HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-01-17 TranscriptionJanuary 10, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session
Council Present: Champion, Dickens, Dobyns, Hayek, Mims, Payne, Throgmorton
Staff Present: Markus, Fruin, Yapp, Dilkes, Karr, Moran, Hargadine, Fosse, Rocca,
Bentley, Davidson, Miklo
Others Present: Graham, UISG
Council Appointments:
Page I
Hayek/ ...start the work session. We have a lot to accomplish here so we'll get right on it. Uh,
first item is Council appointments. I believe there are only, uh, there's only one
commission, Planning and Zoning, for which we need to make an appointment. Two
possible names.
Champion/ I would like to suggest that we appoint Phoebe Martin. She kept her name on the list.
She's young and smart (mumbled) small business. (mumbled)
Mims/ I can (several talking) I can support that. I think both candidates looked good and uh, she
did. She had her name in before and I think we had a gender issue before, um, and so
she's still got it in.
Throgmorton/ I was going to suggest Paula Swygard.
Dobyns/ As would I. I think we need a representative from the west side.
Throgmorton/ Well she's been a very advo ... urn ... effective advocate for the Miller- Orchard
Neighborhood, been deeply involved in the planning efforts for that neighborhood, uh, is
the editor of the newsletter for the neighborhood. I think she'd, uh, probably make a
really good contribution to the P &Z Commission.
Dobyns/ I had a chance to talk with, uh, Marcia Bollinger, Neighborhood Association, get a
sense of Paula's participation in that body. She, uh, spoke of her highly. As well as
several citizens that, uh ... you know, called in.
Dickens/ The person I had call me was to suggest Paula, as well. She was ... I'd worked with the
person that called me on the Roosevelt recommissioning and she said she was very strong
in that area as far as ... uh, helping out with the Roosevelt Neighborhood and changing
how the neighborhood's going to react as the school closes, so...
Payne/ I too had a phone call for somebody supporting Paula, so...
Mims/ I've had phone calls on both of `em, and I think they're both ... I really could go either
way. I think they're both very strong, and have different characteristics that might, you
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know, lend to their strengths, but ... I think the idea of west side representation is not a bad
thing to consider too.
Hayek/ Yeah. I ... I'm with you. I ... I think both will be strong. I've gotten input positive as to
both so ... it appears that on balance there's more interested in Swygard? Three over here
and ... one there? All right, so ... okay. So we'll appoint Paula Swygard and uh, take that
up as a vote tonight. Next items is, uh, agenda items. Does anybody have anything for
the agenda?
Agenda Items:
Dobyns/ These are recommendations for future agenda items (mumbled) or...
Hayek/ No! This is, uh, anything on the agenda for tonight...
Dobyns/ Okay.
Hayek/ ... urn ... that you have questions regarding. Staff is here to answer those questions. We
can't.. .
Payne/ I did have...
Hayek/ ...we can't take up Planning and Zoning matters, urn ... that has to wait, but if it's on the
agenda, not Planning and Zoning.
Dobyns/ Got it!
Hayek/ Go for it!
Payne/ I did have a question on Item 5.d(5). I think I wrote that down right.
Hayek/ 5...
Payne/ 5.d(5)...
Hayek/ Okay.
Payne/ The police storage project. Why it went $90,000 over the estimated cost.
Hayek/ Is there someone who can, uh...
Markus/ Sam, do you want to come forward and ... discuss that, or is that you, Rick?
ITEM 5. CONSIDER ADOPTION OF THE CONSENT CALENDAR AS
PRESENTED OR AMENDED.
d. Resolutions:
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(5) CONSIDER A RESOLUTION ACCEPTING THE WORK
FOR THE IOWA CITY POLICE STORAGE PROJECT.
Payne/ Sorry to put you on the spot!
Hargadine/ We're talking about the past project from last year? Is that...
Karr/ Yeah, we're accepting the work.
Fosse/ Yeah. I think this is for the police evidence storage that's in the basement of the water
plant, and uh, there were probably some change orders in there ... I don't know what those
are off the top of my head but we can round that up and get that information to you.
Markus/ It was $33,000 more than the bid was received, so it's $33,000. Was there a change
order involved?
Fosse/ More than likely, yes. Because it was not a unit price contract, so that would ... there
would be a change order in there. We'll follow up with you on that.
Payne/ And then ... you might have to answer this one too, Rick.
Fosse/ Okay.
ITEM 5d(6) CONSIDER A RESOLUTION ACCEPTING THE WORK FOR THE
IOWA RIVER TRAIL - NAPOLEON TO TRUEBLOOD PROJECT.
Payne/ On the next item — 5.d(6). Um ... in that item was there something a lot different than we
did than what was estimated, since the estimated cost was 280 and the actual cost was
180? I mean, did we take something out of the project?
Fosse/ No! What we're seeing right now are some real values on occasion because of the
downswing in the economy. Most of the cost estimates are based on past projects and in
the downturn in the economy we get ... we get some very good values right now.
Markus/ So these are estimates by our engineers, architects, or even staff on these estimated
costs, before we actually go out to bid, and then the bids come in more competitive, but
that's a plus /minus, they go either way after the bid actually gets out there.
Payne/ Thank you!
Hayek/ Other agenda items?
Dobyns/ At what point do we discuss, uh, item 10? I don't think that's Planning and Zoning.
That's regarding ... is that...
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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.
Hayek/ We can certainly talk about it.
Dobyns/ The traffic, the, uh ... the intersection cameras.
Markus/ Would you have questions now? You can ask the questions now and, uh, they're
also ... you can also communicate about that during the meeting, as well.
Dobyns/ Okay.
Throgmorton/ I ... I certainly have questions but I'd be happy to defer that to the formal meeting.
Hayek/ City Attorney, do you have a ... an opinion on that? Whether we do ... whether we
entertain questions now (both talking)
Dilkes/ ...do it either way. It's on both agendas.
Dobyns/ That's fine!
Hayek/ Prefer to wait?
Dobyns/ Yeah, we can wait til the formal.
Hayek/ Okay.
Champion/ I think we should wait cause there might be people here to (noises on mic) (several
talking)
Hayek/ Any other questions regarding items on the agenda? Okay, going once.
ITEM 12. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 4, ALCOHOLIC
BEVERAGES, CHAPTER 5, PROHIBITIONS AND RESTRICTIONS,
SECTION 8, PERSONS UNDER THE LEGAL AGE IN LICENSED OR
PERMITTED ESTABLISHMENTS, SUBSECTION B, TO AMEND THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR NON -BAR AND ENTERTAINMENT VENUE
EXCEPTIONS. (SECOND CONSIDERATION)
Champion/ Can I just ask about item 12? If it's our alcoholic beverages ordinance. Can we
possibly, um, expedite that?
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Dilkes/ Connie, we can't do that because the resolution, which sets the PAULA rate, um, will
come the next time with the final reading, so...
Champion/ Okay.
Dilkes/ We won't get very far by expediting it.
Hayek/ Any other items from the agenda? Okay. Let's move on to the third bullet point —
neighborhood stabilization.
Neighborhood Stabilization:
Davidson/ Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Members of the City Council. I'm Jeff Davidson, the
Director of Planning. Uh, with me this evening is Senior Planner Bob Miklo. What we'd
like to do, uh, briefly if possible is, uh, provide you with some information. Uh, we have
four specific things we'd like to highlight for you before we can hopefully have some
discussion about the issue on the agenda, which is titled, uh, "Neighborhood
Stabilization." Um, this is, uh, the item on the agenda is generated by what's going on
across the street here, and so we'd like to give just a very brief, um, little bit of history
about the 521 E. Washington property, and some things that basically the City Council
has decided in the past that lead us to be where we are at this point. We would also then
like to give, uh, a brief review of our site plan review process. There... some of the email
correspondence that I have seen, there has been basically some confusion, I think, about
the discretion the City has over a piece of property where a project is proposed under the
existing zoning classification, uh, a lot of us are used to the rezoning discussions that we
have where the City has much more discretion, in fact a lot of discretion, uh, at that point.
We have much less under the circumstances that we have across the street here, and Bob
will outline for you our site, uh, plan review process, and what the City's discretion is at
this point.
Hayek/ Jeff, let me just interrupt quickly, urn ... just for point of information, Council, there's a
memo at IP7 in the January 5th packet.
Davidson/ Right!
Hayek/ You may want to refer to during this, and then secondly, to the public, if you're here to
address the City Council on Washington Street, the Red ... the Red Avocado, that issue,
this is a work session and um ... we're not set up to take public input, um, at work
sessions. Um, but ... at 7:00 we start our formal meeting and we have a community
comment opportunity at the beginning of that meeting, and you are free to, and we
encourage you to, address us, uh, regarding any issue, whether it's that or anything else,
at that time.
Throgmorton/ And there's a comment period near the end of the meeting, as well, right?
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Hayek/ (several talking) ...that's only if we, uh, it's only if we've got so many people during the
first community comment that we basically bump up to the 8:00 hour and we need to
move on, and then we save some time at the end, but if we haven't utilized all that time,
we generally don't go back to the well.
Davidson/ Um, I think you all are aware, even the new Members of Council, that the ... the past
Council did ask us to begin some staff research into the RM44 zone, uh, because of some
of the neighborhood stabilization concerns that have come out of that, uh, zone —
excessive parties, noise, vandalism, spillover parking, and just general, um, a general
feeling that it has led to destabilizing some neighborhoods when that zoning classification
has been, uh, introduced, and of course we've had, uh, at least one recent example of that
zoning classification being proposed, uh, the actual recommendation out of the City
Council was to deny that request, uh, and you will have that before you. We're setting
hearings at the meeting, uh, today, uh, for the discussion that will occur at the next City
Council meeting. Um, that research is ongoing, and Bob'11 elaborate on some of the
... some of the things that have come out of some additional discussions with
neighborhood representatives that we've been asked to look into, and a lot of that is just
simply peer research of what some other communities are doing, has it worked, has it not
worked. There's no point in us recreating the wheel if there's something out there that's
worked, or trying something that really hasn't been effective, and so that's what the
nature of some of our research is at this time. Bob'll also highlight for you some of the
things that over the last many years actually have occurred to try and stabilize our, uh,
inner -city older neighborhoods, uh, again, I think there's maybe just a little lack of
information about some of the initiatives that the City has taken. Once that is all
completed, and Bob will run through that very quickly, of course then we welcome any
input from you on sort of the directions we are heading, and if there is a majority of the
City Council that feels we need to be going other directions or if you're comfortable with
what we are doing, just basically any input that you can give us at that point would be
welcome. So, Bob?
Miklo/ Yeah, the property across the street, 500 ... the 500 block of Washington Street has been
zoned central business service zone, or we refer to it as C132 for short, since 1983. Prior
to that it had a different, uh, commercial zoning designation. When we reviewed the, uh,
citywide zoning code in 2005, staff and the Planning and Zoning Commission, uh,
recommended that the area be rezoned from C132 to mixed use. Um, which, um, had a
lower height limit and a lower, uh, density in terms of development. Um, the CB2 zone
at the ... at the time, in 2005, allowed up to 10 -story buildings and we felt that that scale
was inappropriate for this location, as well as other areas, uh, in the city. Um, so that...
that, uh, rezoning was put before the ... before the Council. There was considerable
property owner opposition, uh, and in fact, um, if there was ... if there's more than 20% of
the properties being rezoned sign a protest petition it requires 6 out of the 7 Council
Members to approve the zoning, and that case uh, 85% of the property owners objected
to, uh, the pro ... the proposed rezoning. Uh, that rezoning was not approved by the City
Council. The C132 zoning was left in place, uh, but the ... the um, height limit for the zone
was reduced from 10 stories to four stories, and there were a few minor design provisions
introduced into that ... that zoning district. Um, the Historic Preservation Commission
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also looked at that area, and they concluded, uh, that it was not ... it did not qualify for a
historic district, so they did not advance a historic district in that block. They did
consider it for a conservation district, um, which would have had some control on ... on
the buildings in the area, um, but uh, they dropped, um, that part of the district after
neighborhood opposition. So that didn't even advance to the Planning and Zoning
Commission. So just wanted to lay out, uh, the zoning that's in place today and um, and
that the ... the history of ... of how it got there and ... and um, what we're dealing with. In
terms of, uh ... what's being proposed now does require City site plan review, and that's
an administrative process done by staff, um, in house. Urn ... the um ... the site plan
process is administered through the Housing Inspection Department. The applicant
submits the site plans to that department. They route them, uh, that department routes it
to various departments in the City that have an interest in development. It's routed to the
Planning Department, Public Works Department, uh, the Fire Department, and we review
those site plans for compliance with City codes, um, including the zoning code, storm
water management, uh, fire codes, and utility codes. Um, during that process we identify
any issues in the plan, uh ... uh, that don't comply with City codes. Um, and advise the
applicant what needs to be done to make, uh, make them comply. Uh, we also may sug
...make suggestions in terms of design improvements or other improvements to the
properties or the plan, but if something is not specified in the code, it's just a suggestion.
The applicant doesn't necessarily, uh, have to follow it. Um, if a site plan meets the
requirements spelled out in the codes we have to approve it. As I said, this is an
administrative process where it's ... it's staff that reviews it and signs off on it. Uh, but
there is a provision that'll, uh, if owners of 20% of the property, uh, within 200 feet of the
property being reviewed requests Planning and Zoning Commission review it gets
bumped up to the Planning and Zoning Commission and they sign off on it, rather than
staff. Although this does provide some ... some public input into the process, again, if...
if the code ... if the site plan meets the code, the Planning and Zoning Commission has to
approve it. They can't arbitrarily deny it, but ... but uh, they, uh, review it based on
what's in the code. So to ... to date that is what's being done. We are reviewing a site
plan that was submitted. There are several things that need to be, uh, addressed on that
site plan. At this point it's incomplete, uh, the applicant's been notified of that. Um, and
we are expecting revised plans at...at some point. I'd like to, uh, talk about this in the
context of neighborhood stabilization as ... as Jeff said is the ... is the topic here. And, uh,
go into a little bit about what the City, uh, could do or has done to address this and ... and
similar concerns. Um .... um, some ancient history — in the 1950s and 60s, much of this
area, much of College Green and our older neighborhoods like the Northside were zoned
for much higher densities than ... than what they were built for. Um, lots that were
designed for single - family homes were de ... were zoned for multiple properties. In fact
there was a comprehensive plan from the late 1950s that suggested much of our older part
of the city should be redeveloped and zoning was seen as a tool to do that. Um ... in the
1970s when the University stopped, uh, building dormitories there was, um, quite a few,
uh, infill apartment buildings that took advantage of the zoning that was in place and that
rightfully, uh, allowed those ... those projects. Uh, that created a lot of conflicts between,
um, homeowners and apartment builders in those neighborhoods, and there was, uh, there
were several petitions to the City Council and they ... we did a number of zone ... down-
zonings over the years, um, that's resulted in the, uh, RNS -20 or the neighborhood
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stabilization zone in College Hill and the, uh, RNS -12 neighborhood stabilization zone
in... in much of the ... of the Northside. Um ... we also enacted a number of historic and
conservation districts to control, uh, development in ... in those neighborhoods. Um, we
also reduced the number of roomers that are allowed, or number of unrelated occupants.
In some places it's, uh, it was up to five. We've reduced that in most locations down to
three. There are, uh, still a few neighborhoods where up to five, uh, unrelated persons
are ... are allowed to occupy a dwelling. We also established design guidelines for
a ... new apartments in older neighborhoods and ... and uh, some of the more recent
apartments built in the last year or two, you'll ... you may notice, uh, fit into the
neighborhoods a little bit better. Uh, we also established the City, uh, Neighborhood
Partnership to encourage homeownership in these neighborhoods. And most recently
you've, uh, asked us to examine the RM -44, the high density, multi - family zone, and
question whether we should keep that zone in place or whether we should reform it. As
part of that review, we would like to broaden that, um ... research and study, uh ... um,
other issues that might promote neighborhood stabilization, not only in an RM -44 zone,
but in some of our other zones. Um ... we could look at what other communities have
done, uh, some ideas would be amortizing non - conforming, uh, rooming houses where
more ... more, uh, occupants are allowed than the current zone. Uh, there are some
communities that give a limited number of years before they have to conform to the
current zoning. Uh, we can improve code enforcements, uh, and, you know, as you're
interested in we can, uh, continue and improve upon the neighborhood partnership where
we encourage, um ... owner-occupied houses or ... or conversions. Uh, there's a ... a long
list of other, um, ideas that we've looked at from other communities, uh, that we'd like to
explore in a little bit more detail and then bring back, uh, those to you and to the Planning
and Zoning Commission, uh, hopefully in the spring. Be happy to try to answer any
questions about where we're at today.
Throgmorton/ I don't have a question but I want to articulate, um, I don't know if I'm coming
across okay here. I want to articulate a view I have that was in part expressed in the
email that, uh, appears in the, uh, in the packet. Uh, I don't think we can see this
particular development, uh, in isolation. We have to think of it in terms of how it fits into
the ... the surroundings themselves, but also in relation to several other projects that have
emerged over the last, um, oh I don't know, two or three months. Some major projects
that have elicited some considerable neighborhood concern, uh, especially in the
Northside, right? So, um, we ... we can't think of this particular site in isolation, and
when I do that, I think ... it's a mistake to focus our attention on the discretion that the
City has or does not have with regard to particular projects. We also need to pay
attention to the discretion the developer or a landowner has. Uh, no landowner is
required to develop to the maximum extent permitted by a zoning. The developer has
discretion. So that ... and likewise when rezoning are involved, as you all have articulated
very clearly, the City has discretion. So ... when I look at...at the flow of proposals that
come ... come to the Council, and will come to the Council in the future, I think that what
that does is create what, uh, what could be called a `zone of potential agreement.'
Between landowners, developers, and the City. That zone of potential agreement is
where flexibility can be negotiated, all right? So I think we should not assume that we
have no power whatsoever when particular projects are proposed in, uh, on land that is
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currently zoned in a certain, uh, certain way. Uh, so I ... I want to draw ... I just wanted to
draw attention to that, and moreover, I want to emphasize that I ... I really look forward to
working with particular developers who are interested in the Northside and other older
neighborhoods — Longfellow neighborhood, College Green, and so on — because I think,
uh, a developer... a... a far - sighted developer has an opportunity to cut a really unique and
important market niche here that would involve, uh, not only responding to market
pressure, which really has to do with new students being, uh, coming into the University,
but also to, uh, to the desires of neighbors. To have a ... to have stable neighborhoods in
which they can live. So, I ... I really encourage the ... people involved in property
development here to look at that market niche and try to figure out a way where they can
take the lead, they can show initiative, and really do some things that are creative and
good for the long -term prosperity of the older neighborhoods that we live in.
Champion/ Well that would be great, but I don't think it's going to happen.
Throgmorton/ I think it can. It happens all over the U.S. And maybe not here under these
particular circumstances, right at this moment in time, but in city after city, all over the
U.S. you see developers who see, who recognize that there are market niches that they
can fill, and ... and they ... they step into those niches.
Champion/ When we do a planned development we have a lot of say in what's going to be built
and how it's going to be built, and I agree with you — that would be ideal! I think the
situation with this particular part of the city being torn down, I ... I don't like it at all, but I
know there's not much I can do about it except to express my disappointment that we
didn't see this coming long ago when they could have done something about it. Um ... I
just see intrusions on our neighborhoods by developers who are only interested in
building the largest building they can that can house the most number of bedrooms, and I
think we have to find a way to stop that. It's going to erode ... erode our neigh ... our older
neighborhoods something... something terrible. Um ... but I don't know what we can do
about it now, but I like the idea that we're going to look at these things and try to find
some way to correct them before they ... they take over the inner part of our city. I think
this is really sad and I'm really sorry to see it happening.
Mims/ Well, and ... and to echo what you're saying, Connie. I think, I mean, I ... think it's really
important that we do this review, um, of the zoning and particularly in these near ... near
downtown, near campus neighborhoods that have had biggest impact, or ... have
had ... been impacted the most by these large apartment buildings, basically for student
housing, and certainly I think as we've talked even like through our budget meetings and
stuff, I think it's clear that the Council as a whole is very, very concerned about
neighborhood stabilization and that means we need to make some changes. Um, I ... you
know, staff has a lot to do; would encourage a thorough yet expeditious (laughter) you
know review of things so that we can, uh, you know, bring it before Council, um, as
quickly as possible so that ... so that we can get a little more control over some of these.
But again, back to what you said, Connie, and I guess I'm not quite sure where you were
coming on this, Jim, legally my understanding certainly from the City is there is nothing
that we can do legally on this property in East Washington. I mean, we can try and put
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moral pressure, you know, that kind of thing but as long as what that developer does is
within the zoning regulations, there's nothing in ... and they want to insist on going
forward in that way, there's not a thing that we can do about it.
Throgmorton/ To clarify what I meant with regard to that particular point, Susan, I ... I think
you're obviously right. We have no legal authority to compel the ... the developer to do
anything different. We can apply moral pressure and ... and I think the neighbors are
doing that, but more importantly, when I look down stream and I see the possibility of
future rezoning, I recognize that I and we have discretionary power within the constraints
of the law to review and consider whether or not a rezoning is a good idea.
Champion/ Oh we definitely do that!
Throgmorton/ So ... so, all right, so when I look down stream I think ... I need to know that the
land owner, developer is taking the concerns of the neighbors and residents of these older
neighborhoods into account now. That's what I need to see, and when I look forward to a
stream of projects coming along over the next several years.
Payne/ We can do that, if it's a rezoning.
Throgmorton/ Well that's my point (both talking)
Payne/ ...not a rezoning we ... we don't have a lot of discretion (both talking)
Throgmorton/ That's what I was referring to is future rezoning, that I would expect are very
likely to occur at some point in time, off and on over the coming years.
Dickens/ I think we (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ...relationship.
Dickens/ I think we've seen, uh, this particular developer has tried to work with the City
on ... he's withdrawn his motion, or area in the north end here. Um, but he was willing to
rework those and try to work with the City to make that plan work. And so I think he's...
I can't speak for him, but it looks like he's tried to work with the City to make things
work and he's willing to listen and try to do things. So I ... I think we have to look at the
site plan but I do agree with you that in the future that we do still need to look at the
zoning areas.
Champion/ Well, I wouldn't give him that much credit. He backed out because we turned down
the rezoning of that ... of that parcel. And he wanted to build this huge bed ... place with
many, many bedrooms. So I don't think that he was the saint in that. I disagree with
you.
Mims/ Well I think regardless of any individual developer, I think what we have to do as a city
and a council is make sure that the zoning that we are putting in place we are comfortable
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with that regardless of who's going to come to develop it, because once it's zoned, we
lose control of an awful lot of things. As long as they stay within the zoning regulations!
So...
Davidson/ You beat me to the punch, Susan! (laughter) That's exactly what I was going to say,
that ... that the discussion of the control that the City has over a rezoning action, I mean,
the other thing you need to make sure of as a council is you know Bob indicated to you
that we evaluate site plans based on what the zoning code allows an individual to do. If
you're not ... if you're not comfortable with some of those rules, through the legislative
process, you can change the rules of what that zone allows. And so that ... for example,
RM44 and the number of bedrooms allowed per unit. That's a specific thing that we're
looking at. There's at least a perception out there that we're not comfortable with that.
We're not comfortable with the 4 to 5 bedroom units and maybe even in some zones, 3
bedroom units, so that's one of the things that we're going to try and ascertain whether or
not we want to change the rules for the zone, and that goes for anything that's in the
zoning ordinance.
Mims/Right.
Hayek/ And ... and to get there, we're ... we as an elected body are going to have to decide what
exactly is it that concerns us, um, in terms of recent trends and ... and where we see, uh,
develop... development going. I mean, I ... I'm saddened by, uh, the project, uh, on ... on
Washington Street. I'm pleased to see, uh, that we're moving the staff review beyond
simply RM44 to ... but to a more, a broader holistic review of the situation. It seems to
me what this comes down to is ... is an ongoing pressure on, um, on our established
neighborhoods. Um, and, you know... the... what you see time and again is the
accumulation of multiple single - family structures being replaced by one, uh, much larger
structure. Um, and that gets you to issues and concerns, uh, with respect to scale,
compatibility, density, uh, all of those things that we've ... we've talked about before
and... and... that's... from my perspective I think that's the primary concern. That's a
broad one; it's not well defined, but it ... but I think we as a council need to direct staff to
...to pursue a ... a concern, um, so that they know what we want the focus to be on. Um,
and ... and, uh, it's interesting — we rarely see, I mean, I don't think every... every single -
family structure, um, can or should be saved. I mean, some ... some have been handi-
manned to death, uh, some have, you know, just really cannot be...
Champion/ Are you talking about my house? (laughter)
Hayek/ ...um, but what we don't see, and maybe it's for lack of, uh, zoning or ... or incentives or
I don't know what, and maybe it's simply market pressure, but you don't typically see,
uh, unsalvageable single- family structures replaced with single - family structures. Um,
which maintain the scale and... and... and fit in everything else like that, and that'd be
something I'd be interested in.
Miklo/ I think you've... you've hit on a point that the Historic Preservation Commission has
reviewed or studied much of the older part of town, and some of it it doesn't qualify for a
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historic district and therefore shouldn't be designated as a historic district, but another
tool that we can use is the conservation district. Um, which doesn't necessarily, um,
preserve historic buildings but preserves the sense of the neighborhood. So that if... if
something is, um, if there is a building that's not in great condition, that it could come
down, but its replacement is designed to be compatible with the neighborhood.
Dobyns/ I had a question. If the Council in the future is into controlled growth management, my
sense is, is there a national tendency to want to zone in the future as low density as we
could, thus having some control over our developer would want to come in and say, look,
I want to rezone, and that way we say, no, it's zoned low density, you have to get our
permission. Um, I guess that's ... can someone dissuade me from that (both talking)
Throgmorton/ I'd want to respond to that, because I ... I would say our older neighborhoods
should be prepared to change, and ... and there are as Matt said some buildings that just
aren't really all that great. Uh, I personally do not oppose increasing density of particular
parts of, uh, older neighborhoods, especially when they're closer in to, uh, closer in to the
core of the town. Uh, so I wouldn't like the idea of saying, naw, let's just maintain (both
talking)
Dobyns/ But isn't that what this is? This is for the (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ...RS8 in the Northside, right, or virtually equivalent...
Davidson/ Are you talking about this property over here, Rick?
Dobyns/ Well, yeah, the urn ... the...
Davidson/ And this property over here is a block from the CB 10 zone.
Dobyns/ Right, yeah, it's close and so, um, but it has houses there currently, so ... I guess I'm
confused. I'm hearing we want to maintain the low - density housing philosophy,
yet... okay.
Throgmorton/ I'm not saying that. I ... in fact I'd like to encourage staff to, uh, if you all agree, to
really, um, seriously investigate the viability of row houses and townhouses, uh, for
neighborhood ... the parts of our older neighborhoods that are closest in but not really kind
of right ... right at the downtown edge. I think there's a lot of potential there, es...
especially as you move north and... and uh, maybe east of downtown. I doubt that they
would be quite so viable south of here, but maybe they would be! But I definitely would
encourage looking into row houses and townhouses. In fact I was just down in a
neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky called Old Louisville which is full of these kinds
of buildings and ... and one of the things I remember from the Bloomington and Linn
Street discussion is the ... the developer at that moment said he thought only a couple row
houses could fit in to that property. Um, 7 to 9 be my guess, uh, get... comparing the
buildings up there in the Peninsula to the property along Linn and Bloomington. Now
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maybe I'm wrong, you know, and I defer to somebody else who has more expertise on
that, but I think we ought to be looking at those.
Hayek/ I think, uh, go ahead.
Dilkes/ I just wanted to say to Rick's question if I'm following what you were asking is, um,
maybe a simple solution is just to say, okay, we're going to put everything in town at the
lowest density, and therefore if anybody wants to change (both talking) yeah! That
would not be an appropriate zoning tool to use, I mean, so for instance if we had a... a
circle of commercial and we wanted ... and to take one piece in the middle and rezone it as
RS5, I mean, that would not be appropriate. So ... that's just not a tool we can use. You
have to look at (both talking)
Dobyns/ Okay. I'm hearing ideas from Bob about conservation district (both talking)
Dilkes/ Right, but and those are fine, but not ... you couldn't do it so simply as you proposed.
Dobyns/ Well, it's not what I propose, it's what I fear.
Hayek/ Well, I think ... I think we can better serve this process by not focusing so much on... on
solutions or proposals at this point in the game, but instead, uh ... um, communicating our
concern, uh, to staff, uh, so that they know what to look at, and then they can come
back... there's considerable expertise at the staff level, in a variety of different areas.
Um ... whether it's urban planning or historic preservation or ... or what have you, um, that
I think can come into play and ... and then we hear from them what a ... what a series of
approaches or ... or ideas might be and then we go from there. I ... I, cause otherwise I
think we're just going to (several talking) spin our wheels tonight.
Davidson/ Well and again, when we come back to you, excessive parties, noise, vandalism,
spillover parking... those are the, what we've heard are the concerns. Are there other
concerns out there that you want to make sure we address?
Champion/ Well I think the other concern that we all have is buildings that are inappropriate to
the neighborhood. Just because a lot is empty doesn't mean that something can't be built
to scale to ... to make the neighborhood just as more attractive, and I don't know how you
control that. That's a zoning issue also.
Davidson/ Well, you bring up a good point, Connie, and that is the management of properties.
We have very large -scale structure in neighborhoods that you don't hear anything about
because they're well - managed properties. Other ... other buildings, and maybe even
smaller in scale, but they're poorly managed and so there's a constant... constant
complaints that come from those structures. So you know that may be, again, that's
getting into sort of some interdepartmental things in the City, but we also maybe can take
a look at enforcement and, uh, trying to get at the management of properties, cause that
does seem to be a concern, as well.
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Hayek/ And I ... I agree, I mean, this is not just about uh ... uh, management and ... and use
and ... and noise and things like that. It's also scale, size, compat ... architectural
compatibility, you know that sort of thing.
Throgmorton/Agree.
Payne/ I guess I have a question, going back to something that Bob said earlier about the C132
zone. That ... at one point in time, 10 -story buildings were allowed in a C132 zone, and
now they're only 4 -story buildings? Is ... did I understand that right, Bob?
Miklo/ That's right.
Payne/ So I ... what prompted the change, and that's what we're looking at doing now with this
RM12 ... RM44, right, is some kind of change that would maybe change the scale or
something like that?
Miklo/ That ... that was, uh, I see that as a ... a compromise that the ... a previous Council made,
uh, when there was a request to go to the m ... the mixed use zone, which only allowed
three stories. Uh, I think everybody recognized that 10 stories, uh, in this ... on this block,
or on parts of the Northside, is too tall, and so they brought it down to four and uh, and
most of the city, other than downtown, uh, our height limit is ... is 35 feet or three story
buildings, but in reality if you look at most of it, it's built at two stories.
Hayek/ Is ... is this review inclusive of the CBD, or are you only looking outside of it, cause I'm
...I'm trying to remember the discussion we had not too long ago about concerns within
the central business district as well. I don't...
Miklo/ Yeah, we're ... we're reviewing the central business district, uh, as part of the
comprehensive plan update so that ... I would see that as separate (both talking) and the
issues being quite a bit different.
Davidson/ And you'll recall, we have implemented some changes already to the CB 10 zone in
the past year, having to do with some of the concerns you raised at that meeting that Bob
and I met with you and discussed specific things we ... were concerned about with some
of the buildings that were being built downtown. Those buildings could not be built now,
having to do with second floors being built to commercial standards, uh, the small spaces
in between buildings, the number of units per bedroom, excuse me, the number of
bedrooms per unit, uh, that are allowed in the CB 10 zones, those have already been put
into place per your direction.
Payne/ Do we have places where there are single - family dwellings that's zoned RM44?
Miklo/ Um ... yes, there are some remnants of those. Most of them have been redeveloped or
have been converted to multiple units where ... where a house that was built as a single -
family's been turned into a duplex or four -plex.
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Davidson/ But like I think down on South Van Buren and South Johnson there are some single -
family dwellings that are ... have the (both talking) yeah, just mixed in with the larger
buildings, right.
Throgmorton/ Jeff, Bob, I think there is another concern I have, uh, related to the RM44
investigation. Uh, and it has to do with, uh, thinking about the small pocket parks, uh,
walkable distance of, um, of various parts of neighborhoods, and we'd have to get out a
map or walk neighborhoods to, you know, be clear about that, but uh ... my sense is that
there potentially is an opportunity to identify, I don't know, two or three locations for
such small parks, and uh, that could really enhance the quality of the neighborhoods, um,
and make it possible for people to easily walk to these kinds of facilities instead of having
to go, I don't know, seven or eight, ten blocks or whatever. I don't want to elaborate too
much but it just ... pocket parks.
Davidson/ Yeah, and I think when we bring the comprehensive plan back to you, that's a very
appropriate thing to discuss, Jim. Obviously pocket parks are expensive in terms of the
maintenance that the City has to put towards them. Scale economies aren't very big in
that kind of thing, but this city is dotted with pocket parks. There's one right behind my
house, Glendale Park, and they're great, great places, oriented to neighborhoods, and
they're something that, as ... especially new neighborhoods develop, that we do need to
think about, uh, you know, the parks that are so prevalent in the neighborhoods that Bob
and I have been discussing with you, College Hill and um ... Northside ... North Market
Square and those kind of things are a little big larger than what we would consider pocket
parks.
Champion/ Well I'm going to throw something out there. I mean, our next ... my next concern is
going to be when the synagogue moves, that is a developable property that is really those
are all single - family houses or small structures once you get to this side of Ralston Creek.
And I've heard people say, well, there was that big apartment building on Iowa Avenue is
it? But actually there's the creek and a bunch of trees in between there and where the
synagogue is presently located. So that's already a concern to me, of mine, is what's
going to happen with that property. I'm not sure even what the zoning is. It must be
zoned ... what's church property zoned?
Miklo/ Yeah, the current zoning is ... is RM12 or low- density multi - family. We have a current
application that the Planning and Zoning Commission's reviewing so we probably
shouldn't discuss it much.
Champion/ Oh, okay. That's probably where I saw it, but I mean ... I won't talk about it
anymore.
Hayek/ Okay. So your review is not restricted to a particular zone.
Davidson/ No, we've expanded it ... based on the discussions, we've had a couple of discussions
with a collection of neighborhood representatives and they've been very helpful in terms
of kind of throwing out ideas for us to give further research to, and that's kind of where
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we're at right now and we'll keep that dialogue going with the neighborhood
representatives in the meantime.
Hayek/ Okay. Okay. Can we provide anything else to you?
Davidson/ No. Any other questions, I guess, about the project across the street? That was the
specific thing we wanted to address with you this evening, as well, based on the
correspondence from Jim that was in the packet. Have we addressed all those? Okay.
Hayek/ All right. Thanks to both of you. Okay let's move on to, um ... by the way, if some of
you showed up late and ... and wanted to give input to the Council on this issue, um, this
is a work session so we're not set up to take public input, but in an hour's time we're
going to have our formal meeting, if any of you wish to weigh in, uh, during community
comment, which is on the front end of the meeting, we invite you to do so. Thank you.
Okay, uh, next is Info Packets. We've got four to go through. Start with December Stn
Information Packets:
12/8/11:
Hayek/ Anything on there... anybody wants to discuss? Tom, your ... you threw in that article
about, uh, from an Ann Arbor, Michigan periodical about ped malls (mumbled) I spent
seven years there so it was fun thinking about ped malls and why they don't exist there
and how they work in some places and not in others. They were pretty envious!
Markus/ Yes!
Hayek/ Okay, anything else on December Stn? The Info Packet. Okay. 15tH, December 15 th? .
12/15/11:
Hayek/ Okay. Uh, December 22 "d
12/22/11:
Hayek/ Anything on that?
Dobyns/ I had a question for, uh, maybe Rick if he's ... Rick, currently the ... what is the
fluoridation ppm in the City of Iowa City water? Is it 1?
Fosse/ I think it's .75.
Dobyns/ So it's down toward the lower limit so...
Fosse/ Yes. Yes.
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Dobyns/ Okay. Good. That's all I had.
Hayek/ Anything else on, uh, the December 22nd? Okay, that brings us to the January 5t" Info
Packet.
1/5/12:
Champion/ Well, I just want to talk a little bit about we had talked about having some of our City
Council meetings in other locations besides City Hall. I think it's a good idea to
approach that for maybe, uh, some specific things like when we'll be talking about a
neighborhood or some zoning in that neighborhood (noises on mic). I don't know how
other people feel about it, but... it's probably pretty complicated, according to the memo.
Mims/ Yeah, I think we want to proceed cautiously. I mean, I ... I'm not interested in ... having to
go through all the costs of moving all the equipment and doing all the filming and trying
to ... I can't talk tonight... set up all the mics and stuff when often times I think when you
start moving around you don't have a big crowd there because they don't know where
you're going to be. I remember we tried it once when I was on the School Board and
thought we'd get a lot of community input and nobody came, and I think people didn't
know where we were. So I think if we've got an issue that is ... particularly related to a
neighborhood where we, you know, really want to try and work through that
neighborhood association to get a big turnout so ... get a dialogue going and maybe that's
a good time to try it, but I also understand from the memo the difficulty sometimes of
scheduling out where we're going to be, that sort of thing.
Hayek/ Yeah I ... I, I mean, it's intriguing to think of, uh, us moving around but ... part of me's
really reluctant to do so. The ... the logistical side of it (mumbled) and I think there's
...there's some value in consistency in how we operate our ... um, our meetings, you
know, same venue, typically the same times of the month, um, that kind of thing.
Throgmorton/ I'd like to say I ... I had a different perspective about it. Uh, and that is mainly
that, uh, we ... we can see this as an opportunity to go listen, not so much to make
decisions. Uh, in fact, I mean, if we had to, I'd be happy to do formal sessions and ...and
make a few decisions, but I think the main purpose would be to listen, and to get
ourselves out in the city, so that people who live out in the periphery of town will know,
uh, who we are if they haven't already met us, and ... and feel like their government is
present in their neighborhoods, as well in the city ... the City Hall.
Mims/ Yeah, and again, I think in theory that's a great idea, and maybe times have changed. I
know we tried it when I was on the School Board and it was a huge failure, I mean,
people just did not come and so ... and I would also encourage, and I know different
people have done it at different times, just individual Council Members, you know, doing
listening posts or whatever, you know, in different locations and, you know, paper's
usually good about posting those and getting out and ... and inviting people to come meet
`em and talk and have coffee or whatever, but um ... I'm, I mean, I'm willing to try if
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we've got a really good reason, but I think it's ... can be difficult and may not generate
the, uh, the numbers that we would like.
Hayek/ Plus whether it's Council numbers, uh, through things like joint meetings or other
meetings with other governments, or our commissions, I mean, when I was on, uh,
Housing Commission we..we had some meetings in other parts of the community, at
some of the schools, and I feel like we get out there quite a lot, um, our neighborhood
service's coordinator's out there so the face of the City is out in the community on a
regular basis, um, and I ... I get, I mean, we've ... in the last week or two we've had
probably 25 hours worth of Council meetings (laughter) and I'm, uh, reluctant to, uh,
place more on our plates, in terms of time commitments.
Dobyns/ I know, Jim, this came from when you and I were doing our walk -about downtown or
talk about certain areas, um, you know, like we had a, um, campaign session at Old
Capitol Mall which actually seemed to, you know, work fairly well. But, I'm thinking
the reason we were doing that is for transparency of government and inclusivity, and I'm
just thinking tonight we've kind of changed things a little bit by having our, um, work
session at 5:30, you know, some of the citizens are confused about when they can come
to our body and speak with us. So sometimes the best transparency is to avoid confusing
the public, and if we move around we're confusing them as we may have done tonight by
just changing the usual routine of the City Council.
Hayek/ Well why ... it doesn't sound like there's interest in taking action on it, but we can
continue to think about it individually and always circle back to it, uh, if the group wants
to do something in the future. Uh, anything else on the January 5th, uh, packet?
Karr/ The KXIC radio show. IP 11.
Hayek/ So to his ... this, uh, historically was something that typically the mayor did, uh, but a
couple years ago, we uh ... we uh broadened it, uh, to get everybody to participate, uh, all
seven Councilors and ... and actually, uh, staff. Um ... there's a ... once a week you get a
15- minute slot on KXIC, um...
Payne/ They ask questions and you answer or...
Hayek/ Oh yeah!
Payne/ So it's not like you have to come there with something prepared to say ... they ask you
questions and...
Champion/ You can't!
Hayek/ They're open to whatever you want to do. Um ... but typically they've got, you know,
two or three or four questions about things we're, uh, that are contemporaneous to what
we've talked about and they just ask you about it and you can talk. If you have a
particular thing you want to talk about, they're generally open to that too.
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Dobyns/ It's not a music station so I don't have to sing, do I?
Hayek/ You do! (laughter) Anyway, so Marian runs a schedule and communicates it with, uh,
to ... to the radio station and that's what we need to decide on.
Dickens/ February 8.
Karr/ Thanks, Terry.
Dobyns/ Any date.
Payne/ Do you have somebody for next week?
Karr/ I don't have anybody for tomorrow.
Champion/ Oh!
Payne/ Well I have class so I get out of tomorrow.
Karr/ Okay.
Dobyns/ I'll take January 25tH
Karr/ January 25tH, thanks, Rick.
Payne/ I'll do the 18tH
Mims/ I can do tomorrow for you, Marian.
Karr/ Thanks, Susan.
Throgmorton/ Is February 1St open?
Karr/ Uh -huh.
Throgmorton/ I'll do that!
Hayek/ I'll do the 15tH
Champion/ Well, I can do what's ever left.
Karr/ 15th or the 22nd. I have ... I have January 1 lth, Mims the 18th, Payne the 25th, Dobyns the 1St
Throgmorton the 8th, Dickens...
Hayek/ I'll take the ... I said I'd take the...
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Karr/ 15th9
Champion/ Matt said he'd do the 15tH
Karr/ And Champion the 22 °d.
Champion/ Uh -huh.
Karr/ Thank you.
Hayek/ That was quick.
Dobyns/ (mumbled) what day am I to make sure I get this right?
Karr/ January 25th, and I'll put something in the packet Thursday to reaffirm.
Dobyns/ Okay (laughter)
Hayek/ And by the way, you don't have to do it in person. If... if it works better to do it like as a
call in, they can patch you in and do it over the telephone.
Karr/ I just need to know the number you wish to be called and make those arrangements, but
yes, we can do that.
Dobyns/ You've done it before that way, Matt?
Hayek/ Yes I have!
Dobyns/ Is that when your voice comes out squeaky? (laughter)
Hayek/ (several talking ...try not to be heard! (laughter)
Throgmorton/ Were we going to talk about the boards and commissions, is that something
on... for us tonight?
Payne /We did, didn't we?
Karr/ A function of board ... IP10? That one?
Hayek/ Was that going to be scheduled?
Throgmorton/ Yes.
Karr/ IP10 is a report from the City Attorney's office and my office regarding the function of
boards and commissions. We wanted to give you that information and then glisten
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further direction from you on whether you wanted to schedule it, or wish further
information from us.
Champion/ There weren't very many that we had much discretion over.
Throgmorton/ (mumbled) have to do by state law.
Champion/ Yeah, it's amazing how many we have to do.
Throgmorton/ And uh...
Champion/ But I'm willing to talk about the others.
Hayek/ Why don't we schedule it?
Karr/ Okay, is there anything else...
Hayek/ ...we've got a memo but...
Karr / Right, is there anything else that you need from us, other than the memo? You just wish to
schedule the memo? For a work session? Okay!
Hayek/ Other ... Info Packet items? Okay. Council time! For our new members, this is typically
an opportunity if there's some new issue you want to broach and have us think about,
we're ... or you have a question for staff, it's a good time to throw that out at this time.
Council Time:
Throgmorton/ I'd like to ask a question, uh ... as most people know we held a, what an 8 -hour
session about the budget on Saturday, this past Saturday, and just yesterday held a, I
don't know, 6 -hour session about this capital improvements program. It was all filmed,
uh, and gonna be rebroadcast on, uh, Channel 4, I guess, the ... our cable channel, but I
don't know the schedule. I don't know how easy it is for the public to find that schedule
and if people want to look at, you know, see what people said about the budget and the
capital improvements program ... when to watch those events.
Karr/ We will be working with, um, the cable and provide you that information in your
Thursday packet. It will be re -run periodically, but generally speaking it takes three to
four days to prepare it and edit it. So, um, hopefully we'll have something in your packet
and give you that information Thursday.
Throgmorton/ Mainly concerned about the public being able to, uh, be aware of this. Who is it,
Susan I guess, um, yesterday said, well, when we had public hearings about the budget
basically historically nobody comes to speak, and I understand that to be true! Uh,
but ... this particular series of events was filmed and will ... will be rebroadcast and the
budget and CIP are online, easily accessible, uh, easily maneuverable through now,
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because of the good work that Marian and her staff have done. So ... we might see a
difference.
Markus/ I'd point out, I think this is the first time these work sessions, uh, have been filmed for
at least in the, uh, more recent past, uh...
Karr/ The budget sessions?
Markus/ The work sessions.
Karr/ (several talking) CIPs have been filmed consistently, but the (both talking) but not the
whole thing, no.
Markus/ So there's a, I think, what? 15 hours? 14 hours of filming on this so it'll be interesting
to see what kind of reaction we get from our public on this and whether this is something
we want to continue with or maybe something different could be tried in the years to
come ... which makes it more concise and possibly more informative, uh, so that we get
greater numbers of individuals that might watch it. I just have a hard time imagining
people sitting through 14 hours (several talking) of this discussion, although it was
enlightening! (laughter)
Hayek/ I think it's better than, you know, Housewives of New Jersey (laughter) myself.
Payne/ Doesn't take much!
Hayek/ Um ... all right. Any other items that Councilors want to bring up during Council time?
Okay. Uh, next item is a summary of work session issues.
Summary of Pending Issues (06):
Hayek/ We've kind of gone over that, at least with respect to a couple of them. Typically this is
a list, it's just a working list that expands and contracts, um, and ... and they're the things
that staff are working on and then staff generally assigns a work session date when
they're ready to come before the Council, um, and if there... if there are issues that
they're not ready to come forward to the Council regarding, then they don't have a date
but they're on there so we know that ... they're things we're looking at.
Payne/ Should the review of the RM44 zone be on here?
Hayek/ Yeah... it... and it will be.
Payne/ Okay.
Hayek/ We can assume that something like that will be placed on there.
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Champion/ What about my idea of...disposing of the public - owned, Iowa City -owned houses
and redistributing them throughout the community? Instead of...
Payne/ Is that on here, number 3?
Champion/ I don't know, I haven't looked at (several talking)
Hayek/ Yeah. (several talking)
Champion/ Oh! Well it's been pending forever!
Dobyns/ Well it says `to be scheduled,' but I would agree with Connie, would like to have that
scheduled.
Throgmorton/ Think it'd be important to have with this, and I'm sure we would to have a map of
where these particular structures are in fact located.
Markus/ (mumbled)
Mims/ Yeah, we've got that.
Hayek/ And we have, there is a memo and I ... thought it was from HIS...
Markus/ Dough Boothroy (mumbled)
Hayek/ ...that we'll want to ... (several talking). So it'll get scheduled. Anything else? Okay.
Uh, next item is meeting schedule.
Meeting Schedules:
Hayek/ You've got your list of what's up, uh, basically through the end of March. Any changes
to that?
Karr/ Um, there's one today that staff would like to recommend to you, um, and is in light of the,
uh, discussion we had on budget, and on January 31St you've got, urn ... another, uh,
session on budget and it's dealing with your community events, boards and commissions,
and uh, public funding requests, and those requests, uh, are coming in very nicely and it's
booked solid. In addition we have to do a City Conference Board meeting. So with that
in mind, we'd like to suggest not doing the special formal to set the public hearing on the
budget, and wait til February 21" to do that. It will not delay the schedule. The schedule
remains the same for March 6th public hearing and adoption. But this will free up then
that evening for you to finish up your budget discussion and will allow for ample time,
um, then for the other organizations and events coming in, without having to ... and...
without having to figure out a time to put a special formal on.
Champion/ Marian (mumbled)
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January 10, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 24
Karr/ We're going to be cancelling the special formal of the 31St
Champion/ Right, but you said that we're going to have another group, what was that? The
conference...
Karr/ The community events, boards ... oh, City Conference Board. This is the time of year they
too are in a budget cycle. Uh, so the City Assessor will be coming before you to set a
public hearing on his budget, and so you'll be hearing his presentation on the budget,
setting a public hearing, and then at the, um ... I ... I don't know, probably the March 6 th
meeting we'll have the City Conference Board adoption of the budget the same evening.
Champion/ So do you want to start that meeting at 5:30, cause that usually takes about... doesn't
take that long...
Karr/ I'll ... which meeting are we talking about? The 31 st9
Champion/ Yes.
Karr/ I'm working with the city ... the City Assessor on that. It's the same evening as the County
Assessor's board meets.
Champion/ Oh, right!
Karr/ ...so what we're going to do is I'm going to wait for him. We have a number of events
already pre- registered. I don't think they'll mind being moved up so I think we'll leave it
at 6:00 and if they can't come at 6:00, we'll just start the boards and commissions earlier.
Champion/ Okay. Okay.
Karr/ And fill in as necessary. I don't think we can start earlier than 6:00 for the Conference
Board, but that ... we'll work with that.
Hayek/ But, long story short, on the 31St if there are... general budget discussion points Council
wants to take up (both talking)
Karr/ ... final opportunity.
Hayek/ Okay. Okay, sounds good! Uh, last item's upcoming community events, Council
invitations. Sometimes individual Council Members are invited to do something
community minded and ... and we just let the other Councilors know either to invite them
to it, or just to say that we're going to, uh, attend it. So, I don't ... I'm not aware of
anything presently. So..
Throgmorton/ I didn't come with a list in hand so...
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of January 10, 2012.
January 10, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 25
Hayek/ Yeah!
Throgmorton/ ...prepared to do that.
Hayek/ Okay, well, that's it. Uh, then we'll, uh, end the work session now and at 7:00 we'll start
our formal. Thank you!
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of January 10, 2012.