HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-09-18 TranscriptionsSeptember 18, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session
Council Present: Champion, Dickens, Dobyns (5:20), Hayek, Mims, Throgmorton
Council Absent: Payne
Staff Present: Markus, Fruin, Karr, Dulek, Dilkes, Davidson, Hennes, Lang, Fosse,
Purdy, Onji, Clark, Havel, Clow, Reickart, Moran, Bentley, Knoche,
Mansfield, Sandberg
Others Present:
Agenda Items:
Uttermark, UISG
Page 1
Hayek/ Okay, well why don't we get started with the September 18th, uh, work session. I want to
welcome everyone to it. Um ... Michelle Payne is ill and can't make the work session or
the formal this evening. Um, and uh, Rick Dobyns got caught over at the hospital and
he'll be here... probably in 20 minutes or so I would guess, but has suggested that we just,
uh, go ahead and start without him. So the first bullet point on our work session agenda
is questions regarding agenda items.
ITEM 5b REZONING APPROXIMATELY .034 ACRES LOCATED AT 518
BOWERY STREET AS AN IOWA CITY HISTORIC LANDMARK.
(REZ12- 00014) [Discussion only at formal meeting]
Champion/ (mumbled) excuse me, the only one I had (mumbled) someone here during the
regular meeting to give a presentation on the Historic... from the Preservation
Commission?
Hayek/ On... on the Bowery Street? Jeff (mumbled)
Champion/ Okay.
Davidson/ Anything specific, Connie, that you want to ... want me to cover, just to make sure I
cover it?
Champion/ No, you ... I'm sure you'll (both talking)
Davidson/ ...walk through the staff report.
Champion/ Okay, that's fine!
Davidson/ Okay!
Hayek/ Other agenda items?
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ITEM 7. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 8, ENTITLED
"POLICE REGULATIONS," CHAPTER 5, ENTITLED
"MISCELLANEOUS OFFENSES," TO PROVIDE THAT "KEEPING A
DISORDERLY HOUSE" IS A MUNICIPAL INFRACTION AND TITLE
17, ENTITLED "BUILDING AND HOUSING," CHAPTER 5, ENTITLED
"HOUSING CODE," TO ADD ANOTHER BASIS FOR A RENTAL
PERMIT SANCTION. (SECOND CONSIDERATION)
Throgmorton/ I ... I guess I'd like to say that Adam Bentley's memo to Tom Markus dated
September IOth about the disorderly house outreach is really helpful and I appreciate Tom
and ... and Adam and so on, putting that together.
Hayek/ Thanks for those comment, Jim.
Uttermark/ I have a question on Item #7. Um, I was under the impression that...
Hayek/ Are you mic'd up or ... maybe you need a mic! (several talking)
Throgmorton/ Oh, did I take your mic? (noises on mic) Sorry! It's probably...
Champion/ How many mics do you need, Jim? (laughter)
Throgmorton/ Well, I don't know! (laughter) Must be one on the floor. (noises on mic) Can't
have too many mics! (laughter and several talking)
Uttermark/ Uh, just a quick question with, uh, Item #7, um, I was under the impression that it
was under, uh, third consideration this week or this session, not second consideration or
... am I just... on a different page?
Hayek/ No, I ... I think there was a tweak to it that re ... that started the clock...
Uttermark/ Okay.
Hayek/ ... anew.
Karr/ But this is requesting expedited action so it is third consideration at the time of second, as
well.
Uttermark/ Thank you.
Hayek/ Other questions on the agenda?
ITEM 8. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION DETERMINING THE NECESSITY OF
AND SETTING DATES OF A CONSULTATION AND PUBLIC HEARING
ON A PROPOSED AMENDMENT NO. 10 TO THE CITY- UNIVERSITY
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PROJECT I URBAN RENEWAL PLAN IN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY,
IOWA.
Throgmorton/ Uh, with regard to Item #8. I ... does the staff plan to make any kind of
presentation at any point during the work session or during the formal meeting about, uh,
the purpose, the rationale, for amending the University Project Urban Renewal Plan?
Davidson/ We can do it at either or both.
Champion/ I think it'd be good at the public.
Throgmorton/ I think the public, the formal meeting would be best.
Davidson/ Okay. Yeah, I was just going to walk through... remember, what's on your agenda
tonight is just the resolution of necessity.
Throgmorton/ Right.
Davidson/ Which basically you determine if there is or is not a necessity to, uh, set the date of
the consultation with the other taxing entities and uh, for a public hearing, which
basically would be the next steps in amending the urban renewal area, but ... but all this is
is the resolution of...of necessity tonight.
Throgmorton/ Right, so ... explaining the rationale during the meeting would be very helpful...
Davidson/ The first step of which ... of what eventually gets you to a point and we can talk... talk
about that where it would enable the use of TIF projects in ... within the urban renewal
area. That's the ... that's the purpose of the resolution.
Hayek/ So you'll... you'll roll that out this evening at the formal.
Davidson/ Yeah! We can do that.
Flood Recovery & Mitigation Update (IP3)
Hayek/ Okay! Why don't you plan on that, Jeff, thanks! Other agenda items? Okay, uh, the
next item is flood recovery and mitigation project update, and Rick is going to, uh, lead
us through this discussion. Uh, I do, um ... want to advise Council we've been, um ... uh
advised by, uh, the City Attorney's office, uh, that ... this work session presentation is just
that — it's a presentation by staff. (mumbled) we are not at a ... a decision point with
respect to some of the pending flood items, uh, and because there's a... still a fair amount
of information flying around, and because we will be receiving, uh, a memo from the
City Attorney's office. In the ... in the future when we do reach a ... a decision point,
that ... that, uh, we should not engage in discussion today on this flood items, um, I
suppose if there are questions I don't there's a problem with that, but ... but in terms of
discussing the merits of ... of...of (noises on mic) you know in the presentation, etc.,
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we've been asked to refrain from that. So, today is an opportunity to listen, uh, and to get
an update from staff as to where we are and what lies before us.
Fosse/ Thank you, Matt!
Hayek/ Yep!
Fosse/ Well what we want to do tonight is just give you an update on ... on the flood recovery and
mitigation process. It ... it's been a long time since the flood. We're in our fourth year.
We're in our third city manager, and five of the seven of you around the table tonight are
...are new to the Council since the ... since the flood. So, because of all that, we think it's
particularly important to take a step back and look at the ... the flood projects
comprehensively, review the strategies that we established shortly after the flood, and
then, uh, give you a preview of some of the key decisions that you'll need to make in the
coming months. Uh, all this in an attempt to better prepare you for those decisions. So
as ... as Matt pointed out, uh, we're not asking for any decisions tonight. It's ... it's just a
an informational type thing. So to do this we're going to review ... do a brief overview of
the number, and uh, magnitude of our projects, and review our ... our comprehensive
flood mitigation strategy, um, which ... which is four parts. We'll get into all this in ... in
more detail. Uh, we'll review our progress to date, and uh, then identify, uh, some of the
key decisions that ... that you have facing you, and then if time permits, we'll ... we'll step
back and take a look at some of the recovery work that's outlined in Attachment A, and
let me make that distinction now between recovery and mitigation projects. Uh, recovery
is ... is what it takes to clean up and get yourself functional again. Basically get back...
back on your feet and... and doing things again. Uh, mitigation is a complete repair and
that ... that better prepares you for future floods. So that's the distinction. We're pretty
well through the recovery phase. We're now, uh, full into the mitigation phase. Uh,
we're going to work from three documents tonight in doing that. Uh, you all have the
memo in your packet, or the ... in your electronic device actually, and in addition to that,
we've got a ... uh, project summary sheet that you have electronically and then I've also
given you a hard copy of that tonight so that you don't need to toggle back and forth
between those. I thought it important that you have this to keep you spatially oriented to
where the different projects are, and this is ... this is put together and it's organized
differently than the memo is. The memo's organized around our ... our, uh, mitigation
strategies. Uh, this is organized from downstream to upstream, and this was originally
developed so that we could quickly share, uh, key information with our federal
delegation, but it's also a nice tool when you're just work, uh, meeting with service
groups or sharing information. So it's a nice thing to have, but if you want additional
copies, let me know. Happy to get those for you! And then the third thing we'll work
from is ... is the, uh, is the uh, PowerPoint that we have here. Got plenty of pictures, uh,
to look at. So, with me tonight ... we got a lot of staff here because this is a huge subject
and I don't have it all in my mind. I got ... I'm going to give you the overview and as you
dig for deeper information we'll ... we'll call on our staff as well. Uh, Jeff Davidson's
here tonight; uh, Steve Long; our flood specialist in the planning department, David
Purdy, who worked primarily on the ... the flood buyouts; and uh, Doug Onji, uh, for
flood recovery; uh, with engineering Ron Knoche's here tonight; uh, Ben Clark, one of
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our special project's engineers. He's the one working on the, uh, the waste water plant
expansion, as well as Rocky Shore lift station; uh, Melissa Clow is here tonight and she's
working on the gateway project; and then Jason Reickart is here tonight as well and he's
working on ... on the levee projects. Um, one thing I want to note and I'll use this slide
for that, and I neglected to put this in the memo, but it's very important and that is the
coordination between Iowa City, the University of Iowa, and Coralville. Uh, one thing
that we ... we all agreed early on on this is ... is that we acknowledge that all three of us
share the same river corridor and that our projects need to be coordinated, synergistic
where possible, and uh, certainly not counterproductive. So a couple things that we
agreed to was to meet regularly and that started out monthly and then went to quarterly,
and that lasted for about three years, and now we're on a, uh, as needed basis for that.
And we agreed to work off the same hydraulic model. So all the projects that are
considered for the corridor are entered on the same hydraulic model. The University of
Iowa flood center is the keeper of that model and I would argue that's it probably one of
the more detailed and ... and best hydraulic models of an urban river corridor in the state,
because we have the ... the big guns over there at the University that helped put that
together and some very detailed mapping. So with that introduction, let me begin with
the, uh, just an overview of the ... of the magnitude of our projects. Uh, we've identified
17 mitigation projects. The top 11 are listed on that ... that handout sheet. Uh, the 17
projects total $158 million. That's a ... a lot of money. Uh, so far we've .... uh, secured
$102.8 million in state and federal resources for this and then in addition to that, our local
option sales tax is expected to generate $32.8 million over its four -year life. So between
our state and federal resources, and local option sales tax, we've generated about $135.6
million of, uh, funds for these projects, to be combined with our local budgets. It's pretty
impressive because shortly after the flood we ... we just did not think that we were going
to be able to round up, uh, funding of that magnitude. Couple things that we've learned
about these federal funds, they come with a lot of strings attached. That is there's lots of
rules, lots of tracking, lots of reporting. They are not easily moved from one project to
another. When they're awarded for a project, you pretty much need to spend it on that
project. Uh, there may be instances where you can move it, but it's ... it's not easily done.
Um ... and also we learned that the federal monies are not easily combined, and I'll give
you an example with the, uh, the gateway project, with Dubuque Street and Park Road.
Uh, in our meetings with the University and ... and looking at their flood mitigation efforts
that they wanted to do for, uh, the ... the Mayflower dormitory, we were looking at
pooling our money — their money from FEMA and our money from the EDA and doing
one project. And that ... that was not possible, because we just couldn't combine those
funding sources. So, we learned some interesting things along the way! But that doesn't
prevent us from coordinating locally, so we've done a ... done a good job of that. So, let's
go ahead and dive into our flood mitigation strategies, and ... and those are outlined on,
uh, page 2 of the memo, and ... and as I said earlier, they're really designed to reduce the
City's vulnerability to future floods. Um, in addition to projects, there are administrative
things we can do, uh, as far as regulations and action plans, and we'll talk about that as
well. Uh, what I want to do is ... is review with you very specifically, uh, the four
strategies that were laid out, that were first put into writing in, uh, the March 19th 09
memo, uh, to the City Council that ... that Jeff and I had put together, and let's go through
those from priority order. We'll take the time to read `em, uh, specifically because they
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are so important that I want to make sure that we're all, uh, either engaged on those, or
talk about how we want to vary from those. So the ... the first one is we'll attempt to
buyout residential property in the 100 -year flood plain of the Iowa River. Uh, this will
include purchasing some properties, approximately 40 is what we're estimating at that
time, um, with the goal of buying out the remainder over the next 10 to 15 years. Those
who refuse buyout funds will not be granted public funds for the rehabilitation of their
homes, nor are they guaranteed that they may not be negatively impacted by future flood
mitigation strategies. Now in bold following that are the updates to the ... to the, uh,
strategy that's been added since then. And... for this one, the most significant of which is
that the area of residential buyout offers has been expanded to include most homes that
were damaged within the 500 -year flood plain. Um, that was our number one priority
because it's simply the most effective. You can't be damaged if you're not in the flood
plain. Okay, our second priority was for the remainder of the flood impacted residential
neighborhoods in the 500 -year flood plain of the Iowa River, will implement realistic
protection measures that can be implemented at this time. This includes elevating roads
in flood -prone neighborhoods, elevating structures, elevating mechanical systems within
structures, back -flow prevention valves, and attempting to provide secondary access to
flood -prone neighborhoods. Now as we ... as I noted above, the ... the buyout program
was expanded to include most of the homes in the 500 -year flood plain. So that ended up
de- emphasizing this particular strategy here. Uh, however, the access component is still
valid, and uh, it's been expanded to include access to areas that were isolated by the
flood, specifically the Peninsula neighborhood. Okay, our third one is ... is uh, built
around critical infrastructure, and this objective was heavily influenced by the, uh,
FEMA's long -term, uh, community recovery strategies, uh, report that they put together.
They sent an ESF14 team out to ... to look at what our needs were immediately after the
flood to help us prioritize and ... and look at what our major projects are and they ... they
identified as ... as their recommendations for our top two things to get on our feet in the
long -term is the, uh, the elevation, uh, of Dubuque Street, replacing the Park Road bridge,
and then also, uh, getting the north waste water treatment facility out of the flood plain.
And uh, that report is ... is referenced here, and that shaped a lot of number three, so let's
read that. Our number one, uh, priority, of public infrastructure projects will be the
elevation of the Park Road bridge and Dubuque Street. Okay, this will assist flood prone
neighborhoods upstream by allowing water to be conveyed downstream more easily and
not backup into neighborhoods. Our second priority, uh, of public infrastructure projects
is relocation of the north wastewater treatment plant. These two projects are the focus of
our local option sales tax efforts which at that time had not gone to a vote yet. Uh, but
additional funding sources will be required, as well. Course since then the ... the vote has
occurred and it did pass, and as I said, we expect to get about $32.8 million out of that
...that four -year, uh, sales tax. So number four, uh, was our long shot at that time, and
that is, uh, if in the future the required... excuse me, let me start over. If in the future the
required funding for levees and flood walls is made available, we will consider such
strategies in flood -prone neighborhoods; however, we do not believe such funding
opportunities are realistic at the present time and do not believe that flood - impacted
residents should be making decisions based on them occurring. Uh, we've done
preliminary planning to know that these structures would cost approximately $34 million.
Since then, uh, we've received quite a bit of community development block grant funds,
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uh, specifically for three levee projects, and really we should lump in the ... the fourth
project, and that is the Rocky Shore lift station and ... and floodgate project, cause that
functions very much like a levee, as well. Um... so before we go in and look at our
progress on specific projects, do you have any questions about the strategies, as they've
been laid out and how we've ... we've, uh, altered those over the years?
Throgmorton/ Is it appropriate to ask, uh, specific questions, uh, about specific,
um ... components of this strategy, because I think, you know, the overall strategy's very
good and I'm, you know, it's just a really great piece of work, uh, City staff and so on
have done for a long time. Uh, but I do have a particular question about buyouts. So,
you know, seems to me it'd be appropriate or...
Hayek/ ... questions or, yeah.
Throgmorton/ Yeah. Uh, were owners of property in Idyllwild offered buyouts?
Fosse/ Um, Eleanor and Doug, I think, could ... or David, excuse me, are best suited to answer
that one.
Dilkes/ Yeah, I have a ... that's a complicated an ... answer to that question, and in fact I've got a
two -page memo that I'm getting ready to give to you on that. Um, the ... the owners in
Idyllwild were included in the original notice of interest that, uh, we had to fill out. Um,
the City decided at that po ... point to be over - inclusive. Um, and so they were included
on that. When we actually made our application for the HMPG grant, um, and David,
you can correct me if I'm wrong on any of this. Um ... we had to have a voluntary
statement signed by each homeowner who wished to be bought out because of course it
was always a voluntary program. Um ... the complexities with the Idyllwild property
arose because they are a condominium regime. And so each owner of a unit owns the
unit, but all the land is owned in common.
Throgmorton/ Uh -huh.
Dilkes/ Um, and so that caused, one, a problem with the grant source because they viewed that
...this particular grant source viewed it as one piece of property. Um, which would
require consent by all the owners.
Throgmorton/ Uh -huh.
Dilkes/ And um... and then secondly because if the City did acquire a unit, we would then be an
owner of an undivided fractional interest in the, um, so ... um, at that point when we
submitted the grant, the Idyllwild owners were not on the grant because it would have
required unanimous consent, and they did not have it.
Purdy/ Yeah, uh, I guess I would agree with Eleanor's statement. There was also some issues on
establishing, um, benefit cost analysis, since only three of the units were, um, in the 100 -
year flood plain and the rest (both talking)
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Champion/ ... sorry.
Purdy/ I'm sorry, there was also some issues way back when, um ... for the HMGP buyout, you
have to be in the 100 -year flood plain, and only three of the units were in the 100 -year
flood plain, and if you weren't in the 100 -year flood plain, then you had to establish what
was called the benefit cost analysis, and since several of the Idyllwild units are on the
second floor, it would have been difficult to establish that benefit cost analysis of one
so...
Dilkes/ The ... I should just add too. There did come a time when we had a different funding
source that wasn't as... as difficult in terms of the criteria, and we did, um, make an offer
to buy the current ... the two ... unit pads that are not yet built on. Um, and there were
contingencies in that offer that dealt with, urn ... uh, unanimous consent or removing those
from the condominium reg ... regime and that just couldn't be accomplished.
Throgmorton/ Was ... was there ... did the funding source prohibit buying out the condominium as
a whole?
Champion/ No.
Throgmorton/ I mean, you know, the association's shared property, etc., was ... was there
anything that prohibited, uh ... uh, that from being bought out?
Dilkes/ You know, I've got a draft of that memo and that's one of the questions that I ... I needed
some more detail on, so I'd like to kind of wait...
Throgmorton/ Okay.
Dilkes/ ... get through that and... and include it in the memo.
Fosse / Any other questions before we move on to progress?
Throgmorton/ Uh, I do have a question.
Fosse/ Okay.
Throgmorton/ Um, I understand that eight... roughly $8 million of CDBG funds are set aside or
have already been obtained. I don't know the right verb to use, uh, for the Taft, uh,
Speedway levee. Uh, would it be possible in the hypothetical ... would it be possible to
use those funds for some other purpose?
Fosse/ Let's get David back up here. (laughter) ... and talk about that.
Purdy/ Those funds ... yeah, we've asked the, uh, state, um, officials this question several times
and the answer that we receive is, we cannot automatically transfer it to another Iowa
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City project. Um, then they follow up with there is flexibility by the state level, so we
couldn't automatically say ... it's $8 million of Iowa City funds, we'll switch it to
something else. It would have to go back to the state, but there is some flexibility there.
Throgmorton/ Uh -huh. Okay.
Fosse/ Any other questions that David can answer? Anybody else?
Dickens/ Just one question on the last study on the ... Idyllwild levee. Do we have any timeline
on that?
Fosse/ Uh, it's in draft form right now and we expect the, uh, the final report probably ... is
October reasonable on that? October, November? Okay. Roughly October, November.
Dickens/ Thank you.
Fosse/ You're welcome.
Throgmorton/ And ... and your memo indicates that, urn ... the, a um ... a levee if built would cost
$11.8 million but I understand from our exchange earlier today that that's what's
currently in the capital improvements program. It's possible that, uh, additional funds
would ... would be required and maybe even less, I ... I don't know exactly, but ... but the
$11.8 million that's cited in your memo and so on comes from this capital improvements
program, right?
Fosse/ That's correct. That's what's currently in the budget.
Throgmorton/ Okay.
Fosse/ Anything else? Okay, we'll move on. Let's lead off with objective #1 and see how we're
doing there, and ... and to do that, I'm going to, uh, work largely from Doug Onji's memo
that's also attached to this item, and if you've not had the opportunity to read that, uh,
take the time to do that because there's a lot of good information in here. Um ... as far as
the buyouts are concerned, uh, we have a total of 93 residential buyouts that have been
acquired, and we are completed with the federal process now. Uh, 93 buyouts were in
the Parkview Terrace and Taft Speedway neighborhoods. 52 properties were acquired
with community development block grant funds, 35 with hazard mitigation grant program
funds, and 6 properties with community, uh, disaster grant funds. Uh, here's a shot
across the river of the, uh, the Taft Speedway, uh, side of the road. Um, also want to
point out one thing I ... I didn't show on the map is ... is another acquisition that we made
with these funds, and that is the area between Terry Trueblood Recreation Center and the
Iowa River. We were able to buy that as well and expand that park area. And if you look
back to after the 1993 flood, we used these funds to buy the Peninsula park area. So it's
a ... something that we've used before and we've returned to that. It's ... it's a very good,
uh, resource. Uh, now ... um ... recognizing the loss of property tax revenues from the
buyouts, the Iowa Economic Development Authority created what's called a single -
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family new construction program for disaster - impacted cities, and... and that provided
downpayment assistance, uh, for new construction. And using that program, uh, so far,
uh, we've constructed 93 homes and in total, uh, will construct 141 homes. So if you
look at that property tax balance, or the property value balance, uh, we ... we, the assessed
value of the properties that we purchased is roughly $19.2 million. Uh, we're
constructing about $22.5 million of new single - family homes, uh, for a net gain of $3.3
million there. So that's ... that, uh, is good math for us from a property tax perspective
and ... and a growth perspective. Now in addition to that, we also have the Aniston
Village project and that constructed 22 new rental homes that are out there as well, and I
really like the architecture of the homes that John Shaw put together for us on this, and
John took a couple of these pictures, as well. Uh, that's a project that has turned out...
turned out excellent! Any questions on objective #1, progress of objective #1, before we
move on? Okay. On to objective #2, and that is the elevation of, uh, the first project is
elevation of Normandy and Manor intersection. Uh, we talked about this one a little bit
at the budget process, I recall. It's a ... it's a difficult one, A ... to ... to implement fully in
that this is a view down at the intersection now. That's... that's the street sign at the
intersection. You can see by the ... by the sign there, the water's about 6 -feet deep at that
location, and if you look at the buyout map there are four homes in the vicinity of that
intersection, so it's not reasonable to assume that we're going to raise that intersection 6
feet to get it up and ... and maintain access, uh, during floods and ... and that extension
would need to extend far into the neighborhood as well because those streets are very flat.
Uh, what we're looking at is ... is something that might be more beneficial in a flood like
we had in 93 or less. This is a view near the high point in 1993, same intersection. You
can see Normandy and Manor, uh, but at its height it was about 18 inches deep at that
location, just deep enough to canoe in. People had to canoe their garbage out and that
sort of thing. Um, as the flood went down a little bit and ... and settled in for the long
haul, that ... that flood lasted about two months. We added about a foot of asphalt
grindings in there, and people were able to drive in and out and get access to many of the
homes at that time. So we're looking at a project more of that magnitude for the ... for the
smaller floods. Uh, we've not identified any funding sources for this project yet. Uh, the
other one we're looking at is Foster Road, over on the other side of the river, and uh, to
back up and take an aerial view of that, uh, you can ... you can see here's Dubuque Street
over here. This is Foster Road. You can see the portion of Foster Road that is inundated
here, and that is the single means of access for the Peninsula neighborhood, as well as
Mackinaw Village. So that's where we have a ... and there's been considerable growth
since the flood. If you go out and look at that now and compare it to the picture here,
there's a lot more homes out there, uh, so this ... this is a project that's... that's of some
priority for us. There's really three ways to tackle this one, and the current, uh ... um,
method that ... that is in the budget right now is the, uh, the Taft Speedway levee.
That ... that falls under objective #4 and objective #2 in that it provides port ... protection
for this portion of Foster Road. So we're getting a two -fer, if you will, on that project.
But there are two other ways to ... to approach this. One is to simply elevate this portion
of the roadway, uh, which is not an easy project because of its proximity to the ... to the
condominiums, but also all of the main water mains for Iowa City, uh, come into town
underneath this road here, and if we elevate the road we're going to want to bring those
water mains up with it, because we don't want those buried real deep where we can't get
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at `em if there's a problem. So that's... that's a complication of that project and that's
one of the things that makes it, uh, somewhat expensive. Then a third solution is to look
at an alternate route, secondary access if you will, perhaps something going up Laura
Drive and going across and then tying in in Mackinaw Village at some point over here.
So there's... there's three ways to go after that one. Um ... any questions on objective #2
...before we move on? Okay! Objective #3, now we're getting to our critical
infrastructure and uh, this is, uh, Dubuque Street here, of course Dubuque Street and the
Park Road bridge. Um ... couple things I want to point out, one is this ... this is the general
layout that we're looking at for the environmental assessment. We'll talk more detail at
the end of the presentation about. This is one of the key decisions that you'll need to
make later is what level of protection to provide for this road, uh, so we'll ... we'll circle
back to that. I do want to talk a little bit about the cost estimate for the project and the,
uh, the other projects that will be rolled in to this. It's identified as a $32 million project.
We're far enough into the ... into the environmental assessment that the consultant has
looked at it and ... and feels that that $32 million is probably low, and a lot of what's
driving that is we need to get this bridge up high enough so that it's not hitting the, uh,
the 500 -year flood (coughing, unable to hear) that bridge, and to do that requires a fairly
significant retaining wall along the road in this area here. So I just want to prepare you
for that. We don't know what the new estimates are yet. We'll get those in the ... the
preliminary stages of design. And then also we're folding a couple other projects in with
this, and ... and those were approved in last year's capital program, and they're not in that
$32 million. One is a $4.4 million sanitary sewer project that replaces the sewer from
here all the way up into this area here. So it replaces the sewer in that corridor. Right
now we have two old sewers in there. One was built in the (mumbled) era and another
one, uh, sometime since then. These ... these old sewers serve more like infiltration
galleries now, especially during floods, and we want to get them combined into a single
sewer and we are sizing that so that it will serve that area north of the interstate, that area
that we're targeting for growth out there, where Moss Green and ... and the surrounding
areas are at. The other project that's being rolled into this is the reconstruction of Park
Road, and that's this area over here. That's about a $1.1 million project. It just makes
sense to do it all at the same time, especially when you fact ... factor Hancher into that,
and ... and that brings up the point that there ... there are two major University projects in
this corridor that we're very mindful to. One is the ... the mitigation for the Mayflower
dormitory, which I talked about earlier. They're putting in a floodwall and that probably
will proceed before our project. So the floodwall will be there, but it'll be designed such
that we will bury a portion of it as the ... as, uh, Taft, or excuse me, as Dubuque Street
goes up. And then the other one is ... is the relocation of Hans ... Hancher Auditorium up
into the ... the foreground there and one of the things that we're doing with that project is
looking for opportunities for sharing design details with the bridge and that structure. So
we have a ... a, somewhat of a good aesthetic package as you come into town ... at that
location.
Hayek/ Is ... is that floodwall in front of the Mayflower a University project?
Fosse/ Yes it is!
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Hayek/ And ... is that going to occur no matter what? Uh...
Fosse/ As far as I know there are no obstacles to them proceeding with that project. And one of
the things that's being proposed with the Dubuque Street project is moving it a little
further west of where it is now, that gives more room in front of the Mayflower there, and
that also allows for some pedestrian access along the east side of that, uh, back into town
so they don't necessarily need to cross the road there.
Dobyns/ If we're ... were we to do the Dubuque Street project first, would the University need to
put in that floodwall? Or is it because...
Fosse/ Yes!
Dobyns/ ...is it because we can't get ours in ... before they need theirs?
Fosse/ No. It ... it's not a timing thing. Uh, Dubuque Street will not be designed to function as
the levee, and...and what they've got to do is put in ... in a sense, a ... a floodwall that's
...act like a levee that's going to keep water out of their lower levels, because that's
where their mechanical systems are. So ... uh, the other major project we have is the
relocation of the ... the north wastewater treatment facility. Um, and while I have this
slide up here I just want point out a couple other projects that you can see in this. This is
the Animal Shelter, former Animal Shelter, and this is the Fire Training Facility here, so
they're all clustered in that ... that same location. Um ... the solution to this is expanding
the south wastewater treatment facility and this is a project that ... that's underway. We
have awarded the contract on it. If you recall it's the largest single capital project that
...that we've done in ... in the history of Iowa City, and the amazing thing is, is we've
amassed enough outside funding that we've only got about $2.9 million of local money in
this, uh, which is remarkable. Uh, the project is underway. There's a lot of activity
going on down there. If you get a chance to ... to get down, take a look at it. We're about
10% complete right now, uh, target completion date is, uh, April, May of 2014 on that.
Any questions on objective #3, before we move on? Okay. Moving into #4, that's our
levee projects. Uh, the first one is the Taft levee project. This is the shot that shows it in
the ... the flooded configuration, and this is, uh, one of the options that's available. This
one that I grabbed to put in here shows a 100 -year flood plus 3 -feet protection, and uh, it
involves elevating No Name Road, as well as Taft Speedway, and then also, uh, some
levee going back this direction. One of the things that we need to ... to contend with is
there's a fairly significant drainage way coming down along Foster Road. It goes under
Dubuque Street and has to get out to the Iowa River here. And we'll need to
accommodate that, sandwiched in between the, uh, the Dubuque Street project and the
Taft Speedway project, or totally enclose that. Uh, either way, we ... we've got a
hydraulic challenge to deal with at that location. Uh, our next project is the east -side
levee project, and that's, uh, down along south Gilbert Street, and let me show you a
schematic drawing of that. Uh, here's Highway 6, Gilbert Street, and the yellow shows
the ... the approximate levee location. Uh, we're in the design process of this project right
now, and what we're finding is there's some technical challenges to this project that are
...that are really calling into question the feasibility of it. Is it even feasible to meet the
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design requirements of the funding source, those minimum requirements being the
protection level to 100 - years, plus 3 feet. Um, so we are working through that now.
We've had some discussions with the funding source. Uh, they've indicated some
flexibility that perhaps we can back down on that level of protection, but the ... the cost of
even getting to that point may exceed what we have available here. So what we're doing
is ... is stepping back, looking to see what can we build for the money that we have
available down there, and once we know that then we can make a decision on whether or
not we want to pursue that. So ... um, this is one, again, technical challenges call into
question its ... its feasibility.
Champion/ Did that flood in the last flood, I mean not the ... when was the last flood?
Fosse/ Oh, the ... the 93 flood?
Champion/ Yes!
Fosse/ Yes it did.
Champion/ Oh it did? I don't remember that.
Fosse/ Not as far as it did here, uh, used to be able to drive in from the south and get to some of
these businesses in the middle, um, but... it's interesting — it flooded out to this street
that's called Waterfront Drive (laughter) so ... whoever named the streets back in the
1800s knew what they were doing.
Throgmorton/ Ri ... Rick, in ... in brief, what's the essence of the technical challenge?
Fosse/ The technical challenge is to ... protect to a 100 -year flood plus 3 -feet, you need to build
the levee that high, and this intersection is not that high. So short of elevating Highway
6, we really don't have a good means of...of providing that level of protection. The other
complication there is that ... that when we get, uh, this far north, there's... there's a very
large drainage structure that ... that goes along the south side of Highway 6. Some of you
may recall back when we enclosed that ditch and put the trail in there. Large pipe! Drive
a small car through it. Um, it... it looks likely that we would need to, uh, pump that
during a flooding situation, and that ... that requires just a huge lift station that ... that
bumps this beyond our ... our financial capabilities for this project. So those are the
technical challenges facing us.
Throgmorton/ Uh -huh.
Fosse/ Uh, west side levee — that's the one that we are ... we are furthest in the design on, uh,
this ... this goes along the west side of the river from the Crandic Railroad tracks down to
McCollister Boulevard. Uh, this is one area where we had a success story during the, uh,
08 flood, uh, in part due to ... we were ... you can see the picture here we were building
McCollister Boulevard at that time, so we had bulldozers there that were able to help, uh,
here ... let me back up. Help build this levee and then at this end is where Streb
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Construction is at and ... and their crews worked very hard on this portion so that the
focus of the volunteers was kind of in the intervening area there, and we were able to put
together a successful stand against the ... the flood at that location. So that is ... is our third
levee project. Any questions on those?
Dickens/ Just one — on the ... the north Dubuque Street, has that ... if Foster Road is ever continued
up to Prairie du Chien, is that figured into the ... that...
Fosse/ Yes!
Dickens/ ...drainage up there.
Fosse/ Into the config ... yes.
Dickens/ Okay.
Fosse/ We are looking at that. And we have heard from some developers in that area that ... that
would like to offer some soil from that area, for the ... for the project as well. And have us
take care of the grading.
Champion/ Is it possible to get secondary access to the Peninsula? Has that been explored at all
or just in theory?
Fosse/ It's ... it's mostly just, uh, ideas that have been kicked around, sketched, walked. We went
out and look at `em. We ... we've not sat down and ... and uh ... really developed an
engineering plan for that. Uh, ideally it would integrate with some redevelopment of that
area up there. (mumbled) want to do it in that way so that we're not...
Champion/ Right, of course!
Fosse/ ...undoing anything. Well let's move on to some of the other projects. Uh, the first one
is the water source protection, and that is, you know, our water plant is ... is high and dry.
We built it that way after the 93 flood, uh, but our water sources are still down in the
flood plain and had some vulnerabilities during the flood and ... and what we've done is,
uh, we ... we've reduced our vulnerabilities there by elevating our ... our power supplies
down there to a foot above the 500 -year flood plain. Uh, we've also gone into the
structures... we couldn't elevate the structures but what we did do was elevate all of the
electrical components in there really as high as we could within the buildings, and then
replaced the regular doors with these submarine -type doors, so that they... as the water
floods around there, structurally those are very stout, circular buildings. They'll... they'll
stand that hydraulic load, but the doors would not. Now they will. Uh, so they're...
they're designed to do that. So we shouldn't be in a position where we need to go down
and... and do the sandbagging like we did in the past. Uh, next one is the Animal Shelter
relocation. That's a combination of a ... a recovery and mitigation project in one. That
one is ... is going well as far as partnering with other ... other communities and uh, getting
the preliminary plans developed for that and getting ready to move forward. Um, we also
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have the Fire Training Facility that was flooded in 08. You can see the high water line on
the building there. Uh, that's back up and running now. Didn't spend a lot of money,
you know, redoing things in there but ... but one of the ... one of the things we ... we want
to re ... move this for a couple reasons. One is to reduce its flood vulnerability to flooding
and future floods, and then also when you ... when you look at the, uh, the ... the
Riverfront Crossings plan, you ... you ... it would end up ... it's about right here so it's kind
of right in the middle of the, uh, the proposed redevelopment down there. So it needs to
be moved for those purposes. Uh, we have the Rocky Shore lift station down there, and
that ... that's part of that integration with other communities and ... and making this all
work together. Urn ... one of the things I want to point out in this picture is ... is when you
drive down the road at this point you feel like you're looking into Coralville, but pretty
much everything you see in this picture here is Iowa City. The Reilly Law Office is in
Iowa City; half of Wig and Pen is in Iowa City, and then all of the, uh, University of Iowa
sports fields are in Iowa City. So we do have a... substantial amount of... of land over
there. Uh, here's an aerial view of that. That picture we just were looking at was looking
off in this direction. So that corporate limit is, uh, goes about right through the middle of
the Wig and Pen, and the lift station that's proposed will be at this location, and it'll
include a flood gate that will keep the water from coming back underneath the ... the
railroad through the viaduct there, and then that will work in concert with the ... the
Coralville's projects that they have, uh, under construction now to protect that area south
of the Iowa River and south of...of uh ... Clear Creek that comes in at roughly that
location there. So these ... these all need to work together, uh, when you look at the ... the
drainage area of...for the internal drainage that's going to come down there that needs to
be pumped during the flood, almost all of that comes, uh, from Iowa City and University
Heights and drains down through there. One of the reasons that this project is important
to us, besides just protecting University property that's in Iowa City and the businesses
that are in Iowa City is that at that ... that location there where we need to provide that
temporary pumping of internal drainage, uh, we simply don't have the resources to do
that. Uh, here's a shot of the pumps. Pretty much we ... we put as many pumps down
there as we could, and we were not keeping up with the flow of the internal drainage
down there and we really didn't have any heavy rains during that period. We were
fortunate in that regard, until it was all lost because the railroad overtopped, but... this,
the magnitude of what needs to be pumped there is beyond what you can do with just a
diesel pump. It needs to be ... have permanent, electric installation and that's... that's
what this project has a lot to do with. Um ... the ... the community development block
grant fund that came to us through the state for this project recognized that this serves
Iowa City, Coralville, and the University of Iowa. So they funded this project in its
entirety. They ... they gave us 100% of what they expect it to cost. Uh, we're currently
working on a draft agreement with the University of Iowa and Coralville that would share
any costs that go above that, so that the three of us share in that together.
Champion/ What about maintenance on these things?
Fosse/ Maintenance, uh, that ... that's one of the things we looked at because one of the things we
considered is ... is de- annexing that area and uh ... uh, our wastewater division estimated
the maintenance of that lift station to be roughly $8,000 a year. We get about $22,000 a
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year of property tax off... off that, the properties that are protected down there. So we
went through the numbers on it. Uh, the next project is ... is an improvement of a joint
project that was done after the 93 flood. After the 93 flood, uh, the ... the University of
Iowa and Iowa City partnered together to put in a lift station for storm water that served
north Riverside Drive by the Arts Campus, and it was designed to basically, uh, protect
up to a .... a 100 -year flood, plus 1 -foot, and what we had in 08, of course, was larger than
that and when the ... the HESCO barriers went in along the river, it was unable to pump
against that level of... of head and would not keep up. So it functioned well up to its
design level; you get beyond that it did not do well. So we're looking at an upgrade there
and splitting that project 50150 between the City and the University. Urn ... Jeff, do you
want to talk about Riverfront Crossings, please?
Davidson/ Yeah, we don't have to belabor this because I know you're all relatively familiar with
Riverfront Crossings, but certainly the Riverfront Crossings initiative comes out of, you
know, the flood of 08 and basically allowed us to accelerate something that our
Comprehensive Plan intended for us to do anyway, but it has given us some opportunities
to, uh ... uh, accelerate it. I think most of you are familiar with these, uh, diagrams. The
...the upper left is the concept plan that was done, uh, for a portion of the Riverfront
Crossings area and then you ... you can see the ... the panoramic shots here, where
basically we're taking the, uh, you know, the ... the flood plain area here and creating a
riverfront park, uh, and ... and allowing that to be inundated during flood events. But then
consolidating higher density areas, and particularly here, and in the Gilbert Street area, so
that I ... you know, we're ... we're going to be even to the better in terms of taxable value
created than we would have been, uh, under the existing low- density kind of
development. So you know this is an accelerated process. We're completing the Master
Plan right now for the remainder of the area, and of course on your agenda tonight you
have the...the, uh, resolution of necessity for expanding the urban renewal area to
basically free up some financial resources, both public and private, uh, projects that could
be funded through TIF, and we can talk about those tonight. But, uh, you know, we just
thought it...it bears mentioning that the ... this is certainly a flood mitigation strategy that
comes out of the 08 effort and accelerated some things beyond what we could otherwise
do.
Fosse /Any questions about the ... the projects for flood mitigation before we move onto
regulatory and plan changes?
Throgmorton/ Like to ask a question about the relationship between buyouts and levees, uh,
cause you mentioned three levees. Uh, and there's property behind each of those, uh, but
you know, I wasn't present when all the earlier decisions were made, so I don't really
know the ... what the thinking was at certain moments in time. Were the pro ... the owners
of property behind what's called the east side and west side levees offered buyouts?
Fosse/ David, do you know the answer to that?
Purdy/ Difficult decision there because the west side levee basically blocks the, uh, Baculis and
Thatcher Mobile Home Parks.
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Throgmorton/ Uh -huh.
Purdy / And so, um, I believe, if I remember right, Baculis decided not to participate in the
buyout program.
Throgmorton/ Uh -huh.
Purdy/ Um, on the east side, um ... the buyout programs were primary designated for
homeownership and so the ... the, uh, we did offer business assistance to businesses on the
east side, but there weren't a lot of properties available for buyouts in that area.
Throgmorton/ So, no...no federal funds were available to buyout commercial property east of the
east side levee. Or at least no significant funding.
Purdy/ No, that's correct.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, okay.
Dilkes/ I think there were some other complexities with respect to the mobile home parks, um,
substantial damage issues, um ... the fact that they're on leased land and we can certainly
address that in the memo I give you.
Fosse/ Thank you, David.
Hayek/ Thanks, David.
Fosse/ Does that help?
Throgmorton/ Yeah.
Fosse/ Okay. Any other questions? Well let's move on to, um, some of the non - structural needs
for flood mitigation in ... in the future. And we'll lead off with the regulatory changes,
and ... the first one that we'll talk about is ... is what is our best estimate of what's a 100 -
year flood, what is our best estimate of a 500 -year flood, because any time you have a
statistically significant event like we had in 08, you need to factor that in, recalculate
your numbers, and the Corps of Engineers has done that and ... and they released a report
in 2009 with the new numbers in it, and you've got those in the report there now. The
...the 100% flood they now estimet ... estimate it 33,100 CFS, uh, formerly it was 29,000
CFS. Uh, what I should have noted here, and I'll tell you about is that prior to the 93
flood, it was 25,000 CFS. So it bumped from 25 to 29 and then from 29 to ... to basically
30,000. Uh, you look at the 500 -year event is now at...at 45,260 CFS; formerly it was
45,000 CFS. Uh, before 93 it was 37,000 CFS. So we didn't see as big a bump as we
saw after the 93 flood. I was a little bit surprised by that, but that ... that was the outcome
of the Corps' report.
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Throgmorton/ Rick, could I, uh, make one point simply because I went through so many
meetings at the University of Iowa after 2008, um ... we ... we all agree that, uh, when we
refer to, uh, a 100 -year flood or a 500 -year flood we do not mean once every 100 years or
once every 500 years, but we mean a 1 in 500 probability, or a 1 in 100 probability?
Fosse/ Yes, yes. In fact there's...
Throgmorton/ Could happen the same next year, right?
Fosse/ Basically the 100% flood is ... is the 1% chance flood and the 500 -year is a.2% chance
flood and ... and some people are talking about `em in those terms now so that there's...
there's not that ambiguity. Thanks for bringing that up. Uh, the next regulatory change
has to do with our flood plain maps. Uh, now that we have new flows, albeit slightly
different, it...it is reasonable that we need to update our maps. Uh, two other things are
driving the need to update the maps, as well, and that is the impact of the flood mitigation
projects, and then also, uh, there was a recent... relatively recent update to our maps that
...that the feds integ ... or implemented, is when the maps went digital, and when they
went digital there was some map drift that went on, that needs to be corrected, and so we
have three good reasons to update our maps, uh, but we don't recommend that we do that
right away. What we want to do is ... is uh ... do this probably in about 2016 so that we
know the outcome of the mitigation projects so we go through one update process,
because it's expensive and it's time - consuming, and ... and get it done right there. So
that's... that's something that we ... we've got planned for a few years out. Uh, the other
thing has to do with an update to the flood plains management ordinance, which we have
implemented, and ... and I want to share with you some of that background, cause not all
of you were on ... on the City Council at that time, and..and to do that I wanted to show
you the two ... the two large floods that we experienced in the last 20 years, uh, in the dark
is the ... the, uh, 1993 flood, and in the red is the 2008 flood. From a volume perspective,
the 93 flood was bigger. The area under the curve represents the volume of water that
flowed through town, cause on the ... on the left side we've got ... we got flow in cubic feet
per second and then we have time on the bottom. Um ... if you superimpose on here, uh,
what we were regulating to in 1993, uh, you'll see that 25,000 CFS was our ... was our
projected 100 -year flood, and we ... we had essentially the ... the quintessential 100 -year
flood in 93. So without exception, if you got a flood plain development permit for your
property and you built ... you were not damaged in the 93 flood. We felt very good about
the performance of our flood plain management ordinance, and that includes the
Idyllwild condominiums. They were underway at that time, uh, they were constructed
and um, were not damaged by the 93 flood. Now, the question you need to ask yourself
and we experienced is what happens when ...when one comes along that's bigger than
what you regulate to and that of course is what we experience in 93, people pretty much
without exception if they did have a flood plain development permit, they were damaged,
because...
Hayek/ You mean 08 (several talking)
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Fosse/ 08! Thank you! Thank you! Um ... and ... so ... and this was experienced really statewide
and the state legislature was ... was toying with the idea about setting that minimum
standard within the state at 500 -year plus 1 -foot for the minimum building level, rather
than 100 -year plus 1 -foot. Ultimately they decided not to do that. Uh, but that doesn't
limit local communities from being stringent than the state standard and, uh, so far two
communities in the state — Iowa City and Cedar Falls — have chosen to regulate to that
higher level, so this is where we regulate to now is the, uh, is 45,000 CFS and you need
to be a foot above that. So, uh, you would be in good shape for an 08 -type flood if it
were to occur today, if you get a building permit under our current standards. Um ... but if
you go up to Cedar Rapids, even that level of protection would have been vulnerable with
the flood that they had up there. So no matter what you design to, sooner or later Mother
Nature's going to get you. So, uh, moving on to updates to plans. Uh, the hazard
mitigation plan is ... is one that is, looks at...at a variety of potential natural and human-
caused disasters, and having a hazard mitigation plan in place is a requirement in order to
receive federal funds for the projects that we've been doing and the ... the types of
projects that we're mitigating against need to be identified in this plan. If they're not in
the plan, they're not eligible for federal hazard mitigation money. So we have that and it
is adopted and we are in the process of...of going from an individual plan for Iowa City
to a countywide plan, and that's... that's in the works right now. Uh, next is the
emergency operations plan. The Fire Department's putting the finishing touches on an
update to the, uh, Iowa City's emergency operation plan. Again, that's a multi - hazard
plan that includes flood, uh, response. And then finally the volunteer coordination plan,
and this is something that ... that turned out to be a lot of work for us during the 08 flood,
and that is matching people with the right skills and abilities to the tasks that are out
there, and then once they're there, providing them the oversight that's necessary for them
to be productive, and to work safely. Just took a tremendous amount of our resources.
So after the flood we began to shop around for other ways that we can accomplish this,
and we looked at other models, and the one that we landed on is working with the United
Way, and the United Way has a program that they've implemented, uh, nationally where
they provide these services where they essentially pre- register volunteers for events like
this, or even if, you know, Jazz Fest, if you need volunteers for Jazz Fest, you can work
through United Way to get ... get volunteers for those types of events. Uh, we've entered
into a memorandum of understanding with the United Way, so we are eligible for those
things. Any questions on, uh, updates to regulations... before we move on? We're in the
homestretch here! (laughter) I'll pick up the pace. Um, what we have is, uh, I've
presented an approximate schedule for the remaining work, and perhaps a better way to
...to title this is a best -case sequence. That is, these ... these projects need to go in
sequence. We can't do `em all at once, some need to happen before others, so best case
here is how things would fall out. Uh, this year we begin expansion of the south
wastewater treatment plant, which is underway and we complete the ... the water source
protection projects, which are 95% complete now. Next year, we would construct a west
side levee and the Rocky Shore lift station. We need to get that done on the heels of the
Coralville project that `s currently under construction now so that we have full protection
for that area down there. One without the other does not provide protection. Uh, in
2014, uh, construct the Animal Shelter, complete the expansion of the south wastewater
treatment plant, uh, construct the east side levee and then begin construction of the
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gateway project. That's a two -year project to get that implemented. In 15, uh, we could
demolish the north waste water treatment plant because we'll .... that will be off -line by
that point, uh, relocate the fire training facility, and complete the gateway project, and we
want to do that concurrent with the completion of Hancher Auditorium, uh, their ... their
target date right now is fall of 15, which is also our target date. And then at 16, uh,
construct a Taft Speedway levee. We want to do that after we put the bigger bridge in
place and then upgrade the, uh, the Riverside Drive arts campus lift station and then
update those flood maps that we talked about. Any questions on that? Okay. And, uh,
queuing you up for the two major decisions that you'll have, uh, coming up. Uh, the first
one has to do with the ... the Taft Speedway, uh, project. And we have the ... the report
that HDR worked on that ... that we talked about earlier that'll be available in a month or
so, and what that report will do is identify a variety of feasible options, along with their
impacts and costs, so that you'll have a, uh, a variety of options to chose from and if you
like, we can have them, uh, make a ... a preferred alternative from an engineering
perspective. That ... that can't factor in the policy things that you all'11 be thinking about,
but if there's one that's a standout from an engineering perspective we can ask them to
identify that. Would you like us to do that?
Champion/ Yes, definitely!
Fosse/ Okay. We will do that. Got that, Jason? Okay, good.
Hayek/ I mean, when you ... when you say preferred alternative, you're talking about a
recommendation.
Fosse/ Yes!
Hayek/ Okay.
Throgmorton/ But you know, when you say a preferred alternative from an engineering point of
view, that could mean something like, uh, something that's adequate, uh, to withstand a
500 -year flood plus 3 and ... and doesn't take cost into account, doesn't take (both talking)
Champion/ No, no, that's right! That's right.
Throgmorton/ So those things we would definitely need to be thinking about.
Fosse/ Right.
Throgmorton/ Yep.
Fosse / Right, there's more to this than just the engineering.
Throgmorton/ Right.
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Fosse/ But ... but cost is a factor that needs to be factored in ... to the engineering. Um ... so
the ... the other thing that, if you chose not to go forward with this project, something to
think about is how do you want to tackle the Foster Road, uh, issue and the access for the
Peninsula. What other options do you want to consider? And if you do want to move
forward with this project, what level of protection do you want to provide and what types
of techniques should be considered for it — levee, floodwall, combination, that sort of
thing. So that's... that's a decision that'll be facing you. Uh, another decision that'll be
facing you is the, uh, the gateway project design parameters. Uh, right now during the
environmental review of this, we are looking at a project that provides protection level of
a ... of a 500 -year event plus 1 -foot, which is the minimum protection level that we
require of any new home that goes in the flood plain right now. So we don't envision us
providing a higher level of protection for ... than that. So basically at this level it provides
the largest project footprint from an environmental perspective. So if we get our
environmental clearance on that, we're good to build that, or anything less than that that
we choose to do. And, so you'll have that, uh, that decision to come up in the ... in the
near future. And with that, I think we're kind of running long on time so unless you
really want me to, I won't take a run through Appendix A, uh, but I'm happy to answer
any questions that you have on it...at a later time. And at this point just open it up to
discussion that you all have on what you've heard tonight.
Mims/ I don't think we're going to have a discussion.
Hayek/ We're not going to have a discussion, but if there are other questions, um .... and I have
one. If...if the east side levee becomes technically not viable, um, those are CDBG
funds.
Fosse/ Yes.
Hayek/ To the tune of almost $4 million. What are our options, if any, with those funds?
Fosse/ That ... it's just like what David was talking about earlier, that ... that (both talking)
Hayek/ ...probably not but maybe some flexibility (laughter and several talking) Clear as mud!
Champion/ Before we, um ... get to that final talk about Dubuque Street or the gateway project,
whatever you want to call it, um ... do ... is there an easy way to find out how many times
that road's been flooded for more than a week? I mean, it floods a lot! For a few days,
but...
Fosse / Right.
Champion/ ...that was a long time it was closed so ... when I want to think about how high I want
to build that, I want to know how many times has it been really denied access for more
than a few days, or when one lane wasn't open or whatever.
Dickens/ Because of the heavy rains sometimes they'll shut it down.
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Champion/ Yeah, but for a short time.
Dickens/ Yeah.
Fosse/ Okay. We'll see if we can (both talking)
Champion/ I don't know if you can find that information or not, but... somebody, or some history
behind it might remember at least.
Fosse/ I can tell you for 30 years, but that's it.
Champion/ Well that should be long enough! (laughter)
Fosse/ Yes?
Dobyns/ I assume there's some relationship between the potential Taft Speedway levee and the
elevation of the Foster Road. I ... I was trying to look at that but if there's a... Taft
Speedway levee of some sort, I assume that affords some protection to Foster Road at the
level that it is now, but... or are those two... are they separate?
Fosse/ That is the current plan, that the ... the Taft Speedway levee would protect both the
neighborhood and Foster Road.
Dobyns/ And so without a Taft Speedway or a smaller Taft, or uh, lesser Taft Speedway levee,
then we have to start making some accommodations to then protect Foster Road, with the
options that you outlined.
Fosse / Right. So either you need to ac ... acknowledge that ... that you only have let's say a 100 -
year plus 3- foot...
Dobyns/ Uh -huh.
Fosse/ ...protection for Foster Road, or look at some of the other options.
Dobyns/ Okay. Got it. Thank you.
Throgmorton/ So, Matt, I ... I do have a topic I'd like to see the staff address, and Tom knows this
from earlier communications. Uh, but it's not something Rick could really address here.
Uh, and that is ... has to do with, uh, the role of flood insurance in the Idyllwild, Parkview,
church area. Uh... at some point I think I personally would need, uh, to have a better
insight into how flood insurance works, whether flood insurance is available, what it
costs, uh, etc., all that kind of stuff. Uh, and I don't want Rick to answer it now because
we have other things we have to get into, but ... um, but at some point I'd like to hear
about that.
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Hayek/ Okay. Okay, Rick, thank you for a very comprehensive (several talking) and it's
incredible to look back, you know, four plus years and recall that, uh, time and, um... and
the public knows this, and I think the Council does as well, but the ...the amount of work
that our staff ..put in in 2008 and in every year since 2008 relating to floods, recovery,
mitigation, all of it, is staggering. Um, and ... and I think you got a sense this evening of
how much work continues to be done related to our flood, uh, recovery and mitigation,
and uh, so my hat's off to you guys!
Fosse/ Thank you. Sidewalk cafes, is that the next item?
Hayek/ Yes, an equally (several talking) Speaking of staggering amounts of staff time (laughter)
let's, uh, let's take up this all important cafe issue!
Discussion Re: The Proposed Administrative Rules for Street Cafes (IP4):
Fosse/ Okay! We'll see how this goes, see how much of my brain remains with this (several
talking) Uh, we have no formal agenda item on this tonight. Really what we want to do
is ... is to float some questions (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Where's everybody going? (laughter)
Fosse/ ...get some direction from you all (laughter) Thanks for coming! (laughter and several
talking) Float some questions out and ... and give staff the direction we need to develop
some policy that we can bring back in front of you in the form of a resolution. So with
that let's ... let's go ahead and dive in. Again, we're going to work from the ... from the
memo that's in your packet and go through the, er, and address the uh, the issues and the
questions that we've outlined. Uh, the first one has to do with competing applications,
and that is when more than one business wishes to locate in the same parking space or the
same planter, uh, if there's more ... or in the same block face if we have more than 30% of
the spaces, uh, requested, how are we going to deal with that. And, what we've done
here is laid out a process that we're proposing and it ... it's focused around a schedule
and... and let me run through that. Is by February 1 if you want to compete, you need to
have your application in by February 1. Anything after that it comes on a first -come,
first -serve basis, but if on February 1 we have competing applications, uh, we're going
to ... to, uh, queue those up for a lottery on February 15. Now in that intervening 15 days,
those businesses have the opportunity to talk to each other and come to some sort of
mutual solution that works for both of them. That's why we don't have the lottery on
February 2. Uh, so we got the lottery on the 15th. If things cannot be worked out, uh, by
March 15th, one month later, you need to put your money where your mouth is. That is
you need to follow up with an application, uh, get that approved, and to uh, pay the fees
for that, so that we know that you're serious you're going to do this, you're not just
blocking a neighbor from using that space. Uh, if they don't move forward by March
15th, then we move on to the next applicant and they have 30 days to get through that
approval process, uh, so that next applicant needs to have theirs ready to go by April 15th
So, that's one option. Um, which ... which we pretty much termed the `lottery option.'
The other option is ... is developing some sort of evaluation criteria where we would
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...we'd look at the competing applications, measure them against some criteria, and it's
going to be subjective. There's really no way you can assign numbers to this, and ... and
make a decision and a recommendation for those. So that leads to our first question, and
that is, uh, when deciding amongst competing applications, do you want it done by
lottery or staff evaluation criteria?
Champion/ I'm kind of against subjective idealism or what something's (both talking)
Mims/ ...lottery too.
Throgmorton/ I agree.
Mims/ Keep it simple.
Fosse/ Lottery? (several responding) Got it! Okay. Uh, the next one has to do with consent,
and that, uh, is that what you've already approved is the policy that allows cafes in
planters, uh, to go beyond the property line, extended, if the adjacent property owners on
the first floor, um ... agree to that, that is grant their consent. Um ... what staff's recom...
let's see, what we're ... what we want to talk about is do we want to adopt that same
policy for the street, that is, uh, limit it to the property lines extended, and ... and to help
with that discussion, I've ... I've put up, uh, just one scenario that we can look at just to,
uh, outline what we're talking about. So here ... here's a couple examples. We have a
restaurant and parking spots in front. If we limit it to the ... to the property lines extended,
it would ... it'd end up looking something like this, and that is, you'd have restaurant from
here to here. We have a 4 -foot buffer (clears throat) excuse me, running out of voice.
Four -foot buffer on either end, and then ... the remnant of the parking spaces would
become, uh, moped parking. So on the left side ... (coughs) excuse me! Uh, it's pretty
clear -cut that we're not going to be able to use this for anything but moped parking. On
the other side, this is a good example because it ... it's really not clear. We might be able
to, uh, make this into a parking spot. It really depends on what's remaining in the rest of
the block, whether things can be scotched around a little bit, or it might end up being all
moped parking. So I ... I just wanted to use this example to introduce kind of the soft
nature of the decisions that need to be made here. So, if you're... you're limiting it to the
property line extended, you're going to lose two, possibly three, parking spaces for this
scenario. Now the next scenario we're looking at is extending it to the remainder of the
space, with the consent of the neighboring properties. So in this case it would go out to
this point; the 4 -foot buffer would go beyond that; then you would lose that remainder of
the space that goes off the page to the left there. You can't see that, and then here we
have the 4 -foot buffer and we definitely would lose that remaining space there; that
would become moped parking at that point. So, with ... with this option we'd lose
approximately one, two, three, four spaces at this location, and what I empha ... want to
emphasize, and we talked about this last time a little bit, is there's... there's no two
storefronts that are the same. You ... you can drive yourself crazy trying to work through
this scenario for all the different options that are out there. This is just one example. So,
with that background, uh, we'll lead to the second question is, uh, make cafes in the street
extend beyond the property line extended, if the cafd owner obtains consent from the
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adjacent property owners and the first floor tenants. In essence would you like to go with
this option or this option?
Mims/ My thought is to stick with the property lines extended. I ... and I've got a couple reasons
that I'm thinking that, I mean, we've seen a lot of arguments for it, but one is ... if
somebody wants to go beyond the property lines, and you've got other people on the
same street that want a cafe, and you run up against that 30% limit on the par ... on the
parking, you could end up into a lottery simply because somebody wants to go beyond
property lines. And so to ... again, just ... as we get started with this, I think trying to keep
it as simple as we can, and sticking with the property lines, um ... just makes it that much
easier. I also have a concern about getting neighbor's consent and, you know, people
investing in this whole thing and the neighbor gives consent the first year and then the
second year decides, naw, I really don't like it. I just think starting out just keeps the
whole thing a lot cleaner to stick with the property lines.
Champion/ Well I ... I do think that if you have consent from your neighbors and the first floor
tenants and the owners, it has to be a three -year consent. You can't have people investing
in this money and then someone deciding they don't like it or you do something that
irritates them or something. And I ... I do think with the lottery system, the next year...
shouldn't exactly be a lottery, like if the same person applies and somebody else applies,
then that person who hasn't had it, should have their three year period. But you can't
have consent every year. You'll have people being forced to close their cafe that they
probably have spent $20... $20 million on. Yeah, $20 million.
Throgmorton/ $20 million?
Mims/ Okay, Connie!
Hayek/ 20 ... 20,000.
Throgmorton/ I think...
Champion/ Oh, $20,000! (laughter) There is a big difference, isn't there? (laughter) I like to
think in millions. That's what I'm used to with City money.
Dobyns/ You're thinking of cubic feet of flooding.
Dickens /I'm on the same page as Susan. If...I don't like using parking places at all, but if it does
pass I think it, keeping it in front of that property, cause otherwise when you see if it
starts going suddenly, it just keeps expanding, and it could take up, you know, that whole
30% for that one block. So if it does, if it would pass in the streets at all, I would go
along with Susan on that.
Hayek/ Yeah, and it... and it... it eliminates some of the controversy, um... relating to this issue,
and is consistent with ... our standard sidewalk cafe, uh, regulation, um ... what it would be
different from is how we've approached the planters, but I think those are in a stand-
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along category because they ... the planters aren't in the sidewalk anyway. They, you
know... (both talking)
Mims/ They don't line up.
Hayek/ ...they don't line up but ... but they've been carved out for years as part of a ... and they're
clearly delineated.
Dickens/ People still walk through `em though! (laughter)
Hayek/ Before they're ticketed. So ... um, I think it makes sense and uh ... I'd like to see us come
to some ... a swift resolution of this and move on.
Fosse/ Was that four? Or three? In favor (both talking)
Hayek/ ...in favor of the property line extended. That's three.
Throgmorton/ Well, let me speak then. Um, I don't have strong feelings one way or the other on
this, uh, but I ... I'd be quite willing to go with the property line extended thing initially.
My sense is that this will ... will gradually change in an incremental fashion as time goes
on, and we're just beginning it. We don't know exactly how it's going to work. So I'm
...I'm comfortable with the property line extended.
Fosse/ That where we're headed?
Dickens/ Yes.
Fosse/ Got it! Okay, moving on to priority. Um, Council's already approved a policy that, uh,
for cafes in planters will not be subject to the competitive process for the following two
seasons after they've been initially approved. Now we have one business that's already
out in the planters, that pre -dates this policy, and uh, so the question here really relates to
this specific business, and that is, uh, with this business, with the current easement
agreement for caf6 in the planter be subject to the competitive process February 1 of ...of
13, next spring, or do we, uh, give them the priority for the next two years as if they were
a new approved applicant... already. Does that make sense? (several responding) The
way I worded that.
Champion/ I think you have to give `em... a two -year leeway or something, because nobody
wants to do something for two months and then might not be able to do it.
Dobyns/ Yeah, if they're putting in $20 million (laughter)
Champion/ Yeah, that's a lot of money for a few chairs, isn't it? (laughter)
Throgmorton/ It might double down (several talking and laughing)
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Champion/ (several talking) ...never going to live that down! (laughter)
Hayek/ Lump `em together (several talking)
Fosse/ Got it! Okay. Um ... so staff recommends that the same priority policy be extended to
cafes in the street, if we implement those, uh, those cafes in the street. So question #4 is
should cafes in the street be given priority over competing applications for the following
two seasons.
Champion/ Yes!
Fosse/ So it'd be the same policy as planters. Yes.
Mims/ So basically we're giving them a three -year permit, assuming...
Champion/ Right!
Mims/ Assuming they don't screw up somehow. Is that...
Hayek/ Yeah.
Fosse/ Go ahead! I think you can say this better than I can.
Dilkes/ Assuming that the City decides that we want to continue the program. (several
responding)
Fosse/ Okay. Um, question #5 ... oh, question #5 is the (mumbled) X that one off! Okay, so
moving on...
Dobyns/ Gotta keep up with us, Rick!
Fosse/ I know! (laughter)
Hayek/ (mumbled)
Mims/ Six doesn't matter either, cause we're sticking with property lines, so they don't need...
Fosse/ That's right! So #6 is no longer applicable. So, we're on to question #7, which has to do
with the 4 -foot barrier at the end. Uh, so regardless of where the sidewalk cafe area, uh,
can extend beyond the property line or not, um, with the consent, uh, staff recommends
that the 4 -foot buffer may be located beyond the property line extended, without consent.
Mims/ Yes.
Champion/ It would have to be that way or you won't ever have one.
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Dobyns/ You've gotta give `em some ... leeway.
Mims/ Yeah.
Fosse/ Okay.
Dobyns/ If we're going to use property lines, we have to give them some...
Markus / And it's used for public purpose.
Hayek/ Yeah, that's the distinction.
Fosse/ Yep. So the answer to #7 is yes. (several responding) That's what we need!
Throgmorton/ Boy that was easy!
Hayek/ One question though — with, with ... I'm not sure the seven questions answered this
particular issue, and that is with the planters... what's the consent requirement,
because ... are we...
Champion/ The same!
Hayek/ Did we cover that already?
Fosse/ No, I missed a question in here. I'm glad you brought that up! Um...
Fruin/ It's question #6 and it doesn't just apply to the street cafes, which now wouldn't require
consent, but for the planter cafes, do you have to get consent every year or...
Champion/ No!
Fruin/ ...once every three years.
Champion/ Every three years! (several responding)
Mims/ ... every three.
Fosse/ Every three?
Hayek/ I think that's fair, yeah. So you get ... if you win the lottery and get the consent (several
talking) three years assuming we don't... assuming you want it as the proprietor, and
assuming the City doesn't discontinue it.
Fosse/ Thanks for remembering that.
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Throgmorton/ So, Matt, I'd like to ask a question that goes beyond the seven that Rick just posed
to us. Uh, I don't think we talked about it in earlier discussions but Lenny Sandler in a
letter to us in our packet that we got tonight, uh, has brought this up to me in a
conversation and in his letter, and it's about people with disabilities, and their access to,
uh, the planters, access to the (both talking)
Champion/ They have to be handicapped- accessible.
Throgmorton/ Yeah. (several talking) I just wanted a little bit of clarification about that.
Champion/ They are.
Hennes/ Yeah, that is true, the new cafes and the ... and the seating areas are accessible to the
physically disabled, but it doesn't extend inside the building, unless the occupant load is
such that they require new restroom fixtures, and then they have to do work on the inside
to add restroom fixtures.
Throgmorton/ Yeah. Course I'm not Professor Sandler from the Law School but I can, uh,
recount what he said to me. Uh, as ... as a point. And that is, uh, if a person's going to be
able to use a sidewalk cafe or a planter cafe or whatever, uh, operated by a particular
business, that person ought to be able to use the restroom in the business.
Hennes/ I don't disagree! But I ... it's not a requirement, and I think that's what he's asking you
to do is ... is make it a requirement...
Markus/ So let's ... let's give the example of the restaurant that does not have accessible restroom
facilities inside currently, and they wish to go ahead and put a sidewalk cafe in or a street
cafe, what does ... what does our ordinance, what does our interpretation of the building
code currently require?
Hennes/ That that new cafe, outside cafe, be accessible to the physically disabled.
Markus/ But...
Hennes/ Not inside.
Markus/ But if the restroom is non - conforming on the inside, this does not trigger an automatic
requirement that adjustments be made on the inside of the restroom, or restaurant, that
would make that restroom handicap accessible. And you actually have restrooms in the
lower level, which are not accessible by, um ... devices that would allow for (several
taking) someone with a disability to get (several talking)
Hennes/ Correct. And I think Leonard is asking for three things — an accessible door, a route,
and a route to the restroom, and an accessible restroom.
Throgmorton/ Right.
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Hayek/ And the example, ironically, is Micky's.
Hennes/ Correct.
Hayek/ Which all this brouhaha has occurred. I mean, they aren't ... their bathrooms are in the
basement, inaccessible.
Champion/ And the building isn't accessible either.
Hennes/ Correct.
Markus/ So all three things would apply.
Hayek/ Yeah, right...
Markus/ Accessibility through the main door, accessibility to get to the lower level, some sort of
device to allow somebody with a disability to get there, and then the doorway into the
restroom needs to (both talking)
Hayek/ ...talk about a disincentive to, you know, take up a project like this.
Champion/ Right. Now Leah, who is doing the planters, when she had that little outdoor cafe,
she has, what, four tables? That put her capacity to the point, there was like a (both
talking)
Hennes/ That is correct.
Champion/ ... so she had to put a lot of money into new bathrooms, which she was totally willing
to do, that became handicapped accessible. Once you reach a certain number of
occupancy.
Hennes/ That is true.
Champion/ So, but with Micky's, that ... they don't meet that occupancy level yet.
Hennes/ Correct.
Champion/ And so they're kind of grandfathered in, just like we grandfathered in the Yacht
Club.
Hennes/ The new occupant load of...of Micky's does not exceed what they have for restroom...
Champion/ That's what I meant.
Hennes/ Yes.
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Champion/ So, I mean ... Yacht... the Yacht Club does not have handicapped accessible
bathrooms and that was grandfathered in because of the basic construction of the building
just doesn't allow it. So sometimes... all new construction has to be handicapped
accessible, all planters...
Dilkes/ Connie, we're not talking about a grandfathering issue here.
Champion/ Oh, I know, we're just talking about...
Dilkes/ Okay.
Champion/ That you just don't (both talking)
Dilkes/ Micky's is ... this is not a grandfathering situation. This is a situation that they're keeping
the occupancy level low enough so that they don't have to have any more improvements
(several commenting)
Champion/ They don't trigger it.
Hennes/ Right.
Markus/ You ... you probably have sidewalk cafes currently in existence that do not have
handicap, um, accessible facilities and...
Hennes/ Routes.
Markus/ ...passageways through the current... restaurant, currently in place.
Hennes/ That is true.
Markus/ So, to do what the Professor suggested would put those into some level of non-
conforming status.
Throgmorton/ Uh -huh.
Hayek/ Okay. Thanks! Do you have what you need, Rick, to ... okay.
Fosse/ (away from mic) ... I do have what I need, yes. (laughter) Thought you asked (mumbled)
Information Packets (9/6 and 9/13/12):
Hayek/ Okay, A ... wrap that up. We have two Info Packets. Are there any questions regarding
the September 6th Info Packet? (several talking) Are there any questions with respect to
the September 13th Info Packet?
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Throgmorton/ KXIC interviews.
Hayek/ Yes!
Throgmorton/ So I'd like to volunteer for you September 6 or October 3. No, not 6, God, what
did I write?
Karr/ I want to make a change. The 19th ... the 19th is Dickens, and you'd like to volunteer, Jim,
for...
Throgmorton/ For the 261H or the 3 rd
Mims/ I think it's Dobyns.
Hayek/ Dobyns.
Karr/ No. Tomorrow, September 19tH
Dickens/ We had switched that.
Karr/ We switched, it's not Dobyns. That's why I'm correcting it. It's Dickens. (several
talking) I'm correcting that. So now, Mr. Throgmorton would like to volunteer for the
26tH or 3ra
Throgmorton/ Yeah, I would volunteer for either one of those.
Karr/ Either one.
Champion/ The 26th of September?
Karr/ Yes.
Hayek/ Sounds good!
Karr/ So...
Champion/ Or the 3ra of October.
Throgmorton/ Either one.
Karr/ It's ether one.
Champion/ I won't be here the 3ra, but I could probably do the 261H
Throgmorton/ Okay, I'll do the 3ra
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Karr/ Okay, Champion the 26th, Throgmorton the 6 th
... or the P.
Hayek/ I can do the ... why don't I do the 10th and the 24th. I ... I had to skip the last...
Karr/ The 24th I have Dobyns.
Hayek/ Oh, you do ?" All right.
Karr/ Dobyns is the 24th. So the 10th Hayek?
Hayek/ Yeah. Um... and I can do the, I don't mind doing the 17th either. I ... I think, cause I
skipped the last one, I'll (mumbled)
Karr/ So 10 and l7th?
Dickens/ I'll do the 31St of October.
Karr/ Okay, thank you.
Mims/ I'll do the 24th.
Karr/ No, 24th is Dobyns.
Mims/ Oh!
Karr/ So the only one I have left is November 7th. (several talking)
Hayek/ We will have either a president re- elected or a new president on (several talking)
Karr/ The 7th is Matt's. So I've got ... okay, I've got (several talking)
Throgmorton/ (mumbled) on either the 26 or October 3`a. (several talking)
Karr/ Alrighty ... okay, we need t go back. We've got the 19th is Dickens, the 26th is Champion,
Throgmorton cannot do the 3rd
Throgmorton/ Sorry!
Karr/ So, Matt, can you do the 3`a?
Hayek/ I don't believe I can.
Dickens/ I can!
Karr/ Okay, so Dickens'll do the 19th of September and October 3`a. Hayek is still down for 10
and 17. Dobyns the 24th. Dickens the 3lst. Mims the 7th. I'll put a memo in the packet.
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Throgmorton/ So what's the date for me then?
Karr/ You don't have one.
Throgmorton/ Huh?
Karr/ Unless you want to take one from Mr. Hayek.
Throgmorton/ Well, I...
Dickens/ October 31St if you want. Will that work for you?
Karr/ October 31 St?
Champion/ Yeah, does that work?
Throgmorton/ Probably. It's Halloween or whatever.
Champion/ It's morning though. You're not a witch yet.
Hayek/ You don't have to wear a costume, Jim. (several talking)
Dickens/ ...don't have to give out candy!
Throgmorton/ Okay.
Karr/ So the 31St, cross off Dickens and add Throgmorton. And then knowing future
commitments, Mr. Dobyns is December 12th, and I'll put that into the schedule.
Hayek/ You're so ... always so way out in front of us, aren't you? (several talking and laughing)
Dickens/ I don't know if I'm gonna be alive still! (laughter)
Hayek/ Okay, anything else on the September 13th Info Packet? Okay. Urn ... Council time?
Council Time:
Throgmorton/ Uh, I note that the Ad Hoc Committee has begun meeting. I read their minutes
with, uh, interest, uh, and I look forward to learning more about how they're doing, but I
also noticed that there's a petition from Kenneth Longdon and others, it's agenda item
3f(6). I think that should be shared with the Committee. Uh, likewise the minutes of the
August 1St joint meeting of the, uh, of the what? Of the Board of Supervisors and the
Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee. Uh, cause Latasha Massey had some things to
say that are directly relevant to what that committee ... our committee is doing. So I'd like
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to recommend that we ... move that to `em. Did you hear what I said? I don't know if
you did.
Karr/ Not all of it.
Throgmorton/ Sorry. Um, there are two items I thought should be forwarded...
Karr/ The Longdon, right, got that one. Uh -huh.
Throgmorton/ ...petition by Longdon.
Karr/ Yes, I have that one.
Throgmorton/ And the other is the minutes of the, uh, August 1 st joint meeting of the Board of
Supervisors and the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee.
Hayek/ I would say this, I ... I think, I mean, I think staff has ... thus far been responsible to
provide the information that the Committee has seen, or ... or will be seeing, and I think
that's what we all agreed to. I think going forward, if there is additional information
people want that committee to see, um, I ... I don't think there's any impediment on
anybody sending information to the Committee, um, or like, Jim, with respect to your
request, I guess staff can accommodate that, but I think it should say upon the request of
a person ... who the person is, otherwise I think we probably need to discuss what
information is going to the Committee, um, and ... and get into...
Karr/ Making the distinction that Council wishes to have it, versus a Council Member who
wishes.
Hayek/ Yeah, and I'm not even opining on those particular pieces, but ... as we go along, if
people come up with things they think the Committee should see, you know, there's a
difference between sending it as an individual or as a council.
Karr/ I'll note that on the two, unless Council wishes to have, to send the two that Mr.
Throgmorton suggested. If not I'll make that change. And I ... speaking of the
Committee, I'd like to note that we also have, um, in front of you this evening an
announcement of a vacancy. Donna Henry resigned late yesterday due to unforeseen
circumstances. She's unable to continue. So ... I took the liberty of adding it to tonight's
formal agenda so that you could then discuss it and decide whether you wish to handle it
like all other boards and commissions, advertise the vacancy, take applications, um ... or
how you wish to proceed. It's, uh, the memo in front of you this evening with two
addition... additions to the agenda.
Throgmorton/ We had earlier decided to, uh, identify Latasha Massey as the ... as first alternate.
Karr/ You ... you did but in looking at the transcription that indicated that if any of these people
gave up their seat before starting work, so I didn't know if that meant that that...
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Dobyns/ How many meetings have they had?
Karr/ Uh, three.
Champion/ Boy, I think it'd be hard ... it's too late. You can't ... either you don't fill the position
or you put Massey. Has she been attending the meetings, I would assume.
Karr/ No, she has not. (several talking) No, because all of them accepted.
Dobyns/ I was at the meeting yesterday, I was here, uh, talking with City Manager's office, and I
sat in on the last half of the meeting and watched them. Um, their third meeting. I guess
I'd be uncomfortable putting in a person cause they seem to be ... working as a team with
each other, urn ... I'd be interested to see if the Chair thinks they just need more person -
power on it, but other than that...
Hayek/ You mean, not replace that open (several talking)
Dobyns/ Yeah, I would not replace the person. I ... I watched the Committee, and you know,
committees usually have to be, what, more than five and less than ten, and that's kind of
where they are. Um ... if it was one meeting in I'd feel differently, but they're three
meetings in. I was just watching them as a group and they... but... yeah, I would defer
maybe to the Chair of the Committee, and see what they think, if they want an additional
person. But...
Karr/ But... again, it would appear you would have three options. Certainly one is to announce
it; two is to defer it and get the ... the, um, the insight of the Chair, um, or third, is to make
the decision now to ... not fill it.
Champion/ I don't think we should fill it.
Karr/ Well, we ... we would want to contact Latasha and see if she's available to ... we have not
had any contact.
Dilkes/ I understand that, but that (both talking)
Karr/ Yes, you could certainly agree to that, and then we could contact her to see.
Throgmorton/ It was my understanding that that's what we had agreed to do, so why shouldn't
we move in that direction?
Champion/ Yeah, I thought she would be attending the meetings. So that she would...
Dobyns/ No, we did ... that's how (several talking)
Champion/ ...as an alternate and hear everything.
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Hayek/ Maybe we should defer and see what the Committee (several talking) Committee thinks.
I hadn't thought of that until you mentioned that, but I... it's a consideration.
Dobyns/ Yeah, it would ... just sitting there it would have been funny, but I ... I was an outsider
looking in, I guess, and that's why I would ask (mumbled) Mr. Botchway what he thinks
but ... I would...
Dilkes/ You are going to have an even number if you don't appoint a (several talking)
Champion/ That's all right.
Hayek/ What is ... what ... what's the group want to do?
Mims/ Yeah, let's ... I would agree, check with the Committee Chair and see what (both talking)
Karr/ Okay, so we won't be amending the calendar tonight to do it. We'll simply ... it's been
posted. Why don't we just simply remove that one, not announce it this evening then,
9(k).
Champion/ I would think they would make decisions by consensus anyway and you wouldn't...
Dobyns/ Uh -huh, yeah, I don't think an even number if a problem, and the way I saw them
deliberate.
Hayek/ Well let's... okay... let's... yeah, let's check then. And I'll figure out with you how that
...how to treat that on the Consent tonight.
Karr/ It's not on the Consent. We'll figure it out though.
Hayek/ Okay.
Champion/ Okay.
Hayek/ Um... other Council time items?
Dobyns/ Um ... what, Marian, this is about what you and I discussed about when we get
information that doesn't make it into the Thursday 5:00 P.M. packet., how to make it
available.
Karr/ Yes!
Dobyns/ Not for discussion today, but I'd like to discuss that at some point. Do we make that
available...
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Karr / Why don't I prepare a memo on options for electronic late handouts that would address the
quantity of handouts you get in a more timely fashion? Is that what you wish ... because I
think...
Dobyns/ Cause there's a period of time where it'd be nice to put it out electronically, but
there ... we also have to have time to read it too and...
Hayek/ Kind of nice to have the excuse of, oh, just saw it here, three minutes before the meeting
started. (laughter) Honestly, that cut -off point.
Dobyns/ Yeah.
Karr/ I'll be happy...
Dobyns/ ...maintain that level of responsibility? (laughter)
Karr/ I'll be happy to prepare something and ... and, cause I think it very much is dependent on
how you wish to receive it and when, and then staff can make it, can follow through on
that easily enough.
Dobyns/ Okay, thank you.
Hayek/ Um, I just ... I want to mention the, uh, the North Market Square Park, uh, dedication, um,
Jim and I were there for that and... and it was a good event, but more importantly, the
product there is incredible, and it is just a gorgeous park, that gets heavy usage. More
now than prior to the renovation, and I think serves as a... should serve as a model for
how we should approach parkland. Um, there is such a different, qualitatively, between
that piece of property and the, you know, keep the grass mowed approach, uh, at so many
other City -owned parks. Um, and I just think your outcome is different in terms of
engagement and impact on the neighborhood and I've talked to Tom about ... Tom and
Geoff about that. They agree but it's, uh, it's just incredible.
Dickens/ I was there before you guys and I came back afterwards, and I bought the t -shirt but I
didn't get into the chicken - throwing contest.
Hayek/ My wife won the chicken - throwing contest (several talking and laughing) They had a
rubber chicken (several talking) she threw it and...
Dobyns/ They're allowed, Connie!
Champion/ She's multi - talented!
Pending Work Session Topics (IP5):
Hayek/ No PETA issues here; it was a rubber chicken (several talking) Uh, anyway, so I ... I was
just so impressed by that. Great partnership with the Neighborhood Association, as well.
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Okay, unless there's anything else. Uh, Pending Work Session Topics, that's IP5. Got a
number of things on the ... on the to be scheduled list. And if there's nothing on that then
meeting schedule...
Champion/ Do we want to talk about plastic bags again or not?
Hayek/ You saw the memo.
Champion/ No I didn't.
Hayek/ There's a memo from staff. (several talking) Check that out.
Throgmorton/ I think members from 1000 Grannies, or 100 Grannies I should say, uh, are going
to appear at our next, at our meeting tonight, or at the one two weeks from now, basically
responding to the staff memos.
Upcoming Events/ Council Invites:
Hayek/ Okay. Good to know. Uh, meeting schedule, upcoming events. I will tell you, I got an
invite to go, there's an Alcohol Beverages Division conference in Sioux City later this
fall, um ... and I have a ... I have a work conflict. I'm not sure I would have traveled to
Sioux City, to participate in a one -hour panel discussion.
Throgmorton/ You looking for an alternate?
Hayek/ Yeah, who wants to go?
Champion/ I'm not going to Sioux City!
Hayek/ If you're burning to go to Sioux City in November for (several talking) yeah, exactly.
Anyway, so let me know if you are.
Dickens/ We'll put it under advisement!
Hayek/ Okay, anything else? Okay, why don't we break, end the meeting, and we'll come back
for the formal.
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