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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-02-12 Info PacketI = 1 MWL war®� �-; CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION PACKET CITY OF IOWA CITY February 12, 2015 www.icgov.org IP1 Council Tentative Meeting Schedule MISCELLANEOUS IP2 Memo from Asst. City Manager, Parks & Rec. Dir., and Sustainability Coordinator: Overview of Local Food Efforts IP3 Article from City Manager: Fighting Racial Isolation in Hartford IP4 Article from City Manager: Was Abolitionism a Failure? IP5 Article from City Manager: New Yorkers Clamor for ID's, Swamping Mayor's Key Project IP6 Email from Caroline Dieterle: Request to review `even side' parking on Walnut St. [staff response included] IP7 Memo from City Clerk.: Business Property Tax Credit deadline March 15 IP8 Email from North Liberty Mayor Nielsen: Bullet Points (affordable housing discussion from joint meeting January 26, 2015) IP9 Retirement Reception scheduled for Iowa City Assessor I1310 Employee Potluck and Staff Recognition DRAFT MINUTES IPI 1 Board of Adjustment: January 14 IP12 Historic Preservation Commission: January 8 IP13 Telecommunications Commission: January 26 CITY OF IOWA CITY Date Monday, February 23, 2015 02.12.15 City Council Tentative Meeting Schedule IN Subject to change February 13, 2015 Time Meeting 5:00 PM Work Session Meeting 7:00 PM Special Formal Meeting Location Emma J. Harvat Hall Monday, March 9, 2015 5:00 PM City Conference Board Meeting Emma J. Harvat Hall Work Session Meeting 7:00 PM Special Formal Meeting Monday, March 23, 2015 5:00 PM Work Session Meeting Emma J. Harvat Hall 7:00 PM Formal Meeting Tuesday, April 7, 2015 5:00 PM Work Session Meeting Emma J. Harvat Hall 7:00 PM Formal Meeting Monday, April 20, 2015 4:00 PM Reception prior to meeting TBA (Coralville) 4:30 PM Joint Meeting / Work Session Tuesday, April 21, 2015 5:00 PM Work Session Meeting Emma J. Harvat Hall 7:00 PM Formal Meeting Tuesday, May 5, 2015 5:00 PM Work Session Meeting Emma J. Harvat Hall 7:00 PM Formal Meeting Tuesday, May 19, 2015 5:00 PM Work Session Meeting Emma J. Harvat Hall 7:00 PM Formal Meeting Tuesday, June 2, 2015 5:00 PM Work Session Meeting Emma J. Harvat Hall 7:00 PM Formal Meeting Tuesday, June 16, 2015 5:00 PM Work Session Meeting Emma J. Harvat Hall 7:00 PM Formal Meeting Tuesday, July 7, 2015 5:00 PM Work Session Meeting Emma J. Harvat Hall 7:00 PM Formal Meeting Tuesday, July 21, 2015 5:00 PM Work Session Meeting Emma J. Harvat Hall Formal Meeting Tuesday, August 4, 2015 5:00 PM Work Session Meeting Emma J. Harvat Hall 7:00 PM Formal Meeting Tuesday, August 18, 2015 5:00 PM Work Session Meeting Emma J. Harvat Hall 7:00 PM Formal Meeting r ._ft-. ®ter CITY OF IOWA CITY 1P2 MEMORANDUM Date: February 5, 2015 To: Tom Markus, City Manager From: Geoff Fruin, Assistant City Manager Mike Moran, Parks and Recreation Director Brenda Nations, Sustainability Coordinator Re: Overview of Local Food Efforts The Iowa City community has a strong history of supporting access to local foods. The downtown Farmers Market has enjoyed significant success and received state and national acclaim as a direct result of the community's passion for local foods. The market, which started in 1972 with only 13 vendor stalls, now has over 140 stalls and has branched out to new locations on multiple days of the week. The City has promoted community garden concepts at Wetherby Park and in the Pedestrian Mall. The Wetherby Park community garden provides over one hundred plots to the general public for a minimal rental fee. In 2014, the City partnered with Backyard Abundance to create an edible forest component to the Wetherby Park location. The edible forest spans about one- third acre and demonstrates how an orchard ecosystem of interconnected fruit and nut plants/trees, herbs and flowers can benefit our environment. The 1500 square foot Children's Garden in the Pedestrian Mall provides a similar educational experience for children, while simultaneously promoting gardening in the City's most urban location. In recent months there has been a spike in public interest in local food projects in the area. This is partly due to the closing of the New Pioneer Food Co-op's gardens that were located near the intersection of Scott Boulevard and Rochester Avenue on Iowa City's east side. Given the increased community interest, we thought it would be appropriate to provide an update on some current projects related to local foods: Expanded community gardens at Chadek Green Park: Last fall the City worked with the University of Iowa's Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities (IISC) to conduct soil assessments at the recently acquired Chadek Green Park. Soils samples and analyses determined that the park was suitable for a community garden and the Parks Department is preparing to open up approximately 75 new plots for the community. The IISC report and presentation can be found at http://iisc.uiowa.edu/project/soil-analysis- of-potential-urban-agriculture-areas-within-city-limits. • Plans for community gardens in Riverfront Crossings: In January, the City revealed a conceptual design for the planned riverfront park. Included in the design was a community garden with a restroom and tool storage facility. New neighborhood garden offerings: The Parks Department is working with the Blue Zones team to develop a neighborhood garden policy that would provide associations or organizations with garden locations in neighborhood parks. The City has previously accommodated such requests at Creekside Park and Fairmeadows Park. Pending requests are being considered at Reno St. Park and Hunters Run Park. Neighborhood garden locations will be provided to associations whenever feasible. Unlike traditional community gardens, no plots will be sold and thus administrative overhead is significantly reduced. All maintenance responsibilities, except for initial and end of season preparations, will be left to the neighborhood groups. February 5, 2015 Page 2 Robert A. Lee Recreation Center edible landscape: The City has worked with Backyard Abundance on an edible landscaping plan for the exterior of the downtown recreation building. Grant funds are being pursued by the Blue Zones team and we are optimistic that we can launch this effort in partnership with Backyard Abundance and Blue Zones 2015. The concept will be similar to the Wetherby Park edible forest and will also have an educational component. Food Enterprise Center planning and funding: For the past two years, staff has participated in a local effort to determine the feasibility of a Food Enterprise Center (FEC). An FEC can take many different shapes, but generally speaking they focus on aggregating and distributing locally sourced food, as well as providing business support such as shared kitchen space and technical assistance to growing food -based businesses, aspiring restaurateurs, etc. The City is evaluating using a small amount of discretionary economic development funds to further the next phase of this project, which will develop a Food Enterprise Tool Kit geared to help local food entrepreneurs. The project will also further develop a shared kitchen model and feasibility study through a partnership with the 1105 Project. We are very excited about each of these projects and believe there is ample community support to see them through. If you have any questions about these ongoing efforts please let us know. 2/6/2015 Fighting Racial Isolation in Hartford - NYTimes.com From the City Manager IP3 l � � http://nyti.ms/lvlMfyF SundayReview I EDITORIAL Fighting Racial Isolation in Hartford By THE EDITORIAL BOARD JAN. 31, 2015 The fact that New York has the most segregated public schools in the nation does not bode well for the state's future. It is a disaster for poor and minority children, who are disproportionately trapped in schools that will not prepare them for the new economy. And it is harming children of all races and economic levels who are in demographically homogeneous schools that do not reflect society or expose them to fresh perspectives. New York's political leaders need not look far for ideas. Connecticut has a desegregation program that has revitalized the once -dismal school system in Hartford. Created in response to a 1996 State Supreme Court ruling, it has relied on a voluntary school transfer plan and a vibrant system of magnet schools to improve opportunities for inner-city children and draw suburban families back to a city that was considered an educational dead zone. This renaissance has its roots in a 1989 civil rights lawsuit, Sheff v. O'Neill. The plaintiffs' lawyers argued that minority children in Hartford and white children in the surrounding suburban districts were both being denied the racially integrated public school educations they were entitled to under the state's Constitution. The complaint also showed that the heavily poor, mainly minority children of Hartford were receiving a worse education than their http:ltwww.nytimes.com/2015/02/01/opinionlsundayffighting-racial-isolation-iri-hartford.htmi 1/3 2/6/2015 Fighting Racial Isolation in Hartford - NYTimes.com suburban counterparts. The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and urged political leaders to put school integration at the top of their agenda. Eventually, the state, the city and the plaintiffs agreed to a sweeping desegregation plan that called for a huge state investment in a new system of magnet schools and a two-way transfer plan that allowed Hartford children to attend school in the suburbs and suburban children to travel to the city. One of the most prestigious magnet schools, the Academy of Aerospace and Engineering, is rated the best high school in the state and 15th in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. Connecticut as a whole still has some of the country's worst achievement gaps. But a study of 2012 data by the Capitol Region Education Council, a nonprofit that operates 19 of the Hartford area's magnet schools, showed academic improvement for all ethnic groups — and smaller achievement gaps than in the state as a whole — even though the schools have a higher percentage of poor students than the state average. Racial isolation was the norm when the suit was first filed. Recent data show that 47.5 percent of Hartford children now attend integrated schools — defined under the Sheff agreement as schools in which fewer than three- fourths of the children are members of minority groups. This means that more than half of city students are still confined to segregated, often low -quality schools. But the agreement has shown many parents what public schooling can be and is creating demand for reform of the schools left behind. The Hartford experience shows that it is possible to fight racial isolation and improve education at the same time. Political leaders in New York should bear that in mind when they feel tempted to throw up their hands and declare the segregation problem insoluble. Meet The New York Times's Editorial Board A version of this editorial appears in print on February 1, 2015, on page SR8 of the New York edition with the headline: Fighting Racial Isolation in Hartford. hUp:lw m.nytimes.com/2015/02/01/opinion/sundaylfighting-racial-isolation-in-hartford.htmi 2/3 02-1 2/6/2015 Was Abolitionism a Failure? - NYTimes.com I P4 From the City Manager African American History Month article abitNAV18"fano The Opinion Pages DISUNION Was Abolitionism a Failure? By Jon Grinspan January 30, 2015 9:39 pm Disunion follows the Civil War as it unfolded. ON Jan. 31, 1865, Congress passed the 13th Amendment, banning slavery in America. It was an achievement that abolitionists had spent decades fighting for — and one for which their movement has been lauded ever since. But before abolitionism succeeded, it failed. As a pre -Civil War movement, it was a flop. Antislavery congressmen were able to push through their amendment because of the absence of the pro -slavery South, and the complicated politics of the Civil War. Abolitionism's surprise victory has misled generations about how change gets made. Today, diverse movements cast themselves as modern versions of the struggle against slavery. The former Republican senator Jim DeMint, now the president of the Heritage Foundation, claimed that small -government "constitutional conservatism" has inherited the cause; the liberal TV host Chris Hayes, writing in The Nation, said battling climate change was the "new abolitionism." That term has become shorthand for "fighting the good fight." But the long struggle against slavery shows how jerky, contingent and http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/3otwas-abolitionism-a-failure/? r=0 1/4 2/6/2015 Was Abolitionism a Failure? - NYTimes.com downright lucky winning that good fight was. It's hard to accept just how unpopular abolitionism was before the Civil War. The abolitionist Liberty Party never won a majority in a single county, anywhere in America, in any presidential race. Ralph Nader got closer to the presidency. In 186o the premier antislavery newspaper, The Liberator, had a circulation of under 3,000, in a nation of 31 million. Even among Northerners who wanted to stop the spread of slavery, the idea of banning it altogether seemed fanatical. On the eve of the Civil War, America's greatest sage, Ralph Waldo Emerson, predicted that slavery might end one day, but "we shall not live to see it." In a deeply racist society, where most white Americans, South and North, valued sectional unity above equal rights, "abolitionist" was usually a dirty word. One man who campaigned for Abraham Lincoln in 186o complained: "I have been denounced as impudent, foppish, immature, and worse than all, an Abolitionist." While we remember the war as a struggle for freedom, at its outset neither Lincoln nor the Republican Party planned to ban slavery. To calm talk of secession, Congress passed a never -ratified, now -forgotten 13th Amendment promising that no amendment could ever end slavery. Lincoln backed it. Going into the conflict, Congress offered to abolish abolitionism, not slavery. Abolitionism gained strength thanks to the uncompromising stance of radical "fire eating" Southerners. By ostracizing Northern allies, seceding and then starting a war, Southern radicals gave abolitionism gift after gift after gift. When South Carolina militiamen fired on Fort Sumter, Frederick Douglass exalted: "Thank God! — The slaveholders themselves have saved our cause from ruin!" The war's length and brutality gave further fuel to the abolitionist fire. The historian Gary W. Gallagher has argued that the successful generalship of http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.coml2015/01/3Otwas-abolitionism-a-failure/? r=0 2/4 2/6/2015 Was Abolitionism a Failure? - NYTimes.com Robert E. Lee ultimately helped emancipation, pushing bloodied and vengeful Northerners to free slaves. Moderates like Lincoln became convinced that "we must free the slaves or be ourselves subdued." Still, the war, not the strength of abolitionism, made the difference. When he finally issued the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln operated under the president's war powers. And when thousands of slaves freed themselves and fought the Confederacy, they mostly did so as the Union Army entered their regions. Antislavery blacks fought bravely and lobbied cannily, helped by the radicalism of their former masters. By January 1865, the tide had turned. Congress moved to ban slavery everywhere (not just in the Confederacy, but in loyal slave states like Maryland and Kentucky). A body that had tried to make slavery un-abolishable a few years before voted to free four million men and women. It could never have passed the amendment if all those Southern congressmen had stayed in Washington to vote against it. Every politician who stormed off to join the Confederacy cast an inadvertent ballot for abolition. Here's where the confusion emerges. After the war, many Americans interpreted slaveholder mistakes as abolitionist victories. Abolition looked like a road map for reform. Many claimed to have been on its side before the war. Publishers printed a torrent of memoirs by supposed abolitionists; everyone who ever cast a ballot for the Liberty Party seemed to write a book about it. The generation of Americans raised after the Civil War modeled diverse movements on abolitionism, from supporters of labor, women's rights and socialism to opponents of popular democracy and mass immigration. The Boston poet James Russell Lowell even compared a movement to suppress poor voters to abolitionists, writing: "They emancipated the negro; we mean to emancipate the respectable white man." Today, we point to abolition as proof that we can improve society by eliminating one glaring evil. This is what unites "new abolitionists" across the http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.coml2015/01/3Otwas-abolitionism-a-failure/? r=0 3/4 2/6/2015 Was Abolitionism a Failure?- NYTimes.com political spectrum, whether they're working to end the death penalty or ban abortion. We like the idea of sweeping change, of an idealistic movement triumphing over something so clearly wrong. The problem is, that's not really how slavery ended. Those upright, moral, prewar abolitionists did not succeed. Neither did the stiff-necked Southern radicals who ended up destroying the institution they went to war to maintain. It was the flexibility of the Northern moderates, those flip-floppers who voted against abolition before they voted for it, who really ended 250 years of slavery. Abolitionists make better heroes, though, principled and courageous and seemingly in step with 21st century values. But people from the past who espoused beliefs we hold today were usually rejected at the time. We can only wonder which of today's unpopular causes will, in 150 years, be considered the abolitionism of 2015. Join us on Monday, Feb 2nd at 1pm ET as we have a question and answer session on our Facebook page with Jon Grinspan. Read more about the events of the civil war with this timeline of stories, photos and maps. Follow Disunion at twitter.comIATYTcivilwar or join us on Facebook. Jon Grinspan is the author of a forthcoming book on the role of young people in 19th -century American democracy. A version of this article appears in print on 02/01/2015, on page SR6 of the Newyork edition with the headline: Was Abolitionism a Failure?. © 2015 The New York Times Company http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/30/was-abolitionism-a-failure/? r=0 4/4 New Yorkers Clamor for IDS, Swamping Mayor's Key Project - NYTimes.com Page 1 of 9 From the City Manager SHARE New York TWEET IP5 MORE SUBSCRIBE I LOGIN New Yorkers Clamor for IDs, Swamping Mayor's Key Project Aida Najera, left, with her daughter, Yairin Lucero, 3, waited to apply for a municipal ID in the Bronx on the program's first day. HIROKO MASUIKE / THE NEW YORK TIMES By KIRK SEMPLE FEBRUARY 6, zoi5 First there were long lines and waits that lasted hours, followed by website errors, protracted hold times on telephone information lines and extreme difficulty in arranging appointments. http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/02/07/nyregion/more-popular-than-expected-new-yorks-id-... 2/9/2015 New Yorkers Clamor for IDs, Swamping Mayor's Key Project - NYTimes.com Page 2 of 9 ne introduction of New York's much -heralded municipal ',genii fiCation prograw, one of Mayor Bill de Blasio's signature initiatives, has b ''anythin 9t smooltA" since it began on Jan. 12. The IDs are available to all city residents who are at least 14, but they are especially intended to make life easier for those, such as undocumented immigrants and the homeless, who cannot get other types of government -issued identification. And while the surge in demand may reflect the sizable need for such a document, it has also far surpassed the city's expectations and overwhelmed a system created to handle many fewer applicants. Officials have rushed to expand the program's capacity and to accelerate the application process. After nearly a month of modifications and re-engineering, city officials said on Friday that they were finally catching up. As recently as Thursday, the earliest appointment available anywhere in the city was on May 18. On Friday, though, the city added 70,00o new appointment slots before June 30, including some as early as Feb. 9. NYC IDENTIFICATION CAR0 ""O1 !6Nu1$31P2:55 >tir1Y C a,MebNowe..W Mn sr �•• A sample identification card. Critics have likened the program's bumpy start to the fraught rollout of the health - insurance exchange website created under the Affordable Care Act, a comparison that city officials, including Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, have rebutted. Still, the problems have frustrated many prospective applicants and even some of the city's collaborators in the effort. Yyi Zhang, a lawyer with New Sanctuary Coalition NYC, a legal services and advocacy group, said the long delays for appointments were "disappointing." Members of her organization, including undocumented immigrants, lobbied for the identification program, but are now being forced to endure long waits. "After such a long struggle, it is heartbreaking," she said. http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/02/07/nyregion/more-popular-than-expected-new-yorks-id-... 2/9/2015 New Yorkers Clamor for IDs, Swamping Mayor's Key Project - NYTimes.com Page 3 of 9 Nisha Agarwal, the commissioner for immigrant affairs, is helping to coordinate the ID program. VANA PASKOVA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES The city designed a system that could accommodate about 3oo,000 applications a year. As of Friday, however, about 21 8,000 appointments had been booked and about 23,000 applications had been processed. Officials said those figures put New York's program on the verge of surpassing San Francisco's, which began in 2009 and is currently the largest in the country. With such a large backlog of appointments, city officials said they had been urgently retooling the enrollment system and had more than doubled its capacity as of Friday. New measures underway include opening two large enrollment centers and doubling the program's staff, to about 200, officials said on Friday. The changes have enabled administrators to not only add the 7o,000 new slots to the calendar but also to expedite nearly 43,000 appointments, moving them from the summer and fall to much earlier dates. In interviews this week, officials said their original projections had been based in large part on the experiences of other cities with municipal ID programs, including New Haven, Oakland, Calif., and San Francisco. In those cities, about 1 percent of the eligible population had applied for the cards each year. http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/02/07/nyregion/more-popular-than-expected-new-yorks-id-... 2/9/2015 New Yorkers Clamor for IDs, Swamping Mayor's Key Project - NYTimes.com Page 4 of 9 New York officials also convened focus groups to gauge iliterest and conferred wiui various third parties, including business and religious IM rs as w&V advouRggE for the homeless, immigrants and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents, who can declare their preferred gender, or no gender at all, often for the first time on a government -issued ID. While there was broad enthusiasm for the initiative, officials said, some immigrant advocates had warned that rules requiring the government to retain certain personal documents might dissuade immigrants without legal status from registering. After weighing those and other factors — including the estimated size of the undocumented immigrant population and the disproportionately large number of city residents without driver's licenses — New York officials decided to err on the side of caution. They built a system that could handle an annual application flow equal to about 2.5 percent of the eligible population, which is how they arrived at the 300,000 figure. But in an early sign that they had underestimated the appetite for the IDs, the 17 enrollment centers around the city processed a total of more than i,000 applications on the first day and more than 800 on the second. In the meantime, anticipation among residents gave way to griping, as waits in some places lasted hours. The city quickly took steps to "meet that demand with an equally ferocious response," said Nisha Agarwal, commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, which is helping to coordinate the program. At the end of the second day, officials activated an online application system, which had been prepared in case of a spike in demand. Overloaded, it failed to work for several hours. Social media crackled with complaints about the difficulty of getting an appointment and about the long hold times to speak with an operator at the city's iii service center, which was helping schedule appointments. Alfonso Xicali, 38, a day laborer from Mexico, said he had stood in line at an enrollment center in the Bronx for at least two hours on each of the first two days, but was turned away both times because there were too many applicants. On the second day, he was redirected to the website and to 311 to schedule an appointment. When he called iii, he said, the operators told him they were not http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/02/07/nyregion/more-popular-than-expected-new-yorks-id-... 2/9/2015 New Yorkers Clamor for IDs, Swamping Mayor's Key Project - NYTimes.com Page 5 of 9 prepared to make appointments. As of Thursday, he had yet to find an available appointment online that fit his work schedule. SHARE TWEET MORE "I think they put too few centers for too many people," he said. "Very frustrating." The city sought to alleviate the pressure, bolstering the work force at the enrollment centers by redeploying city employees from various departments and hiring new workers. Officials also extended the centers' business hours and opened two smaller, temporary centers. Increased staffing and other improvements at iii reduced the average hold times, which in recent days were down to less than one minute, officials said. New Yorkers continue to register for appointments at a high rate: about 7,000 a day on average last week and about 5,000 a day this week. City officials have played down the problems, portraying them as a byproduct of a popular program. The unexpectedly high number of applicants, they said, served to repudiate concerns that the retention of information would scare undocumented immigrants away. (The city does not ask applicants to reveal their immigration status.) "It just tells you the importance of people having a valid ID that can validate their presence and who they are," said Melissa Mark-Viverito, the City Council speaker and a Democrat. Ms. Agarwal recalled visiting an enrollment center at the Mid -Manhattan Library on the first day and talking to people waiting in line. "They were really excited about this opportunity," she said. "You don't get that many opportunities in public service to feel like the work you're doing actually is accomplishing something, and that felt like a moment where I got to see that really tangibly." City officials said that if they had deployed hundreds more workers from the outset and been met with a far smaller turnout, they would have been accused of wasting money. "Our approach was fiscally responsible," Ms. Agarwal said. "I feel we really did the due diligence." Central to the city's strategy are the two new enrollment centers, which officials are calling "hubs." The city first plans to use them to speed up the processing of http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/02/07/nyregion/more-popular-than-expected-new-yorks-id-... 2/9/2015 New Yorkers Clamor for IDs, Swamping Mayor's Key Project - NYTimes.com Page 6 of 9 scheduled appointments, and then will open them to walk-ins. Tile iwu exisiin;; temporary centers — one in Brooklyn, the other in Que9WE may 1ITLk"aUgmenteWRE with up to three more. Officials are trying to calculate and adhere to an acceptable maximum wait time, while also tempering expectations and counseling patience. Bertha Asitinbay, 37, an Ecuadorean immigrant, said she was mostly drawn to the discounts to cultural institutions that come with the card, but had been unable to get an appointment before April. "I'm losing so much important time," she said. "Can you imagine? That's three months that I could be taking my daughters to the museums." "I don't think the mayor gave careful enough thought to all the people who wanted an ID," she continued, adding, "But what can you do?" Most Popular on NYTimes.com http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/02/07/nyregion/more-popular-than-expected-new-yorks-id-... 2/9/2015 From: Ron Knoche Sent: Monday, February 09, 2015 9:02 AM To: 'caroline-dieterle@uiowa.edu' Cc: Council; Sam Hargadine; John Grier; Jon Resler; Kent Ralston; Toni Davis; John Sobaski Subject: RE: Closed Request # 4969 [6562306530666564]; request to review'even side' parking on Walnut St. Caroline: Thank for your email. Staff will review your request to move the on -street parking to the odd -side (south side) of the street during our review of the this year's snow response. We have other areas in town with similar situations. This review will be done with all departments. Feel free to give me a call at (319) 356-5138, if you would like to discuss this further. Thanks, Ron Ronald R. Knoche, PE Public Works Director '7_W;0;W 3IR: CITY OF IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF UTERAITURE I MCA -IIM Website: www.icgov.org From: "Dieterle, Caroline M" Date: February 7, 2015 at 6:03:13 PM CST To: Iowa City<iowacityia@user.govoutreach.com> Cc: "tom-markus@iowa-city.org" <tom-markus@iowa-cit�org>, "council@iowa-cit�org" <council@iowa-city.org> Subject: RE: Closed Request # 4969 [6562306530666564]; request to review 'even side' parking on Walnut St. Thank you for getting Walnut and Lucas Streets plowed on Feb. 4, after the end of the snow emergency. I am copying this message to the City Council and City Mgr. Tom Markus, because I would like to ask that the parking situation on Walnut St. be reviewed. It is my understanding from speaking in 2008 with the Streets Dept. that the policy on deciding where cars should park (which side of the street) depends upon the location of the fire hydrants and the drains: the parking should NOT be on the same side as those. On Walnut St., however, they are are on the SAME SIDE as the parking. Additionally, there is only one drain for the entire expanse from Summit St. to Dodge - and that drain is at the corner of Dodge and Walnut. If the parking on Walnut St. is clogged with cars and snow//ice, even a good day for melting (like today, in the 40's!) will not see as much water go down that one drain as should be allowed to go. In 2008 this resulted in the City h4ving to send heavy equipment to break up the several inches of ice that had built up on Walnut St. with ruts so deep that people didn't want to drive down it for fear of ripping holes their oil pans; it took the City nearly all day to break up, load, and truck away all the ice; this must have needlessly cost the City a good deal of $$. Please take a look at Walnut St. from Lucas to Dodge tomorrow, and you will see what I mean. Putting the parking on the odd side of the street instead of the even side would fix the problem. - Caroline From: Iowa City[iowacityia@user.govoutreach.coml Sent: Friday, February 06, 2015 11:26 AM To: Dieterle, Caroline M Subject: Closed Request # 4969 [6562306530666564] ---If replying by email, enter your reply above this line --- Dear caroline, Your request # 4969 has been resolved with the resolution: Caroline, I am sorry for your frustration. Your request was given to the driver for the area on Wednesday morning. He has confirmed that improvements have been made to the condition of the street. Thank You This is in reference to the Problem on Snow Removal (Streets) you submitted on 02/03/2015 4:17 PM Location: Lucas St. from Page to Kirkwood, Walnut St. from Summit to Lucas Description: It is now 4 PM on day 2 of the snow emergency. The cars are off the streets named. No plowing. We do not have any cleared areas to park our cars. We are near downtown and lots of people live here. I called the Streets office, and was told the streets I named are "not arterials", so they aren't a priority. I know people on the edge of town whose streets aren't arterials either and they were plowed out long ago. More upscale areas? The snow emergency ordinance for us is almost as useful as a third tit. And that's to say nothing about the craziness of having the critical time for changeover be midnight instead of 8 PM as Cedar Rapids' ordinance specifies. We are committed to providing you the best service we can. We would appreciate you filling out an online survey on how this request was handled. You can fill out the online survey by going to: <http•//user GovOutreach.com/iowacityia/survey.php?cid=2048649&access=6562306530666564 You may reply to this email to send a response or you can view this request online at: request e at: reach com/iowacityia/case.l)hp?id=2048649&access=6562306530666564> r 02-12-15 W -M_.® CITY OF IOWA CITY 1P7 MEMORANDUM Date: February 11, 2015 To: Mayor and City Council Members From: Marian K. Karr, City Clerk Re: Business Property Tax Credit deadline March 15 City Assessor Baldridge requested the following information be shared: Iowa City commercial and industrial property owners are reminded that the deadline for applying for the 2014 Business Property Tax Credit is March 15. Property owners that have an existing Business Property Tax Credit and have not changed the ownership, use, purpose, legal description of their property are not required to reapply - this is a one-time filing. Applicants may download a fillable Business Property Tax Credit form from the city assessor's web site at http://iowacitv.iowaassessors.com/. All applications must be in the possession of the assessor's office by 4:00 p.m. March 15, or sooner, to be considered timely filed. Since March 15 is a Sunday applications will be accepted until 4:00 p.m. on March 16. Any applications received after that date will be considered an application for the 2015 Credit. Property owners within the city boundaries may also apply in person at the City Assessor's Office. Commercial and industrial property owners outside the Iowa City boundaries may apply at the Johnson County Assessor's office. Both City and County Assessor offices are located in the County Administration Building, 913 South Dubuque Street, or visit https://tax.iowa.gov/ to download the form. From: Amy Nielsen<amy. n ielsen @north I i bertyiowa. org> Sent: Monday, February 09, 2015 11:22 AM To: Marian Karr Subject: FW: Housing Bullet Points Attachments: Bullet Points for Mayor.docx Hi Marian, Here are the supporting documents for North Liberty regarding the affordable housing discussion at the joint governments meeting. It seemed like many were interested, so if you could please forward these to the group for me that would be great. Thank you! Amy Nielsen [Note: Joint meeting held 1/26/151 What is North Liberty doing to address lower-cost housing demand? Permitting large numbers of multi -family, duplex, and mobile home units. Approximately 62% of all housing units in our city are units that may be considered to be less expensive: apartments/condominiums, mobile homes, and duplexes. _J& Because of the number of less expensive units, average and median values are low: j North Liberty Condominium and Single - Family Statistics Assessed Values % Condominiums Single - Family # Units 2,124 3,348 Average Value $104,997 $193,525 Median Value $95,500 $181,530 • Responding to market demand by approving new requests for apartments and higher density development when Existing Resident Housing Units Commercial/ R—idwmial requested. Allowing by Zoning Ordinance very dense single-family and multi -family development. Most Dense Multi -family Districts RM -8 8.7 Units per Acre RM -12 12.4 Units per Acre RM -21 21.8 Units per Acre • Endorsing the Housing Fellowship project of duplex housing. • Supporting tax -credit apartment projects in recent years: Jefferson Point, North Liberty Living Center. Other older developments as well, cited below. • Providing $8,000 annually to the Housing Trust Fund, helping leverage over $300,000 in Iowa Finance Authority funding. • Assisted Housing Statistics for North Liberty as of 11/5/2014, from the Iowa City Housing Authority: Total assisted units: 270 = 3.7% of approximately 7,289 total units in North Liberty Total vouchers (commonly referred to as the Section 8 Program): 134 Overlap of vouchers in the 270 assisted units: 100 Count % Data 101 75% HOH Female 68 51% Householdsw/minor children 75 56% HOH White 60 45% Single Person Households 58 43% HOH Disabled 55 41% HOH Black 54 40% HOH w/Social Security 53 40% Working families 34 25% HOH Elderly 33 25% HOH Male 21 16°/g I HOH w/Supplemental Security Income 7 5% 1 TANF Cash Welfare Assistance Properties that received public funding (Tax Credit, USDA, HUD, etc.): Corridor Woods Country Living Apartments Farkus Apartments Jefferson Point North Front North Liberty Living Center Penn Oaks Savannah Village North Liberty Park New Data Ta4k Lt WIiialkn Nome Value and Median Gross Rent Place Median Home Value of owner Occupied Housing Units Median Gross Rent Study Area Counties Linn County $142,900 S65B Johnson Cou ry $183,100 $789 Benton County 5130,900 $586 Jars County 5119,000 $576 lows County 5137,300 $539 Cedar County 5134,000 $653 Wastfugtun County $116,900 5633 Study Area Cities (Population over 10,000) Cedar Rapids 5131,300 5680 Marion 5144,000 $606 North Ubeny $155,500 5874 CoraMee $386,500 $743 lows city $181,000 5793 Statewide Average Stateotlowa 5123,000 5555 Source: US. Census aurmu,1008-2012 Anencon Community Survey. Highlighted crus inter o, erceed the statewide m9e. Table 2-6-. C*Uege/LPnhrersdV Students Move Total ftwolled in Ciofte/Unhiersft percent of Population Study Area Counties Lim County 16,230 73,61% Johnson cow" 30,064 11 2&76% Benton County 1,276 5-07% Jones county 797 3.99% Iowa County 677 4199: Cedar County 645 362% Washvilton County 976 4205: Study Area Ckles (Population over 10,000) Cedar Rapids 10,880 am Manch 3,954 5.86Y. North Liberty 1.218 43776 Corahriffe 2,394 Iowa City 24,851 37.45% Statewide Average Statewide 229,105 7.82% So.me US Unnis&Y ,2008-2012AMM..C..,iy&� H,hkqno,w "& t o, .,nw lft "IWIae —,-0- From: City of Iowa City <webmaster@iowa-city.org> Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2015 4:27 PM To: Marian Karr Subject: Retirement reception scheduled for Iowa City Assessor Contact: Marian Karr Contact Phone: 319-356-5041 Retirement reception scheduled for Iowa City Assessor Issued by: Communications Office Mailing List(s): Classes, Programs 8 Events - General City News Originally Posted 2/11/2015 4:26:53 PM Dennis Baldridge, who has served as City Assessor since 2002, is retiring at the end of February after more than 32 years in the office. Baldridge joined the Iowa City Assessor's Office in July 1982 as the Deputy Assessor. For eight years prior to that, he performed property appraisals for the Iowa Department of Revenue. A retirement reception in his honor will be hosted by the City of Iowa City from 2 to 4 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 27 at the Johnson County Administrative Building. Cake, coffee, and punch will be served in the First Floor (Betty Sass) Conference Room. The public is invited to attend. For more information, contact City Clerk Marian Karr at 319-356-5041 or marian-karroiowa-citv.or March 27, 2015 New Date! Employee Potluck And Staff Recognition TIME 11:00 am to 1:00 Pm WHERE Social Hall Robert A Lee Recreation Center Please join us on Friday, March 27, 2015 in the Social Hall of the Robert A Lee Recreation Center from 11:00 am until 1:00 pm for lunch +The recognition ceremony is scheduled for 11:45 am to honor employees who reached a milestone anniversary in 2014 ♦Bring a cold dish to share and/or your appetite •Pulled pork, sloppy joes, veggie lasagna, beverages and table service will be provided No need to RSVP Questions? Please contact any of us: Joyce Carroll (Recreation): 356-5223 Samara Hayek (Wastewater): 887-6108 M2 - MINUTES PRELIMINARY BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT JANUARY 14, 2015 — 5:15 PM EMMA J. HARVAT HALL, CITY HALL MEMBERS PRESENT: Larry Baker, Connie Goeb, Brock Grenis, Becky Soglin MEMBERS ABSENT: Gene Chrischilles STAFF PRESENT: Sarah Walz, Susan Dulek OTHERS PRESENT: Wendy Harbaugh, Gene Davis, Kevin O'Brien, Noah Kemp CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order at 5:15 PM. ROLL CALL: A brief opening statement was read by Grenis outlining the role and purpose of the Board and the procedures that would be followed the meeting. CONSIDERATION OF THE NOVEMBER 12, 2014 MEETING MINUTES Baker moved to approve the minutes. Soglin seconded the motion. A vote was taken and the motion carried 5-0 BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT TRAINING: Dulek wanted to discuss BOA proceedings and give a little reminder of the structure and framework of special exceptions. Special exceptions are where City Council has granted by oridinance some flexibility to city zoning code. Council has set up standards by which the BOA must follow. General standards that apply to every special exception and then specific standards that apply only to the particular special exception that is being requested. So when an applicant makes an application they have to say why they meet each of the standards. Then staff reviews the application and offers evidence and opinion on the application. Then there is the public hearing where any member of the public can address the application and the applicant or staff can add more information for the BOA to use in making its decision. Dulek pointed to the applicaiton in the BOA's packet for this meeting to show how the report goes through the general standards and the specific standards for the individual application. Board of Adjustment January 14, 2015 Page 2 of 10 Staff prepares the report based on specific standards and the general standards and goes through each standard one at a time. Just like a jury, the Board must decide how much evidence is necessary. This is not the same as a criminal case in which evidence must be beyond a reasonable doubt—that's a lot. Here it is just a "preponderance of evidence," that means just about 51 %, or more than likely the application meets each standards. The Board must go through each and every standard—not just one, not just most, but all must be satisfied by a preoponderance of evidence. Soglin asked, for example, if just one single standard, say standard b, is not met, whether that is all it takes to deny the application? Dulek replied that this is correct, but the Board must explain why they do not believe the standard is satisfied. Dulek stated, while it may sometimes frustrate the board, most standards are fairly easy to meet by design. Walz stated that one thing she goes through with applicants is how the specific standards are written to address the general standards. So, for example, how does a setback request for a porch impact the general safety and welfare or impede future development on other property? The specific criteria ask if the setback creates an issue for fire separation or firefighting? Is it encroaching upon the public right of way such that a care backing out cannot see traffic or pedestrians? So most often the general standards draw from the specific standards. The specific standards are written to address issues of safety and neighborhood character or the appropriate uses in the zone. Many times applicants, they don't always go through the criteria item by item, but their site plan does the talking for them to show all the standards are met. It shows the setbacks, the parking, the landscaping, etc., that the specific standards call for. Dulek clarified that this is why the specific standards are discussed first in the staff report. Grenis asked whether a variance or an appeal also is judged by a preponderance of evidence. Dulek answered yes. Dulek says this comes from Civil Law. Walz stated in the case of appeal, the question is whether a decision was arbitrary and capricious. Staff always asks if it was that something got ignored or not applied to the correct standard. Dulek stated that if the applicant appeals the BOA decision, they must show a preponderance of evidence on a particular standard. So when the judge looks at the case, the question is isn't whether he or she would have drawn the same conclusion from the evidence, but rather was there enough evidence offered that the Board could reasonably come to its decision. The phrase "arbitrary and capricious" means that you were looking at something that did not apply— something other than the standards before you. Arbitrary and capricious is tough to prove—that you have not been reasonable in drawing your conclusions it is not substituting someone else's conclusion or decision. Dulek added that just skipping to the fourth point, one of the judicial reviews is the judge looking at the case and deciding if there was a reason to state there was not a preponderance of evidence on one of the standards or if the decision was just arbitrary and capricious. Walz reminded the Board that at the previous meeting Dulek had polled the Board and cautioned that if they were going to deny an application they needed to point to a standard that Board of Adjustment January 14, 2015 Page 3 of 10 was not met. It is not enough to say, well this doesn't seem right or I don't like something about something that happened with the property in the past. You have to point to a standard. Grenis stated he puts a lot of emphasis on the standard regarding being injurious to the neighborhood, and if no neighbors come to public hearing to speak up, then he feels that is criteria that standard is met. Dulek stated that with the staff comments and the applicant's comments, and no public speaking against or offers any evidence to the contrary, that would likely cover the preponderance of evidence. Soglin questioned the order of Board discussion, then the motion, then the vote and findings of fact and whether the Board was just saying the same thing at both the discussion stage and the stating of the findings of fact stage. Walz replied that before one makes a motion there needs to be discussion to make sure no one has more questions for staff or the applicant—that all board members have everything they need —all the facts—and understand what is being approved— before a motion is made. If someone is on the fence, that is the time to ask for more or to point out where the application is coming up short or where some additional evidence has been provided that casts the application in a different light. Dulek added that the BOA can always defer the vote if there are a lot of question, or if more information is needed. Dulek thanked the BOA for their time, and to come to her with any questions. SPECIAL EXCEPTION ITEM EXC14-00012 : EXC14-00012: Discussion of an application submitted by John Wadhams on behalf of Bruegger's Bagels for a special exception to allow a drive-through facility to be located in the Riverfront Crossings -West Riverfront Subdistrict (RFC -WR) zone at 708 South Riverside Drive. Walz presented the staff report. Bruegger's Bagels- is seeking to relocate its store, which includes a coffee service, to the property at 708 South Riverside Drive. The property is at the northeast corner of Riverside Drive and Benton Street and was recently rezoned to be part of the West Riverfront Subdistrict in Riverfront Crossings. The business would like to provide a drive-through option. Drive-through facilities are an accessory use allowed by special exception in the Riverfront Crossings West Subdistrict. Walz showed the location map of the area, noting that the adjacent green space is referred to as Ned Ashton and is classified as a park but really functions as a trailhead. The subject property once contained a business that some years ago (2006) was destroyed by a tornado. The decided to redevelop his business elsewhere and market this property for some other use. The property has remained vacant with no other use. Walz explained the Riverfront Crossings Master Plan and how it affects the subject property and how the West Riverfront Subdistricts differs from areas on the east side of the river in terms of it emphasis on pedestrian vs. automobile facilities Walz presented several views of the property to explain how the site would function with regard to parking and vehicle access as well as setbacks and landscaping and improved pedestrian space. Board of Adjustment January 14, 2015 Page 4 of 10 At the request of the property owner, the City also vacated a portion of the Old Benton Street right-of-way, which served as an alley between the subject property and the Linder Tire property to the north. One half of the right-of-way will be conveyed to each property owner. A public access easement will allow use of the shared drive for accessing the two private properties and the trailhead for the Iowa River Corridor Trail at Ned Ashton Park. Baker asked Walz to point out on the slide where the new curb cut would be on Benton Street and Walz showed the general area and stated that the transportation and streets staff have looked at the area and have determined there would be adequate visibility for the right -out only exit. Walz explained that the drive-through standard were recently re -written to address the special nature of the Riverfront Crossings and to acknowledge that there are some places in the area where drive-through uses may be appropriate. Walz reviewed with the BOA the standards she felt are the crux of the decision. Wherever possible and practical, drive-through lanes shall be accessed from secondary streets, alleys, or shared cross access drives. Walz showed that the access to the proposed drive- through lane is from 22 -foot wide access drive that is shared by the subject property and the Linder property to the north. She explained how the parking and drive would function and how the additional curb cut onto Benton would function. To provide for safe pedestrian movement, the number and width of curb cuts serving the use may be limited. Walz explained that the drive-through could function without the additional curb cut but that it functions more efficiently with it. She showed on the site plan how the stacking spaces work and the distance from Riverside Drive. Walz explained the requirements for building and parking placement. Due to unsusual shape of the lot, and because it is a corner lot, the parking area cannot be concealed entirely behind the building. Therefore the proposed drive-through window and lane are located on the back (east) side of the building and are screened from Benton Street behind a 3-4 foot masonry wall with additional landscaping between the wall and the pedestrian area. . Soglin asked how far from the edge of that landscaping wall will be from the sidewalk near the curb cut on Benton Street? Walz replied that it would be 10 feet. Another criterion states that drive-through lanes must be set back at least 10 -feet from adjacent lot lines and public rights-of-way and screened from view according to the design standards below. The drive-through is set back 10 feet from the south property line. The number of drive-through lanes, stacking spaces, and paved area necessary for the drive- through facility will not be detrimental to adjacent residential properties or detract from or unduly interrupt pedestrian circulation or the commercial character of the area in which the use is located. Walz states that while there are no residential uses at this time, there is concern for pedestrians along the street. She reiterated the distance between the drive-through and the street and the setback and screening from Benton Street. Also that the additional curb cut would allow drivers an option so they do not all queue at the Riverside Drive curb cut and impede the Board of Adjustment January 14, 2015 Page 5 of 10 pedestrians on that street. Walz explained how the layout screening in the site plan helped to promote compatability with surrounding development. This also applied to the criteria with regard stacking spaces being screened from view. Walz explained the height of the proposed wall would screen views of the cars but provide some visibility for safetly. She said the site is not large enough to be appropriate for additional windows or bays. Walz stated that All lighting for the development is reviewed by the Building Official prior to issuance of a building permit. As a condition of approval, Staff recommended that any lighting specific to the drive-through area (including illuminated signs) be turned down when the drive- through is not in operation (or between the hours of 10 PM and 5 AM). Walz explained that over time there will be more residential in the area and staff did not want to have the site be an all- night use. Walz then discussed the general standards. The specific proposed exception will not be detrimental to or endanger the public health, safety, comfort or general welfare. This is addressed through the separation between the drive-through and pedestrian areas and the directional signage and pavement markings. Staff was recommending some additional markings and signage. Walz went over general criterion #6: Except for the specific regulations and standards applicable to the exception being considered, the specific proposed exception, in all other respects, conforms to the applicable regulations or standards of the zone in which it is to be located. Walz described how the setback for the drive-through and the buidling coverage did not meet the standard. She described the flexibility provided in the code and how the applicant's site plan addresses the code goal of making this an attractive pedestrian area. With regard to the Comprehensive Plan, the chief concernis the pedestrian character. Walz described how Riverfront Drive will be improved as redevelopment occurs. This site plan is meeting those standards. Though this is not the same kind of area as you would find Downtown, the goal is to temper the auto -oriented character of the neighborhood. Walz stated that staff recommends approval of EXC14-00012 a special exception to allow a drive-through facility for property located in the Riverfront Crossings -West Riverfront Subdistrict at 708 S. Riverside Drive, subject to the following conditions: • Substantial compliance with the site plan submitted; • A sign marking the exit from the drive-through lane will be located at the east end of the customer parking aisle and directional arrows will mark the pavement at the exit from and entrance to the drive-through lane and along the right -out only drive onto Benton Street; • Hours of operation for the drive-through is limited to 5:00 AM - 10:00 PM; and • All lighting and signage for the drive-through should be turned down when the drive- through is not in operation. Board of Adjustment January 14, 2015 Page 6 of 10 Baker had a few questions regarding the right- out only curb cut and the path for cars through the drive-through. Walz answered the questions regarding traffic flows and options for cars to leave through the right -out only onto Benton Street or back out onto Riverside Drive. Baker asked what the speed limit was along West Benton Street where the curb cut would be, and Walz stated she believed it is 25 mph. Walz explained the visibility issue with the bridge. She stated there is only a small area in which the right -out only may be located to meet the visibility needed. Soglin questioned about the staff condition about limiting the hours of operation for the drive- through to 5:00 AM — 10:00 PM but in the applicant's materials they state the business is only open until 8:00 PM. Walz responded that condition was included at those times just in case there was a change in business at that location. Soglin also asked about there only being one pick-up window allowed, and if a new business wanted to come in and add a second window, should that be specified in this document. Walz confirmed that if a new business wanted to make any changes to the building structure or use, it would have to come back before the Board for approval. Finally Soglin asked why the condition of signage and light turndown, rather than requiring a turn-off. Walz explained that the applicant would want to leave some light on for employee and building safety, but it would meet code regulations. Goeb wanted to clarify that the screening requirements for this property, under the new Riverfront Crossings requirements would be different than the requirements for the McDonalds across the street. Walz confirmed that yes, the new requirement are beyond what was required when McDonalds was built. The new requirements call for more screening from parking lots to pedestrian areas and screening of the drive-through area. Baker questioned what the width of curb cut opening on Benton Street would be. Walz said the applicant could speak to that, but the goal of the width is for the right -out way to be difficult to enter, but easy to leave from. Walz clarified that it would be a one -lane exit probably 10-12 feet. Soglin asked about the multiple windows on the drive-through again, stating the purpose according to the standards to have multiple windows is to reduce idling and was curious what the threshold of the standard was in regards to sustainability. Walz explained that there wasn't a threshold, but there would be limits to what type of business could be located on this property due to the size of the property. Brueggers is attracted to this site because the don't have the same demand compared to a more traditional fast-food type restaurant. Soglin asked whether the sustainability goals of the Comprehensive Plan placed any limit on the number of drive-throughs. Walz said no limits had been said. The Plan does not address the issue of numbers or thresholds. Baker asked about the City's interest in dimming the lights. Walz explained that it was an acknowledgement that in the future on the adjacent property there may be residential uses and that tempering the drive-through use would help to make that a more attractive location for mixed use. Grenis invited applicant to come forward to answer questions. Board of Adjustment January 14, 2015 Page 7 of 10 Wendy Hargbaugh (Ports Architects) and Gene Davis (Brueggers) represented the applicants. Hargbaugh explained that Brueggers currently has the location across the street and are interested in this location to add the drive-through but to stay in the same basic area. Baker asked about parking, noting he saw 7 spots on the pictures. Hargbaugh corrected him and stated there are 10 spots along the north side and 5 spots on the east. Baker also asked if the applicants knew what the exit width of the right -out only would be. Harbaugh answered that is would be about 12 ft. and they will work with city engineer. At this time they are still in planning stage until they get the special exception approval. Baker feels 12 ft. is too wide, and might not be enough of a deterrent from people entering the wrong way; Harbaugh replied they could reduce it to 10 ft. Baker suggested a special exception for these types of curb cuts; similar to how there are standards for lighting. Dulek stated the curb cut will have to be approved by city engineer, but BOA can recommend a certain width if they so choose. Baker asked who requested the curb cut and Walz replied that it was the property owner. Baker questioned the drive-through route, not sure how the curb -cut onto Benton Street will help, because once a car is through the drive-through, they then have to go back out where they came from, cross traffic and can go back to Riverside Drive. Harbaugh answered that the right - out only lane would be used potentially for delivery vehicles, waste management trucks, and such. Baker stated his overall concern with the plan is the curb cut, the safety of vehicles entering onto Benton Street at that location. Walz explained that the City has done a traffic study of the area and feels it is an adequate area for sight and safety, and the traffic study is conducted at peak traffic times. Soglin did note that when cars are exiting the drive-through and want to turn left and exit onto Riverside Drive, they are reliant on the good nature of cars lined up waiting to get into the drive- through to make that left-hand turn. Harbaugh stated that, during busy times drivers will have to be courteous of each other so there will not be a bottleneck. Soglin then asked In terms of lighting, at other locations, what is the typical night lighting policy. Davis replied that yes they turn down all lights leaving only enough light for safety reasons. Grenis opened public hearing. Kevin O'Brien (105 5th Street, Coralville) owner of McDonalds spoke regarding his issue with egress with the right -out only which he feels will be very close to right across Benton Street from the exit of his property. During peak hours it would be difficult for traffic leaving either business to navigate across lanes of traffic on Benton Street. If someone were to leave the Brueggers onto Benton Street, and then want to turn from Benton Street to go south on Riverside, they would need to cross three lanes of traffic in a very short time. Additionally he is in the process of finalizing development of the property east of McDonalds and part of that development an access road would be opened up from the Staples parking lot to Benton Street, increasing even more of the traffic on Benton Street. O'Brien reiterated that he is not against the business on that corner; he is concerned about the traffic exiting onto Benton Street and congesting traffic, especially in peak hours. Board of Adjustment January 14, 2015 Page 8 of 10 Baker questioned staff if there are a high number of accidents on that area of Benton Street exiting the McDonalds. Walz replied that there was not a crash concern in that area. Noah Kemp (2140 Hwy 22, Kalona) has owned the property since 1972 and then after the tornado was fortunate to move our business down the street a block, and since the property has been vacant. It is tough to do anything with that property because of its size. Kemp is excited that Brueggers wants the property, and feels it fits into the City's Comprehensive Plan. Grenis closed public hearing. Baker stated most of the application is easy stuff; he even has no problem with lighting and signage and doesn't see why the City should mandate certain operating hours. Baker is just not comfortable with the curb cut, and wants it to be as narrow and curved as possible. Soglin asked if the recommendation can read as narrow and safe as the city engineer can allow, rather than state as "curved as possible". Walz agreed, and also said a width should not be specified, as there will be trucks using the right -out only lane as well. Baker asked Davis if the right -out only lane did not exist, how that negatively impacts business requirements. Davis replied that for trash it's a concern for where the trash enclosure will be located. He would be concerned about the safety pedestrians if trash and delivery vehicles had to turn around in the parking lot. Walz suggested that perhaps the BOA would want to place a condition on approval that for the curb cut onto Benton Street the City Engineer approve a plan design with maximum control over entry into that right -out only and also control over exiting and turning left. Grenis stated that there has to be a level of trust for the City Engineering Department to do the correct thing with regards to this curb cut. Baker asked if any other Board members had interest in removing restriction on hours of operation for the lighting. Soglin and Grenis both wanted to keep that condition, it is good to have in there in case of business change or future uses. Soglin read the language she drafted which would state to add to staff recommendations to limit as much as possible the ability of vehicles to turn left onto Benton Street or to enter the property site from Benton Street. Dulek state that seems fine, of course the city will have concerns from both traffic and police enforcement as well so the condition seems reasonable. Soglin moved to approve EXC14-00012 a special exception to allow a drive-through facility for property located in the Riverfront Crossings -West Riverfront Subdistrict at 708 S. Riverside Drive, subject to the following conditions: 0 Substantial compliance with the site plan submitted; Board of Adjustment January 14, 2015 Page 9 of 10 • A sign marking the exit from the drive-through lane will be located at the east end of the customer parking aisle and directional arrows will mark the pavement at the exit from and entrance to the drive-through lane and along the right -out only drive onto Benton Street; • Hours of operation for the drive-through is limited to 5:00 AM -10:00 PM; • All lighting and signage for the drive-through should be turned down when the drive-through is not in operation; and • Ensure safety at the Benton street egress to limit as much as possible the ability of vehicles to turn left onto Benton Street or to enter the property site from Benton Street. Goeb seconded Baker requested that staff share with the board the final design of the project when available and Walz stated she would do so. Grenis asked if anyone wished to share their findings and facts. Baker stated regarding item EXC14-00012 I concur with the findings set forth in the staff report of January 14, 2015 and conclude that the general and specific criteria are satisfied. Unless amended or opposed by another Board member he recommends that the Board adopt the findings in the staff report as their findings for the acceptance of this proposal. Baker would also like to note there is a strong interest on the Board to ensure that the Benton street exit is as restrictive as possible based on the discussion this evening. Grenis stated that this use seems very compatible for the area and with the comprehensive plan for this district. A vote was taken and the motion carried 4-0. Grenis declared the motion for the special exception approved, noting that anyone wishing to appeal the decision to a court of record may do so within 30 days after the decision is filed with the City Clerk's Office ADJOURNMENT: Baker moved to adjourn, Goeb seconded. The meeting was adjourned on a 4-0 vote. Z W H N D Q U. O Q O m r O N r 0 N w Y x x x o x N x x x x x r O r x xO O x O x x x x x Q> x x x x x x x x x x N x x x x x Cl) co x xx x x CL x LV r O LO O co O v O 00 O N N N N N r r r r r LLI r r r r r W Z W C) W Q J W Lu Z Vm m U V6 Z H N J = U S Y W m Z J Z m 0 C9 U N w Y 02-12-15 IP12 MINUTES PRELIMINARY HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION JANUARY 8, 2015 EMMA HARVAT HALL MEMBERS PRESENT: Kent Ackerson, Thomas Agran, Esther Baker, Gosia Clore, Kate Corcoran, Frank Durham, Pam Michaud, Ben Sandell, Ginalie Swaim MEMBERS ABSENT: Andrew Litton, Frank Wagner STAFF PRESENT: Bob Miklo OTHERS PRESENT: RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL: (become effective only after separate Council action) CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Swaim called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. PUBLIC DISCUSSION OF ANYTHING NOT ON THE AGENDA: There was none. CERTIFICATES OF APPROPRIATENESS: 608 Grant Street Miklo said this property is on the east side of Grant Street in the Longfellow Historic District. He said the Commission reviewed this a little over a year ago, approving some modifications to the back of the house to allow a deck and also repair of the balcony, which is in process. Miklo said the original application was to allow a deck and add French doors where there was previously a window. He said the deck and French doors have been added and showed the plan that was approved, with the deck stairway going to the east into the yard. Miklo said that now that the deck has been built, the applicant is requesting a modification. He said that because the yard slopes to the east, the number of steps to reach the deck would be more than anticipated, meaning that it would take up more of the lawn space. Miklo said the applicant also feels the deck would be more useful if the entrance was to the north side, because there is a kitchen door on the north side of the house and a paved patio area on the north side of the house. Miklo said the owner is therefore requesting, in lieu of the previously approved plan, which meets the guideline, that the alternate plan be considered. He said the guidelines recommend that modern additions or decks be set in at least eight inches from the edge of the property or the house. Miklo stated that this proposal would put the stairway portion of the deck north of the house, where it would be fairly visible but would, in the applicant's view, provide better circulation in terms of the yard, require a shorter run of stairs, and provide quicker access to the patio area and the door on the north side of the house. Miklo said the design of the deck material would be very simple, with a wrought iron railing similar to what is being replaced on the front of the house. He said that approval of this plan HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION January 8, 2015 Page 2 of 8 would require an exception to the guidelines, which say that modern decks should be to the back and set in. Miklo said there is language in the guidelines that gives direction as to when an exception should be granted, and one of them refers to when there is an unusual lot configuration, shape, or topography. He said that may be the case here, in that the change in grade from the north lawn to the east lawn does provide some rationale as to why a stairway on the north side would make the deck more functional. Miklo said one other thing to note is that typical decks have wood, usually cedar, posts and spindles. He said there have been other proposals where someone has proposed metal, and staff has recommended against approval of that. Miklo stated that in this particular case, because of the wrought iron railing that was on the front of the house and in keeping with the Mediterranean style of the house, the applicant is proposing a metal railing, which will be less obvious, less bulky, and less noticeable, as it will be painted black. Given the circumstances of the yard configuration and the use of the metal railing, Miklo said staff believes that an exception does warrant consideration here. He said staff recommends approval of the proposal. Miklo said that if the Commission feels this warrants an exception, that should be stated in the motion. Michaud asked about the picket fences shown under the deck in the photograph. Miklo said they are just being stored there. He said there will be a lattice work under the deck. MOTION: Corcoran moved to approve a certificate of appropriateness for the project at 608 Grant Street, including an exception to the guidelines for an eight -inch set in from the sidewall due to the change in grade from the side yard to the rear yard, with the following conditions: the railing for the deck and stairs will be made of metal to match or complement the historic railing located on the balcony on the front of the house, applicant to provide plan and details for the railing, all of the above to be reviewed and approved by chair and staff. Baker seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 8-0 (Litton. Sandell. and Wagner absent). 331 North Gilbert Street/321 Davenport Street. Miklo said this property is in the Northside Historic District and is at the corner of Davenport and Gilbert Streets. He said there were two lots here: 331 Gilbert Street and 321 Davenport Street. Miklo said that combining the two lots has made one L-shaped lot. Miklo said the house at 321 burned down in May of 2009. He said the City's Housing Authority purchased that lot with the intention of building an affordable housing unit there. Miklo said the City later agreed to sell the property to the owner of 331, who is now proposing to build a carriage house or garage on the property. Miklo showed the house at 331 North Gilbert. He showed the view from the alley, looking north, and where the house burned down and where the garage would be built. Miklo showed the view looking north, standing on Davenport Street to the south, and the view from Gilbert Street and where the garage would be constructed. Miklo said staff received a revised plan, which he had sent out to Commission members. He said the plan illustrates the position of the garage. Miklo showed the view with regard to the new plan, and the plan view of the back of the lot and the garage, showing that it would have three stalls. He said it would be larger than most garages and would measure 32 feet by 32 HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION January 8, 2015 Page 3 of 8 feet. Miklo said it would have a stairway leading to what would initially be a storage space above. He said that if there were some zoning changes, there is a possibility there could someday be an apartment on the second level, but that is not under consideration at this time. Miklo said the revised plan addresses all of the items that were identified in the staff report in terms of meeting the guidelines for new outbuildings or garages in historic districts. He stated that the building is placed to the rear of the property, such as it is with this oddly -shaped lot. Miklo said the doors would be on the alley side, as recommended. He said the applicant has chosen a carriage -style door, which is fitting for a garage in this neighborhood. Miklo said the siding will be fiber cement, lap siding, between three to five inches in width, which would meet the guidelines. He added that the original siding on the house was probably three inches, although it now has vinyl over it. Miklo said the applicant has provided information now about the two entry doors, which would be fiberglass, panel doors. He said that once they are painted they look very much like a wood door, and that now meets the guidelines. Miklo said the detailing in terms of the window and door trim now meets the guidelines. Miklo said staff recommends approval of the revised plan as submitted and shown in the revised drawings. Swaim asked if, in drawing number one, one of the details represents wood or cement board siding. Miklo confirmed this and said the applicant has indicated this would be cement board. Michaud asked if this will be a separate residence or if it will be coupled with 331. Miklo responded that the requirements of the zoning code and of the purchase agreement that the City had with the applicant now make this one lot — one tract. He said this will therefore be an accessory use, a garage to serve the house at 331 N. Gilbert. Michaud said it is really set back from the house. She said it looks like the two major houses on Gilbert were there first and then they sold that back half off. Miklo replied that these were always separate lots. He said the initial City lots were 80 feet by 150 feet deep. Miklo said the initial lots went from Davenport Street to the alley. He said that at some point in time, probably before 1900, the 80 -foot lot was split, with 331 and 325 Gilbert Street being built on that. Miklo said then 321 and 319 Davenport Street were one 80 -foot lot that was then split down the middle. He said that was not an unusual situation throughout the North Side. Michaud asked if the alley is paved. Miklo did not know whether it is paved or not. Michaud said that when she inquired about building a carriage house on her lot, it seemed like they wanted it to have a long driveway into the street, about a 50 -foot driveway. She asked if this is going to be off the alley because there is enough room to set it back. Miklo confirmed this. He said it will actually be set back about 20 feet to allow a car to park behind the garage. Michaud asked if there could ever be another primary residence built in front of the carriage house. Miklo said it could not be done without a zone change. He said there is not enough land area there for a second house. HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION January 8, 2015 Page 4 of 8 Michaud asked if this is one of the lots that is being reconsidered for zoning around Clinton and Dubuque. Miklo answered that it is not. Michaud said it seems sensible that with such a large carriage house that it should be another primary residence. Miklo stated that both of these are non -conforming in terms of the lot width or area required in the underlying Neighborhood Stabilization (RNS-12) zone. He said that the zoning code states that if two non -conforming lots come under one ownership, they become one conforming lot, because they then meet the minimum requirements for zoning. Miklo added that the purchase agreement that the applicant entered into with the City when he purchased the property was that this would become one lot. Miklo said that in some of the residential zones, the City does allow accessory apartments above garages. He said that this particular zone does not allow that, although there may be the possibility of that changing in the future. Miklo said that is the only way the second floor space could be converted to living space. He said that is not an issue for Commission consideration. Michaud said that, in terms of historic preservation, a two -car or two -door garage would be more traditional. Miklo said it would be, but there are some locations in the North Side where there are some larger gang garages where there might even be four cars. He said the Commission's role is to determine if this fits and if it meets the guidelines, and staff feels that it does. MOTION: Baker moved to approve a certificate of appropriateness for 331 North Gilbert Street in accordance with the revised plans. Ackerson seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 8-0 (Litton, Sandell, and Wapner absent). REPORT ON CERTIFICATES ISSUED BY CHAIR AND STAFF: Miklo said that most of these issues were fairly minor or replacement materials with like materials. DISCUSSION OF ANNUAL AWARDS PROGRAM: Swaim said the Annual Awards Program is to be held January 29. Miklo said he wanted to discuss the house on Grant Street with the Commission. He said it was on the committee's list of nominees, but it did not look like it would be complete before the awards program so the committee took it off the list. Miklo said the owner has indicated that she believes she will have the balcony replaced and put back before the January 29th awards program. He said the question is whether this should receive an award, primarily for exterior finish work. Miklo said the owners did considerable stucco repair, painted the exterior of the house, and are repairing the balcony. Miklo said it is somewhat of an unusual house with a Mediterranean style. He said it doesn't really fit the neighborhood, but it is historic. Miklo said the owner provided a write up from a book of 1920s house plans that the house was based on. He said if the balcony is put back on so that it retains its historic appearance from the street, the Commission might want to consider it again. Swaim stated that the awards committee would be meeting the next day. She said that she and Alicia Trimble are working on the program that is passed out to attendees. Swaim said it HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION January 8, 2015 Page 5 of 8 wouldn't be done tomorrow, but they would want to make certain that listing this would mean that it was truly done. She said the committee could discuss it, unless Commission members have input. Miklo suggested taking it off the list of award recipients if it is not done a week before the event. He said it could then be considered the next year. Agran said that there was another house that is on Dodge Street that is not 100% finished. He said that, since it sounds like this award is being given primarily for paint and stucco repair as opposed to having the porch railing back on, it seems like it would be reasonable to re -include it and take the risk, because the risk is quite small. Miklo said this house was added onto extensively at some point. He said that all of the shingle work is the result of additions to the back of the house. Miklo said that from the street one really doesn't see this. The consensus of the Commission was to include the property on the list of award winners. Miklo said the Commission also needed to discuss the Margaret Nowysz Preservation Person of the Year Award, which is considered the Commission's highest honor. He said the award is not given every year. Miklo said this year the proposal is to give it to John Shaw, an architect who has worked on several historic preservation projects, including the Vine Building, the work on the Saint Thomas More Parish House on McLean Street, and the Englert Theater. Swaim said the number of projects Shaw has worked on that are preservation projects and have won awards is 20 or so. Swaim said the Park House Hotel, on Jefferson and Dubuque Streets, was a major save. She added that Shaw was on the Historic Preservation Commission at one time and also served as chair. Swaim said she feels that because of the depth and length of his career and how much of it was dedicated to preservation, she feels he would be a good nominee. MOTION: Corcoran moved that the Historic Preservation Commission present this year's Margaret Nowysz Award to Architect John Shaw of Iowa City, in recognition of his work on numerous historic preservation projects in Iowa City, including the Vine, the Saint Thomas More Parish House, the Englert Theater, and the Park House Hotel. Baker seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 9-0 (Litton and Wagner absent). Swaim said she hopes all of the Commission members can attend the awards, as it is a great chance to celebrate all that has been accomplished. She said it will be held at the Public Library at 5:30 on January 29. CONSIDERATION OF MINUTES FOR DECEMBER 11, 2014: MOTION: Durham moved to approve the minutes of the December 11, 2014 Historic Preservation Commission meeting, as written. Corcoran seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 9-0 (Litton and Wagner absent). HISTORIC PRESERVATION INFORMATION. Regarding the cottages on South Dubuque Street, Miklo said the City Council has set a meeting regarding this item for its January 20th meeting. He said that a yes vote from six out of seven City Council members would be required to approve the landmark nomination. HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION January 8, 2015 Page 6 of 8 Miklo said that if there is an indication that the City Council will not approve this, the City Council will have to first meet with the Planning and Zoning Commission to give the Planning and Zoning Commission the opportunity to convince them why they should give the two remaining buildings landmark status. He said that would happen after January 20, if there is an indication on the 20th that there are not six members in support of landmark status. Swaim said if there is an indication that six members may be in favor, there would be two additional City Council readings regarding this item. Miklo confirmed this. Swaim said that at the Historic Preservation Commission's hearing, Nancy Carlson had asked about the North Clinton/Dubuque Street District and Civic District. Miklo said the Planning and Zoning Commission is considering a Comprehensive Plan amendment for the area roughly from Iowa Avenue on the north to Burlington Street from Gilbert Street mid -block to just east of Johnson Street. He said it is kind of a gap area that was not covered in either the downtown plan or the Central District Plan. Miklo showed the area for which there is a proposal to include in the downtown plan. He said the proposal would also include the area starting at the mid block in the Central District Plan. Miklo said there is also a block area just north of Market Street near Old Brick to Dubuque Street, and the proposal is to include that in the Central District Plan. Miklo said Carlson brought it to the Commission's attention because there are some known historic buildings in those areas that are not designated, and she wanted to have people advocate for addressing those buildings in the plan. Swaim asked what the timeline on all of that is. Miklo responded that the public hearing is before the Planning and Zoning Commission on January 15 at 7 p.m. He said there was a website or e-mail address in the material that was sent out where one can make comments in lieu of attending the meeting. Swaim asked how making these properties part of these districts would affect zoning. Miklo answered that there is the potential for different zoning. He stated that this area is mostly designated for civic or government use. Miklo said the City's plan for the past 30 or 40 years was to acquire all properties between Iowa Avenue and Burlington Street from Gilbert over to Van Buren for government uses. He said the thought has changed such that the City will not require that amount of land. Miklo said there may be other properties that could be developed for private use or for a combination of government and private use. He said this plan would give some guidance as to how that area would develop. Miklo said that once this is presented by staff to the Planning and Zoning Commission, the Planning and Zoning Commission would make a recommendation to the City Council, which would then decide to include it in the Comprehensive Plan or not after a public hearing. Swaim said the questions sent out by staff via e-mail on December 12 are a chance for the public as well as individual Commission members to address what concerns them. Miklo confirmed this. Michaud asked about the boundaries. Miklo said he believes it goes to the edge of the CB -5 or CB -2 zone. He said there is a map online. Miklo said the text is also important, as it doesn't HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION January 8, 2015 Page 7 of 8 say this should all be treated as one unified district but talks about creating a transition to the College Green Neighborhood and how that might be done. Sandell asked if a survey of the historic properties in these historic districts has been done. Miklo replied that they were included as part of larger surveys. He said that a small area was found to be eligible for the College Hill Conservation District, but when that district was actually proposed, the area on Washington Street was removed. Miklo said the survey does identify a few buildings that are National Register eligible. In terms of the structures that have been identified as potentially historic, Swaim asked Miklo if he could send the Commission members the portions of the surveys that have to do with those properties. Michaud said it seems like this is a pretty major change. She said that if Carlson already asked that the Commission address this, it might need more attention than a month-old e-mail. Miklo said he thought Carlson's intention was to encourage the Commission to participate in the process. He said that is why she brought it to the Commission's attention. Miklo said the meeting before the Planning and Zoning Commission is next week and encouraged people to send a message or statement to the Planning and Zoning Commission. He said the Commission could also send a statement as a body. Michaud asked, even though this is already CB -2, what changes would occur if it is officially part of downtown. Miklo said the proposal is that the area west of Van Buren Street be included in the downtown plan, which would open the possibility of CB -10 zoning, but that the area east of Van Buren Street be included in the Central District. Michaud asked if the three blocks from Burlington to Iowa Avenue are all zoned CB -2. Miklo said he thought they are but said that some of them might actually be CB -5, which is a little bit higher. Michaud said the height limit in a CB -2 zone is 45 feet. She said that would be allowing four-story buildings with a 14 -foot commercial level height. Michaud asked what the status of the Chauncey is right now for plans and heights. Miklo said he believes it is planned for 15 floors. Michaud said that has to be reviewed for the TIF. Miklo confirmed this and said it also has to be reviewed for zoning. Swaim encouraged Commission members to take time to look at this and give feedback. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 6:11 p.m. Minutes submitted by Anne Schulte Z 0 N Cl) O c.i Z 0 F- W N W a U 0 N_ F- co x x x x x x O x x x 0 N X X X 0 X X x X X X W O r, M X W O W O X X X X X X X X r Q X x x X X x X X X O r X X X X X X X X X 0 X T X 0 X 0 0 0 X X X X 0 oo N �X X X X X LU O O LU O LU X X X w co iA W O X X X X X X X X X W O 0Lij X X 0 X X X X X X x x x x x X x x o M M Q' N p X x x 1 X X 0 x I X X ti CL �M X X X X X x X I X X N 4j c0 r- LO r- co co LO r` LO �rn W W N rn N rn N rn N rn N rn N rn N rn N rn N rn N rn N F— Cl) M C7 M Cl) M Cl) M M M M Q W Q W Q Z W ZLLJ J Z 1Z Y. hd COZ_ Z O H O � Z LL 0 J t7 LL W 0 w Q : Q Q Z z ui oC p Q z = w o z LU = O v z Q U v a> cn a) :3 M XU E LU a� a) c c U) N a¢Qz u n n n r LU Y L IOWA CITY TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION DRAFT IP13 MONDAY, JANUARY 26,2015--5:30 P.M. CITY CABLE TV OFFICE, 10 S. LINN ST.-TOWER PLACE PARKING FACILITY MEMBERS PRESENT: Alexa Homewood, Nick Kilburg, Matt Butler, Bram Elias, Laura Bergus MEMBERS ABSENT: STAFF PRESENT: Mike Brau, Ty Coleman OTHERS PRESENT: Josh Goding, Bond Drager SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION Coleman said Mediacom has been having some system -wide problems with their email server. Coleman reported that City Channel 4 has had some problems with signal quality which Mediacom believes rests with their equipment. The problem is solved for the most part but has not been totally resolved. Coleman reported the process to renew PATV's contract has started. It is anticipated the contract will be for three years, or until 2018 when funding from Mediacom can no longer be mandated. Bergus said the bureaucratic change that moved the Cable TV Office within the Communications Office has resulted in a significant change in funding arrangements. Of particular note, the cable TV reserve fund has been eliminated in the FY2016 budget and moved into the general fund. It is important that the City Council be fully aware that they are making significant changes from past practice and it not get lost in the complexities of approving the city budget. In the past the Commission has discussed options for the local access channels transitioning to new models in 2018 when the public access operating subsidy can no longer be required and the City Channel funding would be reduced. Using the reserve fund had been discussed as one element of an alternative funding models. The city council needs to be aware that moving the reserve fund into the general fund could have a large negative impact on local access channel operations in the future. Elias said the change in the principle governing the use of the franchise fee and community programming fee needs to be fully discussed and the City Council and community be aware they are making a significant change. The Commission agreed to request a special meeting with the city administration to discuss the issue. Coleman said he had met with Geoff Fruin, Shannon McMahon, and the city legal department regarding petitioning the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) to revoke the Alliance Technologies franchise and return to a municipal franchise with Mediacom. Coleman said the legal department had expressed concern that if the city were to petition the IUB, Mediacom might assert that they are not required to pay the operating subsidy for PATV. The legal department said that if Mediacom were to take that position, a judge would decide how the statute requiring funding support for local access channels is to be interpreted. A court case would be costly in terms of money and time. City administration also noted that SouthSlope and Metronet have indicated they have an interest in the possibility of providing service in Iowa City in the future. If they were to pursue a state franchise to do so, Mediacom would again be able to revert from a municipal franchise to a state franchise. Coleman said the city administration is aware that because Mediacom is operating under a state issued franchise rather than municipal franchise, annual franchise fee revenue is about $60,000 less. Bergus said the current situation is many steps removed from any scenario in which the public access funds might be threatened. The risk does not appear very large. Elias suggested that the Commission address this issue when they meet with Assistant City Manager Geoff Fruin. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Homewood moved and Kilburg seconded a motion to approve the amended November 24, 2014 minutes. The motion passed unanimously. ANNOUNCEMENTS OF COMMISSIONERS Bergus said she reapplied for another term despite missing the deadline. There have been no other applicants. SHORT PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS None. CONSUMER ISSUES Coleman said he did not have a written report due to a computer malfunction that caused his email to be lost. President Obama's appearance in Cedar Falls generated some inquiries as to why Iowa City doe not have a similarly advanced system. Coleman said he informed them that market forces are such that new entrants in the market are rare. The city has pursued competitive providers in the past but was unable to attract one. MEDIACOM REPORT Coleman said Mediacom has been having some system -wide problems with their email server. Lee Grassley informed Coleman that otherwise he had nothing to report. CITY CABLE TV OFFICE REPORT Coleman reported that City Channel 4 has had some problems with signal quality which Mediacom believes rests with their equipment. The problem is solved for the most part but has not been totally resolved. LOCAL ACCESS CHANNEL REPORTS Homewood noted that the library, the City Channel, and PATV had written reports in the meeting packet. Goding said the PATV board will meet at 6 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month. PATV's new hours are Monday -Thursday from 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Friday for equipment check out from 3-6 p.m., and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. PATV CONTRACT Coleman reported that the process to renew PATV's contract has started. One meeting has been held to gather ideas on any changes to the contract. The city is open to any input from PATV and the Commission. It is anticipated the contract will be for three years, or until 2018 when funding from Mediacom can no longer be mandated. Goding said PATV is generally happy with the terms of the existing contract. Coleman said a public hearing has been held in the past to allow public input into PATV's performance. A public hearing before the March Commission meeting at which a recommendation regarding the contract could be made might be a good option. Coleman said he would try and have a draft contract ready for review for the next Commission meeting. CABLE TV OFFICE BUDGET Bergus said the bureaucratic change that moved the Cable TV Office within the Communications Office has resulted in a significant change in funding arrangements. Of particular note, the cable TV reserve fund has been eliminated in the FY2016 budget and moved into the general fund. It is important that the City Council be fully aware that they are making significant changes from past practice and it not get lost in the complexities of approving the city budget. In the past the Commission has discussed options for the local access channels transitioning to new models in 2018 when the public access operating subsidy can no longer be required and the City Channel funding would be reduced. Using the reserve fund had been discussed as one element of an alternative funding models. The city council needs to be aware that moving the reserve fund into the general fund could have a large negative impact on local access channel operations in the future. Brau noted that the FY 2016 budget changes the operating assumption of how the franchise fee is used. Prior to the FY 2016 budget the franchise fee and community programming fee had been classified as an enterprise fund. Unlike revenue generated by taxes in which all citizens gained benefit, an enterprise fund returns the benefits to those who pay them. That principle has been changed in FY 2016 budget and the franchise fee and community programming fee is treated in the same manner as tax revenue. Coleman said that Assistant City Manager Geoff Fruin informed him that due to changes in state property tax law the city will have a shortfall in funds beginning in 2017 and the city needs to build a reserve fund now to manage that situation. It was hoped that the community would support the local option sales tax to generate the needed funds, but it failed. Elias said the change in the principle governing the use of the franchise fee and community programming fee needs to be fully discussed and the City Council and community be aware they are making a significant change. The Commission agreed to request a special meeting with the city administration to discuss the issue. ALLIANCE TECHNOLOGIES FRANCHISE Coleman said he had met with Geoff Fruin, Shannon McMahon, and the city legal department regarding petitioning the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) to revoke the Alliance Technologies franchise and return to a municipal franchise with Mediacom. Coleman said the legal department had expressed concern that if the city were to petition the IUB, Mediacom might assert that they are not required to pay the operating subsidy for PATV. The legal department said that if Mediacom were to take that position, a judge would decide how the statute requiring funding support for local access channels is to be interpreted. A court case would be costly in terms of money and time. City administration also noted that SouthSlope and Metronet have indicated they have an interest in the possibility of providing service in Iowa City in the future. If they were to pursue a state franchise to do so, Mediacom would again be able to revert from a municipal franchise to a state franchise. Coleman said the city administration is aware that because Mediacom is operating under a state issued franchise rather than municipal franchise, annual franchise fee revenue is about $60,000 less. Bergus noted that about a year ago Mediacom sent the city a letter asserting they no longer believed they were required to pay the public access operating fee. The city responded with a letter disagreeing. Mediacom decided to continue with the payments at that point. Bergus said the current situation is many steps removed from any scenario in which the public access funds might be threatened. The language in the statute regarding the continuation of support for local access operations is there for a purpose and the language is clear and unambiguous. The risk does not appear very large. Elias suggested that the Commission address this issue when they meet with assistant city manager Geoff Fruin. LOCAL ACCESS CHANNEL SURVEY Brau reported the survey has been collecting responses. The number of responses currently will result in a confidence interval of about 7%, which is higher than desired, but low enough that the data will be useful. A Facebook ad will be soon placed targeting the 18-30 year old age group, as that group's response rate is below their make-up in the population. Any suggestions on how to analyze the date are welcome. ADJOURNMENT Elias moved and Bergus seconded a motion to adjourn. The motion passed unanimously. Adjournment was at 6:49 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Michael Brau Cable TV Administrative Aide TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION 12 MONTH ATTENDANCE RECORD (X) = Present (0) = Absent (O/C) = Absent/Called (Excused Elias Ber us Kilburg Butler Homewood 12/30/13 O/C X O/C X X 1/27/14 X X X X X 2/24/14 X X X 0 0 3/24/14 X X X X X 6/2/14 0 X X X X 6/23/14 0 X X X X 7/28/14 0 x x x O/c 8/25/14 X X X X X 9/22/14 X X X X o/c 10/27/14 X X o/c o/c X 11/24/14 O/C O/C X X X 1/26/15 X X X X x (X) = Present (0) = Absent (O/C) = Absent/Called (Excused