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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-01-10 TranscriptionPage I ITEM 2. PROCLAMATION. a) Martin Luther King Day — Monday, January 16, 2012 Hayek: (reads proclamation) Karr: Here to accept the proclamation is Iowa City Human Rights Commissioner David Brown. (applause) Brown: Good evening! Um, I'm sorry! Hayek: That's okay! I've got to give this to you first! (laughter) Thanks a lot. Brown: I just wanted to say thank you (mumbled) Hayek: Now you've got to go back to the podium! Sorry about that! (laughter) Brown: Let's try this again! Good evening, I'm David Brown. I'm a Iowa City Commissioner, uh, and on behalf of the Commission we would like to say thank you! Hayek: Thank you. Thank you for your service! (applause) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 2 ITEM 4. SPECIAL PRESENTATION. a) MidAmerican to Fire Station #4 Dochtler: Good evening! Uh, I'm Steve Dochtler with MidAmerican Energy. I'm a key account manager here in town, and we've been working with Fire Chief Andy Rocca, who uh ... come on up ... on Fire Station #4 for their energy efficiency measures. Uh, they've implemented several, uh, measures there on the new building. Um, some of them are daylighting, a geothermal heat pump, uh, occupancy sensors, uh, improved wall and roof insulation, and all these measures have added up to a total of, uh, savings, electric savings, of 137,000 kilowatt hours. Uh, or the equivalent of eleven residential homes. Uh, on behalf of MidAmerican Energy, I'd like to present Fire Chief Rocca and the City with a rebate check for $19,700 for their efforts at Fire Station #4. (several responding) (applause) Rocca: Mr. Mayor, uh, City Council, it's a pleasure to be with you again tonight and accept this check on ... on behalf of the City of Iowa City. Uh, I think it's important to note that as Miss Kumi Morris from our Engineering Division, uh, pulled these entities together, and those entities would be, uh, MidAmerican Energy and the White Group, and we all collaborated to come up with these energy efficiencies, uh, incorporate them into Fire Station #4, and I think as most of you know, Fire Station #4 is a beautiful facility. It's an energy- efficient facility. We hope to bring you a gold LEED certification at some point in the near future, uh, so I'd just like to pass my thanks on to Miss Kumi Morris, the White Group, and MidAmerican Energy for this construction rebate. Thank you very much! (several responding) Hayek: Thank you! Thanks, Chief! Thank you, Steve. (applause) Throgmorton: Andy, when Michelle and I take that tour of the... of the stations, please draw our attention to the measures out there! Rocca: Uh, you can be assured that I will! Thank you! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 3 ITEM 6. COMMUNITY COMMENT (ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA). Hayek: This is the opportunity at each City Council meeting for members of the public to address the City Council on items that are not on the agenda. If there's something you'd like to bring to our attention, uh, we invite you to step forward to the podium. You need to sign in and also give us your name verbally, uh, and in the interest of time and consistent with our policy at every City Council meeting we ask that you keep your comments to five minutes or less. So if there's something on the ... that you'd like to bring to our attention that's not on the agenda for tonight's formal meeting, uh, please do so! Ross: Hi, I'm Brandon Ross and uh, thank you for the Council to allow us to speak tonight. I would like to start with just saying that we the people of Iowa City, uh, who have represented, uh, the signature drive, uh, to protect our neighborhood on Washington Street are against the bulldozing of three old buildings that have historic viability, uh, that exist within that neighborhood, uh, for so many reasons we are against it. We think it's bad planning. We don't wish to have a 33 -unit, three- bedroom apiece, uh, unit thrown up there. A hundred more people. Uh, all... traffic and such like that. There are 5,000 people who have signed, uh, online or ... or hand -held petitions. Uh, that is more than any single, uh, City Councilor on this panel tonight has gotten votes in their re, uh, respective elections. That is more than, uh, than general ballot actions require and uh, it is a substantial amount, it's a high percentage of people in this town are in complete disagreement with this. Um ... 5,000 people signed this, uh, petition within six days. There was no primary, uh; there was nothing in the papers to tell us to do this. It just happened, and that there's something dreadfully wrong, and the community feels that. The community is here. They do not wish, uh, for the neighborhood as it is to be changed. It's one of the most beautiful parts of our city. Several places in our city you could say that about, and you're basically taking it down. We feel that the City, um, has abided by certain rules, but has been basically uninvolved, or not involved enough, in the planning. Personally, I think that there are other places where a building of this sort could have gone up. Uh, you know, the City could have worked with other entities. Even things like U.S. Bank, for instance, has that huge parking lot with 20 cars in it. Would have been perfectly appro ... uh, perfectly appropriate to put something there. That would have been creative. Uh, but to put things ... to take down these three beautiful buildings, that have businesses in them, that were considered for historic preservation, were considered at least — even though they did not go on the Register — uh, these businesses that have operated both as ... these buildings have operated as both businesses and residences, and have been, uh, good partners in the neighborhood, should be torn down to be ... to have a ... to have this large building thrown in there, uh, to us is ... is ... is not only distasteful, it doesn't work! It's just plainly wrong, and we wonder ... most of us are in a state of irony about this. What were people thinking when this all happened? So ... I just would say that we ... we are ... we are completely, uh, in disagreement with this, uh, just because a developer wants to come in and have his personal ATM machine over This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 4 there to withdraw, you know, to make money off of all those people who are living in those units. You know, I don't think that that makes it a right action. I think that we have to preserve the historic precedence of our town, uh; we did erect a statue of Irvin Weber that stands on, uh, Linn Street. I think that we do stand for something in this town, and that when something is wrong, it's just plain wrong, and you should as Councilors, uh, I've heard some, uh, people in the Council say that they didn't agree with this. Well, I want you to stand up — we all want you to stand up, and I'm sure more people will speak after me that, uh, will give more information and more concerns about this. Thank you so much! Hayek: Thank you, Brandon. (applause) Rosenbaum: Good evening, um, citizens... I'll sign in in a second (mumbled) and I just wanted to clarify one thing. Um... Hayek: Could you give us your name first, please? Rosenbaum: Oh, yeah! My name's Rebecca and I just wanted to clarify I ... I appreciated what Brandon Ross said, but that's regarding something on the agenda later, is that correct? Or are we supposed to speak to that now? I'm... Hayek: If you're here to talk to us about Washington Street, the Red Avocado — that, that section, now's the time to talk (both talking) Rosenbaum: Oh, now is, okay, cause it was confusing when you said it wasn't ... okay! So then I understand I only have five minutes. My name's Rebecca Rosenbaum and I would like to state, first of all, that if I look familiar to you, Mr. Mayor, it's because maybe you remember — you look like you do — we ... back when you were a simple country lawyer, we hired you (laughter). I live in an old home and when I bought it the realtor said I wouldn't park anything in that garage, and I said, no problem, it's going to be a great garden shed. I want this house because it's got a beautiful space right south of it. So I dug up my driveway and planted flowers... because I wanted to look out my south window, from where I sat typing here in the City of Literature, and look at flowers. Not at a car! Years went by and some guys in white shirts who didn't look like they'd ever had their hands dirty came and said, ummm, you've blocked the access to your driveway, and thanks to you, you were able to find out that my house was a standing ... I always get pre ... pre- existing condition which goes to health care, and standing nonconformity which is to buildings confused. It seems the same, but thanks to you, you found out that back in the 30s you didn't have to have room for two cars because nobody had two cars. So having said that, I want to say that I would like to speak to aesthetics. If this city has the gumption to call itself the City of Literature, it means you are making ... we are making a statement for aesthetics! The opposite of aesthetics is anesthetic. This is not really the City of Literature. It's really the City of Healthcare because as many of you know, the Hospital is the number one employer, not only in the city, but in this county. This is really the City of This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 5 Healthcare Workers. I am pro- anesthetic, if somebody's going to do me a procedure, but otherwise, I think in the name of aesthetics, in the name of what inspires literature and poetry, we need to save the block diagonally across from here and the, uh, near Northside. They're the only things beautiful. I have deviated my previously route from downtown. Some of you are old enough to remember when there used to be pretty things on Iowa Avenue. There used to be a gorgeous building and some people put something ugly right in front of it, before they even tore down that building. You know, just, um, east of the credit union, and that monstrosity that's all connected used to be three cute little buildings. It was an issue were they historical, even though they weren't rich peoples, and I lived in one of them, and now they've been replaced by ugliness. I don't take that block. Um, I plan my route around beauty, and I think the buildings that there are, because of the food that's in them, because of the businesses, because of the brilliance of digging out basements and making them pretty, are beautiful! And, um, I'm not going to admit how long I've lived here, then you'll know how old I am, but I too am an antique and this city is not really writer- friendly. Um ... need to mention Kevin Olish, who died two days ago, who was the friendliest person on this block, possibly in this city, and another reason to walk that block was to stop in the Co -Op, but you know, he didn't ... never was able to afford to live in a beautiful building. He lived in dwelling units which sounds to me like something for people from robot land. I confess I am not from here. I've only lived here half my life. I was born, and please give me like a four minute cause the clock's back there. If you want people to be talking for five you ought to have a timer up there, but anyway, I was born in New York, New York, and there's a whole lot of beauty there. I walk around — there's gargoyles, stuff like that. Um, the city has a lot of things that are seriously needed. It has become more diverse, which is wonderful, but sad that the Synagogue is moving, and I know ... I think you gave Connie Champion a look like `that doesn't belong on now,' but I think the area needs to be looked at as a piece, and I was thrilled when Professor Throgmorton, who I'm thrilled to have back on Court ... Council mentioned `pocket parks.' I think the Synagogue is already partly landscaped and it would be a fabulous pocket park and a quiet area, possibly with a really nicely designed plague, not one on the ground, because these plagues that you spend money on, about writer's, are there on the ground four minutes so we walk on the writers, and the myopic amongst us can't read them unless you want to fall over ... us to fall over and smash our heads and have to hire lawyers (laughter) so I'd like a nice readable plague saying on this site there was a Synagogue for 62 years and Jews were a minority in Iowa, and something about us, and something about the common patriarch we share with Muslims and Christians, two of the many world religions. Maybe that park could be a quite space — no dogs, no rock and roll —just a nice, quiet meditative space. So I am here to plead pro- aesthetic. I'm wearing what is called a `poet shirt.' I haven't been published for a long time, but I have ... great passion for the work that has been done serving food in the Red Avocado, and the great beauty that has grown on that block, and in the near Northside. Thank you, and one other thing, I must confess — in order to leave my house I had to break an ordinance because my kitty got out. Can you This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 6 please get rid of that cat's on leash law? I walk with a cane. They're faster than I am. I can't help it! Thank you very much. Hayek: Thanks, Rebecca! (applause) Rosenbaum: I'm just writing my name and holding onto a cane, so step right up whoever's next! Thanks again for helping save our garden! Dieterle: I am Caroline Dieterle. Um, I've been reading about this in the paper, and I understand that the City's position at this point is is that they can't do anything about it because the zoning permits what was planned there and urn ... that basically you have to keep hands off. Um, and I guess that I have a certain amount of hope in the bureaucracy in the City of Iowa City, um, that somewhere in the ordinances or somewhere in the red tape that exists in this City Hall there will be something that can prevent the destruction of the houses on Iowa Avenue. Where is bureaucracy when you need it? (laughter) The second thing that I would like to say is, and I hope you will search and see what you can find because you would be ... you would up your popularity rating across the city by about 5,000% if you could find some way to stop this out... outrageous monstrosity from occurring. The other thing is that although I've watched development and um, construction in Iowa City for quite a while, I've never heard of Allen Homes before. And, this made me a little curious to know exactly who this corporation is and where they are located. Um, and whether there is any local person that is attached to this, uh, group. And that lead me to think that I wondered whether anything has been done to ascertain that they truly have the financial capability to carry through this project. Because the last thing we need is to have ravaged lots across the street from the Co -Op, um, and near the downtown, in everybody's view, that is partially finished, or even just a con... construction site. Um, that would be the ... even worse than having them put a building on it. And the third thing, in a way I almost hope that they've asked for TIF money, and that they can't do the project without it, because then you'd have a good way of saying, "No! You can't have this because this isn't a `brownfield.' This isn't an area that needs to be redeveloped." I join everybody else in ... in ... thinking that, you know, we're trying to get people to come downtown to shop and to hang out, and to... to spend more of their time downtown, patronizing local, um, owned businesses, and uh, basically helping keep the money local, and getting rid of things that are this ...this nice downtown in favor of a soul -less parking, uh, of an apartment building is ... is wrong. Um, it isn't going to make people want to come downtown. And, you know, the mere fact that I mentioned parking lot, that makes me think — I suppose that he's been careful, or they have been careful, to ensure that they have got every last square inch of parking facility that they need for this, and that they are as many feet above the 500 -year flood plain as they have to be, and all those things, which everybody else in town has to adhere to and since we're not needing this development, there's no reason to give them a let -out clause. So please, look at the realities of this situation and do anything and everything you possibly can to stop it. Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 7 Hayek: Thank you. (applause) Bradley: Hi. I'm Jason Bradley. Uh ... we own 505 E. Washington Street. Well, I think the one property that's not coming down, uh, on that block right there, and I just want to ... throw in with everything that's already been said, and I won't take a whole lot of time, but I just want to express we've owned this property since 2005. We purchased it because of the sense of community and neighborhood that that particular area of town delivers to this ... to this fine community. Um, I think my wife, Suzanne, said it best. It appears that we're building a ghost town. We keep taking down these wonderful structures and we put up these multi- you know, rise apartments with commercial on the bottom, and we just can't lease them out. The tax base is too high. Small businesses can't afford it, and they just sit empty. And no ... the developers don't care because they're making enough money to cash flow the properties from the apartments that are rented above. And that concerns me, because I feel like we're losing our sense of community and just as the previous speaker said, there ... we're starting to lose a sense of why... why we have a downtown and why we have a community. I think that some of the hid ... hidden treasures of many towns or cities are found in these historic neighborhoods that were preserved and protected. Areas like Dinkytown in Minneapolis -St. Paul. It's just beautiful up there where they've gone out of their way to preserve these old buildings and ... and make wonderful commercial establishments exist in those properties. I'd also like to, you know, go on record, Nila Hogue, who sold those properties, was in the paper this morning, and I think she's right. It ... it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep those properties at the status that they're at. Like I said, we ... we purchased a property of ours on the corner there, um, in 2005 and we have put ... at least 100 if not 150,000 back into that property, just to keep it where it is. And I know that ... and I'm positive that, um, Allen Construction is doing everything that they can to stay within their legal rights, and I don't ... even want to comment on that at all. It's well within their rights to do that. I just hope that this could at least be a learning experience for future planning. That we protect this community. That we protect these town ...this town, and we don't develop a ghost town. So thank you for your time. I appreciate it. Hayek: Thank you, sir. (applauses) Cohn: Good evening, Council, my name Yale Cohn. I don't know if this is your first Council meeting of the year, but it's mine, so I'd like to wish you all a Happy New Year. To Rick and Michelle and Jim, congratulations on, uh, being the newest, uh, elected members here. Like so many of the other people this evening, um, many of whom I'm very fortunate to call my friends and neighbors, uh, I too am, uh, concerned about the development on Washington Street. Um, far less so about that specific property, uh, however, as I am to what I perceive it to be emblematic of as a greater problem, uh, going on in the city. Uh, as Jason mentioned, uh, that ghost town element, the overdevelopment of, um, properties, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 8 whether they have aesthetic charmed or not, or not, excuse me, is not as important to me as, um, the loss of small businesses, and the opportunity, uh, for other local Iowa Citians to create, uh, grow and thrive as the Red Avocado did, uh, their own small businesses. Uh, as Jason mentioned, uh, many of these new properties, which by code, uh, are required to have commercial space, uh, in the bottom floor, those spaces are in fact empty, uh, due as far as I'm aware, to their cost - prohibitive rents, unless, uh, just as they are, uh, primarily student housing, uh, the businesses that can open there are, for instance, a liquor store, pizza places, which cater of course to college students and ... and I certainly wouldn't begrudge them, uh, either. My ... my love for beer and pizza is I think well known, but my love for small independent, um, locally owned businesses of a ... of all variety is also I think, uh, quite well known, and I think Dave and the folks at the Red Avocado, um, really represented that, um, the best way it could, not just for businesses, but I think they really put a ... a great face on the City of Iowa City as, uh, as Dave mentioned, uh, his place was a popular stopping point for people coming, you know, all across the country, traveling through, and those people would come in to Iowa City to go to the Red Avocado, and they would shop at other local businesses and, you know, contribute taxes and pay for parking in the ramp, and to lose, uh, businesses like that, uh, I think's injurious, um, to the city as a whole. Um ... as, you know, I'm really grateful that we do have these three newly elected members to the Council, cause I think with Jim's experience in City Planning and Michelle's experience with Planning and Zoning, as well as the Board of Adjustment, um, that will bring a lot of insight and expertise, uh, into looking at these things in the future, and I think Rick, uh, as a physician, um, you know well that an injury, illness, uh, or infection in one part of the body will affect, uh, poorly the entire body. And, uh, I think that's on some level what we're seeing where we're losing, um, these properties to development, and I'll say again, I'm certainly not anti - development. I ... I have, and I am also under no illusion that these properties will not be, uh, turned over. I don't think there's anything untoward, uh, going on in this development. I think it's unfortunate, uh, but I also believe that people have a right to build, uh, apartment buildings and to profit off of renting them and I've ... I've come before this Council before to criticize what I thought were overly nanny -state decisions that were perhaps an over... overreach of power or capricious, um, so I'm not, you know, I'm not someone who looks to government for all solutions, but I think, you know, as I'm sure many other people will come and speak this evening, I think there's a great concern amongst the, uh, residents of Iowa City, um, who love this town as much as I do and as I surmise all the rest of you do given your commitment to coming on Council that there's a concern that, you know, we're reaching almost a precipice. I had on my show yesterday a former city councilman. I had intended to talk to him about his writing career, Larry Baker, but with everything that's in the news we ended up talking about these things (mumbled) quite a bit, and he told me that he, uh, decided to run for council for the first time cause he was upset about seeing neighborhoods, uh, torn down to turn into student housing, uh, and that was in 1981. So, this is a 30 -year- ongoing, uh, concern, uh, and I'd... I'd ask and I challenge the Council and Tom, uh, to use their, um, powers as much as This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 9 they can to look into ways that, um, the loss of this particular building, uh, need not be in vane, and that uh, in the future, uh, working together with the community and even with developers we can find ways, uh, that allow small businesses to continue to grow and thrive in the downtown area, in the Central Business area, uh, in such a way that Iowa City retains its ... its, both economic, uh, as well as business diversity. Thank you, uh, very much for your time. Hayek: Thanks, Yale. (applause) Sylvan: For those of you who know me as the Book Lady, um, I am in fact Nialle Sylvan, the owner of the Haunted Book Shop at 203 N. Linn Street. Um, I live in the Glendale - Morningside Neighborhood. And I'm here tonight to talk ... perhaps to dispel some concerns — I am a pro- business, uh, pro- development individual, who has owned a business in Iowa City for the past seven years. Urn ... I moved here to purchase the Haunted Book Shop and fell in love with the town, and love it very deeply, and that's the main reason that I'm here to speak to you tonight. In September of 2008, the landlord that I had at the existing Haunted Book Shop passed away; new owners decided to sell; my lease was not going to be renewed. I was told that I would need to find a new premise, or I would need to buy the building. $500,000 was outside my means at that time, so I looked for additional premises. I looked at six potential sites, beginning in September of that year. Five were unfinished inside, three of them were well outside of pedestrian traffic areas. Three of the five would not be available until summer. One had its own parking, but with ... the building was up for sale so actually it wasn't really available. The sixth was too small and had repair issues, including water damage, which terrifies the crap out of book dealers. Um, but might have been feasible if the rent had not been three and a half times what I had been paying at my first location. All six of the places I looked at cost between two and a half and six times what I had been paying on five ... at 520 E. Washington Street, immediately across from the property in question. Luckily for me, luckily for the Haunted, luckily for the people who love the Haunted, a special opportunity arose as the ... as a result of the collaboration between Northside Book Market, Real Records, and Hodge Property Management, who all came together to give me an opportunity to take over Northside's space. Had they not given me that opportunity, I would be on the same list as the Fun Zone, the Vortex, Gypsy Magic also known as Rocky Creek, and the number of other businesses who have specifically cited rise in commercial rents as the reasons they were not able to stay in business, just since I arrived in 2004. It's important to note that I had two months' to prepare for the move following the opportunity that I received. Even after preparation, it ... starting on January 1st of 2009, took a team of 25 people willing to work from 7:00 in the morning until midnight or later, many of them taking time off from work, using their personal days, some of them loaning large vehicles, doing construction work, moving heavy boxes, heavy fixtures. 31 days after which they had to go back to work and school, and I continued to work until February 24t ", same hours, to move a 25,000 volume bookstore. This is why I feel that 30 -days calendar notice beginning immediately before a holiday This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 10 weekend to a bookstore is inadequate. Urn ... I have no doubt after my extraordinary experience of the volunteer capacity of Iowa City that..Iowa City will spring forth volunteers to help Mr. Delzer move, but I don't doubt that he could probably use another 30 -days notice, before the building is demolished. Um, I can't even begin to imagine what it's like for a restaurant since they have to have kitchens approved by agencies. This is outside my realm of expertise. I'd also note that the cost of moving, including utilities, gas, truck rentals, supplies set up, and redundant rent came to about $18,000 so that you have an idea of what we're talking about. This is not a small amount of money for any business. Let me also address a concern that I have as an entrepreneur. Number of retail spaces in high -foot traffic yet still low -cost commercial areas is declining very quickly in this town. In part because of new developments with higher rents and in part because the rents around them begin to rise. Um, even knowing what I now know about the unbelievable support I could actually start turning around and pointing at people in this audience who have shown up to volunteer at my bookstore when I needed them. Even knowing about them, I would have to take a look at high rents, unattractively uniform development appearance, uh, recent failures of so many well - established, old, and in many cases still lamented businesses. The recent economic development survey that found that what Iowa City needs is a Crate & Barrel. Um, ongoing city support for high -end establish retail, um, but I'm not seeing as much city support for the development of properties that could be used for small start-ups like myself. Um, I would have to come to the conclusion that Iowa City is not a good place to start a business. My concern is for the future development of Iowa City for spaces to accommodate both the high - end growth the city would like to see, and the start-ups. My story, the Haunted Book Shop story, is a success story. After just seven years here, I contribute... actually six figures now annually to the Iowa City economy by paying six new employees, sourcing most of my products and supplies locally, renting from a very good local developer — Hodge Properties. Um, paying my taxes on my home which I have purchased here, and my mortgage to a local bank, as well as contributing substantially to local charities, helping local disabled people to find work in my store, and other efforts. Local businesses besides having the immense local support are good for our city. We need more development. We need more development that would provide us with locations in which to start and to succeed. Why am I telling the City this? I think you need to know what challenges face the two businesses that just received extremely short notice that they needed to move, because I think you need to know how the (mumbled) commercial rental prospects look to an entrepreneur. I think you need to know that Iowa City's support for local businesses is in fact so high, no matter what the economic survey told you, that 25 people would spend what would be a normal January, very, very cold and slushy, moving a 25,000- volume bookstore for free! Urn ... and I say it mostly because I would like you to look at this petition. I have 356 paper signatures that I've collected so far, signed by people who are in Iowa City over this holiday, and the 4,300 -and some signatures that were on the online petition before I left, um, to come to this meeting. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 11 Hayek: You're going to need, I'm sorry, you're going to have to wrap up. You're... you're up on your five minutes. Sylvan: I have two sentences left! Hayek: Okay. Sylvan: Okay, uh, in the span of just six days, these signatures came together. It sounds like the City of Iowa City, its citizens overwhelmingly support the Red Avocado. The petition says that the people signing it support development that is in keeping with the neighborhoods, um, and that would be appropriate for businesses like the Red Avocado, Defunct Books, and other potential independently locally owned businesses. I think the City needs to know that the support for Red Avocado and businesses like it is a priority for both citizens and visitors. You will notice on the online petition, uh, signers from as far away as New Zealand. Some of them specifically state that they are tourists who like to come to this town because of its character, and I would ask the City to review its future development plans for an Iowa City where business owners and at least these 5,500 people would like to be. (applause) Hayek: Thank you. Klein: Good evening! I'm Garry Klein from 628 Second Avenue, and it's been a long time since I've been in front of this group. In fact, uh, I see one of the people I voted for up there so ... it's good to see, uh ... so the reason I'm here tonight is a little different than I think the folks you've heard from before. I want ... this is, this is sort of a personal thing for me. Dave Burt and uh, the good folks at the Red Avocado have ... have been very good business people in this community, small business people to be sure, but they've been an asset to our community and they've been doing this since about 1999 as far as I'm aware. Um ... but ... I had a conversation with, uh, in passing on the sidewalk and ... and mentioned this to one of the Council Members and they said, well, you know if they just had a lease. If they, you know, things would be different, and I... and I got to thinking about well, who is this person we're talking about? This is Dave Burt. He's a guy who treats people well, whether he's just met you or he's ... you've eaten at his restaurant a hundred times. He's a good guy is what I'm getting at. Um, he did business ... he does business mostly on a handshake, um, many of you do that, I'm sure. Uh ... and he takes people at their word. Unfortunately the situation that he finds himself in is different and I guess what I wanted to say is that as ... he's the kind of person that we all are proud to know. He's a good human being. But I'm not sure really what can be done for him. I do know this, that when Bruegger's burnt down we sent the City Fire Department and the Police Department and... and the Red Cross showed up and all kinds of folks came down to be supportive of a business truly in peril. The only difference here is the ... the bulldozers that haven't shown up yet. And we have an opportunity to be helpful to this person. Again, as was outlined earlier, he wasn't given a lot of notice. How many of you This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 12 would ... what would you do if you had to relocate your businesses in 25, 29, 30 days? All I'm saying is that if there were something called a Better Business Bureau for businesses, I ... I feel like, uh, they ... the folks who Dave is trying to negotiate with, um, they're not being very good business people, and I think that our city sometimes has to step in when the little guy's getting stepped on, and I think in this case a really good little guy is being stepped on, so I ... I hope that there's something that the City can do in its infinite, um, wisdom, and hopefully exerting a little bit of power to make things better in this particular case. Thank you very much. Hayek: Thanks, Garry. (applause) Kuenzli: My name is Cecile Kuenzli and I've lived in Iowa City since 1970. Um, earlier this evening, and again at this session, we've heard that what we are faced with here is a problem of zoning. And earlier tonight Bob Miklo said that in 2005 an effort had been made by the City to downzone the Washington Street area there, uh, concerning these properties, but that property ... it failed when property owners were, uh, unsupportive of the effort. Well, there are times when the personal profit motive doesn't correspond to what is in the best interest, long -term interest and well -being of the city. As Jeff Davidson pointed out earlier this evening, you folks will write the rules and set the direction that the City will go. I urge you that when you're reviewing the zoning codes that you will take the long view and that you will dare to enact ... act and enact in the best interest, long -term interest, of the city as a whole. Create transition zones between commercial and residential districts, and enact rules with teeth that will protect what is left of our traditional neighborhoods. Years ago a lot of people worked very hard to make College Green into an historic district, but now that effort seems to have been in vain as this project threatens its integrity. Thank you. (applause) Hayek: Thank you for your comments. Delzer: I apologize that I'm, well that I'm tall and also I'm going to read this. Hello, my name is Gregory Delzer and I live on Kimball Road in Iowa City. I'm the owner of Defunct Books, which is currently located at 521 E. Washington Street, above the Red Avocado Restaurant. I first visited Iowa City in the summer of 1990 when I was 19 years old. I took a bus from Laramie, Wyoming, where I was going to school to attend the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. I returned in 1992, and again in 1995. Not only was I exhilarated by my experiences at the festival but I grew to love the city. I love the beauty of the campus with the Iowa River flowing through it. I love the pedestrian mall. I love Prairie Lights and Rag Stock, and Whitey's, and the Mill, and the Haunted Book Shop, all places which were a unique and memorable event as they are now. I moved to Spokane, Washington, in 1998 to attend graduate school and purchased Defunct Books in 2003. The store, then named Inland Bookstore, had been a fixture in Spokane since the 1950s, and I'm the fourth owner in those 55 -plus years. In 20071 decided to relocate the bookstore. I had the opportunity to move the store This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 13 anywhere in the United States. Ultimately my decision came down to either Portland, Oregon or Iowa City. I chose Iowa City. And the reason it won out was the uniqueness of the city. What impressed a 19- year -old college student still impressed a 36- year -old small business owner. What impresses me less is the idea that these new developments will be a financial boon to the City. While it may be true that these buildings will provide the City an increased tax base, as Senior Planner Robert Miklo stated to the City Manager in his memorandum of January 5, I don't believe the financial impact of uprooting these two small businesses has been fully understood. I don't wish to speak for the Red Avocado. Dave's here to do that if he'd like, but I hope the owners of the Red Avocado don't mind if I speak about the restaurant. Both businesses are locally owned and pride themselves on giving back to the community. Both businesses source their inventory locally. In my four and a half years in Iowa City, I've pumped nearly $80,000 directly into the community through the purchase of inventory. The owners of the Red Avocado source much of their ingredients locally through the support of local farmers. In addition, the owners of both businesses pride ourselves in supporting local, independent businesses, so our profits are also funneled back into the community, which is then cycled back through these businesses' profits. We're both sponsors of the local roller derby team. Finally, the owners of both businesses believe in paying livable wages to our employees. The Red Avocado does a better job of this as I only have an additional employee, while they provide multiple jobs, but the ethos is a shared one. The Red Avocado contributes to a wide variety of local causes and charities through their series of benefit dinners. Um, we have contributed to the University of Iowa Student Health Fair, Friends of the Animal Center Foundation, the Shelter House, and to the rebuilding of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority house, amongst others. It's not just the historic buildings which give this neighborhood its character, and when these small, independent businesses are harmed due to a developer holding to the letter of the law, the city suffers. I was given the indication that we would ... we would be given 60 days to move, at least. Receiving instead a 30 -days notice to vacate has put me in the position of having to decide whether this city is still in my best interests. I'm not sure what the City Council can do regarding the pending demolition, but I do worry that Iowa City may be losing some of its character that initially was such a draw to me and many like me. Thank you. (applause) Walters: Hi! I'm Jim Walters. I live at 1033 E. Washington Street. Uh, I'm in my second incarnation as a resident of Washington Street. Forty years ago I lived at the... apartments in the 700 block across from the Kappa Kappa Gamma house, so I'm a long time resident of this area. I actually, uh, remember when this block was a residential block and there were actually houses across the street here and, uh, a small restaurant right across the street, um, when I was in high school. Uh... and I don't think any of us, uh, if you live in a place long enough you come to accept change. Change is going to happen. Things are going to evolve. Cities have a tendency to grow out, and they have to grow ... have a tendency to grow up, and um, growth can be a good thing. Um ... but you ... but you want to be attentive This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 14 to ... to what you can protect. Um ... if we talk about things in this neighborhood, um, there've been some horrific losses in ... in our neighborhood. Some houses, uh, some buildings, uh, that you look back on and you say, wow! You know, why ...why did we let that go, I mean, I remember one on the, uh, the 700 block on the northeast corner of...of um, College there. Uh, a house that was torn down overnight because they knew that if they tore it down in daylight that people would come after them with picks and shovels. So it went down at night. Uh, I... Fox Mansion? Help me, somebody! Remember there was a Fox Mansion? Um, beautiful building! I hate to see Agudas Achim leave our neighborhood. I ... I think this is a huge loss ... for our neighborhood! I was worried about, uh ... uh, the, uh, Christian Science building on College. Luckily we got somebody in there on that building, uh, to maintain it. Um ... huge loss across the street! Uh, Nancy Siberling when we had the for the parking ramp. Um, and ... and Nancy had an acute sense of aesthetics. Walked us down! Walked us down the street! We were down ... we had a meeting downtown. She said, she said ... don't do this! Don't build this parking ramp, the blue one, across the street, she said, put it behind the Rec Center. She said, when you put it where you're putting it, you're wrecking all of the site lines. You're wrecking all the aesthetics of this bowl neighborhood, and everybody just kind of said, oh, you know, who is this woman? (laughter) And it was a terrible mistake, uh, we've ... the ramp should ... should be south of the... south of the Rec building. Uh... so ... I don't know. I haven't seen the plans for the new building. I can't criticize it because I haven't seen them! Uh, my suspicion is a four -story building here is totally inappropriate, uh, I ... it's hard for me to imagine a four -story building where Agudas Achim is. Uh ... I can't imagine a four -story building in that site. What ... what bothers me as a long -term resident of this neighborhood, and I've ... I ... I was involved in originally moving the Co -Op, uh, as a member of the Co -Op I was on the committee that moved the Co -Op from South Gilbert Street, 529, over to 20...22 South Van Buren. Uh, and urn ... I lost my train of thought there. I'm sorry! Um ...yeah! I'm ... I'm doing a Rick Perry (laughter) (several talking) Yeah, one, a two, a three, but at any rate ... at any rate ... you know, no, here's what ... here's what I wanted to say, Jim, here's what I wanted to say about the Co -Op. You know what, and I served on the board of the Co -Op, and what ... what's bothersome to me is we are told constantly when we were on the Co -Op that we couldn't do anything, you know, we were hamstrung by the zoning, but yet here I sit in my neighborhood and people are doing all kinds of things and don't seem to be hamstrung by the zoning at all! They can go up, they can do this, they can do that, and uh, across the street at the Co -Op we're told you can't do anything because of the zoning, you know, you have no alternatives but to just do whatever, you know, what you've got now. Um, so ... I guess, you know ... we need to come up with some consistency here! We ... we seem to, there's some real inconsistencies in ... in our community and ... and what we value, you know. What ... what do we value, uh ... you know ... the former owner of the properties on Washington Street said she was just waiting for ... for our crummy little building at the Co -Op to be, uh, demolished and so something more appropriate could be put in, and I thought, wait a minute! Wait a minute! This is my food store. This is This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 15 where I shop. This is the building that I want to, uh, you know, to be buying my food in, you know, until I can't, you know, get down the street to get it anymore. So, urn ... my, you know, I ... I don't know how to convince you to do the right thing on these particular properties, but ... but we need ... we need to rethink this. We need ... we need to get some control over what's going on here and, uh ... this is a good place to start! Thank you. (applause) Hayek: Thanks, Jim. Burford: My name's Helen Burford. I live at 528 E. College. Um, my father -in -law, Byron, who died recently, came to Iowa City in 30...1937, and he never left. He spent the last 42 years of his life at 113 S. Johnson, which faces the park and is less than 200 feet from this new development, and over ten years ago I returned to Iowa City with my family to take care of Byron and Kay, and we bought the house on the corner of College Street, and saved it from being a rooming house. Um, and many of you know that I've had, uh, personally invested myself in championing older neighborhoods in Iowa City, working with Friends of Historic Preservation. So I actually I find it rather ironic tonight for me to be talking to you this, but ... I really want to ask the question of what resources will you be able to put behind solving this crisis that we currently have? It's my understanding that in only two weeks, Hunter Parks will be back with plans for the property where the temple, um, Agudas Achim is contemplating moving from. While we might not be able to address immediately what's happening on Washington Street, there is a glimmer of hope for potential to put some resources behind addressing what is on the near horizon. And, I was hoping that you might focus on that and give us some hope and assurances that our properties, like mine on College Green, have a glimmer of hope of still remaining the single- family dwellings that they are today. Hayek: Thank you, Helen. (applause) Cox: Hello, I'm Jeff Cox. I live at 112 S. Dodge on the park, and I ... I'm not sure what the rules are and what I can address, but I understand I can address issues that weren't on the agenda or... Hayek: Yeah, talk about the Yankees if you want as long as (both talking) (laughter) Cox: Sorry! What'd you say? Hayek: You can talk about the Yankees if you'd like, as long as it's not on the agenda! Cox: Okay. Not (mumbled) the Hawks game tonight, which I encourage people to avert their eyes (laughter) but the, uh ... uh ... l, we bought our house in 1980 in which of the four surrounding houses, three were owner - occupied. And they've now, none of them are owner- occupied., uh, except ours. Uh, and it ... it's a problem, and the problem is a density problem. The owner- occupiers don't want This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 16 to buy houses when there're drunks on the street. I mean, that's just ... that's just it, but there's also a traffic density problem. I mean, a friend of mine who lives on Summit Street who walks downtown, uh, every day and back to Summit Street was just hit as he crossed College Street, over to, uh, walking downtown from... from Summit Street. He got a ticket; it was his fault, but uh ... there's ... there's a lot of traffic on that, and if...if um ... I understand that ... that it's not possible to do anything about the Washington Street development, which is going to make both the street problem and the traffic problem worse, but surely it's possible to do something about the synagogue site. I mean, I really think it's just not right to raise the density on that site. Uh ... the ... the surviving owner- occupiers in this neighborhood are going to be greatly damaged if... if exceptions are made for more automobiles and more street traffic from that site. And I hope you'll keep that in mind when you ... when you consider this. It's ... it really is, we've done our best to hold out, a lot of us as owner- occupiers in this neighborhood. We... we, I mean, this is a kind of foot note, but all of the houses around us have been sold, uh, to absentee landlords who put one person per bedroom in and then the City came in and said, oh, we're going to change it to only three, um, related people per house, which cut the value of our property by 25 %, just like that, and ... and it's like, sucker, you should have gotten out earlier! You know, we... we need some help here if we're going to maintain some diversity in this neighborhood, and I hope you'll keep that in mind when you ... when you consider the rezoning on the synagogue site. Thank you. (applause) Hayek: We have ... we have time for ... for five more minutes of comment, until 8:00, at which time we have to move on with the register... rest of our agenda. We will have time at the end of the meeting, if you want to stick around, uh, for some additional community comment. I will say this, because all of these comments are going to the same concerns and the same street, that we had a work session earlier tonight, uh, during which the Council expressed its concern about this and other trend ... this, uh, situation and ... and trends elsewhere in the community and ... and we've instructed our staff to undertake a ... a thorough review of zoning and other issues as they relate to our established neighborhoods. You'll read about that probably in the press tomorrow, um, but I ... I do want you to know that because we can only go for a few more minutes before we take up the rest of our agenda and ... and many of you may not be able to stick around for the balance of the evening. Clark: I'll make this quick! My name is Sarah Clark and I'm reading a letter ... an email that, uh, my friend Joan Jehle of 1167 E. Jefferson Street sent to, uh, Mr. Allen and she asked that I read it here tonight. Um, and that's Allen of Allen Homes. Your intent in coming to Iowa City a short time ago seems to be to make over the entire cent ... center of this community. In Texas you may demolish, but in Iowa City we recycle. The early 1900s homes which sit on the three properties in the 500 block of East Washington Street deserve better. They have survived many changes in this community and they deserve to live on. I understand that you own the three properties and that the zoning is correct for what you plan to build there. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 17 I further understand that the Red Avocado had no lease. Perhaps the bookstore didn't either. I'm sure you are within your legal rights to evict the tenants at will; however, in this community we treat each other as neighbors and friends. Dave Burt expected to be treated in that manner. I offer the following two suggestions: whether Dave Burt decides to relocate the Red Avocado or not, he deserves to be compensated by Allen Homes for the disruption of his business. The bookstore owner deserves the same. The property at 821 E. Jefferson Street, the Old Medical Associates building, is for sale. I recommend that you recycle at least two of the Washington Street houses to the east Jefferson Street location, that is a distance of five or six blocks at most, and yes, I understand that they would need to be elevated since that area is in a flood plain. If an Iowa moving company can move the Czech and Slovak Museum in Cedar Rapids, moving two houses to a nearby location would be a piece of cake. Yes, it would require working with the realtor for the Jefferson Street location, but if you must demolish, let it be the Medical Associates building. In the neighborhood meeting regarding the zoning change for the Jefferson Street property, the neighbors were asking for this just kind of housing, older looking homes that would fit into the neighborhood. Mr. Allen, you can still salvage your plan for the 500 block of Washington Street and make friends within the Iowa City community by following my recommendations above. Thanks for your consideration, Joan Jehle, 1167 E. Jefferson. Thanks! (applause) Dochtler: Hello again, uh, it's a bit awkward of a transition, but I'm just going to take a couple of minutes just to re ... reintroduce another role that MidAmerican has, uh, we are ... we are community contact volunteers. We're employees of MidAmerican that also on the side volunteer in the communities that MidAmerican serves. We're here to, uh, relay any concerns, any issues, um, any topics, uh, answer any questions you might have, and also be, uh, a support person in the community, um, we also have a grant that we have available every year that we'll be giving out, um. ... Councilor Michelle Payne had this, uh, prior to her election, uh, so I'm just here introducing myself as that person, uh, from here on out. Steve Dochtler. Um, Marian has my information. I also have business cards. Kumi has my information if you need to get a hold of me. I'm also in Iowa City at the Lower Muscatine office. Hayek: I suggest you send a letter or an email to the Clerk that can be included in the public information packet, uh, so the public has that going forward, and the City has that going forward. Dochtler: Okay! Hayek: Thanks, Steve. Dochtler: Thank you! Hayek: Can you do one more, uh, Shari? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 18 Degraw: My name's Shari Degraw and I live at 519 Brown Street, and I wrote a letter so it'll be short. Dear Council Members, never again is now is a phrase recently stated in regard to the planned demolition of the three historic structures on the 500 block of East Washington Street. I urge City Council to prevent the loss of more historic structures in the central business district and impose greater limitations on the height and scale of new buildings bordering historical residential neighborhoods. I grew up in a place that traded its historic downtown for progress. A large cement mall was constructed in the 1970s and it's failing now because it's ugly, uninviting, and because two towns over a historic downtown exists with charming buildings and cute shops. Excuse me! (laughter) I would be...it would be in the best interest for the City of Iowa City and Allen Homes to find a way to compromise according to the suggestions in Jim Throgmorton's letter to City Council dated January 5th. The largest building size available for this site is in conflict with the City's intention to maintain historic neighborhoods. As with their previous building proposal for Linn- Bloomington, Allen Homes would like to derive the benefits of building in a historic neighborhood without contributing in a way that makes historic neighborhoods function well. Building out of scale and next to single - family homes will only cause neighboring homes to become less desirable to home ... to owner occupants, renters, future home buyers willing to maintain his ... and future home buyers willing to maintain historic buildings. Thank you. Hayek: Thanks... thanks, Sheri (applause). Okay, at this point I'm going to close the, uh, community comment for now. We're going to take up the balance of our agenda tonight, but at the end if you want to stick around, uh, we'll ... we'll continue to hear people out, uh, not indefinitely, but as late as we can go. (laughter) Karr: Motion to accept correspondence. Throgmorton: So moved. Champion: Second. Hayek: Uh, moved by (person speaking away from mic) just a second! Throg ... (person speaking away from mic) I cannot tell you because we have an agenda and I don't know (both talking) it could be, but we're not ... (several talking) yeah... Karr: We're not picking up anything that's not at the microphone. So I mean I just want (several talking) Hayek: Okay! I cannot tell you when we'll get back to community comment because we have an agenda to ... to deal with. That's the short answer. Okay, there was a motion from, uh, Throgmorton, seconded by ... Champion to accept correspondence. Discussion? All those in favor say aye. Opposed say nay. Motion carries. Okay. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 19 ITEM 7. PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS. a) CONSIDER A MOTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING FOR JANUARY 24 ON A RESOLUTION AMENDING THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN TO CHANGE THE BOUNDARY OF THE NORTHSIDE MARKETPLACE TO EXCLUDE PROPERTIES LOCATED AT 228 & 232 BLOOMINGTON STREET AND 311 & 313 LINN STREET. Payne: I'm going to (both talking) Hayek: Oh, yeah! That's right. Payne: ...recuse myself for ... for all of the items in Item 7. 7a through 7g (mumbled) Hayek: ...on Planning and Zoning earlier, that's right. Okay. Payne: Yes. Hayek: (reads item 7a) Mims: Move to set the public hearing. Champion: Second. Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Champion. Discussion? All those in favor say aye. Opposed say nay. Motion carries 6 -0, Payne abstaining. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 20 ITEM 7. PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS. b) CONSIDER A MOTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING FOR JANUARY 24 ON A RESOLUTION AMENDING THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN TO CHANGE THE LAND USE DESIGNATION FROM OFFICE COMMERCIAL TO HIGH DENSITY MULTI - FAMILY FOR PROPERTY LOCATED AT 821 E. JEFFERSON STREET. Champion: Move to set the public hearing. Dickens: Second. Hayek: Moved by Champion, seconded by Dickens. Discussion? All those in favor say aye. Opposed say nay. Motion carries 6 -0, with Payne abstaining. Throgmorton: Could you clarify, uh, how this, uh, process of just setting public hearings relates to what we've just heard? Could you clarify that for people in the audience? Hayek: Well ... not sure, I don't know what you're getting at. Throgmorton: Well, I guess I ... maybe I'm wrong, but my guess is that some people in the audience might have thought that they were objecting to a lot of high density development that was being proposed in town, and now we're setting a public hearing to, uh, approve a certain project and it's only setting a public hearing. Dilkes: Right, there's no substantive action being taken. You're just setting a time for the public to be heard. Throgmorton: That's... that's all (mumbled) Hayek: (both talking) Dilkes: ...and the applicant (both talking) Hayek: Okay. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 21 ITEM 7. PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS. d) REZONING 4.3 ACRES OF LAND LOCATED AT 1920 PRAIRIE DU CHIEN ROAD FROM LOW DENSITY SINGLE - FAMILY RESIDENTIAL (RS -5) ZONE TO RURAL RESIDENTIAL (RRl) ZONE (REZII- 00019) 1. PUBLIC HEARING Hayek: This is a public hearing. (bangs gavel) Public hearing is open. Uh, has anyone had any ex parte communications (mumbled)? (several responding) Okay. Jeff. Davidson: Good evening, Mr. Mayor, and Members of the City Council. I'm Jeff Davidson, the Director of Planning for the City. As the Mayor has indicated, uh, you have a rezoning, uh, application before you this evening. The applicant is Gregory and Lorie Ginneberge. I apologize if I'm mispronouncing that name. The proposal is a rezoning from RS -5 to RR1 and the purpose is to change the zoning of the property so that the residence may keep a horse on the property. Uh, a little bit different request than we've had in the past. There're actually two properties, and you see them here. Uh, just to orient you, uh, this is Prairie du Chien Road here, uh ... Interstate 80. Excuse me ... Interstate 80 here. Urn ... I guess that gives you a pretty ... you can see that the, uh, the property butts up against the right -of -way of the interstate. Um, there are a couple of things which we'll address in a moment, uh, in terms ... in terms of constraints to this property. It is an area of significant topography, uh, the zoning ordinance, uh, does not allow development within 300 feet, uh, of the interstate, and there is also a significant pipeline that runs through here, which obviously has an easement that does not allow development to take place over the top of it. Uh, so you can see there, there's actually two properties, uh, the size, the total size if 4.3 acres, and as I mentioned, the existing land use and zoning is RS -5. I believe ... yes, I have an aerial. You can see, uh, the existing residence, and there is also a 30 X 45 metal pole building at the rear of the lot, and you can see the other lot, uh, 1880 does not have any, um ... any buildings on it. Uh, in terms of the zoning and the comprehensive plan, the... the RR1 zone is a zone you are likely not familiar with. Uh, we have very little of it. It's intended for areas that are basically not suitable for development, but happen to be within the City of Iowa City where typically it's where we can't provide utilities, but there may occasionally be other reasons, uh, such as some of the ones that I just stated for this property here, and it's intended basically to have development at rural type densities, in spite of the fact that this is within the city. Uh, in terms of the ... the significant difference between the existing zoning and the proposed zoning is the minimum lot size, and that ... the minimum lot size in the RS -5 zone is 800, excuse me, 8,000 square feet and it is 40,000 square feet in the RR1 zone. So it's intended for very rural type applications, and uh, this would be a conforming, uh, property, even with the change requiring the 40,000 square foot lot. Um, we have only two zones which allow, uh, livestock, such as a horse, uh, the ID zones and the RR1 zone. Uh, and the applicant has indicated that is their desire. A minimum lot area of two acres is required for the first horse, uh, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 22 and uh, and an additional acre for, uh, each additional horse. So the applicant presumably could have as many as three horses here. Uh, the, uh, in terms of the comp plan, uh, this is an area identified as being appropriate for open space because of the buffering against the interstate, the pipeline easement, and the topography of the property. So, uh, with all that taken into consideration, we feel like it is appropriate to have the rezoning occur to RRI I. Uh, and allow the keeping of a horse on the property, and in ... and there's also requirements in the zone for setbacks and that so that hopefully neighboring properties are not impacted by the keeping of livestock... livestock on the property. Are there any questions for me? Dickens: Do they currently own that property at 1880? Davidson: My understanding, Terry, is they own both of the properties. Any further questions? Thank you. Hayek: Anyone from the public to address us on this matter? Okay. I will close the public hearing. (bangs gavel) Item 2 is consider an ordinance, first consideration. 2. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE (FIRST CONSIDERATION) Dickens: So moved. Mims: Second. Hayek: Moved by Dickens, seconded by Mims. Discussion? Throgmorton: I ... I can't see any reason to oppose this. Hayek: Further discussion? Roll call, please. Throgmorton: Three ... three-quarters of the horse per acre, do I have that right? (laughter) Hayek: Item passes, uh, 6 -0, Payne abstaining. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 23 ITEM 7. PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS. e) REZONING THE MIDAMERICAN SUBSTATION CONDITIONALLY REZONING APPROXIMATELY .42 -ACRES OF LAND LOCATED AT 221 N. LINN STREET, 225 N. LINN STREET, AND 223 E. BLOOMINGTON STREET FROM NEIGHBORHOOD RESIDENTIAL STABILIZATION (RNS -12) TO CENTRAL BUSINESS SERVICE (CB -2). (REZ11- 00012) 1. PUBLIC HEARING Hayek: The applicant has withdrawn this uh, application. Uh, and therefore no action is being taken by the Council this evening, and we're just going to move on to the next item. Karr: Motion to accept correspondence. Champion: So moved. Mims: Second. Throgmorton: Second. Hayek: Moved, uh, a motion from Champion, seconded by Mims. Discussion? All those in favor say aye. Opposed say nay. Dilkes: Mayor, there's... you've got a hand down here. Hayek: Oh, okay! Well... Carlson: I just have a question. Does this mean that this particular, uh, plot of land will stay at C13-2 or will it re ... resort back to RNS -12? Hayek: I ... I ... it is presently RNS -12 and, uh, we're not taking any action tonight, uh, to change that. Carlson: Okay, that's what I needed. Thank you. Hayek: Yeah. Status quo. Throgmorton: Is there any room for discussion about this or is that inappropriate at this moment? Hayek: Urn ... I ... I'm not sure we get into any discussion on this. It's been withdrawn. I ... I don't think there's anything before us... Dilkes: There's nothing before you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 24 Hayek: Yeah. So ... um ... okay. Motion carries 6 -0, Payne abstaining so the correspondence is accepted. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 25 ITEM 7. PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS. f) CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE CONDITIONALLY REZONING APPROXIMATELY .88 -ACRES OF LAND LOCATED AT 2218 ROCHESTER AVENUE FROM LOW DENSITY SINGLE - FAMILY RESIDENTIAL (RS -5) TO LOW DENSITY MULTI - FAMILY RESIDENTIAL (RM -12) (REZ11- 00009) (SECOND CONSIDERATION) Hayek: I understand that the applicant has requested expedited action. Mims: 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 finally passed be suspended, and 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 to collapse from Mims, seconded by Champion, uh, discussion, and before there's any discussion, are there any ex parte communications anyone has had since the last... since first consideration? (several responding) Okay. Discussion? Throgmorton: Uh, it's not clear to me why the expedited, uh, action is requested? Maybe that's in the correspondence we got tonight as we came into the meeting. I haven't had a chance to read it, so I don't know. Hayek: I don't believe there is an explanation. I think there's simply a request. But, see if ... if you could... Karr: That's correct. The applicant noted that there was a 7 -0 vote on the first reading and asked for expedited action. Throgmorton: With the anticipation that there's a third consideration, consider that they may be more public information that might be brought to bear, is that... the... reason for wanting a third consideration? Champion: I think so. Throgmorton: Okay. Hayek: Yeah, the... collapsing readings, uh, typically, uh, rezoning have to, well, legally they have to occur in three separate readings, which generally means three separate meetings, but there is a way to collapse the second and third into a single reading and, you know, I think historically it's been the Council's practice to not entertain that when there is something of controversy regarding the application. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 26 Um, but people may have their own philosophical or legislative view of that process, regardless of the circumstances. Throgmorton: Yeah. In general I'm inclined not to support expedited action, but maybe here, but... so I wanted to ask a question with regard to that. Uh, course we weren't on the Council when this was deliberated last time. Champion: That's right. Throgmorton: Uh, and ... but I was present at the meeting, and I recall seeing, uh, I guess a concept plan, two - dimensional concept plan for it, and I know it was approved 6 to nothing by the, uh, by the Planning and Zoning Commission, Jeff, but what I don't know was whether, um ... uh, I don't know, an architect's rendering was produced? Uh, that would enable me and other s to see what the building actually would look like, instead of just seeing the two - dimensional footprint of the building. Davidson: We did not, and Eleanor or Marian, please correct me if my ... I ... I did not bring... I didn't realize we would be considering this tonight so I did not bring the staff report with me. I do not believe there was a ... rendering of the proposed buildings because the zoning change was not contingent upon it. The applicant did describe the basic buildings. I believe they're three -story townhouse buildings with parking underneath. I believe there's two -car garage and then two parking stalls in each driveway apron, uh, anybody else recall... Hayek: Are you sure we didn't have a... Mims: I thought we had elevation views. Hayek: Yeah! Davidson: There was an elevation? Champion: ...kind of a drawing. Davidson: Okay. Champion: ...extra parking too! Throgmorton: Well what I remember seeing is a two - dimensional, uh, footprint, you know, a concept (both talking) Davidson: Yes, yes we did have that. Yeah. Right, it's nine units. As requested by the Planning and Zoning Commission, the facades have been staggered so that it presents a more interesting... doesn't look like just one gigantic building, um, nine units, three floor townhouses ... I mean, that was the basic ... basic design. I This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 27 believe the orientation was, uh, such that they fronted First Avenue. Each residence had a front door. That had been requested by Planning and Zoning, Jim, and then a, uh ... basically a sidewalk link to the sidewalk system on First Avenue so that they had a good pedestrian orientation to them. Throgmorton: Right. Dilkes: This is a conditional rezoning and one of the conditions is compliance with the concept site plan. I believe that was shared with the Council. Throgmorton: And... Davidson: Yeah, obviously if you ... if you do not collapse the readings tonight, at the next meeting we could bring all that and present it to you. Throgmorton: Yeah, I'm just trying to make sure I fully understand. Will there be a ... a design review process for this, or is it out... Davidson: This is in the central planning district, just barely. It's right on the corner, and so it will be included, uh, under design review of the central planning district multi- family (both talking) Throgmorton: Okay, and I don't fully understand that process. So at some point maybe you and I could talk about (both talking) Davidson: Sure! It's ... it's a staff review process. Basically... Hayek: If ... if you're uncomfortable with this, we don't have to collapse. I mean, this was simply a request from the applicant. Um... Throgmorton: Well, it's not so much that I feel discomfort. I think in fact this particular development is probably really well suited for that intersection. (several talking) Yeah, and I know the Planning and Zoning Commission process would pretty thoroughly, uh, so ... so it's not as if I feel some really intense discomfort that I'm trying to convey it. I'm just trying to make sure I understand. Hayek: Okay. Is there further discussion about the, uh, motion to collapse? Throgmorton: Well, I ... Jeff, there's no objection from the staff's point of view, is there? To collapsing. Davidson: None. Hayek: Okay. Uh, roll call, please. Mims: Move to, uh, approve. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 28 Dickens: Second. Hayek: Uh, pass and adopt moved by Mims, seconded by Dickens. Discussion? Throgmorton: I'd just like to say that, um, I ... I don't like to think of anything I do as a real precedent (laughter) so just because I voted to collapse on that doesn't really (mumbled) automatic collapsing. Hayek: Oh, no, quite the con ... I ... I ... I'm with you on that, and I .... I ... if there's a scintilla of controversy regarding something, it's appropriate for it to have (several talking) three full separate readings, in my perspective. Further discussion? Roll call, please. Item passes 6 -0. Karr: Motion to accept correspondence. Mims: So moved. Throgmorton: Second. Hayek: Moved by, uh, Mims, seconded by Throgmorton. Discussion? All those in favor say aye. Opposed say nay. Motion carries 6 -0, uh, Payne abstaining, and item carries 6 -0, Payne abstaining. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 29 ITEM 7. PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS. g) CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE CONDITIONALLY REZONING APPROXIMATELY 1.15 ACRES OF PROPERTY LOCATED 911 N. GOVERNOR STREET, FROM COMMERCIAL OFFICE (CO -1) TO LOW DENSITY MULTI - FAMILY RESIDENTIAL (RM -12) (REZ11- 00016) (SECOND CONSIDERATION) Davidson: Uh, Mr. Mayor, uh, this... Hayek: Can we get this on the floor first? Davidson: Oh, excuse me! Mims: Move approval of the ordinance. Dobyns: Second. Hayek: Motion from, uh, Mims, seconded by Dobyns. Uh, and discussion, but first, any ex parte communications since the, uh, December 6th Council meeting? Throgmorton: Since the Council meeting, right? Hayek: Yeah. Throgmorton: Yeah. No. Davidson: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, this item was originally recommended to you for approval by the Planning and Zoning Commission, and the first reading by the City Council it was approved on a 4 to 3 vote. Uh, second consideration, uh, there was, uh ... discussion, uh, from the public and it appeared, uh, based on a rough straw poll that Council was going to be inclined to vote the project down on second consideration, because of our policy of, uh, offering a consultation to the Planning and Zoning Commission when there is a discrepancy between their recommendation and the action you appear ready to take. Uh, you deferred that vote. We did ask the Planning and Zoning Commission if they would like to have a consultation to explain their views on the project to you. They declined that, uh, offer and so you are now free to vote on the project. Hayek: Now wait, now I'm confused. Is this first consideration? Davidson: This is second (several talking) consideration. Champion: We voted no. Mims: We did. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 30 Hayek: We did have the vote. That's what I thought (several talking) Davidson: The first vote was 4 to 3 in favor. The second vote appeared to be going down, and so we offered the consultation and now you're free to vote on it. Hayek: Okay. Davidson: Are there any questions of me ... before you consider it? Hayek: No ... and we're ... I suspect there are people from the audience who want to address us and so we'll allow for that, as well. Davidson: Okay. Hayek: Would anyone from the audience who wishes to address, uh, the Council on this item? Rockow: My name's Greg Rockow, the real estate broker that has the property listed, and as someone called and told me this week, they said you've picked a scab on an old, old issue and you're going to make it bleed, but that's beside the point! (laughter) The only reason I'm here is I want to ask the City Attorney's opinion of whether or not the Mayor has a conflict of interest with this issue. The Mayor owns two properties in the same block or same tract. He has an uncle that owns a duplex in the same block, in the same tract. And there's other issues that I really don't want to go into right now, but they deal with the lawsuit that was involved in the property north of this. So ... the Mayor is spearheaded the opposition to this since the very first hearing, the first meeting. We went through Planning and Zoning — no objections. Went through the, um, your `good neighbor' policy — no objections. People come in ... came and wished us well. First reading, you were (laughter) you were wanting to know if the property could be downzoned, um... Councilman Wright had an issue with it being three bedroom units. Councilwoman Champion really didn't know. She wasn't familiar with the area. So she wasn't going to ... she voted no, just to vote no. Champion: That's not true! Rockow: Okay, I don't know ... that's what you said! But the point is, I think you have a conflict of interest with this. You own property in the ... the same block, the same tract, and you didn't disclose that. Hayek: Well, let's ... let's get this on the record. Uh, I own one property on Brown Street, which I ... I used to live in and presently rent. Rockow: And you don't own, have an interest in the Dodge Street property? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 31 Hayek: No. No interest in any property on Dodge Street. I own one property, 714 Brown Street, and in advance of this ever coming before the City Council, I conferred with the City Attorney's office, and she can tell you but, uh, there is no conflict, and her office, uh, told me as much, and uh, I ... I fully vetted that before, uh, this came before the Council. Rockow: Well, that ... that is the issue with respect to the property that is under the R3 -B zoning. Your father was the City Attorney at the time that lawsuit was instituted and recused himself because he owned property in the neighborhood. In that same block, that same area. Hayek: What year are you referring to? Uh... Rockow: I've got it right here. It's... Hayek: First of all, that's news to me, but uh, second of all... Rockow: It was 19...76. It's going back a long time (laughter) Hayek: Yeah. Rockow: Here... this... this is a copy of the Supreme Court decision on that case and it basically talks about the fact that that zoning was preserved because the Council tried to take it away. That area since 1964, since 1964 has had comprehensive studies by the City saying that the use that that gentle ... the applicant wanted to do was what was intended for that use. The most recent comprehensive plan in 1988 which you voted for called for low - density... medium- density, uh, multi- family residential there. Mrs. Champion... Campion voted for it. Hayek: We ... we've got two separate issues here. One is you're alleging that I have a conflict of interest, and I want to resolve that, and the second one is you're making essentially a policy argument in favor of the application, which is perfectly legitimate for us to hear from you about, but I want to resolve the first one because you're... you're suggesting (both talking) Rockow: Am I right in this ... when a person makes an application for a zoning request, for a change of zoning, people within 200 feet, if there's an objection by a party within 200 feet, you have to have a super- majority to pass it, right? Hayek: Why don't we let our City Attorney answer that, because... Dilkes: Yeah. The Mayor and I, um, conferred about this prior to this coming on the City Council's agenda. We determined that his house was outside that 200 -foot objection area. Had it been within the 200 -foot objection area, it would have been a closer call. I ... I don't know that I would have considered it a conflict, but we This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 32 didn't have to get to that point because it was outside the 200 -foot area. So, my advice was that (both talking) Rockow: Well, my ... but my, still my point is, when it was ... when it went through this whole process, nobody has ever complained, nobody has ever tried to stop it at the comprehensive plan process. Dilkes: That's not an issue of conflict of interest. Um... Rockow: Okay! Dilkes: ... so I think we should move on to the discussion about the rezoning. Unless you are (both talking) Rockow: Well, and ... and just ... I ... since I'm asking for full disclosure, I should admit that I have shown the ... the Mayor property before, and I've shown the City Attorney property before. No agency relationship with either one of you, but that's ... but I ...I just am uncomfortable with a property owner having a multi ... having a, uh, income property... saying somebody else you can't do it when the comprehensive plan calls for it. Hayek: All I ... all I can tell you is that I identified to the City Attorney well in advance of this coming before the City Council that I owned one property on Brown Street and asked specifically whether that caused some sort of conflict of interest, and the answer was that no, it does not. Um, I did not disclose, nor did I have knowledge of, uh, legal representation from the mid- I970s, uh, involving a relative, urn ... and if that somehow creates a conflict I'd like to know, but... but uh, um... so I, you know, you're accusing me of a fairly significant thing here and I just want to be clear about this... Rockow: No, I asked for an opinion... whether or not there was a conflict ... you never said anything at any one of these Council meetings, you never said a single thing. After I started researching this thing, your name's popping up! So I (both talking) Hayek: I'm very careful about ... as I think all City Councilors are, about anticipating possible conflicts of interest, vetting them with the City Attorney before we utter word one on something that's before us, and ... and avoiding conflicts, perceived or real, uh, as we sit up here. It would be foolish not to (both talking) Rockow: Okay, but as I understand it, the 200 -foot rule doesn't deal ... deals with, if a person within 200 feet objects you have to give a super- majority. It doesn't... that doesn't say somebody that's 350 feet away shouldn't disclose when they're voting on it. You're voting on the issue you spearheaded the opposition to this. Hayek: I'm not sure I'd characterize it in that way. I expressed concerns with it, as did others up here. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 33 Rockow: You were the person that asked to have it... could it be downzoned on the Council's motion and the City Attorney said yes. Dilkes: Sir, I think when you stopped in my office a couple weeks ago you were advised to put the facts that you had, that you thought suggested a conflict in writing to me so I would have time to look at that, and I've not received that letter. The Mayor does not have a conflict of interest based on the facts that I am aware of at this point, and the issue that you've raised about the 1970 representation by his father does not create an issue for me, absent some other facts of which I am not aware. So I would suggest that we move on. Mims: I would agree! Rockow: Well, it...it still goes back to the issue since 1964 every comprehensive plan... the Cit even did a study in 1968 and published it and saying this was the intended use for the area. Dilkes: That's an argument you should make to the City Council about the rezoning. Rockow: Okay! Well that's the argument I'm makin' then (laughter). Hayek: Yeah. I ... I invite you to argue to the Council why ... why this should take place, whether it's the comp plan or any other consideration you think we should, uh, be taking up. Rockow: I had the opportunity to go to the, uh, Board of Adjustment in December when the Shelter House was trying to get a variance to make that lot a... so they could put a duplex on the house. Lots of people stood up ... well intentioned, ministers, you name it, contributors, everybody else, asking the Board of Adjustment to please make an exception and let these people have it. The facts were no. The opposition that was opposed to allowing that to be a duplex, to a person said, you have to follow the comp plan. To a person, some of the same people that were there espousing the comp plan adherence to were the same people that spoke against this saying we can't have it! It makes no sense. If you're going to follow the comprehensive plan with one zoning request or variance request, you should do it with all of them. Nine (both talking) Throgmorton: Can I ask the City Attorney a question? Rockow: Sure. Throgmorton: Uh, would denying this application for a rezoning conflict with the comprehensive plan? Dilkes: No. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 34 Throgmorton: No, because it would be going ... it would be retaining it as, uh, in its current zoning, COI, am I right? Dilkes: I have no problems with (both talking) Throgmorton: That's really not an issue, is it? Rockow: But the objections that came up to this, or the standard objections you hear in every rezoning request: it's going to create traffic, it's going to create crime, all of this stuff. The number of occupants... there's 60 offices in that building. Many of those offices were double- occupied, and then you had all the people that came there. The City allowed an extra parking lot to be built to accommodate the, uh, traffic there. That was one of the issues brought up — traffic, traffic, traffic! Well no, you're going to decrease the amount of traffic that's there! You could put 18 units on top of that building right now! So, what's being proposed is a reduction! Mims: I think it's time (both talking) Hayek: Is ... is, yeah, I mean, is there anything else you want to bring to our attention (both talking) Rockow: Well, I'm just ... I'm just saying I think it's ... you should ... if that's the will of the community, which it's been tonight, follow the comp plan on all of these things, and now you're ignoring it? Hayek: Okay. We don't engage in a debate with ... on these things. We hear input from the public or the applicant or the applicant's representative, and so if there's anything else you want us to know about, please let us know at this time. Rockow: Well, I ... there's not a lot. I'm just sayin' that you're ... you know, you have boards and commissions and everything else, and ... and citizen input, tons of staff time, and then when one person objects to it, it's out the window! When it... when it could be ... when 19 units could be put there anyway! Hayek: Thank you for your comments (both talking) Rockow: It's your call! Hayek: Would anyone else from the public like to speak to us on ... on this item? Shields: My name's Ashley Shields and I am a renter at 913 Dewey Street. We are in our sixth year of being in the same duplex up there and we love our neighborhood up there. We have three little kids. There're several kids in the neighborhood, and the building that is sitting there currently has been empty I believe the entire time that I've lived there. There has not... so there hasn't been traffic. There hasn't This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 35 been people there. There has not been, um, traffic as a result of people working there. Um ... the development of this site is a good thing, I think. I believe our whole neighborhood is for it. We are just asking for duplexes or single - family homes. Please vote no for the RM ... the RM12, is that what it, what the ... the, uh, consideration is RM 12. Throgmorton: Thanks, Ashley. Hayek: Thank you for your comments. Baum: My name's Jennifer Baum. I live at 814 Dewey Street, and I take full responsibility for spearheading the idea that these guys vote no on this! (laughter) The reason that I was not here, um ... (unable to hear people speaking in audience) um ... the reason that I was not here during the October 1St reading of this was because I was out of town for that month. If I had been here, I would have been advocating that you vote no on this. Last time we were here in December at that meeting I think that we had enough people speak eloquently about the amount of trouble that we would have in a tiny little neighborhood that we've done everything we can to preserve the integrity of. Sorry about the proposition! Um ... we already have plenty of traffic on that street, and when you have a street that has enough room for two cars and parking on one side, you don't have enough room for a lot of traffic. We still get semis on that street because after they reconfigured the Dodge Street, Prairie du Chien, North Summit... intersection it took us four years to get signs up that said `no semis.' It took us a lot longer to get signs up that said `please don't have anything over such and such a weight.' We got a semi two weeks ago, in the middle of the afternoon! Our neighborhood has a lot of children. It has a lot of animals. We have a block party every year ... this is our, coming up our 13th year. We've worked really hard to make sure that our neighborhood is a neighborhood. We've worked really hard to make sure that we all know each other's names, that we all know what each other does, that we all know our strengths, and our deficits, so that we can help each other out. Please vote no on this. It would be a real hardship for Deweyville. Thanks very much! Hayek: Thank you for your comments. (applause) Clark: Sarah Clark, 509 Brown Street, and I'm recording secretary for the Northside Neighborhood Association, and, um, want to encourage you to continue to vote noon this. Um ... heard a concern from someone here this evening that it seemed like, gee, it was a ... the plan was ready to go, was going to run right through, no problem, and all of a sudden — whoops! What happened? Well, I think part of it is, um, was not aware that there was a good neighbor meeting, um, if so it ... I know the Northside Neighborhood Association wasn't notified of that, um, cause otherwise there would have been representatives attending that meeting, and I know Marcia Bollinger does a good job of letting us know these sorts of things, so that I'm not aware that there even was one. Um ... another reason why we might This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 36 not have been fast out of the gate ... a lot of us are having to learn from scratch, um, exactly what the ramifications of all these planning codes are, and I don't know, I think... regular citizens and residents of this town should be applauded for actually digging in and learning the planning code, even though you may not be experts in that, that we cannot ... we ... many of us have jobs, full time jobs, and you do this on ... on the evenings, on the weekends, and uh, we don't always get things at the first meeting, so um, I personally thought that the December 6th meeting where there were so many folks from both Northside and Deweyville speaking against it, spoke a lot, and you will notice there are a lot of people here again tonight, so um ... think this is on radar of a lot of people and I really do encourage you to .... to stick with ... with the vote that you did on December 61n Thanks very much. Hayek: (applause) Thank you for your comments. Lindell: My name is Shirley Lindell and I live at 804 Dewey, and I would just like to reiterate everything that's been said about this community, and that it is a community of all of us that care about each other, and the things that go on around us. And the, with the animals and the children, and the traffic and the ...the brick street makes it a lot noisier when there's more traffic going along with trucks and semis, and we just encourage you to consider that the whole community is behind you voting no on this. And I appreciate the fact that, uh, democracy is at work here in that we all at least have a voice, uh, that we can express our opinions and that you will listen and consider. Thank you. (applause) Hayek: Thank you for your comments! Bishop: Hi, my name's Joel Bishop. I live at 819 Dewey Street. Uh ... last time, uh, I think it was the December 6th meeting, there seemed to be some contention brought up that this was somehow between property owners and renters, uh, that there was some anti -rent, uh, argument going on. Well, this ... I'm not quite sure how that came about, but I rented apartments in this town for 22 years before I became a property owner, just recently, so um, I certainly have nothing against any ... any rental properties, so long as they're properly maintained and ... the problem with rezoning this from COI to RM12 is that it creates a fairly large unit, urn ... I don't know if it's classed as medium housing. I don't quite see that but the problem with large developments is that they always look good when they're brand new. They ... they look good for ... for tax base value, uh, they look good because we can fill `em up, and uh, the developer's making money on them, but as they age, they become a problem, especially when ownership changes. The next owner of a large property might not be there. Might not be in town at all. And these properties can start to look pretty dingy. With a smaller development project, duplexes, four - plexes, in limited numbers, given the size of this area, with limited units per ... per, uh, apartment. You can maintain more control. You can maintain a better appearance. Um, it's harder for things to slip under the radar if you can, uh, more carefully observe smaller structures. And I think that this This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 37 whole question comes back, of course, to a rezoning issue, and the arguments that I've been hearing all night on most of these topics come back to problems of zoning. We can't rezone this. We can't change this. Oh, it's the comprehensive plan that everybody falls back on. Perhaps it's the comprehensive plan that needs to be addressed. Perhaps it's the zoning code that needs to be changed. Um... I think that there is a little .... a little too much autonomy given the Planning and Zoning Commission and not enough perhaps oversight by the Council, and I'd like to see this situation rectified for all of these properties that have been discussed. Um, everybody seems to be at an impasse, that once we get to a certain point, that's it! The developer has his way and it's going to happen. I can't believe that the City Council is that powerless. Thank you very much. Hayek: Thank you for your comments. (applause) Shields: Good evening. My name is Mark Shields. I live at 813 ... I'm sorry! 913 Dewey Street ... with my wife Ashley. Um, we are renters, um, we've been welcomed into the neighborhood since day one. It's been a great place to raise children. It's been a great place to meet people. Um, so many memories already, uh, for us there. Um, I would love ... love to own my own home, our own home, some day. And with the development that's proposed to go ... to go in there, um, I don't know ... if that opportunity would be there for us, or anyone else, um ... uh, it's a great, you know, wonderful dream to have, you know, uh, 18 bedrooms stacked on top of each other. Uh, it's a wonderful dream to have a giant parking lot filled with cars. Um (laughter) um ... I know that you guys are shell - shocked — you've heard a lot tonight. You get it over and over and over again, and you will because we're Deweyville and the Northsiders (laughter) that's how we are. We really appreciate you guys taking your time and listening to each of us. I know you have a lot to do. Um ... the other thing, um, there's a lot of traffic. The other thing I wanted to point out, there's a lot of cyclists that come through, uh, training for Ragbrai every summer, I mean, I open my curtains and there goes the team. I come home from work, and there goes the team. And they're really training hard for that. There's also the track teams that run through there, you know, there's City High and I think actually University track teams run by too, uh, be it cross - country or track, I'm not sure. I know, uh, some folks are happy that it's shirtless men running by. That's wonderful! Um, but you know the traffic thing definitely pops up for that, and you have to be considerate of that, um, also we live on brick streets. I'm sure as you know, Mayor, on Brown as it is a brick, and Dewey, um, is also brick and so I'm not sure, you know, how much more pounding that can take from additional vehicles. If you had 18 bedrooms and you assumed that there were adults living in there, which probably will happen, um, and everybody owns at least one car, you can do the math and figure out who's making the short- cuts to go to the North Dodge Hy -Vee to get their groceries and come back home, speed -racer style. Um, the last time this proposal was up for vote and consideration, you gave your eyes, your ears, and your hearts to our voices and faces, and I thank you for that, and one more time I ask, um, before this final decision, um, that you hear us again loud and clear and uh, take another look This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 38 around to see a diverse community within a diverse city and uh, that takes hearts, so thank you for your time and consideration. Hayek: Thank you for your comments. (applause) Petkewec: Good evening, my name is Michael Petkewec, and I am a renter at 1012 N. Summit, and I addressed this body back in December as well on this issue. And, I'm back again as a renter and as somebody who is actually relatively new to Iowa City. Been here about a year and a half, and one of the things that, uh, has really struck me about the Deweyville area is the sense of community and togetherness and the aesthetic, we've heard that word earlier tonight, the aesthetic of the neighborhood. And as I look up at that screen and I see the sizes that are up there and what's actually there, and looking at traffic patterns and looking at the historic neighborhood, and the building and the character of the overall neighborhood, I realize putting something that large of a development in that space is something that's going to change the character of the neighborhood. Now, yes, we can all sit here until the cows come home talking about what can be done, what is legal, what is not legal, but just because you can do something doesn't always make it right. And I know as I walked around that neighborhood when I first moved here that I was greeted by people sitting here who didn't see me just as a renter, who didn't just see my wife and I as fly -by -night people who decided to just `stay away' in Deweyville. No! We actually became part of the neighborhood, and as I also look at the character and aesthetics of the place I see a park. I see a cemetery. I even see where I live in that RM 12 there up in the corner, that I live in a six -plex, I don't even live in anything that's that large that's being proposed ... in this new space. And I realized that people really care about what's going on and that this democratic process is exactly why we're all here tonight. So I hope that good sense, good judgment, really reviewing this comprehensive plan. What I do realize by some of the things that have been said tonight is that if certain things don't go through, someone's going to lose some money. Is that the motivating factor here? Is that why we should do something? Or should we actually do something cause it's the right thing to do? So think about that as you're voting on this issue and realize that the character of not only the neighborhood but of the people living there, and that things do change and evolve and that this is the right thing to do to vote this down. It's not that we don't want development. It's just we don't want development of this size, this density, and this scope. Thank you. Hayek: Thank you. (applause) Wright: (several talking) Good evening, I'm Mike Wright, I live at 225 N. Lucas Street and I can't tell you how sorry I am to be here tonight! (laughter) But I didn't want to let, uh, unfinished business go. Last month when I was sitting up there, one of the things that I really felt very strongly was that mistakes have been made in zoning processes in Iowa City for years. I think this property is one of them, being zoned to COI smack in the middle of a medium density RS8 residential This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 39 neighborhood. Another one is right across the way where we have that large apartment complex that has certainly lead to the decline and the quality of life in the area immediately surrounding that. I think another mistake in zoning would be made if this process ... if this project, rather, were allowed to go through. Uh, this is land that is prime for lower density housing, either lower density multi- family or lower density single- family. Uh, the proposed project is simply too much, and when you look at that zoning map, it is surrounded by and large by single - family lower density homes. That's probably the most appropriate use for this in my view. Uh ... so I'm just here to reiterate, uh, last month. We don't need to make more mistakes, um ... one of the strategic goals of the Council going forward is neighborhood stabilization. Stabilization cuts two ways. Stabilization can preserve what is in a neighborhood, and it also refers to what could be placed in a neighborhood, and I would urge you to consider that in your deliberations, and I thank you very much for your time. I know you've had a long night already. (several responding) Hayek: Thanks, Mike. (applause) Anyone else? Carlson: Oops, I'm Nancy Carlson. I live on 1002 E. Jefferson, which is not in the north... Northside Neighborhood Association, but I'm part of the central district, and uh, in the planning thing for the central district, which was done a few years ago, it was quoted that this area has a vibrant and diverse population, with lots of housing opportunities. So I want to know why it is that every time something is constructed in our area, it is an apartment house. Why are ... why don't we see houses? Why is it that the whole tip of the construction is toward more apartments for more students? If this continues, we are going to use ... we are going to lose the variance of various types of, uh ... populations. You know, I'm an older person. I like living here. I like living being able to walk downtown. I have neighbors who, uh, you know work and walk downtown, but it's like this ...our part of the population is totally forgotten. The only thing that the developers seem to be interested in is to provide more apartments for students, because it's a money- maker. Well, I'm sorry, but you said in your, um ... uh, meeting that you had a few weeks ago with the old and new, uh, Council Members that neighborhood stabilization was one of the things that was of utmost importance to you. I'm here to say I'm one of those people in the neighborhood stab ... who is interested in stabilizing the neighborhood for my age group, not only just the students. Thank you. (applause) Hayek: Thank you for your comments. Is there anyone else? Okay. We're going to... okay! Michaud: Sorry, I took a break. I thought everybody would be gone by now. I was wrong. I guess it's good. Um, I'm Pam Michaud and I have two houses on College Green Park. I've been there 21 years and I circulated the petition to make College Green a historic district. Any questions? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 40 Hayek: No, I just want to make sure this relates to the North, uh, Governor Street application. Michaud: Oh, sorry! I'm on the wrong page. Hayek: Okay. Michaud: So, I'm (several talking and laughing) Hayek: Would anyone else like to address us on the Governor Street, uh, application? Okay, I'm going to close the public portion of this and open it up for Council discussion. We have a... a pending motion. Champion: Um ... what did we move (several talking) Karr: It's already (several talking) Champion: So long ago I forgot! Mims: Yep, it's on the floor. Throgmorton: And the motion is what? Karr: Second consideration. Throgmorton: To ... to approve (both talking) Karr: ... second consideration. Throgmorton: Right, okay. Champion: Well, welcome back! We're glad to have you here again tonight. Not only going to get my `no' vote, you're going to get a new road, a new brick street! (applause) But no more complaints from your group today! (laughter) But I would like to see this area downzoned, I really would. Thanks for coming! Mims: Yeah, I think ... you know, when we went through this the first time I voted to support this rezoning, and, um, listened very carefully as the community came out at our December meeting and expressed your concerns and expressed those, I think, very well and some of the issues that ... that I hadn't considered and I ... and yeah, you're going to get a new brick street. Not out of this, not from this but um, you know, just some of the conversation of the traffic that you ... that you already do have and how, um, you know, putting in that kind of density of housing in that area can have that much of a negative impact on some of those side streets and with the parking, etc. And so as I vote, well, as I intended to vote in Nov ... in December, um, I will vote tonight to, uh, turn this down. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 41 Throgmorton: I'll toss in a few cents worth here. Uh, I think this proposed, uh, rezoning is completely inappropriate for the neighborhood. Uh, the idea of having three six - unit apartments built there would be inconsistent with the, uh, essentially RS8 character of the entire neighborhood, especially if you walk around there. Good grief! You walk around there, you see single - family style buildings. Uh, lot of which are not occupied by owners, I understand that, but the design of the buildings is ... is basically single - family. So I think it's completely inappropriate for, um, the neighborhood, and it's completely inappropriate with our stated goal of stabilizing older neighborhoods, uh, that's, uh, and I do kind of...I believe like Mike Wright said, it was, uh, a mistake back then to, for the comprehensive plan, to, uh, designate this little cluster of property, this little bit of property, for uh, it's high density or medium density, I don't remember what it says in the comprehensive plan, but it was ... it's inappropriate; shouldn't have been done back then. Nonetheless it was. Uh, so, but I don't think we should compound the mistake by rezoning this to, uh, to RM12. Uh, I do have some ideas though. I think this particular site is really well suited for a pocket neighborhood, uh, which could consist of some, you know, a cluster of, uh, relatively small single - family units that are linked to one another, and designed in coherent relationship with one another. Moreover, if you relate that site to Happy Hollow Park, what you see that the ... a development at that, at this location, could be a great amenity for Happy Hollow Park, or conversely, really undermine, uh, the ... the use and viability of that park. So, uh, I ... I'd like to encourage the owners of the property to take a ... a serious look at the possibility of putting in a pocket neighborhood, and if you don't know what that consists of, I'd be happy to, uh, provide you a link that would help, uh, enlighten that. Moreover, if...if a new development goes in there, it ... you know you walk the site it's really obvious. If...if somebody's going to be living there, you gotta have a pathway leading down through the trees, down the hill, into Happy Hollow Park, and ... you know, somebody's gotta figure out how to do that. Uh, otherwise, kids or whoever lives there are going to run down through that, through the woods anyhow, and they're going to be tripping and sliding through the mud and tripping over the logs or whatever, cause I've been there many, many times over the past with my dog and with my little girl and lots of other people. Um, so anyhow, I'm going to vote no. Hayek: I'm not going to reiterate the points I made, uh, in late 2011, other than to say that I stand by them. This is an extremely fragile neighborhood, one that has been long neglected, I think, um, and I don't think this proposal was as compatible with ... with that neighborhood. Um, so I'm ... I'm going to stick with my vote. Dickens: I'm following, uh, I originally voted for it, uh, that was before there wasn't a big outcry, and part of it was that a lot of the neighborhood did not know about it. After listening to all of the discussions, and looking at all the other properties around, there is a better use for this property. I'd like to see it in- filled. I think it's very important, but doing it the right way is very important at this time, and I'll be voting no as well. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 42 Dobyns: Is this the part of the meeting where I try and say something intelligent (laughter) Hayek: You don't have to say something. You (several talking) Dobyns: Okay! Somebody can tell me who sat here before I did (laughter) um, I appreciate the, uh, the vigor of the neighborhood, uh, citizens coming in. Um, I won't speak to some of the considerations, but I thought the topographic issue that you brought in terms of the brick work, the slope, how that would affect traffic. I think these are very compelling issues, um, amongst all the others, and I appreciate it. I will be voting no for this. Hayek: Further discussion by Council? Roll call, please. Uh, item fails, uh, 0 -6, Payne abstaining. (applause) Markus: Anything else we should be doing... Hayek: What's that? Markus: ...with the existing zoning? Champion: Downzone it! Markus: Is there further (both talking) Hayek: Well, I don't know that we take that up right now. Dilkes: Well, I think, I mean, I think if it relates to this property, for instance, if you're interested in having staff examine the comprehensive plan, the zoning of this property, you can certainly say that. Champion: Yes. Mims: I would say yes to that (several talking) Markus: Seems that you kept mentioning that existing zoning. Champion: Right! Hayek: Okay, all right. We are going to take a ten minute break here, uh, and so we'll pause the meeting at this time and start up at 9:10. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 43 ITEM 8. AUTHORIZING CONVEYANCE OF A SINGLE FAMILY HOME LOCATED AT 410 DOUGLASS STREET. a. PUBLIC HEARING Hayek: This is part of the UniverCity, uh, neighborhood partnership program. This is a public hearing. (bangs gavel) Public hearing is open. Public hearing is closed. (bangs gavel) b. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION Champion: Move the resolution. Payne: Second. Hayek: Moved by Champion, seconded by Payne. Discussion? Champion: You're back! (laughter) Hayek: Roll call, please. Champion: I'd like to just tell the public that in our budget sessions we've decided to continue this program along with the University. Not quite as extensive, but it's a great program. Hayek: Item passes 7 -0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 44 ITEM 9. CONVEYANCE OF A UTILITY EASEMENT ACROSS RALSTON CREEK LOCATED WITHIN LOT 1, BLOCK 20, COUNTY SEAT ADDITION, IOWA CITY, IOWA. a. PUBLIC HEARING Payne: I have to recuse from this one too. Hayek: Okay. (several talking) This has to do with an underground utility easement across Ralston Creek. This is a public hearing. (bangs gavel) Public hearing is open. Public hearing is closed. (bangs gavel) b. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING Dickens: Move the consideration. Mims: Second. Dickens: Resolution. Hayek: Moved by Dickens, seconded by Mims. Discussion? Roll call, please. Item passes 7 -0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 45 ITEM 10. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 9, "MOTOR VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC," CHAPTER 1, "DEFINITIONS;" AND AMENDING TITLE 9, "MOTOR VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC," TO ADD A NEW CHAPTER 11, "AUTOMATIC TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT," TO ALLOW FOR RED LIGHT AUTOMATED TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT. (FIRST CONSIDERATION) Yapp: Uh, good evening, John Yapp, Transportation Planner and... Karr: Could we have a motion first? Hayek: Yeah! Dobyns: Move to consider. Payne: Second. Hayek: Uh, moved by Dobyns, seconded by Payne. Discussion? Yapp: Uh, thank you. With me tonight is Police Chief Hargadine. Uh, I just want to give a brief recap of this issue to date for the benefit of the new Council Members. Uh, we've discussed this a few times with Council, uh, in the recent past. Red light running is a vehicle entering an intersection after the light has turned red. Uh, in Iowa City, and I'm referring to the table on page 2 of the memo, in Iowa City in the past ten years there have been 599 red light running collisions, totaling $3.5 million in property damage and 129 personal injuries. Uh, red light running cameras function as a ... as a way for what's called automated enforcement, in which the evidence collected by the camera, uh, can be used by the police department to issue a citation to the motorist who ran the red light. Uh, that's one thing that is not always, uh, clear, but the citation is issued by the police department, after the evidence is reviewed, uh, by an officer. The ordinance before you tonight for consideration addresses red light running. This technology also has the ability to, uh, conduct speed enforcement in a similar manner by collecting evidence on speeding traffic and then potentially using that to issue a speeding citation, uh, to the owner of the vehicle. The combination of the red light running and the speed enforcement, uh, gives us the ability, and this is some new information that we've learned as we've researched this technology, uh, has the ability for collision prevention at intersections. Uh, when the camera detects a vehicle... entering the intersection on a red light, it has the ability to hold the red for the opposing legs of traffic and prevent other vehicles from entering the intersection, preventing, uh, the red light running collision that can occur. Uh, regarding the experience in the state of Iowa, there are six cities in the state of Iowa that currently use red light running technology. Cities of Clive, Council Bluffs, Davenport, Sioux City, Cedar Rapids, and Des Moines. Uh, the State of Iowa has done some research on the experience of these cities, and Davenport and Council Bluffs, uh, found that red light running collisions decreased by 90% in This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 46 Council Bluffs, and by 20% in the city of Davenport. In addition, the total collisions, uh, not just red light running collisions but all collisions decreased by 20% in Davenport and 44% in Council Bluffs. Uh, the intersections we've listed on the second page of the, uh, memo just give ten intersections with the red light running collisions, uh, at those ten intersections. Those are the intersections at which we would recommend as a starting point. Uh, if this ordinance is adopted. At looking at red light running technology, both because of the incidence of red light running collisions, and that most of those intersections are also very high pedestrian intersections. Uh, certainly with a pedestrian and a ... and a vehicle running a red light, the pedestrian would have gotten that walk signal to walk across the street. Uh, the ordinance before you tonight is essentially an enabling ordinance. Uh, should the ordinance be, uh, approved, three readings of the ordinance, our next step, uh, would be to enter into negotiations with a vendor, uh, for red light running technology and ... and at that point we would have a better idea of the, uh, contract with the vendor. Regardless of the vendor we, uh, may chose, this could be implemented at no cost to the City. Uh, the standard model is that the vendor and the City share, uh, revenue from the citation. Uh, with that I'd be glad to answer any questions or, uh, Police Chief Hargadine. Champion: Well, this is over a ten year period, this chart? Yapp: That's correct. Champion: So, there were 968 crashes on these intersections in ten years, so (both talking) Throgmorton: All kinds of crashes, right, John? Yapp: Uh, at that ten intersections, there were 968 collisions. City wide there were 12,063 collisions over ten years. Champion: But there were only 968 in these ... in this... Yapp: At those ten intersections. Correct. Throgmorton: And only 163 of `em had to do with running red lights? Yapp: At those intersections. That's correct. Champion: So 163 over a ten year period, correct? Yapp: At those intersections. Champion: So that's about 16 per year. Throgmorton: Pretty much. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 47 Champion: I think it'd be easier to get struck by lightning than to get killed at this intersection. With 16 ... as everybody knows I don't approve of these cameras. I don't think we have a ... I think I approve them in certain areas. I think they've been a life saver on 380 in Cedar Rapids. That's certainly a proven point. I'm not going to go into my whole spiel. I just don't like the idea of cameras controlling what are usually law abiding citizens. We've all run red lights. You might not even know it, but I'm sure we've all done it. Hayek: Hey, Connie, why don't we complete the input and then do our... Champion: Oh, I'm sorry! I just want to go home! Hayek: I know! I know! (laughter) We're running on empty here, but let's ... I would suggest that we, uh, ask questions and... Dobyns: I had a question, um, regarding the, there was a range of prices, uh, $65 to $100. 1 believe City staff recommended the $100 rate. Yapp: For the citation. Dobyns: For the citation itself. Um, can you kind of explain to me how that was brought about because my sense is that there isn't a significant amount of numbers, and so was the larger number chosen because we have to cover costs? Yapp: Chief? Hargadine: Well, we also looked at the price of a ticket that you would get if it were written by an officer, which is much higher. Um, and so that's why we landed on $100. Um, we've also talked to a couple of other communities that had it lower, uh, a lower fine, and they wished they would have started out at a $100. Dobyns: Why? Hargadine: Um ... they didn't really articulate that. It was just, you know, we have the ability to go back and what would you do different, and that was one of the things. Uh, that and including a late fee, if...if it's not paid. Uh, there were several jurisdictions that have no, uh, ramification for ... for not paying it and they wished they would have cleaned that up when they enacted the ordinance. One of the things that, um, to address the, uh, the concern you had, Connie. We had a, uh, from John's office we had interns go out and actually do a survey, uh, of some of these busier intersections, and while the crash data may not be as impressive or as high as, uh ... um, you know, that ... that causes them ... the impression that we've just got to have these, some of these intersections are being run between 100 to 200 times a day. It's just a matter of time before there's a pedestrian in ... in front of one of those, uh, intersections that ... that are being run. It's about accountability. We're not ... we're not asking you to ... to make it against the law This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 48 to run a red light. It's already there. We're asking for ... for the ability to, uh, hold people accountable that that's their main, um, driving behavior, and if...if they're never hold ... held accountable, they keep runnin' `em and in the ... in the areas where they put red light cameras in, um, for example Cedar Rapids, they have been able to successfully modify driver behavior, and that's what this is all about. Payne: Question on (mumbled). Um, how many tickets have you, have the police actually written at these intersections for somebody running a red light? Hargadine: I do not have the ... that statistic in front of me. Payne: I mean, that's part of modifying behavior too is actually giving somebody a ticket for an infraction. Hargadine: That's correct, but we can't be at every intersection. Payne: No, but if you've never written one at one of these intersections... Hargadine: I can tell you it's not never, uh... Payne: Well, that was probably... sarcasm. Sorry! (laughter) Hargadine: Well, uh ... I ... I don't know. I don't have that ... I could pull that up in the annual report. It would be, you know, tickets city wide, um ... we could do it specifically for intersections as well, but as soon as the police car leaves the block, the behavior goes back. It's like having a ... a radar trailer on your block. People do slow down to see what kind of speed they're... as they're driving through. When the trailer moves on, they go back to their original behavior. It's the same thing with a... a rove... a roving police car. Payne: Is there any, uh, statistics that have been done in let's just say Cedar Rapids of how many vehicles find alternative routes, so you're pushing traffic in ... instead of driving on a main thoroughfare you're driving through a neighborhood, instead of driving on that thoroughfare to miss the red lights? Hargadine: The only pertinent statistic that I can quote from Cedar Rapids is the overall reduction in crashes city wide. Because they modify driver behavior city wide. Dobyns: I noticed some of the recommended intersections are sequential, um, concern is that is the dis ... uh, does traffic engineering have a sense of how sequenced, um, intersections would slow down traffic, I mean, one might not affect behavior, but if you have one, two, or three in relatively approximate sequence, would that slow down traffic and like make people drive differently between those monitored intersections? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 49 Yapp: Um ... the reason for the ... the Gilbert Street corridor and the Burlington Street corridor are both very high, uh, they have high incidences of red light running and high pedestrian use. Uh, if this technology were implemented at three sequential intersections, the effect ... I do not believe there would be an effect on traffic speed. Uh, when we've monitored red light running, it's after the signal has gone red. There are two to three to four vehicles that continue through the intersection. Uh, even after the opposing legs have gone green, including the pedestrian signals. It would modify that type of behavior. Payne: Do you have any idea if some of that is because the light doesn't actually stay green long enough? Like maybe only two cars can go through on the green, so extra cars go through because they sat there through six or seven lights? Yapp: I do not have evidence of that ... to that effect, no. The issue with green times is it's ... there's a ... if you give more green time to one leg of traffic, you're taking away green time from the other leg of traffic, and ... and we do continually balance the traffic signals according to the traffic patterns. Champion: Chief, you said it had cut down the accident rate in Cedar Rapid, city wide. Does that mean it cut ... are you saying that it cut down the accident rates in all the city, that didn't have, uh, cameras? Hargadine: That is the experience that they had, correct. Throgmorton: John, I'd like to ask you some questions about your table ... table 1. Yapp: Yes. Throgmorton: I want to make sure I understand the table. And it's not ... doesn't look that complicated and I want to make sure I've got it. Yapp: Of course! Throgmorton: Um, so um... 163 vehicles at ten intersections in ten years ran the traffic signal? Were red light running vehicles? Would... Yapp: These are collisions due to red light running. Throgmorton: The 163 is collisions? Yapp: Collisions, that's correct. Throgmorton: What does total crashes mean then? Yapp: That is total number of collisions, uh, both including red light running collisions and other types of collisions. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 50 Throgmorton: Okay, so um ... when I do an x/y plot of, um, of ran traffic signal against total crashes, I end up with no correlation whatsoever. I haven't tried to, you know, come up with the ... a correlation coefficient, but the plot looks like this. It's just a ... it's just a shotgun. You know? So that tells me that there's no necessary relationship between red light running and crashes. I mean, you know, the number of crashes at an intersection. So if...if the object is to reduce the number of crashes... other things need to be done, and so then the question becomes what really is the problem. So my gut sensation is that this is a solution in search of a problem. All right? So that ... that worries me. All right, but now ... I ... I understand, I've got the data right and I think I'm plotting it right. So another question has to do with, uh, just Burlington and Madison as an example, uh, according to the second para ... I'm sorry, the last paragraph on the second page of the report, uh, using that paragraph and the information contained in it, when I look at Burlington-Mad ... and Madison, I would expect to see over 300 red light running vehicles, but table 1 indicates 9. So, am I misreading that paragraph? Yapp: Yes! Throgmorton: Help me understand. Yapp: Uh, 9 collisions is the total of...number of collisions due to red light running. Throgmorton: Okay. Yapp: The 300 is an estimate of vehicles actually running the red light. Throgmorton: Okay, good. Yapp: Um, and that was based on a traffic survey we had done, and we found .6% of vehicles, uh, within our survey run ... run the red light. Throgmorton: Okay, good. It's helpful for me to know that. Urn ... let's see, um, want to make sure I understand the revenue part of this ... also. Um ... revenue's coming from the ... the fines that would be, uh, levied? Not levied but charged, urn ... oh come on, Jim, where are you? Um ... when I look at, I guess it's page 3...4 of the report, it's got the charts ... it's basically where you say you recommend a $100 per, uh, as a fine for each infraction. Uh ... when I apply that to the ... to the ten, 163, well this is where I've got to make sure I understand. 163 red light violations at ten candidate intersections over ten years. That would be, uh, a total amount of, uh, total fine of $16,000 (both talking) Yapp: Well, again, that ... that 163 is collisions. Throgmorton: So ... so what would the number of infractions be likely to be ... for those ten ... ten intersections then? I want to get a sense of... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 51 Yapp: That's difficult for us to answer at this point because ... what we hope will happen is that the number of vehicles running the red light will be reduced significantly. Uh, in which case the ... any fine revenue would also be reduced. Throgmorton: Okay. Okay, so I have some other concerns, which really have nothing to do with the table, and we can get to them in a ... later on in the discussion I guess, but what I said about the x -y plot and relationship between red light running crashes and total crashes... concerns me. Hargadine: Well, I think that's about half of the equation. The other half is ... is the people that are running a red light but haven't hit anybody yet, it's about getting people to comply with the existing state and city laws. For example, if...if just one intersection has between 100 and 200 people running it per day, at what point when they hit somebody is that going to then be a sta... statistic that we care about. Throgmorton: Got that, but ... but I see at these ten intersections, a total of 15 major injuries in ten years? Hargadine: But how many people ran it and got away with it? Throgmorton: But there weren't major injuries. Hargadine: So it's okay? Throgmorton: No ... I ... no, I ... all I'm saying is if we look at these ten intersections and ask ourselves would, uh, this, uh, camera device ... help reduce the number of injuries significantly ... I find it hard to get to that point. I know I don't (both talking) Hargadine: I think if it increases compliance... with the traffic law, it has to, and I ... and if you ask me to prove that mathematically, I can't do that, but uh, um... it would have to ... the more compliance you have with the traffic laws, I would think it's reasonable to assume that you're going to have fewer injuries, uh, and fewer crashes, fewer dollar loss. Payne: It's just risk. You're decreasing your risk then. Because right now you're saying the risk is high because lots of people run the lights. You put the cameras in. You're saying the risk is going to go down because the hope would be less people would run the lights. Hargadine: That's the goal, but one thing, we are totally different than Cedar Rapids in that we don't have the highways and thoroughfares that Cedar Rapids does. A different... they have different traffic problems, but they don't have the ... the volume of pedestrian and bicycle traffic that we do either. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 52 Hayek: Are there more questions for staff, uh, at this time? Okay, what I'm going to do ... thank you, uh, we may need to bring you back up, obviously. Um, I'm sure there are people from the audience who want to address us. We've been going for two and a half hours. I think we're starting to run out of steam, and there's more to do. So if you have a comment on this issue, I ask you to try to limit it to three minutes. We're going to shorten this to buy just a little bit time, uh, of space here, urn ... but we do want to give the opportunity for public input on this. So, same drill — if you're interested, uh, please sign in, give us your name. Enzel: I'm Susan Enzel. I live at 216 Magowan Avenue and I work in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I'm a long -time resident of Iowa City and I would like to comment about the proposal to install traffic cameras in an effort to persuade drivers to stop at red lights. And if possible to slow them down. Up until the flood, my office was in downtown Cedar Rapids on First Avenue. It was actually dangerous sometimes to cross First Avenue at 9:00, 10:00 in the morning, because even though the pedestrian light had turned `walk,' you'd have to look to the left to make sure there wasn't someone speeding up to barrel through the intersection. And if literally there would have been more than one time if I would have stepped out when it ... when `walk' I wouldn't be standing here. So it's not just about the... not just about the drivers, it's about the pedestrians and the sense of danger that goes along with seeing people, experiencing people shooting through an intersection, and they're usually going over the speed limit or they wouldn't be getting through the intersection. Secondly, I have drive 1 -380 through Cedar Rapids many, many years and they ... one really risky thing is that elevated turn that goes over the river, urn ... and uh, vehicles routinely were going, you know, 65, even 70 miles an hour on that turn, and especially on the times when there was inclement weather, when the roads were icy or when it's really windy, trucks were blowing, you know, there were collisions on that turn, and the ... the cameras have been extremely effective in slowing people down. People are now going 55, maybe 60, on that interstate over the big loop, which is very, very scary to drive. I have ... also understand that it has reduced the number of vehicular accidents in Cedar Rapids and the number of personal injuries. One of the things that I think is odd is that people object to enforcing the law, that the idea that to have cameras that will just make us more compliant with stopping when there's a red light and driving the speed limit, we ... we need to rationalize, we need to defend that? I... I think that's a waste of time. Of course we should be driving the speed limit. Of course we shouldn't be running red lights. And I almost ran one tonight, Connie. If I had, I should get a ticket, okay? Champion: We've all almost done it. Enzel: Or we have done it. Let's admit we have done it! Another issue that comes up, and I hear ... I was telling one of my colleagues today that I was going to speak on this issue here in Iowa City, and she works in Cedar Rapids, and she said, oh, the City'll raise a lot of revenue that way! And that's what's happened is that a lot of citizens in Cedar Rapids have seen this as a diabolical plot for the City of Cedar This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 53 Rapids to raise money, and I suspect you're going to have some objections to this, uh, ordinance based on that, that this is a diabolical way that the, uh, City Council is going to raise money, revenue, for the City of Iowa ... Iowa City. Well, I say, so what? If that's the, one of the side effects of enforcing the law, that there actually will be fines and money coming in to the City treasury, I think that's great. If people have some problems with that, they can just obey the law and not contribute to the fines. So ... I'm going to wrap up here, but I just really urge you to give serious consideration to, um, approving this ordinance and putting in the traffic cameras at select intersections. You'll have a... it's a very quasi - experimental design, but you can then, uh, have the police department keep track of vehicle collisions and personal injury accidents over a period of years and see whether then it would be worth renewing the contract with the company. So thank you. Hayek: Thank you for your comments. Delzer: ...my original issue (noise on mic). Uh, I'm Greg Delzer, I live at 417 Kimball, and ... I'm reminded of the gentleman who spoke, uh, during the open comment period about the pedestrian who was hit by a car and received the ticket, and I'm wondering why we're also not talking about the scourge of red light walking which occurs and if that was ... if the idea of this is to make the intersections safer, you could extend that to say that we should just be putting up cameras to also identify people who are breaking the law by walking against the red lights, thereby keeping them from potentially being harmed or harming of vehicles, and I can imagine the type of reaction you would get if you were going to say that we should put cameras up to identify pedestrians who are walking against the light, and then going after them to give them a citation, and I can't picture why this is much different than that idea. Uh, it seems to me that if we're going to, uh... keep, uphold the law that ... to do so for the protection of citizens at intersections that we would also extend that to doing that for pedestrians. Thank you. Hayek: Thank you for your comments. Sylvan: Book dealers, we're meddlesome! Um, I am Nialle Sylvan, address 1722 Morningside Drive. I just want to draw to the attention of the City Attorney in the presence of the Council, I believe it was 2001 or 2002 when a court, uh, case went before the Supreme Court of Iowa in which a gentleman was able to bring a successful constitutional law challenge, um, to a traffic ticket that he received, uh, speeding violation on the interstate. Um, I don't remember the gentleman's name. I'll talk to you later about the lawyer involved. I do remember his name, urn ... basically the Supreme Court found that a ... an officer has to swear under oath before a notary public bec ... if the officer sees somebody engaged in a crime. I don't know what the applications might conceivably be for this situation, since ... I don't know if that applies to things you witness on a camera. Dilkes: Yeah, I'm ... I'm aware of that case. It dealt with the criminal charge. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 54 Sylvan: Yes. Dilkes: Um, it would not be applicable in this case (both talking) with respect to this enforcement mechanism, the Iowa Supreme Court has ruled that it's, um, constitutional. Sylvan: Okay! Just wanted to make sure the City wasn't going to get charged money if people object. Hayek: Thank you for your comments. Anyone else? Thanks (mumbled) (noises on mic) Knight: Guess I'll use this one! Uh (laughter) um ... on a couple issues that were brought up with this whole thing, um, for pedestrians. I know one of the issues is I feel, you know, this thing can get like 5 miles an hour. I don't make it across the intersection within time. I don't know what all needs to be done, but if I was walking ... I'd feel like I'd need to run to make it to the other side. So ... what can be done with like raising time for the pedestrians, so then they don't feel like, well ... I'm going to have to risk it just to make it across in time without getting hit. Um, another issue I think we need to bring up is taking paperwork off of the desks for the police officers. Get them out there ... you know, they shouldn't have to be doing an hour's worth of paperwork because they wrote one ticket. Get them back out there so they can write more, so they can catch these guys, and then (mumbled) go to these cameras to catch these people that might have done a small little mistake. That's my issue and thank you. Hayek: Thanks. Could we get your name, just for the (both talking) Knight: Oh, sure, I'm Roger Knight Jr. Sorry about that! Hayek: Thank you. Rosenbaum: Hi, my name's still Rebecca, and I still live on Howell Street. And I appreciate your incredible stamina and think you should all get paid more! Um, and I was just suddenly inspired to speak by the gentleman in the wheelchair. Without a cane I can't make it across the intersection. I'm 60 years old. I'm glad Jim Walters brought up Nancy Siberling. She's in a nursing home. She has Alzheimer's. Her son lives down the block from me. My mother's not in a nursing home; she has Alzheimer's. We have senior housing downtown. We have people older than me. The traffic signals do not have to consider only traffic flow. They must consider pedestrians. You must give us more time to cross the road. There simply isn't enough time. The thing is blinking before we get there. It's really not ... not all right. Many intersections in this town are accidents waiting to happen. I think we remember Susan who was killed. Susan, I'm sorry (unable to hear, away from mic) Susan Rotman was killed in a wheelchair crossing Burlington and Gilbert. She should be here speaking tonight, and I speak This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 55 in her memory. Please consider pedestrians. On the other hand, I greatly appreciated what somebody said about pedestrians sometimes when I'm driving down Burlington Street and I see a group of students jaywalking on the diagonal, I think they look like really stupid sheep. So it goes both ways. I do drive a car. I do walk when I can. And I don't think this town has the, um, intersections set up right. Something's wrong! Thank you very much, and we're all having a long night! Hayek: Thank you... for your comments. Rosenbaum: Do I have to sign in again? Because I talked again? (mumbled) Thanks loads! Hayek: Anyone else? Minor: Uh, yeah, hello, my name is Ross Minor. Uh, I just thought I'd mention that I have a lot of faith in our police department here. I have a lot of faith that our police department know what they're doing and can, uh, you know, have pretty good brains and can see with their own eyes when a crime is being committed. And, uh ... I think I'd ... I'd rather trust an officer than ... than a camera. And I think an officer knows the difference between somebody who's blatantly running a red light and mistakes that (mumbled) will happen. Just the first thing that jumped in my head is, uh, I don't remember what winter it was, urn ... must have been 2006, 2007, something along those lines. Got up to drive to work in the morning. Ice storm the previous night. Got in my car. Pulled out of my driveway. First intersection I crossed, hit the brake, slid right through it. Clean through, not even dead in the middle but clean through. Maybe I deserved a ticket for that and maybe I didn't, but I think if an officer saw it, the officer would know. Camera wouldn't know! I would have got a ticket in the mail, and uh, I think that that's one example out of, you know, probably dozens that this room could come up with, in having faith in our police department and not having faith in a machine that doesn't know the difference. Hayek: Thank you. Adams - Hiett: Sean Adams - Hiett, Deforest Avenue, or 926 Deforest Avenue. Um ... uh, so when talking about the ... the red light cameras and um, listening to people talk about the, uh, you know, why would we even have to defend something that causes people to obey the law. Um, I think that there's always a case that can be made for why there should be a more and better methods of enforcement. Um, and I think that the ... the concern that I have is that it's a slippery slope, you know. At what point does it become too invasive in our lives having cameras watching us all the time, every time I go out and about it seems like there're cameras in more places recording what I do. Um, at all times, and I don't think it's necessarily just a consideration of, um, causing people to obey the law. You know, I've run a red light and yes, maybe I should have gotten a ticket for that, or maybe, you know, I got lucky, nobody got hurt, I wasn't intending to run the red light, and I didn't This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 56 light, and I didn't have to pay a ticket for that, and I think that that's okay. That's just my opinion, but I'm going to put it out there, urn ... and the other thing that I have that is a concern is not so much the sinister plot that is raising revenue for the City, uh, but I do question the profit motive of a private company taking a share of the revenue, um, that sort of thing, you know, where a company is profiting off of, uh, people running red lights just kind of automating this sort of thing. it's ... it's a very strong concern to me because it makes me wonder what is really the motivation there. Is it really that we are trying to, um, protect people, and trying to enforce the law, or are we just enriching ... uh, private company? So those are my thoughts. Hayek: Thank you for your comments. Ross: Hi, Brandon Ross. I would just say just in this one minute that sometimes we're so, uh, focused on flow, the traffic flows, but we're not ... we're not focused enough on walkability, or just livability, and that even things like having trees lining streets actually slows down traffic. Studies have shown this. And, uh, it's a long -term process, uh, of city planning and uh, and seems to work better than gadgets, and uh, so I think that in making your decision tonight, whatever way you do, that there are other ways that you can make a place, uh, more safe and a lot of it has to do with .... with those kind of things, which is just normal planning within the city and things like trees do tend to slow down traffic. People, uh, actually pay attention to them when they're driving, instead of when they're on a ... you know, on a road that seems like, you know, basic traffic sewer, where they think, well, there's nothing to look at here. I'll just ... I'll just rev up to a hundred miles an hour and get the hell out of it. So, I think that's a ... that's a point to consider maybe. Hayek: Thank you for your comments. Carlson: (mumbled) I took driver's ed in the... Hayek: Sorry, give us your name again. Carlson: I'm sorry! Nancy Carlson. Back when I took driver's ed, back in the dark ages, um ... our instructor informed us that driving was a privilege and not a right. And, from all these things ... from all the things I've heard tonight, it's like we have a right to do this. No, driving is a privilege that we need to think about and be careful o£ Uh, our police department has a lot more to do than they used to, uh, the economy has gone down and so they don't have as much money. So how much money would it cost the city to put a police officer out there to write tickets everyday? What is ... you were concerned, Mr. Throgmorton, with the economics of this. Okay, so what would it cost the ... the City to have one police officer out there 24 hours a day, 365 days a week... what... what would the economic breakdown of that be? Uh, I think our police department can be better used, uh, with dealing with other things and uh, you know, if you don't run a red light, you This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 57 don't get a ticket! It's very simple. If you park and you overpark, you get a ticket. If you don't overpark, you don't get a ticket. Thank you. Hayek: Okay. I'm going to close the ... the public input portion of this and let's have Council discussion and take a vote. Champion: I think I've already said my piece. Dickens: I guess I'd .... I'll speak in, uh, I really appreciate the concerns about, uh, crossing, especially Burlington Street seems to be one of the major places, uh, the lights seem to change very quick. I used to be considered fast and it's tough for me to get across those streets any more, uh, since the Post Office downtown changed, we have to go up to the main Post office now so I didn't used to have to go across Burlington Street. And I'm talking from personal experience here. It is ... not unusual, I usually go maybe once a day or once ... two or three times a week. At that intersection alone I've been about hit ... I would guess 50% of the time because people running red lights. I ... behavior is, uh, the biggest concern. Changing the behavior of people running red lights. Everybody's in a hurry. Burlington Street is very congested, and it seems to be a place that people will run red lights, uh, semi truck just looked at me and grinned as he went through it, you know, as I'm standing there with the light to walk. Um, finances, if it's a break - even for the City, I've said, that if it changes the behavior, the way people drive, if it saves one person, it's worth it to me. And, it's a consideration that we need to look at, but also we need to look at the timing of the ... for the pedestrians to get across the street. The vehicles can be replaced, uh, that's why we all have insurance... people can't. Payne: I guess I ... you're talking about changing in ... of behavior, and I think there are other ways to change behavior, rather than having "Big Brother" breathing down your throat all the time. And the example that I can think of is how many people would even think to drive 27 miles an hour through University Heights? I mean, you just don't do it ... cause you know you can't, you're going to get a speeding ticket, and there aren't ... there aren't cameras over there! So there is ways to change behavior without using cameras. So, I ... I just think this is too much of a "Big Brother" thing to me. Throgmorton: Maybe I'll hop in here just to have a little balance, going back and forth. Uh, I'm going to vote no tonight, um, but I could be persuaded to change my mind if, uh, the concerns I'm going to express are addressed, uh, adequately in my view. So what are my concerns? Well, sort of a Big Brother point that both Connie and Michelle have expressed. So I'm pre- disposed from the get -go, uh, not to support the proposal. I think we're already observed too much. That's my predisposition, so I also don't like the time lag and this is one of the points that maybe I can be corrected on. The time lag between the moment a ... a car goes through, or vehicle, goes through a red light, and the moment when that ... the owner of that car, uh, gets notified of a violation. So I imagine myself in that situation. I think, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 58 okay, three weeks after some event I get a notification that I've, you know, violated, uh, you know, the... or I ran a red light, and I... and I ask myself, "Huh? When was that? Did I do that? I really don't know. I can't remember," you know. Uh, and moreover, so there's this time lag concern I have. Moreover, I'm concerned about the, uh, what I think of as a decoupling of the ... of the vehicle from the driver. In other words, a vehicle goes through the red light, but it's the driver ... it's the owner of the vehicle that gets a ticket. Whereas I think it's the driver of the vehicle that ought to get a ticket, or a fine. So, again, that's a concern that maybe can be addressed, but it's one that I have. And, as I've already said, I don't see, based on the data any coherent connection between the number of red light running collisions and the total number of collisions at the ten intersections already mentioned. So I don't ... don't see, uh, that there would necessarily be the kind of benefit uh, hoped for, and I guess there was like one other thing I had. Um ... um ... where is my one other thing? Oh yes, many of the people who have spoken have articulated ways in which, uh, the use of, uh, that... articulated ways in which a variety of factors can cause a collision or accident involving a pedestrian. I think of Susan Rothman, for example, she was a friend of mine. Uh, I was horrified when she died crossing Burlington Street at Linn Street, but she got hit because a driver was driving into the sunlight, and you know what that's like, uh, when the sun's setting at a certain time of the year, right ... the sun's right there, you can't see squat! So she got hit. It's ... I was horrified by that, but it was a fact. And then other people have already... articulated really well some other causes of collisions and so on. So I'm not convinced that this solution is ... is necessary or the best solution for the range of factors that actually cause collisions and injuries. So, you know, I'm going to vote no. Perhaps I could be persuaded to change my mind. Hayek: I'm going to, uh, be supportive of this. Uh, let me explain why, but this ... and let's remember what this is and what this is not. This is enabling legislation. This is not a contract, and... and all along we've talked about, um, at least those who were on the Council last year said, you know, we're willing to look at this, uh, but we want to see a contract. And ... and that's important, because this just allows staff to pursue that and bring a product to us for... for review. This is something that ... that not only the police department but our transportation planners, um, asked us to look at, um ... and ... and this allows them to go out and ... and pursue a contract for ... for our review, and ... and as part of a contract, and I've said this before, I'll say it again — I would want to see, uh, what exit rights the City has, what opportunity we afford ourselves, uh, if we go down this, uh, if we go with this project, uh, to ... to review the data and ... and the experience and uh ... and uh ... what opportunities we have to get out of such an arrangement if we don't like how it's going after a period of time. Um, those ... those things would be important to me, um, if we get to a contract, uh, point. Uh, I don't consider this to be Orwellian. I don't consider this to be a money grab, you know, we use technology regularly, uh, in the execution of city functions and ... and uh, I ... I think our police officers are better deployed, uh, elsewhere in the community. There's a review by a human being of ... of these, um, charges and uh, or fines, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 59 and there's an appellate process. Uh, in fact I think there are two different options — one within an administrative process, and one to the district court. Um, so a computer does not determine your fate on this, and ultimately I am willing to look at a contract. Mims: I also am ... am willing to look at it. I ... I'm not, uh, certainly not a fan of the idea of more and more cameras, and it's kind of interesting to hear, you know, the difference of opinions, um, you know, one of the things about, you know, the... the separation of the identity of the driver and the vehicle was just that — for personal privacy, to try and take some of that, you know, "Big Brother" aspect away from it is the way it was ... has been explained to us in the past, and so the photograph is of, it's my understanding, is of the license plate, um, not trying to take pictures of the occupants, um, of the vehicle. And ... you know, I don't have a problem with the fact that the owner of the vehicle, um, is the one that gets the fine. Um, as owners of vehicles we should be responsible for who ... who's driving our vehicle, um, and so we have to take ... we do have to take that responsibility. Again, I ... think people have made good points. I would ... I won't repeat everything Matt has said, but I think the idea that you know, we have an exit strategy, we have an opportunity to look at this, see if we're seeing changes, um, I know certainly... and I don't think it's just getting older. I think it's just the more I drive and am more on the road, I find myself more and more frustrated with drivers out there, uh, people doing crazy things, and if this is ... I think probably one of the ... an effect, hopefully an effective way and an inexpensive way for the City to try and effect behavior and change behavior than I think it is certainly worth a try. And so I will support it. Dobyns: I think the City staff has been proactive in bringing forward a new technology that we need to consider. Um, I do see, um, some association between traffic, uh, involved in intersection, um, and the number of crashes and, uh, incidents. So I will be, uh, supporting this first consideration. Champion: Is this first consideration, or was it just to... Hayek: First. Champion: There has to be a resolution to look into the program? Mims: This is an ordinance. Karr: This is a code change ... to allow. Champion: Oh, okay. All right. Hayek: Okay. Roll call, please. Item passes 4 -3, uh, Council Members Payne, Champion, Throgmorton in the negative. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 60 Karr: Motion to accept correspondence. Mims: So moved. Dickens: Second. Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Dickens. Discussion? All those in favor say aye. Can we have an aye here? (laughter) Opposed say nay. Uh, motion carries 7 -0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 61 ITEM 15. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING, AUTHORING AND DIRECTING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST AN AGREEMENT BY AND BETWEEN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY AND NEUMANN MONSON PC TO PROVIDE ARCHITECTURE AND ENGINEERING CONSULTANT SERVICES FOR THE ANIMAL CARE AND ADOPTION CENTER PROJECT. Payne: Move the resolution. Dobyns: Second. Hayek: Moved by Payne, seconded by Dobyns. Uh, discussion? Champion: Well, my question is, do we actually know how, I mean, what the Animal Center is going to contain? I mean, if we can't get 28 -E agreements with other jurisdictions? Do you know, Tom, I mean... Markus: I'm not sure I understand the question. Champion: Well... Markus: You mean how big is it going to be? Champion: Yes, I mean, it's ... we've already decided a size, but if Coralville and the County and other... Markus: We haven't decided a size yet. Champion: Oh! So what are they designing? Markus: They're going through two stages, and the first stage is to, um, describe, you know, the functions of it. In that time period we will also be meeting with the other jurisdictions in Johnson County to determine if they're going to participate, which will then determine the size. Champion: Okay. Okay. Markus: I think it fits together pretty good sequentially. Champion: And is the hourly programming fee $30,000? Markus: No, that ... no, there's ... (laughter) Hayek: It's not per hour, Connie! Champion: Oh, that's what it says! (laughter) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 62 Markus: There's three parts to the first phase. That's what that describes. Champion: Okay. I figured... yeah, okay! All right. And that's (both talking) Markus: That could have been worded better, I think. Champion: You think I'm starting to imagine things? (laughter) Markus: No! You're... Hayek: No, but you raise a good point, that the size and what we commit to in terms of the capital investment, and what we commit to in terms of the ongoing operational budget will be in part determined by the, uh, interest among other local jurisdictions and participation, uh, with this project. Markus: (mumbled) Payne: This, I mean, this actually says the goal of this work is to determine the size, construction cost, and a vision, so that's what part of this is, to determine... Markus: Exactly! Hayek: Right, so... Markus: Both capital costs and operating costs are to be determined as a part of this ongoing discussion with the other jurisdictions in Johnson County. Hayek: And by the way, I confirmed those, the fees that are referenced in there were the result of competitive process. So we ... we compared, there were bids on ... on the fee side. Champion: Okay. No, I understand that. I was just questioning the hourly programming (mumbled) $30,000. I'm going to take up that occupation! Hayek: Further discussion? Roll call, please. Item passes 7 -0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 63 ITEM 18. COMMUNITY COMMENT (ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA). Hayek: Could you raise your hand if you wish to address the Council, and have ... and haven't addressed the Council, or didn't address the Council during the first community comment? Okay, I see about a half dozen names. It is ... I'm going to ... we'll allow for a little bit of comment, but it is so late ... this Council's been going for about five hours now and I think staff and the Council are running out of steam. So ... we'll go ahead and do it. Step forward. Please limit your comments to two or three minutes, and we'll go for about 15 minutes and then I'm going to call this meeting to a close. Michaud: I'm Pam Michaud and I live on College Green Park. I have two houses. Helen Burford ahs two. Between the two of us we have 25% of the 16 hours on the park. Um, but I think this might save you some time and the people that are here, that um, as far as saving the three houses, two of them have been completely gutted, so there's no concern about saving them. Um, the only one that could possibly be retained would be the Red Avocado and that's extremely problematic, as you know. Um, the salvage barn ... those people have worked days and days taking out all the woodwork, the hardwood floors, um, there is nothing to walk on because... except joists, so those are shells of buildings. It's just the Red Avocado that remains. Urn ... you know, in a dream world I'd say save the Red Avocado and put up a three -story building there and do some kind of swap with these builders so that they would come out okay, but ... that's a dream world. Thanks very much. Hayek: Thank you. Sobolewski: Good evening, my name is Edward Sobolewski. I live at 746 Juniper Drive. Um, I just wanted to take a moment ask the Council to do everything that it can to, uh, help the Red Avocado stay open. Um, I understand that the construction project is within the bounds of the zoning code, and it meets all the appropriate legal standards. Uh, one thing that I'd like to mention is my wife and I moved here from Tallahassee, Florida, um, when we were considering moving up here, one thing that we noticed that, uh, was a strong similarity between Tallahassee and Iowa City is a strong focus on local business, um, community- supported businesses, agriculture, that sort of thing, and if the Council doesn't do everything that it can to help the Red Avocado stay open and functioning, it would be a great disservice to this community and to the residents of the community. Thank you very much for staying here as late as you have. I didn't actually think I'd be able to make it. Hayek: Thank you for your comments! Burt: Good evening. My name's David Burt. I live at 102 Parsons Avenue in the Glendale area. I'm co -owner of the Red Avocado. Um (mumbled) the Red Avocado as much as, you know, the energizing nature of 5,000 signatures have This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Hayek: Knight: Page 64 had. You know, clearly an issue has been energized (mumbled) issue and uh, you know, I hear people saying... mostly I hear people saying something is wrong. Um, and I realize you already know ... you're not in a position to do anything about this specific instance ... at Washington Street, but uh, you know, I encourage you to listen to, uh, people about this issue of something being wrong, something being imbalanced, um ... you know, if it was a body we'd say it's a symptom; there's a disease, potential disease happening. And uh ... what else I'm seeing is people juggling who's responsible for this? And clearly you're not responsible. I think the developers would consider themselves fine within the codes and all that so ... I'm also hearing people rise to their... fulfilling their, uh, obligation of responsibility to this issue. So, um, given the energized nature and energized times, very small nudges can make very big effects so I encourage the City to rise up to whatever responsibility you feel like you have with this issue for the future vision of the city. It seems again an issue of who's responsible for the vision of the city ... the train seems to be kind of running away with itself. So, uh ... it's a dialogue. And it's (mumbled) a chance to, uh, just take a hold of the train again. I think that policy can help. I know that nothing can be done over there, but I really encourage you to hear the voice of 5,000 people nationwide, worldwide, for a certain vision. And uh ... encourage you to ... start discussing a vision and hearing these ... these people. Thanks so much for your stamina! (laughter) Thank you ... thank you for being here tonight. (applause) Um, I just have one ... I'm not sure... Hayek: Give us your name once more just so ... we have t keep record... notes. Knight: Roger Knight Jr. Um, I just had one little thing. The sidewalks, especially downtown by the ped, er not the ped mall, the ... Old Cap, they're... they're some that have like cracks to `em and splits and what not, and especially for me in this wheelchair, I'm bumping around and I'm grinding my shoes on `em and one time I hit one it dang near threw me out of the chair. I don't wear the seatbelt on it because if you flip over, you're stuck in it. So, that's one reason for that but just to ... I don't know if it's you guys I need to talk to or... Markus: We will pass it on. Hayek: Yeah. (both talking) Knight: Okay, thank you! Hayek: Thanks for your comments. I'd encourage... if you ... if you have already spoken, to let others speak. Thanks. Carpenter Sinclair: My name is Joanne Carpenter Sinclair and I live at 616 Rundell Street. Um, I understand that certain decisions are set in stone. There are laws in place. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 65 There's not much you can do at this point for, um, the building that the Red Avocado is in and the ... the buildings next to it. Um, I am, uh, lucky enough, both as a renter and as, um, on 7th Avenue, and as a homeowner in the Longfellow Neighborhood that I live in an area where the buildings are historically preserved and protected. Um, at one point though, that wasn't the case and these were buildings that people in the community decided, um, that needed to be protected, even though they weren't ... at that point, um, his ... uh ... you know, preservation buildings. Um, they did this so that in 25 to 50 years they wouldn't look at that part of town and... see, um, bland cookie - cutter high -rises and apartment complexes, and just because a business isn't ... in a building, isn't in a conservation or preservation district, doesn't mean that it doesn't deserve to be protected, and that the City shouldn't reassess its zoning laws. Um, I'm not anti - student, I'm not anti- development. That ... Iowa City needs more afford... affordable housing and spaces for small businesses. Um, and entrepreneurs to open up shop, um, we need to be innovative and we need to be able to thrive in the future. There are parts of town that desperately need make- overs and need ... and do need to be developed. Um ... we also need reasons for people t want t live here. Um, I am in opposition of non - innovative destruction of vital long- standing, already existing structures and small businesses for the sake of development and profit on the short-term. I am in opposition of only giving businesses 30 days notice to vacate their buildings of operation. I've worked for the same local salon in town as a hairdresser for ten years. Five years ago we moved to a new lo ... location, um, we moved from Linn Street to, uh, Jefferson Street, and we expanded. Um, it took us six months to renovate and relocate, and we were fortunate enough to be able to open, um, be ... remain open at our previous location while we were working on construction, um, in the new space. Um, given our particular plumbing and electrical needs which are very similar to what a restaurant would need, um ... we would have never been able to be open and operational in as short a time as 30 days. Um, that could have never happened. Um, giving a short period of time for a business, like a restaurant or a salon, is in effect closing it. Um ... uh ... if Iowa City prides itself on our literary, artistic, educational, and cultural heritage, please keep our culinary and historical heritage in mind when you are hoping chart Iowa City's future. Zoning laws and eviction laws in town for businesses need to be reassessed so that when these issues come up again the City's hands are not tied. Thank you very much for your time! Hayek: Thank you for your comments. (applause) Hurley: Hello! My name is Anna Hurley. I'll keep this brief, um ... I know the properties of the Red Avocado and the ones next door have little chance of staying there, but for the rest of the street, um, for the community, I would urge the Council to help ensure that it remains a very beautiful space, very community- oriented with small businesses, other family dwellings, things like that. Um, I've lived here in Iowa City for several years and very much, um, talking to people visiting town or deciding to move to town or new to town, one thing I hear a lot is the charm of This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 66 Iowa City and how it's different from so many other regions in Iowa. Um, people love Iowa, but Iowa City especially, um, and what I've been seeing the last few years is beautiful places being torn down or knocked over by a tornado, and things being put up in their place that are not attractive, are not sustainable for small business, or for, um, people with low incomes. Um, or else they're student rented, which is not attractive. Having been a student, I can tell you promises of upkeep do not stay that way. Um, so I would urge the Council to try and urge landlords and do everything in your power to make sure properties on the edges of...of like ... over here by the Co -Op, over in the Northside Market Place, um, South Gilbert, those places stay beautiful, um, and not jam packed, um, small housing like high ... high density housing, things like that. Thank you very much for your time. Hayek: Thank you. (applause) Rosenbaum: (mumbled) thank you for letting me talk as fast as I can now and uh, good night to everybody. Just wanted to say, I took notes during this and I'm not going to look at them, but I'm stunned by a few things. I'm stunned by the extreme contrast between the success of the Deweyville, which I didn't even know it was called that, and a guy who wanted to build stuff being told he couldn't. I understand that was zoning change, and yet the Red Avocado wants to be saved, but that already was zoned for something huge, and as my ... my husband said, what were they thinking in 1983? Was there something funny in the drinking water? Who the bleep ever decided to put giant buildings there? Council, not you, but the council made a mistake and I didn't know until Pam Michaud spoke that those buildings were already gutted inside. And I'm horrified! I'm a champion of lost causes. I want to bring back the dead. I want Susan Rothman alive, and other friends who have been killed by cars, blinded by light in their eyes. I appreciate what Michelle Payne said about a positive behavior change. I just want to say some things really fast. Keokuk County has something going on where the cops were stopping people and giving them `you've been good' tickets. That's something we can do. I don't want crosses like there are, because I'm Jewish and it offends me, but how about markers saying `x number of accidents happened at this intersection.' Please be careful. It's coming up in half a block. This person was killed there. I'm glad it was called to our attention. We have a doctor in the house. Please remember, Mayo Clinic and University of Iowa devote a lot of money to putting art in hospitals because it's good for our health. Ugly buildings are not good for our health. The contrast between saving Deweyville and getting rid of Washington Street to me ... easy answer maybe! Let the Red Avocado get assistance, helping that long- haired guy whose name I forgot, move him into there, if the building really is a lost cause. Maybe some of these things can be reconciled, you know, I'm the kind of person who mulls on problems and tries to find solutions, but I can promise you ... I will never run for City Council because you have a hard job. I want to thank you again, and once again say that I think you should get paid more and I think we need a living wage ordinance in this town, and that my husband, who has been a perma -temp at the city of Iowa City This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 67 Literature Building, aka Public Library that throws away a lot of books, should get paid more. That we need a livable wage, and that we need some rent control, and some serious controls ... on want landlords and builders can do, and then maybe this really will be the place that some of us thought it was or dreamed it was or got (mumbled) thinking it was when we saw cute buildings or fell in love with a nice Iowan years ago. Thank you for listening. One last suggestion, I have to say this because during that pre- meeting you said you thought the public would be confused if you moved the places around. I think we heard a real ... the places of the meeting. I think we heard a lot of really smart public talk tonight, and there were a lot of them out in the hall because of the fire code. If you had a real ... knew you had a hot potatoes on the agenda, I'm just suggesting maybe you don't wait two weeks for the next meeting, or have a special meeting or ... I love your idea of taking it into the community. I think communication is excellent. Lot of us are internet savvy. Between TV, media, whatever, door -to -door leafleting, and also last suggestion, have a contest for plain old posters, signs... Hayek: Rebecca, you're going t have to finish up (both talking) Rosenbaum: ...please slow down, somebody was killed. Thank you. Good night. Thank you. Hayek: Thank you. We'll take one more comment, if there is one, and then we've got to shut this meeting down. (laughter and several talking) Ross: Cause I could! Hayek: You just can't help yourself! Ross: I so appreciate the City Council. You guys are great! Uh, I do want to say this, in parting. I meant to say this earlier that the Red Avocado, they catered our wedding in 2000, uh, the .... the small business, which is a vegan restaurant. I don't think there's another one, uh, anywhere near here and probably not in all of Iowa, and I do think of its ... as a landmark, as I said, we did ... uh, they did cater our wedding out at Hickory Hill Park, uh, the establishment is one of the finest, uh, I have ever, ever, uh, been graced to be able to experience. The food, I'm sure, many people have enjoyed. I just want to say in celebration of this particular institution, which is been against all odds in Iowa City running for almost 13 years now, and uh, I just want to, uh, be able to say, uh, that and that you know my daughter when she found out that the place was closing, she balled and balled and she's ten years old and I'm her dad, you know, it's hard ... it was hard to kind of, you know, Matt, you've got what, three now? It's going to happen. It's hard to say okay anyway. I just wanted to say that and to give a big, uh, shout out and a cheer for David Burt and Rachel and Kate and the establishment of the Red Avocado who have been with us for so many years in such a great business. Thank you so much! (applause) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012. Page 68 Hayek: Okay! Thank you, Brandon! We're going to move on. There are ample opportunities, any given day of the week to communicate to the Council via email, phone, etc., and I encourage the public ... if you haven't had a chance to speak tonight to do so. (mumbled) every City Council meeting we have opportunities for community comment. So thank you for your input tonight. We're going to move on to Item 20. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council formal meeting of January 10, 2012.