HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-10-01 TranscriptionOctober 1, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 1
Council Present: Champion, Dickens, Dobyns, Hayek, Mims, Throgmorton
Council Absent: Payne
Staff Present: Markus, Fruin, Bockenstedt, Dilkes, Karr, Yapp, Bowers, Fosse, Bentley,
Davidson, Knoche, O'Brien, Clow, Moran
Others Present: Bramel (UISG)
Agenda Items•
Hayek/ I want to welcome everyone to our work session. Um, Michelle Payne, uh, will... she got
double- booked and, uh, was unable to get out of the other thing, so she's going to join us
in the formal, in about ... quarter to eight or eight, but she'll miss the work session, but
she's making arrangements to hear from staff on the Gateway presentation so that she's
fully up to speed. Anyway, uh, first, uh, item is agenda items. Questions regarding
those.
ITEM 10. PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION EXEMPTIONS - AMENDING TITLE 2,
ENTITLED "HUMAN RIGHTS," CHAPTER 3, ENTITLED
"DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES" TO EXEMPT CERTAIN PUBLIC
ACCOMMODATIONS FROM AGE DISCRIMINATION CLAIMS.
(FIRST CONSIDERATION)
Throgmorton/ Uh (noises on mic) I ... Matt, Item #10, the amendments to the Human Rights
Ordinance.
Hayek/ Uh huh.
Throgmorton/ Uh, I accidentally sent, uh, an email to ... too many, uh, Human Rights
Commissioners. Uh, I was just asking ... I wanted to ask some of `em a question and I
forgot there I really shouldn't address it to all of `em, but anyhow, I think maybe
something also went to the Council as a whole. So anyhow, to get to the quick, I wonder
if Stefanie or uh Joe or one of the Commissioners could, um, basically address the
question I ... I asked in m email and tell us what you said in response.
Bowers/ (difficult to hear) Um, as it relates to amendment F?
Throgmorton/ Yeah, uh, H, yeah, in uh ... in premises that serve alcohol.
Bowers/ Okay. Um, basically that amendment is just updating the Human Rights Ordinance so
that it's consistent with local and state laws relating to persons under the legal age, as far
as drinking. It's not a substantive change.
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Karr/ Stefanie, I'm sorry. But could you push the ... thank you!
Bowers/ It's not, um ... taking any rights away from ... from anyone, it's just making sure that our
ordinance mirrors what, um, the local government says and then also what the state
government says, as far as, um, persons under the legal age for drinking.
Throgmorton/ And it was passed 6 -0 by the Commission, right? Isn't that right, Joe? I think...
Bowers/ I ... I would have to double -check the minutes, but I don't remember anybody in ... in the
negative on that so .... yes.
Throgmorton/ Okay. Thank you.
Hayek/ Thanks, Stefanie. Other agenda items?
ITEM 8. PERMIT FEES - ESTABLISHING PARADE AND PUBLIC ASSEMBLY
PERMIT FEES.
Bramel/ I had one quick question. Um, concerning Item 8, uh ... permit fees for (mumbled)
assembly permit fees. Is that $75 charge, is that just a ... is that per hour or is it just a flat
charge? It's just for ... one time?
Markus/ Yes, one time (unable to hear person responding from audience) One time flat charge?
Thanks!
Council Appointments:
Hayek/ Anything else? Okay, we'll move on to Council appointments. We have, uh, two
commissions to appoint to. First is Human Rights. Um, there's a gender balance
requirement for a male. There are three, uh, male applicants.
Champion/ I really liked Retish.
Hayek/ Go with Retish?
Mims/ Yeah. Paul's done a lot in the community.
Dobyns/ That's fine.
Throgmorton/ Do you all know him?
Mims/ Yeah.
Champion/ Yes.
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Throgmorton/ Yeah, good cause I ... I don't know any of the individuals, uh, I don't think I've
met any of 'em, and part of what made me think of, especially when there are like nine
applicants for a (several responding) for a commission. Made me think about our, uh,
process for appointing people. Cause it ... never feel comfortable voting for someone I
don't know, unless (mumbled) or Connie says it's a really good person, we ought to
appoint `em. (noises on mic) I ... have ... have, has the, uh, the Council ever thought
about creating a subcommittee or a committee that would filter applicants? (noises on
mic)
Champion/ (mumbled)
Hayek/ No, I mean (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ....good idea (both talking)
Hayek/ Yeah....
Dobyns/ I think a couple of months ago I think we had a fair amount of candidates and I think we
just, at the work session, just kind of discussed, some of us, actually you know calling
(both talking)
Mims/ Yeah, we did on one of `em, yeah.
Dobyns/ ...and holding it ... when we, when we saw that, so that's... that's not ... that's a semi -
subcommittee (laughter) It's a very ad hoc subcommittee, I guess, in a way.
Throgmorton/ Yeah. Yeah.
Hayek/ But yeah it ... we need to be careful, you know? For ... for obvious reasons. Um... and
we have the applications they provide to us, and anyone is free to contact those
individuals, and sometimes I do that and sometime others do as well. Um ... but not a
standing committee. I guess I...
Champion/ Usually somebody knows somebody, which rare that one time that nobody (several
talking) Oh sorry!
Hayek/ ...put your mic on.
Champion/ I thought they turned it off. But I do think most time we know them, and the one
time nobody knew anybody is the one that we delayed it.
Throgmorton/ Uh huh.
Hayek/ Westfell's done a heck of a job.
Champion/ Oh he was good on Parks and Rec!
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Hayek/ ...three terms and (mumbled)
Champion/ I was really torn between the two of `em.
Hayek/ It sounds like there are ... there's a majority for, uh, Retish.
Throgmorton/ I'd like to bring up one other (noises on mic) related topic that maybe we could
consider at some other point, and that is ... especially with regard to the Human Rights
Commission. There's so many different, uh (noises on mic) I don't know the right legal
term but uh ... categories of individuals who are ... who are the object really of the Human
Rights Ordinance. I don't know what the right official, legal language would be. And so
when I was looking at all ... at all these applicants for one position, I was trying to sense,
are there any gaps, you know ... like, you know, would there be a gap with regard to
somebody is interested in people with disabilities or somebody's interested in .... a,
basically racism or somebody interested in, uh, LGBT issues. Uh ... I ... I wonder if
there's some way we could, and I don't know if it's ... I really don't know if it's legally
appropriate, but some way we could think about the mix of people on... on the
commission.
Mims/ Well I think it's a combination of...I think what you're trying to say, Jim, is making sure
that we have diversity on the committee.
Throgmorton/ Yes.
Mims / And there's lot of different ways of looking at...at that diversity in terms of some of the,
you know, issues that people might be addressing with Human Rights.
Throgmorton/ Right.
Mims/ But, you know, I think we also have to be careful that ... just because somebody identifies
with a certain group doesn't mean that they represent everybody in that group or
everybody in that group thinks the same.
Throgmorton/ Sure.
Mims / And just because somebody's not part of a specific group doesn't mean they can't
advocate for them, as well. But ... I think in ... in, you know, in conjunction with what
you're saying is that idea of looking at the group as a whole and making sure that we
have significant diversity of...of individuals on there and who can really bring some
good thought to the (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Yeah, thanks for the translation. That's really what I was thinking about (several
talking)
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Hayek/ Yeah, I agree. I think ... I think we ... we do try and should try to ... to be as inclusive as
possible and get as broad a representation as possible without having sort of formal
litmus test or a box to check off. I mean, there are nine categories of...of, uh, of...of
identity or background that are referenced in the Human Rights, you know, description,
Char ... Charter if you will. Um, and I think it'd be hard to ... to hit all of those when that's
about the size of the commission itself, but ....
Mims / And if you did, you wouldn't necessarily have the best nine people either, I mean.
Hayek/ Right, right! So, but it's ... but it ... but we, you know, as we make appointments, we
should be thinking about it, and that's what we did with P ... CPRB, uh ... uh, recently
with ... with, uh, reaching out to the immigrant community...
Mims/ Uh huh.
Hayek/ ... for ... for membership on that ... which I think was a good idea.
Throgmorton/ And now we're all wondering what CPRB is but, you know (laughter) had to think
about it for a few (several talking and laughing)
Hayek/ ...I know! Gotta get used to ... changing acronyms. So ... all right, so it looks like, uh,
support for Paul Retish. The other item is Public Art Advisory Committee. There is one
applicant.
Champion/ Seemed very qualified.
Dobyns/ Yeah.
Hayek/ Yeah (several talking) That's Amanda Renaud. We okay with that? (several
responding) Okay! Next item is discussion of Gateway project! Let's take that
discussion back up.
Discussion of Design Parameters for Gateway Proiect ( #7):
Fosse/ Thank you! Uh, I'm Rick Fosse. I'm Iowa City's Public Works Director and we're here
tonight for the second of two scheduled work sessions on the Gateway project. Uh, with
me tonight are Ron Knoche, our City Engineer, as well as Melissa Clow, our Special
Projects Engineer, and three members of the project team from HNTB. Uh, we got Mark
Pierson, uh, Steve Wells, and Kyle Kroner are here this evening. Um ... what our
objectives are for this evening, uh, we'll be addressing this both at the work session, as
well as the formal meeting tonight, and our ob ... objections, or excuse me, our objectives
for the work session are to answer the questions that were asked at the April 17th work
session, as well as some of the correspondence that we've been receiving over the past
few weeks, and then review the staff recommendations with you all, and then answer
additional questions that will come up tonight, and then at the formal meeting, uh, we
will outline the staff recommendations and then open the floor up for... for public
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comment on the, uh, project. And ... and also want to reinforce that we'll not be taking
any formal action tonight on the ... on it. Now our plan has always been on ... on the
advice from Federal Highway that we complete the NEPA process before we make
design decisions. Now what I cannot tell you is the impact that the federal shutdown will
have on the schedule for completion of that NEPA process. That's certainly an unknown
for all of us right now.
Throgmorton/ You don't know the answer to that question? (laughs)
Fosse/ (laughter) No, I don't! (laughs) It's a new twist in it all! As if it weren't well enough to
find before that! (laughter) Um, and ... and also I ... also want to note to help focus us
tonight is ... is a couple weeks ago we ... we talked a lot about individual design elements
of the project, such as, uh, lane width, distance between back of the curb and the
sidewalk, sidewalk widths, location, that sort of thing. And ... and those are all important
components of the project design and contribute to the project footprint, and they all, uh,
contribute to the ... to the function and safety and comfort and ... and, uh ... a lot of factors
to the project. What I would like to suggest is that those elements really are best design,
or best addressed during the design process. So I'd like us, at least for the time being, to
remain focused on those three major, uh, design parameters that we talked about, that is
level of protection for the road, the type of bridge, and our ... and our backwater reduction
goals. And then we will address those ... those other design elements when we get into
design, and so that you all have an opportunity for input and ... and final say on those
things, we will bring the project back to you before it goes on to the DOT and the ... and
the, um, project... the... the concept statement that goes to the DOT. So ... that's our
suggestion.
Mims/ Rick...
Fosse/ Yes!
Mims/ ...with that, this kind of goes back to that question I asked in my email this morning.
If...if that comes back to us before it goes on to the DOT, how far into the process is staff
and ... and the consultant with that, at that point, if we, you know, end up giving our
parameters on one, two, and three and we start seeing those preliminary designs and
we're like, `Wait a minute,' you know, `That's... that's having too much of an impact in
areas that we aren't comfortable with,' you know, how far down ... how far down the
design phase have you gone that then we're saying, `Okay we spent a lot of money here.
Now we're ... you're telling us to step back and start over a certain amount,' I mean...
Fosse/ I think Steve Wells might be best to answer. Do you want to come on up, Steve, so ... are
you the best one for that?
Mims/ (laughing)
Fosse/ (unable to hear person responding from audience) (laughter)
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Hayek/ Are you throwing him off an archer bridge or a deck bridge here, uh (laughter) answering
that question? (laughter)
Wells/ I can answer it in terms of the context of the ... of the federal requirements that ... the issue
with ... the whole purpose of the NEPA process is to give you federal authorization to start
design. If you go too far down the design process before you finish NEPA, you put any
federal money at risk. After NEPA's signed, how you decide to proceed and what risks
you're willing to take and how quickly you do it is a political decision that you guys
and ... and Rick and his staff need to ... need to take. Obviously you don't want to go too
far down the path and have to start over cause that costs you and the City money,
so ... but...
Fosse/ Which ... I think is the basis of the question. Do you know how far down that path we will
be (unable to hear) project concept statement? Is that 10 %? 15 %?
Wells/ Yeah, I'd say 10, 15 %. At that point.
Pierson/ Right it would be before we do preliminary plans, which are usually what's considered
like 30% of design if you're going from zero to 100 %. Right now we're probably at
somewhere between 5 and 10 %, depending on which aspect of the project you're talking
about. Um, so ... before we do that concept statement, before we would be submitting
preliminary plans, you would have a chance to review things and...
Mims/ Okay.
Pierson/ ... and fine tune things before we get too far down the road.
Mims/ Okay, yeah, that's kind of what I was trying to get at.
Pierson/ Yeah.
Champion/ I just have a ... further question on that, to follow up on Susan's. For instance, I really
liked her idea of reducing the footprint of that road so if the Council wants that footprint
reduced and moved closer to the river, that would not be done before you did preliminary
designs?
Fosse/ The ... what we would like to do ... we understand your objectives to minimize the footprint
of the project, and ... and because all the elements that are in the preferred alternative, that
is the sidewalks on the ... on the east side of the road, as well as some green space
between the sidewalk and back of curb, those are all important objectives for the project.
We would like to see how well we can make it all fit before we start to categorically rule
anything out. That's... that's really what we want to do, and to be able to do that we need
to be further into design.
Throgmorton/ Rick, I need to ... follow up on that as well, because I agree with Susan's question,
and I'm concerned that we'll get too far down the road with regard to assumptions about
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traffic volumes, 20 ... year 2040 traffic volumes. Assumptions about traf...the traffic
speed, um, design parameters, the target speed for the area, both of which have huge
ramifications. Well I don't want to exaggerate too much. Big ramifications for the width
of the lanes.. .
Fosse/ Uh huh.
Throgmorton/ ...for the... the... the number of turn lanes, the width of the turn lanes, and
therefore for the horizontal footprint. If we get too far down the road, all sorts of design
is gonna be built around presumptions that maybe ... we don't want. We being some of us
up here anyhow.
Fosse/ Okay. So that was simply a suggestion. We ... we can talk more deeply about those things
tonight and subsequent nights, if you would like to do that. Steve, did you have anything
you wanted (both talking)
Wells/ I was just going to add not necessarily directly answering Jim's question, but ... keep in
mind that the process we're going through, the ... the, when we did the environmental
work that we're just now finishing up, we intentionally made it bigger and more
impactful than we ever anticipate doing (several responding) actually constructing it.
That way we get all the federal clearances. We can always sma ... make the project
smaller. That's what the whole concept study is from here to that 25, 30% design, that's
when we need to figure out lane widths and ... and sidewalks and those types of things.
That's the next step in the process when we get into a lot more detail, but once we hit 25,
30% concept design, we don't want to go back, okay, cause that creates a lot of additional
work (several responding) uh, once we get to those concepts, we want to design it from
... from that point forward.
Pierson/ And to Rick's point, a lot of that is controlled by the elevation of Dubuque Street, the
elevation of the bridge, and what type of bridge we're talking about. So, I mean, right
there depending on what parameters you pick for that, might take care ... may take care of
some of your questions. I mean, just by picking something other than 500- plus -one, that
might already shrink in the footprint for the horizontal.
Throgmorton/ (mumbled)
Mims/ But I think ... I think for me at least ... I don't necessarily know the full horizontal impact
of say going 2008 - plus -one for example on the bridge, and say 200 - plus -one or two or
three on the road. What, you know, until I can really see what it's doing horizontally, I
don't know if that's the elevation I'm comfortable with, and so that's kind of where my
first question was coming from because we're being asked to pick, you know, these three
key things that Rick mentioned earlier and... and I understand we have to do that for you
folks to get started, but we don't really know what the full ramifications of that are until
you get further in the design, but then I personally want to see it before you get so far
down the road that it's too late to potentially say, `Back up! I don't like that. It's too
impactful. I would rather lower the road,' or something.
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Pierson/ And that's where the concept stage is useful. That's where we can iron a lot of those
details out.
Mims/ Okay.
Pierson/ Um, because right now really all we've done is the design work associated with 500 -
plus -one because that's what we cleared through NEPA so...
Mims/ Sure.
Pierson/ ...um, we can ... we're giving you best, um, estimates on what some of those different
elevations are, but really we're basing it on ... using math from the models we had
developed for 500- plus -one.
Mims/ Okay.
Pierson/ In the concept stage if you chose from Rick's parameters to go with something other
than 500- plus -one, our first task would be to build a model for whatever that is, and that
would help us answer a lot of your questions right up front. And then fine tune it based
on your input.
Hayek/ I mean, we, you know, we've benefitted already, I think, from the fact that, you know,
we're not ... we're clearly not going with the 500- plus -one. That's not the staff
recommendation, so we can eliminate that extreme approach, and we understand why it
was taken through the ... for the process. You know, it appears that there is, uh, sufficient
support to do more than nothing, and so we've narrowed the, you know, the bookends, so
to ... the parameters (laughter) so to speak, which is good, because we're ... we're making
some progress without committing, and we're ... we're educating ourselves about ... about
this. So I'm glad to be narrowing the parameters, but the ... the key will be how do you
distinguish a 100- plus -one from the other... options, not... still, you know, within the
current parameters, uh, and what does that look like, and those are moving parts too, uh,
which is hard, which ... which makes it harder for policymakers to ... to dig in, but I think
we've talked a lot. Why don't we let you guys talk.
Fosse/ Okay! Well with that introduction let me simply turn it over to Mark and he will guide
you through some of those questions that came up a couple weeks ago, as well as some of
those in the correspondence.
Pierson/ Okay, so based on the questions that ... that you asked at the work session and then some
of the follow up discussions over the past couple weeks, we really had four general
categories of questions, and so we've grouped `em by questions regarding the elevations
for roadway, uh, questions regarding flooding or backwater reduction, um, questions
associated with construction, and as we've already started discussing, questions regarding
the design considerations and ... and the, uh, reduction of that horizontal footprint. So I'll
start just going through. These are the same questions that you received in your packet. I
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think there was 20 of them. Um, so I was just going to walk through these and then let
Rick get to the discussion of... of parameters, and then if you have questions as we go
through this, please just go ahead and ask. Uh, so the first question was is it correct that
Dubuque Street's been closed for approximately 150 days the last 20 years, and would
the street have been closed only six days if the bridge were at a 100 - plus -one elevation,
and that both statements are correct. Um, one thing to keep in mind is, is that 150 days of
closure does not account for the periodic closures that they have to have when there's
heavy rains locally. These are all related to releases from the Coralville reservoir. For
the 150 days. Um, have we looked at another immediate... intermediate flood levels, uh,
based on ... the discussion we had two weeks ago, we have started looking at a 200 -plus-
one elevation, and again, these are approximations, but it's about three and a half feet
higher than what would be a 100 — plus -one elevation, and we're going to have a couple
of exhibits on screen here in a second where you, or in your Council packets, where you
can kind of start to see what that difference really looks like in a couple areas along
Dubuque Street. The first one we did was, um, an exhibit that we took from the
environmental assessment where we were showing the different flood elevations and
what, uh, the 100, 2008, and 500- plus -one elevations would look like if you were to
elevate Dubuque Street to one of those levels, we added in 200 - plus -one based on your
request, and it's really tough to see on screen. Uh, probably a better way to look at it is in
the Council packet. I think you got 11 X 17's where you can look closer, but we're really
talking about several feet. The, uh, the 100 - plus- one ... is... just slightly above ... the, um,
2008 flood, but I mean, there's really not much difference between those, at least as far as
it relates to Mayflower. Now in the next exhibit you'll see some more, uh, some more
difference between the elevations.
Throgmorton/ Mark...
Pierson/ Yes!
Throgmorton/ ... how ... how tall is an individual human being, given that scale?
Pierson/ That person is probably about 6 -feet tall is what I think Chris usually uses.
Throgmorton/ Well I ... no, I mean ... so is that...
Pierson/ Oh, on the bike?
Throgmorton/ Is that a person on a bike on the right?
Pierson/ Yes, that's a person on a bike.
Throgmorton/ Okay. So I ... I just wanted ... to have a sense of...if you drew an individual on the
left in front of Mayflower, if you drew an individual there, how ... how high would that
little drawing be?
Pierson/ Okay, so ... the 650 -foot elevation is that white line that's passing underneath this rail.
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Throgmorton/ Uh huh.
Pierson/ And that next gradient is 660 feet that would be a couple feet above their head, and so
for instance that 500- plus -one line is ... um ... coming through their head (laughs) and
probably about 557 or right around there ... feet. And so ... you've...
Dickens/ Approximately 8 -feet or?
Pierson/ Yeah, I mean...
Dickens/ From sidewalk to...
Pierson/ That trail is a couple feet above, um ... that 650 -foot elevation. We put the ... the trail at
just above the 100 - plus -one so that it would ... to maximize it staying dry...
Dickens/ Sure.
Pierson/ ... in this example. But that... you can see, I mean, we're talking... even in the area of
Mayflower, maybe the diff...I'm about 6 -feet tall. We're talking about the difference
between maybe being at my knees versus at my shoulders, in terms of elevations through
there. It changes as we go further south, which you're well aware. Now I'll point out the
...the, uh, elevations we're showing here, this is ... this is again from the preferred and we
added a line for the 200 - plus -one elevation. Um, now the reason that Dubuque Street is
above that line for 500- plus -one is the difference in elevation you need to be able to get
from Dubuque Street onto the top of the bridge deck. So that's kind of reflecting the
depth of the structure, cause it's right near the intersection. That's why the road's higher
in this stretch than the 500- plus -one. And so ... if you went with a girder bridge and you
did say a 200 - plus -one elevation, this street would just drop by that couple of feet that
you see in the exhibit, that's the difference between the 200 and the 500. Or the 2008 and
the 500. And Rick will get into a lot more detail about some of the differences in
elevations between, uh, the staff recommendations. Well, and one of the other questions
you had was regarding the use of HESCO barriers and staff did some... some work this
past couple weeks to, um, look at cost associated with that, so I think the last time we
were here it was mentioned that it costs the University approximately $5 million to
deploy those barriers, um, this past summer. Um ... we did some ... some calculations and
City staff estimates that it's approximately $690,000 to deploy HESCO barriers along the
stretch of Dubuque Street that we're talking about. Something to keep in mind is that...
it is reimbursable if an event is a, um, federally - declared disaster, but in many times
you're going to deploy those whether or, you know, before you would ever know if it was
going to be a federal disaster declaration or not, so in that sense you are ... you are betting
that, uh, if you deploy that, one, you're doing it wisely to protect the area, but two, with
the anticipation that if it were declared a federal disaster area, you'd get reimbursed. If it
wasn't, you would not get reimbursed.
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Hayek/ Historically do you ... do we know how many federally - declared disaster, uh,
classifications we've had?
Fosse/ (several talking) ...93, 08, and 13. That's what we've experienced.
Hayek/ Thanks, Rick.
Throgmorton/ Mark, I'd like ... like to follow, uh, ask a question...
Pierson/ Yes!
Throgmorton/ ...about that, but it relates to the next question, as well.
Pierson/ Okay!
Throgmorton/ So ... if I understand correctly, the water level on the east side of the road will
under river flood conditions rise to the same level as the river?
Pierson/ Oh, I wish I had my hydraulics guy here. Urn ... (laughs)
Throgmorton/ Because... because (both talking)
Pierson/ The key ... the key with the question regarding what do you do with the run -off from the
hillsides on the east side of Dubuque as it goes to the river is right now there are issues
associated with the size of the culverts. The culverts just need to be resized, um, to allow
that water to pass through and get into the river. Now... go ahead...
Throgmorton/ Well I ask because if in fact it's an interconnected system and the water on the
east side would be the same level as the water on the west side, under river flood
conditions, then the HESCO barriers wouldn't keep anything out. That that's ... I'm just
(both talking) checking whether I understand the situation.
Fosse/ You are correct, and the estimate for the HESCOs includes putting, uh, HESCOs on both
sides of Dubuque Street.
Throgmorton/ Ah!
Fosse/ So we'd have a double layer on the river side so it'd have better impact resistance and a
single layer on the east side, uh, just to hold back the water. And what the 690,000 buys
us is about an additional three and a half feet of protection.
Throgmorton/ Oh, I see. Double layer, $690,000.
Fosse/ Correct.
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Dickens/ Was there anything done about the possibly the temporary ones, like the Art Museum
that has ... that they can just, I mean, they've got the bases in there that they can just apply
those.
Fosse/ We did not look at that for the full extent of the corridor. I think it would be significantly
more expensive.
Dickens/ Quite a bit more.
Pierson/ Um, more issues regarding, or questions regarding flooding, uh, question was asked can
more information be provided on future roads closed ... road closures by various impact
levels, and again, really all we can do is look at past events and over the last 20 years,
um, see what the trends are associated with that. Now, um, based on that, we would
presume that Dubuque Street would not be closed nearly as often if the roadway were
elevated at... at least 100- plus -one. I mean, that really did a lot to minimize the number
of closures over the past 20 years. And presumably would have that same benefit for the
next 20 years and beyond.
Champion/ When you say that, did you take into account ... that the bridge is going to be raised
and so the water is going to flow faster under the bridge?
Pierson/ Um ... no, it was strictly related to the elevation...
Champion/ Okay.
Pierson/ ... of the street. But you're right, that... (mumbled) again I'm not going to make a
prediction, but yes, I mean, with the bridge higher up to allow more water to convey
underneath, more quickly, that would have a benefit, as well.
Champion/ And the other question I have about that is, um, since ... the reservoir, the dam...
what's the dam called?
Mims/ Coralville Dam.
Champion/ The Coralville Dam (laughs) Thank you, um, because they do not let all the water
out of the reservoir, as much as they can, because they're trying to keep Dubuque Street
open for us, and so if we raise Dubuque Street even 100 - plus -one, they'll be able to start
a lot earlier letting more water out of the dam, so I think again that's going to decrease
the amount of flooding we would have, plus the water going under the bridge. So I just
wondered if you took those things into consideration.
Pierson/ Yep. Absolutely. And that's correct that with any of these elevation scenarios, the
Corps would be able to release their maximum, which is 20,000 cubic feet per second.
Oh, and you had also asked about the economic impact associated with Dubuque Street
closures. I believe staff is still working on that, and they're working with Summer of
Arts, the Chamber, and the Economic Development Division to kind of gauge what the
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impacts were from closures this past summer and in 2008. Had some issues regarding
construction, uh, one was regarding cost overruns during construction, how would they
be paid for. Um, do keep in mind that all the estimates that you've been seeing related to
the different scenarios, we do have contingency built in since this is so conceptual level, I
mean, um, we have a 20% contingency built in that ... helps for inflation, for, um, costs of
... of unit costs increasing. It has that cushion built in, and as we go through the design
process, those estimates will have less and less, uh, contingency built into it as we get
more refined and know exactly what it is that we would be building. So ... um, also, um,
any overruns during construction, staff has said will be paid with the general obligation
bonds. Um, question regarding cost clarifications between the Gateway and the no -build
options. Um ... keep in mind that the estimates that we presented for the different
scenarios, for the Gateway, um ... was for construction ... constructing the project only. It
didn't include the soft costs of the design fees. It didn't include the ... the hard costs
associated with the trunk sewer work. Um, also ... in the no- build, not to get things
confused, but the no -build did include the final design costs. So one did, one did not.
Um, but ... the cost estimates you're seeing regarding the concepts for the Gateway don't
include the trunk sewer, and do not include the, um, planning and design and other soft
costs associated with developing the project.
Throgmorton/ So ... to my way of reading the written response to that question it...it came across
as though the costs are actually going to be significantly higher than I had in my mind at
least, cause I was thinking 35 to 38 million dollars total cost. Uh, I gather the total cost
will be something like 43 to 45 or something like that.
Pierson/ If you were to add in the design costs and the costs of the trunk sewer, it would probably
be closer to ... 44 or 45, which I think is all accounted for in the capital improvement plan
but...
Throgmorton/ Okay, so you know, it's hard to keep all this ... all these numbers in ... in our heads,
and I'm sure it's true for everybody else, but ... but then I wonder how does that conform
with what we know about available funding, the dollars we have (laughs) that we can
count on to pay for the project.
Dickens / Rick, was the trunk sewer in a previous budget or budgeted out (both talking)
Fosse/ That is in a separate project that's in the capital program that's currently funded. That's
about a $4.4 million project. Um, and Jim, getting... getting at your question there, let me
check my notes. Um ... the funding that we've been able to put together for this project,
ex... excluding the GO funding part of it, so external — state and federal money, as well as
the lost, totals about $36.3 million. So the ... and the construction costs that we've been
presenting to you as we outlined, uh, a couple weeks ago are ... our construction costs,
what we expect the bids to be at. The soft costs in addition to that you can add roughly
$8 million to ... to those totals. And ... and I'll review that again with you when we talk
about recommendations.
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Pierson/ Uh, going through some of the design questions that you had, um, there was a question
regarding travel lanes and the preferred alternative for 12 -feet wide. Can this width be
reduced, and if so, what will the effects be? Um, so really what we're talking about are
some tradeoffs. When you start talking about lane width reductions, um, keep in mind
that the 12 -foot travel lane for this type of street is based off of the Iowa DOT design
manual, the state wide urban design and specifications, and also the ASTO -Green books.
So it's ... it is the standard, um, the travel lanes on Dubuque Street now are currently 12-
feet wide as you go from Park Road to the north, because the speed goes up to 35. Any
time you have an arterial street at 35 miles an hour or more, you want to have those 12-
foot lanes. It's that extra, uh, safety margin, if you will. As you get south of the Park and
Dubuque intersection, the speed is reduced to 25 miles an hour, and I believe, Rick,
correct me if I'm wrong, but the lanes do narrow through that stretch to 11 -feet. But
again, it's also at a slower speed so...
Champion/ How wide is the interstate lane?
Pierson/ It's ... each travel lane is 12 -feet wide.
Champion/ So...
Pierson/ But they also have 12 -foot shoulders that we don't have here and you're dealing with
cars and trucks, as opposed to cars, trucks, bikes, pedestrians. It's a different mix of
traffic. So ... I ... I
Dickens/ In the planning stages though, if you reduce the speed from 25 miles an hour from
Foster Road up, then you would be able to go with 11 -feet safely.
Champion/ I would think so.
Pierson/ It has...
Dickens/ Cause you're going to have that (both talking)
Pierson/ ...if you ... and we'll get into this in a couple of the related questions, but um, keep in
mind if you reduce the lane widths, that has a tendency to also reduce safety, but it's
maybe balanced out by the fact that if you slowed the speeds down as well, that helps
improve safety. So, again, it's another... what's that sweet spot.
Dobyns/ So it's either calming or less safe, depending on the personality of the drivers.
Pierson/ But you're also ... keep in mind this is a ... is one of the main arteries into the city. It's
handling 25,000 vehicles a day. It's...
Dobyns/ So ... in small residential roads, narrowing is ... has a calming effect...
Pierson/ Right.
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Dobyns/ ...in a major arterial you're suggesting it hasn't a calming effect. It has a safety...
Pierson/ Well, you can calm it, but is that what you want to do on an arterial street.
Throgmorton/ I ... I think (several talking)
Champion/ ...I think it's only a half a mile.
Throgmorton/ ...because this is not just a conventional arterial. This is an arterial in a particular
location, in a particular context, and we have an opportunity at this moment to design it in
a ... in a way that presumes the traffic will be say 25 miles an hour, and if the traffic is
travelling at 25 miles an hour, if there are accidents, the accidents will be considerably
less severe, cause considerably less damage than if they're ... if the traffic is moving at 35
to 40 miles an hour. There's a big difference if you design for a target speed instead of
presuming a targ ... a ... a speed, and building everything else around it.
Dobyns/ And that's why this is a tough road. It's not just a major arterial entryway, it also
happens to be a parkway.
Pierson/ Sure!
Dobyns/ And those are two very different types of roads, which is what we're struggling with.
Champion/ And it's a lot of people living along (both talking)
Pierson/ ...I used to be a resident on Dubuque Street.
Dobyns/ Yeah, it's (both talking)
Pierson/ I've made that Cambus turn by Mayflower a few hundred times. I (laughter and several
talking)
Throgmorton/ You drove it, didn't ya?
Pierson/ I did! (laughter)
Hayek/ The, but ... these are ... these are ... this is an important discussion point and ... and these are
good arguments...
Pierson/ Uh huh.
Hayek/ ...and it's a complex issue, but it's ... I ... I think we ought to follow the staff, uh,
approach here on ... on the issues we're trying to ... I mean, we need to go through the
questions, I get that, but ... this may be something that we ... take up a little ... it's
secondary to some of the other issues. I understand the inner- relationship. (both talking)
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Pierson/ ... don't want to minimize it, but yeah, I mean, this is kind of where, again, like the
elevations and trying to find that sweet spot. This is really something that you could
work out during the concept stage, based on your recommendations, you know, voting on
the staff recommendation and... and, as being the Council, being able to put on whatever
stipulations you would want to associate with that in your recommenda ... in accepting a
recommendation or...
Hayek/ Okay.
Pierson/ ...whatever course you decide to take, but yeah, it's ... it's a balancing act. You reduce
speed, that helps safety. If you narrow the travel lanes, that has a tendency to ... lessen
safety, but ... it's finding that equilibrium. Which we just covered with this slide.
Although I would like to point out, again, during the concept stage ... speed management,
questions related to that can be worked out at that time. And ... and do so in more detailed
study. Also like to point out that I think anecdotally they've seen speeds decrease a little
bit through there based on, um, that inter ... the interchange intersection at I -80 and
Dubuque is now signal - controlled, whereas before it was basically an off ramp and you
could just come right onto Dubuque Street at about 45, 50 miles an hour (several
responding) Um, and also with Foster and Dubuque's signal control now, that helps slow
things down there, as well. Um, likewise a pedestrian- activated signal, uh, being
installed at Mayflower, um, again that's probably something we would want to consider
during the concept phase about implementing. It does have the benefits of... of
functioning as speed control. It certainly would provide better safety for pedestrians
crossing there, but again, it's a balancing act between being able to move the vehicles
through there and protecting the pedestrians and picking that right speed through the, uh,
through that part of the corridor. Uh, the preferred alternative recommends wide
sidewalks on both sides of Dubuque Street. Can these widths be minimized or perhaps
eliminated on the east side? I hate to keep saying it's a balancing act, but it really is. If
you want the corridor to be ... pedestrian and bike friendly and um ... meeting some of
those goals that we had for the project ... then the argument might lead you to have
sidewalks on both sides of the street, but again, it's a balancing act between those safety
aspects and... and maximizing the amenities for pedestrians and bicyclists and other users
of the corridor... with a horizontal footprint and that's part of the balancing act that we
would want to look at further in the concept stage.
Throgmorton/ Thanks ... why it's so crucial to take the context in mind...
Pierson/ Right.
Throgmorton/ ...keep it in mind and not think about this as a conventional arterial... arterial,
can't talk, arterial. Don't do it. That's what I think!
Pierson/ Can parkway widths be reduced? Now the parkway in this context, think of the
parkway as that grassy area between the back of the curb and the sidewalk. That's the
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parkway in `engineerees.' Um, can that be reduced? It sure can, but if you're a bicyclist
or a pedestrian along that stretch, you'll have...
Dobyns/ Slop! (laughs)
Pierson/ (laughs)
Dobyns/ Slop! (laughs)
Pierson/ Um ... and it...it also makes things a little bit complicated in the winter with
maintenance, I mean, part of the benefits of having that wider parkway is for snow
storage. It also has safety benefits. If you're a user of that sidewalk, you'll feel safer
with that increased separation from traffic.
Throgmorton/ But ... but of course one would feel safer if the traffic was moving at 25 miles an
hour instead of 35 miles an hour (both talking)
Pierson/Indeed! Absolutely!
Dobyns/ (mumbled) slop! Yes! (laughter)
Pierson/ Um ... the question came up, can the median be we ... reduced from zero to 25 -feet to
zero to 12 -feet? The answer again is yes, though keep in mind, um, one of the things that
was a goal for the project, secondarily, was in trying to maintain the character of the
corridor, we kept the existing median widths as they are, especially north of, um, Park
Road. Um ... the preferred horizontal median is the same as ... as the existing. Um, if you
shrink that up, um ... that's fine, but again, that gives you less opportunities if you wanted
to do any kind of tree plantings, for instance, in the median, um, up by Mayflower and
through that stretch, uh, because of clear zone issues, you have to have time to recover if
you go off the road before you would hit those trees. The wider median allows that.
Also it provides some storage for cars if they wanted to turn from a, let's say the new
entrance to Terrell Mill Park and wanted to go northbound on Dubuque Street, the way
it's set up is you'd be able to cross the southbound lanes, pause and have some safe
storage before completing the turn to get northbound. Likewise it maintains the current
width in that area so that a Cambus can make that turnaround going from Mayflower and
heading back into campus.
Mims / Right there at the, uh, Park Road intersection with Dubuque...
Pierson/ Uh huh.
Mims/ If we're going with two left turn lanes off from Park Road bridge, north on Dubuque
Street, will there be ... will that necessitate some sort of a median on Dubuque Street?
Pierson/ No.
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Mims/ Okay. I just wondered. It's one thing if you've only got one lane of traffic turning left. I
didn't know when you have two, I mean, trying to keep those people in their lanes and
not hitting the traffic on Dubuque Street if...if there was any safety designs that would
necessitate any kind of a median there.
Pierson/ There might be a... a small painted median but I mean we're not talking about any kind
of barrier...
Mims/ Okay!
Pierson/ ...protection or anything like that.
Mims/ Okay. Thanks.
Pierson/ Um, indicated that a right turn lane from southbound Dubuque to westbound Park is
warranted, um, by the MPO Johnson County. Why is the new turn lane necessary?
Really the reasoning for that is from a traffic perspective, um, the threshold that you look
at for needing a right turn lane is approximately 300 vehicles wanting to make that
movement in an hour, and in the peak hours in the morning at that intersection there's
approximately 700, 720 vehicles looking to make that right turn. So near ... double, um,
what you would consider warranting a ... a right turn lane. So that's why the right turn
lane was included in ... in the preferred alternatives.
Throgmorton/ Am I right in understanding this is based on a projected 2040 traffic volumes?
Pierson/ It's a mix of current and ... future volumes. Um ... the current traffic has 750...715
vehicles on an average day looking to make that turn from Dubuque towards Park Road
and Hancher. Um, that doesn't account for events at Hancher and more vehicles making
that turn, whether it's a football game day or basketball or Hancher event, uh ... you
know, there's even heavier volumes wanting to make that right turn, going to the event
and making the left turns north on Dubuque, after the event's over.
Champion/ What about ... I mean, the right hand turn like going to Hancher or going to a major
...a major event, the problem is is that Park Road backs up. So if you have two ... if you
have a separate lane turning right, it's not going to help that situation.
Pierson/ Well that's why they wanted to add the center turn lane for Park Road that's not there
now. That would help. So if you make ... the right ... if I'm understanding you correctly...
Champion/ Uh huh.
Pierson/ ...if you make the right turn to Hancher, you're saying that doesn't help getting to
Hancher, is that...
Champion/ Well, because... well, you're talking about a designated right hand lane ... right hand
lane, but the problem with that ... I mean, I'm not saying it's a bad idea. Don't
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misunderstand me. But the problem is when you have a lot of cars turning right for a
major event at Hancher, Park Road is a road that backs up and not ... Dubuque Street and
what happens is that people coming from the... south (mumbled) heading north, they're
coming from the south...
Pierson/ Uh huh.
Champion/ ...can't ever make a left hand turn because Park Road is backed up. So you're...
you're probably creating even more of a problem for people going that direction.
Pierson/ well, and part of that would be alleviated by having a left turn into Hancher. On Park
Road, having that center turn lane run from the Hancher entrance all the way up to
Riverside. That would help clear traffic off of Park Road so that the vehicles coming in
would not back out this much.
Dickens/ We talked about that in the future budget when Hancher was finished, that we were
going to widen Park Road to have that turning lane into there.
Champion/ Yeah, that would probably help. You're right. Okay, never mind. That's off the
subject again.
Pierson/ That's all right! Um, again, are dual lefts required on eastbound Park Road? Can we
have a shared right/left? You can, um, but ... the dual left turns help the intersection
perform better and minimize delays on Park and ... and elsewhere. Um, and would really
...the fu ... ear, to one of your earlier questions regarding the future volumes, it's not so
much an instance that there's going to be a huge increase in future traffic volumes on
Dubuque Street. This isn't really a project oriented towards capacity increases. That's
why we only have the ... the four lanes, two lanes in each direction and we're not
widening the, or adding additional lanes. Yes we're adding a turn lane potentially at that
intersection, but that's to help the intersection move better. And the ... where we're
seeing increases in traffic in the future are oriented towards Hancher- related events or use
of the Hancher lot for commuter traffic. The distribution is changing over time to be
heavier movements towards Hancher, while the total number of vehicles passing through
the corridor are relatively the same. They're increasing but not by huge volumes that you
would say you would need to add additional lanes to handle traffic.
Throgmorton/ This ... this, Mark, this sounds different from what I was reading in the text, okay?
So I understand how, you know, you can elaborate and things would ... would be
different, but I ... I would want to see some written clarification of this, because I know
when I ... when I read the text, I understood it to be saying that these additional turn lanes,
etc., were needed in order to accommodate future growth in traffic (mumbled) consistent
with the year 2040, uh (both talking)
Pierson/ ...the growth is in ... is in the traffic wanting to make those movements. The total
number of vehicles through the project corridor aren't increasing by a great deal, but
where people are wanting to go is going to change over time. So the in ... the in ... right
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now there's maybe about 11,000 vehicles in a day that are making that turn to go across
Park Road, or coming from Park Road (noise on mic) Oops! Heading north ... and that's
out of about 25,500 vehicles a ... on an average day. What I ... what I'm suggesting is is
that that mix of traffic is going to change over time, so that more of those vehicles are on
Dubuque going to Park, or from Park to Dubuque, rather than Dubuque through to
downtown. And to handle that, that's where the dual lefts, the right turn lane would...
would help.
Throgmorton/ Okay.
Pierson/ But if, again, if you want further clarification, just let staff ...or the City Manager know,
and we can ... address that. Uh, additional options available for shrinking the horizontal
footprint and minimizing the impact along the Bella Vista hillside at Dubuque and Park
Road. Um, the answer is yes, we've talked about some of these related to the horizontal
footprint. We touched ... I think you touched on one last, uh, last time we were here about
things you can do to, um, protect the slope. If you want to increase the slope, maybe you
can plant native species along there and not worry about mowing it. That would help
reduce the footprint. Uh, for mature trees, we could add tree wells to help protect those,
separate from anything we would do horizontally. Um, we could use steeper slopes, we
could use retaining walls along the east side of the sidewalk, there's a whole mix of
different things that we can do through that stretch that would reduce impacts to that
hillside. So just wanted to reiterate that and keep that in mind, um ... as we go forward
and we're looking at different concepts. What are the design criteria affecting clear zone
and the use of barriers? So I think this is a question related to, um, barriers along the trail
that would be on top of the retaining wall, if you were to elevate Dubuque Street. And,
there, we looked at the design standards for... for clear zone and when you would need to
have a barrier, say similar to what you would have on the bridge to protect you from
going through and on over the wall or into the river. Um, right now in looking at that
...but we'll need to study it more, the setback from the retaining wall is greater than the
required clear zone. So (coughing, unable to hear speaker) you would have enough room
to recover if you were to go off the road in time to regain control without having a barrier
to stop you from going on over the wall. But, that is something, uh, that we would need
to look at in more detail when we get into the design phase because um... crash -worthy
barrier along there may be as much a piece of mind issue as it is a ... an issue of clear zone
and how much room you need to recover if you were to go off the road, and there's other
things we could do, um, in addition to a barrier. It could be a heightened curb that, which
would keep you from going off the road in the first place. There's other things we can
do, but again that's issues that we can sort out as we're going through the concept stage.
Throgmorton/ This relates to a question I got by email today, Mark, uh, and it basically was what
will... a person on foot or a driver be able to see? What part of the river would one be
able to see as one's driving on the flattest part of the road, you know.
Pierson/ Well if you didn't have a ... a crash -worthy barrier, if you will. Think of it as like the
barrier that you have on the current bridge that keeps ... if you were to crash, it would stop
you before you could go through it and ... off the road. So the difference would be, there
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would be some type of fencing there to keep pedestrians and bicyclists safe, but what
they need for a crash -worthy barrier is certainly different than what a vehicle or a, you
know, any kind of motorized vehicle would need. So we can do ... fencing that's
appropriate for the context of the project, and that's where we engage our landscape
architects who have been working with ... with, uh, Project Green and other folks
throughout this planning process, but we can get them engaged to say, okay, what makes
sense for this area, what maximizes the views of the river and really work in that regard,
and then address the need for a crash -worthy barrier for motorized vehicles, in
conjunction with that. And figure out what's... what's that right balance, again, to
maximize views of the river, of City Park, with the safety aspects that you need for... for,
uh, protecting the travelers. Uh, with that I'll turn things over to Rick and he can talk
about staff recommendations. Thank you.
Throgmorton/ Thanks, Mark.
Fosse/ Thank you, Mark!
Hayek/ Thank you, Mark.
Fosse/ Well let's go ahead and ... and uh, we'll go through the ... the three recommendations that
...that staff is making, uh with regard to level of protection for Dubuque Street, uh,
backwater reduction goals, and structural type of the bridge. And I'll try and walk you
through some of the process that we used to get to those recommendations so that you
under... understand the logic there. And we'll begin with the recommended elevation for
Dubuque Street. And our recommendation is is that the minimum level of protection, uh,
be it one foot above the 2008 flood level, and uh, you had asked for some metrics related
to that, uh, what we're showing here, we're comparing the different alternatives and the
number of days closed, and Mark already touched on this earlier. 150 days for flooding
by the river with current conditions, uh, seven ... uh, for the 100 -year- plus -one; five for
the 200 - plus -one, that's assuming one day for cleanup, inspection, and repair. Uh, at the
2008 - plus -one and the 500- plus -one, uh, based on the past 20 years, there would not have
been an inundation. But I can promise you that at either one of those elevations, some
day they will be inundated and if we have a flood of the ... the frequency that, uh, Cedar
Rapids experienced in 2008, it would inundate the ... the 500- plus -one. Uh, the point
being that as you go further, uh, along the scale of protection, it will flood less often. Uh,
I've also included some information there about relative heights, uh, using the
recommended elevation is zero, uh, you can see that the 500- plus -one option is 19 inches
than that. The 200 -year- plus -one is 11 inches lower. The 100 - plus -one is 39 inches
lower. And to help, uh, shape up the ... the factors that went into that decision, I want to
share with you some of the things that we learned after the 1993 flood and the projects
that we did in conjunction with that. So uh ... our three major projects were the Rocky
Shore Drive, Highway 6 flood gate, uh, Riverside Drive lift station, and the south Gilbert,
Stevens Drive flood gate. Uh, those were all designed to 100 -year- plus -one, uh,
frequency, and then we also did some updates to our flood plain maps. And what we've
experienced since then, in ... in 2008 at the Rocky Shore Drive, Highway 6, the ... the
design capacity of that was exceeded and that area flooded. Uh, it performed fairly well
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in... earlier this year when we had less than a 100 -year event, but not in 08. Uh, so after
the 08 event, uh, we're implementing a $6.6 million upgrade to this area that's part of a
five - project collaborative, uh, effort with Coralville, totaling $26.9 million to help protect
this area to a higher level of protection. Uh, Riverside Drive, we upgraded that lift
station and in 2008 that flood exceeded that lift station's capacity to protect the area, as
well as the improvements that the University made along the riverbank, and ... and as a
result the new art building was flooded. So the University has implemented a means
of...of protecting, uh, that during flood events, uh, at the ... the lift station did work okay
in 2013. It did sputter a little bit. If you drove through there you saw some water coming
up through the cracks and all, but it held on and ... and did perform okay. Uh, but that's
an area in which we're contemplating a joint project with the University to improve the
capacity of that lift station and ability to fight, uh, the head to a higher elevation. Then
finally the south Gilbert Street, uh, Stevens Drive area, we put in a flood gate, uh, place
to install pumps, and then the private property owners made some improvements to the...
to the elevation between the buildings so that that would perform up to 100- year -plus-
one, and in 08 that ... that was overwhelmed. And we did look at a, uh, a project to
improve the flood protection down here, but it proved to be too expensive for the funding
that was available, and if you recall, that's one that we turned back the $4 million in
CDBG money that we had for that because it didn't total up to the $12 to $13 million is
what it would take to fix that. Uh, in 2013 the improvements that we made in 93
functioned okay. You recall that we did get some complaints about the capacity of that
pump, and its ability to perform during ... during heavy rainfall events. And then, uh,
finally we did make, uh, flood plain maps after the flood of 93 to represent the ... the
higher level that was projected for the 100 -year flood, as well as better topo information
and observed flood limits. Um, after 08 we updated our flood plain management
ordinance to ... to, uh, elevate homes to a foot above the 500 -year elevation, so it's a
higher level of protection. I share with you all of that because if after 93 we had elevated
Dubuque Street to a foot above the 100 -year, uh, based on the context of how the
performance of the other projects were perceived, this project would not have been a
success. The ... the, it would have been inundated and like the other projects, I expect that
there would have been desire to upgrade our protection there. So, that's history shared
with you as ... as best we can. So moving on, let's look at the bridge comparisons. And
what we have here is ... is a matrix, uh, comparing 48 different options. And what I want
to do is ... is try and, yeah, narrow that down for you, and ... and what we have, we're
comparing three types of bridges — bridge, uh, deck girder, deck arch, and through arch —
at various levels of height, and protection, and we're looking at backwater reduction at
the first upstream neighborhood. That'd be Idyllwild and Taft Speedway. The
incremental improvement in backwater reduction, as you improve protection levels, the
deck elevation, uh, those incremental changes at the ... for the different levels of
protection, and then we're looking at costs. So let's begin that process in narrowing that
down and ... and I'll begin with just some general comments about these types of bridges,
looking first at the deck girder bridge... bridge type. Uh, that's generally what it looks
like there. The strength of the ... the deck girders are they're an economical bridge to
build, and that's why the majority of bridges built today are deck girders. Uh, they...
they're, um, cost effective. The downside to a deck girder is they are relatively thick
vertically, so in this case that pushes that deck elevation up, which in turn pushes the
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elevation of the intersection up, which ... which, uh, it gets at a lot of those negative
externalities that we're talking about that are important to the Bella Vista neighborhood.
Uh, go down and look at the arch options. You'll see that for arched bridges, uh, they
really shine in the area of having a slender deck so you can lower that ... that, uh, that
bridge deck elevation, but they're more expensive to build. So with those generalities,
let's dive in and take a look, and the first thing we're going to examine is the backwater
reduction. This is what's important to the upstream neighborhoods. And what we're
seeing here is ... is the estimated number of inches of reduction of backwater as you look
at the different levels of ... of the bridge. So, for instance, this deck girder is at 100 -plus-
one. You get a 3.4 -inch reduction. At 500- plus -one you get a 7 -inch reduction, and
related to that, let's look at the incremental changes as you move up each level of
protection. And if you study that data, what you ... what begins to emerge is ... is
interesting and that is once you get above a 200 - plus -one level of protection, that
incremental increase in backwater reduction really falls off substantially. It's begin to
measured in fraction of inches. So that's where you begin to see a diminished return on
your investment and a diminished return on the ... the additional elevation that you put on
the Park Road bridge, and hence the intersection and approaching pavement. So that
helps to narrow things down for us. Uh, let's go ahead and look at that deck elevation,
but ... but again, narrowing that examination based on what we just learned from
backwater reduction (both talking)
Dobyns/ ... can you back up to backwater reduction column?
Fosse/ Sure!
Dobyns/ Um, my thought was that the slim bridge, the through arch, would be better in terms of
backwater reduction at all elevations. Cause it's thinner.
Fosse/ It's ... it's thinner so the elevation can be lower, but what you see down here is you've got
these ... these components of the arch...
Dobyns/ Okay.
Fosse/ ...that will be in the water and providing more drag than just these vertical piers. So
that's where that backwater reduction is less for arch option.
Dobyns/ So it's not just the deck. It's ... okay.
Fosse/ It's the supporting elements, yeah. (both talking) That's a good question! So anyway,
looking at the ... at the deck elevations now, and if ... and if we narrow our ... our
examination to the bridges at the 200 - plus -one level, uh, we see what we'd expect is that
deck girder is ... is the highest option, and then you compare the two arch bridges and you
see that the through arch performs significantly better on this parameter than does
the ... the deck arch. So that allows us to ... to rule this out in ... in our arch options. So,
what we want to do is ... is, uh, narrow it down to a deck girder and a through arch, and
then also I think it's important to maintain as an option on the table that ... that preferred
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alternative in the environmental assessment simply because that provides your best level
of protection and your best level of backwater reduction. So that's a yardstick that you
can use. So I'm ... I'm keeping that in the mix for that purpose. And let's go through and
compare each of these bridges on those parameters that we just talked about, and see
which one has the advantage and how the others place. So first we're gonna look at
backwater reduction. Uh, the ... the, uh, bridge that has the advantage there, as you would
expect, is the ... the preferred alternative in the ... in the EA, uh, with a 7 -inch reduction.
Uh, next along the way is the deck girder with 6.1 inches, and then, uh, placing third
there is the through arch. So ... so what we're seeing is ... is a difference of just a ... a
couple of inches between the highest and lowest option. Now let's move on to the deck
elevation and in this case the advantage, uh, goes to the through arch, uh, by a significant
margin. Uh, that is that the ... the through arch is the best option. Next is the deck girder
at 200 - plus -one, and uh, third place is the deck girder at 500- plus -one.
Throgmorton/ And, Rick, that enables us to have a lower roadway or a less steep, uh, drop -off
from the bridge to the roadway?
Fosse/ Um, it will enable us to have a lower roadway. Because the road goes right up to that
intersection, there won't be much opportunity to ramp down off the bridge, if you will.
So comparing it, uh ... to the ... to, uh, this option, this is two and a half feet lower than the
girder option at 200 - plus -one, and it's a full six feet lower than the preferred alternative at
the ... that is placed at 500- plus -one. So finally let's look at...at the cost. And uh, the
advantage there goes to the deck girder as our most economical option, and that's in
conjunction with a road that is at 2008 - plus -one. Uh, next along the way is the preferred
alternative and that is at, uh ... um, has both the bridge at 500- plus -one as well as the
roadway at 500- plus -one, and then the third place here goes to the through arch. So... so
what you see is that, you know, we have ... we have three good options here. Uh, they all
have, uh, different strengths, and ultimately you know the option that you chose will
depend on how you weigh the various factors that go into this, cause you ... you'll see
they ... they all align differently here. The other factor that cannot be quantified by
numbers is ... is appearance. (mumbled) deliberately left that off cause beauty's in the eye
of the beholder, but it's important, uh, it'll be an important part of the decision process
for you all and I... and I want to make sure that that is not overlooked (mumbled) (noises
on mic) drilling down on the numbers here.
Hayek/ Hey, Rick, um, on those cost estimates, um... some of the numbers are omitted from...
you'll see some blank boxes.
Fosse/ Yes!
Hayek/ Which appear to be where you've concluded that a bridge at the 200 -year elevation
cannot be, or should not be married to a Dubuque Road or Dubuque Street at 100 -year,
and vice versa. Is that... am I right about that?
Fosse/ It's...
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Hayek/ And can... and what are our options in that regard? Having a bridge at one elevation but
Dubuque at another.
Fosse / Right. Um, we did not go to the effort of... of putting cost estimates on all of them,
simply for (both talking) economy.
Hayek/ Got it!
Fosse / And uh, so we ... we did assign costs to those that ... that we really wanted to compare
there. Um, now what I want to point out is what we talked about a little bit earlier, that
these are the anticipated construction costs that in ... include the ... the bridge, Park Road,
and Dubuque Street. So the sewer's not in this. Design costs are not in this. So you'll
want to add about $8 million for soft costs to get you up to the ... the full estimate for, uh,
the Park Road, the bridge, and ... and the road. The sewer is ... is a separate one all
together. It's $4.4 million on top of that. So, for comparison, I ... what I want to do is ... is
(mumbled) about the ... the GO bond contribution. So for this most economical option
here, our GO bond contribution would be about $6.7 million. Uh, for this option, our GO
bond would be roughly $7.7 million. Uh, for this option our GO bond contribution would
be roughly $10 million. So, hope that puts ... puts it all into perspective for you (both
talking)
Hayek/ What ... what are those numbers again?
Fosse/ Sure! Uh, for the deck girder at 200 - plus -one, GO contribution of $6.7 million. For deck
girder at 500- plus -one, uh, contribution is 7.7 million. For through arch at 2008 -plus-
one, $10 million GO. So with that, we'll open it up to questions.
Throgmorton/ So with regard to roadway height, Rick, uh, what I find myself thinking, uh,
concerns the 100 - plus -one alternative. Uh, in the past 20 years it would have flooded
seven times. Or something like that.
Fosse/ Seven days!
Throgmorton/ Seven days, right! Sorry, seven days. So then I ask myself, what would happen if
we chose the 100 - plus -one level. Well, first of all I think there are no buildings
(coughing, unable to hear speaker) be flooded and damaged, on the east side of the road.
So that what we ... we wouldn't see the kind of damage that we see ... we've seen, uh,
south of, uh, Highway 6. So what would the damage be? And I know somebody's
working on that, trying to come up with some economic cost estimates...
Fosse/ Yeah.
Throgmorton/ ... but ... but still, when I think about what the damage would be, what I come up
with is interrupted traffic for seven days, or however many days it's really going to be in
the future. We don't know, right?
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Fosse / Right.
Throgmorton/ Uh, and then just for the sake of argument, I find myself thinking, that's not a very
big cost. So, you know, so ... on ... on first glance I find myself strongly inclined toward
the 100 - plus -one. I could be persuaded otherwise, but you know, that's... that's kind of
where I feel myself being pulled, just by the information that's been presented.
Fosse/ Yes. Well let me start by saying that... that... that's an accurate statement, Jim, that the
road does not protect buildings. So if the road is inundated, that does not in turn inundate
buildings, uh, by and of itself. So that's an important distinction between that and other
projects. Um, as far as the measuring the cost, that's really a hard thing to do, you know,
measuring economic impact. Now what we can do is run some numbers on the ... how
much it cost to, for the detour route and the additional miles and sort of things like that,
and we ... we can go through numbers and come up with a fairly good estimate there. But
it's ... it's really hard to put a value on ... on the impact downtown. That's... that's a
difficult thing to do. Does that help (both talking)
Dickens/ Is there any work going with the Corps of Engineers to dredge the reservoir since it's
50% silted, I mean, that seems like let's spend money up there so it reduces what happens
downstream, but can't get any leverage there. Nobody seems to want to talk about it,
but ... I know it's very tough to dredge because of what's down there now with all the run-
off and everything, but...
Fosse/ Uh huh. The ... there has been quite a bit of discussion with the Corps about the impacts
of dredging, and ... and since most of the silt is below the permanent pool, uh, what that
silt does is interfere with the Corps ... with the reservoir's ability for low -flow
augmentation, like when we're in a drought. It reduces that volume of water that's
available. But it really doesn't have a big impact on the storage that's available for flood
fighting. So ... it may seem counter- intuitive, and I ... I'm happy to spend more time with
you on that but...
Dickens/ No, that's ... I ... I kind of understand cause if you lower it, you gotta raise ... you gotta
have more water coming in just to meet your minimum level to bring the water in.
Fosse/ Yes.
Dickens/ Through the river so.
Champion/ What would... (several talking)
Hayek/ Go ahead, Connie!
Champion/ Okay, what would be the impact, I mean if we ... if we, let's say we went with the...
200, whatever, 200 - plus -one because Coralville is doing all their flood mitigation on 100 -
plus -one, isn't that correct?
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Fosse/ They're...
Champion/ I thought I read that.
Fosse/ Ron, do you know off the top of your head? Okay. I do know that their flood plain
management ordinance is still based at 100 - plus -one, and I think that First Avenue closes
at 100 - plus -one, with ... with the improvements that they have put in place. That's my
understanding.
Throgmorton/ And this Old Town Village thing that was in the newspaper is 100 - plus -one.
Champion/ Right. (several talking) So ... I mean, that ... to me it seems logical that we would also
do 100 - plus -one. I mean, that's just my initial instinct because if they're only doing a
100- plus -one, what good is ... I don't ... never mind. I don't even know what the question
I'm trying to ask. I'm trying to ask, isn't Coralville doing everything at 100 - plus -one?
That was my question basically.
Fosse/ I think some of their stuff is at that level. Other things, such as the protection of the
Marriott is higher than that.
Champion/ Of course, that's theirs! (laughter) No, go ahead! (laughter)
Dobyns/ Segway! (laughter)
Hayek/ Rick, I ... I don't know if we've talked about this and I don't know if it's in the materials,
but what if any are our options in terms of encroaching into the riverway?
Be ... essentially between ... you know, toward Foster or Mayflower I guess where...
where, you know, or the boathouse where we start ... where the river comes up and meets
the roadway, all the way up to where it elevates toward, uh, Brown Street.
Fosse/ That's a very difficult thing to do from a regulatory perspective. Um...
Hayek/ Yeah, and I see (both talking) hugely expensive and ... and maybe you can't get into that
kind of...
Fosse/ Yep! And it gets ... gets more expensive. One ... one of the things that's very important
for staff, uh, in that stretch is that we designed the... the... area between the back of curb
and the sidewalk, and then the sidewalk width. So parkway and sidewalk. Wide enough
so that we are ... are outside that clear zone that would kick in barriers on top of the wall.
That's important to staff, because what that does is ... is it ... it, uh, increases the presence
of it from the opposite side, and also interferes with the views, and you were asking about
that earlier, Jim. Uh, so we want to ... to make sure that that's... that's part of the design
of this. So we're looking through a, more of a railing system like you'd see on the
pedestrian side of the bridge portions.
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Bramel/ Rick, if we were going to go, uh, if we were going to look at the deck or the 200 -year-
plus -one, um, with what we ... what staff recommends would be 2008, um, plus one for
the road, what ... I'm thinking Matt may have brought this up ... when we marry those
together, what ... what'll be looking at in ... in terms of closure, because I mean, the lowest
part of the steel is, uh, on the girder bridge is at 2000 ... is at 200 - plus -one, right? Is that
...anything higher (both talking)
Fosse/ A foot above the 200 - plus -one.
Bramel/ A foot above. So does anything higher than that, for that bridge, make it completely
unsafe or (mumbled)
Fosse/ No it doesn't! But that's something that needs to be talked about in design. All of these
bridges at...at an elevation of 200 - plus -one, the deck is still above the 500 -year level.
Now what we would need to do is ... is during the design phase, figure out how much
lateral force we're going to design those bridges for, uh, at which we're comfortable
keeping traffic on there, uh, during that period. If you recall, uh, in the 08 flood, uh, the
remaining bridge at Burlington Street was taking a large lateral load and ... and we
marked on there the, uh, elevation at which if it gets above there, we don't have adequate
factor safety to leave it open. Fortunately it never got that high.
Bramel/ So it's not a possibility that if we reach a 200 -plus margin, um, we might have a closed
bridge but not a closed road? Is that ... see what ... see where I'm coming from?
Fosse/ I think so! The (laughter) the...
Bramel/ (both talking) ...confusing!
Fosse/ If we build one of these options for the bridge at 200 - plus -one, and ... and you're right,
we're talking about low steel now. Um, the river can get higher than that and the bridge
can remain open, up to a point. And ... until we get into the design, I can't tell you exactly
what that point is.
Bramel/ Okay. Thank you.
Hayek/ We'll need to wrap up within about ten minutes so we can finish out everything else.
Fosse/ Okay!
Throgmorton /I'd like to say a word about the ... the through arch.
Fosse/ Uh huh!
Throgmorton/ The through arch alternative, uh, where ... or were you going to take us there now.
I don't know what...
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Fosse/ Uh, no! It's ... open for discussion right now.
Throgmorton/ Okay, well, aesthetics in the eye of the beholder. Well, surely that's true to ... to a
degree but the University's investing a lot of money in Hancher, and Hancher has a
certain kind of design that is, uh, curvilinear, basically. So when I look at the through
arch bridge, I think the curvilinear design of the bridge would enhance the ... well, be
compatible with the curvilinear design of...of the new Hancher, and ... and ... the
combination would enhance the ... that area as a whole. So, even though it's a little more
expensive, my eye is drawn toward, uh, the through arch alternative.
Fosse/ I would agree with that and ... and that's a common feedback that we get on the options.
Mims/ And am I reading this right, Rick, that comparing that through arch with the deck girder at
200 - plus -one we're talking a deck elevation that is about three and a half feet lower.
Fosse/ That's correct.
Throgmorton/ Yeah.
Mims / And I really like that too. (several talking)
Hayek/ ...allow us to go with, if we went with a 200 - plus -one through arch, which results in a
lower deck elevation, does that lessen the difference between the elevation of the bridge
and the road, if we were to go with a lower, like a 100 - plus -one Dubuque Street? Do you
see what I'm saying?
Fosse/ We ... we still need to match Dubuque Street to the bridge at the intersection.
Hayek/ Right!
Fosse / And then that will taper down between there and Kimball Road.
Hayek/ But if your ... but if your brick ... if the, if the top of your bridge is two and a half feet
lower, you've... you're two and a half feet closer to your (both talking)
Fosse/ Oh you bet! A distinct advantage, and that reduces that footprint (both talking)
Hayek/ ...liberal arts major trying to talk to (mumbled) (laughter)
Fosse/ Yes! That's a distinct advantage.
Mims/ How much elevation change can we get between Kimball Road and Park Road? On
Dubuque Street. I mean ... if we went with a 500- plus -one bridge and we wanted to go
with a 100 - plus -one road, I mean, I'm being extreme here obviously, you know, how
much elevation change can we get in that horizontal distance between Kimball and Park
Road?
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Fosse/ I asked Melissa to bring her calculator tonight for just such questions (laughter) so...
Throgmorton/ She's workin' on it! (laughter)
Fosse/ Um...
Throgmorton/ A different way of asking of the question, I think, is would it be too steep of an
incline for routine drivers to move from a... a, the 200 - plus -one bridge... through arch,
200 - plus -one bridge, to the 100- plus -one level of a roadway?
Fosse/ Oh, I don't think so.
Champion/ No. (several talking) She's mentioned the 500.
Mims/ Yeah, I was just being extreme, cause I'd asked (both talking)
Dobyns/ ... going slower now, Jim, cause it's only 11 -feet wide! (laughs)
Dickens/ Well, south ... south of Park Road is going to be a little higher so it's not that straight
downhill. It's going to be a little more gradual, which will reduce speeds coming down
the hill instead of...you know, when you're coming down, it's tough to ... to stop!
(laughs) (several talking) ...coming down that hill because of the ... the angle, and it'll be
higher up there so it'll reduce that a little bit. (several responding)
Fosse/ Okay, Melissa gave me a number about 12 and a 1/2 feet, so I want to make sure I
understand that. That's from an intersection of a bridge at 500- plus -one, down to a
roadway (unable to hear Melissa; away from mic) Okay... (unable to hear Melissa)
Mims / Right.
Fosse/ Oh, so you're talking about the difference between the existing...
Hayek/ Yeah!
Dobyns/ Cause you've moved it southward, yeah.
Clow/ (unable to hear; away from mic)
Hayek/ Yeah, well sorry! We gotta get this on the record.
Dobyns/ ...cause we have more room now cause you moved the intersection southward. (several
talking and laughing)
Fosse/ Do you need a blackboard? (laughter)
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Clow/ That difference would be for the 500- plus -one bridge at the new location. So it's a little
bit farther south than the existing location.
Throgmorton /Ah, 500- plus -one.
Clow/ And then the 100 - plus -one would be at the existing Kimball Road location.
Mims/ But is that reasonable from a design standard? In that horizontal distance, is it reasonable
to have a 12- plus -foot elevation change?
Clow/ Yes.
Mims/ Okay.
Champion/ You can pretend you're in San Francisco!
Mims/ (laughs)
Hayek/ But that's the extreme example anyway. (several responding)
Mims / Right, and I just didn't know how steep that would make the road, if that was feasible.
Champion/ No, good question!
Throgmorton/ Yeah, so ... so I'd be curious to know ... I don't know if you have this at hand,
Melissa, but what the difference would be ... from the 200 - plus -one through arch bridge to
a 100 - plus -one level on Kimball Road ... at Kimball Road.
Fosse / While she's running the math on that, let me, uh, just talk about what ... what's in the
future for us. You know, we'll have the opportunity for public input at the formal
meeting tonight. Uh, at...at some point we'll want to memorialize our decisions in a
resolution. When that comes with the Federal shutdown, we don't know. We'll keep you
posted on that. As always, if you have additional questions, please feel free to contact us
on that, and this is the second of our two scheduled work sessions on this but that does
not mean that we're ending discussion. If you want to keep discussing it further, which I
sense you do, uh, we'll keep talking.
Hayek/ Rick, couple questions about, um, costs. You mentioned, uh, under those three, uh,
bridge types, um, three different levels of GO contribution. Do I understand that
correctly to be our contribution above and beyond what we've allocated through the
various and sundry sources from LOST to federal and state funding to accomplish this?
Fosse/ Correct.
Hayek/ Okay.
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Fosse / And the ... and it does include what's already in the budget from GO bonds. So I've ... I've
not subtracted that out of there.
Hayek/ Okay. What ... what's our average annual GO costs for infrastructure citywide?
Fosse/ Historically we ... we try (other person speaking) yeah, we try and aim for about that $10
million mark. For GO contribution.
Hayek/ Just to put it in perspective.
Fosse/ Yes! It's a big project. Make no mistake!
Mims/ This table to me was very, very helpful.
Champion/ Yes!
Mims/ ...to try and get a lot of this different stuff on one page and be able to see some
comparisons, so thank you to staff. That was very helpful.
Champion/ It was very helpful!
Dobyns/ Can we get a sense of timing in terms of the decision? I mean, tonight we have public
forum, but when we would ... I'm trying to get a sense when we might want to come back
to this again (both talking)
Mims/ ... don't know.
Dobyns/ We just ... it's just...
Fosse/ Yeah, we really don't.
Hayek/ I think we have to hear from staff (several talking) ...timing! It's a great question
(several talking)
Dickens/ ...you know Mr. Obama. You met with him (laughter) give him a call!
Fosse/ Melissa, do you have a number for Jim? (several talking)
Clow/ Um, you were asking about the bridge at the 200 - plus -one and the roadway at 2008?
Throgmorton/ The through arch bridge, yeah.
Clow/ Through arch bridge, roadway at 2000...2008 - plus -one, you're about three point three feet
difference, and that would be between Kimball Road and the Park Road intersection.
Throgmorton/ Thanks!
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Hayek/ Okay. Thank you!
Mims/ Thank you very much!
Champion/ Just for the future, guys, girls ... this stuff ...is unreadable.
Fosse/ Oh! Well that ... that's one of the reasons (noises on mic) we provided to you
electronically so you can zoom in.
Champion/ Yeah, but that's impossible (laughter) I mean, because you (several talking and
laughing)
Hayek/ ...hard copies. I asked for these to be made because I thought people like you would
appreciate it.
Champion/ No, I think... (both talking)
Hayek/ Apparently not! (laughing)
Champion/ ...I mean, I have an i -pod whatever you call those silly things (noises on mic)
(laughter)
Fosse/ Uh huh.
Champion/ ...but it, when you enlarge this enough to read it, you're going back and forth so
much you don't get any sense out of it. I just think (several talking) little bigger would
be more helpful. At least for me!
Fosse/ It is hard.
Champion/ But I only have three more months! (several talking and laughing)
Hayek/ So noted, uh, thank you, Rick, and thanks for, Mark and your crew...
Mims/ Yes!
Hayek/ ...for being here, and Melissa.
Mims/ Yes.
Information Packets:
Hayek/ Okay, let's, uh... go ahead and get on through. We have, um, couple of Info Packets.
One from September 19th. Anything on that? (noises on mic) Please note your KXIC
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assignments. Michelle's tomorrow so ... we need to remem ... remind her of that. And,
Jim, you're the next week. Going once, going twice! Okay! 26tn.
Mims/ Very short! (laughs)
Dobyns/ Yeah this (laughs)
Throgmorton/ Is that your comment? (laughs) (several talking)
Dobyns/ Marian must have been asleep! I mean (laughter)
Council Time:
Hayek/ Okay, uh, Council time!
Bramel/ I sent a letter to, uh, Council, uh, if.. it is in the Information Packet, just concerning,
um, waste management and, uh, disposal, uh, which is concerning recycling, multi-
family.
Champion/ Right.
Bramel/ Uh, one of the things that a lot of my constituents are dealing with and whatnot, um, and
so I thought it'd be a smart idea, now with the RFP being closed for ... for that from the
City, I mean, that might reopen, I don't know, um, how many applicants or (mumbled)
RFPs came in, um, but if there's uh, if there is room, uh, I think we should have a
discussion concerning, uh, recycling, um ... uh, for the future of the ... of this ... of this
town, uh, not just for students per se, um, but for, um ... but for everyone who's living in
multi - family housing throughout the rest of the city. So I think that's something that's
warrants a conversation, um, sometime in the future.
Throgmorton/ I think it's a great idea!
Hayek/ Yeah, I'm glad you did that. Other Council time?
Dobyns/ I had a general question about, um, the Iowa City Public Library and, uh, do the staff
there assist the public on use of...the computers and internet search? (several
responding) Um ... with the possibility of the affordable care act, uh, sign up, there were
like ... when I was driving here there were about four to five million hits already, um, this
morning on healthcare.gov. Is it appropriate for, um, City... citizens to go to the Library
and gain assistance in surfing that site? Is that a proper utilization of City resources?
Markus/ (away from mic) ... we'll have staff tomorrow and Susan sits in on those staff (unable to
hear) discussion.
Dobyns/ Okay.
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Dickens/ Said it was about a half hour wait earlier today.
Mims/ Yeah, they said it was ... lot of people on it. (several talking)
Throgmorton/ ...sign up today. (noises on mic)
Hayek/ Uh, couple of things I just want to mention. Fir ... first there's a, there was a response,
uh, regarding Towncrest from staff, uh, and our progress, uh, there, um ... with ... with
urban renewal, and I ... I appreciated the staff response. I think it was ... it was an
interesting inquiry, um, something we want to keep our eye on, but I think we responded
quickly and were able to show, um, that we're ... that we're doing a lot of good things out
there. So ... second thing is, there is a, uh, UNESCO City of Literature, uh ... uh,
conference in Beijing, China next month and I'm going to go on behalf of the City. I've
not gone (several talking) I've passed up a lot of, uh, to travel with young kids but uh,
John Kenyan nettled me enough and uh ... uh, I'm going to go and represent the City
for... it's a three -day conference, uh, in Beijing. Glad I got my passport because right
now you can't! (laughter) As of today! So we're all good. So I'll keep you posted on
that, but I think it'll be interesting and ... working with Marian and John Kenyon to put
that together.
Throgmorton/ Get up and walk a lot when you're on the flight.
Hayek/ Yeah!
Throgmorton/ I wanted to mention one thing, Matt, uh, last Wednesday I took part in a simulated
press conference, right here in this chamber, and I think you've done this once before...
Champion/ Yeah, it's fun.
Throgmorton/ ...broadcasting students. There were about 30 students I guess. I don't know, 12
cameras out there and... 12 or so reporters and asking me a whole bunch of questions and
I ... I floundered my way through it, of course, but it was really fun to do and (both
talking)
Champion/ It is fun!
Meeting Schedule:
Hayek/ Okay! Meeting schedule. Anything... Marian, you...
Karr/ We'll be putting in the ... the packet a request to have you ... input on your, um, schedules
for, uh, the first of the year — January, February — so we can do a proposed, uh, budget
and uh, meeting schedule. The sooner we get to that, the sooner I think people can plan
around it and staff can, uh, appropriately schedule the budget sessions. That'll be in your
next ... next Info Packet.
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Pending Work Session Topics:
Hayek/ Pending work session topics?
Throgmorton/Yeah, I'd like to suggest a topic. I ... I'd like to suggest we discuss revising the
sidewalk repair policy and I bring that up because, uh, back in May I asked, uh, sent
email ... I sent an email to Rick asking about the ... the policy and how long it's been in
place and, cause my sense is that it's basically unfair to people who own property in the
older core neighborhoods. So Rick responded and I've thought about that, uh, a fair
amount since then, and I ... I guess my gut feeling is that the current policy wastes time,
wastes energy, wastes concrete, and wastes money. And is unfair to people who own
property in the older core neighborhoods. Maybe I'm wrong (laughs) but ... but I'd love
to see it discussed in a work session.
Dickens/ Okay.
Mims/ It's fine with me.
Hayek/ It's fine with me. (several talking) I suspect there's some serious budget issues with that
but uh, but we should look at it if...
Champion/ Well I remember one time the Longfellow Neighborhood used it ... used PIN grant
money to cover low- income sidewalk repair (several talking)
Throgmorton/ True! The thing is ... well, we can talk about when we have (laughs; mumbled)
Upcoming Events /Council Invitations:
Hayek/ Okay. Upcoming events.
Dickens/ Mac n' cheese night, Friday night, Senior Center (several talking) You can't get
advanced tickets anymore. That was Monday night at 5:00 so (laughs) $10 at the door.
Champion/ Homecoming parade on Friday.
Dickens/ homecoming parade!
Throgmorton/ Iowa City Book Festival on October I I th through 14th. (several talking) ... good
deal! Oh yeah, an election on November 51h
Hayek/ This is a past event, but October fest, despite the rain was (several responding) great and
(several talking) ...there in the morning and the afternoon! (laughter) Urn ... but uh ... uh,
they did a really good job (coughing, unable to hear speaker) ...heartbreaking to see all
the rain after all that effort (several talking) but there were a lot of...
Dickens/ The lines were ... I think they got ... they got over 3,000 people there so ... fun event.
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Throgmorton/ Is everybody going to be at Run for the Schools on October 20t'? Tom, you're
going to be there, right, running? (laughter)
Dickens/ I don't even walk fast! (laughs) (several talking)
Hayek/ Okay, I think that's it! Good work session. We'll see you back at 7:00. Thank you.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of October 1, 2013.