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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-03-20 TranscriptionMarch 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page I Council Present: Champion, Dickens, Dobyns, Mims, Payne, Throgmorton Council Absent: Hayek Staff Present: Markus, Fruin, Morris, Hargadine, Dulek, Davidson, Mansfield, Bentley, Andrew, Rummel, O'Brien, Wyss, Moran, Boelk, Goodman, Fosse, Karr Council Appointments: Mims/ All right! Call the meeting, uh, Iowa City City Council work session for March 20th, uh, 2012. First of all, just like to let everybody know that the Mayor is, uh, sick with the flu. Otherwise he would be here. So ... um ... with that ... Marian, do you do ... roll call (both talking) Karr/ No, not for work sessions. Mims/ Okay! Thank you! Okay, uh, first on the agenda is Council appointments. Uh, I believe in looking through those the Board of Adjustment, we have a gender requirement which is not met with the applicants that we have. Champion/ Yes! Isn't Gene a female? Mims/ They're both marked male (several talking) Champion/ (mumbled) Oh! Mims/ They're both marked male. Champion/ Oh, I thought one was marked female. Mims/ Um, and there were no applications for Youth Advisory Committee (both talking) Champion/ Oh, okay! Mims/ So we'll have to hold off on that. Next on the agenda, Planning and Zon ... Planning and Zoning items, um ... you will note that 5.d and 5.f are only for, uh, only for discussion at the formal meeting. I don't know if we had ... any questions or anything from staff, specifically on these or... Karr/ No! I'd just like to note for the agenda though we did add the setting of a public hearing, 3.e(4) to your Consent Calendar and that's for the Housing Author... Authority's annual plan, and we did add 17(b) which is the appeal of denial of an application for mobile vending on City Plaza, and that has been posted in accordance, and those will be considered tonight. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 2 Mims/ Okay. (mumbled) Dickens/ I do have just one question for Jeff (mumbled) that the University section, how is that designated? Davidson/ I apologize, Terry, would you fill me in on (both talking) Dickens/ Well, the ... it was kind of the red area on our map that's been designed University... Mims/ Impact area? Dickens/ Impact area! Now is that actually a zone or is that just (several talking) Dilkes/ That's not on the agenda tonight. Dickens/ Oh, okay, but I just... Davidson/ It is a specific zone, Terry, (both talking) and Karen can outline that for you. Dickens/ Okay. Davidson/ Yep! Karen'll be here at the formal meeting to go through that with you. (several talking) It is a specific zone. Payne/ Is it a zone or an overlay? Davidson/ Um... Dilkes/ Hold on! Just calm down! (several talking) Okay, let .... I think ... I just ... I say that because I think we want to be careful to keep discussion of that, those items at the time we have the public hearing on those items, which is not tonight. Because (both talking) Dickens/ ...but when else can we get that (several talking) call earlier (both talking) Dilkes/ You can certainly call! Champion/ You can do it at the formal meeting! Dobyns/ But we like to read stuff ahead of time and know what ... and understand what we're reading (laughter) Champion/ Oh, really! Mims/ (several talking) Yeah, I mean I think from Eleanor's perspective (several talking) not on the agenda, yeah, if it's not on the agenda we can always submit questions, and I know This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 3 some people did, and I think that was very helpful in reading the packet was to read the answers, uh, to some of those questions. But, so ... based on, uh, what we've got in front of us, Eleanor, correct me if I'm wrong, Council can ask questions on any of the Planning and Zoning matters, except 5.d and 5.f at this point in time. Okay. So, if you limit your questions to those. Planning and Zoning Items: ITEM 5c AMENDING TITLE 14, ZONING, SUBSECTION 14- 2C -8Q, BONUS PROVISIONS, ADDING A FLOOR AREA BONUS FOR CONSTRUCTING CLASS A OFFICE SPACE ON UPPER FLOORS WITHIN A MULTI -STORY BUILDING IN A CENTRAL BUSINESS (CB- 10) ZONE. Throgmorton/ I'd like to ask, uh, couple questions about Item 5.c, which concerns the Class A office space bonus provision. Mims/ Okay! Throgmorton/ Yeah, so uh ... the first one has to do with the Planning and Zoning Commission. I assume this went through the P &Z Commission. I wonder what they recommended and what the reasons were for any negative votes that any of the Commissioners might have made. Mims/ Looks to me like they, the notes say they voted 7 -0 in favor. Throgmorton/ Oh, I didn't see it. (noise on mic) I was looking at the main (both talking) Mims/ Yeah, in the agenda it... shows that. Throgmorton/ Okay, um, well ... pay attention, Jim! (several talking) Yeah, all right, so the second question really has to do with, uh, helping me, at least, understand how these bonus provisions might actually affect any particular piece of property in any of the Central Business, uh, District zones. Uh, so ... uh, I'm wondering how the (mumbled) play out with regard to any hypothetical building that somebody wanted to put up, if that person wanted to take advantage of this, uh, bonus incentive, only how it would affect what that person could build. If... if a builder wanted to take advantage of this provision, plus all the others that are included in the ... in the list, how would that affect what could be built? Davidson/ Yeah, if you refer to that table with all the bonus provisions, and remember what we're suggesting is that everybody... everything that's in that table, plus the ... the one that's on the agenda tonight for the adding the office density bonus, uh, those would be applicable in all of the CB zones. CB2, 5 and 10, and ... and basically, Jim, when ... when we've used these with the C132 and CB5 zones, for the last six, eight years — however long it's been — a developer comes with a project idea that they believe they can build in This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 4 terms of fitting it on the site and uh, having the parking that's required, cause remember there are parking requirements ... there's parking requirements now even in the CB 10 zones for residential. There never used to be! So, they have to have a project they can build, okay? And then from that point, we look at the density bonuses to see what they might accomplish. Throgmorton/ Uh -huh. Davidson/ And if you look for example at some of them, some of the ones that are in the table currently that will now apply to the CB 10 zone real ... uh, usable open space. Chances are that a lot is going to be consumed by a proposed building in the CB 10 zones such that that provision isn't going to apply to anybody in the CB ... CB10 zone. Um ... provision for street furniture, lighting, and landscaping improvements. Again, if it's a building that's located on the ped mall, we ... we already have all those features. So they aren't going to be able to take advantage of that. In another location they might be able to. So it's a matter of looking through that density bonus menu, and seeing which ones make sense for this particular project, and then applying it to the project. That's (both talking) Mims/ ...are they all additive though? So if... Davidson/ They are additive, right. Mims/ Okay! So if they met two or three different ones (both talking) they can get (both talking) Davidson/ You can get so much from this one. You can get so much from this one, um, you know in the case for example of...of project you guys at least have some familiarity with, the 114, uh, South Dubuque project, the ... the Moen high -rise project. Marc wanted to provide additional office floors anyway, and so he would be able to take advantage of that provision, and again, provide office floors that he is not obligated by the zoning code to, um ... to build, but if he takes advantage of this bonus provision, then those have to be office floors. Mims/ Right. Okay. Throgmorton/ So since these are bonus provisions that provide incentives for doing, uh, expanding the ordinary predictable scale of a project, it'd be hard to characterize that as anti- business, wouldn't it? Davidson/ I would say! Yeah! And the other thing to remember, especially in the Central Business zone where you may get the high -rise type projects is we are still limited by the FAA ceiling that is from a point at the Airport, a two -mile concentric ring. It includes downtown. We're limited by that. It's approximately 152 feet. It's basically the height of Plaza Towers. You can't build a building under current FAA rules right now ... taller than that. Throgmorton/ Thanks, Jeff. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 5 Mims/ Other questions on Planning and Zoning items? Davidson/ I can real quickly just run through... Mims/ Sure! Davidson/ ...couple items if you ... if you'd like. Mims/ Yep, appreciate that. ITEM 5b AMENDING THE PLANNED DEVELOPMENT OVERLAY PLAN AND SENSITIVE AREAS DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR THE PENINSULA NEIGHBORHOOD PHASES 3,4 AND 5 LOCATED ON FOSTER ROAD. (REZ11- 00017) Davidson/ Uh ... let's see ... Rick showed me how to ... (mumbled) Okay! Um ... Peninsula real quickly, and ... and again, I was just going to ... just ... just very briefly since we have three new ... new Members on Council. Uh, the Peninsula area here, the Peninsula subdivision is this area from the North District Plan map, and uh ... in 2001, we were constructing the new water treatment plant, which is right here. We had a number of easements that we needed to get through this area, and a decision was made between the City and the property owner to just have the City buy the whole thing and then what we did is, uh, we used funds from HUD for this area down here to forever remain flood plain and open and ... and ... and that sort of thing, and then the top part here, we ... we, at the time City Council was very interested in having a traditional neighborhood development, a subdivision, uh, platted. We were having difficulty, uh, finding local individuals and local banks who were interested in such a project, and so we basically did an RFP, got a developer, uh, from Michigan who was interested in ... in the project and the City executed a development agreement that although it's been amended a few times, basically still looks like we always intended it to look for the Peninsula, uh, subdivision here, and there ... the way it's been set up is that we split the development into four phases, and uh, as ... as each phase is completed to a certain degree the developer then has the right to buy the next pa ... uh, the next phase, and they pay us a fee on a per -unit basis that essentially recoups the City's investment in the property, and that's paid with interest. Um, they're at the point now where they want to buy the final two phases, Phases 3 and 4. Uh, and if you've been out there, you know, the ... the development has ...whether you're an advocate of traditional neighborhood developments or not, it's very much proceeded in the manner that the City and the developer agreed to and I think is a unique product that we have on the market, and it's for some people and not for others, but it's a very good example, beautiful piece of property. Um, the ... the third and fourth phase is basically this blue line right here. Um, and they ... they essentially want to purchase both together, uh, and be finalized and done with the City's interest in it. Now it'll ... it'll, by virtue of the development agreement, it's essentially the zoning for the property it'll have to be developed according to the... they... they can't do something other than ... than what we've agreed to. Um, they want to make a couple of changes, and This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 6 that is related to ... they have made some decisions and asked for some things to be changed almost from the very beginning, 2001, related to what they perceive the market to be. They've taken some multiple unit buildings, converted them to single - family and duplexes, because again, they perceived the market to be for that. What it's done is we had established a maximum of 410 units, and basically divided the four phases into that. As scheduled right now, they would be significantly less than that number and they want to basically try and get back up to that 410 units by making some changes to what's, uh, proposed currently. Uh, let's see here ... Bob put these together... okay, here is the existing plan, and you can see that in this area down here where Phases 3 and 4 are, there are essentially in these lots right here single - family homes, single - loaded street that overlooks the golf course here, and Foster Road kind of comes down like so and then goes down to the Dog Park. Uh, what they would like to do ... a significant difference is to instead have some large, uh, 12 or 18 -plex buildings down in this area, and they aren't going to be able to have all 18- plexes because that will get them above the 410 units which we wouldn't allow. And, the 410 units is important because of the single means of access to this area. You can see it's surrounded by the river on five sides, uh, Foster Road is basically the only way in and out, and we've in constructing Foster Road done some things to try and reduce the prospect that that road would ever be blocked, uh, it has a ... basically a ... a clear zone area where there's not any large trees that would fall over. Uh, we've kept the, uh, the right -of -way fairly clear so that an emergency vehicle could get up and around if there ever was some kind of an obstruction. So that's why the 410 is important. They want to put some larger style buildings here, which would have some courtyard areas, it'd basically be parking alternated with courtyard areas that would be part of the public realm for the subdivision and then one stubbed street... Willenbrock, which is ... it's this one right here. Would be stubbed to the property line, and then there's two golf holes down here. When we put Foster Road in, we obliterated some golf holes. We worked out a deal with the Elks Course to establish two new holes down here, and the lease is such that those will remain in effect until the Elks Club no longer has a golf course here, and then they would revert back to the City. So we want to allow this stubbed street right here so that eventually this could be, uh, redeveloped for either open space or possibly development. That would be up to the city council, um, at the time. Um, so anyway, these larger buildings, I ... yeah, here's some renderings. Um, I think the market that they're after here is similar to the Elk Run condos, which are just about sold out, as you ... right before you get to the this subdivision there's the two large buildings. Uh, same style of buildings, same market. Here you see an example of...of one of those courtyards I told you about. The large buildings on either side. Uh, the other change then, if I can go back to the original plat ... is to seven lots that are right here, and actually part of the Phase 1 development. They want to establish a new Phase 5, and for that... they basically want to take seven single - family lots. These lots drop off in the back here, and because of that, they have some issues in terms of how the garages would be configured for the single - family market. Instead what they want to do here is they want to leave two single - family homes on the end here, and then you can see duplex, duplex, duplex, four -unit townhouse building, duplex, and duplex. So it's ... it's seven more units to get `em up closer to the 410, uh, mix of housing types. They believe the garages can be figured such that basically they can sell the units. That's... that's what they're up to here. The final thing then are some code changes. This is all wrapped up in the one This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 7 approval tonight, and... and this illustration gets at the two significant ones. Right now there are some provisions in the development agreement about how garages are provided are. You essentially have to be off the alley. Um, there are some lots that simply don't lend themselves to that, and so this code change would allow a garage to be set back with a forward- facing garage door, which is not currently permitted. Also there's a provision that right now porches have to be the full width of the structure in front. This would allow, uh, a partial porch, such as you see here, which we ... we feel is consistent with, I mean if you go into the northside neighborhood there's houses with partial porches. We feel that's consistent with the vernacular architecture of Iowa City. Any questions about the Peninsula changes that are proposed? Dobyns/ Jeff, are those two holes in the Elks, is that the only leased part or is it the entire Elks' golf course that is... Davidson/ As far as I know that's the only leased ground. Do you know different, Rick? Those two golf holes? (unable to hear person away from mic) I think that's it, Rick. Dobyns/ Okay, all right. And there was a, uh, neighborhood meeting, I believe (both talking) Davidson/ There was a neighborhood meeting. Dobyns/ ...information from the... Davidson/ ...we did not attend the meeting, but we were told there were ... were no comments at the meeting. Throgmorton/ Jeff, I'm struck by the ... the quality of design for the, um, proposed apartment buildings. Uh, relative to the streetscape, so part of what they do is have porches on the front? And also apparently, uh, with the courtyards and maybe some other space directly in front there's... there's more of a sort of a seamless connection between the sidewalk and the building itself so that it makes the walking along the street much more attractive to the residents, and that's something I'd really love to see in the other neighborhoods that we'll be discussing tonight (both talking) Davidson/ Yeah. We think they did a good job, Jim. We of course brought to their attention that we didn't want to radically change the overall general concepts, even though they were going to a different style of building. So we think they did a good job of exactly what you laid out relating well to the sidewalk and then with the courtyard areas, you know, the very ... very pleasant public space that ... that retains this ... this nice vista. You basically start at the ... the horizon there. You start going downhill, so it'll be a nice vista out there. Okay. Dobyns/ Jeff? Davidson/ Yes! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 8 Dobyns/ How about in terms of, uh, groceries and just, uh, commercial amenities for that neighborhood, as you're getting up to 410, because... Davidson/ Thank you, Rick, for bringing to my attention the other code change that I left out, which is this ... I think it's this ... I believe it's this lot right here, 117. I may have that wrong. Let's see ... (mumbled) yeah, I think it's this lot right here. Um, the other code change that I forgot to mention was, that's a commercial, uh, commercial /live -work. Can have a commercial aspect to it. Um, and as one of the code changes would allow an eating or drinking establishment, uh, on that location, uh, they'd still have to, um, comply with all the other, uh, code requirements for the Peninsula subdivision, so it wouldn't be, uh, a Hardee's or something like that. Uh, but it would allow, uh, a food establishment there at that location. Otherwise, Rick, in terms of a... a large grocery store, I don't think there's the, probably the ... order of magnitude here in terms of people to ... to justify a (both talking) Dobyns/ ...I just didn't have a sense for what 410 meant in terms of what (both talking) ITEM 5g CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE FINAL PLAT OF THE PATEL ADDITION, IOWA CITY, IOWA. (SUB11- 00016) Davidson/ ...I neglected to make, uh, indicate that one other change there. Anything else with the Peninsula? Okay, the final thing then was the, uh, Patel subdivision. This is for the hotel on Riverside Drive. Wendy's property here. Car wash property here. City property in between, uh, this is basically a drainage corridor for us. What they will do is they will enclose the drainage corridor to, I think approximately this point, and put parking over it. The hotel will be located over here, and this'll be a parking area. And, uh, the City Engineer has ... has okayed the design of doing this. Uh, it'll then be opened up to the river from here with some kind of an open swale. Uh, we'll retain a drainage easement through here and then a 50 -foot easement along the river for a future trail. You can see we already have it here behind the, uh, Anderson Bender building here. We'll have a similar easement here for eventually putting the trail through. So, again, uh, allows the hotel development to ... to go on and we're real excited about it! And this... this takes the three parcels and makes one lot. Mims / Any questions for Jeff? Dobyns/ Well I mean I guess ... just to linger on this issue and dwell on it. Um, when ... when someone builds a, um, a neighborhood far away from the town, I ... I think they give up the right by wanting to live in a rural area of having access to commercial features. My sense of the Peninsula not having been on Council is, this was a part of town that geographically is sort of, um... surrounded by the Iowa River and the interstate, so I mean, it has certain constraints. But didn't the City sort of make a commitment to it? My sense is yes I acknowledge that 410 units is not a typical number to want to bring, you know, commercial, you know, opportunities there for people. I ... I just have a sense... the neighborhood, I ... have they complained; have the realtors who have had to try to sell the developments, have they come back to City staff and said, look, boy I tell This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 9 you people want to come here but they're going, it's a long way to go to the store. Or to downtown. Um, if I'm the only one in the city who has thought that then I'll take a back seat but I'm just... Davidson/ The one other thing, I mean ... I certainly can't speak to people's perceptions, Rick, in terms of feeling this is an outlying location. You know, obviously there's a pedestrian bridge right here that gets you over into the First Avenue /Coralville commercial district, and the City, you may recall as part of your budget process has a pedestrian bridge, uh, proposed right here, but you know, essentially this is the Manville Heights neighborhoods that's right next to University Hospitals, so you know, I perceive it actually being fairly close, at least by bicycle or walking, uh, to ... to the rest of the, uh, the rest of the community. Uh, there is bus service up into the area, uh, by Iowa City Transit. Uh, so you know, again, I think the transportation options are pretty good for this property. Dobyns/ But there's no sense of building commercial opportunities at the junction of Foster Road and Dubuque, it's just not... Davidson/ Um ... we... Dobyns/ ... agree it wouldn't look very nice there either (both talking) Davidson/ ...there is some interest in, uh, some property in this area. We're currently talking with a developer about some options. Would require Comprehensive Plan amendments, so all of that would come to you. Um, and certainly, Ricky, in the duration of time that I've been here, which is getting to be quite a while, there have been a number of discussions about commercial aspects to the Dubuque Street corridor. It's such a stunningly, you know, beautiful corridor in terms of that (mumbled) down the river, and certainly anything Council considers about changing that, you'll need to weigh that real carefully. Dobyns/ Well, I think there's... well, yeah, I agree, Jeff. It's ... it would be a bad thing to do, especially as an entry point into Iowa City. I ... I recall there's also a right -of -way as Foster Road comes into Dubuque that cuts through and up the hill to eventually to Prairie du Chien. Davidson/ Right. Dobyns/ And ... uh, I mean, essentially that can get you to some commercial areas along, um, Dodge Street. Davidson/ Uh -huh. Dobyns/ Um, as well as ... is there any sense of when that might open up? Davidson/ That has been a project when ... when, uh, a major trunk water line went up that corridor... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 10 Dobyns/ Uh -huh. Davidson/ ...we basically set that up, all you have to do is put the paving over on top of it. The ... the, all of the ... the city utilities and the drainage structures are in place for that corridor. It has not reached a high- enough priority that there's been a majority of Council that wanted to move that into a funded year of the CIP. Uh, we've kind of left that as a developer - driven project that if we have a developer that wants to advocate for that, uh, project then we'll ... we'll consider putting it in a funded year. Champion/ I think the problem is is that there's just not enough people out there for much commercial development. When I'm thinking of my husband's small town he's from, it's like 5 to 6,000 people, they just lost their grocery store. I mean, it takes a lot of people to substain that kind of (both talking) Dobyns/ ...but it's in Iowa City, I mean, there's a ... kind of a commitment to at least try and think about it. I mean, like I said, you know, it's fortunate what happens to the small towns and demographics in Iowa. You kind of give up the right if you decide I want to live in the rural area. These people are living in a city (mumbled) made a commitment to and so I ... I guess I think about it a little bit differently. At least enough to speak to the... to the (mumbled) Mims/ Yeah, and I mean, I think the other thing that I would add to that is when you really look at it, they are probably, uh, five minutes or less away from the Hy -Vee on North Dodge. I mean, literally they're a minute or two from getting on the interstate and it's two miles from that exit to the North Dodge exit and then you're maybe ... two minutes (several talking) even if you cut up through Kimball Road or whatever so they're... they're five minutes or less from (both talking) Champion/ I always call it a 10- minute town! (laughter) Dickens/ There's not a lot of commercial zones in that area (mumbled) Davidson/ Well, the neighborhood commercial zone that Susan's referring to, which is where you guys (several talking) Mims/ Well and I ... I mean, I think as Jeff mentioned and ... and Rick did, something that is certainly further down the road and not specifically related to this is the whole Dubuque Street, I -80 interchange and how we can take advantage of that at some point, but that's not on tonight's agenda. Dobyns/ Well, and I understand, I mean, for recreation, I mean, if you have a dog, bike, walk, or play golf — wow! I mean... Mims/ Okay. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 11 Davidson/ Anything else in terms of any of the P &Z items? Uh, Karen will be here at the formal meeting to walk through her staff report (both talking) issue. Mims/ Okay. All right! Okay, move on then to agenda items. Anything on tonight's agenda that you have questions about or... Agenda Items• ITEM 8. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 8, "POLICE REGULATIONS", CHAPTER 5, "MISCELLANEOUS OFFENSES ", SECTION 6, "INDECENT EXPOSURE AND CONDUCT" TO CREATE TWO SEPARATE OFFENSES TO BE KNOWN AND CITED AS "INDECENT EXPOSURE" AND "PUBLIC URINATION AND DEFECATION ". (SECOND CONSIDERATION) Payne/ I have only one, and I think it probably is a typo. Mims/ Okay! Payne/ It is on page 244 of the... Mims/ What ... what item number (mumbled) Payne/ Oh, I don't know. I didn't write that down. Mims/ It's in the packet? Payne/ It's in the packet. It's uh ... I8. It has an "8" at the top. (laughter) Mims/ Page 244 you said? Payne/ Yes. It's the ordinance for the, uh, indecent exposure. Champion/ Oh, right! Payne/ Well, it has a typo I think. It says, um... Throgmorton/ Is it a meaningful typo? (laughter) Payne/ ... 85 ... 8 -5 -6A says, "not eh person's spouse," and I think it means "not the person's spouse." Is that correct? Dobyns/ What are we ... item 8 (mumbled) Payne/ Here! Here! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 12 Dobyns/ Okay. All right. Payne/ Not (several talking) Dilkes/ That makes sense to me. I don't know exactly where you're ... where you're looking but... Payne/ Okay! Dilkes/ But yes, I think that's the way it reads. Payne/ It's supposed to read "not the person's spouse ?" Dilkes/ Is ... are you looking at the actual ordinance? Payne/ Yes. Dobyns/ Yes, yeah. Dilkes/ Okay. Mims/ What item ... what part of the ordinance are you looking at? Dobyns/ The first paragraph, yeah. Dilkes/ Yes! Right, yes, I see where you're looking — not eh ... yes, that should be a `the.' Yep! Payne/ Okay. ITEM 16. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE ACQUISITION OF PROPERTY LOCALLY KNOWN AS 2538 NEVADA AVENUE, WHICH IS A PUBLIC NUISANCE, FOR THE PURPOSE OF ABATING THE NUISANCE. Throgmorton/ I have a question about Item 16. Mims/ Okay! Throgmorton/ Uh, which has to do with the nuisance... declaration with regard to a particular piece of property on Nevada. Champion/ Uh -huh. Throgmorton/ Nevada? Nevada? Champion/ Right! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 13 Throgmorton/ Um, so the question has to do with the letter we received from Skinner Law Office that's in our, um, the materials that Marian passed out. Mims/ Do you want to address that, Eleanor, or do you want to wait til formal ... to address that? Dilkes/ You know, I would suggest you do that at the formal since he's ... he's going to be here and, or ... no, I'm thinking of a different one. Since, um, we're having that discussion and he's been given notice of that discussion, I would do it all at that time. Throgmorton/ Okay. Mims/ Okay. Any other... Dobyns/ And we are on agenda... (mumbled) Mims/ Yes, on the agenda items. ITEM 3g(6) Bruce Maurer: Parking fines [Staff response included] Dobyns/ On 3.g(6) um ... I sent in a query regarding where the person's parking violation was. Was it far away from, um, alternative off - street parking? Is that ... message in on that, Jeff, um ... I didn't... Fruin/ Did you get our response? Dobyns/ No, I didn't. I can talk to you about that later but it's (mumbled) Fruin/ Yeah, I think three there was maybe four violations and uh, three of `em were in the immediate downtown area. The fourth, uh, was on Johnson Street. So... Dobyns/ Okay. Fruin/ With the exception of maybe the Johnson Street there was off - street alternatives in very close proximity. Dobyns/ Nearby, okay. Thank you! Mims/ Well, and I would just comment on items like that, I really appreciate the staff following up and sending a response out to emails and letters like that to explain what our process is and that it's not as arduous as people might think sometimes. I mean, you don't even get a fine the first time and then it's ... it's elevated from there and it resets every six months so ... I think it's worked well. Throgmorton/ I completely agree. I really ... I've really been impressed with the kind ... the letters that we've seen staff send out (several talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 14 ITEM 3g(10) Kristin Sturdevant: S. Dodge St. & Bowery Intersection [Staff response included] ITEM 3g(11) Anna Buss, A.B. Property Management & Sales: Fire Department Fees Mims/ ...really, really appreciate that. I also would just comment on, um ... 3.g(10). It was on the South Dodge /Bowery intersection and there was a staff response. Uh, my only comment would be I agree entirely with the comments by the person who wrote in. When you go from those two lanes to those three lanes and people are trying to figure out which lane to get into, and it ... there's not a whole lot of advanced warning and ... so I...I hope with the study that they're doing, they will come up with some ideas of some adjustments, uh ... at that. Um ... on 3.g(11) I would just throw this out. This was the letter regarding, uh, and I'm sure this won't be particularly popular with the public, but as we talk about funding issues, the idea that in fact we do charge for inspections. Okay? Rental property inspections. And, if I understand this correctly... correct me if I'm wrong, we do not charge for fire inspections. Markus/ That's correct. And this suggestion is ... is that we would undertake that as a fee based, uh, service that we provide. I looked at it. I read through the, uh, the item. You get into this argument that people are paying for that service through their property taxes, and so there's always that trade -off. If one group is benefitting over the, you know, the total mass of people that receive the fire service, then there's probably an argument for a fee for this service. So, uh, the Fire Chiefll be asked to review that and make (mumbled) Mims/ Okay. Thank you. Throgmorton/ Excellent! Payne/ (mumbled) I mean, we have offices here and in Cedar Rapids. In Cedar Rapids they charge like $500. Markus/ I'm not adverse to (mumbled) (laughter) Payne/ It's quite a bit more than what was in the letter, I mean, it might have been $400 every two years, but it was, I mean, it's a ... it's a significant fee. Markus/ I think Ms. Buss was just trying to point out how much money could actually be generated. Some of the items though that, um, she included in her totals I suspect are pretty diminimus types of stops that wouldn't generate a fee typically so ... on a regular inspection I think that's something we could consider, but not some of the more incidental type things. Mims/ I'll be interested to hear what staff has to say (both talking) Markus/ The numbers ... the numbers might be less than what were projected. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 15 ITEM 7. AMENDING TITLE 3, ENTITLED "FINANCES, TAXATION & FEES," CHAPTER 4, "SCHEDULE OF FEES, RATES, CHARGES, BONDS, FINES, AND PENALTIES," SECTION 6, " STORMWATER UTILITY FEE" AND AMENDING TITLE 16 ENTITLED "PUBLIC WORKS," CHAPTER 3, "CITY UTILITIES," ARTICLE G, "STORM WATER COLLECTION, DISCHARGE AND RUNOFF," SECTION 10(F)(3) TO CHANGE THE RATE OF THE STORMWATER UTILITY FEE. ITEM 14. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION OF INTENT TO BUDGET ANNUAL FUNDING FOR IOWA CITY AREA DEVELOPMENT GROUP FOR THE FIVE FISCAL YEARS 2013 THROUGH 2017 AND FOR ADDITIONAL FUNDING OF THE CO -LAB INITIATIVE. Mims/ On #7 is ... this is the stormwater, uh, utility fee. This is simply a continuation of the increases that we started a year ago. Is that correct, Rick? Fosse/ That's correct. Mims/ He's nodding his head yes. Okay. Thank you. I thought that's what that was. Urn ... and then on #14, um, this is the annual budgeting for the Iowa City Area Development Group and also the funding of the co -lab initiative. Um, you may or may not have noticed, cause we got quite a thick packet tonight, we have not had a time to review that at all, and I am going to suggest that we defer that item until our next meeting when we've actually had a chance to review that document. Champion/ What item was that, Susan? Mims/ Uh, # 14. Champion/ Thank you. Markus/ It's the ICAD funding (both talking) Champion/ Oh, right. Right. Markus/ ...their campaign. If I might add. Mims/ Yes. Markus/ I did speak, uh, with Mark of ICAD today and indicated this issue is on and that we may actually continue it because you folks haven't had a chance to take a look at that. We're going to use the documentation in that document to actually structure an agreement as to how future funds would be released for the ... the co -work space, uh, so it's important that you do take a look at that and feel comfortable with that. Um, this should not be construed as ... as anything other than giving you more opportunity to review this. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 16 Mims/ Yep! Yeah, we didn't... various paperwork change, etc. We just didn't get ... they didn't get it to us until tonight, and so I think the fact that it is, I don't know, 15 -page document or something, uh, we haven't had a chance to even review it. So that was, uh, why the recommendation. Markus/ Once you get into it, you'll find out that some of it's furniture and some of it's furniture layout so it ... it's an easy read! Payne/ And that ... that isn't going to hurt their budget to wait a couple weeks. Markus/ It ... it should not. Um ... I, you know, I think possibly we might have some more information. I think most of you did see the announcement that, uh, Mr. Raso will be taking another position, and I think that, um ... we may get some additional information about what they actually intend to do and how that might play out into the co -work space and that would ... I don't think that's the basis for this, but that would be beneficial to have that understanding. If they progress that far. Throgmorton/ I saw Joe earlier today and expressed considerable regret that he's leaving, but you know, I know Colorado Springs. It's a very attractive opportunity for him so... Mims / Any other agenda items? ITEM 6. APPROVING PROCEEDING WITH THE ISSUANCE AND SALE OF NOT TO EXCEED $5,376,250 AGGREGATE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT OF MIDWESTERN DISASTER AREA REVENUE BONDS (IOWA CANCER CURE PROJECT) SERIES 2012, OF THE CITY OF IOWA CITY, IOWA, AND RELATED MATTERS. Dobyns/ I had a question on Item 6 regarding the, um ... Midwestern Disaster Area Revenue Bonds. I ... I was just ... um, I don't have a sense of...only one business applied for this and I'm not sure how ... how to, what it had to do with the ... disaster or the flood, because it's going to the Northgate area, which is not exactly a flood plain area. I think this may have come up before I came on Council. I'm not quite... Markus/ This is the second business that's actually applied and received (several talking) Davidson/ ...because of the flood we became eligible for these bonds and ... and ... and again, I'm not the expert on this at all, but we're basically issuing agency, I think. Deb, do you know any more or ... um, and there's no risk or anything, but there's been essentially two businesses that have taken advantage of the opportunity for the City to issue these. Markus/ We're the vehicle through the ... through the process. Dobyns/ So where the business is located, what type of business it is really doesn't matter. Okay. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 17 Champion/ Doesn't matter. Dobyns/ All right. Mims/ It doesn't count against our indebtedness. It's ... not, we have no liability for it. It allows them to get (several talking) lower interest rate. Davidson/ ...of the flood that we're eligible for them. Dobyns/ Okay. All right. And we only had two apply? So, okay. Markus/ This'll be the second award. Dobyns/ Oh, I see, so there could be ... more (several talking) Davidson/ ...presumably it has some statute of limitations out there, but I don't know when that is. Dobyns/ Okay. Dilkes/ It has to be a building or an improvement or an enhancement that falls within the terms of the statute. Dobyns/ Okay. All right. I was just trying to get a sense of what type of business could apply for it. I don't really... it doesn't really matter. Okay. Mims/ Any other questions or... on agenda items? All right, let's move on to the sidewalk cafe ordinance change. Rick! Sidewalk Cafe Ordinance Changes (IP3 and IP4): Fosse/ Thank you! Uh, we have three things we want to visit with you about and get your input tonight on the sidewalk cafes. Uh, one is the offset at alleys, uh, the second is a notion of a second -story sidewalk cafe, and then the third, uh, has to do with the approval process, whether that's maintained by Council or done administratively. Now you have memos in the packet on two of the issues, but you do not on the second -story thing, and that... and I'll explain that. That's something that came up some time ago and didn't get a lot of traction at the staff level, and um, and ... I recalled it on spring break when it was too late to get a memo in the packet, and thought, well, we'll take this opportunity just to ... to share the ideas with you and see if you... if you agree that we're on track there, if you want us to look at it in more detail. So with that, let ... let me dive in, and ... and I'll begin with just a little bit of background in that the ... the sidewalk cafe ordinance, uh, came into being in 19...95. So 17 years ago. We have 17 years of experience with that, and we took somewhat of a conservative approach because this was a new thing for us and we didn't know how it was going to fit with downtown and ... and didn't know how it was This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 18 going to work, and ... and it's safe to say that ... that time has shown that it is compatible with the other uses of the public right -of -way. Uh, it has been an enhancement for downtown, so it's been a good thing for us! And we've done some tweaking over the years, uh, to the ... to the cafe ordinance, mostly by resolution. Uh, we have one change that ... that we're in the process of making. In fact you have the third and final reading tonight on, uh, using planters to delineate the perimeter of the sidewalk cafe. And... so that's probably one of the biggest changes that we've made over the years. And, um, what we want to visit about tonight is the... the... offset between the edge of a sidewalk cafe and an alley. This picture doesn't show it very well, but there's an alley coming out there. You can see some of the tracks, and uh, in our ... our original ordinance, we ... we put in an offset of 10 -feet between the edge of the alley and the beginning of the sidewalk cafe, cause we were concerned about things, just primarily safety and uh, the ... the comfort of the people sitting right there, and based on our experience, we don't think it's such a bad thing to relax that, uh, somewhat, down to about 2 -feet. That gives us plenty of room there. In some ways it actually enhances, uh, visibility for people that are pulling out of the alley, as far as conflicts with pedestrians, because that pedestrian movement is moved out further from the face of the building so they get a clearer view of the pedestrians that are coming along. Uh, provided, uh, that ... there aren't obstructions to their view, and this case, uh, this proposes and elevated platform with a ... with an opaque fence, and that probably wouldn't be a good thing. You figure the eye height of vehicle's about 3.75 feet and ... and you would not be able to see through here. So one of the things in the proposed amendment is to have it ... not be more than a 20% obstruction as far as the ... the spacing of the railings in there. So it does not become opaque like that. So that's... that's one issue. We'll come back and get your decisions on each of these. I'll just ... I'll just take you through all three before we go any further. Uh, the second one is this notion of a second -story sidewalk cafe. And, uh, there're... there are two ways, really three ways to possibly accommodate this. Two of `em involve giving up property rights in the public right -of -way. One would be as shown here with ... with permanent supports out in the public right -of -way that would involve... basically selling the right -of- way there, forever giving up our... our, uh, our... rights out there, and... and it would provide a ... really a character change to the street corridor there, and it's something that we would not want to take on without a lot of public input on that character change, and to think very hard about our long -term flexibility for use of the public right -of -way if we're going to give that up. Uh, the other way to ... to address this with a permanent structure would be to cantilever a balcony out there, and that still involves giving up some property rights, some air rights. It's not as extreme as giving up the ... the, uh, ground rights, but it's ... it's a change as well, and it also impacts the character, as well. The third way, uh, which was proposed by the restaurant owner is ... is contemplating some sort of temporary structure, you know, right now we allow low platforms. Just as the one you saw in the last picture, um ... here, but what the ordinance does not contemplate is building some sort of temporary platform that goes all the way up to that second level up there. And ... and that gives us some uneasiness with regard to a variety of structural issues, wind loads, and ... and just all sorts of things that can go wrong there, if...if not executed properly. So ... so based on those things, staff really didn't feel that we wanted to advance this notion of second -story sidewalk cafes. Rooftops! That might be kind of a neat thing, but that's outside the public right -of -way. So, that's... that's the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 19 other one, and then the ... the third one, and we can bring the lights back up if you'd like, Marian, has to do with the approval process for sidewalk cafes, and ... and this was Geoff s idea. This is where it's nice to get outside eyes on the things that ... that we're doing here, and, you know, it looks ... we bring these to you each year, uh, both the new ones and renewals, and they're on your agenda. You have three of them tonight that you'll... you'll address, and ... and the question that Geoff posed is why aren't we doing that administratively. And it's a good question — why aren't we? So that ... that's one of the things we want to get your input on tonight. So, let's go through in that order and get your input on the three things. Uh, as far as the offset, uh, from the alley, are you comfortable with reducing that from 10 -feet to 2 -feet? Throgmorton/ Rick, are there any other alleys that could potentially be, uh, affected by this particular ordinance change? Fosse/ Yes! Yes, we have, uh, primarily (both talking) Throgmorton/ ...but I mean, you know, because of the relationship between the alleys and existing restaurants. Fosse/ Oh! Okay, I see what you were asking. Uh, I don't believe that we have any restaurants that are currently adjacent to alleys that would then expand their use. Throgmorton/ Okay. Could be in the future but... Fosse / Right! Dickens/ Joseph's... Fosse/ Joseph's... Dickens/ ...the alley there. (mumbled) Fosse/ Okay. And they've... they're quite a ways to the ... to the north, as well. Dickens/ (mumbled) but they're right on the alley. Fosse/ Okay. So that, yeah, that is one. Dilkes/ But any space could change and become a restaurant (several talking) Dobyns/ (mumbled) or vehicle would come out of the alleyway, the ability to look to the left and the right for opposing traffic is going to be somewhat diminished but I'm thinking of all the places this would go, and I think ... and I'll use this as an example, if a vehicle was just coming past what is now the new corner, um, where you'd be able to see. There's still about maybe 15 feet until the actual road, giving you enough... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 20 Fosse/ Yes! Dobyns/ ...and I think ... I think of where Joe's is and other places, I ... I ... but, are there any other, extending Jim's question, are there any other possible places where there wouldn't be that much opportunity for an, uh, outcoming vehicle to look left and right without being right on top of the street? Fosse/ Well ... as long as we ... we do not allow the ... the fences to become opaque, we're comfortable with that. We'll ... we'll always maintain a sight triangle there, that they'll be able to see through the railings of it. Dobyns/ But if Terry's sitting at the corner table, I can't see through Terry, so ... (several talking) Mims/ But I mean, you still have the width of the sidewalk from the cafe out to the street. Champion/ Right! Dobyns/ Right, that's what I'm ... that's what I'm asking about. Payne/ What you're looking here for isn't necessarily cars, it's pedestrians, because you have all that space... Champion/ But this is better for pedestrians! Payne/ Yeah, I think it's far better (several talking) Dickens / And is this just the downtown district, or is this like near northside, because there's a lot of, you know, Hamburg Inn, George's, some of those are right on alleys as well. Fosse/ Believe this would apply anywhere in (several talking) ...have a sidewalk cafe. Yep. And, one of the ... one of the restrictions that we have is this ... this pedestrian width has to be a minimum of 8 feet. So you're always going to have at least that much of a sight triangle before you get out onto the road. If that sidewalk could be narrowed beyond that, you couldn't put a sidewalk cafe that far out. Mims/ I'm comfortable with it. Are others? (several talking) Fosse/ Okay! Throgmorton/ Rick, I assume that ... that having this 2 -foot setback would not create any sort of terminal problems for ... for the owner of...of, uh, of Atlas, would it? Terminal problems, I mean, you know, it wouldn't, uh, stop his ability to put up this, uh, outdoor cafe. Fosse/ No. I don't believe so. Throgmorton/ I can't imagine why it would but I'm just asking to make sure. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 21 Mims/ Yeah, I mean, whatever's left with square footage is, you know, to me ends up being a business decision, whether they feel they've got enough square footage. I think moving from that 10 -foot setback to a 2 -foot which if staff feels is safe, then what we've operating in is ... is a situation of making sure that whatever we are allowing still meets basic safety requirements and then (both talking) Payne/ ...take it all the way to 2. They could leave it at 10 if they wanted to. It's just giving them more tables. Mims/ Right. Payne/ Giving them more space. Throgmorton/ Sure, sure! Fosse / Right. So that ... that whole issue of ..of customer comfort really is in the hands of...of the business owner. We're not assuming that ... that decision for them. Throgmorton/ I was on the Council when we adopted this in 1995. I supported it very strongly, so I...I think this is a great idea. I'm all in favor of it, especially as ... as amended in ... in staff's proposal. Fosse/ Good! So we're good on that one. Mims/ Good on that one. Fosse/ Uh, for the second -story cafes, uh, what are your thoughts on that? Is that something that you want, uh, staff to put more ... more time into or ... are you comfortable with the position that we've taken, that it's... Champion/ I would love a second - story... sidewalk cafe! Throgmorton/ (mumbled) Champion/ Yeah! Dobyns/ Well I was thinking I'd have to call ahead to get a seat up there cause it would be a cool place to be, but I'm just thinking o£.. Payne/ Definitely going to change the character! Dobyns/ Yeah, because as you're, um, I mean a ... whether it'd be more of an incentive for a restaurant to have a second floor opportunity, um, in their building, but I'm just trying to sense, and I think ... it looks like New Orleans, as Michelle and I were thinking (laughter and several talking) walking through there is that, uh... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 22 Champion/ Or Galena! (several talking) Dickens/ How does that affect liability and insurance? Having that hang over the public right -of- way? Champion/ Well that wouldn't be the City's problem. Dilkes/ We always ... the sidewalk cafe operator has to provide that insurance. Fosse/ One of the things that we were thinking about is ... is the adjacent properties and the investments they've made in their building fronts and signage and that sort of thing, and ... and how they might be since, um, sheltered or hidden by these ... these things. Champion/ I would be in favor if it came up to explore it more. If somebody really wanted to do it. On the other hand I can't even imagine somebody going to that expense for a sidewalk cafe in Iowa City when they're only open so long. Dobyns/ Well yeah. I think if you were like a 10 -month (mumbled) because what you're giving up is that ... you know, you're a second -floor restaurant and your window tables are really at a premium. This'll draw away from that (both talking) Champion/ ... still have the window! Dobyns/ What's that? Champion/ You could still have the window! Dobyns/ Well yeah, but if you have something like this and, you know, I guess I shouldn't speak for a potential, uh, business owner, but I mean I think this would, uh, for those winter months when, you know, nobody would realistically eat out there. Champion/ You could heat it! Dobyns/ Um... Champion/ They do in Aspen! Why not Iowa City? Dobyns/ You know, I came from Minnesota. I'm pretty tough, but I still think (laughter) this is going to be a ... I think it would diminish, uh, for 8 months out of the year — maybe not this month — but 8 months out of the year, I think it would diminish, uh, second -floor seating behind the window, which'11 be active around the year. So I'm not ... I'm not sure people would be that excited about it in a northern- temperate region of the country. I'm trying to think about where I've seen this in like, you know, Milwaukee or Chicago... Champion/ New Orleans! I haven't seen any in Chicago. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 23 Dobyns/ Yeah... Dickens/ I think we should see what the market... Dobyns/ Yeah, I don't think the market would... Dickens/ Well, I think we should look into it and... Mims/ That's what I was going to say, Terry. I mean, what interest or ... has there been many (both talking) Fosse/ There's been one! There's been one, and ... and what you need to think very carefully about here is that if... if you want to allow permanent structure out there, are you willing to give up in... in perpetuity the right -of -way to do that? You know right now you and all future councils have building face to building face to work with for streetscapes, I mean, what... whatever you want to do downtown. Do you want to start to sell off pieces of that? Because you cannot put structure out there without conveying property rights. Is that accurate, Eleanor? Dilkes/ Right, because you don't think a temporary structure would be allowable. Like we do with the ones on the ground. Fosse / Right, right. Now that's... that's the other option is to consider temporary structures. And... and... Champion/ Ooh! Sorry! Fosse/ ...you know, if properly engineered and anchored, I suppose they could work. But... but again, that's ... it's not contemplated ... (several talking and laughing). They'd need to be (several talking). Yeah! It's not something I would undertake (several talking) Dickens/ ...extremely expensive and (several talking) Throgmorton/ ... consider the photograph up there. In what sense would we be giving up property rights if we did something like that? Fosse/ Like this is showing? Throgmorton/ Cause what I see is air rights being... Fosse/ Well when you have the ... the permanent structure coming down and ... and the foundation out in the public right -of -way. If I understand our interpretation correctly, that ... that would involve selling the right -of -way out to that point. Dilkes/ We'd have to vacate the right -of -way and ... and sell, and transfer it. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 24 Dickens/ Anything inside that would become theirs? Champion/ No. Dickens/ Or just where the posts are? (several talking) Anything inside the posts ... (several talking) Dilkes/ That's what I would guess ... yes (several talking) You could do it either way, but it would depend on how you structured it. I mean... it... Throgmorton/ I'm interested in ... in the air rights part of this, enabling any interested, uh, business owner to put a second floor, uh, outdoor cafe up... Fosse/ A cantilevered structure? Throgmorton/ Yeah. Like I assume is up there on... Fosse/ That would be this without the vertical supports. So it would involve structure that goes back into the building. Mims/ Which would be incredibly expensive! Throgmorton/ Be more expensive, I assume. Fosse/ It would be a difficult thing to retrofit on old buildings, yeah. Yeah. It would. Champion/ (mumbled) keep an open mind on this. Mims/ Yeah I guess I don't want to see staff spend a whole lot of time on it, but... (several talking). I don't know. What... Fosse/ You can think about it, uh, I ... I can put together our thoughts in a memo. Mims/ Okay! Fosse / And ... and float that back to you. Mims/ How does that sound (several talking) Dickens/ ...had interest in it, did they give you any idea what they were looking at? Or looking for, whether it was the post type thing or something that was in a new building or a retrofitting? Fosse/ Urn ... either a ... a post or a temporary structure. Their ... their existing building structurally would not accommodate a cantilever without significant work. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 25 Champion/ The other reason I'd like to keep it open is there is going to be some new building going on downtown and if somebody's going to (several talking) Dilkes/ I don't really see this as an amendment to the sidewalk cafe, I mean, it would be a ... allow a cafe, but it's not ... since we're not talking about temporary, um, use of the public right -of -way, we're really not talking about an amendment to the sidewalk cafe ordinance. What we would be talking about is the vacation of the air rights, perhaps, and the conveyance of those air rights, permanently to someone else. So, if... it seems to me if somebody has a proposal for doing that, then ... you could consider it at that time. Fosse/ A case -by -case (several talking) Dobyns/ Yeah, I would think if a potential, uh, developer would want to do this, um, I think I would then relook at this and, again, I would (mumbled) I mean if someone is truly interested ... I don't think... Throgmorton/ But we can get ahead of the game if we instruct Rick to write the kind of memo he was just describing, where you present us with some choices and consequences associated with those choices, and then, and we can have that in hand, and if somebody comes to us later on and says, hey, you know I'd really like to do this ... (several talking) yeah. Fosse/ Want me to do that? (several responding) Mims/ Yeah, I wouldn't spend ... hours and hours on it, cause I think ... I think Eleanor's point of kind of looking at this on a case -by -case basis, since it really is not ... related to the sidewalk cafe ordinance. It really is kind of a different issue actually, um... Fosse/ That's a good distinction. Mims/ ... I ... I think it's a really good distinction because I think what it allows us then to do is actually look at it on a case -by -case basis, um, rather than doing a flat ordinance that maybe has some unintended consequences. Dickens/ It almost gets into more of a zoning or a building ... (several talking) Fosse/ Okay. I think you're right, Terry. Okay, let's wrap up by discussing the process issue. Uh, what do you all think about... Mims/ Go for it! Champion/ Go for it! Fosse/ Go for that? That's what we needed! (laughter) Thank you! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 26 Dickens/ Tom needs more stuff to do! (laughter) Fosse/ Yes he does! (laughter) Champion/ I think he'll be delegating that (several talking and laughing) Fosse / Any questions on this? Champion/ Thank you ... thank you very much! Fosse/ You're welcome! Mims/ Appreciate it! Okay! Next on the agenda is the Animal Shelter project update. Animal Shelter Proiect Update: Markus/ So Simon, uh, Andrew's going to present this. We've spent a lot of time among staff, uh, working through all these issues. We kind of thought it was best to go through a PowerPoint to try and explain all the different things, uh, that have happened. There's been some moving targets that we've been trying to nail down so, Simon, why don't you go ahead and walk us through this. Andrew/ Sure. We'll just give you an update on where we are to date, and get your input on some things that we need to decide going forward, and I want to stress before I start getting into any numbers that any numbers you see are very rough estimates. Nothing's been designed yet, as far as the actual facility, so ... um, and I do have quite a bit of information to get through. I'll go as quickly as possible. Feel free to interrupt me. We have plenty of staff here from many departments that can answer your questions. Um, we're going to go over the proposed scope of the project, where we are at now with conceptual design, um, how we got to that place, and sort of the history of our conceptual plans and how they've been changing in size in response to what jurisdictions are, um, showing interest in participating or not. Uh, the known participating jurisdictions thus far, uh, the proposed capital on operating agreements with all these jurisdictions. Uh, I do want to talk a little bit about design standards and why animal shelter facilities are a little bit different, especially in their per square footage costs then other facilities that we design. Major funding mechanisms, and the FEMA timeline going forward, which is very important and why we need to move on this as quickly as possible. Uh, the proposed scope of the current project where we are at is ... um, we usually go by the interior space, so 12,225 square foot facility with an additional 965 covered outdoor space. Uh, the current construction estimate is $240 per square foot, and again, this is a very rough estimate based on how other animal shelter facilities are constructed. Uh, and it will be subject to many factors going forward, (mumbled) costs at the time of construction, and there will be opportunities to address the specifics of some of these costs going forward. We're not locking ourselves into anything, uh, hard and fast right now. And... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 27 Markus/ Simon, that top line should... that's an indication of the total square footage, correct? Not just interior. Andrew/ Correct. The 13... Markus/ That's interior and outdoor. Andrew/ Yep! Exactly! Exactly! We typically refer to it as the 12,000 - square foot facility. Um, and I ... we'll talk a little bit about how this scope has been reduced in response to, uh, other... jurisdictions saying whether they're going to participate or not. Uh, this facility is designed, uh, to either accommodate current county animal counts, or support Iowa City growth going forward. First we identified needs. We came up with a, uh, larger facility initially, um, identifying what we wanted in the facility, and this was particularly difficult with this project because there were so many moving parts with FEMA, with whether other jurisdictions wanted to participate or not. Um, we have right - sized the project after identifying known participants, and identified future phasing options, uh, and accounting for some cost considerations. We reduced this from an overall square footage — again this combines interior and exterior, of 18,360 square feet. That was the 16,000 - square foot facility that we've been talking about with neighboring jurisdictions. Um, this was a reduction of...of nearly 4,000 interior square feet, plus an additional 1,200 exterior area. Uh, the training center and the accompanying spaces were completely el ... eliminated, um, in the current conceptual design, but the future expansion for these spaces was, is being maintained. Um, we may be able to add some of these going forward. Uh, donation drop -off and the entrance vestibule were eliminated. And other spaces were repurposed, um, in response to ... animal intake concerns. Uh, other spacing issues. Uh, the known participating jurisdictions at this point, um, are Coralville, University Heights, and the University of Iowa, uh, including Iowa City these four entities together, uh, comprise about 68% of animal intakes. Uh, Coralville and University Heights have included a fundraising stipulation in their Letter of Intent. Johnson County and Solon are seeking further negotiation. Um, North Liberty has voted to pursue a contract with the Cedar Valley Humane Society, which is on the east side of Cedar Rapids, and all other municipalities in the county have either decided not to participate in this facility or haven't responded as of yet. Uh, the proposed agreements are both based on capital and operating. They're both based on the percentage of animal intake, averaged over the previous three years. Uh, capital contribution is based on the proportional distribution of cost, based on use. Um, we'll just take a three -year average of animal intake and whatever percentage that is, apply that to the total facility cost, but we are, uh, sharing with participating communities, uh, our FEMA funding and the Friends of the Animal Center Foundation capital campaign. Uh, this does not include costs incurred to date, including demolition, land acquisition, and services. Um, some of that FEMA funding has gone towards the demolition of the previous facility. Uh, Coralville, like I said, Coralville and University Heights, uh, stipulated successful fundraising campaign, which hopefully will encourage a better fundraising effort. Uh, the operating agreement again is based on the same three -year average, uh, proportional based on use. Uh, it's very similar to Coralville's current operating agreement and it's an arrangement that both us and Coralville have been very comfortable with, and this is This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 28 updated annually on a three -year rolling average. And there is the percentage breakdown currently, again with the four participating entities right now, it's about 68% of animal intake. Uh, animal shelters have unique design considerations, uh, due to animal behavior and waste. Uh, especially sanitation concerns. For instance, animal facilities constructed today need 6 -inch drainage pipes, where a typical facility would need only 4- inch. Um, air quality is very important. The HVAC systems are, um, need to be specifically designed for an animal shelter. Uh, they also need to be durable going forward; uh, there is a lot of abuse on the facility from animals that wouldn't occur for a facility designed only for human use. Uh, they have to be accessible; uh, proper construction would maximize adoptions. In some ways it's very much a retail space. We are trying to get the citizens of the community to come in and adopt as many animals as possible. And again, this helps volunteering and fundraising efforts, as well. Uh, safety uh, separation of spaces for six ... sick or dangerous dogs or animals, uh, protects the public, staff, volunteers, and other animals who aren't ill. Funding, uh, the very preliminary total cost estimate of the 12,000- square foot facility is approximately $3 million. The original 16,000 - square foot facility was estimated to be approximately $4 million. Uh, $1.4 million of that comes from the FEMA reimbursement (noises on mic) facility. Uh, like I said, a portion of FEMA funds have been used, um, for demolition and other costs incurred to date. Um, and this is again pro ... proposed to be shared proportionately with participating jurisdictions. The Friends of the Animal Center Foundation capital campaign is awaiting more specific designs before they really get into the, um ... the ... strong push (several talking). Right! Exactly! For their capital campaign, um ... they have received significant unsolicited funds to date, um, and they will be announcing their fundraising goal in the coming weeks. Um, again this is proposed to be shared proportionately. Coralville and University Heights have stipulated a $1 million capital campaign, which the Foundation has indicated that they're very confident that they can raise. Um, and future fundraising may support a phased expansion, if say the training facility, um, was desired later. Uh, participating jurisdiction contribution, um, based on use will again add to the funding. Champion/ I ... I just have one quick question on that. Um ... Coralville's contribution to the capital campaign, was that based on the $4 million structure or the... Andrew/ Correct. Their Letter of Intent cited the $4 million structure. Champion/ I ... okay, so ... proportionately then the million dollars could be reduced. I mean, I'm not saying you should reduce it. Markus/ That's... that's a possibility, or we can stay with the $1 million... Champion/ Oh, right, right! Markus/ ...and then that will reduce the amount that they have to contribute, uh, just like it would reduce our contribution level... Champion/ Okay, fine. Okay, thanks! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 29 Markus/ We've kind of taken those all into consideration. We're kind of at a ... a stage right now where we have to start moving forward with design. Champion/ I agree! Markus/ We're going to have to submit a request for an extension of time to FEMA regardless, and so we wanted to get to a number in terms of square footage that made sense that if it really, you know, came back down to just us and ... and Coralville and University Heights and the University, that we would have a facility that would suit our needs for today and the future. It also has some capacity, because we built growth into this, um, facility that we could take on some interim use if we had to, if other partners agree after the first round that they then want to participate and participate at the same level for the capital contribution and the same level for the 28E operational agreement. So, we've tried to build that into it. We recognized the City Council probably wasn't going to go with the full size facility and the full dollar amount, and so we all got together and pulled these numbers down and I can say I think everybody is on board among staff and ... and um... across all the departments that participated in these discussions. We want to get to a point now where we enter into a, uh, a Foundation or a, uh, a capital contribution agreement with the original three, and with uh, a 28E agreement, so that those can serve as the model for those agencies that are still, uh, posturing I would call it, um, in terms of what they do or don't want to participate in. So it's also contemplated we start with this and that the Foundation would have the opportunity to raise that million dollars for this first building, but that we would have a second phase or a second stage proposal where the individual, uh, the Foundation could go out then and raise additional funds for additional, uh, features in this facility later on. Champion/ Thank you. Throgmorton/ Tom, we received a ... a letter from the Board of Supervisors... Markus/ Correct. Throgmorton/ ...but we haven't had a chance to read it, or at least I ... I haven't. I assume it says something like, uh, we're interested in participating if we can negotiate this in a way that is okay with us, meaning written from their point of view. Markus / Right. That is correct, and I would say to you that our position is that, um, we ... we set the million dollars. We're not ... I'm not sure that, you know, they're really out of the running to participate with us at this point because they said, uh, they wanted the fundraiser to be a million and a half, or higher, but they also said that that could be based on a lower total construction cost too, so we've lowered the total construction cost. So I think that's a possibility to go there. They also raised issue about the operational agreement, whereas the others, um ... University Heights, the ... the University, and Coralville did not raise that issue, and I think what we need to do instead of getting ourselves caught up in multiple contract negotiations, we'd like to firm up those where This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 30 they ... these others have kind of agreed to step up to the plate based on that million dollar contribution, get those locked in, and use those models for others that might come in later. Throgmorton/ Uh -huh. Dobyns/ So, Tom, as I listen to that I'm thinking of worst -case scenario, if the ... we don't get a ... one million dollars in the capital campaign, that is not raised, who assumes the risk at that point ... of having to cover the costs? Markus/ The, um, the City assumes a significant part of that risk, and... and that's why when, um, we started this whole conversation most recently after the Board of Supervisors' discussion, I wanted to come to you with a facility that was smaller than originally proposed cause that tends to reduce our risk overall. Dobyns/ Like from one and a half million down to like a million is probably what... Markus/ Well, I'm ... I'm saying the size of the facility, by reducing the size of the facility from that $4 million number down to a $3 million number, technically reduces our risk. At the ...at the larger sized facility, the City was in the process of contributing close to a million dollars, okay? So if you have about a million and a half dollars from FEMA and then our million dollars, you're about a million ... what is it? No, not even that. You're only, um ...$600,000 away at that point. So, um, that ... if...if their fundraising actually dropped to a level of six, we'd still be in if it were just us ... for the same amount that we would have been in otherwise. So what we've tried to do is adjust these numbers, again recognizing that these are all moving targets. These numbers are just estimates at this point, but we have to get this going or we're going to get to a point where we're going to lose ... lose out on our FEMA funding. So, we've tried to slice and dice this in the best way that puts us in the best position to avoid, uh, getting us too far out there in risk. Our ... our same principle is that ... we do not have an obligation to provide this service beyond our borders, and our ... and our objective in this is to ensure that there is equitable contribution from those, uh, communities, jurisdictions outside our border, not only to the capital construction but to the operational costs. And we think that's critical going forward to make this work. It's very difficult to do, because we're not set up as a regional agency, but we're, you know, in ... in essence creating a regional product, and so we're trying to set this up as carefully as we can ... and one of the reasons that we said that we would participate in this million dollar contribution level is, the way we had structured it initially would have created a non - incentive for the Foundation to go out and raise any money, because we were divvying it all up. So we said, you know, we talked to the Foundation about this and I ... I think they understood what we were trying to do, and agreed with what we were trying to do, is to get this set up so that we had that carrot out there, that you know if they can raise the million dollars, we're sharing that equitably with everybody else, it reduces everybody's capital contribution. Throgmorton/ Good idea. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 31 Markus/ Regardless of how we're doing this, you should understand that I... in my belief you're still being an exceptionally good neighbor to your neighbors in this ... in this situation because we, you know, we bought the land. We've spent money on the engineering. We demoed the old ... the old site. We're doing all of those things, before we're asking participation. So we're into this pretty big to begin with. I would also say that, I think it's an indication of how strong we ... we believe in this regional approach to dealing with public services, and so we think there's merit in still proceeding in that fashion. So... Mims/ Thanks, Tom! Andrew / And Tom's point about the FEMA... timeline is a good segue. Uh, these are some important dates coming up: next month we need to submit an extension request to FEMA, um, originally this was, uh, intended to be completed by May of this year, which obviously is not a possibility (laughter and several talking). Um, we expect that this request will be granted given that they didn't give us site approval until last August, um, so ... that is expected to take place, and we need to submit a ... an improved project request by August of this year, uh, roughly August, uh, and that is to keep us on our timeline to, uh, have this thing completed by, uh, late 2014. Um, this has been delayed to accommodate some of these negotiations, but we're three or four months of architecture ... architectural design away from having a design where we can submit this improved project request, so we really need to get on board with designing whatever building we're going to design as soon as possible for fear of losing FEMA funding altogether. Um, so what we proposed is to come back to Council with a resolution on April 3rd, uh, which authorizes basic design concept, tentative agreements with neighboring jurisdictions, and providing interim service to neighboring jurisdictions until the Animal Shelter is complete in 2014. Mims / Any other questions? Dobyns/ Quickly, how severe was the belt tightening, um (mumbled) eliminated, I assume that any further, um, skimming away from the, uh, idea would be a licensure issue, I mean, in terms of... Andrew/ Um, there are licensing, uh, Meisha would be better to speak to that, but there are State Code and licensing issues, uh, associated with how you build the standards, but... Dobyns/ What was the next thing to go? If we had to have dropped the price, what would have been the next thing to go? Markus/ Well, we literally walked through the entire, um, facility in terms of square footage and what each of the different rooms created in square footage and sliced and diced, based on what we thought we could live with in terms of the City and our growth needs. I don't think we'll have any kind of licensure issue with this. The one thing we didn't do was compromise the quality of this structure. Our... our plan is, and our... and our goal is to build this facility to last, and that's why we didn't cut back on the quality and kept the price square foot quote from our architectural firm at the same level it was. So ... you This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 32 know, I think you can ... we can play with numbers and, you know, make further adjustments, but our attempt as a staff was to take a look at this and that means cross - departmental, uh, both from a managers' office looking at it, you know, and how we ...we cut this and make this the most efficient we can, and then compromising that kind of principle back to how do we make this a very functional facility that's also has desirability for the Foundation to go out and raise money. And so, you know, there's some compromises in all of that. That's why you ... you keep talking, or we keep talking about this whole moving target concept is because you know it's a chicken and egg at the same time, you know, you have to build a facility that people are going to want to donate to, and so ... that was also a part of this whole talking process, but I can look at Meisha and I ... unless she nods otherwise, I don't think we're going to have any licensure problems with what we've proposed here. So... Dickens/ (mumbled) fundraising exceeds their goal, will things be added? Markus/ It... it... Dickens/ ... different... Markus/ That hasn't been determined yet. I still think that, um, if we can structure some of our jurisdictions' agreements so that they make sense both operationally and capital wise, and then use those as our models. You know, once we set a pattern of the agreement, I expect that pattern to be followed by other jurisdictions, just simply from a fairness, you know, approach to how we negotiate these agreements. So, I think that, um, you know, refining the number initially of these jurisdictions that have stepped up and agreed to do this, we can set the pattern, and then those that have, you know, have some idea that we're going to negotiate everything in this thing, you know, they may have to come to the reality, um, the uh ... the other thing we talked about was in the interim. Okay, one of the objections we received from the ... the County Board of Supervisors of course is that well now we're just starting our next fiscal year and you're coming to us with this information and, you know, you want more operational funds for this. When would this actually be effective? And so this building isn't likely to actually be finalized and occupiable until the start of the fiscal year for 14. So ... our thought is is that we will be sending a letter to all of these other jurisdictions and indicating that we will maintain our current level of service until we occupy, um, the new facility, and that ... and along with ... in that letter we will be telling them, but rest assured, you know, if we don't have some understanding or some written agreement, uh, between now and that period of time, we're not going to be providing service to you. You need to ... if you're going to look, you know, if you're not going to ... agree to these terms, you need to be looking for alternative service just like North Liberty did, and we have not ... you know, we've not tried to monopolize this facility for all of Johnson County, um ... I sometimes think we're in this awkward position where we're out there selling when others should be in here buying, um, but, you know, somebody has to step up and ... and perform this service. I would say to you that not only the staff but this facility will serve, uh, the animals in this county very well ... by the time it's all done! (laughter) So... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 33 Mims / Anything else on the Animal Shelter? Okay. Markus/ So like Simon said, we'll be back on April 3ra, trying to get a general resolution on a number of items which... sets the direction for where we want to go with this facility. Um, we're not ... we're not taking the Johnson County Board of Supervisors letter and saying at this point we, you know, we're discounting or dismissing it or we're agreeing to it. Um, we think that we should focus on the size of the facility we have now, and negotiate with the partners that we have. Uh, the agreements that you will see will not be signed agreements. They'll be templates of agreements that we propose to have with these other jurisdictions. Dobyns/ Well I appreciate the discussions. At least some of the jurisdictions coming in. I think that's great! So I appreciate your time. Information Packet /Council Time /Agenda Items: Mims/ All right, moving on, uh, information packet discussion. We have packets from March 8th and March 15th. Let's start with the 8th. Anything on that packet? Throgmorton/ (mumbled) Uh, since I didn't divide `em that way... Mims/ Go ahead then. Whatever you've got. Throgmorton/ Who's Tony Barrino? (mumbled) two packets we've received these very long sort of Constitutional claims from somebody who claims to be Tony Barrino, and they're incomprehensible. Does anybody know what they are about? Mims/ No, but I assume you're required to ... put them in our packet since they're received to the Council. Throgmorton/ Why are we getting them? Karr/ They were addressed to the City Council. Throgmorton/ Well but... Mims/ We don't know. Throgmorton/ ... so we don't know why he's sending them to us, right? Karr/ I believe he sends it to a number of cities. Throgmorton/ Yeah, okay. Guy's nuts! Markus/ I can tell you that... (laughter) back in Michigan we received the same types of (laughter) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 34 Mims/ Questions on other items? Dobyns/ So March 15th, um ... information (mumbled) meeting agenda, we have that tomorrow. Mims/ Yes. Dobyns/ Um, what is ... just for a sense of...from a staff and Council perspective, what is our biggest concern for tomorrow? Markus/ Well, there was a number of items put on this agenda that we didn't initiate and uh, Johnson County initiated a couple of items. One was, um, an item regarding roads and trails that, um, impact, um, neighboring jurisdictions. So I think Mr. Fosse and uh, Mr. Moran are looking at those issues, including John Yapp. Actually John Yapp could probably address all the issues for all of the jurisdictions in the ... in the area. Um... legislative priorities for School Board, um, that's, you know, that's... that's their issue. That doesn't seem to impact us as much. Roosevelt Elementary is an interesting issue and ... and how we, you know, where that thing is progressing to and that might be an interesting engagement and conversation amongst you and... and (several talking) Throgmorton/ ...several conversations with School Board Members. I'm very, very interested in that and I'm sure other people on the Council are. Dickens/ I was on that task force where we came up with recommendations (several talking) Markus/ Staff has been involved as well in communicating our thoughts back and forth to them, and ... and how we feel the, you know, a retrofit or a new development will fit into that neighborhood and how the neighborhood might react to all that. Uh, the 2013 budgets for social services for Johnson County, uh, Marian already has received, um, our budget for those. I ... I'm not sure why they asked that to be presented, but I feel pretty good about the fact about our level of contribution, probably compared to other jurisdictions, and I suspect that ... uh, in our situation we may actually be not only contributing on our own level, but on behalf of our tax base in the county. We're also contributing quite a bit to social services. I can tell you from my perspective, um, we're probably ... on the more generous side of that, you know, um, description and comparison with other jurisdictions. Um ... redistricting issue, I'm, you know, I'm sure all of us have an interest in that. Um, even though some of us don't have children in the system; we're all interested in how, you know, that progresses, and that plays into I think probably a pretty important argument for us in terms of, uh, neighborhood, neighborhood stabilization issues, um, some of our older schools, the reinvestment to the Iowa City, um, reaction to those issues, that sort of thing. So... Dobyns/ Get a sense of the process during this meeting (mumbled) respect to (mumbled), present things, get information from relevant jurisdictional staff. What do we do? Are there (both talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 35 Mims/ You can ask questions, you can comment, you can discuss. Champion/ You can add things to the agenda, not now, but I mean when we have another meeting. (several talking) Dobyns/ How often do these occur? Champion/ Once every three months. Mims/ Quarterly. Karr/ One every three months. Dobyns/ Okay, all right. Karr/ We take turns hosting it. This happens to be the City of Iowa City's hosting time and our location. Dobyns/ Okay. Karr/ But they do rotate. Dobyns/ All right (both talking) Mims / And it is at the Public Library. Karr/ Yes! Mims/ So ... okay. Payne / And just ... just, how many people plan to be there? Everybody? Mims/ I'll probably be there. (several responding) Payne/ Okay. Mims/ So if you can't make it don't worry about it. Payne/ I ... I have a conflict. I'm going to try to change it. And it's ... rehab! (laughter) Mims/ Go to rehab! (laughter) Anything else, uh, from the Information Packets? Throgmorton/ Yeah, I got a couple. Um, I don't know if it comes on the March 8th or March 15th thing, but there is a memo or something about ... ECCOG ... ECICOG alternates, and I've managed to miss two meetings, uh ... so it would really be ... why am I looking to you, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 36 Eleanor, I don't know! It'd be very helpful to me to have an alternate, and I don't have an alternate right now. Mims/ Well, and actually we had had some discussion because I ran into ... was it the, no, it wasn't the ECICOG, it was the other board, the C ... or (mumbled) board I'm thinking of Okay. (laughter) Too many boards and commissions, yeah! Never mind on that one. So, okay. Is anybody interested in (several talking) Payne/ It's at 1:00 in Cedar Rapids? Champion/ Yes. Mims/ Yep, 1:00 in Cedar Rapids. Throgmorton/ Can it be a staff alternate? As ... as is the case with other, um, of these kinds of appointments? I don't know who to look at! (laughter) Mims/ Yeah, I'm... Dilkes/ I ... I don't know. (several talking) Mims/ We'll look at it. (male)/ The letter indicates that it has to be an elected official. Um, and it looks like the time is 1:00 on the last Thursday of the month. Dickens/ So what if we elect you? That's not a (laughter) Markus/ (several talking and laughing) ...issue somewhere else right now! (laughter) Champion/ So it's impossible for you to go, Jim, is that ... it doesn't work out? Throgmorton/ No, that's not the thing. The first one happened at a time I didn't even know about. Champion/ Oh, okay! Throgmorton/ The next one I attended, and the next one after that I could not attend. Champion/ Okay. Dickens/ I would be willing to try to, you know, if there's a time. Mims/ Okay. Dickens/ I can try to be an alternate. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 37 Champion/ I'm going to honestly tell you I'm not going! (laughter) Mims/ Okay. We'll put ... we'll put Terry (several talking) Champion/ I think it's really boring! (laughter) Mims/ We'll put Terry down as the alternate then. (laughter) Throgmorton/ Can I say something else? (several talking) Mims/ Is that on our agenda tonight? Throgmorton/ Well it's in the ... it's in one of the... Karr/ Sorry, Jim, I can't hear you. I'm sorry. Throgmorton/ Sorry. I wanted to say something about pred ... predatory lenders, and... Mims/ Well is it on ... wait a minute. We're on the information packet. So, is that in the information packets? Throgmorton/ I thought so. Isn't there something in one of the information packets (several talking) Karr/ There is something in correspondence. Throgmorton/ Yeah, I think that's... Dilkes/ I think there was at one point, I don't remember. Karr/ Payday lenders, 3g(8) on the Consent Calendar. Champion/ Uh -huh. Mims/ Okay. Let's stay on the information packets for just a minute. Is there any more questions or discussions on the information packets? Dobyns/ I do, but we have something coming up cause I'm looking at the clock. I mean, I can ask this... Champion/ We have five minutes. Mims/ We went another five minutes. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 38 Dobyns/ Okay, on, urn ... IP7, the bar check report that we get. I was just ... what does the City do as a response to those establishments with a high under -21 PAULA ratio? I mean, what ...is there, other than just... Dilkes/ Well, what we've done most recently is we've changed our ordinance to require that, um, those establishments that want an exception to the 21- ordinance have to keep their PAULA rate at .25 or lower. That's the most recent thing. Urn ... earlier, couple years ago, uh, we ... the City Council decided to not grant, um, license renewals to establishments that had PAULA rates of less than 1.0. That was, urn ... that approach was rejected by the ABD, um, and there, Council essentially decided not to appeal and rather, um, went to the 21 -bar entry age. Um, so those are the most recent things we do. With respect to the 21- statistics, um, we have more ... we have just more recently started keeping those. Um, and I think it's just good data to have. I'm not sure how we'll use it in the... Dobyns/ (mumbled) Okay. All right. Mims / Anything else on the information packets then? Okay. Jim, you had a quick comment then on, back on the agenda items on the predatory lending? Throgmorton/ Uh, yeah. Uh, I ... I guess it was our last meeting we instructed staff to, urn ... um, look into the possible... possible ways that, uh, zoning could be used as an instrument for dealing with that particular topic, and over time I've found myself thinking whether there might be other instruments that could be used that really don't have anything to do with zoning. So I'm wondering if...if we could ask the staff just to at least briefly consider for, amongst themselves, whether there are any other local tools that could be used to address this, um, problem with predatory lenders. Other than zoning. Mims/ I don't have a problem. My sense from the people who've done a lot of work and research on this and came forward was that what other cities was finding was that zoning was the only way they could approach it. Was that your sense, Eleanor? Dilkes/ Yes. And I think that's what was conveyed in the memo. Mims/ Okay. All right. Oh... Payne/ Just a comment on that. I was driving by one of those establishments the other day, and they had a big sign in the window that said "pay utility bills here." And it just caught my eye because if people see a sign like that, they think they can pay their utility bill there. Well, it has to be some kind of a gimmick, I mean ... they're not collecting, I'm assuming, a water bill there. They're not collecting a power bill there. It's some kind of a gimmick to get people there. I mean, is there ... can we do anything with that kind of advertising? Dilkes/ I think that's unlikely. I think that the gist of the memo was ... that we gave you, is that the State essentially preempts the area, um, it licenses these establishments, etc., um, and This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012. March 20, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 39 has left for cities, um, its zoning authority with um, with respect to regulation. So I think that's unlikely. Payne/ Okay. Mims/ Council time. Terry, anything? Dickens/ Nothing. Pending Work Session Topics (05): Mims/ (mumbled) (several responding) Jim? No? Connie? Okay. Uh,pending work session topics. IP5 of your March 15' information packet. Um, April 3' we've got the presentation recapping the Farmers Market strategic planning effort and discussion of potential revisions to sidewalk snow clearing ordinance, and pending topics to be scheduled, um, renaming of Broadway Street, um, follow -up presentation on disposition and relocation of public housing units, and continue the discussion to consider consolidation or structural changes to City boards and commissions. Are there any other ... topics that people want to get added to that list at this point in time? Throgmorton/ In... in one of, I don't know where it is, but in one of the documents that we've received, uh, staff, uh... said something like Council said it would, uh, focus a work session, uh, on the Police Citizens Review Board sometime after the community forum. I don't remember where I read that. (several talking) Karr/ ...it's in the minutes. Throgmorton/ So... Dickens / When is the community forum? Karr/ May 9th l Dickens/ May 9th. So ... it should be on pending then. Mims/ So you want to go ahead and add that to pending ... after they do their forum. Okay. All right. Uh, anything with the meeting schedule, upcoming community events, Council invitations? Everybody made it tonight so they remember that we're meeting at 5:00 (laughter). All right. We will adjourn. Let them get reset here, and we'll be back at 7:00 for the formal meeting. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 20, 2012.