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ITEM 2. OUTSTANDING STUDENT CITIZENSHIP AWARDS -Horace Mann
Elementary.
Hayek: Would the students from Horace Mann please step forward. (laughter and several
talking away from mic) Well hi everyone! I'm, uh, the Mayor, and this is the
City Council, and uh, this is City Hall, and we are very honored to have you here
with us this evening. This is our favorite part of our City Council meetings, when
we get to meet student leaders from the various elementaries around the
community, and uh, get to hear a little bit about what you're up to, and then we
have an award that we will, uh, read and present to, uh, the four of you. Um, so, I
guess the way this will work, you... you've got your technical difficulties solved,
didn't we? All right, so we all...we're all ready to go here and what we'll do is
I'll hand the microphone to you and you can read your piece and then we'll just
go, uh, through the four of you, and then I'll read the award that...that you will
receive. So if you'd like to start, go ahead! Want me to hold this for you or
would you like to...
Morris: I'll (mumbled). Hi, my name is Joe Morris. I'm 11-years-old and I'm a sixth
grader at Horace Mann Elementary in Mrs. Taylor's class. I'm a member of our
school student council. I like...I like being in student council because I like
helping our school and I think I'm a leader and it makes me feel good. In my free
time, I like to play football and baseball and I'm a part of a competitive baseball
team. I also like to play my guitar. I have five siblings, a brother named Trey
who's 17; a brother named Tyler who is 15; a brother named Max who is 13; a
sister named Molly who is 12; a sister named Teddy who is 9. When I grow up, I
would like to go to Iowa State University and play football, and eventually get
into the NFL. I would like to thank my classmates for voting forme. Thank you
and have a good night! (applause)
Martinez: Hi, my name is Carmin Martinez and I'm a sixth grader in Mrs. Taylor's class at
Horace Mann Elementary. My favorite subjects during school are science, art,
music, social studies, library, and P.E. (mumbled) student council member
because kids look up to me and feels good to be nice to others. After school when
I'm at home, I'm usually reading, doing my homework, or playing with my baby
sister. After school when I'm not at home, I'm usually at church or at a store, and
I'm happy that I live with my mom and dad because some kid's parents are
divorced or either one of their parents died. When I'm older I want to be a lawyer
and I want to have a big house. I would like to thank my classmates for voting for
me even though I never expected to be voted for. Thank you. (applause)
Greazel: Hi, my name is Abby Greazel. I'm in Miss Higgins' class (mumbled) for seven
years. I play soccer and softball, but my favorite of the two is soccer because I've
been playing that longer. I feel I am better at that than softball. I also enjoy
having sleepovers with my closest friends (mumbled) when it's cold outside and
staying with my friend Beatrice. I also enjoy playing the saxophone in band. I'm
(mumbled) third chair. I'm also in safety patrol. (applause)
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Williamson: Hi, I'm Grace. I've been going to Horace Mann for seven years and I'm in Miss
Mulligan's class. My favorite subjects are science, math, and art cause I think
they're fun. In my extra time I am on student council, I dance at National Dance
Academy, play clarinet, and on safety patrol. (mumbled) smaller type of trumpet,
but sounds the same. Tonight at my band concert we will play (mumbled) and
"Somewhere in My Memory." In dance we recently performed the "Nutcracker."
I was a doll. In student council we are working on Box Tops for Education. But
other than that, I enjoy having sleepovers with my closest friends, Abby,
(mumbled) and Millie. I also enjoy reading, and I just recently finished the
(mumbled) in the Percy Jackson series. (applause)
Hayek: Very well done, if I might say so myself! Uh, well, that was, uh, excellent and
clearly the four of you are very busy young people, and uh, you've accomplished
a lot in your years at Horace Mann, and you know what? Your school looks up to
you, and you set an example for the other students in your school and you set an
example for the rest of the community, and that's one of the reasons we want to
recognize you, because what you do is so important in our community, and also
the work that your parents and your teachers and...and uh, other folks at Horace
Mann, uh, do to support you is important, so we recognize their contributions as
well. We have a Citizenship Award, and that's what you're going to receive
tonight, and I' 11 read it. It's the same one, and each one has your... your own
name on it and...and it is as follows: Citizenship Award, for his or her
outstanding qualities of leadership, within Horace Mann Elementary, as well as
the community, and for his or her sense of responsibility and helpfulness to
others, we recognize you as an Outstanding Student Citizen. Your community is
proud of you. Presented by the Iowa City City Council, December, 2010. And
I'll hand these out and shake your hand and send you to your band concert!
(laughter) Thanks a lot! (applause)
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ITEM 3. PRESENTATION.
a) MidAmerican Energy Company Community Grant Presentation
Karr: The next item is the MidAmerican Energy Company Community Grant
presentation.
Payne: Good evening, Mr. Mayor, City Council. I'm Michelle Payne with MidAmerican
Energy. I'm the Community Contact Liaison between MidAmerican Energy and
the City Council, and tonight I'm here to present an award, it's a grant, from
MidAmerican's community contact program to Marcia Bollinger with the City
and Chris Page with the University of Iowa Student Government.
Page: Thank you so much, Michelle, for this grant. It's really going to help a lot, um, to
furthering the UISG's goals. Um, this programs going to have, um, an impact on
both the environment, because it'll help consumers save money. We're going to
be distributing light bulbs to them, as well as an opportunity for students to
interact with the community, so it's...really big help to us, and we really
appreciate your support!
Bollinger: (mumbled) Michelle, um, my role with this is just to basically to help Chris and
the other students to connect with neighborhood groups and, um, Housing
Development, um, might have eligible households that live in it, so that they can
get their, um, let's see, their CFL, um, compact fluorescent light bulbs, um,
replaced and um, help them save some energy costs. (several talking away from
microphone) (applause)
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ITEM 5. COMMUNITY COMMENT (ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA).
Hayek: This is the time during our City Council meeting when we, uh, provide an
opportunity to the public to, uh, address the Council on items that are not on the
agenda. If there's something you would like to bring to our attention, uh, please
sign in and state your name, uh, and limit your comments please to five minutes
or less.
Honohan: Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, I'm Jay Honohan, I'm a Member of the
Commission. I'd like to start by thanking you for reappointing me, although you
may not like that, because I' 11 be here whining for more money at the budget time.
I better mind my manners. Dale, I'd like to thank you for your service. We really
appreciated it. And Mr. Markus, welcome aboard! Come down to the Senior
Center. We'd like to see you there. I'd like to invite everybody, and that goes for
the audience too, the New Horizons Band will have a concert on the 16t" in the
afternoon at the Assembly Room. Uh, I may be prejudiced, but I consider it one
of the best bands in the State of Iowa. You can also come to the Voices of
Experience on the 14t" in the afternoon, again, at the Assembly Center, and Mr.
Markus, if you want to come to a Commission meeting, it's on the 16t" at 4:00
P.M. (laughter) (mumbled) invite you! Uh, short report: uh, this winter season
we have 74 classes at the Senior Center, most of which are meeting one day a
week, uh, some not quite that many, but we're very pleased with that. We have
what we call eight performance groups, such as the New Horizons Band, the
Voices of Experience, the Old Capitol...Old Post Office Brass Band, and a few
other ensembles. And we have about a dozen to 15 different groups that get
together to do things like English country dance, if anybody wants to come join
that. We have tango, if you'd like to tango, Matt, we could accommodate you on
that. We...we have a wide variety of things and I'll tell ya what! A Christmas
special -we'll get you...my mother would not let me talk about ages of ladies,
but it looks to me like everybody except Matt is eligible to be a member of the
Senior Center. We got a holiday special -we'll get you $25 membership and $15
for a family! I'll answer any questions, and then I'll get out of your hair cause I
think you got a levee coming up! (laughter) Thank you very much!
Hayek: Thanks, Jay!
Champion: Thanks, Jay!
Hayek: Would anyone else like to address the Council? During community comment?
Dahlen: I think this is the right portion of the section we're supposed to talk, and if you
give me what I want, we will host a dance also! (laughter)
Hayek: Could you give us your name first please?
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Dahlen: My name is Lori Dahlen. I'm from Hilltop Mobile Park, and I have a couple
issues I want to discuss, and part of it is parking. So, I might just pass this out.
Would that be okay?
Hayek: Why don't you hand them to the Clerk and she can handle it.
Dahlen: Okay. I thought we were on the agenda, but I guess we're not. Um, we've had
a...a situation, and it has been addressed by Darian who's in Traffic/Planning.
Uh, we've had a situation with...situation with parking on the, um, side of the
Shelter. I believe that is the east side, and now she's suggesting we move the, um,
parking that is there to the west side and implement a no parking sign on the east
side. And, we've had situations, and maybe that is a little...actually I probably
should take one of those back. Um...do you have an extra one? I don't want to
take the only one that you have.
Karr: I believe it was on the Consent Calendar...is the...(unable to hear person away
from mic)
Champion: The correspondence. (unable to hear person away from mic)
Dahlen: Yes? Okay. Well, these were taken by a resident of Hilltop and our issue
basically is we haven't had...um, we've had construction problems all summer
and several accidents, and we have called in. We've been a little vocal. Um,
there are vehicles that are parking on this side of the street, which is right when
you come out of Hilltop, um, first page is a little cloudy, um...the top right car is
a black car right at the entrance of Hilltop. If you keep moving along through
you'll just see a Freightliner in there, um...traffic, or cars all along, again,
the...the east side. Uh, the lady who took these pictures, uh, wasn't able to come.
She's concerned. She's wondering why people who are receiving services at the
Shelter, if in fact they are, are parking on the street and not in the parking lot of
the Shelter. And, if they're not receiving services, why are they there to begin
with. Um, and so I guess it's kind of a safety issue there, and... and a flow of
parking issue, and we've talked with Darian a few times, and she's very receptive
and I know that her interest is in the flow of parking, not so much really anything
else. Um...um, our concern is...is, um, people that are parking on the street and
parking overnight, and staying there for extended periods of time. Um, three
weeks at a time, and um, I've called a couple times because there have been
people staying in a van. Maybe you think that's not a big deal, but it's kind of a
big deal when you're not used to that. And, we do have a bus stop on the corner,
which is a combination of a school bus stop and a City bus stop. So this morning
I'm just going to paint you a little picture, this morning at 7:00, I'm pulling out of
the park and I do have an interest to see if people are parking there, and there's
four vehicles, one of them is the van that's been there for three weeks, and it
appears that somebody has been in the van because there's condensation,
and...and then I...I wait a little bit, not really sure what to do, and...and one of
the young girls in the park is at the bus stop, which is a few feet away. So she's
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there, 10, 12 minutes before another child comes. So what we have are four
vehicles who we really don't know who they are, um, they were told, one of our
maintenance guys asked the guy in the van, and they were told that they couldn't
park in the staff parking lot, at Shelter. So...we just don't want to see, um, we
don't want to see vehicles there that we don't know who they are, people living in
vehicles, and especially next to a bus stop. That...that to me, um, is...is the
biggest concern, and I would just like to maybe try and think of something
proactive to...to stop that situation.
Bailey: We have the notice that there would be no parking signs...you're talking about
the east side of Waterfront Drive, right?
Dahlen: I'm talking about the east side, yeah.
Bailey: Right.
Dahlen: Um, but...but what happened is (both talking)
Bailey: ...that there will be no parking signs. Is that what you're requesting?
Dahlen: Well, I understand that.
Bailey: Okay.
Dahlen: Um, but what I'm concerned about is...the, and these guys are great, I guess, um,
they moved. They knew it was coming. All the people that parked on the east
side, the last day or so they're on the west side. So all they've done is move. So
we still have people there, that we don't know who they are, um, they go into the
Shelter. They receive Shelter services. But...but I don't, and actually I met two
of the guys. And they were nice guys. But I don't know really anything about
`em! About them, and one of them said to me, well, my friend here was asked to
leave the Shelter. And I said, why, and he said he thought it was for hygienic
reasons. So I mean, I really didn't know, and I tried to explore other options. I
said are you a veteran. Is there some assistance that maybe is out there for you, so
my point of being here, I know you're kind of rolling your eyes, um, is...even
though I'm very grateful that there's going to beano parking sign on that side
next to the Shelter, I think that's a smart move, but I want to eliminate the
problem, besides the flow of traffic, because the people have just moved from
there to there, and they're still quite unknown to us. And if they are receiving
services at the Shelter, I guess I would encourage them to park there. And um, we
just want to make it a safe environment for that school bus stop, because they
can't really change that. Um...I don't know if I've gone over my five minutes.
Hayek: You've got about a minute left, ma'am.
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Dahlen: Do I? Okay. I'm sure there's something I can talk about. Uh, but that is
my...my biggest concern. And I did want to just reference 18 years ago, J.C.
Duggard was abducted at a bus stop, okay? And, so that's something you need to
consider. A year and a half ago, um, Senate File 340 was introduced as law, July
09, and sex offenders, um, with crimes against children of a serious nature,
obviously all crimes against children are serious nature, um, can't be within 300
feet of a, uh, a daycare or places where kids gather, and some people say, well, no
that means they can't loiter within 300 feet. Well, part of the definition of
loitering is becoming familiar with an area. These guys might be okay, but the
guys, the other people that are possibly at the Shelter, maybe receiving services,
ask...and asked to leave let's say a sex offender, I don't want that person sitting in
the van on that side of the street, a few feet away from the school, uh, bus stop.
So that's what we want to eliminate. We don't want to have that even be an
option, and I was thinking, maybe we could just have no parking on both sides of
the street, and then if HACAP has a special meeting, and that's really the only
time I've ever seen them use a lot of parking there, um, just...is there something
special you could do just to accommodate for that meeting? Because they're not
using that on a regular basis. So, that's...that's why I'm here.
Hayek: Thank you for your comments; appreciate them.
Dahlen: Sure!
Barker: My name is Joyce Barker and I also live at Hilltop. Um, I just want to quickly...I
sent in a letter to include in the packet, and these are the pictures that I referenced
in that letter, as far as, um, the sand melt, or the snowmelt line. You can see from
these pictures I took from after the snow melted. This is where the City plows the
streets every winter, and you can see where the sand line is, and it considerably
narrows the street. Now, referencing back to the packet of pictures that you just
got from Lori, on page 3, if you have, um, if you have the...their delivery truck
unloading, any vehicles parked on the west side of the street now, with this snow
melt in the winter time, or the snow pile in the winter time because the City crews
do not plow clear to the curb, and this is proof of it. Um, I would just...would
like to further address this because on this short section of Waterfront, this is the
only access for over 150 homes, and one business at the end of the road. Briefly
to give you a few quick examples of why access is so much of an issue, my
husband has had two transplants resulting from cancer and two heart attacks. I
have had to call the ambulance. Time is important! And the response time is
three... is four minutes when I've had to call it. I don't want that lengthened
because they can't get there because of a delivery truck. We have two friends
who also live in the court. One has congestive heart failure, and the other has
many heart problems. They have to call the ambulance many times. I don't want
to cost their life or my husband's. In 2008, when the river waters reached the
railroad tracks on Southgate, just 30 feet away from Waterfront, we all received
an automated call telling us that, uh...we needed to prepare to evacuate, as this
was our only entrance and exit. Now if it was so important then for us to prepare
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to evacuate because it was our only entrance and exit, why, I mean, all we're
asking for is one or two extra no parking signs on both sides of the street that will
allow for Shelter House to get their deliveries, allow for that semi, and still allow
for emergency vehicles and traffic to pass. I think that's a small price to pay, a
small thing to ask. I have talked to Chief Rocca. He was concerned about
it...enough that he went and talked to Darian himself. So, I just, you know, with
adding winter to the mix, I mean, we have snow, what? We have snow like we
used to have in the 70s. We haven't had that for a while, but...you know, I...you
can't plan when things happen. So...I just wanted to throw that in and bring you
the pictures that I referenced because I didn't know if you would have gotten
them. So...thank you.
Hayek: Thank you very much!
Dahlen: Hi, my name is Craig Dahlen and I'm the co-manager of the Hilltop Mobile
Home Park. I just kind of want to piggyback a little bit on what Joy said, um, the
fact that we have three businesses all using this...using Waterfront Drive, um, I
know HACAP, they have a big Rinehart truck that probably once or twice a week
does big deliveries, and the homeless shelter, they'll have a big truck which
comes in and uses that for big deliveries. Also Hilltop we have, oh, FedEx and
numerous other vehicles, we're all using that one road quite a bit, a lot really.
You know, so you just got...you got three businesses and what I'm saying is,
if...to have that clear just makes it...would make it extremely important, you
know, we have had two accidents this...this past year on there, but if we could
have that open, that would just be a...a great thing, and I think it would really
serve that part of town really well. So, thank you.
Hayek: Thank you, sir. Would anyone else like to address the Council during community
comment? Okay. Then we'll move on!
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ITEM 6. PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS.
a) CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE REZONING APPROXIMATELY 1.38
ACRES OF LAND LOCATED AT 385 RUPPERT ROAD FROM
INTENSIVE COMMERCIAL (CI-1) TO INSTITUTIONAL PUBLIC
ZONE (P-2) (REZ10-00009) (SECOND CONSIDERATION)
Hayek: This is second consideration, and staff recommends expedited action.
Bailey: I move that the rule requiring that ordinances must be considered on and voted for
passage at two Council meetings prior to the meeting at which it is to be finally
passed be suspended, that the second consideration and vote be waived, and that
the ordinance be voted on for final passage at this time.
Champion: Second.
Hayek: Motion by Bailey, seconded by Champion. Are there any ex-parte
communications? No? Further discussion? Roll call, please.
Bailey: I move that the ordinance be finally adopted at this time.
Mims: Second.
Hayek: Pass and adopt, moved by, uh, Bailey, seconded by Mims. Discussion? Roll call,
please. Item passes 7-0.
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ITEM 6. PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS.
b) CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE REZONING THE FOLLOWING
PROPERTIES OWNED BY THE CITY OF IOWA CITY TO
NEIGHBORHOOD PUBLIC (P-1) ZONE: FROM OVERLAY
PLANNED DEVELOPMENT LOW DENSITY (OPD-5) ZONE FOR
PROPERTIES LOCATED IN DEAN OAKES SIXTH ADDITION,
THORNBERRY DOG PARK AND PENINSULA PARK, AND
OAKMONT ESTATES; FROM OVERLAY PLANNED
DEVELOPMENT LOW DENSITY (OPD-5) ZONE AND INTERIM
DEVELOPMENT MULTI-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL (ID-RM) ZONE
FOR PROPERTY LOCATED IN SAND HILL PARK; FROM
OVERLAY PLANNED DEVELOPMENT MEDIUM DENSITY (OPD-8)
ZONE FOR FRAUENHOLTZ-MILLER PARK; FROM LOW
DENSITY SINGLE FAMILY (RS-5) ZONE FOR AUDITOR'S PARCEL
2002301, TERRILL MILL PARK AREA, AND CERTAIN CITY-
OWNED LAND WEST OF SCOTT BOULEVARD; AND FROM
INTERIM DEVELOPMENT MULTI-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL (ID-
RM) ZONE FOR PROPERTY LOCATED NORTH OF
MCCOLLISTER BOULEVARD (REZ10-00011) (SECOND
CONSIDERATION)
Hayek: This is second consideration, and again, expedited action has been recommended.
Wilburn: I move that the rule requiring that ordinances must be considered and voted on for
passage at two Council meetings prior to the meeting at which it is to be passed
and suspended...uh, be suspended, that second consideration and vote be waived,
and the ordinance be voted for final passage at this time.
Bailey: Second.
Hayek: Motion from Wilburn, seconded by Bailey. Any ex-parte? Discussion? Roll call,
please.
Wilburn: I move final adoption of the ordinance.
Wright: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Wilburn and seconded by Wright. Discussion? Roll call, please. Item
passes 7-0.
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ITEM 8. RENEWAL OF A CLASS C LIQUOR LICENSE FOR SUMMIT
RESTAURANT & BAR, INC. DBA SUMMIT, 10 S. CLINTON STREET.
a) HEARING
Dilkes: (several talking) Staff has, oh...sorry!
Hayek: Do you want to give us an explanation first? Motion to defer from, uh, Wright,
seconded by Bailey. Uh, discussion?
Dilkes: Yeah, staff is recommending indefinite deferral, pending resolution of the
bankruptcy issues.
Hayek: Any further discussion? All those in favor say aye. Opposed say nay. Motion
carries 7-0.
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ITEM 10. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF NOT
TO EXCEED $2,000,000 MIDWESTERN DISASTER AREA REVENUE
BONDS (EPS PROPERTIES LLC PROJECT) SERIES 2010, WITH THE
PROCEEDS FROM THE SALE OF THE BONDS TO BE LOANED TO
EPS PROPERTIES LLC, AN IOWA LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY;
THE EXECUTION AND DELIVERY OF A BOND PURCHASE
AGREEMENT AND ASSIGNMENT TO SECURE SAID BONDS; THE
EXECUTION AND DELIVERY OF A LOAN AGREEMENT BETWEEN
THE CITY AND EPS PROPERTIES LLC; THE ASSIGNMENT BY THE
CITY TO THE ORIGINAL PURCHASER OF THE RIGHTS AND
INTEREST OF THE CITY IN AND TO SAID LOAN AGREEMENT; THE
SALE OF SAID BONDS; AND RELATED MATTERS.
Champion: Move adoption of the resolution.
Mims: Second.
Hayek: Motion from Champion, seconded by Mims. Discussion? Roll call, please. Item
passes 7-0.
Karr: Motion to accept correspondence.
Wilburn: So moved.
Wright: So moved.
Hayek: Moved by Wilburn, seconded by Wright. Discussion? All those in favor say aye.
Opposed say nay. Motion carries 7-0.
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ITEM 11. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER
TO ACCEPT A COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT FOR
THE CONSTRUCTION OF A LEVEE ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE
IOWA RIVER BETWEEN MCCOLLISTER BOULEVARD AND THE
CRANDIC RAILROAD AND TO SIGN THE GRANT AGREEMENT. .
Hayek: This concerns the, uh, $3.8 million Community Development Block Grant, uh,
award, concerning Disaster Recovery Enhancement Funds.
Mims: Move the resolution.
Champion: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Champion. Uh, discussion, and let me, uh, preface
what we're going to do here. We have three items in a row, the three levee items,
um, there appears to be considerable interest in the audience. Uh, for obvious
reasons, and...and probable interest in addressing the City Council. What we're
going to do for each of the three of these items is have a brief, uh, set of remarks
from City staff to...to apprise us of where we are on the issue, uh, and then open
it up to the public for input, um...I think what I'm going to do is ask that, uh, the
members of the public who wish to address us, uh, limit their comments to four
minutes, um, so that we can...give everyone a chance to speak, uh, to us, and after
we've cycled through and uh, and heard the audiences' comments, we will have
Council discussion, and then we will take our votes. And you may weigh in on
one, two, or three of the levee items as you wish. Jeff?
Davidson: Good evening, Mr. Mayor, and Members of the City Council. My name is Jeff
Davidson. I'm the Director of Planning and Community Development for the
City. As the Mayor has indicated, you have the next three items on your agenda,
uh, in which you are being asked to determine if you wish to accept, uh, federal
funds from the Community Development Block Grant program that have been
apportioned to us by the State of Iowa for three levee projects, and these three
projects come out of a larger flood mitigation strategy that the Council developed
out... after a lot of deliberation, in the fall of 2008, and at that time you identified
the highest priority for the City's, uh, flood recovery, uh, methods would be the
buyout of residential properties in the 100-year and 500-year flood plain, basically
eliminating the flood hazard, uh, for persons who lived in residences in those
areas, that that would be the highest priority. You also indicated that a high
priority would be the protection of public infrastructure. Uh, in particular
wastewater treatment facilities, uh, water, uh, treatment facilities, and uh, arterial
streets. Uh, and projects have been developed accordingly, uh, to...to, uh, meet
that priority. Um, there remained certain properties that we were unable to come
up with a strategy, either through the buyouts or the protection of public facilities,
in which we did identify, um, even though we were fully aware that it was not as
desirable a strategy as the higher priority items, but that we would attempt to
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protect private properties, uh, by a system of either levees or flood walls, and we
made application. Initially were denied funds. Now have been granted funds, and
it is up to you to determine if you wish to accept these funds and have the City
Manager, uh, execute grant agreements with the State to allow these to go
forward. Uh, there are many questions that have been raised, uh, about the design
and engineering of the projects, and many of those we cannot answer this
evening, but we will answer, uh, as we go through a process, which will be a
public process if you, uh, determine you wish to receive the funds, of determining
exactly how these projects are designed, uh, and engineered, and that will occur,
again, if you decide you wish to go forward this evening. The first item on your
agenda, item 11, is for the west side levee. This is a project which we have
completed preliminary design. We were able to use, uh, Community Disaster
Grant funds to do that because of the low-mod income, uh, angle that was present
with this particular, uh, project. Uh, it is a levee that, if constructed, would
extend...uh, between McCollister Boulevard and the Crandic Railroad
embankment, and would protect the, uh, Thatcher Mobile Home Park, the
Bacculus Mobile Home Park, and the commercial court area. Any questions
about item 11? Thank you.
Hayek: Would anyone from the public like to address us on this levee agenda item?
Okay. Seeing none, uh, we will open it up for Council discussion, if any.
Champion: This is the easiest levee for me to approve, uh, it's...a lot of low-income people
live in this area and would have no protection, are at least able to get out of there,
uh, so I don't have any problems supporting this levee.
Wright: Yeah, this is awell-placed levee.
Bailey: Given the efforts that we made to protect that area with sandbagging, um, when
the floods were on their way, um, and how fortunate we were that those sandbag
levees held, I'm glad to see that we're going to make steps to make a more
permanent structure there for protection.
Champion: How many people live there? It's a lot! Is it...
Wright: 450.
Champion: 450! Somebody pointed out last night at the work session that'd be like letting
Hills flood (several talking)
Wright: ...the population of the City of Hills, yeah!
Bailey: Yeah.
Hayek: Further discussion? Roll call, please. Item passes 7-0.
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Karr: Motion to accept correspondence.
Wilburn: So moved.
Bailey: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Wilburn, seconded by Bailey. Discussion? All those in favor say aye.
Opposed say nay. Motion carries 7-0.
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ITEM 12. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER
TO ACCEPT A COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT FOR
THE CONSTRUCTION OF A LEVEE ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE
IOWA RIVER BETWEEN THE CRANDIC RAILROAD AND HIGHWAY
6 AND TO SIGN THE GRANT AGREEMENT.
Hayek: This regards the $3.9 million, uh, grant in CDBG Disaster Recovery Enhancement
Funds. Is there a motion?
Wright: So moved.
Wilburn: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Wright, seconded by Wilburn. Uh, discussion?
Davidson: As the Mayor has indicated, the east side levee, which is item 12 for your
consideration, would, uh, protect the area where Hills Bank, Stevens Drive, uh, is
located, uh, that was inundated by floodwaters in 08. That is principally
commercial property. Uh, the, uh, cost estimate for this is approximately $4
million with CDBG funds paying all but $100,000. I also neglected to point out
in my previous remarks that, uh, the design estimates that you have are for the
500-year event, plus three feet. We are required to design to the 100-year event
plus three feet, so we will have, uh, some ability to impact the cost estimates,
hopefully they would not be significantly more. They could be less if you
determined that we would design to a level that was not reflected in these cost
estimates. Any questions about the east side levee, item 12? Thank you.
Hayek: Would anyone from the public like to address us on this levee agenda item?
Okay. Seeing none we'll open it up to the Council. Any discussion here?
Wright: Again, this is protection for Gilbert Street, one of our major arterials. Lot of
commercial property through there.
Bailey: Right.
Hayek: Uh, roll call, please. Item passes 7-0.
Karr: Motion to accept correspondence.
Wilburn: So moved.
Mims: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Wilburn, seconded by Mims. Discussion? All those in favor say aye.
Opposed say nay. Motion carries 7-0.
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ITEM 13. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER
TO ACCEPT A COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT FOR
THE CONSTRUCTION OF A LEVEE ON TAFT SPEEDWAY AND NO
NAME ROAD AND TO SIGN THE GRANT AGREEMENT.
Hayek: This regards the $8 millions and some change, uh, in CDBG grant monies for
Disaster Recovery Enhancement Funds.
Bailey: Move adoption of the resolution.
Wilburn: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Bailey, seconded by Wilburn. Discussion?
Davidson: The final levee project then for your consideration is the Taft Speedway, No
Name Road levee, uh, this would tie in at the east end to the now under, uh,
planning and development project for, uh, the elevation of Dubuque Street and
Park Road bridge, the east end of this project, should you determine you wanted
to go ahead, would tie in, uh, to that, uh, project to elevate Dubuque Street. It
would then extend down to, uh, No Name Road and then proceed north to tie in
with Foster Road. Uh, and it would provide, um, a couple of things, it would
provide protection to the Idyllwild Condominium subdivision, the Parkview
Church, uh, area, as well as keep, uh, the access to the Peninsula from going
under water as it did in 2008. It does eliminate the need for the Foster Road
elevation project which is in your approved FY11, uh, CIP, and again, the cost
estimate, which the Mayor gave is for the construction to the 500-year event, plus
three feet level, and I believe last night the public works' director indicated the,
uh, cost estimate for the 100-year event plus three was approximately $8.9
million, so that gives you a range of what the...the, at least wit h the information
we have now with the project is likely to cost. Any questions about this project?
Bailey: Height of...you described two ranges. What would be the height of this levee?
Davidson: (both talking) uh, I will paraphrase what Rick said, or Rick, do you want to stand
up and...yeah.
Bailey: ...I just couldn't recall what we said last night.
Fosse: Good evening, I'm Rick Fosse, Director of Public Works. Uh, the...the two
options for the height there, the 100-year plus three feet would be in the range of
4 to 6-feet high as it goes past the Idyllwild subdivision. Uh, the levee that would
protect to the 500-year level, plus three feet, would be in the range of 8 to 10-feet
high in that same area.
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Hayek: Can you...because I...we talked about this last night. We had an in-depth work
session last night, and...and peppered staff with a lot of questions and...and
looked at a lot of material and information and got some, uh, data that, um, I think
informed the Council. Uh, that was at our work session last night, and I think
some of that, disseminating some of that tonight would...would be helpful.
Among that I would...I would ask, uh, can... can you talk about, uh, impact of,
uh, a levee in connection with everything else being done by the City, the
University, and Coralville on, uh, on water levels?
Fosse: Yes, I can do that. Uh, what we've done is, is we...we've got a hydraulic model
that was originally developed by the University of Iowa, working with Ayres
Associates as well as the...their, the folks at the University there. And, uh, it's a
detailed hydraulic model of the corridor, and what we're in the process of doing
right now is...is we have layered in all of the various public improvements, uh,
flood mitigation improvements that have been contemplated in the corridor,
including these three levee projects, the Dubuque Street-Park Road project, and
then also the...all the projects contemplated by the University and the City of
Coralville, and what we're seeing in...in this stretch of the river is that during
the...the 100-year event, we would expect the water surface profile, the river
level, to be about 4 inches lower than is currently projected there, and the primary
reason for that is...is the Dubuque Street-Park Road project, which will replace
the current Park Road bridge with something that's both longer and higher, uh,
that bridge produced some backwater that projected all the way upstream into
Coralville, uh, during the 2008 flood. Uh, during the S00-year event, we would
expect the water surface profile to be about 6.5 inches lower than...than currently
projected. So, both of those are preliminary results from the model. We're not
complete and done with it yet, but what we do know is is that for this stretch of
the river, it's...the trend is moving the water surface lower rather than higher...
with the composite effect of all the projects.
Hayek: Thanks, Rick. Well, why don't we...
Champion: Can I just ask Rick another question?
Hayek: Sure, sure!
Champion: I know there's the 100-year flood and the 500-year flood, can you do something
in-between?
Fosse: Oh, as far as protection level? Certainly!
Champion: Okay.
Fosse: All that is spelled out in this grant is the minimum level of protection, and that's
the 100-plus-three.
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Champion: Okay, thank you.
Hayek: So why don't we do this, um, we'll keep Rick and Jeff around for, uh, further
questions we might have, but let's give the audience an opportunity to...to
address us, so again, if you could, uh, form a queue or wait your turn, um, sign in
and...and give us your name and...and limit your comments to four minutes, we
would appreciate it.
Crawford: Good evening. Mayor, Members of the City Council, my name is Mike Crawford
and I live in Idyllwild and I'm, uh, a member of the Idyllwild Homeowner's
Association, Board of Directors. As you can all see, you've already mentioned,
Mr. Mayor, that there are a number of other homeowners here this evening, and a
number of them from Idyllwild. What I'd like to do is share with you a statement
from our Association, uh, Board, uh, this will be brief. We are deeply
appreciative that the City has pursued CDBG funding to build a levee on Taft
Speedway and No Name Road. As you know, there are 92 homes in Idyllwild.
We have come a long way since the flood, yet we remain unprotected from future
floods. This levee would be a tremendous relief to all of us who decided that
Idyllwild is where we prefer to live in Iowa City and we rebuilt following the
2008 flood. So that you know, 90 of the...92 homes are now occupied. The other
two have been rebuilt to the point of being winterized. We also would like to
comment on how cooperative and helpful your City staff have been, assisting our
Homeowner's Association, as well as individual Idyllwild homeowners as we
have worked to restore our community and our homes. You have very capable
professionals who care about and work hard for our city. We ask now that you
take action tonight to accept the grant to build the levee. We certainly recognize
that there is much yet to be defined through the design and engineering phase of
the project, and along with others in other communities, uh, other individuals
within the community, we look forward to having the opportunity for that input.
So thank you again for working, uh, for the work you're doing to protect the
Idyllwild community. And at this point, uh, prior to coming to your work session
last night, and you did cover it in detail, uh, I was going to address some other
specifics, but I feel that those questions were...were well answered last night, uh,
by your staff, uh, but I would just say this. As you know, and it has already been
stated, uh, tonight, um, relative to buyouts, we were not allowed to be bought out.
Um, second... second point that I would like to make, that I don't think did come
out last night, is...is that we cannot, or it would be extremely difficult for us
to...to, uh, raise our buildings. There are four homes in each of the 23 buildings,
and uh, you have four driveways, you have a number of things. It would be, uh,
in fact cost prohibitive for us to do that as a Homeowner's Association, and the
last thing I would mention, uh, thanks to a grant from the City, uh, we were able
to do a flood control study, uh, of, uh, Idyllwild and we contracted with MMS
Consultant and the one thing I guess I would say is that if we were to experience a
500-year flood again, it would take 500,000 sandbags to protect Idyllwild,
500,000. It's impossible! We need a levee. So thank you very much.
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Hayek: Thank you, sir.
Taylor: Good evening, I'm Wally Taylor. I'm an attorney from Cedar Rapids, and I'm
here on behalf of the residents who live on the south side of Taft Speedway. This
project would construct a levee where Taft Speedway now exists, leaving nine
homes on the wrong side of the levee, subject to flooding. There are several
unfortunate aspects of the situation in which you now find yourselves. In the past
week or so, you've received letters from Taft Speedway residents addressing
these issues very well. I just want to highlight a few points. Number one, this
project was discussed at a Council work session in July of 2009. Actually, there
was no real discussion. Only information that was...that there might be some
funding for flood control projects. There was an unspoken consensus for City
staff to go ahead and investigate this proposal. At the Council meeting the
following night, two Taft Speedway residents spoke about their concerns, but
there was no discussion or vote by the Council. The issue was not even on the
agenda. Number two, the flooding application that was submitted to IDID of the
state agency in July of 2009 contained no mention of the impact of the project on
Taft Speedway residents. No mention whatever of the impact on those residents.
This means that IDID did not have the opportunity to assess this impact in
deciding to eventually approve the application. Now that the application has been
approved, you the Council must consider whether the impact on the Taft
Speedway residents is irrelevant and of no consequence, or whether as elected
officials you have a duty to consider the effect of your actions on all the residents
of the city. Number three, the City will need to...to come up with an additional
$3 million to...to match the grant money. This money being diverted from a
more worthwhile project. The Taft Speedway residents do not want the levee.
The Idyllwild residents are working on a method of flood protection of their own.
The Peninsula residents are going to be protected by means other than the Taft
Speedway levee. In any event, why are some residents more equal than others?
We don't want a battle of the neighborhoods here. We don't...ah, there's a
solution, there ought to be a solution that satisfies and benefits everyone, and we
haven't had the chance to really look at all of those alternatives. Before the City
commits $3 million, there needs to be a comprehensive review of this project
considering all the impacts and consequences. Number four, it's also disturbing
that at the work session yesterday, Mr. Fosse acknowledged the valid concerns
and problems with the Taft Speedway levee, but responded that they could be
addressed by engineering. This is not good engineering! I've heard this...before,
that engineers, well...design something as an engineering solution, to one
problem, and that solution creates another problem. That requires another
engineering solution and so on. A...good engineering means you design it and
engineer it right in the first place. The best way to control flooding is good water
shed management. The levees are a solution of the past. Less intrusive
construction is another modern way of controlling flooding. It does not appear
that these alternatives have been adequately considered. Certainly it's natural for
you folks to want to depend on your City staff, but you need to look at all the
information that you're given, you need to use your own judgment in deciding
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Page 21
whether this project has really been adequately considered and adequately
designed, and if any alternatives have been considered. Number five, City staff
have repeatedly claimed that the Taft Speedway residents have no right to
complain now because they rejected buyout offers. But those buyout offers were
made in 2008, before there was any talk about the levee project. Furthermore, the
Taft Speedway residents have taken measures themselves to protect against
flooding. Their property should not in effect be condemned without
compensation because they did not take a buyout. Number six, after the July
2009 application languished for over a year, everyone basically forgot about it,
and moved on with their lives. IDID now has approved the application and
imposed a very short timeline on your decision to accept or reject the funds.
You've been laboring under the assumption that when you received the approval
letter from IDID for this project on November 1St that you had to make a decision
by December 18th. I've talked with Joe Boelke at IDID. He told me that
December 18th is not a hard and fast deadline, and he advised David Hurdy, your
flood management director of this fact. So you don't have to rush to judgment on
this project. You must take the time to consider all the issues involved and arrive
at a reasonable and responsible decision. So we now have the time to look at all
of the factors, all the alternatives, decide what is best for all of the residents in
these areas and come up with the right solution. And, there's also time to talk to
IDID and HUD and see if there's any flexibility in what kind of alternatives you
can consider. I've heard it said it has to be a levee project or some permanent
structure. I'm not sure that's true, and I think we ought to take the time to talk to
IDID and to HUD and find out if there are some alternatives that we can...can
look at, to see if there are ways to avoid a...putting these Taft Speedway residents
on the wrong side of a levee, and assure that they'll be flooded and instead find an
alternative that benefits everyone. Thank you.
Hayek: Thank you, sir.
Wilcox: Good evening, Mr. Mayor and Council. Thank you for your service to Iowa City,
and I wanted to say thank you to the, uh, staff who've worked very hard over the
last month, and I've had a lot of contact with, uh, with some of the staff, and
they've been very professional, open, and uh, helpful, and I appreciate that very
much. I'm not again...I'm not in favor of this, uh, proposal, but I don't take it
personally, and I hope anything I say in the next five minutes, no one takes
personally.
Hayek: Could you give us your name?
Wilcox: I'm sorry! Joel Wilcox.
Hayek: Thank you.
Wilcox: Uh, 119 Taft Speedway Street. I need to convince you, uh, to reject $8 million of
free money. When I used to teach rhetoric, that was called an audience problem,
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and uh, but it's not really free money. It's money that binds you to something,
and as I see it, I think in metaphors, as I see it, you sent your staff on a fishing
trip, um, in...in 09, and what came back is a...a beached whale. I think the best
thing is to get that thing back to where it belongs and otherwise it's...the project
is apt to be something very large and unpleasant. These are...these are things that
I...that I hope you will consider, or have considered before you make a decision.
Have you had enough time to consider the implications of the project? Is it a slam
dunk, cause it seems like we're on a slam dunk kind of timeframe. I hope that's
not true. Are you satisfied with the mantra that projects can be engineered to
answer questions? Are you satisfied to move forward with a project so unique
and so invasive on the faith alone that everything will be worked out in the
design? Are you satisfied that no public discussion of this proposal has taken
place? Are you satisfied with the risks involved in diverting funds from Foster
Road to make...to make up the shortfall? Do you have concerns that except for
statements from Idyllwild thanking you for working on their behalf, that almost
all the public comment has been negative? Are you sanguine about the fact that
there was no mention in the proposal of nine homes, that will end up between the
levee and the river? Was this well done? Are you satisfied that all the
alternatives presented by Stanley Consultants have been thoroughly explored and
that a levee is truly the best for both neighborhoods? You've received virtually
no benefit of communication from the neighborhoods about this project, because
the State has simply given you no time. The proposal pits one neighborhood
against another when there is no good reason for it. Taft Speedway families don't
begrudge Idyllwild residents the right to protect themselves. And Idyllwild has its
own plan to protect themselves, using their own property to do so. And not our
road. Now since talking about fateful things to our street always seems to be
followed by they were offered buyouts, I...I respectfully would like to just
challenge an assumption in that. The buyout program has been a blessing for
people who really needed it, and we're grateful for it. But it's starting to feel like
the buyout program is being used to bully people, who might technically qualify
for buyouts, but don't need or want them. The City seems to want to clear out all
homes on the flood plain without making distinctions about viability. I did not
ask for help from the City in 2008. Why? Because of...of mitigation that I did in
1993, under direction from FEMA. As a result, I was able in 19, uh, 08 to, um,
resume living in our home, barely three weeks after the river had receded from it.
Three of my neighbors had completed similar mitigation work, or were...or were
well on their way by the time we learned about the levee proposal one year later.
If a program is supposed to be voluntary, like the buyout program, it is not truly
voluntary if powerful... if the powerful create fear and alienation when people
make what they consider to be...what they consider to be the wrong decision.
They were offered buyouts is almost always spoken in the context of trying to
wash one's hands of moral responsibility. We just don't fit the 2008 paradigm for
buyouts, and we're not a liability to the City. The current approach seems to
absolutist and binary. But we're a strong neighborhood and we only got stronger
after, uh, 2008. I think Idyllwild is a strong neighborhood now. They've planned
their own flood protection and...and they didn't even need our street to...to do it.
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Page 23
Let them be stronger. By all means help them find funds, but let them be
stronger. Get out of their way. You long...you no longer need to...to own the
decision for...for good or bad about building in Idyllwild years ago. People of
Idyllwild have taken ownership of that decision, it seems to me. And look how
magnificently they've done with it.
Hayek: Mr. Wilcoxen, I'm sorry, I have to be consistent and I...and I'm going to have to
ask you wrap up your comments if you could.
Wilcox: I...I...I don't think you need, uh, this protection and...and none of us needs this
levee. Thank you very much.
Hayek: Thank you, sir.
Simon: My name's Dale Simon and I live at, uh, 46 Pentire Circle in the Idyllwild
Condominiums. I'm going to refer to a, uh...um, opinion page from the, uh,
Press-Citizen, written on Saturday, June 13, 2009. In there it talks about the
initial allowing for the building of the Idyllwild Condominium Association, and it
was, um, approved after considerable debate and a split vote by the Council. And
I'm just going to read a small portion of this. And it says in here, the
requirements that didn't...they didn't help the residents of Idyllwild, who trusted
the city officials, engineers, and insurers that said the odds of a catastrophic flood
(mumbled) of catastrophic flooding outside the 100-year flood plain were so
small that they didn't need to worry about it. In the past years many of those
flood...in the past year, many of those flood displaced families have moved back
into the flood plain, not because they're not worried about the flooding of the
future, but because they think they have no other financial options. And, um, the,
um...I believe if you were to build the Foster Road, that would be like a levee just
a little further over and that would put 92 more homes into the, uh, side that
would be on the other side of the...of the, uh, flood wall. Thank you.
Hayek: Thank you, sir.
Phelps: My name's Mark Phelps. I live at 115 Taft Speedway. Mayor, Council, I'd like
to thank you for all your time on this project. I'm going to cut this short cause
there's lots of technical questions that I have that we don't have time to address at
this moment. I do have one thing I'd like to address though. It's what the
definition of a flood is. According to FEMA, I have their definition right here...a
general or temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of two or more
acres of normally dry area land, or two or more properties, at least one being your
own property. (mumbled) from inland tidal waters or from unusual, rapid
accumulation of runoff, service waters, or from any other source or from mud
flow. That's FEMA definition of what you need to do to qualify to use your flood
insurance. The dwelling form for homeowners on Taft Speedway and condo
association owners reads relatively the same. Then you get into reading your
policy. Under Section 5, Section D, we do not insure for direct physical loss
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Page 24
caused by direct or indirect of any of the following: number 3 is rain, snow, sleet,
hail, or water spray; number 4 is water, moisture, mildew, or mold damage caused
from primary (mumbled) condition, and i) of that subsection is design and
substructure of mechanical defects. Also, inside there, there's the failure, in
section 2, there's failure of stoppage, breakage of water, sewer lines, drains,
pumps, fixtures, or equipment. Section 5 is water or water born material that
backs up through sewers or drains. Discharge or overflows from sump pumps,
pumps, or related equipment. Or, section 7, power, heating, cooling failure that
results from direct loss by... from flood or non-flood, power, heating, or cooling
equipment on described location. Inside the plan, which you guys have proposed
that's putting a levee around Taft, or the Idyllwild Condominium section, that
leaves two homeowner or two, essentially properties: Idyllwild and the church.
Inside there you have to flood two acres in order for you to be able to start
proceedings to reclaim money. If for some reason in this design you have two
pumps...you have one, two pump systems designed, one for sewer and one for
storm water retention, inside the Idyllwild `bowl' area. If one of those fails and
you have less than two acres of water flooding, then the residents inside Idyllwild
could be flooded from their own drain waters and there is no protection for them.
They cannot use their flood insurance. Their homeowners' insurance will not
cover them either from ground water or anything else. So without a backup plan,
if it does... if the water source does not come from a river or a creek, that's
considered a backup from drains, of which they could be...put themselves into a
very scary situation when you get rainfalls of three and four inches an hour, and
equipment fails, or can't keep up. Thank you.
Hayek: Thank you, sir.
Davison: Hello! My name's Gary Davison, 305 Taft Speedway. Um, we've lived in
Idyllwild for three years. Liked it, loved it, um, it's a nice neighborhood. My
wife always admired the little white house with the green shingles on the river.
She always wanted to move south...on the water, so we moved from Pentire
Circle to Taft Speedway on the Iowa River. Uh, the flood turned us upside down.
I did go to the Council... err, the meeting that the City had with the consultant,
Stanley Consultants, and it was downplayed in my mind that it was even feasible
to put a levee down through there. It was no way, can't happen, there is so much
water that falls from the sky, all of the mobile home court, all the water comes
right down, into the ponds, into the pond, into the river. How we going to stop
that and divert it? Um, then we got to pump it out. Um, naturally hydraulics;
when it rains so hard and the river came up, I could go down in my crawl space
and I could see exactly where the water line was, and I can see where the river
was. River come up, my basement came up. It was dry in between. And we're
going to build a levee that goes all the way down through there, dig a hole deep
enough to stop that water from percolating up (mumbled). So, Rick Fosse says
where's the water going to come up? It comes up everywhere. Um, so therefore
we have to plug everything, stop the water from coming out. We have to pump it
out and over in to that. We (mumbled) down the hill, and we're going to build a
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Page 25
levee and sewer, cause I had to hook on to city sewer and water for $11,000. It
was 11 deep at Gilden's Corner. So we're going to put a levee 10 feet above that.
It's higher than what the ceiling is in here! And the sewer and water'll be down
there! So we have a problem. Who's going to pay to dig through this break in
and tie on to that? It's the homeowners; it's our responsibility over there. Um,
feasibility just to do it, uh, let alone, um, you know, the whole idea of the buyout
is to eliminate the people that want to live there. So, in Iowa City, I like living in
Iowa City; however, there isn't anybody left on the river. They had to
borrow...borrow my pontoon for the regatta, and rent the other one, cause there's
nobody left! So, you know, I've always had the theory, I should start a business.
My name's Gary, and I would go up, pick people up at the Iowa River Power
Company, give `em a pontoon ride downtown, and leave `em off downtown at
Hancher, go to a play, go out to eat, have a ticket, here's a ticket, take a taxi back
over to stay at the Sheraton and promote the river, use the river. Here we're going
to plug the river. Thank you.
Hayek: Thank you, sir.
Chiat: Good evening, Mayor and Council, my name is Terri Miller Chiat, and I'm here
tonight, um, representing Idyllwild Development. I think very few planners at
either the city level or at the Idyllwild level anticipated the type of flood event
that occurred in 2008. Having lived through that catastrophic event and dealt with
the aftermath, it was the kind of a challenge that I hope I never have to face again.
Despite the valiant efforts of everyone who helped us sandbag at Idyllwild, and
this included so many people from the community, city assistance; we had
contractors, um, that assisted us. Two engineers from the City who helped design
the sandbag walls, um...people from Parkview Church, of which there were
many. Without their assistance, we wouldn't have been able to do as much as we
did. We were actually able to put up a sandbag wall that was 350,000 sandbags,
and it wasn't enough to protect Idyllwild. It took us four days to do that, of
constant effort, and we quit when we were evacuated. There was not time to do
anything more than that, and in the event of another flood like happened in 2008,
as Mike Crawford said, we would have to erect a wall that would be 525,000
sandbags, or another 50% higher than what we had already accomplished, which
didn't protect us and which we didn't have time to do any more than that. In the
event of a flood, there...we really have felt in looking at this whole situation,
of...of what we did do during that flood and talking with MMS and trying to
study how we could better protect ourselves. We've determined that a sandbag
wall is not feasible. That will not protect Idyllwild. There have been some
people tonight that have talked about the plan that Idyllwild has for protecting
themselves in a flood. Um...I'm not...I don't really understand where that came
from because as part of the Board, as part of the development company, I have
not been privy to see a plan that would protect that community in the event of
another flood that would be like the one in 2008. At least up until the time when
we started to hear about, um, planning for a levee on Taft and on No Name Road.
That's the type of thing that would protect that community whereas there are not
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very many other ways to protect that...that, those 92 homes that are currently
there. Um...so I ask you to support the levee. I believe that's the best way to
protect that area. Um...I feel...like it is...maybe a, um, I can understand how the
people on Taft, how they can really be upset about the levee, but a question that I
have is what the effect of a levee...what difference of an effect a levee will have,
as different from some other kind of a barrier that would be put up to protect
Idyllwild, because if a levee is not built, there are other types of...temporary
barriers, but to me it seems like it would be the same effect at the end of the day.
In the event of a flood, there would be a wall so whether the wall is a levee, a
permanent levee, that would always be there or whether it's a temporary one,
erected at the time of the flood, it would have the same effect of keeping the water
away from Idyllwild is what we would hope. Thank you for your time.
Hayek: Thank you, ma'am.
Wallace: Hello Members, I'm Mary Kathryn Wallace and I live at 45 Colwyn Court in
Idyllwild and I came to listen, but then as I heard others I have...I discovered I
have something that I would like to say to you. Um...first is that this is an
important decision you are making, and I know that you are listening and will
make, um, a thoughtful decision in response. There have been many valid points
that have been brought up and I was quite surprised to hear others speak of the
flood plans that Idyllwild has because when I've gone to our meetings, we have
no money to do full, uh, flood recovery or protection, so for me I do not know of
such a plan, just as Terri who is a member of our board also, stated. Uh, in
today's paper, uh, I'm thinking that I read this correctly, there was an article about
the modeling and it was saying that on both sides of Taft Speedway water levels
would be lowered with the levee. Uh, and therefore, I was thinking, well, that's
good news (laughter) for Taft Speedway residents on the south side and for
Idy11...Idyllwild residents on the north side of that, and if I'm incorrect in my
memory of reading that, perhaps, uh, there could be some clarification on that,
because that seemed important to know that the modeling's going on; University,
Coralville, Iowa City are all working together to put their heads and come up with
a good solution. And, lastly, I do encourage you to accept the Community
Development Block Grant to the 500-year level, um, to the 500-year level. Thank
you.
Hayek: Thank you, ma'am.
Chase: Hello. My name is John Chase, and I live at 229 Taft Speedway. And I'd just
like to say that, you know, the flood of 2008 was very devastating forme and I
chose not to take the buyout and you know did my own flood mitigation on my
own home, you know, with guidelines that I received, you know, through FEMA
and how to rebuild in a flood plain. But anyway, uh, I enjoy living on Taft
Speedway and it's a nice quiet neighborhood with good neighbors, and I don't
find, uh, that, you know, I don't oppose the people at Idyllwild trying to find, you
know, some flood protection for theirselves, but what L .. I really think is
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that...I...I don't want to see the street all tore up with a levee and everything and
it's just going to change the whole, um, looks of the whole neighborhood and
everything, but I really do think that if we want to prevent flooding in the Iowa
City area, that we need to get with the Army Corps of Engineers and make that
dam is our greatest asset in flood protection. Now last year I'm thoroughly
convinced that we were headed for another flood, but the Johnson County
Emergency Management and the University of Iowa, whoever they were, and I
don't know who they talked to at the Corps of Engineers, the General maybe, but
they go those people to bend and open that gate to 10,000, which is our safe
release level that it really doesn't do nothing but flood a little bit of the park. So I
think that's really one of the places we need to...do a lot of (mumbled) because
even with the levee, and I have an idea that, yeah, Idyllwild could put a cement
wall around their place and have like a stone veneer, but we still have to deal with
the hydraulic pressure coming through the sand, and...and that whole bottom is
sand. I know that from when I put my addition on, it is the nice sand box under
there and you're going to...hydraulic pressure will always get `em. In fact what
Mark Phelps said about, well, you can flood yourself from the inside, and I
wouldn't want to see that for them. So, I think we really need to take a look at
dealing with the Corps of Engineers, because that's what that dam's there for
is...is they told me in 2007, this is a flood control dam, and we all know what
happened a year later! Thank you.
Hayek: Thank you, sir. If there's, uh, if there's no one else who would like to address the
Council, um, okay...we're going to pause shortly but...but I'll, uh, allow this
woman to speak. We're going to take a restroom break and come back I think
and resume the Council deliberations, but ma'am, if you would go ahead.
Phelps: My name is Elizabeth Phelps. I live at 115 Taft Speedway. Iowa City
departments are constantly touting the preservation of neighborhoods. Tonight
you may decide to divide ours by the construction of a levee. From the reading
that I have done over the last week, I have learned that levees are not all that they
are cracked up to be. In the Illinois Association for Flood Plain and Storm Water
Management published an article in 2007 titled, Why the Concerns With Levees.
The article opens with, there are two kinds of levees in Illinois, those that have
failed, and those that will fail. The article describes how levees are not fail-safe,
and structures behind levees still need to be prepared for possible flooding. The
article quotes the Illinois State Water Survey, reporting despite significant
improvements in levee construction, neither current knowledge about soil
mechanics, hydraulics, hydrology, and hydro-geology, nor current construction
technology are adequately considered in levee design and construction. Even in
the basic, frequently asked questions section of FEMA's document, "Levees,
Identifying the Risks," that can be found at floodsmart.gov, the question was
asked: Why is it important to understand the risks associated with levees? And
the answer that FEMA provides is: There are currently thousands of miles of
levees across the country affecting millions of people. So it is important for
individuals to understand the risks associated with living behind levees and the
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steps that they can take to address these risks. It is important to note that no levee
provides full protection from flooding, even the best flood control system or
structure cannot completely eliminate the risk of flooding. Levees are designed to
provide a specific level of protection and larger flood events can cause them to be
over-topped or fail. Levees also decay and deteriorate over time. Regular
maintenance and periodic upgrades are needed to ensure that they retain their
level of protection, and continue to perform their design. Maintenance can
become a serious challenge as a levee system gets older. When levees do fail,
they fail catastrophically. The damage may be more significant than if the levee
wasn't present at all. Levees seem simple, but in fact they can be extremely
complicated. The wrong design or engineering could have disastrous effects.
Miller's place at 105 Taft Speedway was purchased with Community Block
money, so there's no land use restrictions. But the Trimble property at 103 and
Gilpin's property at 301 were purchased with FEMA buyout money. There are
land use restrictions with those properties. I found in the Missouri Department of
Transportation's Engineering Policy Guide a whole section dedicated to outlying
steps that need to be taken when dealing with properties bought with that money,
from hazard mitigation grant program. It states: there are several thousand
buyout parcels throughout the state and there are numerous restrictions on these
FEMA buyout properties. No structures or improvements may be erected on
these properties, unless they are open on all sides. The site shall be used only for
open space purposes, and shall stay in public ownership. These conditions and
restrictions, among others, along with the right to enforce them are deemed to be
covenants running with the land in perpetuity, and are binding on subsequent
successors, grantees, or assigns. The buyout property restrictions preclude
development of the parcels, including placement of fill material or bridge piers,
thus the deed restrictions are a constraint to building roads and bridges. Any
decisions involving these properties should take into consideration that two to
three years is needed to obtain an exemption from FEMA to utilize these parcels.
This exemption would likely be a permanent easement rather than a transfer of
property. And since FEMA's federally regulated, I would think that the Missouri
standards would...would have a lot of similar to Iowa. Since the flood, I have
met some very nice people across the street at Idyllwild. But their condos, that
turn over frequently. I looked up all of the Idyllwild addresses on the assessor's
web site and I discovered that there are only 13 of the 92 residents have lived
there at least ten years. Less than half of the residents have lived here since,
before 2008. The City's application refers to an urgent need due to Foster Road
being affected by 100-year floods. This is a fallacy. I believe there were two
buildings which would be eight units built before the flood of 93. These units
were not affected and Foster Road was not obstructed in 93. Only the extreme
levels of the 2008 500-year flood affected Foster Road. Um, the secondary access
issue has been mentioned repeatedly. And we need to consider that levees are
ultimately controlled by the Army Corps of Engineers and so that only
driving...the only people driving on a levee during flooding situations are going
to be the National Guard and not Peninsula residents.
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Hayek: Ma'am, I need to be consistent, and ask you to (both talking)
Phelps: Okay. My parents bought our property in 84. They stood before the Council
under Mayor Courtney and protested the additional development of Idyllwild.
Now Mark and I are here. Our neighbors have lived in their homes for decades
and...Taft Speedway residents, even five, ten years from now, we're still going to
be here, whereas the face of Idyllwild will change greatly in the next five years.
Thank you.
Hayek: Thank you very much.
Benson: Mr. Mayor, Mr. Helling, you are the ones I particularly know up there, and
Council, uh, my name is Robert W. Benson. I live at 22 Colwyn Court, and um, I
want to talk about the Corps of Engineers and um, the problem they caused, uh,
during the, uh, flood. I was on the way to the airport to catch a plane three days
before the flood. We went past the reservoir, and it was a third of the way up
the...the hill in that, uh, (noise on mic) the area around, uh, the reservoir, on the
north side. And I remarked to my family in the car, uh, geez, I've never seen that
so high before, and uh, so then I went down to Atlanta for three days and on, uh,
while down there my family called and said we had the flood, and um, course the
rains came in approximately about that, a couple three days after that, uh, event,
and um, the, uh, extra...extra water that we got and by opening the gates of that
dam, I think is the major cause of our whole flood, uh, the lingering rains I think
could have been controlled if...if the gates hadn't been opened, and if the gates
would have been done properly. Now you notice this spring, I mean, they've had
the water down way low, and uh, they've done that for a purpose, to keep it from
flooding, but uh, I...I um...don't know if that's the right thing to do. We give
them the blame on the flood, but uh, the point is, uh, will that ever happen again?
Uh, do we really need all this flood protection we're putting in, uh, where
something else is going to cause a worse flood. So I just bring that up for your
immediate attention and uh, I notice also at the reservoir they haven't used as high
a water for the boating up there, and I think that's what they were doing, June 22nd
they were filling up, uh, that area and uh, the result was the major flood that we
had. Thank you very much.
Hayek: Thank you, sir. Think what we'll do at this point is, uh, take a quick recess for the
Council. If any of you during that break decide you do want to address the
Council and you haven't yet, there'll still be an opportunity for you to do so, uh,
when we resume, but why don't we take a five minute break and...and come back.
We'll recess at this time. (BREAK)
Hayek: Okay, we'll resume the meeting at this time. Is there anyone else from the public
who would like to address the Council? Okay. Hearing none, I will then, uh,
shift to the Council's deliberations. Council.
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Wright: Ah, I have a question for the man who just walked into the room, Dave.
(laughter) Uh, perfect timing!
Purdy: Oh, good!
Wright: When Mr. Taylor was speaking, he referred to the possibility that, uh, we don't
have the deadline that we thought we had for the grant. Isn't that correct?
Purdy: Initially (both talking) excuse me. Initially, when they, um, issued the award
letter, it had a date of December 18, 2010. Uh, the...as Mr. Taylor indicated, Mr.
Boelke has extended that for a few weeks, until, um, if the City Council needed to
postpone it until the, uh, January 10th meeting. So it's, uh, it's...basically he
allowed us, allowed you to move it to the next meeting if you wanted to. It's not
like there's six, nine months.
Wright: Thank you.
Hayek: Thanks, David.
Champion: I have a question for the engineers. I don't know if you can answer this, but...if
we would build a 100-foot levee, I mean a 100-year levee, it'd be three foot above
that. So if there is a flood bigger than 100 years, if the 500-year flood, is there
going to be a 300-year flood amount of water in Idyllwild, or does the levee, the
100-year levee plus three feet keep that amount of water out of there? Do you
understand my question?
Fosse: I think so. I...you're asking if...if three feet above the 100-year flood elevation
(both talking)
Champion: If it's not...if the water overflows it.
Fosse: What level of protection that...that gets you, where it's lapping at the top? That's
difficult to estimate, just...just shooting from the hip. Typically, you design three
feet additional in the height of a levee, beyond your protection level, for that
factor of safety and also when it goes...when you get to less of that, you begin
to...to worry that it will overtop and then begin to...to work a sandbag or...or
raise it by other means. So that's...that's part of what that factor of safety is in
there for.
Hayek: Connie, was your question more as it relates to what happens on the other side if
it does go over the top?
Champion: Yeah.
Fosse: If...oh! Once it overtops? Then it will...then it will fill in until it matches the
river level.
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Champion: Oh! Okay. So it would fill in to the height of the levee?
Fosse: It would fill in to the height of the river. Once the river is higher than the levee,
then it fills to match the river level.
Champion: I don't like your answer. You may sit down! (laughter)
Mims: No. Stay there! (laughter and several talking) Rick, I have a question. We
talked some last night and...and this issue's been brought up again tonight as
well. The percolation of the water through the soils down there, and in doing a
levee, we were talking last night, you indicated basically a big trench has to be
dug and a wall... if I understood correctly, basically a wall, a barrier put down to
prevent the water coming through underneath. Did I understand that right?
Fosse: That's correct.
Mims: Okay. How deep does that go, and...and how do you decide how deep, and what
just keeps the water from going underneath it?
Fosse: Right. For the...for the purposes of the estimate, that...that's before you tonight,
the, uh, the wall that is 15-feet below the surface and uh, how deep it ultimately
is, whether it's shallower or deeper than that will depend on a soils analysis, and
then they'll look at soil conductivity down there to determine how far down you
need to go to get it below an acceptable level.
Mims: One of the other things that you commented on last night, if...if we decide to go
ahead with this levee, you talked about the, basically the water shed and water
coming down off from that hillside, and indicating that one of the parts of the
design would be to divert that water around Idyllwild. Was that correct?
Fosse: That's right. Uh, the interior drainage is always a part of any levee design. You
need to look at how to handle the water that falls behind the levee, and there's
about 80 acres upstream of this site that drains through it, and there may be an
opportunity to route that around the...the west edge there, along No Name Road,
and then out to the river through the old Gilpin property.
Wright: And I...I had just a follow up question to the...the underground barrier. That
would have to be in place for the levee, or for any kind of temporary, like a
Harsco barrier or a temporary wall, correct?
Fosse: That's right.
Hayek: Are we committing, uh, if we, uh, approve this resolution, are we committing to a
particular height, uh, at which, or to which to build the levee?
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Fosse: You're committing to a minimum, uh, the actual design would...would come out
of the process.
Hayek: The minimum would be?
Fosse: A 100-year level plus three feet.
Dickens: Which is four to six feet in height.
Fosse: Correct.
Mims: The other thing we talked about a little last night, and again, this one came up
tonight is the, one of the concerns that I have with the levee is...the level of
utilities to people on Taft Speedway, and how deep those are going to end up
being buried and the fact that certainly under current regulation and/or law, is the
homeowner's responsibility from the sewer main or the water main to take care of
their own, and if we've got these things 20 or 30 feet below ground, and part of
that is because we built this levee...what...how can...do you have any ideas? I
mean, obviously it might be a policy issue here, but just even engineering-wise,
what kind of considerations might we take into account?
Fosse: Well, one of the options is to relocate the sewer to get it out from underneath the
levee. And, I believe that that's one of the things that was contemplated when
they put together the, uh, the estimate, because it includes 2,000 feet of sanitary
sewer as part of that estimate, so I think that's what they're getting at there.
Mims: But then going to which side of the levee? Going on the Idyllwild side of the
levee?
Fosse: You would...you would essentially have a sewer on both sides of the levee then.
Mims: Okay. Okay.
Wright: Then would water service run to that as well?
Fosse: Possibly. Yeah, those...those details, again, be worked out during the design.
Wright: I...I know from personal experience about how much it costs to put in 150-feet of
water service, and it's not cheap!
Fosse: Yes.
Mims: And if it's buried that deep, it's really not cheap!
Wilburn: Neither one of those...many issues that come from the Council where reasonable
people can...reasonable people can be on both sides...on opposite sides of an
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issue. I was looking, um, we refer to this and the other parts of the
comprehensive flood mitigation efforts - we call them mitigation, uh, for a
purpose, uh, I'm looking at my Thesaurus and um, mitigate, some alternatives are
to ease, to lessen, to moderate, to diminish, um, cause anything we do is not going
to totally eliminate, uh, the possibility of uh, natural disaster. As I listen to, uh,
both sides, uh, and questions from the Council last night on this issue, uh, it's
very easy to slip back into remembering what had happened...the events that
happened around the time of the flood, and uh, my heart goes out to everyone that
was directly affected, uh, but many in the community were affected because this
is a place as you very well know that people will rise to the occasion, come help
their neighbors in need, and as several of us were out there, I was unfortunate
(mumbled) down in Mosquito Flats helping folks out, um, but uh, had some
memories of a softball team that I was coaching that did some volunteer work too,
but you look at the effort that people put in, you think about as a Council Member
you think about decisions that Councils past have made or have not made that, uh,
impact you now and...and making a commitment yourself as you're watching this
effort, um...while very laudable, uh (mumbled) dangerous to be out there, uh,
either as a volunteer or staff members, that uh, from a variety of departments that
aren't their areas of expertise out in the middle of the night, uh, placing
themselves in harm's way, they're trying to assist people. So, as I reflect back on
that time, um, you know, some terms were used tonight, uh, irrelevant and
inconsequential. Um, you just have to look at your neighbors to realize that
decisions you make when you're up here are very relevant, and there are
consequences to decisions that we make. Part of the decision that I made when
we, and I think many Council Members made when we were talking about, uh,
how to approach this, um, recovery from the flood that has happened. We knew
that, uh, some decisions were going to be, um, not popular, uh, we knew that we
were going to try and make some decisions that were going to have, um, as lasting
impact as possible in the future at trying to mitigate the impact of the future, uh,
flood area. Um...the buyouts that we had been doing, it was not a popular
decision. You know, there were several community meetings and facts and
figures flying around and people, uh, again, naturally upset and...and wanted to
see certain things happen, or not wanting to be, uh, bought out or felt that they
were forced out, um, so again, we are very cognizant that, uh, the decisions that
we make are relevant, and that there are consequences to them. We also
discussed, uh, at the time the possibility of looking at levees as a comprehensive
set of issues, and so I will be, uh...honoring that commitment to trying to look
forward with the, uh, best circumstances, um, one that we can agree on, um,
thinking that there ought to be a resolution that's going to be popular and will
satisfy everybody. That's not by my experience on Council. Um, and so it is
respectfully for the folks that are, uh, against this, I'm going to say that I'm going
to be supporting, uh, grant application and proceeding with this as part of a
comprehensive set of issues that we committed to, uh, when we began this, uh,
~ ourney.
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Mims: Well, like everybody, I wish we weren't here tonight. Um, I mean, I wish, one I
wish the flood hadn't happened, um, you know, in hindsight I think a lot of people
probably wish Idyllwild hadn't been built where it was built. Um, as I was
talking to a staff member today I made the comment that, you know, if I had been
on the Council at that time, I don't think I would have approved Idyllwild and the
comment back to me was, you know, we had flood standards, you know, building
standards in place at the time and it met those requirements at the time. Things
have changed, and certainly since then, at least twice, um, we have changed and
even just recently have changed our standards in terms of, uh, floodways and
where we will allow building and at what levels, and I think we...we see things
differently, uh, you know, events happen and we change those standards, but we
are where we are, uh, and so we have to deal with it. We...I think everybody up
here has given this, uh, a lot of thought, and we certainly have gathered a lot of
information last night and for any of you that...that were not here last night, we
did go through this I think in a lot of detail, um, personally I went through, uh,
almost all the letters that we had gotten, um, from individuals, and just asking
staff what about this, what about that, this is what people are saying, are they
right, you know, how does that impact, and...I wish that there...one of the
questions, you know, I wanted to see if there was some way we could do
something temporary. It just looks like financially that doesn't make sense. Um,
the cost of... of having something, you know, you have to pay... you have to pay
for it every year. You've got to test it every year. You've got to put it up.
You've got to take it down. You don't know when to put it up. You know, we
don't really know if it's going to flood or not, you know, we won't get
reimbursement from FEMA if they don't call it a real flood, whatever. I mean,
just the ongoing costs of trying to do it in temporary fashion, um, I don't think is a
responsible way for the City to spend taxpayers' money. Um...one of the things,
and I will be supporting this. Um, one of the things that I feel at least good about,
and...and maybe that's not a good way to phrase it, but the modeling is showing
that with all the projects that are being done, that the water levels should be
somewhat lower than what they were in 08. So, in putting a levee in, while it is
leaving a group of people on the river side, um, it is not making it any worse for
them, at least according to the modeling that we have, than they would be without
the levee. Um, the levee's not protecting them, but it's not making it any worse
for them. Um, on the flip side, it is in many cases, uh, will be providing
significant, uh, protection for those 92 homes in Idyllwild. Yes, it may get over
top sometime, um, it's not necessarily a perfect solution. One of my big concerns
is the look of this. Uh, you know, what it's really going to do to that area, and I
hope as, uh, as our staff and...and whatever engineering firms they bring in to
help, you know, look at doing that engineering, that you know, it can be done in a
way, uh, whether it's shifting it a little bit to the north, or you know, whatever
might be done to help mitigate some of those issues in terms of how the feel of
your neighborhoods really are after, uh, this is done. Uh...I just think that, um,
you know, a lot of thought has gone in. I...there's no perfect solution! But, um, I
think the fact that, and I'm not one to spend money just because money's
available, but I think given these set of circumstances, and the need for protection,
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and the fact that that money is available, um, I think it would be irresponsible of
the Council not to take advantage of that to protect 92 homes in our community.
So I will be supporting it.
Champion: I'm going to tell you honestly, I don't want to be here tonight. I've got a new
grandchild at my house and a friend! And I'm here because this is really a tough
decision, and I wanted to make sure that I was here to make my decision. I drove
up to northern Iowa today and I thought about this decision all the way back here,
cause I am concerned about the people who are living on Taft Speedway, who
have lived there for a long time. This is not an easy decision forme. In fact, I'm
probably going to be very upset, but I'm going to have to support this levee.
Wright: The expression that's been running through my head, off and on... for a while
regarding this levee is...is I...I sort of feel damned if I do and damned if I don't,
frankly. It's, uh...there are some compelling arguments from folks living on both
sides of the proposed levee, uh, certainly as Susan has pointed out, it's going to
make a dramatic difference in the look of the Taft Speedway side. What I kept
cycling back to as I thought about this is whatever the City should chose to do,
and uh, unless it's nothing, that the folks on the river side are going to be on the
wrong side of some sort of flood protection, whether it's a levee, whether it's a
temporary flood wall that's put up, whether it's Hesco barriers, um...and there's
just no simple way around that one. Um, so looking at that and considering the
options that we have, and again, as Susan has pointed out, uh, the temporary flood
protection does not look to be a very practical solution. Uh, it's with a fair
amount of regret that I feel the...the, uh...oh, what's the phrase I want?
(mumbled) The better of two less than optimal choices is going to be to put up
the levee. So I will be supporting this.
Hayek: I will, as well, um...this is a decision that I, uh, can tell has weighed heavily
on...on the Council Members. You see these decisions from time to time, and,
uh, I can tell you in the audience and those watching that, uh, all seven of the
Councilors, uh, struggled with this, and uh, take this ser...take the decision, uh,
very seriously and uh, reviewed the correspondence and, uh, and...and pressured
staff to give us good answers, and really thought about, um, the consequences of
either acting or not acting on...on this issue. Uh, no citizen is more equal than
any other citizen in this community, but so often, uh, for city government the task
becomes one of determining what provides the most benefit, uh, to the most...to
the greatest number. Um, of citizens. Um, and in that sense, uh, sometimes the
majority, uh, the interest of the majority, uh, does trump the interest of the
minority, and it's an unfortunate, uh, thing, but uh, that does occur, and there's no
way around it, uh, in the line...in the line of work that a city engages in. Um, we
have, uh, maxed out, and we continue to pursue the buyout, uh, approach, which
was one of the three legs of our flood response. Um, and...and for good reason,
and...and, uh, that is an option that remains, um, and will until the federal
government, uh, terminates it. We have, uh, maxed out and continue to pursue
protections for public infrastructure which is the second leg, uh, and that benefits
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the entire community, and...and the...the concept of flood walls or levees is...is a
third component, and...and as staff indicated, it was our last resort of the three
options, but certainly one that has benefit if...if, uh, especially the buyouts aren't
sufficient to...to get the job done, and that's what we're pursuing and that's
consistent with what we said we'd look at, uh, early on. Um, we have an
opportunity, uh, to accept $8 million in federal funds, um, for...for this project.
Um, which will address the majority of the costs. Not all of them, uh, there's still
a substantial local share, and...and that's north of $3 million, that this community
will provide if we approve this, uh, for the support of a section of the community,
and that should not be lost on those who are directly benefitted by this. Um, this
will, uh, address this problem in a, uh, permanent way. It will not eliminate the
problem. This has been noted, but uh, it does, uh, greatly mitigate it. Um, and the
portion of, um, monies that the, that Iowa City will have to devote to make this a
complete project would have been spent on, uh, Foster Road anyway, uh, not
dollar for dollar, but in the same... same ballpark. $3 to $4 million. Um, and uh,
we would have had to do that anyway to...to keep Foster above, of water,
and...and protect the areas in the Peninsula, up the hill, which are also of concern
to us in a flood event. Um, we looked at last night in some depth the...the
concept of temporary protections, and would this kind of approach work, uh,
in...in the areas around Idyllwild, and uh, my conclusion, and I think it's shared
by others, is that a temporary flood wall approach in this area is just...is not
viable and...and for me it's not viable for two reasons. One expense. Even to be
able to install temporary flood protection, uh, would, uh, be...based on staff
estimates, north of a $2 million commitment, and that just gets you the basics and
gets it set up the first time. Then you have ongoing expenses and every single
time you need to deploy the wall, uh, to address the risk of a flood, um, you've
got those expenses, which are I think conservatively several hundred thousand
dollars each time, uh, that...that happens. Um, and you...and you still have the
impact. You still created a wall for that flood event. The second reason that
temporary measures aren't, um, viable from my perspective is, has to do with
expectations. I think, um, if we were to go that route, the City would be placed in
a...in an untenable position, um, to respond to demands or cries for, uh,
temporary flood walls to be deployed, um, each time, uh, the...the weather was
predicted to turn bad or, uh, the...the prognostications looked like we were in for
a wet summer, and um, the entire community pays each time you deploy a system
like that, and there is no reimbursement, if in fact the flood does not occur. So
cost wise you, uh, you don't get to, uh, a better position in a temporary approach.
Um...uh, to get these federal dollars a permanent, um, structure is required. Uh,
we can't take the money and do something temporary; it has to be a permanent
structure. Um, the...I share Susan's comments about worrying how this looks,
um, and I think all of us do. Uh, but the design and...and the dimensions of this
are...are yet to be determined. We have not yet done that work. That's part
of...that's the first step, uh, in...in pursuing this. Um, and the only way to find
out what this will look like and have an ability to, uh...minimize the impact on
the areas adjacent to the levee, is to get into this design work, and...and a vote,
support of this will...will allow us to do that, and I...I know that the City will
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make every effort to mini...to minimize the impact, uh, to the area, um, but
for...for these reasons, um, and...and the ones that others have eloquently
provided, I...I will support this.
Bailey: Two and a half years this community has been working on flood recovery
and...and we will continue that well into the future, and...we knew as a Council
and we knew as staff, and I think we knew as a community that if our first choice
of buyout programs, couldn't be comprehensive, and we...we knew that the
money was limited so it wouldn't be, but at some point we might be facing this
kind of decision to actually construct something that would put people on the
`wet' side of the levee. And we talked about that early on, even...even before,
um, we determined an official direction, we were talking about this possibly,
because those are the realities you face when you're recovering in a community
from disaster. And, I think... as people have said, you know, none of us would
want to be here making this decision, you know, could we...if we could go back,
if we hadn't had a flood two and a half years ago, but we did, and we are charged
with the responsibility of protecting the community into the future, from such a
devastating event, and we I think take this very seriously to not saddle future
Councils with these kinds of challenging decisions, and to make the best public
policy towards this that we can make, given the choices, the limited choices that
we have. We have an opportunity here, um, it's not a great one, as Mike said, but
it's an opportunity to carry forth a policy that we determined in 2009. I think it
was a good approach. I still think it's a good approach. And, um...I'm going to
be supporting this. We knew, um, after the flood the look of our community
would change and it already has. I mean, I drive through, um, Parkview Terrace a
lot and look at how much that neighborhood has changed. I mean, this
community that I grew up in has...its look has changed so much, um, but what
I'm very confident in, not only our...our ability to have done something that we
can, um, it will be the best of design aesthetically, as well as engineered wise that
it can be, is that we will adapt to this change, just as we have begun to adapt to the
new look of Parkview Terrace, just as we've adapted to the change in our
community because fundamentally we are a resilient community, I mean, here we
are two and a half years after the flood, together, continuing to talk about these
issues, but in a respectful, together, um, way. So, I'm going to be supporting it.
Dickens: I will be reluctantly supporting this as well. It's a very tough decision, uh, it's
one of the few areas in Iowa City that you can still live along the river, and I
know Bill Gilpin who just passed away this last spring lived there for many years,
and every time there was a flood...he was a good friend of my father's. They
golfed together. It got tougher and tougher for him to live along the river, but um,
the last time was devastating to him and he finally gave up to sell. Um...I just
know it's very tough to live on rivers; floods are part of it, um, but we have to do
something to protect the other areas, and so I will be supporting it.
Hayek: Any further discussion by Council? Roll call, please. Item passes 7-0.
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Karr: Motion to accept correspondence.
Wilburn: So moved.
Mims: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Wilburn, seconded by Mims. Discussion? All those in favor say aye.
Opposed say nay. Motion carries.
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ITEM 19. COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS.
Hayek: At last night's work session Council agreed to appoint to the Parks and Recreation
Commission David Bourgeois and Lucie Laurian. To the Public Art Advisory
Committee, Jan Finlayson and Susie Thurmond. Uh, to the Youth Advisory
Commission, uh, representing City High, Sam Fosse; representing West High,
Leah Murray, and uh, At-Large, uh, Caroline Van Voorhis. Is there a motion?
Wilburn: So moved.
Wright: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Wilburn, seconded by Wright. Discussion? All those in favor say aye.
Opposed say nay. The appointments are made, um, other appointments, uh, that
we weren't able to make, which means that there are vacancies on these, uh,
commissions: one vacancy on the Board of Adjustment; one vacancy on the
Airport Commission; two vacancies on the Airport Zoning Board of Adjustment;
two vacancies on the Airport Zoning Commission; one vacancy for a mechanical
professional on the Board of Appeals; one vacancy for a licensed electrician on
the Board of Appeals; and one vacancy for a representative from Tate High
School to the, for the Youth Advisory Commission.
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ITEM 22. CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION.
Hayek: Start down with you, Susan.
Mims: Nothing thank you! You know, I would just, let me back up. I would...wish I
had said it before they left, but I really want to thank all the people from Taft
Speedway and Idyllwild for their communication, and for their coming tonight
and participating in this public discussion. I think it was very helpful.
Wright: It was a good discussion.
Mims: It was!
Wright: Nothing for me.
Wilburn: Uh, hearts go out to the, uh, City High School JV wrestling team, they had an
unfortunate accident there, um, it was, uh, hope for a speedy recovery for those
who were injured and uh, just, uh, thank the (mumbled) and staff for working well
and again, in a crisis situation for helping each other out and trying to stay calm.
Otherwise, for those who celebrate, uh, some holiday in December, I wish you
well. Um, happy day to all, and uh, hopefully won't have to have another
meeting here before the end of the month!
Bailey: I want to wish everybody happy holidays, happy new year, and welcome to town!
Markus: Thank you!
Dickens: Ditto!
Hayek: A man of few words, Dickens! (laughter) Speaking of welcomes, uh, to Tom, uh,
just want to remind the public that this Thursday from 4:00 unti16:30 here in City
Hall there is a welcome reception for new City Manager Tom Markus, and uh, the
public is invited to attend and get to know your new City Manager.
Markus: And his better half!
Hayek: And his better half, that's great! (laughter)
Champion: I think better (several talking and laughing)
Hayek: Speaking of our City Manager, let's move to item 23. Anything?
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ITEM 23. REPORT ON ITEMS FROM CITY STAFF.
a) City Manager
Markus: No reports.
Hayek: Dale?
Helling: I'd like to welcome Tom too! (laughter)
Markus: Does look a lot more relaxed, doesn't he? (laughter)
Hayek: Color has returned to your face, Dale! (laughter)
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the regular formal Iowa City
City Council meeting of December 7, 2010.