HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-04-21 TranscriptionApril 21, 2015 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page I
Council Present: Botchway, Dobyns, Hayek, Mims, Payne, Throgmorton
Council Absent: Dickens
Staff Present: Fruin, Andrew, Dilkes, Karr, Hightshoe, O'Brien, Moran, Knoche, Havel,
Bockenstedt, Boothroy, Morris
Others Present: McCarthy (UISG)
Questions from Council re: Agenda Items
Hayek/ Okay, why don't we, uh, get started with our April 21st, 2015 work session. Welcome,
everyone, to City Hall. We'll jump right in. The first item is questions concerning
agenda items. Any questions from the Council?
ITEM 4d(7) FIRST AVE. GRADE SEPARATION PROJECT - IOWA INTERSTATE
AGREEMENT AND UTILITY RELOCATION REIMBURSEMENT -
RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER, OR DESIGNEE, TO
APPROVE REIMBURSEMENT FOR UTILITY RELOCATIONS IN THE FIRST
AVENUE GRADE SEPARATION PROJECT
ITEM 4d(3) CHURCHILL MEADOWS — RESOLUTION APPROVING FINAL PLAT.
(SUB15-00002)
Hayek/ Michelle's going to recuse herself on 4d(7), um, which is the, um...
Payne/ First Avenue grade separation.
Hayek/ Utility, uh, relocation.
Payne/ Yep!
Hayek/ So, I'll ... I'll (both talking)
Karr/ You'll be (both talking)
Hayek/ Go ahead!
Karr/ ... separating that out.
Hayek/ Yeah! I'll... I'll set it up. I'll read it to separate it out and then we'll take 4d(7) up
separately.
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Karr/ Okay. And then we're also going to defer, uh, indefinitely 4d(3). (unable to hear question
off mic) It's the Churchill Meadows final pa ... plat. Papers aren't quite in order. It'll be
back to you in short time. (noises on mic) So 4d(3) will be just deleted and 4d(7) acted
on separately.
Hayek/ Deleted? Okay.
Karr/ From the Consent Calendar.
Hayek/ Do you want separate action on that?
Karr/ If you just amend the Conse... to adopt the Consent Calendar, deleting 4d(3) and separate
consideration of 4d(7) that'd be great!
Hayek/ So we don't have to give separate consideration to (both talking) bring that back when
it's ready.
Karr/ Yes.
Hayek/ Got it!
ITEM 20. CHARTER AMENDMENTS - ORDINANCE AMENDING THE IOWA CITY
CHARTER PREAMBLE, AND ARTICLE II (CITY COUNCIL) SECTION 2.06
(MAYOR), ARTICLE III (NOMINATION, PRIMARY ELECTION AND -
REGULAR ELECTION) SECTION 3.01 (NOMINATION), ARTICLE IV (CITY
MANAGER) SECTION 4.02 (ACCOUNTABILITY; REMOVAL), ARTICLE V
(BOARDS, COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES), SECTION 5.01
(ESTABLISHMENT) AND SECTION 5.02 (APPOINTMENT; REMOVAL),
ARTICLE VI (CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDITURES)
SECTION 6.03 (DEFINITION) AND ARTICLE VII (INITIATIVE AND
REFERENDUM) AS RECOMMENDED BY THE CHARTER REVIEW
COMMISSION. (FIRST CONSIDERATION)
Dobyns/ I had a question for Eleanor, um, on the Charter Review Commission. I'm trying to
find the page. I'll just mention it to you. It's regarding the objections, uh, Ad Hoc
Committee. I'm trying to think of an example of an objection that might ... come up, in
the um ... uh, in the review process.
Dilkes/ Um, someone signs and somebody (unable to hear, away from mic and noises on mic)
for instance.
Dobyns/ Oh, okay!
Dilkes/ (unable to hear) ....not eligible to vote. All that ... all that information about voter
eligibility that won't be ... that won't show up on the face of the signatures.
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Dobyns/ Oh, it's contesting the petition, not the wording necessarily of itself, of the initiative or
the referendum (both talking) Oh okay! All right.
Karr/ The individual signature.
Dobyns/ Okay. All right. Great, thanks! Um...
ITEM 17. AMENDING POSITIONS AND CORRESPONDING PAY PLAN -
RESOLUTION AMENDING THE BUDGETED POSITIONS IN THE
TRANSPORTATION AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT AND
PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT AND AMENDING THE CORRESPONDING
PAY PLAN
Botchway/ I had a question on Item 17. Um ... I guess this could be for Geoff, um, or Chris. I
just wanted to know whether or not, I mean, was there any potential savings on the fact
that it's deleting positions and then adding positions, is there any type of FTE fall-off
or...
Fruin/ No, in this ... in this case we're actually adding a position, uh, so we're taking the, uh,
one ... there's a supervisor position right now that oversees both our Landfill and our
Waste Water operations. And we're suggesting that we create two positions, one for each
of those, uh, operations.
ITEM 8.2015 LANDFILL CHEMICAL STORAGE BUILDING REPLACEMENT —
APPROVING PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS, FORM OF CONTRACT, AND
ESTIMATE OF COST FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE 2015 LANDFILL
CHEMICAL STORAGE BUILDING REPLACEMENT PROJECT,
ESTABLISHING AMOUNT OF BID SECURITY TO ACCOMPANY EACH BID,
DIRECTING CITY CLERK TO PUBLISH NOTICE TO BIDDERS, AND FIXING
TIME AND PLACE FOR RECEIPT OF BIDS.
Dobyns/ Regarding the Landfill, the ... the, are we talking about the standalone building, um, for
chemical storage, are we talking about that main building where they actually ... get the
fee as you drive through? I'm...
Knoche/ There's a cargo -looking structure on the ... where the restore building was (mumbled)
Friends of the Historic Preservation were at out there. So we have the ... when you come
into the Landfill, there's the ... the office building where the scale house is.
Dobyns/ Yeah!
Knoche/ Directly to the north there's kind of a white building there (both talking) It's that
building that we're replacing.
Dobyns/ Okay. All right.
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Knoche/ And that's where ... that's where they store the household hazar... so when ... after we
receive the household hazardous waste, we then store it in that building.
Dobyns/ What's wrong with it? (both talking)
Knoche/ It's ... it's, uh, it's startin' to rust out at the bottom and it's just ... it's just not in very
good shape, so...
Dobyns/ Okay. Thanks, Ron!
Knoche/ Yep!
ITEM 4d(9) WORKFORCE HOUSING TAX CREDITS - RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT
OF THE APPLICATION OF VAN PATTEN HOUSE LLC FOR WORKFORCE
HOUSING TAX INCENTIVES PROGRAM FROM THE IOWA ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY TO CONSTRUCT RESIDENTIAL HOUSING
AT 9 S. LINN STREET AND COMMITTING LOCAL FUNDS TO THE
PROJECT.
Throgmorton/ So on Item 4d(9), the application for workforce housing tax credits for the 12 -
story building at now ... 9 S. Linn. Uh... (laughs) gotta get my notes! Urn ... one thing I
wish is that we City Council people, I can't speak for the rest of ya! I can speak for
myself. That we City Council people could learn about important projects before they're
announced in the news media. I ... we've had no discussion about this particular project,
and ... and then I read about it in the Gazette yesterday. So ... (laughs)
Payne/ Was it in the Gazette because it was in our work packet?
Throgmorton/ Well ... yeah, that could be, right, so...
Fruin/ Yeah, I think the ... the packet's what generated that news story. Urn ... so you're asking to
get that out prior to...
Throgmorton/ You know ... let me just kinda be blunt. There are all these projects that are in the
works, and ... for the most part, again, speaking for myself. I don't learn about many of
them until... there's some memo that comes up and then it, you know, like you say,
Michelle, uh, that results in a news media report, and I ... I think it'd be better if we had
some ... advance warning on ... on these things.
Botchway/ Jim, the only comment I have to that is just depends on, tun .... I guess from that
standpoint what the media would pick up as far as level of importance. And so...
Hayek/ You might need to put your (noises on mic) mic up.
Botchway/ ...the media would pick up as far as level of importance, and so, you know, times are
things that, uh, I wouldn't necessarily of thought of as ... as important for me as a Council
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Member, but that, you know, it's sensationalized in the ... in the newspaper. I just think...
and again, I'm thinking about it from my other job, from a staffing standpoint. At times
it's tough to get that information out. I mean, I don't know, but I guess from ... for me,
um, it just depends on what you feel is ... or deem as important.
Mims/ Well and I think what you're asking is... staff to make a judgment of when they should
get stuff to us, even though it's not ready for us to take any kind of action on.
Throgmorton/ Yeah....probably, yeah.
Mims/ I think very definitely, I mean ... I mean, how else are we going to know about it unless
staff brings it to us, and it's not even ready for our action. They may be ... you know, I
mean, at what point during discussions with ... an individual then is that threshold that it
warrants coming to us, so I think it's very difficult thing.
Throgmorton/ Well I ... I think it'd be helpful to ... to try to be a little creative about this. You
know, think of...think about it from the point of view of an individual Council Member.
You don't learn about a ... it's not true for all projects of course, but you don't... there's
certain projects where you ... that you don't learn about until sort of this ... in a ... in a
sense ... well, not last second but pretty late in the stage, whereas it's been worked on for
quite a while, and it would be helpful to ... to try ... try to image some creative ways of
informing Council people, maybe not the Council as a whole at one time, but creative
ways of informing Council people about projects that are in the works. Y'all may not
agree and I understand that but (both talking)
Payne/ I'm just thinking how it could be done, I mean, many of them we find out because we're
reading Planning and Zoning minutes, that kind of thing, or reading minutes from ... you
know, other commissions that would be working on something such as Historic
Preservation or something like that. So ... I mean, we're ... we do find out that way, but
I'm not sure how... some of these things are probably not for public information yet. You
know? They're working on something that may not be for public information yet, and
how would they... communicate that ... you know, at what point is it...
Throgmorton/ I ... I don't have an answer to that question. I think, uh, a little creativity could
generate an answer.
Dilkes/ My understanding of this particular project that you're talking about, Jim, is that timing
was a real issue with it, and so it had to be ... as I understand it, and Tracy's here, it had to
be brought up very quickly. I think a lot of times Economic Development issues are
discussed at an early stage at the Economic Development Comm... Committee meeting.
Those minutes come to you. Um ... but I think this one had some timing issues that made
it difficult, and when that happens, because of the open records and open meetings acts...
the same time you get it in your packet, the press may or may not pick up on it. So...
Dobyns/ Yeah, I didn't look at it ... and we had this discussion I think about two years ago,
because we were concerned about a `gotcha,' where City staff all of a sudden surprises us
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with something, and um, I took a look at this. I'm thinking... what's the ask, uh, from the
community? And ... I kept looking at $16,000. Do I have that ... is Tracy out there
somewhere?
Throgmorton/ Yeah.
Dobyns/ Do I have that right, Tracy? Is that ... just, it's $16,000? Is that...
Hightshoe/ (unable to hear, away from mic) ...per unit, and there (unable to hear)
Dilkes/ Can you come to the mic, Tracy?
Hightshoe/ Yes, minimum investment is $1,000 per unit that they apply for. So they're applying
for 16 units, so we would have to invest at least $1,000 in each unit.
Dobyns/ Yeah, and I suppose ... I mean, there are a lot of things that we do that basically the City
Manager just approves. You've given a lot of discretion to the City Manager for a lot
more than this, in terms of...but I assume just because of some governance rules, this has
to come before the City Council, but I don't see this as a whole lot of, you know, money.
I mean we ... we certainly... some of the TIF decisions we make are well ... well over this.
Throgmorton/ Right. Right.
Dobyns/ So I'm trying to get a sense of...so I decided not to make an issue of it because I just
frankly ... you know, it'll come back toward us, I assume, when we take a look at plans
for the (both talking)
Hightshoe/ The State's program, they ... they're taking applications on a first-come, first
(mumbled)... first -serve basis, so when the Iowa Economic Development Authority looks
at it, they're looking is it eligible, or is it not eligible, and to be eligible you have to have
a resolution of Council support, and a minimum investment of $1,000 per unit. So to
create flexibility, we wrote the resolution that you just have to provide a minimum. We
expect, can't guarantee, but we expect the developer to come back for tax increment
financing. At that point, it will go through our gap analysis, our public benefit analysis,
and it'd come back to you. This is just for them to apply to get in the door to put
that ... that date stamp on IEDA so that when the funding comes up ... because they've had
one funding round. They allocated all their money. This is for the July 1St, 2015, so if
they don't get their application in and get in the queue, they could not get any money. So
that's why timing was critical.
Throgmorton/ Right. Right.
Dobyns/ And one of the tricks here, Jim, is like you know things come before us sometimes
several times, in several different ways. You know, mysterious sort of way. And my
sense of this is I was looking at it and going, okay, it wasn't so much the amount. But
I'm going, you know, am I comfortable with a tall building on that avenue ... you know,
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where you take a look at the facade of the Old Capitol. And so I was thinking about that,
I'm thinking okay, this isn't the time. I don't think. That's later ... dug down the road, in
terms of...
Mims/ Right!
Dobyns/ And so that's why I kind of held back. I ... it's not because some of us may not have
issues, but maybe this isn't the juncture. (several talking)
Hayek/ Go ahead.
Throgmorton/ Well I ... I just wanted to say ... well I guess one more thing. I ... I'm not objecting
to the proposal. I'm not objecting to the $16,000. I just would like to find some creative
way to know about projects before they become news. But then beyond that, I guess
there were two ... two facts, uh, that I just ... I was hoping would be, uh, stated and you've
just done that. One is that ... we're being asked to contribute $16,000 right now. I just
want to get that fact on the table. And ... and the other is that it's extremely likely that,
uh, the developer will come back to us with a request for a TIF (coughing in background,
difficult to hear speaker)
Hightshoe/ Most likely. I can't guarantee it, but it is likely.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, yeah, okay.
Hightshoe/ (coughing in background) ...the program (mumbled) like this is not a ... this is not
our program, it's the State's program, but they have three years from the time of approval
to complete the project. So they'll have to go through all the development process, the
permitting process, the design review, the TIF process — all that is still going to come
before you again. This is just to get their application in.
Throgmorton/ Uh huh.
Hayek/ You know and I ... I would say as a general matter I... staff's careful to flag issues that it
knows we will need ... advance notice on .... or ... or to not place into a Consent Calendar
and we'll need to take up at a work session or ... uh, or ... or otherwise, um ... but if, you
know, the Consent Calendar is ... is, it's a ... it's a efficiency tool really, I mean, it ... it, and
staff does as good a job as ... as it can to, you know, place things on the Consent Calendar
that we don't anticipate problems with or controversy about, knowing that it can always
be pulled if there is, um ... but you know any number of these things could have been
picked up by the media, uh... uh, and ... and focused upon, and they're all public record,
but I ... I, we're not ... we ... it would be hard to make progress in out meetings and with
everything on our plate without something like this that, you know, where staff has vetted
it up front and said, you know, we ... this is not a controversial thing or we don't think it
will be and let's place it on the Consent Calendar. It's out there for the public to see.
Um ... and then to pull things out as we need to ... if we don't think it's gotten enough
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discussion at this level or we need more community input. So, I mean, it's a balancing
act!
ITEM 20. CHARTER AMENDMENTS - ORDINANCE AMENDING THE IOWA CITY
CHARTER PREAMBLE, AND ARTICLE II (CITY COUNCIL) SECTION 2.06
(MAYOR), ARTICLE III (NOMINATION, PRIMARY ELECTION AND
REGULAR ELECTION) SECTION 3.01 (NOMINATION), ARTICLE IV (CITY
MANAGER) SECTION 4.02 (ACCOUNTABILITY; REMOVAL), ARTICLE V
(BOARDS, COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES), SECTION 5.01
(ESTABLISHMENT) AND SECTION 5.02 (APPOINTMENT; REMOVAL),
ARTICLE VI (CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDITURES)
SECTION 6.03 (DEFINITION) AND ARTICLE VII (INITIATIVE AND
REFERENDUM) AS RECOMMENDED BY THE CHARTER REVIEW
COMMISSION. (FIRST CONSIDERATION)
Dilkes/ I just wanted to note that ... for those of you who read these things really carefully there
were some typos in the non -redline version of the Charter amendments that, um ... uh,
happened because of the accepting the redline version, that have been corrected but I
didn't think you needed the (laughter) copy.
Mims/ Did you catch `em, Michelle?
Payne/ I did not catch them because I didn't read it cause I'd already read it in the past and I
thought I don't need to read that again! (laughter)
Hayek/ Fallin' down on the job there, Michelle! (laughter)
Payne/ I am! (laughter)
Affordable Housing Initiative
Hayek/ Any other agenda questions? Okay! Next item's affordable housing initiative. This is,
uh.... IP3 of the packet from the 16th of April.
Payne/ So do you want Jim, Kingsley, and I to talk through this or how we got to this or what
were you ... would you just ... Jim's saying yes!
Hayek/ Well I think the, yeah, I mean I think the request is that we ... schedule a work session on
these issues. Right?
Payne/ Right!
Hayek/ You want to elaborate a little bit about that?
Payne/ Do you want me to, Jim? You want to?
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Throgmorton/ Why don't you start because really we began having these conversations with
your curiosity about the, uh, the... the... basically the cost of affordable units in Riverfront
Crossings. Right?
Payne/ Um, so ... Jim and I just got together to talk about affordable housing and this ... and then
we brought, talked to Kingsley about it and this was the result of it, and I ... have always
been one of the ... I mean ... I think we obviously need affordable housing. We need more
affordable housing, but I always wanted to try to see how we could make some market -
rate affordable housing, and so that's where our conversation went. Is ... is there a way
that we could make market -rate affordable housing, and we just started brainstorming
about ... how that could happen, and this list is what we came up with. Um, I don[`t think
that this list is all inclusive. I don't necessarily think all of them even ... maybe
necessarily... well, they probably should all be included, but maybe there's more things to
it, but it's kind of a ... a talking ... a way to start the conversation and um, possibly, uh,
we ... we created a ... a board or a commission or ... committee. Maybe a committee's the
best word to talk ... about affordable housing and inclusionary zoning and that ... maybe
this could go to them next and they could have input on it, if we all agree that would be a
good thing to do. Um ... but trying to figure out some other way to have... affordable
housing, um, that ... is at the market rate. So obviously smaller units is one of the big
things. Um ... I think ... we were, there's... there's something in ... in our, one of our work
packets that talks about lots costing ... oh, it was for the, um ... (clears throat) oh gosh!
Anyway, the lot was like $45,000. Well $45,000 of a ... of a cost of a ... of purchasing a
home is, you know, that's a lot of money! So how, you know, how can we make all this
work when the las ... the lots cost so much and you know each lot has to have a certain
square footage according to our ordinances. Can we make smaller lots so the lots can
cost less? You know... that... that type of thing.
Throgmorton/ So maybe I'll elaborate a little bit. Michelle's exactly correct — we had those
kinds of conversations and, uh, covered those kinds of topics. Uh, and when we began
talking, one of the things I said, uh, where ... we were at High Ground, right, uh, chatting
over there, and I said something, you know, like uh, you know one of the things that's
always puzzled me is why it is that the private housing market does not produce...
housing that, uh, low to moderate income house... households can afford to live in.
And ... then I said something like ... my standard answer is: because they can make a
higher rate of return by building something else. And I think in general that's right. But
I'm also very aware that there are, uh, pretty much conservative economists, uh,
arguments that, uh, the cost of, uh... this kind of housing is, uh, driven up by zoning
regulations and by subdivision regulations. Lot sizes, minimum lot sizes, uh, minimum,
uh, yard widths... thing... things like that, minimum... setbacks, whatever (several talking)
Uh, so that maybe one key step we could take is to find ways to ... to, uh... modify our
zoning code, modify our subdivision regulations in order to make it possible, by right, to
build 600 to 1,000 square foot homes or housing units. I don't know which term to use
really. And ... and then that led to other ideas. Like, uh, the ... perhaps the, uh... staff
could identify privately owned land in Iowa City that would be suitable for
redevelopment, uh, as a neighborhood that contains... small housing, small homes, small
housing units like this. Uh, perhaps, uh, staff could identify which of those parcels could
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possibly be purchased for redevelopment by the City, or purchased by the City for
redevelopment, and then City staff could issue an RFP to private developers to redevelop
in accord with particular, uh, particular standards. Uh, then, uh... the City could also
inventory publicly owned ... City staff could inventory publicly owned land in Iowa City
that could be, uh, redeveloped in a... in accord with these ideas. Uh, and that led us to
think about the.... what's... what's called the Poor Farm, uh, that the County, uh, owns on
the west side of town. And maybe we could follow up on the Board of Supervisors,
potential willingness to use some portion of the County's GO bonding capacity, uh, to
support construction of, uh, this kind of affordable housing. So ... it was that series of
ideas that came up, and ... and Kingsley and I had a ... an excellent conversation along
these lines, with a couple other people who know a lot about housing in the area, and it
seemed like, uh... there was, uh... some possibility there, and... and we were hoping
simply to pursue ... to probe this further, uh, to give the staff time to do some ground
work, and ... and to see how many legs this thing has.
Payne/ And I think one of the things that we also talked about is, um, Jim, you and I the last time
we talked was ... of a ... let's say we have a large subdivision. I don't know how many lots
a large subdivision is, but a portion of it maybe could be developed this way with an
overlay or something like that, you know. Something that... not... not necessarily that it
has to be to ... just a zoning thing but maybe it's an overlay zone for certain por... portions
of, um, a new subdivision or something. I mean, it's brainstorming at this point. Is ... is
this even feasible or possible? And ... you know, what ... what needs to be done to
facilitate it if...if it is.
Hayek/ So I'm ... I'm supportive of...of looking at these things, um, and ... and getting this on the
work session schedule. I look at these bullet points and I think some are ... are easier for
staff to ... to deal with, and others would inv... would be ... would entail a heavy staff
commitment, urn ... which may be appropriate at some point, but I mean I know there's a
little bit of reluctance on staff s part to ... to ... there's ... there's some hesitation given the
scope of some of these brainstormed ... ideas. In terms of just the amount of, the sheer
amount of work. But that could follow from a work session.
Dobyns/ Well I noticed when I was away you guys added a whole lot to the work session list.
Um (laughter)
Mims/ Yeah, that's something we need to discuss tonight too (several talking)
Hayek/ Yeah!
Dobyns/ ...whoa, um, and so I was taking a look, Matt, at the bullet, um, identifying privately
owned land in Iowa City. That's a bullet I would probably like take away from this, at
this point, and just narrow the scope of this down. Looking at different styles, um ... uh, I
see Doug has come to the microphone. I assume that's (mumbled) (several talking and
laughing)
Payne/ Have something to say?
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Hayek/ Just stretching your legs? (laughter)
Boothroy/ Yeah, I thought I'd ... you know, get vertical for a while! Uh (laughter) No, I ... I ... I
wanted to just kind of give you some background information on some of these points.
Um, just so that you have that as we talk about what you want to do next. Um, there's
nothing in the building code or the zoning code that prohibits six ... 600 to 1,000 square
foot construction of houses. I mean land costs may prohibit that. Infrastructure might...
might ... might make ... might be a problem, but as far as the zoning code or the, uh,
building code, it doesn't say you can't build a 600 square foot house. Uh, and in fact,
you know, our accessory apartment ordinance, which is required to be an accessory
buildings, uh, mandates that the ... the unit be at least 650 square feet. So, we're tr...
we're trying to anticipate those smaller units, uh, as accessory apartments in some parts
of the community by ri ... by a process. But I think it's important to know that that's not a
restriction in our code. The other thing is in 2005 we made si ... significant changes in lot
size, so in some of our zones, uh, like the RS 12 zone we allow a 3,000 square foot lot.
That's probably (mumbled) well I know it's the smallest in Johnson County that's
allowed, and it's ... and when we did our research in 2005, it's one of the smallest lots
allowed in Iowa. So we ... we've gone from the larger lot sizes like in the RS8 zone and,
uh, and the RS12 zone, and allowed that under certain circumstances to go down to 30
feet. We allow, if you have an alley, a 10 -foot front yard. Uh... uh... and if the utilities
are lot -located (mumbled) so there ... there may be some things to look at, Jim, uh, but we
have ... we have effectively reduced the lot size, uh, for attached units, and in some cases
detached units. And there's always the opportunity for planned area developments to do
small lot development. Uh, Steve Gordon, uh, in the Whispering Meadows area has done
cottage small -lot development. Uh, Shannon Drive on the west side by West High is
small -lot development. The Housing Authority participated in that years ago. Uh, even
those, um ... uh, yellow townhouse units that are next to the Quik Trip there initially were,
uh, all on individual lots. They still are. Uh, and were designed as cottage development.
They're all rental for the most part today, but at that time they were considered, uh,
cottage type development and affordable, uh, and there are ... there are other areas of the
community, like Longfellow where I developed there that the lot ... the average lot per
unit, costs on that... on those developments was $17,000 per ... per unit. Um, and then
that ... then $100 a square foot was the construction cost for those units. So it still got it
up, uh, higher than maybe somebody at 80% median income can comfortably afford, but
it was ... it was our effort to try to get that affordable. So, we do allow the smaller lots,
and we do allow, uh, the smaller, uh, house sizes. Uh, I think the trick is tr... how do you
make that attractive to the private sector to take that risk to build that unit. Um ... also,
you should know that the ... all the public housing units in Whispering Meadows, all the
three-bedroom units are about 1,000 square foot. Uh, slab on grade, three bedroom, one
car garage, uh, so ... uh... we've not had much success selling `em because they don't
have basements, but that's... that's been the biggest drawback with `em but ... but, you
know, we built those smaller units, uh, with the idea at one point we would ... we would
market them, and ... and that's not worked out very well, uh, because ... in Iowa people
want basements, uh, but um ... I don't ... with regard to the subdivision regulations, uh, we
changed that, uh, from, uh... a 28 -foot wide street as the standard to a 26 -foot wide street,
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so we narrowed our streets. We also continued to allow 22 -foot wide streets on low-
density, uh... uh, streets, loop streets, cul-de-sacs, uh, under certain conditions. Uh... the,
uh, we don't ... the co -housing project that's currently under consideration and is coming
back to the Planning and Zoning Commission, which is out on Benton Street, you know,
near Douglas Court, uh, they, through a planned development, uh, are doing a street, a
private street, at 20 -foot in width and that's the smallest we can go, uh, and still comply
with the fire code, the International Fire Code requires fire lanes, fire access lanes, to be a
minimum of 20 -feet wide, uh, and we allow sidewalks on one side. Um, so ... you know,
there's a way to do it through planned developments, as well. Um ... that's just some
information that ... that you should know, I think, as you talk about this, because, uh...
there are options out there. It's just that it's not, um, picked up often by ... by ... by
developers in ... and I think what your comment earlier is that ... uh, it is a risk. Uh, the
demand, you're more comfortable with a three-bedroom house at about 1,200 square feet,
and uh... uh, if you're building them as spec, you're going to tend to want to go that
direction, than to try to do something smaller, uh, because you're going to ... you're ... you
don't want to get stuck with a product or have to hold on to it for a lengthy period of
time, and the other thing I ... I would also mention, the Housing Authority bought these
back in the 90s, but everything ... a lot of the ... the housing stock south of Highway sti... 6,
uh, in the ... even to the north of Highway 6, was built in the 50s and 60s at 900 square
feet with sometimes detached garages. Uh, some were built by the Franz Construction
Company. That's all that middle income housing, uh, it's very ... it's a very attractive, uh,
the Housing Authority bought a number ... 20 some of those units. We sold most of the...
many of those units. Uh, they were, uh, very attractive to people trying to get into
housing because they were small, affordable, uh, and they had basements, and they were
in ... uh, in established neighborhoods. So there is a market for it. Uh, but, uh, maybe not
at 600 square feet, uh... uh, in some cases. Any ... I mean, any questions about that?
Throgmorton/ That's helpful, Doug, but it also points to, uh, one of the reasons why I believe at
least that we need to try to think outside the box a little bit here. Uh, the box being the
code that we have ... we are forced to operate under because we've adopted... adopted
them in the past, but one way of, uh, thinking outside the box is to ... look, to look at
available land and try to identify particular, um, substantial size particles that the City
could purchase, or that is already City -owned, and ... then issue an RFP for redeveloping
that land in a way that incorporates housing that is affordable and ... and that means, I
mean to really be affordable it's got to be smaller, it's gotta be on smaller lots.
And ... and then maybe there are other details that could be, uh, dived into. Uh, but
that's... that's part of what I was trying to get us to ... to be thinking about, is ... that
possibility of purchasing land, using GO bonds, putting our money behind our words
about affordable housing, and issuing an RFP, and ... and working with a private
developer to sell the land, etc., and recoup the cost.
Hayek/ Go ahead!
Payne/ I was just going to say when I was thinking about this last night, Jim, I ... that, I used kind
of the same ... words that you did: put your money where your mouth is. I mean, if we
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really want to do this, we might have to do some different kind of incentives than what
we've been doing so far.
Hayek/ Well what I would ... I mean, the request is to work session this, and I think there's
consensus, if not unanimity to ... to do that. There's obviously a lot of information that I
think would benefit our conversation, a lot of which you provided, but I think some sort
of staff memo in advance of that and ... and you know a cursory look, at least, at some of
these other issue ... at the other issues raised... raised in the memo. I don't think we're at a
point of saying please go out and inventory all the private property and ... and come back
(both talking)
Throgmorton/ No, that's work session (both talking)
Hayek/ ... that ... that's ... we can ... we can discuss that at a work session, but what I would add
is ... is this concept of ..reuse versus new construction. Um, I mean I ... you know what I
hear is that, you know, when you ... when you have new construction, even with
economies of scales and shared rooflines and whatnot, you have a certain expense that is
hard to get below, just by virtue of the cost of new construction, but what we hi ... have
is ... an expansive housing stock that is modest in size and in price, and it is aging.
Boothroy/ Well I think Douglas Court is right to your point because we've done a lot of rehab
there.
Hayek/ Yeah.
Boothroy/ And that's been an excellent use of...of funds to get that back on the market
and ... more occupied.
Hayek/ Yeah.
Payne/ And ... and I'm okay with that. The UniverCity sale that we have on our ... on our, um,
Consent Calendar tonight is $102,000. I'm not okay with something that's a UniverCity
that's $230,000. That's not affordable housing.
Hayek/ Yeah, but remember, the UniverCity Program is not an affordable housing program.
It... it... it can sometimes accomplish that, but there is another goal in mind.
Payne/ There is another goal, but you still have to have a... you still have to have an income
requirement.
Hayek/ I know...
Payne/ So...if you have to have an income requirement, it is for a certain ... you can't be at 150%
of median income and qualify.
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Hayek/ Well, but ... but it wasn't ... it wasn't ... it wasn't started as an affordable housing policy,
but what I'm saying is ... I think... there... there are so many modest -sized homes, um, in
neighborhoods we're trying to stabilize.
Payne/ Uh huh!
Hayek/ That are aging, and that I... seems to me would fit at least some of the size and capacity,
um ... things we're trying to accomplish here. You know, I would add that to the list of
things we look at, because that would ... that would kill two birds with one stone. It
would ... it could potentially address our... our... our affordable housing issues, and...
protect a lot of these homes from continuing to deteriorate. And frankly we have a lot of
neighborhoods where that's occurring, and that ... I think that should be a concern to the
City as well.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, I ... I agree, Matt, and I actually thought about that a fair amount. Michelle,
you and I and Kingsley, we didn't have a chance to talk about this, but with regard to
smaller, aging houses in the older neighborhoods, at least with regard to them, uh, one
possible tool to use would be something like ... property tax abatement for a defined
period of time, with a cap on the amount of, uh, investment that could go into it, and
with ... so that the, uh... the property ... the homeowner would have an opportunity to... uh,
invest in their property, upgrade it, not pay taxes on the incremental investment for a... a
defined period of time. And ... and I think that has potential for that stock of houses that
you're talking about, Matt ... didn't get into our list but ... you know...
Dobyns/ Well, if we're going to ... I mean it's all about the money eventually and if we're going
to, uh, fund this in anything close to an unprecedented fashion, I'm going to up the ante,
Matt. Not only just, um, to resurrect old housing, create affordable housing, but we have
certain areas, um, and I'm segueing to the next topic, but the Lincoln and Mann
Elementary districts, um, you want to build something that I would add to what you
recommended, but something that a family with children, school-age children, could
afford and would move into. Um ... I think we've already been warned by the School
District that maybe not in the foreseeable few years, but in the future, um, we have two
elementary school footprints that I think are in dire need of affordable housing and the
kind of housing that families would want, um ... Horace Mann, Lincoln, um, and so...
Doug, since we're, uh, putting... adding things to a wish list, um, not only affordability
but just, um, resurrection of older homes, but something that families with school-age
children could and would buy.
Throgmorton/ I absolutely agree, Rick. I was going to bring that up, uh, once ... once we got to
that topic.
Dobyns/ Yes! (laughter)
Boothroy/ And I think we'll have some conversation about that tomorrow when we go on our
tour of the north side. A little bit... maybe that'll come up, because we have both a mix
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of rental and multi-fam... or, uh, owner -occupied that ... that come into that area and there
are, in all of these neighborhoods, smaller houses that could use some work.
Hayek/ Yeah. Okay! Uh... let's move on to...
Pending City Council Work Session Tonics (IP5 of 4/16)
Dobyns/ Oh by the way, Matt, the list is really long.
Hayek/ Yes, sir!
Dobyns/ It's going to be about a year and a half before we get to this if we go in ... just ... just say
it, I'm just saying. The list is really long, guys. (both talking)
Throgmorton/ And to be clear about our memo, we were asking that we treat this as a high
priority item. My sense is that means we think it ought to be pretty high on that list.
Dobyns/ Here's the tough question. It's easy to say something's high priority. Look at the list
and say what's lower priority.
Hayek/ A chunk of which you generated, Jim! (laughter)
Throgmorton/ Absolutely! I totally understand that (several talking) and I think needing to find
creative ways of enhancing the supply... increasing the supply of affordable housing in
Iowa City is higher priority than... (both talking)
Dobyns/ So help me, Jim, tell me what on that list (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ...than probably everything else I've (several talking)
Mims/ We talked about that — we need to prioritize it.
Dobyns/ Okay! Thank you.
Payne/ So we need to have a work session that all we do is prioritize the work session (laughter)
Hayek/ Well I mean .... we, listen! There are 11 items on there and ... and uh... I think in fairness
to staff, we ought to be ... clear to them what we want them to spend their time on, and
there are things they're working on that resulted from work sessions that have fallen off
the list, but they're still heavily involved with.
Payne/ Right!
Hayek/ Um ... inclusionary zoning in Riverfront Crossings being (both talking)
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Payne/ We could all just prioritize the list and send it to Marian and she could conglomerate it,
and ... see the... what... what votes gets what!
Mims/ Well and I ... I think even if we do that, I think we need to ... give staff the opportunity to
give some input on that, or at least some feedback to us, because ... what our priorities
might be, might not fit in with their time in order to put ... we might have something that's
fifth on the list that they could get to a lot faster than something that's first on the list.
Just the amount of time it's going to take them to generate, you know...
Payne/ Or different groups that work on it or whatever.
Mims/ Yeah, exactly! So...
Dobyns/ But ultimately it is a political decision, once we get that information. (several
responding)
Mims/ Right!
Hayek/ Well I, I mean, I'm looking at the pending list, you know. Jim, you added sensitive
areas. Kingsley, I think ... or Kingsley and Jim added the ... the marijuana policies. You
know, uh... there's climate. There's transit. There's sidewalk repair, which I think, Jim,
you added (both talking)
Mims/ That's me.
Hayek/ You added, okay, but Jim, you brought it up before (both talking)
Mims/ ...sensitive areas ... I mean, you know.
Hayek/ We're going to have a discussion about the Charter. Uh... boards and commissions, I
mean, it's ... there's a lot on there and ... and we need ... you know, at a minimum we need
to prioritize and ... and give staff direction as to where we want them to spend their time.
Botchway/ And so I mean we're going to do that ... just from an email standpoint, because I mean
I ... I agree with Jim from that. I mean, just with, I mean, discussing the City -related
marijuana policies. I mean, that was something I brought up, you know, when we
first ... when I first started and so ... I mean the ... the push behind that from a community
standpoint is relatively, you know, lax. And so, I mean, from an affordable housing
standpoint, that's been something that's been consistent, um, since I've been on Council
and ... and probably a little bit before, and I think that, you know, the ... the opportunity to
be creative, um, is going to be ... is something we could do. I mean, I ... I honestly think it
could be number one and ... I mean, I don't see why we couldn't just do it. Obviously
what Susan's kind of thought, you know, if City staff has something that, you know,
needs to be done quickly or right away, ba ... based on the fact that what they've been
working on, that's fine but ... finding some time in like the next month or two to ... to talk
about this in some type of a ... type of way I think is really important.
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Throgmorton/ I agree. A lot depends on Doug and his staff and how much time they need to be
able to respond and prepare, but otherwise, I'd say within the next couple months for that
topic, uh, makes a lot of sense.
Botchway/ City Charter changes, I mean ... that was something that I think is important but I
mean ... I think affordable housing (laughs) is really, really, really important! So I
mean ... we're not going to do anything with the City Charter ... right now anyways. I
mean it was more of a discussion of, you know, some of the things that were ... weren't
picked up, or not picked up but, you know, kind of left to us, and so from that standpoint,
affordable housing could just be number one ... and go from there!
Payne/ I agree!
Hayek/ Next couple ... two to three months, can you...
Fruin/ Yeah, I think we have ... I think we have a general sense.
Hayek/ Again, we're not ... we're not, I think ... I think a staff memo hitting a lot of the points
Doug mentioned, urn ... you know, with ... without so much, you know, the inventorying
and all the ... and all these legislative changes, you know (both talking)
Payne/ If we even need any of those!
Hayek/ ...any one of which would require a lot of internal work through P&Z and otherwise.
Mims/ (both talking) ...but I think just to give us .... (both talking)
Hayek/ ...work session discussion, that's...
Mims/ Yeah, and I think to give us all kind of that game base level knowledge that, some of
which Doug just mentioned tonight, that we don't have, I think is really important as a
starting point for our discussion.
Boothroy/ Yeah, I think I can create a chart for all the zones and show all of the ... uh,
requirements so that you can just at a glance take a look at some of that, in addition to the
memo.
Mims/ That'd be great!
Throgmorton/ And ... I hope you distinguish between ... uh, what's permitted by right and...
Boothroy/ Right!
Throgmorton/ ...what's you know (both talking)
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Boothroy/ Yeah, that's what I'll try to do.
Throgmorton/ ...have to ... go through all the extra hoops (both talking)
Boothroy/ ... footnoted or whatever, yeah. Yeah.
Hayek/ If anyone wants to volunteer to remove anything from the pending list, we won't, uh...
we won't be in your way! (laughter) Okay! Uh, let's move on to City ... Iowa City
school facilities plan update. Simon's going to give us an update, uh... as to some of the
recent activity, and I'm hoping we can have a conversation about ... where things are
headed.
Iowa City School Facilities Plan Update
Andrew/ Yes! I will just briefly go through the handouts that you have in front of you. (noises
on mic, difficult to hear speaker) ... School District's web site. All right! So the first, uh,
two pages that you have in front of you is the plan that was approved in 2013. So this
was the starting point for the discussions that occurred earlier this month. Um, the
second document is the plan that was approved on April 14th of this year. Um, and so
you can note the changes in capacity between the two documents. Um, there is an
inflation adjusted column in the 2015 plan. Um ... the funding sources as listed as the
same for all of the, uh, plan projects. Um, between the two plans, uh, Garner was
accelerated four years and Horn was delayed a year, but the timing of all the other
projects is estimated to be the same.
Payne/ So the one, the ... the top sheet that says status quo...
Andrew/ Yes, that's the 2013 plan.
Payne/ Okay.
Andrew/ That was December 10 of 2013 that that was approved. And the first page of each is
the visual representations of the school and then the tables. The tables are, um, pretty
small print and difficult to read but they have all the pertinent information. Um, more
easy to read that summarizes the differences between those two documents is the next
page, um, and this has a summary of changes between the two documents. It notes the,
uh, changes in number of students, uh, and the projected capacities that, uh, within each
of those plans.
Throgmorton/ Sorry, where, oh ... that's the next to last page?
Andrew/ Yep!
Throgmorton/ Or last page.
Andrew/ Yep, the one labeled, um...
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Throgmorton/ All right, summary of changes.
Andrew/ Yep, correct! And then the final page is ... the afla ... inflation-adjusted amounts. Now
in some of the tables that I'm going to show you here on the PowerPoint, um, we used,
uh, present dollars rather than the inflation-adjusted dollars when we're comparing the
two sets of master plans, uh, just so that we're comparing apples to apples. Uh, but these
first two slides are the, uh, tables that you have in your handouts, uh, we just, uh, handed
them out to ya so that they were, uh, more readable, but these are the two documents that
all the following tables draw their data from. Okay, so this first one is all the schools.
Uh, this is in chronological order, by plan. Um, you can see the (noise on mic, difficult
to hear speaker) GO bond, um, projects start in 2019. Um, and this, uh, also lists their
plan capacity, and we can provide this to you, as well.
Hayek/ And why don't you explain what the ... (noises on mic) reliability of the GO bond column
means, i.e., that it's ... part of a referendum, as opposed to these other funding sources that
are...
Andrew/ Correct! The, uh, the save dollars are the ones that had the, uh, revenue purpose
statement that, uh, Council had previously, urn ... published, or had a resolution
supporting. Um, and the PPEL dollars are also in the bank, uh, essentially. The GO
bonding dollars are the ones that will have to go to referendum and uh,
that's... essentially not a done deal. There'll be a political process surrounding it.
There'll be a public vote, and um ... those aren't dollars in the bank. Those aren't
necessarily funds that, uh, the School District is guaranteed to have.
Hayek/ So again, the ... the PPEL and the ... the (both talking) save, those ... those are in the bank
to the extent that the District already has access to those funds. The GO bonding would
require an affirmative community vote in 2017.
Andrew/ Correct!
Hayek/ And if that (both talking)
Mims/ 60%...
Hayek/ ...if that doesn't occur, that funding's not coming through. That ... there's no other
current source (both talking)
Andrew/ Right, and I'm not sure exactly what the timing of that vote would be, but essentially all
these 2019 projects forward, um, would take, uh, referendum, would take approval of the
voters. Uh, this next table has, uh, changes between the two plans, and I will highlight
the major changes here. I don't know that there's a lot of data on that. Uh, the notable
changes are with Borlaug, uh, added 100 capacity between the 2013 facilities master plan
and the 2015, uh, at a cost of just over a million dollars for that difference. Uh, Garner
added 175 seats. Uh, Grant, uh, the new school that is planned to open in North Liberty,
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uh, they added 100 seats to the plan for that one. Uh, Kirkwood, uh, is slated for a 100 -
seat addition, uh, when compared to the 2013 plan. Uh, Lemme adds 75. Uh, Lincoln,
Longfellow, Mann, and Shimek all decrease from the 2013 plan to the 2015 plan. Uh,
then you can see the capacity changes there. Uh, those were, um, eliminating, uh,
planned additions. And then the last two, Weber and Wood. Uh, each are slated for a
100 -seat addition... in the plan that was approved last week.
Payne/ So...looking at this, when we did the ... master plan for December of 12 or whatever it
was, the front sheet.
Andrew/ (mumbled) 13!
Payne/ Okay, 13. It included... projected capacity increases. So when I look at these capacity
changes, we're reducing... 480, but we're increasing far more than 480. So why ... are we
doing that?
Throgmorton/ ...district wide (several talking)
Payne/ Yes! Yes!
Andrew/ (several talking) ...district wide. They did receive a ... annually they update their
enrollment projections. And, um, I'm certainly no expert on all the data that goes into
those enrollment projections, but um, in February of this year, they, um, received from
their consultant updated enrollment projections that is what is, um ... uh, precipitating
these changes.
Payne/ So...at...at Wood they're anticipating 100 more students would be at Wood? From
where? (laughs)
Andrew/ Increase in population in the city, um, they look at a number of factors — housing
permits and ... uh, but again, I'm not an expert on how they do their enrollment
projections.
Throgmorton/ You know (both talking)
Andrew/ And Wood already has (several talking) temporary trailers, I believe (several talking)
Throgmorton/ I'd like to kind of address that point. I read the enrollment report pretty
carefully ... uh, and my sense was ... that they were not clear about how they made the
enrollment projections for each of the schools out to the year 2024, 25.
Payne/ Like you talked about last night?
Throgmorton/ They did not articulate how they did that.
Payne/ Okay.
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Throgmorton/ So...
Hayek/ Yeah. (several talking) Let's hear the rest of his... presentation here (several talking)
Andrew/ Uh, the next one just organizes `em by, uh, what city that they're in and the total
capacity change and change in projected dollars for each of those cities. Uh, these
dollars, the 2015 plan dollars are present dollars. They're not inflation adjusted, just so
we're comparing apples to apples with 2013. Um, and so this shows for the Iowa City
schools a reduction overall of 205 when you include the additions at Lemme, Weber, and
Wood. But more significant increases within the other two cities, and on this chart, uh,
Hills is not represented.
Hayek/ So the ... the capacity change is relative to the status quo.
Andrew/ Correct, relative to the (both talking) 2013 plan. This is just comparing the 2013 plan
to the one that was approved last week. Uh, the 2013 plan did have these significant
additions at, uh, several schools.
Throgmorton/ Could we have copies of these last three pages (both talking)
Andrew/ Absolutely!
Throgmorton/ .... cause .... (several talking)
Hayek/ I think you ought to throw the whole thing in .... the Info Packet (several talking)
Karr/ We'll also be archiving it for discussion tonight too. It'll be part of your work session
discussion tonight, as well.
Andrew/ And there's just one more slide, and it's just the table of the junior highs and high
schools. (noises on mic) There was some capacity change in the junior high schools.
The high schools, the capacities all stayed the same. Um, I haven't researched where the
change in dollars come from for the high schools, but this includes the athletics master
plan, and I suspect that that's where some of those dollars are coming from, but there
weren't any capacity changes between the two plans.
Fruin/ If...if I could jump in. I think ... is that ... that's the last slide, right, Simon? I just want to
make a couple points. Um ... first of all ... we don't have anybody on staff that is an expert
in enrollment projections or anything like that. So it's going to be hard for us to speak
for the School District tonight on... on why the increase here, why the reduction here, um,
I will say the School District staff's been very good, um, at ... throughout the last week,
um, in ... in getting us information and trying to answer the questions that ... that we've
heard raised, either by Council Members or by the community. So, um, if there are some
specific questions you want us to look into, we can take that back to the District
and ... and try to get those answers, uh... uh, for you there. Um ... the second point I want
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to make, and ... and Matt alluded to this. Um, it gets to the funding source issue, because
a lot of times when we have this discussion or when I hear, uh, different groups talking
about the...the facilities master plan, it's assumed that kind of all these projects are going
to take place over the ... over the 10 year period, and I think that's a pretty big assumption
to make. Uh, the bond referendum that's being talked about is huge. Um, it's a
magnitude that I'm not sure that everyone grasps, and while schools are typically..."easy
sells" when it comes to referendum, I think when you start talking about a GO bond issue
of this magnitude, you're talking about a... a... a... a tall mountain to climb. You know,
how ... how to put that ... not that it can't be done, but it's ... it's going to be difficult, and
there's facilities in every one of those communities that are dependent ... in every one of
the three communities, that are dependent on, uh, GO bond issues, but I think we all have
to keep that in mind, that that GO bond referendum is not ... a ... a given. Um ... a hundred
and ... I don't know the exact number. It was 120 with the inflation in the athletics master
plan. It's probably closer to 140. Um ... that's, um, you know, that's a real ... that's a
tough one. If you think about the ... the justice center and ... and the courthouse proposals
that we've had recently, you know, those have been roughly $40 million ballparks, so,
um, three times ... more than three times, um, the fiscal impact of that, and we're
already... all the schools and municipalities are starting to feel pressure on property tax
rates already. I think the School raised their levy a little bit. We all are ... are
anticipating, um, fiscal pressures with ... with the property tax reform, which are going to
drive up rates. So ... if I'm thinking to myself that, you know, you're looking at a big
bond referendum in 2017 or 2018, that's going to be done likely in a ... in an era there
there's already, um, pressures on property tax rates, and ... and likely some rate increases
that will take place between now and then. So, it's going to just be a tougher pill for...
for property owners to swallow.
Hayek/ Simon, would you flip back to that chart that shows the save and the ... and the GO. And
so if you look at ... you know, the ... the issue that came up at the joint meeting last night,
and which has, um, our neighborhoods concerned and ... and the City concerned is ... is
this shift in ... this ... this downshifting in the enrollment, I'm sorry — the capacity
expansion at, uh, four schools. Um... Shimek, Mann, Longfellow, Lincoln. And if you
look at where those schools fall on those charts, all but Lincoln ... all but Longfellow,
sorry, are GO dependent, i.e., won't happen unless this passes in two years time.
Payne/ But ... the shift that they did in the ... in this population, wasn't ... it ... but those schools are
going to stay the same anyway. Even with this, the population in those schools will stay
the same.
Throgmorton/ I ... I'm not following ya.
Payne/ So, for example, Mann right now has a capacity of 237. It was going to go up. Now it's
not.
Mims/ Right, but a lot of that money for Mann is total refurbishment, you know (both talking)
whole part of, you know, having equity in these schools in terms of the physical
environment (both talking)
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Payne/ Right!
Mims/ ...that our students (both talking)
Payne/ ...that is exactly what the whole thing is. It's not any planned capacity increase anymore.
With the new plan.
Dobyns/ In several years when this goes before the, uh, taxpayers of the School District, there
are two realities. One is that schools need to go where school-age children are. But, who
pays for it? And that gets paid for largely by the City of Iowa City, especially when you
look at the outlandish TIF percentage in Coralville. That doesn't go to the schools.
Um... and so Iowa City pays for a lot of this, but because of the trajectory of our
demographics, uh, we don't have ... we're not projected to have as many of the kids.
That's why a lot of our school ... when you take a look at that nex... other page, Iowa
City's in the negative in terms of projected enrollment. The other two communities are.
I ... I think that's obvious. I think we can all agree that's going to happen unless we have
a change.
Payne/ But that projected enrollment isn't pro ... isn't from today's enrollment. It was from the
original plan... enrollment. So it's not saying it's going to go down by 205 students from
today. It's...
Dobyns/ Let ... let me look at it qualitatively, not quantitatively. I think the face validity looking
at that is that I agree with it! I think that's a tra... trajectory of the three communities.
Urn ... thus my mention is that if we're going to change things, is that we have to get more
school -aged children. I mean, I think we have a lot of leverage. I've talked with
members ... the directors of the School Board. They acknowledge... is that Iowa City has
all leverage in that we provide a lot of the funding ... for the School District, cause we
don't TIF anywhere near what Coralville does, and North Liberty, frankly, um, isn't, uh,
a city that's old enough to provide a lot of, um, property tax infrastructure. So they
recognize we pay for it, but you have to be realistic. You've got to put the schools where
the kids are too!
Mims/ But I would challenge that to a certain extent, Rick, because ... one, neighborhoods cycle,
okay? In terms of, you know, the families ... I mean I look at the neighborhood that I live
in, when our kids were in school there was ... 20 or 30 school-age kids getting on the bus,
you know, every day. And then we went through a cycle where there was hardly any
kids, four or five kids, because... everybody was now empty -nesters and people who were
retired, etc. Well now what we've started to see in that neighborhood is some of the
housing has turned over, plus there's been some new housing, and we're starting to see
more kids back at the school bus again. Not up to where it was, I don't think, when my
kids were in school, but ... but you do. You get that recycling of the .... of the thing, of the
neighborhoods. The second thing I would say is ... I think it's really important for all of
us and the School District included to recognize really the symbiotic relationship between
the placement of schools and the vitality of neighborhoods. And so ... you know, people
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don't move somewhere just because there is a school or not a school, but it can have a
huge influence, and if... if the long-term approach of the District is to go simply with
efficiencies, and let me tell ya, I'm glad I don't have elementary -age kids anymore,
because I look at some of those numbers up there, of capacities, of going up to 600 and
700 for elementary schools — I would not want my kid in an elementary school that size!
Noway! And I think... anything I have read, and I ... in the last two to three years I've
read a fair amount on `ideal sizes of elementary schools,' and almost all the literature
says the cap on elementary schools should be around 500. And so when I start seeing
600 and 700 student schools, I do not think that is in, personally, is in the best interest of
a good educational system. My concern is, you know, as we look at property tax reform,
we look at the inability of our State government to ... you know, pass a bill for funding of
schools. I mean, I don't ... I think they're a year and a half behind now in terms of
funding. They're supposed to do it in the first 30 days, and they didn't do last year what
they were supposed to have done, if I ... recall correctly. You know, we're putting
incredible, incredible pressure on our school districts, and so what really worries me is
that ... we're stopping the expansion of these core schools, you know, they're still talking
about putting major money into... refurbishing them (noises on mic) but it's dependent
upon GO bonds. On a bond issue that as Geoff said is astronomical compared to
anything that this community or this region, when I look at the School District (both
talking)
Dobyns/ ... can be a hard sell in Iowa City. (both talking)
Mims/ ...has seen, in which case, if that doesn't pass, Lincoln doesn't get refurbished. Mann
doesn't get refurbished. Shimek doesn't, you know... what... what are we looking at 10
years down the road? Gee, these are older, smaller schools, not in very good condition,
and... you know... you know, where (both talking)
Dilkes/ You're talking about ... they don't get expanded.
Payne/ No! (several talking)
Mims/ They don't necessarily get refurbished!
Payne/ They wouldn't get refurbished. (both talking)
Mims/ If they're in the GO bond...
Dobyns/ Uh huh!
Mims/ ...a lot of...a lot of those are in the GO bond... timeframe to even get refurbished (both
talking)
Payne/ ...that 11.7 million at Mann is not for an expansion. It's just refurbished.
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Fruin/ I think Mann has a gymnasium addition as well as the historic renovation. (several
talking) No, they took the... classroom addition out. The ... the gymnasium's still there.
Hayek/ (several talking) Go ahead!
Mims/ But ... but my point is ... when you look at all that that is dependent on the GO (several
talking) we have the potential... that we're going to be looking at schools in the core part
of Iowa City that ... one, are not expanded, may not be refurbished, and ... then you get
another five or 10 years down the road and you've got a school district that's saying we
have to be as efficient as possible; we've got these small, old, decrepit buildings; it just
makes sense to close `em down and move all the kids out to these mega -schools on the
suburb. I don't believe that's good for Iowa City. I don't believe it's good for our
elementary -aged students.
Throgmorton/ I agree with you completely, Susan, and... and that's part of what, uh, I observed
at the School District's meeting, uh, last Tuesday night. Uh, it...it seemed very clear to
me in listening to the administrator's staff... that... they envisioned a need, because of this
system -wide efficiency imperative, uh, a need over the long run to ... to shut down small
schools. They ... just from their point of view, in order to run their operation most
efficiently. So...
Dobyns/ Jim, they voted down V2 and V3.
Throgmorton/ I (both talking)
Dobyns/ Remember that!
Throgmorton/ No, I do (laughter) remember that, but I'm talking about what the administrative
staff said during their oral discussion. They ... they made it very clear that in their view,
to be ... to run this operation efficiently, they ... it would be best to shut down the small
schools. (both talking)
Payne/ So...just cause they voted that way doesn't mean they can't change their mind!
Dobyns/ Well I would agree. That was a warning shot ... across the bow. We're not going to see
the next two years, but it's a warning shot.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, so (both talking) I ... I want to elaborate on another thing I agree, uh, upon
which I agree with ... with Susan wholeheartedly and that is, and you, Rick, uh, the
impor... and that is the importance of, uh, the interaction or symbiotic relationship
between the quality of the schools and the quality of the neighborhoods. We need to be
investing in our core neighborhoods in order to sustain Mann, Longfellow, Lincoln, and
Shimek, and ... and so on, and other schools, but definitely those four because they're
threatened!
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Dobyns/ (mumbled) take a look at your pocket neighborhoods. Um, the cottages, as Doug says,
and I'm glad we're into cottages again. Um ... but, uh, I don't see families buying those.
Um (mumbled) the affordability, but again, I'm trying to keep my vision on this in the
future, and Susan, I agree with, you know, neighborhoods that are old can, you know,
turn young again but ... it's hard to predict that. Um ... and my concern is that we might
need to be a little bit more intentional about giving City staff some ideas, because you
know, in the end it's going to cost ... if it's really a value, it's up to us to take the
taxpayer... taxpayers' money and put it towards something of value, and I think this is,
and it's going to take that to make affordable housing for families, cause I think we need
to put that in because I think we've got our warning, and I think we ... and we need to
lobby! Um, we've all lobbied. We ... you guys lobbied last night, um, as a group, multi -
jurisdictional meeting. But I think we have to go beyond lobbying and convincing. We
actually have to put money where our mouth is, and I think we need to start developing
family homes in these core areas to make it harder for them to have this trajectory that
they're putting... they're putting in front of us.
Throgmorton/ I agree!
Hayek /Well, I think we are prepared to do ... we've ... we've offered multiple times ... you know,
to work with the District if there are site concerns. You know, the example of Mann is
that we've got a park next door.
Dobyns/ Yeah!
Hayek/ Now I don't know that that factored into the decision to ... to eliminate the capacity
increase, but....
Dobyns/ But look where (both talking)
Hayek/ ...but there are things ... but there are things that the City can do, whether it's in the
vicinity of the school with ... with site restrictions and things we can do to help with that,
or infrastructure, those sorts of things that ... that we can and should do. We've ... we've
made that clear, but I think we need to continue to do so. I think ... you know, one of the
things that makes our neighborhoods very nerv... our core neighborhoods very nervous is
that if there is this inexorable move, trend... toward... larger more efficient elementary
facilities, we need to ensure that that's not just happening at the periphery. That it's
happening throughout, because otherwise you ... what you're left with is ... smaller
facilities that are ... that are not popular and are ... frankly at greater risk! You know, the
fact is that those... second... V2, V3 were ... were put back on there. I think there was
some chagrin on the part of the ... of the Board, because it opened up old wounds, but...
they were there. This conversation has ... has not gone away, and it's a scary time
for ... for (both talking)
Dobyns/ Notice... notice what the community is saying. Pat Harney, uh, Supervisor, mentioned
yesterday, he looked at Riverfront Crossing and he said, you know, it looks kinda to me
that it's for, you know, older community members and students, and take a look at where
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we've put tax increment financing focus. Uh, we're looking at inclusionary zoning in the
Riverfront Crossing. Those areas we're looking for affordable housing in that area, and it
doesn't look like it's going to play out to have school -aged children be part of that. And
so I'm just trying to make ... the community members take a look at that and Pat ... gave
voice to that. Is that looks like ... we're looking earnest about affordable housing, but
maybe we're not ... we're missing the ball on funding housing for... school -aged children
families.
Hayek/ And to ... to answer your question, I mean, I ... yes you have to go where the children are,
but ... there's a chicken and egg element to that.
Dobyns/ Yeah.
Hayek/ I think ... I think new construction begets growth. I think... rehabilitation (both talking)
Dobyns/ One hand feeds the other, absolutely! (both talking)
Hayek/ And ... and that's one of the reasons we've been so adamant that we have to reinvest in
these aging facilities, uh, to make them equitable in terms of the classroom environment
and the quality of the space for ... for students, and frankly for curb appeal! I mean...
Dobyns/ Uh huh.
Hayek/ ...you're a new family to town and you're deciding between a nee ... a neat neighborhood
with a ... long in the tooth facility down the road that is clearly, um, under -maintained and
a fancy new structure elsewhere... lot of families'll go with the fancy new structure. Um,
but... but... but these... but... these facilities in our older neighborhoods ... can be
remodeled and hopefully we get there. There's risk because much of that is dependent on
the 2017 vote. Um ... or should be ... leveled and reconstructed on-site. I mean, personally
I feel, uh, that the issue of having, um, a high-quality school facility in a strategically
important location is more important than, for example, historic preservation of that
facility. If I had to cho... if I ... if the choice to us were, you know, uh, level it and build
on site, whether it's Longfellow or Mann or elsewhere, or ... uh, you know, a remodeling
that we can't accomplish cause it's too expensive, I would say ... do your work.
Dobyns/ Well I think (both talking)
Hayek/ That's my personal (mumbled) because I think the strategic importance of these schools
and the neighborhoods we are focusing... incredible amounts of attention and resources as
a city to strengthen (both talking)
Dobyns/ ... schools do can be good for us, but we also have to in-kind sort of be good to the
schools and sort of move toward each other. We put a park around Horace Mann. We
accelerated building of, uh, Sycamore Street, uh, to get ready for, uh, you know, the new
school, Alexander. Um, you know, they ... they give a little warning last night. They're
going to come to us about discretionary busing and maybe do some cost-sharing on that.
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There will always be opportunities, um, including, you know, the opportunity to put more
kids in these areas. I just want to be ... everybody aware of that is that, well, instead of
waiting for the School District to be good to us, I think we have to show them that we can
be'good to them. We've demonstrated that in the past. I just want to (both talking)
Throgmorton/ So in order to strengthen the neighborhoods around these schools is one of the
reasons why I suggested that possibility of having some form of tax abatement, capped,
time limited, uh, focused on, um ... particular kinds of renovation in those older
neighborhoods, so that the buildings could be upgraded, attractive to families with
children, and ... um, and then attract those families and ... and strengthen the ... the
catchment area, as they call it in, uh, around the schools. I mean we ... we gotta put our
dollars where our mouth is. Or mouths are (laughs)
Hayek/ Yeah.
Throgmorton/ Could I mention two other things about the School Board meeting? Uh, one is,
uh, I really had a very strong sense that it would be wise of us to have a staff or
Councilperson presence at each of their formal meetings. So that we know what they're
doing! Now, I ... I talked with Tom about this a little bit, and I understand that there are
always various kinds of staff interaction, urn ... but I don't know about you all, but I ... I
was pretty shocked when I read the newspaper last week, you know, couple or whatever
days before the School Board's meeting and saw that they were thinking about closing
down ... Mann and Lincoln and ... and Hills. All right (laughs) they're thinking about that?
Good god... you know, so I... I got (laughter) a little bit passionate about that, but you
know I was surprised! So we ... we need to be present because their objectives, their ... are
... are not identical to ours, and if they're moving in a direction that would harm us, we
need to be able to say that at the moment (laughs) when ... when it appears during a
meeting and, you know, that was a long meeting, longer than ones we have (laughs)
Payne/ I was actually with Jim the next day, or that day that that was in the paper and he was
very, um, vocal and passionate about (laughs) it.
Dobyns/ I would disagree with the presence to be there. We could make a case you should be at
the Coralville City council meetings and the Board of Supervisors.
Throgmorton/ Not a bad idea!
Dobyns/ Um, but um ... uh, it becomes a time issue. Plus I think it's a ... it comes off sounding a
little like `I don't trust you,' maybe even per ... perhaps condescending to, uh, I mean, if
we're invited there, like you were on the school committee (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Uh huh.
Dobyns/ ...you know, invited as an Ad Hoc group member. I ... I just think, Jim, that just sends
the wrong message. Um, I agree with your concerns. I just don't think that's the right
way to go about it. Um ... you know, we just, urn ... uh, we have a member of the Planning
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and Zoning Committee who is here listening to us because we work together in Iowa
City. Go outside the jurisdiction ... I mean, what is it message if someone come from
Coralville or someone from the, uh, School Districdt was in the audience here listening to
us. I'm not sure how that resonates and I don't want to ... and I'd recommend we not start
that.
Throgmorton/ Yeah. Countries have ambassadors.
Hayek/ They don't have to pay parking tickets. (laughter) Uh... (laughter) you know, I mean,
listen, we've had ... I think we have, uh, consistent engagement at the ... at the upper staff
levels between the two organizations and ... and politically, but between the elected ... I
think that ... this issue ... came around pretty quickly and ... and I think caught some people
off guard. Um, typically though we have ... more advance notice, um, and ... and so I think
just consistent engagement is really important on this. Um...
Dobyns/ (mumbled) School Board directors off guard too (laughter)
Throgmorton/ If I could bring up one, uh, one other point, it's the only other point I would want
to make ... uh, when I read their enrollment projections, and dug as deeply into them as
I'm capable of digging (laughter) uh, I ... I believe I saw that they ... are presuming that
past trends in development patterns within the District will continue. Past trends will
continue. All right? Uh, and ... when I think about planning, that's a pretty odd thing to
do, to look 10 years ahead and... and to base everything on the assumption that past
trends will continue. Past development trends. So I ... I don't know where we could go
with this, but I believe at a ... at least at a district -wide level, that there should be
consideration given to all... at least one alternative scenario about how the District, the
region, could develop.
Payne/ I mean I ... I guess even where I work ... when we do our budget and we figure out, you
know, how many new services or how much new main or how much new elec ... electrical
cable we have to install next year, it's all based on past trends.
Mims/ And if they're updated every year, every two years (both talking)
Payne/ Right, every year.
Mims/ ...you know, you have that opportunity to adjust, and I...
Payne/ You have a 10 -year plan, but it's updated annually.
Mims/ Yeah, and I ... and I think ... I think we've gotta kind of pick and choose where we can
have the most effective engagement... with the District, and I'm not sure telling them how
to do projections is it. But I think we have to stay engaged, no question about it!
Throgmorton/ Well, their projections... presume one development pattern that will continue for
the next 10 years.
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Mims/ Yeah, and I'm not saying I agree with it! I'm just saying I'm not ... sure how effective we
(both talking)
Throgmorton/ And that development pattern presumes... that.... school-age children will not...
well... the... there will be no significant increase in school-age children within, uh, the
core catchment areas located in Iowa City.
Hayek/ Uh huh.
Botchway/ So I guess ... and I'm trying to tread lightly, a reoccurring question that keeps coming
up is the enrollment projections. Is there any way we can, you know, have them present
or, um, have some questions made about how they came about those enrollment
projections, because it sounds like ... maybe they didn't discuss it with the City. I mean,
I'm not sure, um, but maybe that's something that needed to happen or ... I mean, do we
discuss, I mean when we're (both talking)
Payne/ ...kind of explained it last night that, you know, it's just based on past ... permits that have
been pulled in certain areas and...
Mims/ It ... it's based on more than that, and I'm ... they probably changed it since I was on the
School Board back in the late 90s, but ... I mean there's... there's a number of different
things and I think they're using different people who do the projections now than ... than
were doing it back then too, but ... there's a lot of different things from ... I mean, they're
looking to the point of census blocks and retention from one grade to the next. They're
looking at, you know, new building permits. There... there's a lot of different pieces that
go into it. Urn ... and I know when I was there ... it was pretty darn amazing how accurate
those projections were. Um, you can't necessarily get `em down. They're very accurate
on the district level. They were pretty darn good at the high school level, and the junior
high level. Two of each at that point in time. The more you got down to individual
elementary schools, it was much harder to have that same high, high, high degree of
accuracy.
Throgmorton/ That's the part that they aren't at all clear about in their report.
Mims/ Um, you know... and you know, you're talking smaller numbers so, you know, you got a
school of 200 or 300 and ... you're off by 10, that's a much bigger percentage error than at
the high school level, but...
Dobyns/ Smaller and wider confidence interval, yeah.
Mims/ Yep (both talking)
Hayek/ We're going to meet with our leadership, uh, fairly soon and I ... I mean, that is a fair
question. I mean we've got to be careful, right...
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Mims/ Yeah!
Hayek/ ...you know ... they are a ... a distinct organization. They have their own means of
prognostication and ... and you know so ... there's gotta be some... some... some
institutional re ... inner ... (both talking) inner -institutional respect. So, you know we...
but we need ... we need to advocate for Iowa City, and ... and ... and explain why these are
of...these changes are of concern to us. Explain why the... reinvestment in our core
neighborhoods, both from what the City can do and what the School District can do, are
so ... is so critical, uh, to ... to the community. This is a message we've carried for a while,
but we cannot let up!
Botchway/ Were there questions, I mean, since I wasn't at the joint meeting, were there
questions from the other communities in... in regards to this plan as well? It doesn't
affect them as much, so I mean I didn't know whether or not...
Mims/ Yeah, there were ... there weren't a whole lot of questions. I think it was more concerns
that were brought up, you know, from Iowa City's perspective, I mean, Amy Nielson
from North Liberty, you know, expressed the concern that they're still, you know, a
whole elementary school short and going to be for a number of years out there with their
rapid growth. Um ... so...
Hayek/ (both talking) ...the new high school has sucked up so much of the money, so much of
the money, and... and uh... Iowa City taxpayers are paying for most of that.
Throgmorton/ They're happy...
Botchway/ But I ... I, oh, go ahead!
Hayek/ (both talking) so that... that's... we're starting with, and so much of what we've needed
from a... from an older neighborhood reinvestment... standpoint, was shifted to the
second phase and is dependent on the 2017 vote, which makes it very scary. (several
talking)
Botchway/ No I think it's interesting, just the fact that, I mean, when Susan was talking about the
symbiotic relationship and the fact that, you know, there's kind of a ... a push and pull,
give and take to a certain extent that, you know, this has kind of created the perfect
situation where we can do, you know, um ... uh, probably some type of partnership or...
and maybe not necessarily exactly what Jim was thinking but, you know, maybe have
more... conversations, and I don't know if it has to essentially happen at the, um ... uh... I
was going to say the ... the elected level, but maybe at the administration level to ... to
really kind of dig deep and ... and put our claws in and ask more questions...
Hayek/ Yeah.
Botchway/ ... and get some things done.
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Payne/ I ... I was just going to say, when it comes to 2017 and that GO bond goes to a vote,
they're going to want the support of the cities...
Throgmorton/ They will!
Payne/ ...so in order to get the support of us, and us to advocate for it, it's going to have to be
beneficial to us.
Hayek/ No, and they... they've... they've been strategic about what they are going to put on the
2017 wish list, and they're going to want every community to have something to vote for.
And you can see when they allocate their capital projects that all three communities have
got ... a dog in that race. So, that ... that's effective. You know, I ... I'm still convinced, or
I ... I still have this sense that there is ... a suburban template that ... tends to get imposed
on ... on facility decision making and ... and one thing we've got to maintain our
messaging on is the fact that ... if you were starting from scratch in a green field, ideally
you'll go with X -acres. I don't know if it's 10 acres or what ... what the ... what the
standard is for... for the minimum necessary for... for an elementary school. But an older,
urban setting does not have that, but that doesn't mean it's any less ... urn ... successful
as ... as a learning environment and you get into smaller footprints and multiple stories
and that works just fine all over the world. So we just need to make sure that that ... that
there are at least two models to the ... to the approach.
Throgmorton/ This is what I meant by, at least consider, uh, about why the District, I believe,
should consider at least one alternative scenario, because the one that they presumed,
basically, is one that produces and requires suburbanized, 500 to 600 student elementary
schools.
Hayek/ Well, we need to maintain the positive engagement with them, and, uh, both at...at a
staff and elected level. Um, we'll continue to do that, and then the other issue and
I'm ... I'll just briefly hit upon it is, you know, let's... we're... the... the secondary
boundary issues are, uh, coming to a head. That appears to be moving in a good
direction, in terms of equity between the three high schools. That is critical. Um ... but
we need to ... we need to watch that carefully, as well. Geoff, anything you would add?
Fruin/ No, um ... I don't think so. Like you ... like I said earlier, if there's specific questions you
want us to ... to talk to staff about, we will. Um ... you know and I'd just like to highlight
and ... and remind folks that ... when we've seen opportunities to partner with the School
District, we've certainly jumped at those. Uh, the new Alexander school, there's a gym
partnership there. Wood, there's been a gym partnership there, uh, investing in whether it
be park next to, uh, Wood, um, and ... and we're open to more of those. We'll have
discussions about American Legion and the new Hoover, um, and... and we're certainly
open to discussions on Mann, Longfellow, and some of the renovation projects. So,
urn ... you know, stay tuned and maybe something materializes there.
Information Packets
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Hayek/ Well that was a good discussion. Okay, Info Packets. April 9th.
Throgmorton/ IP4, KXIC. Uh, Marian, I can do either May 27 or June 3, but I can't really do
several of those other dates.
Karr/ This was an up-to-date memo, um, at the moment in time I'll ... I can certainly put
additional information in, but I will be asking the next time. We're booked right now
through May 601 and May 1St. We're going to do it in short increments because there's
too many changes that occur ... when you do it too far out.
Throgmorton/ Okay!
Hayek/ So you're not requesting (both talking)
Karr/ Not at this time (both talking) Duly noted, Jim, but ... I will be back when we get past the
next ... we'll do it in short chunks. Now I can put it down, but I ... I certainly can if you're
ready to do it, we can do it, but I hadn't thought about it.
Throgmorton/ Well if you could pencil me in for one of those, that'd be good, because (both
talking)
Karr/ I'm sorry, which dates?
Throgmorton/ Uh, May 27 or June 3, cause there're four other dates I ... I can't do.
Mims/ Yeah, I don't think it'd be a bad idea if we didn't maybe try and get the summer, with
people's vacations and stuff, so if...
Karr/ You want me to schedule ... do you want me to ... to, do you want to do it now through the
summer or you want me to ... do you want to take a look at your calendar, let me know,
and I'll put it in next time (several talking)
Mims/ Yeah, let's just shoot her an email of which ones we can do and then if we've got multiple
people we can (both talking)
Hayek/ The seven of us barking dates at you right now does not (mumbled)
Karr/ I appreciate that! But yeah, then I can populate the calendar through the summer months,
include that the next time, and we can then fill in the holes.
Mims/ Okay! Or knock people out if we've got ... more than one.
Karr/ Uh huh! (laughter)
Hayek/ Anything else on the 9th9 Info Packet?
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Throgmorton/ Matt, on I ... IP 10, which is a handout as part of the Human Rights Commission's
April 1St meeting. Harry Olmstead recommended that the Commission develop a yearly
award named after Terry Cunningham. Uh, and I ... I think Terry Dickens, I think, if he
were here would support that idea. I know he and I chatted about it a little bit, but uh,
and I don't know that we need to do anything because it's a Human Rights Commission
thing, I think, but uh, I ... I just wanted to express support for the idea.
Hayek/ It is talking about the Commission developing the award.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, that ... that's what I (both talking)
Hayek/ ...but I'm glad you brought it ... brought it up. Uh, April 16th.
Botchway/ IP ... 3. So I think this was Doug. Um, just the correspondence regarding the,
uh... oops. Not IP3, never mind!
Mims/ That's yours!
Botchway/ Yeah (several talking) There was another one; I know I saw it! (several talking)
Payne/ Well while you're looking for it (laughs)
Botchway/ (mumbled) Oh, IP7! Cause was this in response to my question?
Throgmorton/ Yes.
Botchway/ Yeah, okay, yeah.
Fruin/ Yes it was.
Botchway/ Okay, sorry. Oh I just saw the cc Doug at the end and so I just assumed it was from
Doug or from Tom. Anyways, um, you know I guess, um ... kind of the, one of the
comments I guess that was left was, um ... you know, there hasn't really been any type of,
uh, very little feedback as far as any necessary functions or duties that were not being
accommodated. Um, and I ... I mean, again, this is coming from a discussion at the
County level, um, and the ... the hunger task force that's really trying to have ... or is
having trouble as far as coordination, or working on coordination, and um ... and then
beyond that at the building communities meeting that Jim and I was at, that ... that
discussion came up as well, and so I guess I wasn't trying to, you know, um ... uh, say any
type of negative feedback as far as what we're currently doing or how the ... these
particular duties were being assigned. I guess I'm just thinking about it from a ... the
standpoint that something's off. I mean it just seems like there's individuals that don't
know that there are particular non-profit organizations or whatever the case may be. I'm
not making the assumption that one position will handle that, but maybe something along
the lines of, you know, using what we currently have from the Communication
Department and um, and doing things differently, or maybe communicating more with
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the County and, you know, it was just a lot of ..I can't remember the number. Susan,
you always seem to know, um, non-profit organizations that are currently in ... not only
the Johnson County jurisdiction, but within Iowa City.
Hayek/ Couple hundred (several talking)
Botchway/ Yeah, and I don't know if we do ... I know that it's tough for them to do a good job as
far as communicating that information out, and I do think that it's kind of a City
responsibility to do something along those lines, obviously for our residents to have that
information, beyond what we have kind of just on our web site as far as just a list of
things. So, again, I appreciate the memo. Kind of answering questions as far as how
those duties were, um ... uh, changed or reassigned, whatever the case may be, cause I
think that's helpful, urn ... uh, but I think I'm going to try to think about this and maybe
come back with something a little more solid.
Hayek/ And maybe United Way ... has a role in this.
Botchway/ Yeah, maybe. Yeah.
Hayek/ Um...
Fruin/ I was in a meeting with Mike Stoffregen again with the Community Foundation, uh,
yesterday, and I believe the number he mentioned was 334 registered non -profits in ... in
Johnson County. It's an astonishing number and um ... it's tough to make a list on a web
site that's meaningful. I ... I get what you're ... where you're going.
Botchway/ Well and then beyond that, even at the ... I don't know if we had the same discussion
at the building communities meeting, but it was something that individuals were thinking
about starting more non -profits, and so there's just a lack of communication as far as
what's going on currently, and then when we go back, I know that the Aid to Agencies
funding is different, but when we talk about it from a funding standpoint, I know that
multiple, you know, individuals, um, will apply for aid, but I think that some of this
collaboration, or some collaboration could be very helpful as far as how we send out
dollars and the efficiency of these programs as well.
Hayek/ Well there... there's too much overlapping, and ... and you know, turf ...battles in a sense
between some of the service providers.
Mims/ Oh yeah, especially if they're after grant money.
Payne/ Well and then yeah, then they compete for the same money and they provide... if they're
providing the same type of service and competing for the same money, it's...
Mims/ Then they don't want to cooperate, I mean I've seen that.
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Botchway/ So even if it's, I mean, maybe it's a point of being ... like communicating to them
or ... I don't want to change our Aid to Agencies because I think we've already done that,
but figuring out a way to ... get the non -profits to do something differently, or just
collaborate more, I mean, cause I think that... you're right, Susan. I mean everybody kind
of...I just remember when we were working it from a School District standpoint, we
looked at it ... we told, you know, a bunch of non -profits that we wanted them to
collaborate together. What happened was they went to the County, all separately for their
particular pot of money, to do it and it just didn't work, exactly how we had planned it
out or wanted them to do it, and so there's gotta be something else that we do to really
change that focus, because it's ... it's not really helping anybody, except the particular
organization that might get the funding for that particular time.
Hayek/ Well you know, yeah, I think it's hard to do that. They ... they've got ... I mean you ... you
have, you know, personal stakes in it, whether it's personnel or ... or otherwise, uh, those
are hard to ... to overcome, but you know, like the 1105 project was... was... was a
consolidation of ..least some aspects of multiple ... of...of collaboration and ... and...
anyway. It's ... it's a tough issue. Okay, anything else on the 16th?
Payne/ I just have a comment, um, on the ... and it's probably more for Marian. Um ... in the
Planning and Zoning, um ... attendance record, on their informal meetings, could you put
the year in there also? So not just the date of the meeting, but the year of the meeting,
since they're not having meetings every week, it's ... like it says 2/3, 2/20, 9/18, 2/3/ 3/16.
So it's like is there something wrong with the dates or were ... was it different years, and I
think it really was different years.
Karr/ Okay. I ... I will look at that one, but... the... the understanding and the directions we give is
a 12 -month period. So you should never have more than one 12 -month period, where
you overlap the same.
Hayek/ It's a rolling 12 -month period?
Karr/ It's a rolling 12 -month, exactly, but I'll take a look at it. I see what you're (several talking)
Payne/ Yeah, look at it and you can see it's ... looks kinda funny!
Karr/ That was ... that was the whole intent, is it be a rolling 12 -month period so that it grows as
the attendance for that individual may change.
Payne/ Okay.
Karr/ I'll take a look.
Payne/ Yeah.
Hayek/ Is the font okay with you? (laughter)
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Botchway/ So real quick, two more things, IP8. Are we ... are we doing anything in regards to
this or, I mean, is ... I mean and obviously staff is aware.
Hayek/ Which?
Botchway/ That's the, uh, IP8, Post Office move. Um, I mean (coughing, unable to hear
speaker) effects of this move out of the downtown to, I mean, I feel like that's the
situation that, you know, the Post Office is doing whatever they're doing, but ... I mean...
Fruin/ We really have limited control, um, and that's probably little too (laughter and several
talking) We really have no control, Kingsley. Um...
Hayek/ This occurred I think before you joined.
Fruin/ Yeah, we did appeal the decision. We did file an appeal, and ... and, um, obviously they
didn't, uh, see fit to agree with our, you know, our... our concerns. Um, our
understanding is they're moving out. They'll be opening here within the week. Um,
what we are trying to do is encourage some backfilling of services downtown and I know
there's local businesses that are exploring, um, expanding the types of postal offerings
that they have. So, currently Iowa Book and Supply is one example you can go in
and ... and do limited USPS type of transactions. There are different tiers that businesses
can agree to, and we're trying to promote, uh, that as a business opportunity. I can tell
you one of our, um, big concerns, uh, is ... is on passport services because of the large
international students, and just the really good transit access that we have downtown.
We've had some conversations and ... and I think we'll .... we'll end up working
something out with the Post Office where if... if nothing else they have some passport
fairs downtown periodically, or they can, um, utilize Library space and... and advertise
that, so ... so folks can come in.
Payne/ I didn't think the passport part was moving.
Fruin/ It is moving, yes.
Botchway/ But then beyond that, just some communication that it's not Iowa City doing it,
because I feel like that's going to come back later on, after the move occurs, that you
know we had some type of...
Fruin/ Yeah... (both talking)
Botchway/ ...dealing (both talking)
Fruin/ To give you can idea of the lack of control, we don't review their building plans. We
don't inspect the ... the build -out of their space. That's a ... it's completely out of our
jurisdiction, but ... the communication, um .... we'll do our best to make. that known.
Mims/ They did send out postcards. I know we got postcard at the house.
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Fruin/ Oh, good! Okay.
Mims/ Sometime in the last week, saying that they were moving (several talking) and ... and
actually it was interesting because the date they said they were opening was different than
the date they gave the City. Their postcard was different. I think it said the 23rd actually.
Karr/ I think it was a staged, or phased, opening for commercial versus, um, residential.
Mims/ Okay, residential. Okay.
Botchway/ I just think it's time to create, you know, some, uh, some Star Trek beaming things
from (laughter) cause it's gettin' ridiculous.
Hayek/ Work session that? (laughter)
Botchway/ Yeah. Actually, could you, and use that #2 under affordable housing (laughter) The
other thing is the C, um, CJCC Committee meeting. I mean, obviously you just read the
minutes, but beyond that, um, right now from the, uh... kind of the ... racial, equity, um...
more from the data analysis standpoint, um, that is moved on to a ... I can't think
the ... MacArthur Foundation Grant or something along those lines and so it was that we
were going to, you know, I talked about that $30,000 that, you know, the County was
going to put towards this particular thing and that, you know, it would be great if Iowa
City could look into providing some type of funding along those lines, but now that's all
on hold, waiting to see whether or not this grant goes through because then maybe, you
know, nobody's going to have to spend money in regards to that. So, and that's like
$150,000 or something along those lines and so you'll see that in the next packet, but that
meeting occurred last week or something like that.
Hayek/ My brother-in-law works there. I'll just send him a text and ... check in the mail in the
morning. (laughter) Okay! Uh, Council time.
Council Time
Mims/ Well I'm headed to Omaha. So is Geoff, I believe, and Wendy, um, next Monday and
Tuesday (mumbled) ICA ... um, or ... on a Chamber and ICAD, I think, maybe have kind
of coordinated that. Just kind of a... a visit to go down there and see how they're doing
things. Meet with some people from their city as well as some businesses and stuff, so
there's 10 or 15 of us from the area going. So be down there Monday and Tuesday.
Botchway/ Check out the b ... those bikes! That's where I usually ride when I'm in Omaha, so...
Throgmorton/ So I ... I have a different thing to report. It's actually more of a request, so I'm
wondering if, uh, the Council ... uh, would be willing to have the City contribute ... $3,000
to KoNec Civil Rights Tour and its tour of historical... historic, um, black colleges ... and
universities. Um, the tour's going to be conducted this summer. Uh, that $3,000 would
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pay for six students' participation. Uh, and I understand that the City staff, uh, from
a ... an email I got from Stefanie, I understand the City staff is already agreed to provide
$500 and that the ... uh, Housing and Community Development Commission has awarded
$250 (both talking)
Fruin/ Human Rights Commission.
Throgmorton/ Human Ri... I'm sorry, Human Rights. So total is $750. So basically what I'm
asking is whether the Council is, um, interested in contributing another... having the City
contribute another $2,250 so that a total of six students would, um, would be able to take
the trip.
Mims/ Jim, I think it's a great program and a great opportunity, but I am really, really concerned
about... starting at the Council level to make decisions about supporting
individual... projects like this. I mean, we've got our Aid to Agencies, um ... I ... I...
Dobyns/ You want to stay strategic and not tactical?
Mims/ I just ... I think it ... I think it (several talking) Yeah, I mean, you're talking about I think
a ... a great event, a great opportunity for young people to go. I think it can be life -
changing for a lot of those people, uh, I totally support it. I would encourage people
to ... to donate to it .... if they want to individually, um, but I'm ... I'm really concerned
about opening that door on individual organizations or projects coming to us and asking
us at the Council level to say will you support this when we already have processes and
procedures in place through like Aid to Agencies.
Throgmorton/ I take your point and maybe you're right, but I would observe that we just granted
$15,000 to a developer in support of an application on a particular project.
Mims/ And that is part of our process for ... through development. We have a process for ... social
services and aid to agencies, and I think the minute you start veering from those
processes, you ... you open a door for some very, very difficult decisions that ... where do
you draw the line and who are you, you know ... I'm just not comfortable with it. It's so
far outside of our process. I think it's a great program. Uh... glad to see Henry Harper's
still involved in it and ... like I say, I've talked to people who've gone on it. It's life -
changing for a lot of people, um ... very supportive of it, but I ... I ... I don't support at this
level making that decision.
Hayek/ I would at least suggest that we ... have ... the City Manager's office or ... shoot us a memo
or something on that, I mean ... I ... I think it is a little dangerous to get into the ... to a work
session situation and ... and bring up ad hoc funding requests. Having said that, I ... I don't
know that I fall quite on the other side like Susan does. I would at least want there to be a
staff vetting of that. Be ... because maybe, you know, there's a bucket we're not talking
about that ... that would be an appropriate source of revenue for that. So I don't know!
I ... I'm okay hearing from staff about it, but I just ... I ... I am leery of sort of on the floor
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ad hoc funding proposals. Cause I'm thinking of all those groups that didn't get anything
when we went through our community funding.
Throgmorton/ Uh huh.
Botchway/ ...and I'm also thinking of potential groups, just in my head, that ... could have a
potential request that could be as important as this one, and so I mean depending on
where you're coming from. So I mean I ... I think the staff memo's a great point, but I ... I
think I, I mean I would try and choose my words carefully here cause I know I'm going
to get a call about it later, but ... um ... I think we just need to look at it after staff sends it,
but I'm weary because I can, like I said I can think of one particular program that would,
you know, could use that funding, if they knew that it would just be, uh, an email to City
Council as far as, um, getting (both talking)
Mims/ Oh yeah, can I get a Councilor to bring this up and support my organization and (both
talking)
Botchway/ I'm just worried about it from that standpoint because... yeah. That's all!
Hayek/ Maybe, you know, Geoff, if we get a ... maybe if it's just you know sort of a ... an
explanation of how we historically have dealt with, um...
Fruin/ Yeah, there's really... there's really prescribed processes like our Aid to Agencies
program. We have a community event funding program. Um, and then there's ... in...
individual department budgets, there tends to be smaller amounts, a couple thousand
dollars at most, um, where we can meet these little requests that ... that come up,
and ... and this case, we were approached about the program, uh, both at the staff level and
at the Human Rights Commission level. The Commission determined that $250, uh,
which I believe was targeted not towards a ... a student sponsorship but the ... the civil
rights' tour portion of the ... of the program, and then at the staff level, um„ we looked at,
you know, a ... a $500 student sponsorship, and that's generally speaking when we have,
um, these kind of ad hoc requests, they're going to be, you know, 200, 300, up to maybe
$1,000. Once you trigger that $1,000 mark, it tends to go through our processes.
Examples come up, you know, 1105 project, the ... the temporary, uh, homeless shelter
for ... for, uh, the winter months, where we have to deviate from that, but ... um, because of
the examples that ... or the ... the concerns that you articulated where everybody just comes
at ya, um, throughout the year,, that becomes... unmanageable, so we try to stick to those
processes and make limited exemptions.
Hayek/ Okay. We need to wrap up. It's already, um...
Dobyns/ Can I mention something real quick?
Hayek/ Real quick!
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Dobyns/ Speaking of Uber, um ... (laughter) during my vacation I listened to a Nevada television
station, and you remember the push -back we got from Uber, well the Nevada legislature
basically not only said that anybody who utilizes Uber services has to have a complete
background check, but also there had to be taxable money from all Uber uses. So if you
think that Iowa City was the only one who kind of pushed back at Uber, the entire state of
Nevada pushed back pretty hard. I found that pretty entertaining!
Hayek/ Well (several talking and laughing)
Botchway/ It works though. I used it, but it is a form of bullying what I think they tried to do
(several talking) Just, I mean, just to kind of push their way through, which (both
talking) could have done a different way.
Dobyns/ ...pushed back!
Botchway/ Yeah.
Hayek/ Pending work session topics. I think we ... hit that. Uh, upcoming events. Okay!
Thanks for the good work. We'll see you back at 7:00!
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