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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-11-13 Bd Comm minutesHOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION SEPTEMBER 20, 2001 FINAL/APPROVED CIVIC CENTER, LOBBY CONFERENCE ROOM Members present: Lori Bears, Amy Correia, John Deeth, Gretchen Holt, Rick House, Kathleen Renquist, Bill Stewart Staff present: Tracy Hightshoe, Steve Long, Steve Nasby Others present: Crissy Canganelli, David Schoon, Alaina Welsh, Dee Vanderhoef Discussion and Recommendation on Proposed Amendment(s) to 2001-2006 Consolidated Plan (CITY STEPS) Renquist moved to keep the level of earmark at 5%, Correia seconded. Recommendation to Council. Approved 6-1. Another public hearing yet to be held for further discussion at the October meeting of HCDC. Call Meetinq to Order The meeting was called to order by Kathleen Renquist at 6:35 p.m. Introduction of New HCDC Members--Lori Bears and John Deeth Renquist introduced the two new members, Lori Bears and John Deeth, to all current Commission members and others present. Approval of the Minutes from Auqust 16 & 30, 2001 Stewart moved to approve August 16 minutes, Holt seconded. August 16 minutes approved 6-0, with change in August 16 for Correia's name misspelled. Correia arrives (6:38 p.m.) The August 30 minutes need to reflect that Bears was in attendance at August 30 meeting. Correia moved to approve August 30 minutes, House seconded. August 30 minutes approved Public/Member Discussion of Items Not on the Aqenda None. Housincl and Communitv Development Commission--Election of Officers Chair: Correia nominated House, Holt seconded. House was asked if he would accept. House accepted. No other nominations. Stewart moved nominations cease. Approval 7-0. Vice Chair: HoJt nominated Correia, Stewart seconded. No other nominations. House moved nominations cease. Approval 7-0. Public Hearinq - FY01 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) Renquist praised staff for a well done report. Long said that the format of the information near the back of the CAPER is part of a HUD program and we have no control over setup or how it is displayed. Housing and Community Development Commission Meeting Minutes September 20, 2001 Page 2 Correia said she had a question on public notification. Correia asked about the process on how the public is notified, and can there be more extensive notification procedures? The notice was published in the Press-Citizen, Long mentioned that it was also on City Channel 4. Correia wondered about sending notification to all grantees, past grant applicants, and Local Homeless Coordinating Board members. Nasby said that when updating CITY STEPS, more notifications are done. The Commission thought that more extensive notifications could be done for public hearings, since many people miss local newspaper notices. Correia had a question about the "self-sufficiency" language used. Long states it comes directly from CITY STEPS. Correia would prefer to change, as she believes it signifies that n._~o services are needed. Long suggested that we discuss the topic at the public hearing on CITY STEPS later in the agenda. Holt concurred. Corriea had a question about the "affirmative marketing" section. What does "affirmative marketing efforts" mean? Numbers of applicants (housing), versus small number successful; small percentages. Holt explained that the report is showing that you got the larger number of applicants; and that marketing is working. Successful in that people are applying. Renquist agreed that the sentence as written does not represent the data as she reads it. Correia said it appears marketing is working, but the success rate for minorities is low. HCDC discussion on reasons why. Holt said it may be due to possible lack of credit, references, or racial discrimination. However, this only focuses on marketing issue. Correia stated maybe it should be labeled "success rate"? Then focus on what should be done. Correia had a question on wording in CAPER that reads in Fiscal Year 2003 an amendment to increase economic development set aside to 9% is anticipated and this is now before the CITY STEPS public hearing. Nasby stated it should read "proposed" amendment. Discussion and Approval of FY01 CAPER Stewart moved to approve CAPER report, with the changes discussed. Bears seconded. Approved 7-0 (Commission agreed to delay the public hearing on the proposed CITY STEPS amendment since the Commission was ahead of schedule.) Monitorinq Reports Successful Living Support Services: $15,000 grant. Stewart said that HCDC gave CDBG funds to partially fund social worker ($181,025 also from other support). He noted that the person was hired, supposed to start July 2001, however, he started in March, 2000. Money was all spent. HACAP Transitional Housing: House got information from Judy Sullivan ($96,450 grant). Following activities completed: purchased property on September 13, 2000; condo for $39,000 (1958 Broadway), 1822 Hollywood Ct. for $57,000 (plus $450.00 appraisal). All are two- bedroom condos for low-income housing families receiving assistance. Replaced three other units - house in Iowa City, manufactured home in Iowa City, house in Coralville. Money spent. Old Business Correia referred to an item in a previous months' packet from Bob Burns about a Housing Enterprise Zone. Correia inquired if there is a way the commission can support the project through the Enterprise Zone? Nasby stated all of the information went to the Council. Housing and Community Development Commission Meeting Minutes September 20, 2001 Page 3 Vanderhoef stated the 1990 census contains outdated information. When the 2000 census is released, there should be restructuring in zones. Correia asked about new data and will it be coming to the Council Economic Development for discussion. Welsh said the Housing Enterprise Zone could play a large role and the City could use the zone and it would not cost them money. The program has been available for many years and the potential not realized. Welsh discussed naming neighborhood (Pheasant Ridge in this case) as blighted - no need to give that stigma, as only two criteria needed. She said the poverty level is greater than 12% and income level of less than $9600 per capita. Correia stated that this could be a way to stretch federal block grant funds. Holt questioned why the lack of public interest. Vanderhoef stated that due to lack of dollars available from CDBG funding, and didn't feel this was a blighted area as is. Stewart said to refer it to Council and agreed to forward it on. Welsh agreed to look into requesting the review. Schoon stated that Council chose to not pursue the designation. Stewart wondered if the Commission could have a thorough review of it before it would make a recommendation. Welsh thinks that it would be helpful to re-evaluate. Stewart stated to just forward the information and let Council review, but HCDC would need to gather the information in order to pass on. Nasby said he would give HCDC the memos that the Council received on Enterprise Zones in November. New Business Bears artended grand opening of Uptown Bill's Small Mall. She noted that five new businesses were created. Public Hearincl--Proposed Amendment(s) to 2001-2006 Consolidated Plan (CITY STEPS) Canganelli objected to the 4% increase to Economic Development Fund off the top of other designated uses. Requests to use the initial 5%; exhaust that amount first. Cangarelli said she feels it's wrong to use one of few resources available to public service agencies. Other resources are available for economic development. Funds are all being cut and this will hurt individuals we are trying to serve. Correia passed out a memo on CDBG. Intent of changing this set aside would be taking funds out of the total pot of grant dollars. No reason to change percentage "set-aside" as this is only a guideline, not set cap. She added that HOME money not used for economic development, so don't add to the CDBG amount. Correia requested that a HCDC member participate in reviewing and recommending projects and evaluate this again after one-year pilot project. Nasby stated percentages shown in CITY STEPS are in the whole "pot" not separated. Prior to 1996 there were two commissions which dealt with separate grants and this was combined into one under HCDC to lessen confusion. That's why now HOME and CDBG are overseen by one commission. Holt asked if percentages are really larger. Correia stated this proposal decreases how CDBG can be used for intended uses. But these are fluid, not locked in. She does not want to decrease CDBG for housing, public facilities. Welsh wondered if there are other means to support the activities mentioned? Correia stated there is a new community development fund for small businesses recently set up by ISED. New funding for small businesses for loans; unsure when it went into effect, but they've a hired new director. She believes it is a statewide loan fund. Renquist stated originally ED funds were reduced in 2001-2006 CITY STEPS due to the small number of applicants and Council felt if more money and different mechanism of handing out the funding were used, we should get more applicants. Vanderheef said that the percentage of money for community services could be greater due to increased tax revenue and that would be Housing and Community Development Commission Meeting Minutes September 20, 2001 Page 4 added to the money Council already has for public services. So she sees CDBG as more valuable to community in the economic development fund. Stewart stated that the commission is not geared to look at economic development in businesses. If we have strong business here, taxes increase and there is more money to give back to these community projects. With this proposal the amount of CDBG funds for services may decrease now, but will largely benefit in years to come. Vanderhoef stated that the City continues to give to human services from general fund, which is not growing. She noted that the general fund is decreasing, and that pool of funds comes from taxes. Vanderhoef said that businesses are taxed 100% of assessed value, but taxes on homes are fluid, currently about 56.4% of value. If we increase businesses, there would be more money to pass on to other projects. Correia stated that there is more need for low-income persons. Canganelli states that the kinds of businesses needed to generate taxes historically have not developed from CDBG funding and there are different incentives to motivate that kind of growth, which is needed. Why is it necessary to establish cap on projects? Holt suggested more revolving funds and leaving the level at 5% which does not take away from that need for other projects. Correia noted that the sale of 64-1A parcel goes to CDBG. Nasby said that money would have to be planned for a specific project(s) in short amount of time to avoid a timeliness issue. Vanderhoef stated that she wanted to put money to foundation for continuing human services, however HUD rules are more of a "use it or lose it". Correia had concerns that small businesses eligible for a Council ED loan must put in 10% of own money, which is prohibitive for some businesses. Additionally, she does not want CDBG to go towards downtown streetscaping projects. This would also decrease money for affordable housing and public services. Discussion and Recommendation on Proposed Amendment(s) to 2001-2006 Consolidated Plan (CITY STEPS) Renquist moved to keep the level of earmark for ED funding at 5%, Correia seconded. Recommendation to Council as such. Approved 6-1 (Stewart). Nasby noted that HCDC would hold another public hearing for further discussion at the October meeting of HCDC. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 7:54 p.m. FINAL/APPROVED MINUTES IOWA CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES REGULAR MEETING THURSDAY, September 27, 2001 5:00 PM Members Present: Linda Dellsperger, Shaner Magalh~es, Lisa Parker, Linda Prybil, 3esse Singerman, Tom Surer, 3ira Swaim, David VanDusseldorp Members Absent: None Staff Present: Barb Black, Susan Craig, Beth Daly, Larry Eckholt, Debb Green, Heidi Lauritzen, Kara Logsden, Liz Nichols Others: Heather Leighton, Practicum Student CALL TO OilDEll= The meeting was called to order at 5:04 pm. PUBLIC DISCUSSION: None APPROVAL OF NINUTES: The minutes of the regular meeting of August 23, 2001 were approved as written, Dellsperger/VanDusseldorp. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: A. Bulldine Proiect- The Engberg Anderson architects are working on construction drawings, a major part of the work they will do for this project. There is much work yet to be done to have the plans ready for the public hearing, according to the City timeline. The Board formally set a public hearing on the Lenoch & Cilek Building asbestos abatement project, hearing to be held at the Library at 5:00 pm on October ].5, 200]., Dellsperger/Suter. The Board formally set a public hearing on the contract for demolition and construction of the expanded library, hearing to be held at the Library at 5:].5 pm on October 15, 200]., Dellsperger/Prybil. B. $4-].A -The Board reported that they have been contacting City Council members and artended the joint meeting, to bring the parking issue to the attention of the Council. For the most part, the councilors responded that parking for library users was not forgotten and would not be forgotten. However, the Board was mindful of the fact that parking is an issue that can change with the political climate, and that they should be ready to speak again in the future. The Board discussed what steps to take to move forward on the parking issue. They suggested developing ideas to bring to Joe Fowler, the Parking Director. The Board feels strongly that they should work toward reserving 125 spaces for short term parking in the existing Dubuque Street ramp. Craig reported that she hopes to serve on the committee negotiating with the preferred developer for 6zF1A. She feels that parking and public access issues might be discussed, and it would be in the Library's best interest if someone were there to present the Library's position. The Board agreed. ICPL BOARD OF TRUSTEES Agenda item 3A September 27, 2001 Page 2 C. New Construction ManaGer - Chuck Schmadeke wrote a memo to the Board, formalizing the commitment that the City will provide construction management services for the duration of the project. At the recommendation of the Building Committee, we will proceed this way rather than interview outside firms. Joel Miller, Project Ivfanager, started work on Friday, September 27, 2001. He introduced himself at the Library and asked about office space because he would really like to be on site. Offices will be moved around to provide space for him and his future assistants. NEW BUSINESS: A. Meeting Dates - Craig proposed several changes to the Library's traditional fourth-Thursday Board Meeting schedule. The changes would allow the Board to meet on dates in agreement with planning dates and deadlines. Regular meeting items could be discussed before or a/~er expansion business, eliminating the need for a second meeting, !5 PM ~Mon i Oct 15 i Special Meeting Public hearings and FY03 budget ~ PM'~Fbu~s L O~t2% "Re~ul'a~eting ~' Cancel 5 PM :Thurs Nov 8 =Special Meeting :: Award abatement contract ~ i Other business as needed ~ 5 PM Thurs : Nov 15 i Regular Meeting ~ Cancel ~ 5 PM ~u~: Nova7 ~ s~t~e~al M~t~nn~ ' A~d ~ene~l ~on~'~ ~e Board approved the meeting calendar, as amended, Swaim/De[[sperger. B. Park 'n' Read, Ride 'n' Read - There is additiona~ funding in the ff02 budget for Park 'n' Read and the Board had requested staff suggestions on expansion of the current 3-day-a-week program. ~e Board was in favor of Park 'n' Read as a way to address ICPL's lack of close, free parking. ~ey discussed various adve~ising options. A strong minori~ was in favor of adve~ising Park 'n' Read heavily to build the numbers so we would know what we could expe~ in the future. Most members felt that we should quietly add Saturdays and adve~ise a~er we i~crea~ the program to 7 days per week. The Board approved expansion of the Park 'n' Read program to include Saturdays sta~ing O~ 2001 and to include all days of the week sta~ing at the time that the 64-1A lot is unavailable for parking, Singerman/Dellsperger. C. FY03 Budqet Development - Craig explained that the Finance Depa~ment moved up the deadline for budget submission, so the Board timeline was considerably shower. She clarified a few of the personnel categories, such as "longevil". Different staff members described the proposals in the proje~ sheets. New personnel are needed to handle increased responsibilities in the expanded Libra~. E~ra bookdrops are needed to handle the returns during the construeion and will be used as an e~ra drop a~er the project is completed. E~ra staff will be needed to emp~ those new drops. ICPL BOARD OF TRUSTEES Agenda item 3A September 27, 2001 Page 3 Park 'n' Read will be expanded. Historical programs on videotapes will be transferred to the less delicate DVD format. Staff also requested that additional computer hardware be purchased from the budget. Staff proposes purchasing some needed AV equipment that would be flexible enough to improve service now and during the phasing, and still be useable when the expanded Library is open. Logsden pointed out that the temporary meeting rooms are not set up for live broadcast to the Library Channel, and mentioned that as an alternative, programs could be moved to the Civic Center or Senior Center if live broadcast were desirable. The discussion changed directions and Board members questioned the number and size of meeting rooms in the temporary facility. There are plans for three meeting rooms: one conference room size, one the size of Meeting Room C, and one large enough for 100 chairs. While this number is more than the Board remembered, they still expressed concern that there are not very many central places in Iowa City that can be used for free by nonprofit groups. The materials budget would remain at present levels, as staff is trying to weed and control the collection size in preparation for the move and the new security system. The Board recommended that Craig include a note in this year's budget that they hope to go to the former, higher collection allocation increase when the building is finished. The total budget request is a 5% increase from the current budget. The Board questioned the increase as the national economy is undergoing a downturn. Craig explained that property tax is not as volatile as other economic factors, and mentioned that the City Manager did not give any guidelines as to cutting or limiting increases. She felt that a 5% increase was not too much to ask. If the City Nlanager does not agree the request is reasonable, he will modifi/it before passing it on to Council. Craig mentioned that the economy might have an effect on the State budget, so the ICPL may not see the increase in state aide that had previously been predicted. The Board questioned the budgeted amount for energy use, asking if energy use will go up significantly during construction or during operation of a much larger building. Craig assured them that the figures should be ok as the City built in an increase, and that the temporary facility is about the same size and should be much more energy efficient than the present structure. The Board approved the budget as presented by the staff, as a working document in the City of Iowa City's budget process, Singerman/Suter. At this time~ Lisa Parker had to leave and Shaner /Vagalh~es assumed control of the meeting. STAFF RI:PORTS-. A. New Commercial - The new ICPL television advertisement was not available at this meeting, although various Board members have seen it on cable TV. The spot features children and adults saying, "I want to know" and listing what each wants. Those who had seen it thought it was very well done. The video should be available for viewing at the next board meeting. B. ILA Conference - Shaner Magalh~es confirmed that he will attend the ILA conference for one day this year. ICPL BOARD OF TRUSTEES Agenda item 3A September 27, 2001 Page 4 C. Citizen Complaint - The Board looked at a complaint made by citizen Jerry Feick to the City Council. The Board supported the Library's position that only non-profit groups may book a meeting room and that staff may control the number of meetings in a series. D. _DO Report - EckhoLt - Eckholt reported that the Campaign Kickoff event was very successful. A good amount of people artended, and people walking by the area even commented on the activities. The kids loved decorating hard hats. The silent auction brought in $1,150.00 for the sale of hard hats decorated by staff and local artists. Eckholt went on to say that the main purpose of the campaign is to raise money for the new building and he was able to announce that $360,000 in new gifts has already been raised. He also confirmed that the Friends Foundation Board is having good luck in the calls they are making. E. Building - Craig urged Board members to stop by the lobby on their way out of the building and look at the newest vision of the expanded Library. Engberg Anderson Design Partners have created and mounted a beautiful twilight view of the College/Linn Streets corner of the building. The work was used at Foundation events and is now displayed by the stained glass window. F. Web Pane The Systems department plans to update the Library's web page to include the twilight image of the expanded facility. Craig recommended that Board members check the web page several times a week this fall, as so many things are happening and the web page is being continually updated. G. Inte~~ectua~Freed~mFest~val-Thisyear~sCar~~SpazianiInte~~ectualFreed~mFestivalispr~ceeding nicely. Logsden encouraged the Board to attend the events and listen to some of the excellent speakers scheduled to speak. The October 2 program features Peter Nazareth, an expert on Islam. H. Response to Terrorist Attack - The Library of Congress is sponsoring a project to gather as many responses to the September ~_1, 2001 terrorist attack as possible. The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs is overseeing the Iowa portion of the project. Logsden reported that ICPL is participating by providing a cassette recorder, blank tapes, and a quiet room for people to record their thoughts. There is also a written form for people who might not feel comfortable making a tape. As a side note, Craig reported that the Library has noticed a large increase in the number of requests for materials on terrorism, Islam, the World Trade Center, and Bin Laden. She remarked that even though people get news from the television and Internet, there is still a need for books and libraries. I. Book Proiect - Among upcoming events is a book reading/discussion endeavor. Iowa City is participating a project similar to "What if everyone in Seattle read the same book?" Iowa City will attempt to read "The Last Summer of Reason" by Tahar Djaout. 3. Upcoming Events - Community Reading Month activities start October 24. November is a big month for children's programs, such as Popo's Puppet Festival. PRESIDENT'S REPORT: None ANNOUNCEMENT FROH MEMBERS: Nlagalh~es reported that Tom Surer and Linda Dellsperger have agreed to work with Craig and Eckholt to prepare a program for the Library expansion ground breaking. ICPL BOARD OF TRUSTEES Agenda item 3A September 27, 2001 Page s Dellsperger urged everyone to vote in the upcoming City Council primary. Swaim described the efforts being made by United Action for Youth in the weeks after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. As both Iowa City high schools showed TV coverage of the disaster, Swaim was concerned about potential huge mental health consequences. He suggested that the Library will see more depressed and anxious patrons. The Library should all be aware of these issues. United Action for Youth is planning a mental health forum to help people debrief. Green reported that the Children's Room has kept a running display of books about death and accidents available for parents and children to take. The Children's Room also had a flyer posted with web site addresses of sites on talking to kids about tragedy. VanDusseldorp suggested that everyone swing by the Circulation Desk on the way out of the Library and take a "Reaching New Heights" campaign button to wear. COMMx m m EE REPORTS: Nichols reported that the Mural Committee is on top of the preservation efforts. After the mural is restored and photographed, up to 9 sections will be cut for preservation. Out of 9 possible pieces, it is hoped that 6 or 7 survive the cutting and framing ordeal. Other pieces will be available for the artists or families of the artists. COMMUNICATIONS: None DZSBURSEMENTS: Visa report was reviewed. Disbursements for AugusL were approved unanimously, Prybil/Swaim. SET AGENDA ORDER FOR October MEE'ENG: None AD3OURNMENT: Adjourned aL 6:40 p.m. Minutes taken and transcribed by Beth Daly MINUTES PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION FINAL/APPROVED OCTOBER 4, 2001 - 7:30 p.m. EMMA J. HARVAT HALL MEMBERS PRESENT: Ann Bovbjerg, Pam Ehrhardt, Jerry Hansen, Dean Shannon, Benjamin Chair, Beth Koppes MEMBERS ABSENT: Don Anciaux STAFF PRESENT: Mitch Behr, Bob Miklo, David Schoon OTHERS PRESENT: Glen Melsner, J.L. Presson, Larry Schnittjer RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL: By a vote of 5 - 0 - 1 (Ehrhardt had abstained), recommended approval of REZ01-00019, a rezoning from Medium Density Single-Family (RS-8) to Historic Preservation Overlay (RS-8/OHP) and Conservation District Overlay (RS-8/OCD) for properties within the Longfellow Neighborhood. By a vote of 6-0, Planning and Zoning Commission finds that the proposed amendment to the City- University Project I (Project No. IA R-14) Urban Renewal plan conforms with the Iowa City Comprehensive Plan- 1997. By a vote of 6-0 recommended approval of REZ01-O0018/SUB01-00020, a rezoning to amend an OPDH plan to permit 9 residential units, and a preliminary and final plat of Village Green Part XVlll and XXI, a 4.33 acre, two lot residential subdivision located west of Scott Blvd and south of Wellington Drive. By a vote of 5ol (Ehrhardt voted no) recommended the approval of SUB01-O0019, an application submitted by Hodge Development Company for a preliminary and final plat of Prairies Edge Subdivision, 6.33 acre one-lot residential subdivision located west of Prairie du Chien Road. By e vote of 6-0 recommended approval of SUB01-00021, a final plat of Windsor Ridge, Part 1 tA, a 5.32 acre 16-1ot residential subdivision located at Arlington Drive subject to approval of legal papers prior to City Counsel consideration. By a vote of 6-0 recommended a vacation of 11,800 square feet of undeveloped Kirkwood Avenue right- of-way located south of the Church of Christ parking lot at 1320 Kirkwood Avenue. CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Bovbjerg called the meeting to order at 7:32 p.m. PUBLIC DISCUSSION OF ANY ITEM NOT ON THE AGENDA: There was none, ANNOUNCEMENT OF VACANCIES ON CITY BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS: Bovbjerg stated that there were vacancies on the Library Board and Housing Commission. There is a list of vacancies posted in the lobby for review. Bovbjerg noted next Tuesday (10-9-01) is an opportunity to vote for City Council members in primary election for registered voters, who are Iowa City residents. REZONING ITEMS: Ehrhardt excused herself from the room, she owns property in the area being discussed. REZ01-00019. Discussion of a rezoning from Medium Density Single-Family (RS-8) to Historic Preservation Overlay (RS-8/OHP) and Conservation District Overlay (RS-8/OCD) for properties within the Longfellow Neighborhood. Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes October 4, 2001 Page 2 Miklo stated Staff's report was presented two weeks ago. Staff continue to advise the Commission to pass the rezoning from RS-8 to RS-8/QPH and RS-8/OCD to create one Historic District and two Conservation Districts. Public discussion was opened. There was none. Public discussion was closed. Motion: Hansen moved to approve the rezoning from Medium Density Single-Family (RS-8) to Historic Preservation Overlay (RS-8/OHP) and Conservation District Overlay (RS~8/OCD) for properties within the Longfellow Neighborhood. Seconded by Koppes. Bovbjerg asked for discussion. She stated she felt this is a good use of conservation districts, a good use of historic preservation; does not change underlying density or use of these areas. This overlay designates the areas as "special", so when reconstruction or change does occur, there are some guidelines so there won't be a "harsh jolt" to the neighborhood. The design of these neighborhoods has been cited as being very people friendly. The motion carried on a vote of 5-0, with Ehrhardt absent from the room. URBAN RENEWAL ITEM: Consider a written recommendation to the City Council stating that the proposed amendment to the City- University Project I (Project No. IA R-14) Urban Renewal Plan conforms with the Iowa City Comprehensive Plan - 1997, which is the general plan for the development of Iowa City as a whole. Bovbjerg stated that the Planning and Zoning Commission's job is to consider this plan as part of the comprehensive plans and land use. Schoon stated that the issue before the Commission is to determine the conformity of the Amended Plan with the Comprehensive Plan of the City. Schoon provided a brief history of Urban Renewal. The plan being amended is the plan adopted in 1969 which began the urban renewal process in downtown Iowa City and has led to a number of redevelopment parcels from Old Capitol Town Centre to the Sheraton to Plaza Centre One and a number of other properties. Since that time, the Ran has been amended a number of times but changes have not been significant. The Commission is to look at the Amended Plan as a whole in terms of its conformity with the Comprehensive Plan. The Urban Renewal Plan states the actions shall be consistent with the Zoning Ordinance and the Comprehensive Plan. Schoon said the present zoning is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. The Urban Renewal Area is part of the Downtown Planning District in the Comprehensive Plan, and at this point there is not a specific plan for the Downtown District. The Commission needs to consider the major components of the Plan in terms of this action's conformity with the Comprehensive Plan. In the Staff's report, the Plan identifies five goals. Schoon pointed out the goal of "Improve the environmental and economic health of the Community through the efficient use of resources." School stated are three strategies identified with this goal: 1 ) Encourage commercial activity to occur in existing core areas (downtown area is one) 2) Continue downtown revitalization 3) Encourage the creative reuse of existing commercial sites that are vacant or underutilized. Schoon said the Plan hopes to achieve this. The Amended Plan provides the City with tools to implement these strategies. Tools are outlined in detail in Memo (9/20/01) to Council included in the Commission's packet. Tools include: 1 ) Authority to acquire, clear, and dispose of land for private and public redevelopment 2) Use of financial incentive tools (i.e., use of tax increment financing) 3) Expanding Urban Renewal area to include all of downtown core commercial area which original Urban Renewal Plan did not include. The additional area includes the area bordered by Linn Street on the west, Iowa Avenue on the north, Gilbert Street on the east down to Prentiss Street and back up along Ralston Creek and Maiden Lane. Commercial area includes the Central Business District and the CB-5 zone. Schoon stated Staff feels Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes October 4, 2001 Page 3 there are opportunities in the rest of the area for potential redevelopment, however redevelopment of those areas may require the use of financial incentives such as tax increment financing. Schoon stated the question before the Commission is whether the Urban Renewal Plan, as amended, conforms with the Comprehensive Plan for Iowa City. Ehrhardt clarified that the question the Commission is looking at is whether or not the Amended Plan conforms with the Comprehensive Plan and that the Commission is not looking at or making any recommendations about the Amended Plan itself nor text of the plan. Schoon said that if there were any aspects of the Amended Plan that Commissioners feel do not conform to the Comprehensive Plan, those comments should be made to the City Council. Ehrhardt clarified that the Commission is not deciding if it is appropriate to give the financing/tax incentives, but rather allowing Council to have that option. Schoon said that was a correct interpretation and the Comprehensive Plan identifies the use of financial incentive tools as tools to be used. Ehrhardt asked why the tools option were not originally put in the Plan and why with the number of revisions done over the years to the Plan, was that option not put in. Why now? Schoon replied the "Why now" is because three of the four developers who submitted proposals for Parcel 64-1a have requested or indicated they would want some sod of financial assistance. Ehrhardt asked if these three or four developers had not requested assistance, "this would not have come up and been included now." Schoon said that is correct, the issue in the Plan would not have come up now and/or been included as an amendment to the Plan. Schoon then addressed Ehrhardt's initial question. In 1969 when the Plan was originally adopted, Urban Renewal was part of a bigger Federal program and the Federal Government provided dollars for the program. At that time, tax increment financing was not needed and there has not been a request to use it since. Ehrhardt asked if, when the Whiteway Building burned, or if tomorrow Iowa Book and Supply burned down, would they be "eligible" in terms of the new revision. Schoon said there is not an automatic granting of tax increment financing. An applicant would be able to propose a project and approach the Council requesting the use of this tool, as would anyone in the identified Urban Renewal area. Chair asked if in the current area of Parcel 64-1 a, there are incentive possibilities already on the books to allow for that type of assistance. Schoon stated there is the ability to use property tax exemptions. Under that program, based on State Code requirements, there are two particular schedules that would apply to commercial properties: 3-year 100% and 10-year declining percentage. Tax increment financing would provide the City with a tool for projects that may require more assistance than would be provided under tax exemption schedules. Chair stated, for the record, he owns several properties jn this area and doesn't feel he needs to excuse himself. He thinks there are many people on the Council who own property in the area. Schoon said the issue has been brought up before given Council members and their interests in properties downtown. They spoke with the City's Bond Counsel, at this point Council Members would only need to indicate their financial interest in property downtown, but unless they were going to directly benefit from the action taking place, they would not have to excuse themselves. If a plan specifically identifies parcels to be acquired and disposed of, and a council member owned any of those parcels, that council member would have to abstain from participating in the discussion. Schoon assumes the same standard would apply to Planning and Zoning Commissioners. Chair said to the best of his knowledge, no one had spoken to him about buying or condemning parcels, so he is not aware of a conflict. Behr stated the same standard would apply; this amendment does not identify specific properties that would receive a benefit, so disclosure would be sufficient. Bovbjerg said the general feeling seems to be, is use of this land consistent with use of this land set forth in the Comprehensive Plan. Are these tools the kind of tools the Comprehensive Plan talks about? A decision would not be if any one parcel was benefiting. Ehrhardt stated she sees the parcel next to the library as perfect, "prime lot", and as a taxpayer why should she bend over backwards to financially help someone develop this land that is already prime. Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes October 4, 2001 Page 4 Ehrhardt stated she was making an observation, but, when the developer made the proposal a number of months ago, when interest rates were much higher - and now they are very low, the developer has more of an advantage now, than even before the proposal was made and the developer asked for the tax abatement. Schoon said that question (regarding a specific project) was beyond the scope of what is before the Commission. Schoon reiterated that the issue before the Commission is whether the Plan conforms regarding the land use issues and is providing economic development incentives in the downtown. This is something the Comprehensive Plan identifies as appropriate and is this a tool that does that. Bovbjerg said that tax increment financing can be used for commercial development. She asked Schoon for a clarification regarding buildings that the first or second floors are commercial and the rest apartments. Are those buildings considered commercial. Schoon said she was referencing property tax exemption that is available downtown in response to Chait's question. Property tax exemptions in downtown apply only to areas of a project that are considered commercial. The Plan specifically identifies what uses qualify for property tax exemption: non-residential commercial uses or residential and commercial uses in a historic building. The amendment to the Urban Renewal plan does not exclude any particular use from being able to receive the benefit. Bovbjerg referenced the time when the Whiteway Building was being replaced and there was consideration for tax increment financing as well as for rest of block, does that still hold. Also there were financial incentives proposed for the development across Burlington. Bevbjerg asked if the special tools that were used at that time are what the Commission currently looking at. Schoon said it is a different tool. In the Downtown and CB-5 zone, the City also has Urban Revitalizafion areas that provide a tool to use property tax exemption, which allows the City to grant a property tax exemption to qualifying projects for a period of time. An exemption is that the developer does not have to pay any taxes on value added to the site for a period of time. Under tax increment financinq, the developer is obligated to pay the tax on the added value to the site. Schoon cited an example: If there is a vacant piece of land, any value that is added (i.e., 2 story, 5 story building), there is added value that will generate added property tax. The community will be able to capture those property taxes off just the added value, set them aside in a special fund, and use those funds to pay for projects within the Urban Renewal District. The projects can be in the form of public improvements or financial assistance to private development projects. Schoon explained tax increment financing can come in two major forms: in a property tax rebate sounds like an exemption but under TIF rebate not limited to 3-year 100% schedule or 10-year declining percentage schedule. We/Iowa City could grant a 10-year 100% rebate, the owners pay property taxes for 10 years and each year would get 100% of their property taxes back. Schoon continued, saying that under the Urban Renewal Plan as it is written there is no limitation to what type of uses could benefit. The other form of tax increment financing is for a developer that needs capital up front for construction costs. In that instance, the City would issue bonds, take proceeds from the bonds, provide them to the developer and over time through taxes from the project, repay the City for the debt incurred up-front to help the development project. Schoon said tax increment financing is different from property tax exemptions. There are two different sets of laws. These are two tools communities use for economic development to eliminate slum and blight. Both are available in the Downtown. Public discussion was open. There was none. Public discussion was closed. Bovbjerg noted only one meeting was needed and the Commission could vote this evening if they felt they had enough information. Motion: Approve a recommendation to the City Council stating that the proposed amendment to the City- University Project I (Project No. IA R-14) Urban Renewal Plan conforms with the Iowa City Comprehensive Plan - 1997, which is the general plan for the development of the City of Iowa City as a whole. Shannon moved, Ehrhardt seconded. Ehrhardt stated she understands that what the Commission is looking at is very narrow, just whether or not these tools should be considered for incentives for development. The information Staff has provided is very good, the tools clearly meet the goal. She is against the idea, but would still vote yes. Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes October 4, 2001 Page 5 Bovbjerg stated all is in order, is what the Plan calls for the area and these are some of the tools the Plan calls for. The motion carried on a vote of 6-0. Bovbjerg asked Schoon to clarify what would happen next. Schoon said a memo would be sent to the Council stating that the Commission finds that the Amendment conforms with the Comprehensive Plan. Council will hold a public hearing October 23, 2001, on Amended Urban Renewal Plan. The hearing date is already set - State Code of Iowa requires date for Public Hearing to be set, then the Planning and Zoning Commission is directed to consider amendments for the Plan. REZONING/DEVELOPMENT ITEM: REZ01-00018/SUB01-00020. Discussion of a rezoning to amend an OPDH plan to permit 9 residential units, and a preliminary and final plat of Village Green part XVlll and XXI, a 4.33-acre, two lot residential subdivision located west of Scott Boulevard and south of Wellington Drive. Miklo stated Staff's report was presented at previous meeting. Lot 65 will be a new lot with 9 condominium units permitted on it. The subdivision has been corrected, there are no technical deficiencies or errors in the plat. Staff recommends approval subject to legal papers and construction drawings being approved. Public discussion opened. There was none. Public discussion closed. Motion to approve REZ 01-00018/SUB01-00020, subject to legal papers and construction drawings being approved prior to City Council meeting consideration. Moved by Koppes. Seconded by Hartsen. The motion carried on a vote of 6-0. DEVELOPMENT ITEM: SUB01-00019. Discussion of a preliminary and final plat of Prairies Edge Subdivision, 6.33 acre one-lot residential subdivision located west of Prairie Du Chien Road. Miklo repoded the property is located within Iowa City's Fringe Area Agreement with the County and also in the City's growth area which means it may be annexed at some point in the future. There was a previous subdivision proposal on the property that included 5 residential lots that was denied because it did not comply with Fringe Area Requirements that all new lots meet City infrastructure standards including streets, sewers, water and sidewalks. The new proposal would create two lots: lot one contains an existing residence, Outlot A is to be set aside for future development. Future development could occur when this area is annexed into the city or if a subdivision were submitted that complied with the City's subdivision requirements or if the Fringe Area Agreement were amended to allow approval. Approval of this subdivision will not allow any additional homes in this area, but does provide for that if in the future it meets City standards. Miklo noted Staff has an area of concern with this development. Prairie Du Chien Road will be a future arterial street and it is policy to minimize curb cuts on to arterial streets. Staff feels there is an opportunity, if Outlot A results in only one additional house, to have a driveway go back to Linder Road instead of creating a curb cut onto Prairie du Chien Road. This drive could be located on the land to the west which is owned by the subdividers. In the event the property is subdivided into multiple lots, sending additional traffic to that driveway is not reasonable and Staff anticipates some type of cul-de-sac or private street off Prairie Du Chien Road with multiple lots off it. Staff has asked the applicant to note on the plat and in legal papers that if Outlot A develops one lot, it would have access via Lot One of Mulford's First Edition to the west and there would be an easement permitting access. At this point the applicant has not consented to that condition. Staff recommends approval if the applicant consents to this condition. If the applicant does not consent, Staff does not recommend approval to this subdivision. Chait asked if Outlot A is developed into a subdivision, would there be a cul-de-sac off Prairie Du Chjen Road. Miklo said it is possible and would be considered at the time of the subdivision. Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes October 4, 2001 Page 6 Chair asked if it is a single lot - will it go out the backway. Miklo said that is what they are recommending. Chair asked if Staff can be OK with a cul-de-sac and more than one lot, what is wrong with a single house and single curb cut. Miklo said it has been policy on aderial streets to minimize curb cuts and direct as much traffic to street intersections which are better controlled by City than individual curb cuts or driveways. Staff feels the existing driveway to the west could reasonably accommodate one more house. The subdividers have control over that driveway, but if there is going to be a lot of traffic, using the may not be appropriate. Chait stated he feels this is a statistical anomaly, it is backwards. Miklo stated are using same policy throughout the City, putting streets onto arterial streets but not individual curb cuts, where can be avoided. Staff feel this is a case where it can be avoided. Bovbjerg said if Outlet A were to be 3 or 4 houses, instead of having 3 or 4 driveways, they would have one street. That is the difference- instead of one street to Prairie Du Chien versus one lot to Linder Road. Is number of individual driveway curb cuts versus one street. Miklo said this is an unknown -- if the lot is developed for one single family, then the issue of greater traffic on Prairie Du Chien would not occur. There is an existing driveway in Lot 1 that currently leads back to Linder Avenue. Ehrhardt asked if the owner of the lot would allow this. Miklo stated that Mr. Mulford and Mr. Hedge own the respective areas and are the subdividers of the property. Hartsen asked if the Commission moved to approve and the recommendations are not taken, will the issue come back before the Commission. Miklo said no, that Staff would ask the consultant for the applicant to indicate tonight if they are in agreement with that easement and the driveway location for the single house. If they were not, Staff would not recommend approval of the subdivision. It is up to the Commission to weigh if it is a serious enough concern to deny the subdivision. Miklo suggested the Commission would want to hear from the applicant or the applicant's representative before deciding. Bovbjerg reminded the Commission that the 45-day limitation period is November 9, 2001. If the Commission is uncomfortable with this or if the applicant had to go into further discussion with the owners, there is plenty of time within the limitation period. Bovbjerg asked persons with questions to speak up and a motion would be set accordingly. Public discussion was open. Glen Meisner with MMS Consultants, Inc., said the applicant was unable to attend, he was there to represent them. He had several comments to make to the Commission. Meisner is an engineer and has done a number of traffic studies as a County Engineer. He doesn't see any more difficulty with one or with three houses coming onto Prairie Du Chien Road. He would urge the Commission to leave the plat as is with note on it to allow a driveway for a single house. The reason he feels strongly for not having access to the west (Mulford Lane) is that on Outlet A there is a water treatment system that sits fairly high on the ground, and there is also a ravine that drains to the north west. To have a driveway for individual use back to Mulford Lane would require driving across the treatment system. Meisner feels driving across the septic system would destroy it and it would not work. Ehrhardt asked if there was room to drive behind it. Meisner said to go behind would have to go down through the ravine that is 30-40 foot deep. Miklo asked Meisner how long the septic system easement lasts. Miklo said the easement is for the septic system for the existing house on Lot 1. From the legal papers, Miklo understands it to be a 10-year limit and then the system would have to be removed. Meisner was unaware of the length of time. Behr said a 10-year septic system easement has been proposed. Miklo suggested the septic system is not a permanent situation. Meisner said possibly the reason for the 10-year limit is so the buyer of Lot 1 at some time would need to make accommodations to put it on their Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes October 4, 2001 Page 7 own property. If otherwise in two years the owners want to put in a single family residence or annex to City, and the drive is to Mulford Lane, then will be forced to drive across the septic system. It could happen sooner than 1 O-years. Meisner said he feels the plat does meet the Fringe Area Agreement. He had visited with the County Engineer/staff regarding the driveway. Mike Gardner, County Engineer didn't see a problem with driveway cut. Meisner had requested a written letter from the County, but did not have it yet. Meisner also pointed out the Comprehensive Plan discourages access onto an arterial street, but doesn't mean it prohibits, so there is some room to work the situation. Meisner said if a single-family residence is built, it is proposed to come out onto Mulford Lane, but he thinks the address should be Prairie Du Chien Road. He expressed concern that the police and fire department would have difficulty finding the place. This is a good reason for single access to be provided onto Prairie Du Chien Road. He noted this item will return to the Commission for review, if do subdivide into a building lot. Miklo said the address would be on Linder Road just like the Mulford properly that uses the driveway. Bovbjerg asked if the septic system and the field both actually belong to Lot 1. Why develop on Lot A with someone else's septic system on it? Meisner noted it is not desirable, but is done, may be because there is not room on their own lot. Bovbjerg asked if there were allowances for the owner of Lot 1 to go in and do work on repairing the septic field and are there payments to Lot A owner for having system on their property. Meisner suggested it could be written up that way, he is not sure if it is currently in the documents. Meisner said Lot 1 would be obligated to fix the land up, to level it off, re-seed. Bovbjerg asked about the area between the house and the wording on the map - is it a front lawn and side yard. Meisner said it is a fairly fiat area except for the little shed. The septic system could go there if the septic system were removed from Outlot A. Would need to consider if Outlot A is developed, can it only be developed within the City. Miklo said that is correct, unless it complies with City water, sewer, street. Meisner said it would probably be annexed to develop Outlot A and would then have to provide City improvements to site. Bovbjerg asked about city-rural standards. Would it be able to be hooked up if City infrastructure came. Could it be on a septic until then? Miklo said it would need either a septic system or some other requirement based on the Fringe Area Agreement. Bovbjerg asked how much room is actually on Outlot A for developing if the terrain is so rough and the house has to have the septic system. Meisner said there is probably room for three lots if they had City sewer. One lot where present septic system is, one lot in southeast corner, one lot in northeast corner. Hanson asked how far away the City sewer is from there. Miklo said about 700-1000 feet. Hansen asked if this is the same as Hummingbird Lane - even if brought sewer past them, they would have 15 or 20 years to hook up to it. Miklo said not necessarily, it depends on what improvements City is doing in general area. It would be likely the area would be annexed if several septic systems in the area or to the north were failing and there was a request to resolve the situation by providing City sewer to properties. Miklo reminded the Commission that it will be a long time before there is sewer out to this area. Public discussion was closed. Motion to approve SUB01-00019, subject to an access easement providing vehicular access to Outlot A from Linder Road in the event that Outlot A is developed for a single residence and staff approval of legal papers prior to City Council consideration. Miklo suggested deciding first if the Commission feels the condition should be imposed upon the subdivision and asking the applicant if they would consent to the conditions. If they don't, the Commission would deny the subdivision. If the Commission decides it doesn't agree that the condition Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes October 4, 2001 Page 8 recommendation by Staff should be imposed upon the plat, then Commission would vote the subdivision up, as it is before the Commission. Bovbjerg asked the Commission if they felt the access easement provision proposed by Staff should be imposed. Behr said the Commission can discuss, then entertain a motion after. Behr said along with the requirement that the access easement be granted would go removal of the note from the plat. Miklo concurred. Hansen suggested asking the developer first before discussion initiated. Chair said Commission needed to discuss it first and decide if they don't want it, they don't need to ask. If Commission decides they do want it included, then can ask. Hansen agreed. Hartsen stated someone would have to convince him it is actually needed. He does not see any difference between one car or three cars coming out onto Prairie Du Chien. Miklo asked to clarify Staffs position. There really isn't that much difference, but staff would rather not have traffic from three households rather than one. But it is more likely there will be only one house built on this site. Bovbjerg asked if the issue is how many cars are coming in and out, or whether it's 1 versus 3 driveways. Looking at curb cuts, 3 driveways for 3 houses is different from 1 driveway serving 1, 2 or 3 houses. Chait said are not talking about 3 separate driveways but Talking about 3 lots on one cuPde-sac which can come off Prairie Du Chien, or one lot going the other way. The question is: one curb cut for one driveway or one curb cut for a cul-de-sac? Ehrhardt directed her statement to Miklo in that it seemed to be two issues. One a policy issue, 'this is the way we have done it', and alternative reasoning that are asking one person to drive down Mulford Lane instead of 3 people. With 3 people is reasonable to have them go out the convenient way. Ehrhardt asked how the policy is stated. Miklo said the policy in the Comprehensive plan is whenever possible not to have individual curb cuts onto an aderial street, have access onto arterial street from other streets so it is a controlled intersection. If there is no choice, City has allowed individual curb cuts. Here there is choice. Hansen asked how much driveway would be entailed by asking to route traffic out backway. Miklo said the driveway is pretty much in place, not considerably more if come from Prairie Du Chien or from the west. There is a driveway that goes from Lot 1 all the way back to Linder Road that serves Lot 1 and Lot 2 of Mulford's First Edition. The drive is privately maintained. Chait stated he felt the most compelling concern was the address issue. Miklo stated that the address would be off Linder or Mulford, just as Lot 1 is. If Lot A ever developed in the future, it would not have to have Prairie Du Chien address. Chait asked if 'just' a Prairie Du Chien view. Miklo stated would not necessarily be visible from Prairie Du Chien as there is a small ridge that would effect view. Shannon stated he could see both sides of the issue. Hansen asked if there is a hill on Prairie Du Chien that would be a traffic hazard if driveway cut onto it. Miklo said a curve slopes down to the north, but Staff does not have a concern about sight distance at this particular location. Koppes asked if Lot 1 and Lot 2 are willing to share the driveway. Miklo said they are the subdividers. Staff is suggesting that in order to get the right to subdivide, they share the driveway. Right now they are not willing to do so. Bovbjerg asked the applicant's representative to be brought into the discussion. She asked Meisner about a private drive going out to Linder that would be safe given the ravine and septic system. Meisner said a driveway from Outlot A to driveway would have to cross septic system, which would disrupt it. Ehrhardt asked for clarification about building a house on top of the septic system. Meisner said if Lot A were subdivided into 3 lots the septic system will be running and a house could be built there. He feels Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes October 4, 2001 Page 9 that exiting out onto Prairie Du Chien is safe - drivers can see a great distance when they are on the outside of a curve. Meisner pointed out again that the Comprehensive plan discourages access from individual lots onto arterial streets when there are alternative means of access. Meisner's opinion is that there are no alternative means of access. Miklo said the Staffs position is that they will have to move the septic system eventually. Right now no one can build on Outlot A, so building might occur closer to 10-year easement expiring and having to move the septic system. Chait said 10 years is a technicality, it could be extended. Behr said that right now the legal papers that have been submitted propose a 10-year easement, where Lot 1 has the right to have the septic system in Outlot A for 10-years and the obligation to maintain it. This is what has been proposed by the attorney for the subdivider. Hartsen inquired how old the septic system was, Schnittjer said house was built in 1980's. Hansen stated system was nearing the end of its life. Meisner said some systems can be 50 years old before they expire. Bovbjerg reminded the Commission that an easement on a septic system or the field, is the legal ability to have it on another property owner's property, not that the system will be functioning well. Behr said the easement is on land, not on the system. If system expired before 10-years, the owners still have right to maintain it there. If at end of 10-years the system is still good, they don't have right to maintain it there. Bovbjerg asked if the easement could be renewed. Behr said the owner of Outlot A would have to agree to it. Bovbjerg asked if the Commission thinks vehicular access should go onto Linder Road or be allowed to go onto Prairie Du Chien. Staff has suggested going onto Linder Road, unless there are several residences in Lot A. Commission is not obligated to or may go along with Staff's recommendation. Ehrhardt said she was leaning toward putting on the requirement for the driveway to Linder Road per the Comprehensive Plan, if there is an option.... She had not been convinced that it is not possible. Staff is requesting to inconvenience one instead of three, if thera are three lots they can use Prairie Du Chien access. Behr said someone could make a motion if they want to impose the conditions on the subdivision. Ehrhardt said she wanted to require the driveway easement for Outlot A, Motion -_Died for lack of a second. Motion - Approval of the preliminary and final plat of Prairies Edge Subdivision, a l-lot residential subdivision with one Outlot, located on the west side of Prairie Du Chien Road. Moved by Chair, seconded by Shannon. Bovbjerg asked Commissioners to state why they are for this, especially when Staffs recommendation is different. Hansen asked that since the developer told the Commission that it was not possible to put a driveway over the septic system, did they want to vote at this meeting Hansen indicated he would like to go and look at the property. Bovbjerg said Hansen could respectfully request the motion and the second be withdrawn, deferring it to November 2. Chair said he understood Hansen's question and concern. Chait would vote on it at this point due to his opinion that what the Commission is really dealing with is a statistical anomaly. If we are willing to have a street with three houses, certainly having a driveway with one house is less of an evil. Chait said policy aside, it is an anomaly that the one is not OK and the three are OK, Chait said based on that alone the decision is made in his mind, that one is less than three and he doesn't even get to the level of can you or can't you drive over a septic system. Hartsen stated that Staff has looked at the policy in the past for curb cuts and driveways. If it is putting an undue hardship on the owners or deveroper, then Hansen would have to go along with Chait for either 3 or 1, so long as there is only 1 curb cut. If there is no hardship at all, Hartsen would defer to staffs judgment and got out to Linder. Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes October 4, 2001 Page 10 Chait indicated out of respect for Hansen's request, at the expense of taking more time and another meeting, he was willing, if requested, to withdraw the motion and stay open minded. Chair feels this anomaly is like loosing an election by a negative number of votes - "how can you have less than nothing?" Hansen did not wish to request a withdraw of the motion. Shannon stated he agreed with and felt it would be strange not to have access to Prairie Du Chien Road if a person thought they lived on Prairie Du Chien Road. He stated he is leaning toward going with the one cut on Prairie Du Chien, as it is. Koppes stated she agreed about the statistics, it being one versus three. She has driven to the site and really does not feel it would be a hazard to have one driveway. Chait asked Shannon, if requested, would he withdraw his second. Shannon stated he would not. Ehrhardt stated if the developer was going to get rid of the septic system to get 3 lots, it must not be too bad a hardship to take it out to get one lot. She referenced the Comprehensive Plan's wording of "when difficult to do". Ehrhardt stated she feels it is possible to go off Linder Road with one lot. The developer had casually said he is going to take septic system out and put a house on it for the 3-lots, so she doesn't think it too critical to move the septic system for one lot. Bovbjerg asked if given the topography about Lot A, is it possible to put 3 houses there and keep the current septic system. Meisner said it probably would not be. Bovbjerg clarified it either has to be one house with other person's system on their property or the possibility of additional houses because the septic system is gone. They would have to get rid of the septic system in order to subdivide. Chait said the Commission had discussed if there are 3 lots, they would have to be built to City standards, which requires sewer, so there could never be a septic system if was a 3-lot subdivide. Miklo stated it is a possibility they would be on some sort of other system in the County. In order to develop in this part of the County, because is so close to the City, they would have to put in sewer and water lines but wouldn't have to hook them up because sewer is not there yet. They would have to put in a dual system. Ehrhardt asked Miklo why Staff was not asking the 3-lots to go down to Linder Road. Miklo said Staff feels it would be an unreasonable burden. Developer would have to build a fairly long street, would not be appropriate to have 3 or 4 or more lots. It is more likely this land will develop for one lot rather than for 3 lots. Ehrhardt noted that Staff is looking at the situation much differently than the developer is. Miklo stated Staff is looking at it as a probability; there will probably be one house on this site, and it may be years before anything happens at that site. Ehrhardt noted that Staff is trying to keep the one extra curb cut off Prairie Du Chien. Bovbjerg noted that it seemed the issue to be one of curb cuts. If the plat had note that said there could only be one curb cut from Lot A whether it is a driveway or a street, that would get to the goal of no more than one additional curb cut onto Prairie Du Chien. Miklo said this is handled by the first sentence of the note on the plat that says, "At such time that Outlot A is re-subdivided into multiple lots, the proposed areas will meet design standards." Design standards would call for one street. Staff is not concerned that there may be three driveways. The applicant has already agreed there will not be three driveways. Chair indicated there was a motion of the floor and no one has requested it be removed or withdrawn. Commission has choice to approve or deny, in lieu of request to delay. Bovbjerg again noted that if a subdivision were to take place, the item would come back before the Commission again. The motion carried on a vote of 5 to 1. (Ehrhardt voted in the negative.) SUB01-00021. Discussion of a final plat of Windsor Ridge, Part 11 A, a 5.32 acre, 16-1ot residential subdivision located at Arlington Drive. Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes October 4, 2001 Page 11 Miklo stated Staff sees this as a housekeeping matter. Windsor Ridge, pad 11, has been approved as a final plat which includes 2 streets. In order to get building permits and certificates of occupancies on any one lot, they would have to put in all infrastructure for those two streets. The developer wants to build Bunkingham Lane first, and sell some properties without putting in the other street or paying escrow. Therefore they are re-subdividing this so can break part 11 -A off independently. Staff is recommending approval. The plat as submitted is in order. Public discussion Was open. There was none. Public discussion was closed. Motion to approve a final plat of Windsor Ridge, Part 1 l-A, a 5.32 acre, 16-1ot residential subdivision located at Arlington Drive, subject to approval of legal papers prior to City Counsel's consideration. Shannon moved, Hanson seconded. The motion carried on a vote of 6 to 0. VACATION ITEM: VAC01-00005. Discussion of a vacation of 11,800 square feet of undeveloped Kirkwood Avenue right-of- way located south of the Church of Christ parking lot at 1320 Kirkwood Avenue. Miklo stated for the record the actual square footage is 11,800 square feet. Property is located at bend of Kirkwood Avenue and Lower Muscatine Avenue. Kirkwood Avenue was platted to continue to railroad tracks; however it was never built. Now the City is proposing to vacate this particular portion of the street, and conveying to the Church the noted area. City would retain the rest of the street. Currently under construction is a trail system that would connect Lower Muscatine under railroad tracks up into Longfellow Neighborhood. The street not needed for traffic. Staff recommends approval of this vacation and will recommend to the Counsel that they convey the area to the Church subject to Church planting some shrubbery or low hedge screen to hide parking lot that would expand onto this property. Hansen asked if there is the price involved for the ground. Miklo said the Church would be required to purchase the property. City purchased the adjacent property from the Church last year, and entered into an understanding that they would be able to purchase this because the Church was planning on expanding the parking lot into area City bought for trail network. Bovbjerg asked where the trail went to the east, did it continue down along rail tracks. Miklo did not know. Public discussion opened. J. L. Presson, a trustee for the Kirkwood Avenue Church of Christ, respectfully requested the Commission to grant the vacation. The Church has been cooperating with the City in making available Lot 35 and 10 feet of Lot 34, the future parking lot expansion area so the trail could be put through to connect the two neighborhoods. The Church has asked City to do this in return and City has tentatively agreed to convey the property to the Church as partial compensation for effectively blocking off everything the Church had planned for the future. Part of Lot 34 and all of Lot 35 are unpaved. Even though the City paid the Church for the prol~erty, it does not take care of the Church's future needs. The Church is asking the City to vacate 17 '~ feet of the right-of-way and give unrestricted use of the parking lot - they could park 8 cars in that space. Ehrhardt noted that she has worked as part of the Longfellow Neighborhood group and they all appreciate the Church's cooperation in encouraging the whole process to go through. Does the Church still hope to continue using the parkland and as they expect the City to put a picnic table there? Presson said the Church is hoping the City will put a park on Lot 35. Ehrhardt asked if the Church will have to remove the tree to put in the parking lot. Presson could not visualize which tree was in question. Public discussion was closed. Motion to vacate 11,800 square feet of undeveloped Kirkwood Avenue right of way located south of the Church of Christ parking lot at 1320 Kirkwood Avenue. Hansen moved, Ehrhardt seconded. Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes October 4, 2001 Page 12 The motion carried on a vote of 6 to 0. CONSIDERATION OF SEPTEMBER 20, 2001 PLANNING & ZONING MEETING MINUTES: Minutes approved with corrections. OTHER: Koppes and Shannon recently attended American Planning Association Conference. Shannon will discuss what new items he learned. Bovbjerg requested they bring suggestions about what Commission may do better or is doing well. Shannon stated he feels there are too many repetitive statements, over and over. He learned ways to streamline meetings - he will present this. Ehrhardt had copy of Zoning News that discussed Dog Parks. She wondered if City is doing anything about Dog Parks. Behr does not know of anything scheduled in the works session. Miklo said Terry Trueblood has had several requests and he will pass the information on to Terry. Hansen asked if Miklo had received registration information for Pella Conference, other than the post card. Hansen would like more information, he is interested in attending Pella Conference. Bovbjerg distributed copies of Karin Franklin's guest opinion regarding the rezoning in the Scott Six Industrial Park. Bovbjerg said that she had also spoken with the editors of the Press Citizen and stressed that this rezoning was not about a particular grocery store, but whether retail was appropriate in an area planned for an industrial park, which also includes intensive commercial uses. She said that the editors asked questions about the time it takes for an industrial park to develop. They seemed to imply that the Commission did not have enough information to determine whether the intensive Commercial rezoning should be approved. Bovbjerg said the Commission was well informed about the issues. Chair said even if this area is rezoned and is successful for a grocery store, the result will be that the area will be less attractive for industrial development and supporting intensive commercial to support the industrial park. Looking at the Mercy Office rezoning at First and Rochester, it is evident that the new office is attractive and will do well there. However that land is now longer available for a neighborhood shopping center which would contribute to the health of the neighborhood and perhaps it would have been better not to rezone the area to give it more time to attract neighborhood retail, perhaps even a grocery store. Chair said he does think the Comprehensive Plan should be looked at in response to the petition. Miklo said the petition stated "We urge Council to approve a Fairway." Someone signing it might not be aware of the Comprehensive Plan and zoning issues involved. Bovjberg pointed out that many people who signed petitions were out~of-towners, so they really had no concern if a Fairway store was built. Shannon agreed but said people who are shopping at Coral Ridge are also out-of-town consumers bringing out of town monies to Coralville. Adjournment at 9:37 p.m. Dean Shannon, Secretary Minutes submitted by Candy Barnhill MINUTES ~ PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION OCTOBER 18, 2001 - 7:30 p.m. FINAL/APPROVED EMMA J. HARVAT HALL MEMBERS PRESENT: Ann Bovbjerg, Dean Shannon, Pam Ehrhardt, Benjamin Chair, Jerry Hansen, Beth Koppes MEMBERS ABSENT: Don Anciaux STAFF PRESENT: Mitch Behr, Bob Mjklo, John Yapp, Julie Tallman OTHERS PRESENT: Chris Stephan, Mike Pugh, Robynn Shrader, Bill Graf, Ken Ranshaw, Jim Anderson, Georgianne Haven, Judith Klink, Kathy Paulson, Jim Houghton, Dan Bontrager, Steve Schaaidt, Tim Krumm RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL: By a vote of 6 to 0, recommended approval of the Site Plan to permit 48 dwelling units on 1.38 acres located at 1045-1075 W. Benton Street subject to the Director of Planning and Community Development approving the design of the exterior stairwell and the building official reviewing the movement of the dumpster from west to east and the placement of a fence on the south and west sides. By a vote of 6 to 0, recommended approval of SUB01-00022, an application for a preliminary plat of Wild Prairie Estates part 4, a 35.86 acre, 22-1ot single family residential subdivision with two outlets, located at the north terminus of Wild Prairie Drive and the west terminus of Duck Creek Drive. By a vote of 6 to 0, recommended_approval of the vacation of Benton Court west of Benton Street subject to the conveyance occurring concurrently with the vacation and necessary utility and emergency vehicle easements being obtained CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Bovbjerg called the meeting to order at 7:40 pm. PUBLIC DISCUSSION OF ANY ITEM NOT ON THE AGENDA: There was none. ANNOUNCEMENT OF VACANCIES ON CITY BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS: Chairperson Bovbjerg listed the vacancies on the various City Boards and Commissions. SITE PLAN ITEM: Discussion of a site plan to permit 48 dwelling units on 1.38 acres located at 1045-1075 W. Benton Street. Behr noted that to defer voting on the site plan past this evening, the Commission would need to applicant's agreement to defer. Miklo advised the Commission that they will act in an Administrative Role, as Administrators of the Site Plan ordinance as owners of 20% of the property within 200 feet had signed a petition to request a review by the Commission. The Commissioners have very specific requirements with which to review the Site Plan. Tallman provided the Commissioners with copies of the revised Site Plan. The new Site Plan took into consideration the points/issues raised in Tallman's memo of October 1 O, 2001, with the exception of the exterior stairwells and corridors. Design standards in the Zoning Ordinance require that anytime there are exterior stairwells or corridors on a multi-family building, the Director of Planning and Community Development must approve that design. The Director of Planning and Community Development is out of town this week so these details have not been reviewed. Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes October 18, 2001 Page 2 Ehrhardt asked Tallman to review how the applicant had changed the issues in question and to also comment on the letter from the residents of the neighborhood. Erosion control was addressed by the engineering firm, MMS Consultants, through a combination of silt fence and managing of the equipment that will actually be removing material from the property. Height and type of exterior lighting were clarified on a photometric plan. On the plan, the levels of footcandles at property lines were shown to be well within guidelines. Location and sizes of utilities were shown, it was specified where existing services would be abandoned. An easement was illustrated for storm water onto property to the southeast and a draft agreement was also submitted. Tree protection on the south and southwest portion of the lot was clarified more with protective fencing. Refuse containers were added providing a total of 3 containers on 2 locations. Entrance drive off Benton Street was reduced from 22 feet to 20 feet. The retaining wall was more clearly illustrated on the east side of the lot. Clarification was provided regarding how required evergreen screening and a retaining wall on the west side would be made to work together. Parking lot tree coverage was modified to meet Staff's requirement. Bike parking was distributed around the site. Information was received earlier in the day from the Fire Department that two hydrants on the site are adequate. Additional screening south of the southwest building was also added as recommended Ehrhardt said that a comment in the memo from Judith Klink noted that the garbage is right by the house that backs up to the lot. She asked if there was a way to change that. Tallman said City standards don't address that. City standards require that solid waste containers not be located between a building and the public right of way, the intent being to keep containers out of front yards. Whenever containers are visible from an adjacent property, they need to be screened to a height of six feet. Tallman said that while there might be a better location, the current location is fine in terms of City ordinance. Hansen asked if the plant material would be the same as what was proposed on the original plan. Tallman said she is not sure if the evergreen screening added on the south and west of the lot are listed as Arbor Vitae or not. Hansen said that they were not shown on the first plan. The Plan shows Prairie Fire, Crab Apple and White Pine. There is a 20-foot area between the building and the lot line that backs up to someone else's property. The revised plan shows putting in a species of tree that is too large for the proposed area. Tallman said they relied on the designers of the plan to use appropriate species and she would ask to defer the question to them. Miklo said the question would more appropriately be addressed to the applicant and their designer. Bovbjerg asked about having only one storm water intake on the south. From past experience, one medium sized storm water intake is not enough for large sites. Bovbjerg asked if the parking lot and the downspouts were being designed so everything would flow to the one storm water intake and was the intake large enough? Tallman said the paving and surface drainage is designed to take all the surface water to where the inlet is shown. The engineer would be best qualified to answer the intake size issue. Miklo said a Staff engineer also did a review of the plan and found that it was adequate. Bovbjerg asked who would be supervising the grading, erosion control and the equipment placement. Tallman said she would be and during the past couple of years had used a couple of methods to ensure it happened as planned. Pre-construction meetings would make sure that when tree protection is required, it is in place before grading begins and she will meet with grading contractors before grading begins to let them know why the fencing is there and where they are supposed to stay off limits. Most other inspections having to do with erosion control, if not completed before a project begins, are complaint driven. When a complaint is received, she will go out and look at the site, then go back and look at the plan to make sure recommendations and specifications are being followed. If a contractor is not following specifications, Tallman has the option to administer fines against the responsible person. Typically she is able to work with the developer and the people on site to resolve the problem. Resolution may not happen overnight, but it does get resolved. Hansen asked at what height were the marker beacons set on the power poles on Benton Street. Tallman did not know the height. Shannon said the poles are 105 feet high. Hansen said he had been to the Benton Street area and he thought the height of the proposed building was going to be as high as the power pole marker beacons. Tallman said the height of the building was 35 feet to the midpoint of the roof and that none of the buildings were located in an airport fly-over zone. Hansen asked how the number, 39 compact sized parking stalls, was arrived at. Tallman said up to one- half of the parking spaces may be sized for compact cars, so the 35 regular plus the 4 stalls designated Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes October 18, 2001 Page 3 for disabled persons made up the other 50 percent of the parking stalls. Hansen asked if all that was necessary was to post a sign designating a stall for a compact car and what if non-compact cars parked in these stalls. Tallman said that posting a sign designating the stall as compact was all that was necessary. Hansen said he felt that parking would be a huge problem for this site. There are 78 parking stalls with 5 unrelated persons being able to live in a unit, and in a two-bedroom unit, it was possible to have 4 unrelated persons living in a unit. Tallman suggested this would be an issue for a zoning revision or parking requirements, but she said that the applicant had met the standard required. Hansen said that he feels over one-half the issues that come before the Commission are parking related and he foresees the overflow vehicles parking on Harlocke street and the drivers cutting through the residents' back yards to get to their buildings. Hanson asked if the developer and the neighborhood had talked about potential issues. Tallman said 4 to 6 weeks ago there was a meeting with Tom Bender and several representatives of the neighborhood. Bovbjerg asked Miklo when the consultants re-write the zoning laws will they consider parking and other issues. Miklo said they will. Hansen asked about the triangular area where the hackberry bushes are located, if it was a separate piece or was it owned by the developer? Tallman said it was a separate tract that belonged to the 4-plex to the south and east of this lot. Hanson asked from where is the set back of a building determined? Tallman said it is determined from where ever there is property located adjacent to a public right-of-way. The triangular piece iS located between where the lot is being developed and the right-of-way. Public discussion was opened. Chris Stepban, MMS Consultants, said he and Larry Schnittjer did some of the design work on this site such as the storm water, location of buildings, the tree design. They would review the tree issue and make corrections if necessary; they placed a fairly large intake at the end of the parking lot in order to try to intercept the volume of water that they anticipate will come to that location; the plan shows a short retaining wall at the south end of the lot to enable the developer to shape the land on the side to create a swail to direct the water in an easterly direction where the storm sewer outlets to prevent the storm water from jumping the curb and flowing into the back yards that are immediately south of the site. Bovbjerg asked about the retaining wall that is located at the south most area of the site, and if water is directed east by the swail, would it not be going overland. Stepban said the swail was created to direct excess amounts of water that the storm sewer could not handle, such as from a 5-year storm, to the easement, so it goes the same place the water from the pipe goes. The water would flow over the grass area between the south east building and the parking area and the adjacent properties. Bovbjerg asked if it would be possible te keep the retaining wall going all the way to the edge of the property line. Stephan said it would be possible to extend the retaining wall if it was a concern. Bovbjerg said water should not flow onto the next property. Hartsen said they could extend the retaining wall to deepen the swail to provide more direction to the overflow water. Shannon asked if at the present time the water moves south from the property. Stephan said at the north end there is a high spot and some of the water goes out onto Benton Street, but the majority of the water flows to the south. Shannon asked if when the project is completed, the water that currently flows to the south would probably flow to the east. Stepban said that was correct. Hartsen asked about overflow traffic onto Harlocke Street and if consideration had been given as to how many extra trips that would add to the neighborhood? Miklo said that staff had not assumed overflow parking would go onto Harlocke Street so an evaluation had not been made. Hartsen said he would like to know how many trips would be added to Harlocke and Weebet streets. Miklo said the question was more pertinent to the zoning item later on the agenda. For the Site Plan the Commission's review is limited to the technical requirements of the code and the requirements of parking and vehicular access had been met. Questions about spill over, parking and traffic on Harlocke Street would relate to the RM-44 versus the RM-20 question that was yet to be considered. Bovbjerg asked about plowed snow, as the neighbors had raised the same question. Where would the plowed snow be stored? Stephan said they felt there was room along the south property line along the retaining wall to push the snow and at the ends of the east and west arms of the parking areas. Bovbjerg Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes October 18, 2001 Page 4 noted on the west side there was a dumpster and on the south side there was the swale and parking spaces 63 and 78, and if the snow did not melt, parking spaces would be lost. IBovbjerg asked if cleaning off every parking space was a requirement. Stepban said he did not know the answer, and would defer to staff. Bovbjerg asked about the exterior stairwells. According to the guideljnes, they are suggested to be covered and not to be out. Stephan said they are waiting on Franklin's return as there is some question if they have to be covered or if an open stairway can be used. There is some question if they are stairs or fire escapes and whether their use is stairs. Miklo said there are design provisions that say if a second exit is needed, the Planning and Community Development Director may consider waiving some of the requirements, but does not obligate the waiver, just that alternative designs may be approved by the Director if they meet the intent of the requirements. Miklo asked to respond to Hansen's question about parking spaces. Miklo said there are a total of 48 dwelling units, 18 one-bedroom units and 30 two-bedroom units, with a total of 78 parking spaces or one per bedroom, which meets the code requirement. He said Staff would not anticipate there would be additional spill over parking beyond that. Spill over had typically been seen closer to downtown where there are three, four and five-bedroom units. When a design has three bedroom units or more, the requirement is to have one less parking space than the number of bedrooms. Complaints have been received about cars exceeding the number of parking spaces provided on the site for units with three or more bedrooms. Hansen said there are no guest parking spots provided and the neighborhood is currently stressed enough with traffic. Behr reminded the Commission that their level of review on the Site Plan is the same as a building official - to determine if it complies with the specific design standards. Any perceived deficiency, in order for it to serve as a basis for rejecting a Site Plan must be tied to a specific design standard in the Site Plan review process. He said the exterior stairwell is a unique design standard, in that the Commission is filling in for a building official. The exterior stairwell is strictly up to the approval of the Planning and Community Development Director, and to date the Site Plan had not been seen nor approved by Franklin. The stairwell was not before the Commission for consideration, but it has not been passed on yet either. Additionally, the Commission could not look at anything they cannot tie to a specific design standard. The Site Plan must be reviewed on its own. Miklo said Franklin had reviewed the exterior stairwells and corridors based on the guidelines and found that they did not meet them. The applicant was now requesting the exterior stairwells and corridors be reviewed as a fire escape. Behr said if the Commission felt the exterior stairwells and corridors were the only design standard that had not been met, a motion could be made to approve the Site Plan subject to that design standard being met in the eyes of the Director of Planning and Community Development. If it was not approved by the Director, then the applicant may not proceed. That does not mean the Commission endorses the exterior stairwell as it had been submitted, but, as the Code provides, they are deferring to the Director of Planning and Community Development on that particular issue. Koppes asked about passing the Site Plan with only one drain and if the drain becomes blocked, where would the water run to and what would happen in those cases, is it complaint based? Stephart said if snow was piled in front of the intake, the melting snow will find its way easterly if it needed to. Mike Puqh, attorney for Westcott Partners, the developer, said the review should be very objective. The Site Plan review was before the Commission because the property owners had filed a protest. He said some of the issues that had been raised were relevant only to the zoning issue and should only be considered then. Pugh said the City Council had specifically delegated the authority to the Director of Planning and Community Development to review an exterior stairs standard, and that particular standard was not before the Commission. It was the developer's position that because the Director of Planning and Community Development was out of town and had not reviewed the exterior stairwells and corridors as a fire escape, it should not hold up a decision. Whether the design was approved or not approved did not have a particular bearing on the issue. Speaking on behalf of the developer, Pugh asked the Commission to review the design standards, A through L, and approve the Site Plan subject to Franklin's review of the exterior corridors and stairwell. The developer would need to work with Franklin to resolve the exterior stairwell and corridor issue and if the issues are not resolved, the developer would appeal to the Board of Adjustment. He said the issues of parking, density, snow removal, and a majority of other issues were Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes October 18, 2001 Page 5 appropriate, but only for discussion in the context of the application to rezone the property. He said City Staff had reviewed the Site Plan, the process was to be a quick 20-day process as an administrative review, not a Planning and Zoning issue, and the developer had addressed the concerns raised by Tallman to her satisfaction. Pugh said the developer was before the Commission on the Site Plan issue because the neighbors had filed a protest and the developer did have some concern as to whether or not there were 20 percent of the neighbors who appropriately filed the protest. The information the developer had seen, the determination was not made on a survey, but on a CAD drawing and they calculated it to be 20 % percent of the affected property owners. Pugh said a margin of even one-half a percent could be erroneous but he wanted to make it clear for the record that the developer reserved their right to raise that challenge in the future. Ehrhardt said that Item F of the Design Standards stated that "the design of vehicle and pedestrian circulation shall be provided for safe and convenient flow of vehicles and movement of pedestrians." She asked what was the developer's plan for overflow parking and how would the persons who had parked on Harlocke Street or other overflow areas get to their residences? Pugh said the plan provided for ingress and egress onto Benton Street, an arterial street, and there was no access onto Harlocke Street. Ehrhardt said she was not referring to vehicular traffic and since there was no guest parking provided, the guest parking would probably be on Harlocke Street. Pugh said the proposed project as billed would not be marketed to students. Commissioners discussed if the issue of pedestrian traffic was pertinent to the site. Ehrhardt said she felt it was and wanted to look for a way to avoid persons cutting through other person's yards, Miklo asked if a fence would suffice. Behr suggested having Tallman speak to how the design standard was applied on a consistent basis. Tallman said the issues looked at when it came to the standard, were the number of drives entering and exiting a site, keeping that number to a minimum, keeping the distance between them according to City standards, and ensuring there was sidewalk access from the public right-of-way. Tallman said at this particular site there is very clean access to the site. An existing drive would be narrowed to provide four additional feet of green space, a public sidewalk is in existence along Benton Street and in response to neighborhood complaints, Tallman had Jeff Davidson do an evaluation of the site and of the impact the 48 units would have on the area. Tallman didn't have the report with her, but said Davidson had said, "given that Benton Street is an arterial street and there is one means of egress and ingress onto the street, the impact would not be out of line with what would be anticipated on an arterial street." Tallman said pedestrian access within the site is primarily from the parking lot into the individual buildings. Access for the disabled and the slope of the paved surfaces into the buildings had been reviewed and did not exceed State standards for rise and run of slope. Hansen asked if the developer would be open to fencing the back part of the site. Pugh said yes, they would be, in order to address that specific concern, Robvnn Shrader, 1104 Weeher Circle, a member of the Harlocke/Weeber Neighborhood Association, had requested and received a copy of Davidson's report. She quoted a portion of the report that said Harlocke Street would appear to be a convenient on street parking location for the proposed Benton Villa Project. Shrader said it was misleading to say that the City did not consider Harlocke Street to be an obvious choice for this proposal. Bill Graf, 1123 Harlocke Street, said currently the south half of this property is all grass, so there is very little water run off because it soaks into the grass. On the proposed site plan, the entire area would be covered in concrete and buildings so there is a great concern about water run off. He asked where the water going into the drainage system would go. According to the proposed plans after it crossed an easement owned by the developer, it would go to a parking lot, to another adjacent parking lot, then onto Benton Drive, a private driveway sloping south ,eventually ending up at a curve where a water runoff is located. Graf asked if the residents of Colonial Apartments and Benton Drive had been contacted and what would happen during the winter when the water freezes and residents of Benton Manor are unable to exit their residences due to ice. Graf said he had spoken to some residents of Benton Manor and they were unaware of the water drainage plans. Miklo said the drainage was reviewed by Public Works and it did meet the technical requirements specified in the code. Graf said there is no sewer system in the driveways until after the water gets past Benton Drive. Miklo said if the Commission would like, he would ask a City engineer to attend a future meeting. Graf said the City did have a meeting between the neighborhood and the developer, but after the developer had the plans "cast in stone." The number of Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes October 18, 2001 Page 6 units and building structures had already been decided. The only input the neighborhood was able to make was regarding the shrubbery to be used. According to Graf, the meeting did not take place early enough in the cycle so both parties could have input into the plan to make it a consensus plan. Ken Ranshaw, former owner of 1100 Harlocke Street, said currently his daughter and two grandsons reside at this address. A 35 foot wall on the south side would prevent sunshine from reaching the driveway until 2:00 p.m. Persons parking on Hadocke Street would utilize the private driveway to get to the proposed buildings. He is a former owner of apartments in Iowa City and knows from past experience that one car per bedroom is unrealistic, and no allotted guest parking is insufficient. He projected parking will flow onto Harlocke Street, making it unsafe for his daughter and grandsons. He asked that the trash container be moved to the east side away from his daughter's backyard area due to summer odors, rodents, birds, and insects. Jim Anderson, partner of Westcott Partners, said he thinks persons will park in Hillsborough Apartments parking lot, in which he is a partner, they are more convenient and there is plenty of space there. He said they would be glad to move the dumpster to the east side, away from the residential side. The price negotiated on the property had been negotiated based on the zoning which had been in place for over 40 years. An engineer, at a cost of approximately $25,000, had already been hired to draw site plans and due to legal issues it was difficult to change the plans. it was their option to put up to 60 units on the property with underground parking, but the developers chose not to do that. Based on their experience from the Hillsborough Apartments, a number of persons who work at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics rent in that area and a number of single persons live in a two bedroom and/or one bedroom apartments. He said he did not think that parking would be a problem based on their experiences at Colonial Park and Hillsborough Apartments. He expressed empathy for the residents of the neighborhood but said Mr. Cox had been sitting on the property for over 40 years and it was his retirement property. Anderson said the residents who purchased their properties in the area knew it was zoned RM-44 when they moved in. Hansen asked if Anderson would be willing to place a fence around the south side of the property. Anderson said they would, but they do not have any provisions for controlling pedestrian traffic because they do not own that property. It would be trespassing, which is the police department's problem to prevent people from trespassing. They want to be good neighbors and would be willing to put a fence up to prevent that problem. He purchased Hillsborough property in 1977 and had never had any problems with snow removal or residents or their guests parking on Harlocke Street. In response to a question from Bovbjerg, he said there would be one large dumpster on the south side and one large dumpster on the east side in enclosures, not three as shown in the drawing. Bovbjerg asked, with respect to the water runoff problem and overflow cars, if he would be willing to put something in the leases to suggest to people to park in the Hillsborough lot. Anderson said that would not be possible as he owns the Hillsborough property with two different partners and it would not be fair to them. Bovbjerg asked if non-residents who parked at Hillsborough would be ticketed. Anderson said he did not know, but they do not have a parking problem at Hillsborough Apartments. He said if it became a problem, they would probably have to deal with it. Anderson said in this day and age a lot of people live alone and they do not have cars, they have bicycles and they are providing bicycle spots for them. For over 24 years he has been renting to people in that area and he knows the market in that area. Georqianne Chaven, 1124 Harlocke Street, said the issue of people parking in Hillsborough is incorrect as presented by Mr. Anderson. Hillsborough is 30 to 40 feet further away than Harlocke Street, and guests would look for the closest spot. She said convenience would not be at Hillsborough, convenience would be on Harlocke Street. The public discussion was closed. Bovbjerg asked Behr to help the Commission remain focused when making a motion. Behr said that the Commissioners had received Staffs report which indicated a Building Official felt that the Site Plan design complied with one exception. If the Commission agreed, then a motion would be in order to approve, subject to approval by the Director of the Planning and Community Development Department of the exterior stairwell. Behr said that although the Commission is not bound by the Staff report, their information should weigh heavily with the Commissioners. If the Commission did not agree and felt there Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes October 18 2001 Page 7 was a deficiency in the Site Plan that could be tied to a specific design standard, they must explain why it did not comply with the design standard, in order for the perceived deficiency to serve as a basis for rejecting the Site Plan. Motion to approve the Site Plan to permit 48 dwelling units on 1.38 acres located at 1045-1075 W. Benton Street subject to the Director of Planning and Community Development approving the design of the exterior stairwell and a building official reviewing the movement of the dumpster from west to east and the placement of the fence on the south and west sides. Chait moved, Shannon seconded. Chait said that the Commission should put it on their priority list and make a bigger commitment as a Commission to recommend to Staff to look at and to Council to approve changes regarding the types of fundamental concerns that performing this Site Review has shown to be evident. He does not disagree with the concerns, but there are ways to address these concerns by putting them into the ordinances and into the technical requirements, but not at the point in time when someone is trying to get approval on a Site Plan. Ehrhardt said she felt the letter of the law had been met, the review had brought up a lot of problems with current ordinances, and she suggested it was time to look at the infill guidelines and possibly extend them to cover this neighborhood. Ehrhardt said she strongly urged Franklin to demand that the stairwells be on the inside. Hansen said parking is an issue that comes up too many times and should be reviewed. This issue did meet the letter of the law, but he would ask the developer to be a good neighbor to the persons of the residential area. He would hope no one gets hurt out of this deal just so someone can make a dollar. The motion carried on a vote of 6~0. REZONING ITEM: REZ01-00020. Discussion of an application submitted by Judith Klink for the rezoning of approximately 1.38 acres of property from High Density Multi-Family Residential (RM-44) to Medium Density Multi- Family Residential (RM-20) for property located on the south side of Benton Street, east of Harlocke Street (1045-1075 Benton Street.) Yapp reported that the property had been annexed into Iowa City in the late 1950's. It had been zoned for high-density multi-family development since that time. Up until the mid 1990s the Comprehensive Plan identified the south side of Benton Street as appropriate for high density multi-family zoning. In the mid- 1990's many of the properties in this neighborhood, primarily to the south, on the east side of Harlocke Street were proposed for downzoning along with an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan to show a lower density for these properties. The Comprehensive Plan was changed to show medium density on the south side of Benton Street but the Council never approved rezoning. The Comprehensive Plan does provide guidance as to where multi-family developments should be located and this property does have all the listed characteristics. The applicant noted in the written application and Staff agreed that the most compelling reason for downzoning is that there is no transition or buffer between single family properties to the west and the high density multi-family zonings. Staff felt that downzoning the property to Medium Density Multi-Family (RM-20) would not improve the transition or buffer. The setbacks in both zones are the same, the building placements and building heights may be the same and the amount of paving on the property may be the same in both zones. Yapp stated there was a lack of transition between Multi- Family and Single-Family zones in this area. The inclusion of buffering or transition is a usual zoning practice between high intensity and low intensity land uses and this is the most compelling argument for downzoning this property. This property has many of the characteristics desired for high density multi- family, including direct access to an arterial street, access to public transit, within walking distance of a major employment/education center, and on a property that does not have sensitive environmental areas. Yapp said that given that the property had been zoned High Density Multi-Family, RM-44, for over 40 years and the fact that the property did contain many of the characteristics desired for high-density multi- family development, coupled with the fact that downzoning to RM-20 might not improve the transition to single-family areas, Staff found it difficult to support downzoning the property and recommended that it be denied. Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes October 18, 2001 Page 8 Ehrhardt asked Yapp if lower density would impact the traffic. Yapp said it could, however he cannot be definite because under RM-20 zoning, there could still be up to five bedrooms per unit. By reducing the number of units, there may be more incentive to increase the number of bedrooms per unit. In response to a question, Yapp said bicycle parking is required for multi-family and retail areas. In response to a question from Ehrhardt as to why staff did not attempt to downzone this area earlier, Miklo said Staff generally does not initiate downzonings. Public discussion was opened. Judith Klink showed aerial and ground slides of the area, where the proposed development will go, drainage areas, the undeveloped green area / meadow buffer in question, Seville apartment residents parking in more convenient neighboring area and various other photos. Klink said she filed this request because with RM-20 zoning, there would be fewer buildings, contrary to Staff's repod. In response to a question from Ehrhardt, Yapp clarified that there are no City codes that would require fewer buildings, only fewer units. Klink said their hope is that the entire project would be redesigned and an open space placed on the corner to retain the residential character of the neighborhood and the buildings set further back. Chait said the potential height of the building would remain the same, at 35 feet. Klink said the illusion of a setback would be there, if the buildings were not set on the corner. Chair said the types of changes Klink wants could not be addressed in zoning and technical compliance. These were the kinds of things resolved in a good neighbor situation. Klink said they were trying to provide a workable compromise in which the developer could still build a profitable complex and the neighborhood would not be irreparably damaged, but they would gladly apply for an RS-8 zoning if necessary. Hunsen asked if Klink would consider asking the developer to put a two-story building on the corner instead of a three-story building. Klink said it did not appeal to her, but change would be welcome. Bill Graf spoke on the importance of transition zoning. He felt a mistake was made 40 years ago in placing RS-5 right next to RM-44. The Comprehensive Plan did recommend a downzoning of the area, their compromise would be to go to RM-20 zoning. Graf said less units would provide the neighborhood with more open space and the owner would still double the number of units they would have and increase their revenues. Graf said Benton Street is currently over capacity for vehicle trips per day and there are currently no projects to improve West Benton Street in the City's Capital Improvement Projects. Graf had spoken to residents of the surrounding apartment complexes and received their input that there are currently overflow parking problems. He said they would like to work with the developer to have more green space in which to push the snow off the parking lot during winter. Graf noted that the developer admitted to having spent $25,000 to have the plans drawn up before meeting with the neighborhood. Graf said they would like to have the opportunity to be involved before plans are finalized and to work with the developer so the developer could maximize his investment and minimize the impact on the neighborhood. Graf said he realized downzoning is not a solution to the problem, but it would be a compromise to create a win-win situation for the developer and the neighborhood. Kathy Paulsen, 1100 Hadocke Street. She asked the Commission to correct the Council's 1990's oversight by their failure to downzone the property in question. She was concerned that her backyard would become the primary green space for the proposed complex. She felt the presence of the new development would devalue her home and make it difficult to sell. Robvnn Shrader, felt the request to downzone was a proactive measure to protect their neighborhood. Prior to filing the action, the neighborhood had met with the developer to request changes be made but the developer declined citing financial reasons. Shrader said the neighborhood was trying to give Bender the ammunition he needed to go back to the property owner to get a lower price for the property and find a way to be a good neighbor. She said the neighborhood had hoped that petitioning to downzone to RM- 20 would be a compromise that demonstrated their respect for the fact that the site was developed for apartments and would continue to allow apartments on the site. Jim Houqhton, 218 Stevens Dr., behalf of the Cox family, summarized the points he made in his letter submitted to the Commission prior to the formal meeting. He said if the property was downzoned now Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes October 18, 2001 Page 9 after 40 years, there would be a tremendous financial burden incurred by the Cox family. In previous conversations the impact on the Coxes had not been mentioned. Georqianne Chaven said the issue was not with the buildings being built closer to Benton Street, but when it started to encroach on the smaller unit neighborhoods. The Coxes had known for years that the neighbors had an issue with the RM-44 zoning, and the Southwest District plan in the 1990's. The issue had been a hot potato issue back then and the neighborhood home owners were forced to pay the price. Miklo clarified that he did not think this properly was ever proposed for rezoning; it was all the properties to the south, south and east of Harlocke Street that were proposed for rezoning in the mid-1990's. Mike Pufih, for Westcott Partners, said the site in question was very conducive to RM-44 zoning, as was indicated in the Staff's report. He felt that the real issue was appropriate screening between the proposed development and the Paulson property, and that the rezoning issue before the Commission would not resolve that issue. He said the density would not necessarily be changed by downzoning the parcel in question. Pugh said he felt the applicants had not presented a compelling reason to downzone the area. Public discussion closed. Chait moved to defer. REZ01-00020, a request to rezone 1.38 acres of property from RM44 to RM-20 for property located at 1045-1075 Benton Street. The motion was seconded by Shannon. Hunsen requested that Westcott Partners seriously consider taking one floor off the south buildings to bring it more into scale with the neighborhood and to lessen the impact that the buildings would have on the area. Chait said frequently the Commission heard issues regarding 'Not in my backyard', but the Commission looked at the larger neighborhood. He acknowledged that the neighborhood had done their research work and their involvement in the process was active. Chair suggested the half-empty versus the halFfull solution of pro-actively taking the lead and requesting to rezone the eastern podion of the RS-5 to an 8 or RS-12 and to get more value out of the land. That would allow the neighborhood to build their own transition into the neighborhood and get more value out of their efforts. He referenced the OPHD Infill project on the end of Kirkwood and Summit Streets. The motion carried on a vote of 6-0. REZ01-00021. Discussion of a rezoning from General Industrial (I-1) to Intensive Commercial (C1-1) for .63 acres located at 809 Highway 1 West. Miklo said because this is a rezoning issue it should be deferred to a second meeting. Staff recommend the rezoning, subject to Conditional Zoning Agreement that addresses the aesthetic and highway access to this area. Public discussion was opened. There was none. Public discussion was closed. Motion to defer REZ01-00021, a rezoning from I-1 to C1-1 for .63 acres of property located at 809 Highway 1 West to the next meeting. Moved by Chait. Seconded by Ehrhardt. The motion carried on a vote of 6-0. Ehrhardt requested information on the City's policy on parking on the green space for the next meeting. Bovbjerg requested a history of that issue on this particular property. DEVELOPMENT ITEM: SUB01-00022. Discussion of an application for a preliminary plat of Wild Prairie Estates part 4, a 35.86 acre, 22-1ot single family residential subdivision with two outlots, located at the north terminus of Wild Prairie Drive and the west terminus of Duck Creek Drive. Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes October 18, 2001 Page 10 Yapp said Staff recommended approval of this subdivision. The deficiencies had been resolved with a slight revision to the storm water basin at the north end of the property. It was a dry bottom basin and would only have water in it during rainstorms and would slowly drain out of it when the rain stopped. Public discussion was opened. Dan Bontraqer, 852 Duck Creek Drive, requested information about how the basin was being developed. He had no particular questions and was willing to contact Chris Stephan at MMS Consultants for additional information. Bovbjerg asked Stephan where the construction trucks would be coming through the area. Stephan pointed out the two roads the trucks would use to access the subdivision, including Wild Prairie Drive and Goldenrod Drive. Public discussion was closed. Motion to approve SUB01-00022, a preliminary plat of Wild Prairie Estates pad 4, a 35.86 acre, 22-1ot single family residential subdivision with two outlots, located at the north terminus of Wild Prairie Drive and the west terminus of Duck Creek Drive. Moved by Chait. Seconded by Koppes. The motion carried on a vote of 6-0. SUB01-00023. Discussion of a preliminary plat of Apex Commemial Park, a resubdivision of Lot 2, Donohoe Fifth Subdivision, a 6.55 acre, 9-lot commemial subdivision located south of Highway 1 West at Landon Avenue S.W. Miklo recommended this be deferred to the meeting of November 1, 2001 pending submission of a traffic study. The applicant had hired an engineering firm to do the study to try to address the traffic concerns. Staff understood the study may not be ready by November 1 and would recommend deferring again as Staff feel it is imperative that the study be part of the discussion. Public discussion was opened. Steve Schmidt, spoke for Apex Development. He agreed with Miklo's suggestion to defer until the traffic study was completed. Public discussion was closed. Motion to defer SUB01-00023, a resubdivision of Lot 2, Donohoe Fifth Subdivision, a 6.55 acre, 9-lot commercial subdivision located south of Highway 1 West at Landon Avenue S.W. until the November 1, 2001 meeting. Moved by Hansen. Seconded by Chait. The motion carried on a vote of 6-0. VACATION ITEM: VAC1-00003. Discussion of an application submitted by Oaknoll Retirement Center for the vacation of Benton Court. Yapp said staff recommended approval of the vacation subject to the conveyance occurring concurrently with the vacation and necessary utility and emergency vehicle easements being obtained. Oaknoll owns all the property on both sides of Benton Court and Staff found that vacating Benton Court would not interfere with access to any other property. Public Discussion was opened. Tim Krum, partner of Bob Downer, was present to respond to any questions or public discussion. He urged the Commission to take action on the matter that evening. Planning and Zoning Commission Minutes October 18, 2001 Page 11 Public Discussion was dosed. Motion to approve the vacation of Benton Court west of Benton Street subject to the conveyance occurring concurrently with the vacation and necessary utility and emergency vehicle easements being obtained. Shannon moved. Seconded by Chair. The motion carried on a vote of 6-0. CONSIDERATION OF OCTOBER 4, 2001 MEETING MINUTES. Motion to approve the minutes. Moved by Chait. Seconded by Ehrhardt. The motion carried on a vote of 6-0. DISCUSSION OF OTHER ITEMS: Chair said he was approached during the break by persons who wanted to know more about the Weeber- Harlocke issue and what other possibilities existed. Their concern seemed to be 'me' a single person versus the neighbors or neighborhood. Chait said he did not see just a Peninsula but a whole different context of re-urbanizing where lots do not necessarily have to be the way they were in the old city. Neighborhood redesign, to freeze and preserve, was not a good situation. Miklo said in November there will be Southwest District meetings. Shannon asked when does 'someone' have to take responsibility. Some of the homes were built in the sticks, knowing the existing multi-family structures were there. Chait and the Commissioners discussed a documentary on Robert Moses. In the 1960, Penn Station was torn down, but it rallied the country to an attitude of preservation. ADJOURNMENT AT 11:20 PM. Dean Shannon, Secretary Minutes submitted by Candy Barnhill ppdadnVrnin/p&z10-18-01 .dec SENIOR CENTER COMMISSION FI NAL/APPROVED TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2001 MEMBERS PRESENT: Lori Benz, Jay Honohan, Joanne Hora, Allan Monsanto, Deb Schoenfelder, Carol Thompson, Charity Rowley, and Jim Schintler. MEMBER ABSENT: Bill Kelly STAFF PRESENT: Craig Buhman, Michelle Buhman, and Susan Rogusky. GUESTS None CALL TO ORDER Honohan called the meeting to order at 3:00. MINUTES Motion: To approve the August minutes as amended. The motion carried on a vote of 8-0. Rowley/Hora PUBLIC DISCUSSION None. PARKING FACILITY STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE UPDATE- Honohan/Buhman Commissioners discussed alternative dates for rescheduling the Skywalk Dedication originally planned for September 11,2001. After some discussion, October 4, 2001 from 12:30-2:00 was identified as the preferred date and time. M. Buhman reported on Tower Place parking permit sales and usage. Participants seem to be satisfied with the parking program as no complaints have been reported to staff about the parking validation system. During the first few months of Fiscal Year 2001, anticipated parking usage is well below the budgeted amount. 28E COMMITTEE UPDATE - THOMSON The 28E Committee has not met since the last Commission meeting. The next meeting is scheduled September 26, 2001. ADVISORY COMMITTEES The Program, Participant and Volunteer Advisory Committees meetings all have been scheduled for the first week in October. C:\TEMP\SEPT.dOC MINUTES 2 SENIOR CENTER COMMISSION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2001 SENIOR CENTER UPDATE Operations - C. Buhman/M. Buhman M. Buhman distributed copies of the corrected Participation summary for FY01. Buhman reported that representatives from the Accreditation Review Committee would be here on October 24th and 25th tO conduct the onsite evaluation of the Senior Center. C. Buhman reported on the progress of the Senior Center Building Envelope Waterproofing project. This project includes repairs to the masonry, Linn St. stairs, windows, and the foundation along the west side of the building underneath the stairs. Thompson questioned how the plans are going for new flooring in the Senior Dining Office. Thompson said Senior Dining would like any kind of flooring, other than what they currently have, would be acceptable. Pro.qrams - Rogusky Rogusky distributed a list of programs prepared by Seal, scheduled for October. For a full listing of programs refer to the October Post. Volunteers - Rogusky Rogusky reported progress made in recruiting new volunteers to work at the Host Guide desk and thanked Commissioners who worked at the 20-Year Volunteer Recognition program earlier this month. CITY COUNCIL - Honohan Honohan reported on the Senior Center waterproofing project and invited the Councilors to attend the 20th Anniversary events. BOARD OF SUPERVISORS - Monsanto Monsanto reported on the report he gave at one of the September meetings of the Board of Supervisors. COMMISSION DISCUSSION Lori Benz is scheduled to go to next City Council meeting. Jay Honohan will go to the City Council meeting in October. Rogusky reported that the agreement between the City Cable department and the Senior Center is going very well. Motion: To adjourn. Motion carried on a vote of 8-0. Monsanto/Rowley. The meeting adjourned at 3:55. 10/23/2001 c:\ternp~sept.doc