
bronze plaque will be installed on the new Summit Street Bridge
describing the role of the railroad in Iowa City's growth and development.
And this kind of shows the view from the observation decks that were
built- placed on the bridge that were designed there last year. So, at any
rate, we think a plaque there would commemorate the historic value of this
area. The next grant for the Longfellow Neighborhood Association is
called Bulbs for All. Flower bulbs would be purchased by the
neighborhood association and planted by voltmteers on public property
such as the Longfellow nature trail, near bridges over Ralston Creek, the
railroad tracks, traffic circles and bus shelters located in the neighborhood.
Burke: I am Richard Burke. I live at 1173 Court Street. I am the Chairman of the
PTAs at Longfellow Schools Butterfly Garden and Bird Habitat. There is
some interest in providing some seating there at the garden. We were
donated that arbor with two seats there and the area has become more
popular. This summer the garden is going to be tripled in size. This isn't
a very advantageous time to see the garden, as it looks- nothing is in
bloom. But it is successful at attracting butterflies. I am requesting $250
for either a cement or stone bench. The next request is for a toddler swing
at the Longfellow School playground. I have researched that and am
dealing with a company that the city has dealt with in the past- Miracle
Playground Equipment Company. This is a sample of the swing. There is
one at Creekside Park right now. And we are requesting this to round out
the equipment at Longfellow School so it will be more toddler friendly.
The school's playground serves as the neighborhood's park. And College
Street- or College Green park the next nearest park also lacks any toddler
swings. And so we are hoping to round out the playground by adding this
to the playground. I have got the principal of the school's permission to
put that in.
Pfab: Okay, you had mentioned two places where there is toddler swings. What
was the other one?
Burke: Creekside Park on Muscatine is not within our neighborhood. That is the
one place I have seen this- this is actually where this photo was from.
Thank you.
Felling: The next project from the Longfellow Neighborhood Association is Be a
Good Neighbor, Clean Up Pet Poop. So we have a slide here. It is a
common problem around Iowa City. One sign will be installed at the
south entrance of the Longfellow Nature Trail asking pet owners to pick
up after their pets and a pet bag dispenser will be located at the north
entrance of the trail funded by the Iowa City Parks and Recreation
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Division. We have talked about this a lot in our neighborhood newsletter
and now we are trying to get some action out there to help remind people
that this is important.
Wilbum: I thought we were going to have an action shot on that one.
Felling: Camera wasn't them at the right time.
Pfab: You were going to model for it?
Hansen: My name is Jerry Hansen. I live at1237 Burns Avenue. IamChainnan
of the Wetherby Friends and Neighbors Neighborhood Association. This
year we have our first P1N grant for ten trees for Wetherby Park for
$3000. We talked to Terry Robinson about these and he told me to put in
a purchase price of $300 a piece of 2 ½ inch trees installed. So that is
where we came up with our $3000. Our second grant is- okay, a picture of
our shelter here in the park- our second grant is for what we are going to
call Saturday night drive-in. And in the shelter on July 21st and August
t 1th We will be having a big screen TV and a VCR and showing movies
for free to whoever wants to come. That will be advertised in our
newsletter and possibly through other media when we get to it here. Can
we have the next one?
Schabilion: Getting coordinated here. Jeff Schabilion, 431 Rimdell. The next project
has to do with widening and resurfacing the Longfellow Nature Trail.
This is a view down it and this is necessary in preparation of the
Pedestrian Tunnel. It is necessary that the path be widened to 8 feet and
that we have an all weather surface put on.
Hansen: This next one is for Wetherby Friends and Neighbors for a new park sign
for Wetherby Park. That is the current sign that we have up there. This is
just a drawing of the sign we would like to put out there. It is like a
monument style sign but it is actually anchored on posts in the ground so it
is not a full rock type formation. It has a little local artist participation-
some mosaics we would like to put on top of it. The bid papers that I have
for it are for $5000. When we originally thought about doing this with the
renovation of the park. I am sum it has gone up a little bit right now. Our
PIN grant request is for $5000 and I have talked to Terry Trueblood on
this and Terry said that the Parks Department will pick up whatever is
over that amount. That sign also includes a kiosk on it so we can make
current additions to neighborhood information, parks rules, regulations-
you know, things we might want to show up there so people can be
informed.
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Pfab: You know, you said the magic word- "kiosk". You should have called it
something else.
Hanson: Well, I can't. Our fourth request is for additional police patrols in the
Wetherby Park area. And we are putting in for $5000. I am told by our
Chief of Police that that will get uS approximately 163 hours worth of
coverage. We would like this to be done in the warmer months from April
through October on the weekends, alternating evenings- like one weekend
a Friday night and one weekend a Saturday night and have them between
9 pm and 3 am. Okay, at this time I guess what we need from you is a
resolution approving distribution of the program for improving
neighborhood PiN grant funds. And we would like to thank you for
thinking about the neighborhoods and giving us away to address our
immediate problems in our own areas. We appreciate this. Thank you.
Pfab: I would move that we-
Champion: We already moved.
Lehman: We have a motion to approve. Discussion from Council?
Vanderhoef: I would like to propose an amendment to what was presented to us. The
spring leaf brush pick up proposal concerns me not because it isn't an
needed activity, but it is a needed activity throughout the town. We have
frequent requests from individuals or neighborhoods who have a lot of
mature trees- particularly those who have a lot of pin oaks that don't lose
their leaves until the winter or early spring. I feel like this is something
that we need to look at in the total picture for the city and not just for a
PiN grant. So I would like to remove that one item and then I have a
thought that if we go forward with this if there is a second.
Lehman: We have an amendment to remove the spring cleanup from the
recommendation. Is there a second?
Kanner: Second.
Lehman: Seconded by Mr. Kanner. Discussion?
Kuenzli: Could I say something here?
Lehman: Sure.
Kuenzli: The Longfellow Neighborhood has sort of a history of trying things-
innovating projects in the areas of Social events and political events and
cultural events and service projects. And I conceived of this one as a
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service project when I was out raking leaves this spring. I raked this fall
until I was blue in the face and thought there I am done, it is finished, and
I am ready for spring. And I picked up 30 bags of leaves this year and I
said to myself, how on earth do the elderly or the low-income people in
our neighborhood deal with this because that is a lot- you know, ten
dollars for ten bags is a lot of money. And I thought how do these people
do it? And then I thought, hey, PiN grant project because it would benefit
a lot of people who could not other wise afford to do it. it would benefit
the neighborhood because a lot of leaves rotting on lawns causes the lawns
to burn out and is unsightly in the neighborhood. And as you- as Ms.
Vanderhoefjust mentioned, there are a lot of pin oaks around town and
those leaves don't fall until after the last city leaf pickup. As far as the
rest of- and PIN grants seem to me were for neighborhoods to fund
projects that they thought would be valuable in their neighborhoods. I
agree with you, it probably should be- it would be wonderful to have it
citywide. Longfellow pioneered recycling before the City did it too. So, I
mean, this is just part of our innovative nature to do these things. But I
think it would serve a real element in our neighborhood and we have had a
lot of success in getting groups of people together to help gather leaves for
people who are unable to do it whether because of their age or physical
limitations. And I would pemeive that that would be the case again this
time. So, I guess that is what I want to speak in defense of from that point
of view.
Lehman: Other discussion of the amendment?
Wilburn: Dee, when you say looking at this citywide are you talking about later in
the fall or looking at trying to do some type of actual spring pickup?
Vanderhoef: We have always had the conversation every time we get a request for this
that because of our equipment limitations that it becomes a very costly
kind of thing because the same equipment that is used as the leaf pickup-
the vacuum part of it- is also the equipment that also sweeps the streets
and gets the salt and sand and gets us cleaned up citywide. So, within the
budget to have another piece of equipment that would be able to do leaf
pickup in the spring- that is a discussion I suspect that we should have
when we do budget. Whether Public Works would recommend that we
get that kind of equipment and what the cost would be and get that kind of
information.
Champion: By leaving this on it also- are they are going to hire a private contractor to
do this? Is that correct? Then we could find out how much was actually
picked up and how much benefit there was. And then you might have
something to deal with at a cost level for citywide pickup. But I am going
to leave it in. I think the application is a good one. It has been approved.
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I agree with you. It probably is citywide problem but they are the ones
that applied for the PIN grant to gent it taken care of.
O'Donnell: Good point.
Pfab: I will basically back what Connie is saying here. And that is that is that
they took the initiative to solve the problem. It went through the bidding
process to- competition went to the other applications. I think the fact that
it may be a way to learn something how it works and if it is feasible and
maybe at this point if they hire a private contractor the private contractor
may be able to make it- work some other things out with other
neighborhoods or other folks-just individuals if that is what they want.
But I think it is a great place to do experimental projects and has the
approval and passed all the way. I will definitely support it
wholeheartedly.
Lehman: My suspicion is that if the other neighborhoods in this community thought
that that was a reasonable possibility that they would get their leaves
picked up for free in the spring, that they would all have applied for grants
for leaf pickup. I carmot in good conscience defend spending public
money picking up leaves in one neighborhood and not doing it for the rest
of the community. I look at the other projects as all unique- the Summit
Bridge, the Longfellow flowers, the butterfly garden, the toddler swing,
nature trail- these are all unique things to a neighborhood. There is
nothing unique about leaves falling off trees on Wylde Green Road or any
place else and I think we are going to have a really tough time trying to
justify that to the public. So I will support the amendment. Other
discussion?
Kanner: I am going to support the amendment for some of the reasons that Dee and
Emie have mentioned. But more specifically I think that when we have
these grants certainly there is going to be some individual benefit but there
is a line that is drawn about how much individual benefit. I would like to
see these grants benefit in a more community sense. And if they are going
to benefit individuals that they benefit low-income, seniors and youth- like
it says in the application here. And just as you had PIN money targeted
for cement sidewalk repair for low-income, I think this could also work
with just low-income or seniors. Just like you were saying. Not
necessarily the whole neighborhood. If it is going to be a neighborhood
benefit I would like to see something like perhaps a communal
neighborhood compost pile. I also have concern about where the private
pickup people are going to be taking the leaves. It is not necessarily tree
that they are going to be composting those leaves and it could go to some
dump out of state. We don't know what is going to happen with that. So
because of those problems I am going to vote for the amendment and ask
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that if it passes that the neighborhood council look at this money again and
see what other ways that it could be applied.
O'Dormell: I am not going to be supporting the amendment. I think it is a very
creative way. PIN grants are to benefit the entire neighborhood and I
think this does this. I really am impressed with the drive-in for Wetherby.
I think that is an incredibly neat idea. I am going to support this as it is.
Wilbum: Question for the City Manager. S~eve, is it just a matter of equipment or is
it also staffing numbers of employees for spring?
Atkins: I have gone over this thing ten times and to make myself immensely
popular by trying to recommend to you- what we have is that our street
crews- it is the same people that pick up leaves and the same people that
clean up at the end of winter. And we have an obligation to clear the
streets not only for safety purposes- bicycles don't compete well with
sand. We also have the various federal regulations with respect to we
have to get those streets cleared of salt, sand, winter debris immediately or
in effect it is simply going to go into the storm sewer and we are going to
create another mess for ourselves. If you would like to have a citywide
program, I am telling you now we do not have the people nor the
equipment to be able to do that. That doesn't mean we couldn't perform
that service, but you would probably- in fact for certain- have to allow us
the flexibility of possibly contracting for it. And then putting together
some very specific and very stringent requirements. If you think about it,
one of the nice things about the leaf pickup is we come by two, three times
during the course of those six weeks that we do the leaf pickup. These are
circumstances where if we are going to do it we might be able to make one
pass and that would be it. But it is just the same people- they can't be
doing two things at once. It would be a great service. It is a common
request. And it is always the pin oaks that we are (can't hear). And
mostly the mature neighborhoods- the north side, the Longfellow area.
Those are the folks that really can use this kind of a service. I think the
neighborhood that I live in where it is newer there just simply wouldn't be
that real demand for that.
O'Donnell: We could have a cleanup day and inform people that we would be making
one pickup?
Atkins: We probably could do that. My only concern is weather. And then the
other circumstance would be- and I can promise you this will happen- the
pickup day is Friday- oh, I didn't ~t it done and then it is there on
Saturday and it is still sitting there on Monday. And then we've got to go
back and clean it up. It just can't sit there because it starts rotting.
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Champion: You couldn't do the whole city in One day.
Arkins: No. We would have to schedule several days for it.
O'Donnell: Specific days for neighborhoods.
Arkins: But it does compete for cleaning up the winter debris and that is always
been a priority and I believe it has 'to be as well as it should be a priority.
But it is not out of the question. It would be expensive. And I am almost
certain we would have to contract for it.
Champion: A lot of money.
Arkins: And then the question is can we gent a contractor that is big enough to do it.
The contractor that is big enough with the equipment to do it and justify
the expense.
Lehman: Other discussion on the amendment? All in favor of the amendment to
remove the spring cleanup from the PiN recommendation say "aye".
Those opposed7 I guess I want a show of hands for those in the
affirmative.
Pfab: Say that again. (Can't hear)
(SIDE 2)
Lehman: Motion is defeated, 3/4. Karmer, Vanderhoef, and Lehman voting in the
affirmative. Discussion on the motion as not amended. The original
motion.
Pfab: Yes
Vanderhoef: I'd just like to comment that I'm pleased that Longfellow brought us a
couple of projects that are partnering with our School District. I think this
is a real positive thing to have happen in our City and certainly having
experience with Parks & Recreation and know that Longfellow is the
neighborhood park and place that we all go. I think this is a very good
sign. My family started out as a Longfellow Neighborhood family and I'm
well aware of the equipment that's them and I like that these projects.
Lehman: Other discussion? Roll call. All ayes.
Karr: Do we have a motion to accept correspondence?
Vanderhoef: So moved.
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Lehman: Moved by Vanderhoef.
O'Donnell: Second.
Lehman: Seconded by O'Donnell. All in favor. All ayes. Motion carded.
Karr: Mr. Mayor I neglected to get a motion to accept correspondence on item
#9. Which is accepting correspon~lence regarding our alcohol ordinance.
May I have that now?
Vanderhoef: Move to accept correspondence.
O'Donnell: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Vanderhoef, seconded by O'Dormell, to accept correspondence.
All in favor. All ayes. Motion carried.
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ITEM NO. 17. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO
SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST AN AMENDED
CHAPTER 28E AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF
CORALVILLE AND THE CITy OF IOWA CITY REGARDING
RECONSTRUCTION OF FIRST AVENUE FROM THE CLEAR
CREEK BRIDGE TO IMMEDIATELY SOUTH OF THE IOWA
INTERSTATE RAILROAD VIADUCT.
Wilburn: Move adoption of the resolution
Vanderhoef: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Wilbum, seconded by Vanderhoef. Discussion. Steve this is
the result of the actual bid on that railroad viaduct being considerably
more than the original estimate but quite a bit less than the second
estimate.
Atkins: I'm not sure it was a bid Emie, the original project if I recall was about
$1.5 million dollars.
Lehman: Right.
Atkins: It was prepared, remember Coralville was taking the lead in this project, as
the project unfolded the estimate changed to $2.8 million dollars, that the
University, Iowa City and as well as Coralville found that was
unacceptable. So set, Coralville went back to the drawing board and
prepared an amended plan for this railroad viaduct. This represents an
equal share on the part of the City of Coralville, the University and Iowa
City to fund this project. Any bid that would come in less than the
estimate the benefit will accrue equally to all of us.
Lehman: Is this the same bridge firm that did the Wolf Avenue and Summit Street?
Atkins: I don't think so.
Lehman: Oh okay. Discussion.
Vanderhoef: Were they, was Coralville able to get any dollars from the railroad?
Atkins: To the best of my knowledge no, that the railroad's position was it works
fine for us, we don't need to spend anymore money on it, if you want to
fix it up have at it.
Lehman: Like my train runs over the old bridge just as well it rims over the new
one.
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Atkins: Just as it runs over the new one that's right.
Vanderhoef: Now we all understand that it's just the increased cost was not something
that we had planned on in our capital improvement.
Atkins: And it's a real dilemma with the project coming from both directions,
meeting, it's not something you diCtn't have a lot of choice on.
Lehman: It's not something we didn't have a lot of choice on.
Atkins: This increase in cost, we've had a long standing policy that we keep close
to a million dollar balance on our mad use tax fund that's why we can
move quickly on accommodating these rather dramatic changes in any
kind of a project and then we can plan it again to replenishing that reserve
that allows us that flexibility, that' s where the moneys will come from.
Lehman: Further discussion.
Kanner: Yes I received a letter and I think Other Council Members might have
received this letter from a high school student Brianne Dixon who lives off
of Mormon Trek, this student requested a stop light because of busy
traffic. And I think that again we're making a mistake by thinking only in
terms of widening a road, I think that it's just going to increase traffic and
a traffic light might be apropos where she' s suggesting it, but I think we
have to think of other ways to reduce traffic in our community before we
widen our streets, I'm going to be voting against this.
Lehman: This would certainly restrict traffic taking four lanes into a two lane bridge
so I understand that.
Vanderhoef: I didn't receive that (can't hear).
Kanner: Ernie your sarcasm becomes you.
Lehman: Thank you.
Vanderhoef: Where is she putting the stop light?
Kanner: Further up by Cameron Way.
Lehman: Oh that's clear on down a mile, this isn't even the same project because
that' s across from.
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Kanner: But in general the whole project, We're doing this Emie four lanes down to
2 lanes or up to four lanes because of the whole widening of Mormon
Trek.
Lehman: Right.
Kanner: Instead of looking at other possibilities, and we don't even have bottling
that goes on for if we would use public transportation, I think we need to
start doing that in our traffic engineering.
O'Donnell: Well however, this road is being, we're correcting this road to handle
existing traffic in to address safety problems. This is something that we
needed to do for a long long time, it's overdue and I'm going to support
this.
Lehman: Roll call.
Vanderhoef: Yes but I'm going to hold my nose on it.
Lehman: Motion canies 6-1 Kanner voting the negative.
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ITEM NO. 18. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION iON UNCLASSIFIED SALARY
COMPENSATION FOR FISCAL YEAR 2002 FOR THE CITY
MANAGER, CITY ATTORNEy, AND CITY CLERK.
Wilbum: Move adoption of resolution.
O'Donnell: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Wilburn, seconded by 0'Donnell. Discussion.
Kanner: I'm going to be offering an amendment that we have an average salary
raise of all employees here of a dollar amount of $1,996.00 for fiscal year
02, and just as we have somewhat of a progressive income tax in this
country I think in the same way we should have a progressive pay raise
that the less you make the more your percentage increase should be and I
do feel that our three employees all work hard and I think for the most part
all of our employees work hard and for that reason and also for the
precedence of converting vacation time to retirement plan I'm not in favor
of that, I think that's not a route we want to go, I think we should not be
doing that so I would offer an amendment that all pay raises for our three
employees equal the average of city wide employees at $1,996.00.
Lehman: Is there a second to that amendment?
Pfab: I'll second that for a possible discussion.
Lehman: Discussion. All in favor of the amendment say aye.
Kanner: Aye.
Lehman: Opposed same sign.
(All ayes but Kanner)
Lehman: Amendment is defeated 6-1. Further discussion. Roll call. Motion carries
5-2 Kanner and Pfab voting in the negative.
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ITEM NO. 19. PUBLIC DISCUSSION (IF NECESSARY) (ITEMS NOT LISTED
ON THE AGENDA).
Lehman: This is public discussion and we have one person Holly who would like to
address the Council, you have a cduple of minutes.
Holly Berkowitz: I'd like to propose that you give Iowa City a name call it the
"Garden for Eden" and secondary ~o that to do that we need to reduce
traffic flow and develop alternative transportation systems in response to
what I see as artificially fixed prices for gasoline and for petroleum that
our fixed, seemed to be fixed as much as the prices for the farmers
produce in the super market. The ,lemand goes up, the prices go up but if
the demand falls the prices don't seem to go down and we know that the
Bush administration is in control of the oil industry in the United States
and that he wants to increase our consumption of oil but doesn't encourage
us to reduce our demand. What I'm saying is if he's playing a fair game
that if we reduce our demand for oil the prices should go down. So we
can play this game too as a city and what I'm saying is that if we are to
become a "Garden for Eden" we need to reduce our traffic flows because
that's destructive to neighborhoods. We need to increase our alternative
forms of transportation, we need to reduce our driving, we need to
increase mass transit, we need to increase our carpooling strategies, we
need to increase our after school transportation for children in the schools
so that parents don't have to drive all over town. We need to alternate the
schedules for releasing of after work so not everybody gets out of work
exactly at 5:00 and there's a huge traffic jam in town which causes
everybody to think that we need a new highway through town. Let's use
some imagination and I come to you with ideas and I do that often but I'm
hoping that someone will pick this up and mn with it. We can
demonstrate, we can give our name the name of Iowa City on Noah
Dubuque Street, we can add "Garden of Eden" because we can do it
ourselves, we can have control over gas prices. We don't have to become
victims. Thank you.
Lehman: Thank you Holly.
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ITEM. NO. 20. COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS.
Lehman: The Housing and Community Development Commission (can't hear)
Council chose Rick Spooner, I would like a motion to elect him.
O'Donnell: So moved.
Champion: Second.
Lehman: Moved by O'Donnell, seconded by Champion. All in favor. Motion
carries 6-1 Pfab voting no.
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ITEM 22. CITY COUNCIL INFOR1VIATION
Lehman: Steven start with you.
Kanner: No.
Lehman: Nothing.
Wilburn: The letter carriers collected 16 tons of food to feed the hungry last
weekend so nice job.
Lehman: Great job.
Wilburn: Them and the community.
Vanderhoef: Just one thing, having the PiN gratats tonight brought to mind that it's been
a long time since we talked about neighborhood concept and PIN grants
and how they're functioning in the: City and I would like to put that on a
work session for a future discussion.
Lehman: Is there other interest in?
Pfab: I have a couple. I would like to read a short statement.
Lehman: No, no, Dee just asked a question.
Pfab: Oh I'm sorry I didn't get it.
Lehman: Is there interest in discussion for work session informally for PiN grants.
Wilburn: I'd support looking at that.
Lehman: I would too.
O'Donnell: I think it's a good idea.
Lehman: All fight let's put it on the.
Atkins: PiN grants and neighborhood associations, I heard both.
Vanderhoef: Yes.
Atkins: That's probably a worthwhile, it's been 10 years, time for a look, good
point.
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Champion: I wanted to just ask.
O'Dormell: Excuse me can I go first?
Champion: Oh of course your bigger than me.
O'Donnell: KCJJ raised $11,000 and I unders!and almost 7,000 pounds of food for
the Crisis Center. Hats off to then~, any time there's any kind of a need in
the community they're there and they address it and they work very very
hard. Also Emie and I had this rurming feud when we cooked pancakes
and he's always looked up to my pancake flipping ability and Ernie I said
last night that I'm not going to mention that you spilled four or five
gallons of pancake batter and I'm not going to do that.
Lehman: I appreciate that Mike.
O'Donnell: So that's all I have to say.
Wilbum: IfI could jump in just.
Lehman: Oh please do, please do.
Wilburn: That all of the Iowa City Council Members participated in that pancake
breakfast and we really appreciate it as well as some school board
members and any supervisors, state senators, representatives so.
Lehman: Would you tell him that that thing didn't hold 5 gallons?
Wilbum: It did not hold 5 gallons.
Lehman: Thank you okay, appreciate that.
Champion: That is a true politician.
O'Donnell: You'd never know that Ernie because they were all on the floor.
Lehman: Well maybe next year I can do it again. Connie.
Champion: I really want to ask kind of a, I'm embarrassed to ask the question but I
think I had a senior moment at the last council's meeting, not the special
one because I meant to pull Union and Willow Street off the consent
calendar did anybody else want to pull that off or was it just me that didn't
get it done?
O'Donnell: I had the same senior moment Conhie, I meant to do that too.
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Pfab: I did too.
Vanderhoef: I knew it was happening but I reco, ized later that the audience didn't and
maybe some of the Councilor' s didn't either and I've been thinking about
that today and.
Champion: It wasn't just me.
Vanderhoef: I think there were some others.
Champion: I'm wondering if, can we look at that again or is it a done deal now?
Atkins: You have voted on it, if you tell me you don't want those signs installed
they won't get installed.
Pfab: I would move that we don't install the signs there.
O'Donnell: Should we bring it up again Steve ~ can't hear).
Atkins: I think you need to bring it up again.
Lehman: Put it back.
Atkins: If your telling me to postpone.
Dilkes: Just put it back, if you want it back on the agenda.
Atkins: Yea put it back on the agenda and postpone installing those.
Champion: Okay I mean could we do that,, I meant to bring it up at our special
meeting and then I.
Atkins: I have not heard from the neighbors.
Champion: I have.
Pfab: I have.
Atkins: No I mean since your vote, I don't know if they're up yet or not, usually
by the time you manufacture them.
Champion: I don't know either but I did mean to pull that out of there and I didn't get
it done.
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Atkins: Is that both Union and Willow?
Champion: Yea.
Atkins: Okay.
Vanderhoef: Okay this brings up a thought that i had though that it seems that the
process isn't working very well anal I think maybe we need to have a work
session discussion.
Champion: Well we can bring up at the same l~ime.
Vanderhoef: About the process of how we do traffic calming and safety issues and so
forth so the public is aware of whal we're doing rather than just say
Consent Calendar.
Atkins: Remember yea Union and Willow, I think we're staff initiated, I think fire
and police had expressed some concerns and as you know you'll approve
50 of those and no one will say a word.
Champion: Right.
Vanderhoef: But we also had the Lexington Avenue thing that was done at a work
session basically and the public has let us know that they weren't pleased
with that process and so I would just like to have a conversation at a work
session.
Atkins: Well I'll put Willow, I'll bring it back to Emie for our next meeting, we'll
put it on for a work session
(Can't hear, Champion and O'Donnell talking)
Atkins: And then the process and then some general discussion about traffic
calming.
Vanderhoef: Well how the process goes through the Council for the vote and the
notification of the public whether we have to have a public hearing I don't
know I think we need to talk about it.
Atkins: Okay.
Pfab: Can I comment on what we're just discussing? I think inadvertently there
were some false information presented at a meeting and I think I know the
process how it happened. It was not intentional.
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Atkins: False information.
Pfab: Yes, in other words for Willow Street, it was stated here I think by Jeff
Davidson and I think he was, might of been the victim here of some
misinformation. He said that ther~ was, he stated that there was a head on
collision on Willow Street, I don't'think that (can't hear).
Lehman: Well we're going to discuss that at a work session.
Pfab: Right but that's one of the reasons, and I think I know by following up the
process I think I know how it happened.
Lehman: Okay.
Pfab: So it was an unintentional but it was more (can't hear).
Lehman: Connie did you have? I'm sorry.
Kanner: Just to clarify that, are we going to put the Willow Union on our Tuesday
formal agenda? I think we ought tO do that.
Vanderhoef: Well talk about the process, that' s what I'm saying.
Lehman: Well what's your pleasure?
Atkins: To assemble the agenda I guess I would suggest to you we would put it on
Monday night for discussion, we'll put it on Tuesday as part of the
Consent.
Lehman: All right that's fine.
Atkins: Tag it for you so you can pull it offif you decide you want to do that.
Lehman: Take it off.
O'Dormell: Very good.
Atkins: Is that okay?
Pfab: That sounds great.
Vanderhoef: For this time.
Atkins: For this time yea.
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Lehman: Anything else Connie? Irvin.
Pfab: I have a couple things, I wanted after Bob Bums spoke on this housing
enterprise zone and I'd just like to; I had a little prepared statement put
together earlier and (can't hear) I'dl like to read it, it's pretty short. I spent
a lot of time over the last couple o[weeks looking into the housing
enterprise zoning information that iwas presented by Bob Bums at our last
meeting, this is also something I had never heard of before so I had a lot to
learn. I became aware that his opportunity, or this opportunity has been
available to the City of Iowa City Since 1998 and creates a funding
opportunity for housing development in Iowa City. Now it doesn't cost
the City any cash yet it would provide numerous housing and related
benefits. This is a valuable opportunity that the City has not utilized since
it became available, I don't know why. I hope that the city staff and the
Council work diligently to create housing enterprise zones throughout the
eligible area in our community. I know that since our last Council
meeting Steve Nasby among others have begun looking into the
opportunities of the housing enterprise zone. My hope is that this process
will continue to move expediently and I offer any assistance that I can.
Now there is a deadline that looks kind of impossible to me, and I'm not
sure if it's totally impossible and i$ a deadline for an application for a
project that Bob Bums' organization is working on and it worked, as he
announced tonight it worked, induce an investor to add additional money
so as a way to keep the debt service down and make those units available
at a less costly, at a lower price to the people who need it, it's for some
low income, it's a very low income and I think it's a great way to
generate, it's almost like a economic development because it brings in
retirement money and it's for people who need a lot of service and so I see
it as a multiplier affect. Whether we can make this thing work so they can
get the application in by the 1st of June I don't know, it would be very
tight but from what I can gather having talked to about 5 or 6 participants,
several at the city, several at his organization I think it is possible and if
we can make our work between now so that application can go in the 1st
of June it would be a big boost.
Champion: I don't see that happening Irvin, this is something we, it sounds wonderful
but I think I want to get all the information we can, I don't want areas of
the city designated by some turn that. I think it's more complicated than it
appears that' s (can't hear).
Lehman: We will be receiving I talked to Steve Nasby, we will be receiving from
his office I believe a memorandum at the second meeting in June, he
hopes to have it complete by that time which is what I told Bob Bums
tonight when he spoke to us.
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#22 Page 51
Champion: That's fine. Good.
O'Donnell: Good, good.
Pfab: Okay a couple of other things. I w~uld like to know ifit's possible to
replace the toddler swings that were taken out of the Highland
neighborhood park. They were.
Atkins: Highland.
Pfab: The little neighborhood park on.
Atkins: There on Keokuk.
Pfab: Yea Keokuk and Highland right.
Atkins: Okay.
Pfab: And there's a lot of, I've been ther~ several times, there's a lot of parents
with very young children and the lJark was taken out because it was mixed
in with others and I noticed tonight in some of the presentation that the
neighborhood people that PIN grants there would be a place I think to
establish one of those there and I think it would be a great addition to that
park.
Arkins: So otherwise I'll ask Terry what the circumstances were, it was the toddler
swing you say?
Pfab: Yea it was taken out of the regular thing because I think that was a safety
issue because it was mixed in with more aggressive.
Vanderhoef: With a big swing.
Atkins: If that was the case remember wej~tst had that extensive audit and there
and if it's a safety issue I'm sure Terry would say don't put it back in but
let me find out.
Pfab: Not there I think.
Atkins: Somewhere else.
Pfab: Yea a free standing one. Okay.
Atkins: I'll find out for you.
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#22 Page 52
Pfab: There's another thing coming down Dubuque Street coming to Iowa City
as you get to Jefferson Street, this was brought to my attention by a very
alert police officer, a very professional police officer that what I attempted
to do was probably according to hoyle so but that's, it did present an
opportunity I think for a possible change in how that traffic is signaled
coming south into Iowa City at Jefferson Street. Okay it's, a lot of the
traffic makes a left turn, there is no, there is one of the south bound lanes
is designated as left turn only. I b~lieve because of the amount of traffic
that second light on the outside lar~e could also be designated as straight
ahead or left turn, like, something like been done at Riverside and
Highway 6.
Champion: It only goes into one lane there though, there's only one lane.
Pfab: No there's two lanes, Jefferson is fi one way.
Vanderhoef: No.
Lehman: (can't hear) straight through you can't have the left lane go through and
tum both because there's only one:lane when it goes straight through.
Champion: It goes from two lanes to one lane.
Lehman: Yea.
Pfab: Well no I don't think so.
Vanderhoef: Yes it does.
Lehman: Yes it does.
Pfab: Is it any different than what goes on down at Riverside and?
O'Doanell: Yea there's a double lane there.
Lehman: Yea there's two lanes.
Pfab: Double lane where?
O'Donnell: When they turn left there's a double lane.
Lehman: There's two lanes, it goes two lanes into two lanes, that goes two lanes
into one.
Pfab: Well there's two lanes coming down to southbound lanes in that street.
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#22 Page 53
Lehman: There's one south bound lane whela you get to the other side of Jefferson.
Pfab: When you get on the other side.
Champion: Right.
Lehman: This side is only one lane.
Vanderhoef: Well, when you go through the intersection you lose one lane.
Pfab: Right but is there any reason you ~ouldn't put an arrow that's you could
also do a double left tum and or th~ outside lane could also go straight and
be signaled that way?
O'Donnell: You know that head on you were talking about (can't hear).
Champion: I think you better go out and look at that.
Pfab: No, no, no I've done that several times.
Vanderhoef: Go take it to Jeff and let him look.
Pfab: I just didn't catch up with Jeff or else I was going to come down and take
him out to show it, I think it makes sense.
Atkins: (Can't hear) take a look at it.
Pfab: That was just a suggestion, okay one other little simple thing. How is the
school crossing, have you heard any new progress on the school crossing?
Atkins: The project is a go, our crews are going to do it, they're going to do it next
month.
Pfab: But that's as far as you know now.
Atkins: It's a go project, they've agreed to pay half and our crews will do it just
schedule the work.
Pfab: Great.
Lehman: Okay a couple things, first of all the Tower Place Parking Facility is open.
Atkins: It is open.
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#22 Page 54
Lehman: And I understand the steel is being set for the skywalk.
Atkins: Yes.
Lehman: We had 53 people who worked, employees of the City of Iowa City
participated in the blood drive thati we had on May 3, 53 pints of blood,
that' s a tremendous contribution and I think that speaks extremely well.
Atkins: Speaks well of a lot of good people.
Lehman: The last item we had on our agend~ was referencing the three employees
that the City Council of Iowa City ~hat being the City Manager, the City
Clerk and the City Attorney and I l~ersonally would like to thank the three
of you, I think you've done an admirable job, and I appreciate your efforts
on behalf of the Council, enough said. Steve.
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meeting of May 15, 2001.
#23 Page 55
ITEM NO.23. REPORT ON ITEMS FROM CITY STAFF
a. City Attorney
Dilkes: Yea as you know the ETC. appeal the denial of their liquor license to the
state and as I told you last night th~ adminjstrative law judge who is the
Council. That decision is subject to further review and I'll give you some
more information in a memo.
Lehman: Okay.
O'Donnell: Thank you.
This represents only a reasonably accurate trahscription of the Iowa City council
meeting of May 15, 2001.