HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-11-06 TranscriptionPage 1
Council Present:
Council Absent:
Staff Present:
Others Present:
Botchway, Cole, Mims, Taylor, Thomas, Throgmorton
Dickens
Fruin, Monroe, Andrew, Dilkes, Fruehling, Ralston, Knoche, Bockenstedt,
Nagle-Gamm, Ford, Havel, Laverman, Bowers, Hightshoe, Yapp, Grier
Nelson, Stewart (UISG)
Discuss northside traffic calming proiect and parking regulations:
Throgmorton/ Okay, I'd like to call to order the City Council work session meeting for Monday,
November the 6`h, 2017. I note the presence of one of our great singers, Davey Moore. I
just ... see you, Davey. Thanks for (mumbled) good to see you here! (laughter) All right
so the first topic on our agenda is to discuss, uh, our approach to Northside traffic
calming and .... related parking regulations. Good evening, Kent!
Ralston/ Good evening! Thank you, uh, good evening, Kent Ralston, Transportation Planner.
Um, the topic of discussion tonight is as you see it's Northside neighborhood traffic
calming and related concerns and .... and we'll get into that in a minute. Uh, what I
thought we'd do is quickly talk .... uh, before we get into the meat of the presentation
about how we sort of got to this point, and you'll see, uh, in the presentation during
capital improvement program discussions, uh, for FYI 8, the Council showed support for
utilizing upwards or around $50,000, um, of the traffic calming budget, uh, for some sort
of traffic calming, uh, in the Northside neighborhood. Uh, staff recently met with Mayor
Throgmorton and Councilman Thomas to discuss, uh, what that traffic calming project
might look like, and then got into some other concerns as well, and then subsequently,
uh, staff put a memo in the November 2aa Information Packet outlining six general topics
that were discussed at the meeting, uh, with the Council, and then we've got some
recommendations and some information on each one of those six topics. Uh, as far as the
discussion topics are concerned, uh, there are six, as I mentioned, that we'll touch on
tonight. Uh, the first are concerns related the safety of crosswalks at Jefferson, Linn and
Market and Linn intersections. Uh, the second is the bike master plan, which was
recently adopted by Council, uh, this last fall or summer. Um, and the recommendations
for the neighborhood and the relation to larger transportation network. Uh, concerns with
sight lines at intersections due to on -street parking concerns. Uh, the fourth is the
potential for construction of traffic circles at key intersections to improve safety and
other, uh, benefits. Uh, the fifth is concerns with the availability of on -street parking and
the potential for residential parking permit system, and then the last topic, uh, is concerns
with the availability of on -street parking near College Green Park.
Throgmorton/ So, Kent, do you want us to ask questions after you talk about each topic or do
you want us to save it all to the end?
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Ralston/ That is completely up to Council. However you guys want to handle it. There's, um,
you know some of the topics are a little more in-depth than others and it might be hard to
come back to it later so perhaps you just (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Yeah, let's do `em by topic.
Ralston/ All right. If we get off time let me know and we can .... we can speed it up and then wait
till the end. Um, the first topic, uh, of concern, as I mentioned, was the Jefferson, Linn
and Market, Linn intersections. Um, this is not an iss... a new issue. This is an issue that
was discussed, uh, back in 2013 as part of a formal Northside neighborhood
transportation study that was completed in-house. Uh, since that time there's been
several changes, uh, one of which is staff removed several parking spaces on Jefferson
Street, uh, to the west of the crosswalk that comes through by Seashore Hall, from Iowa
Avenue. Uh, and we did that to increase the visibility of pedestrians at that intersection.
That was one of the concerns that the neighborhood had. Um, also there are yield to
pedestrian signs, uh, that I'm sure you're all aware of, that have been installed on Market
and Jefferson at Linn Street. And subsequent to that we did a follow up study, uh, that
staff completed that showed that the incidents of yielding to pedestrians increased from
about 5% before this .... the in -street signs were put in, to about 32% afterwards. So what
that means is if you walked up to the curb, uh, pre -signs being put in -street, about 5% of
the traffic would actually yield to you and allow you to cross. Now if you're standing on
the curb or maybe even have afoot in the crosswalk, that jumped to about 32%. So, um,
pretty incredible increase. Uh, as far as the actual facts and total reported collisions, uh,
you'll see that between 2011 and 2013, uh, for that three-year period, there were 10
collisions at Market and Linn, there were 10 collisions at Jefferson and Linn, and there
was one bicycle collision at the Jefferson Street intersection. Uh, between 2014 and
2016, uh, Market Street, uh, decreased a little bit, uh, Jefferson increased a little bit to 14
collisions, and there were no bicycle or, uh, pedestrian -related incidents that were
reported. Um, to put things into perspective a little bit, while I think these numbers are
all very important, and not to diminish the concern of any, uh, collision, but when you put
things in perspective just a little bit, you can look at our intersection rankings. So what
staff does is about every three or four years, uh, when we have time, is we actually go
through and rank all the Iowa City intersections. One being the worst, all the way up to
250 or so, and those are intersections that have three or more collisions, and we rank
them based on number of collisions, severity of collisions, and collision rates. And we
have a .... we have a little formula that we put together to do that. And again, to put things
in perspective, um, Jefferson and Linn then would rank 99t1' worst in Iowa City. And
Market and Linn 110'h. So while, again, I'm not trying to diminish those collisions that
did occur, and especially the bicycle collision that occurred, they're not something, you
know, these aren't intersections that ... that really pop up on our radar as far as something
that we really need to look into. Uh, that said, again not to diminish the severity of those
collisions, but back in 2014, when we worked on the downtown traffic model project, we
collected data at 30 or so intersections, uh, in and around the downtown area, and just at
Jefferson Street there were about 800 bicycles and pedestrians that were counted crossing
in some fashion, just at morning, noon, and P.M. peak periods. So just three hours out of
the day. There was about 800 pedestrians. That was in October, um, so possibly not
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even the best weather, um, and again when looking at that compared to six collision.... or
excuse me, uh, one bike -ped collision in the last six years, you start to get a sense of...of
maybe how safe or unsafe that intersection might be. Um, that said, uh, we can never
make things too safe and if the Council wishes to make improvements, uh, we would
recommend constructing bump -outs or bulb -outs, um, whatever you might want to call
them, uh, at Jefferson Street, and I've got a image here in a second to illustrate that. Uh,
the bump -outs, uh, increase visibility of pedestrians even further because you're out a
little bit further into the street, and in this case it would, uh, shorten the crossing distance
from about 41 feet to about 32 feet. So roughly 10 feet shorter crossing distance for
pedestrians, uh, it's similar to what's present on the north side of Market Street currently,
and again I've got an image in a second, and the estimated cost would be about $60,000
to construct. And this, um, I don't know if we can dim the lights or not, but if you can
see on the top image, there .... that might help a little bit. On the top image on the north
side of ...that's the Market, Linn intersection, you can see how there's what we would
call a bump -out, or bulb -out, uh, there at the intersection. If I can use my cursor here....
so that's what we refer to as a bump -out. And they sort of define the parking area a little
bit better and then again, as I mentioned, that's gonna decrease the crossing distance, uh,
about 10 feet if that was constructed at Jefferson and what you see in the image below is
an actual mock-up of what that bump -out would look like, because Jefferson, Linn's a T -
intersection of course we have to construct it a little bit differently, but that's, uh,
approximately what it would look like, um, and is designed to convey the storm water
and those sorts of things. That's what I have on .... Jefferson, Linn, Market, Linn. Um,
I'm happy to answer any questions you have. Otherwise we'll just keep.....
Throgmorton/ Yeah, so y'all.... do y'all have questions?
Botchway/ Yeah, I just have a quick question. What's the lighting at Jefferson, because I feel
like Market is very different than Jefferson, just from a business standpoint and what's
out there and....
Ralston/ Overhead street lighting?
Botchway/ Yeah.
Ralston/ So both intersections have overhead street lighting. Uh, I don't know right now if
they're high-pressure sodium or LED, but Mid American tells us that all of the .... and the
reason I say that is cause LEDs typically seem brighter, um, to most people they're .... a
more blue light than the yellow light and seem brighter, uh, by the end of this year, which
I think is .... is somewhat, um, it's gonna be a hard goal to meet, but Mid American tells
us they're gonna change out all the city lights to LEDs. So, regardless of what's there
today it'll only get better, um, but when we review these corridors we typically don't see
them as being too dark. It meets the City policy to have overhead street lighting at either
one of those locations.
Fruin/ You also have, um, pedestrian -scale lighting, uh, on the north side of Jefferson, uh, that
intersection. There's some of the .... the bell lighting there, um, right on the intersection.
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Ralston/ Right.
Cole/ Is this too narrow for a traffic island? I know on First Avenue near the HyVee, I love that
island. Is this too narrow for that?
Ralston/ So, yeah, so we would refer to that like as a refuge island, but um, they have to be six
feet minimum, uh, by standard. That's the width it has to be minimum, um, in this case
.....let's see if it's (mumbled) It .... it may be too narrow, because of the parking. But
that's somethin' we could look into.
Cole/ How will the bump -out affect cycling?
Ralston/ It shouldn't. Um, later on in the presentation we talk a little bit about the bike master
plan, which has buffered bike lanes recommended, and we can get into the specifics on
that. Um, in this case, if.....if you were to construct something that's in the bottom
image, you could still be able to maintain the bike lanes that are there today.
Cole/ Okay.
Ralston/ Yeah.
Throgmorton/ So I'd like to make three observations, Kent. And I ... I cross these intersections
almost every day. Uh, one is Jefferson Street is clearly worse than Market Street. So, if
we're gonna do something, it....it ought to be done there first.
Ralston/ Agreed.
Throgmorton/ The second is drivers don't know what bicyclists are. They don't know if they're
pedestrians or vehicles. Likewise, bicyclists don't know what they are. So, it .... it's just,
um, you know a situation of, um, I don't know, something like ignorance on the part of
drivers and bicyclists. The third thing is that the, urn ... the second.... pass, uh, walkway in
the sequence, you know, goin' in one direction. The second one is ignored by drivers.
Ralston/ Right, because the sign is west of the first crossing (both talking) on Jefferson. Correct.
Yep. Yeah, I observe the same thing.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, so I don't know if we can do anything about the latter two points that I just
made. But the bulb -out, I think that's a good idea for Jefferson Street cause the sight
distance, the sight for a bicyclist or a walker is really bad, coming from the south
especially.
Ralston/ Right. No, I agree and .... and those are all good observations. The one thing I notice
too about, um, to your comment about whether a bike is a pedestrian or a bike as a
bicyclist, the one issue we have at this location too that's ... that is hard to, um, combat is
the fact that we've got bicyclists crossing in the crosswalks themselves, which is fine
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except for that if they don't slow down and actually walk their bike across like as a
pedestrian, that makes it really difficult for a driver to judge the speed at which they get
there and all sorts of things. So, and we have that same issue in a .... almost throughout
downtown, but that's.....that is a hard thing when we actually have bicyclists on the
sidewalks, rather than in the street, and statistically it's more dangerous to be on the
sidewalk.
Throgmorton/ Yeah. So as bicycling becomes more prominent in our city, uh, we're gonna have
to do a better job in .... of informing people, helping them understand how .... how they're
supposed to act.
Ralston/ Right!
Throgmorton/ Okay, any other questions or comments about this idea?
Thomas/ Well I ... I support the idea of the, um, bulb -out. I think Northside Marketplace as a,
kind of an extension or, you know, commercial area annexed or near the downtown will
benefit from any better connectivity that we can provide. So I think .... that is, that's, you
know, I think of our neighbor... Northside Neighborhood meeting some years ago we
talked about this, so I'm....Xrn pleased to see, you know, the proposal. The .... the other
thing, and I know maybe in the .... in the large scheme of things the collisions, you know,
may not be as ..... this intersection is not as bad as others in Iowa City, but I .... I feel we...
we should look at everything we can to, and I don't know if you know what the speeds
are going through there, um, but to dri .... try to do everything we can to improve
pedestrian, bicycle, and driver safety. And, uh, so .... so one thought I had and it was kind
of in a way, uh, inspired if you will by the ... the Dodge, Governor couplet that we're
talking about putting in buffered bike lanes. My sense, and I don't ride .... I'm beginning
to ride bicycles but I haven't (laughs) ridden Jefferson or Market, that it would be
beneficial to buffer those lanes, and then the question would be, do we have the ro...
room to do that, and if so, you know, what would the buffer consist of in terms of its
width, but you know I'm measuring on GIS, it looked to me that the so .... the, uh, the
south lane, uh, is close to 15 feet wide. So it seems to me that even using an I I foot
standard for our lane widths we can reallocate and narrow the lanes, which we know to
be a traffic calming, uh, measure and improve bicycle safety.
Ralston/ No, I agree. Um, and .... and to those points, uh, there's a few things. I was talkin' to
Darian Nagle-Gamm our Senior Transportation Engineering Planner earlier today and we
were discussing the bulb -out and how that might look and .... and while we can't say that
it'll make things safer cause already, you know, we've had one bike collision in the last
six years, um, I certainly don't think it'll make things worse and ... and something that we
decided was that it's really more of an amenity, you know, it's a comfort thing for
pedestrians, because right now I think as you mentioned, Mayor, it's not comfortable. So
whether or not it actually makes it statistically safer, you know, would remain to be seen,
and it's a hard thing to .... to judge, but it certainly won't make it worse, and I think it'll
make it a lot more comfortable. Because right now I think if you're at the .... the Market,
Linn intersection, crossing still is a little challenging, you're crossing two lanes of traffic,
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but you feel more comfortable. You know, you're out there, you're on a curb, uh, area,
you're not sort of hanging out there tryin' to peak around the cars and see who's coming,
so .... and to the second point, um, for you, John, uh, there are buffered bike lanes
suggested. They're recommended in the bike master plan....
Thomas/ Oh!
Ralston/ ...that would fit, and um, we.....I have a slide later that shows what that might look like.
Thomas/ Okay!
Ralston/ Um, the minimum buffer that we can actually use is 18 -inches, but I would suggest that
more like a two or three foot buffer, uh (both talking) when we have room, would be a lot
better.
Thomas/ ....all we have is five feet and....
Ralston/ And a four -inch line.
Thomas/ Four inch line, so a .... a portion of that five feet is really kind of in the gutter.
Ralston/ Right.
Thomas/ You know, litter and drainage and all the rest of it, so the ... the degree to which we can
just widen that out....
Ralston/ Right.
Thomas/ ...and my understanding is NACTO is maybe.... maybe in a draft form, but revising its
recommendations for bike lanes, and I suspect that any time.....they're.... they're gonna
recommend any time you have a bike lane in a .... along an arterial, you buffer it.
Ralston/ Right. Right.
Throgmorton/ Is .... is there support for this idea of doing a bulb -out on that one part of, uh, the
Jefferson Street intersection? (several responding) Or opposition to it, either one.
Botchway/ Yeah, I'd be supportive. So I was gonna wait for this question but since we're
already talking about support. So this is gonna come out of a CIP? And so we're looking
at that as a recommendation in the budget process?
Ralston/ Right, the original.... the original idea was that we've got a surplus in the traffic calming
line item that's in the CIP, and whether or not that's ultimately where it could come from
of course is up to the City Manager and you all, but that was the original idea, and there
is .... there are some surplus funds in there now to cover that.
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Botchway/ Um, how much?
Fruin/ We anticipated, so when we presented the CIP to ya last year, if you recall the .... the
traffic calming line is ... is just that. It just says `traffic calming.' It's not designated for
any purpose. Every year we set aside X number of dollars and those just accumulate
until there's a need, um, and, uh, I think just hearkening back, you know, we had a .... a
fund balance at the time last year of 70, 80, 90,000. We've probably drawn that down a
little bit. $60,000 is a little higher than we estimated. We estimated $50,000 but .... it
wouldn't, uh, if. ... if it's within the budgeted scope. So, we wouldn't necessarily bring it
back to you, unless we needed to from a project standpoint to .... to get you to a ... uh,
approve the design or accept a bid or anything like that, but .... this is small enough to...
where you might not see this one again once you give us the .... the go-ahead. We've got
enough to....to get it done, and we'd aim to do it next year some time.
Throgmorton/ I think you see some support, or hear support.
Ralston/ Yeah, fantastic.
Tbrogmorton/ So what's next?
Ralston/ So, that's .... that topic of the bike lanes is a good segue into the second topic, uh, of
discussion, which is the bike master plan recommendations in relation to the larger
neighborhood system. Uh, the bike master plan as we just discussed, uh, recommends
buffered bike lanes on both Governor and Dodge, and the Market, Jefferson pairs. Um,
yeah, the idea of a buffer, and I've got an image here in a minute is to provide of course
more space for the bicyclists, and more space for the motorist frankly, so everybody's
more comfortable on the street, um, and it's a little bit safer. Um, the nice thing too about
buffered bike lanes is they might have an additional calming effect, because you're
actually squeezing the travel lane down a little bit. Um, as I think you're all, uh, keenly
aware, we've got a .... an issue where we're not..... citizens are not abiding by the speed
limit on either Dodge or Governor, um, so I think that additional narrowing and
squeezing things down a little bit, uh, would be beneficial. Uh, the Governor, Dodge
buffered bike lanes are to be installed in 2018, so hopefully next summer, coincident with
an overlay of Governor. So the DOT's planning an overlay and been working with, uh,
City Engineer.... Engineering Department on that, and because Governor Street would get
bike lanes at that point in time, the buffered bike lanes, um, in some talks with the City
Manager we've decided that if we can, we'd also like to put them on Dodge at the same
time. You know, they're a one-way pair, just for bicycles the same as they're a one-way
pair for motorists. Um, and there might be some efficiencies there too as well to get
things painted all at the same time.
Mims/ So, Kent, there hasn't been any issue with this since these are highway?
Ralston/ No, you know we've sat.....we have, uh, quarterly meetings with the DOT and we've
been talking to `em about this, uh, they know our bike master plan, whether they've
looked through it that closely or not, has been adopted, and I don't sense that there'll be
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an issue with that. Ultimately they're gonna want to know what those travel lanes look
like, uh, the bike lane as well as the two travel lanes, but I don't sense that there'll be an
issue with it. Um, you know, if we start getting into a buffer that's three, four, five feet
wide, of course there's gonna be an issue, but I think if we stick to around.... three feet or
less, two feet, uh, would be good, uh, I think it would be....it would work well for the
buffered bike lane and I don't think the DOT would .... would have an issue with it. It
remains to be seen but I think that's .... I think they're aware of the situation.
Mims/ Thank you!
Botchway/ I'm supportive of this as well, um, the only.....I think this goes back to my, I feel like
(mumbled) this goes back to my original question around cost, because this is an
additional 79,000, so that wouldn't come out of the traffic calming. That would be a
separate, you know, CII' budget item for buffered bike (both talking)
Fruin/ Yeah, so (both talking) there's a, uh, there's a line in the budget, uh, in the CIP again, for
complete streets. So when we put together the budget last year, we didn't know exactly
where the bike master plan was going, so we put a placeholder in there, $150,000 each
year for the implementation. Uh, that's how we paid for the Sycamore Street and First
Avenue restripings that we recently did, and um, we would use the 2018 allocation or at
least the 79,000, estimated 79,000 of the 2018, um, complete streets money for this
project.
Ralston/ Yeah, and then, uh, as we were talkin' about sort of in the last segment too, the
Jefferson, Market buffered bike lanes are planned, uh, progra.... well planned I guess is
the right word, not programmed, but planned in the bike master plan in the timeframe of
2019 to 2022. So hopefully if we can stick on a target and there's money available, we'll
have accomplished those too in the next few years, which I think'll be a major
improvement. Um, those showed up time and time again in the planning efforts for the
bike master plan. It's really important that things get done and that's why they showed
up in the plan, uh, in the years they do. Uh, the bike master plan also recommends
implementing bike boulevards on portions of Gilbert, Church, and Davenport, up on the
Northside neighborhood. Um, a bike boulevard primarily is a signed route, so it has
wayfmding signage almost.....on every bike boulevard. That's kind of a, um, one of the
key elements of those, and you can do things on the pavement as well. Um, another thing
about a bike boulevard, which we've not studied in the Northside but we will, is looking
into other ways to make bicycling easier on those corridors, whether it's flipping stop
signs, whether it's, um, you know, other forms of traffic calming and other things we can
do to .... to basically make it more comfortable for bikes, um, but still convenient for
motorists as well. Um, and then ... and then in addition I think depending on what you do
with a bike boulevard, uh, they can also calm vehicle speeds when bicycles are present,
assuming you're gonna attract more bicycles to those boulevards, um, and sort of calm
everything down a little bit. This, uh, these are just three random images of, uh, buffered
bike lanes from other communities. Um, there's a lot of different ways — you can stripe
them and that .... how you stripe them really isn't the important part, but the important
is ... is how you see those buffers, and again the .... the idea is sort of two -fold. It's to make
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it more safe and convenient and comfortable for the bike, but also allow, uh, a natural
calming effect of the vehicles in the .... in the travel lanes, because again those are gonna
be squeezed down just a little bit.
Cole/ Kent, what about those white vertical markers, do those add a lot of expense, and do they
actually add a safety component to it, if you know what I'm talking about.
Ralston/ Right, I do, um, so I think you're talking about like a py.... like a pylon (both talking)
Cole/ Pylon, sure!
Ralston/ Those are the, sort of the nylon pylons that kind of pop back up and that sort of thing.
Um, you know, I .... I think they would be, uh, more expensive. I don't know, Rockne,
what ... what that would add to a project. The .... the bigger issue, uh, at least on Dodge,
or .... yes, on Dodge and Market, Dodge and Governor, excuse me, on Dodge and
Governor is the number of driveways we have. So it'd be very difficult, if not
impossible, to use those, just because the amount of...the ... the turning movements you've
gotta make.
Cole/ Okay.
Ralston/ Any other questions on bike boulevards or the bike master plan? I guess the last thing
I'd say about the bike master plan is, um, other than the convenience and the connectivity
with the one-way pairs that are planned that we've already talked about for bike, uh,
buffered bike lanes, is that it really doesn't have an effect on .... the transportation system
otherwise. You know, nothing else changes the Northside. I think it just adds that
obvious, uh, level of connectivity.
Thomas/ Yeah, I .... I just would comment that I did sort of post this on Facebook on our
Northside Facebook page and, um, this .... this one generated definitely a very positive
response. Everyone's looking forward to that.
Ralston/ Yeah, I think it'll be a good amenity. Uh, if no other questions, moving on to the third
topic — it was concerned with sight lines at intersections due to on -street parking. Um,
issues with sight lines are .... what we would call a sight line, is not uncommon in areas
like the Northside that have heavy on -street parking. Um, I think as you can all imagine
when you're traveling through the Northside, you get to an intersection and whether
vehicles are parked legally, or illegally, you know, too close to a stop sign and things like
that, um, it does become problematic to see conflicting traffic or .... or crossing traffic at
times. Um .... visibility at many of the intersections in the Northside neighborhood and
College Green neighborhood have already been, um, corrected, using, um, `no parking
corner to here' or `no parking here to corner' signage, um, but we've kind of taken a ... a
shotgun approach to it, where we've been really addressing them as complaints come up.
You know, not all intersections are created equal and have the same visibility issues.
That said, uh, I think it is important and I think staff intends to take a proactive approach
and really just take a look at all intersections in the Northside and .... and College Green
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neighborhood and just kind of get that out of the way. I think there's two different ways
we can do that. One is actually go and look at each individual intersection on its own
merits and then correct `em as we can, or we can really just take an approach where we
say, you know, every intersection, parking should be pulled back, uh, 30 feet, you know,
from each intersection and go from there. So that .... I think the .... the right approach
remains to be seen, um, but we're hoping to complete that review, uh, in spring of 2018.
And arguably, I would say that this is probably one of the more important things and
probably would have the largest effect on decreasing collisions at intersections in the
Northside. Aside from some of the bigger issues we have maybe on an arterial street, on
the non -arterial streets I think this might arguably make the biggest difference. It's just
cleaning up some of the visibility issues where you can see conflicting traffic that...
that's gonna cause an issue.
Throgmorton/ Well especially when some .... when a car's coming down a hill at, I don't know,
32 or 35 miles an hour and .... and you, if you're turning on to the street that car's coming
down, you know (both talking)
Ralston/ Right!
Throgmorton/ ....the opportunity for an accident is pretty strong, pretty clear.
Ralston/ Right. Now with that, um .... with that correction we're also gonna need more
enforcement, and we get into some enforcement effort conversation here in a few topics,
but um ... you know, whether.... whether they're, like I said, legal or illegal parking, if
we .... if we pull that parking back from each intersection, we know how parking is in the
Northside, um, folks are parking already too close to the stop signs and things like that,
but we have to ... we have to increase our enforcement efforts or it .... it'll be for naught.
Any questions about .... about that? We would have that hopefully again done by spring
and .... and bring back the results to you all, or .... or just get the issue corrected and be
done with it. Okay, moving on, uh, the fourth topic was the potential for construction of
traffic circles at key intersections to improve safety. Um, working on the assumption that
traffic circles won't be used on arterial streets, um, there's really no obvious locations in
the Northside neighborhood where ... where I could .... I could look at a map and say these
are the logical locations for a traffic circle. Um, it just .... it just didn't happen. Um, the
reasons why we would not put a physical impediment such as a traffic circle on arterial
street, um, some.... some are obvious, some aren't. The obvious ones is of course our
major thoroughfares, arterial streets are where we want traffic to be, primarily. Reason
being, if we try to get that traffic off the arterial streets, we end up getting a lot more cut -
through traffic through neighborhoods that weren't intended to have that type or speed of
traffic. So it's kind of this, um, you know, there's no perfect solution to it. Uh, but
having said that, when looking at arterial streets, they're really .... and I've got a map here
I'll show you in a second, they're really very few intersections that have two or more
total reported collisions in a three-year period. Um, again, no collision's good and we
shouldn't be okay with it, but if you look at the city as a whole, it's almost every
intersection in the city would have a .... a collision in a three-year period. That's just sort
of the reality of where we're at. Um, average vehicle speeds and .... and these were taken,
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uh, well they were reported in the 2013 Northside traffic study. Um, average vehicle
speeds recorded at or below 24 miles per hour, eight locations where data was available.
So, and again, we're talking about non -arterial streets, but on the local streets right now
we've got average speeds of about 24 or less, at those eight locations, uh, where data was
available. Um, we've got one location where 851 percentile speeds exceeded 30 miles
per hour, uh, and that was on Lucas Street, uh, up around Fairchild. Or up around
Ronalds, excuse me. And that .... and those are the type of speeds that we want to try and
reduce. Um, but again, that was just one location in the Northside neighborhood. Um,
while no obvious locations for traffic circles were identified, as I mentioned, we do
intend to review the Iowa Avenue corridor between Gilbert and Governor, and the Gilbert
corridor between Iowa and Market for safety improvements. Uh, this map I'll show you
in a minute really, for some reason there's a bulk of collisions in those two corridors and
it would make sense for us to look at those I think more closely, and .... and see if we
can't find some solution to those. I think Iowa Avenue has more to do with the, uh,
boulevard that goes through the middle, the median, and its .... it makes for very large sort
of, uh, quirky intersections to cross, so I'm not sure what we can do there, but I think that
would be our staff recommendation is to take a look at those two corridors and, uh, see
what can be done, and here's that map. It's gonna be a little bit difficult for folks to see,
uh, but what we did is looked at the entire Northside neighborhood, plus the College
Green neighborhood, and looked at the collisions at each location. So it's like 72, 73
square blocks, somethin' to that effect. Uh, in the little yellow bubbles is the total
number of reported collisions in a three-year period, and then where you see the brown,
uh, sort of the orange and the brown dots, those are where pedestrian or bicycle collisions
occurred.
Throgmorton/ Does anybody want to ask questions about the fourth one?
Cole/ I guess I was gonna ask about Church Street. Is there any game plan to slow down the
traffic for Church? Is ... is that considered an at ... arterial, cause to me it seems like the
traffic is way too fast through that area.
Ralston/ Right.
Cole/ And I think to the extent that it does lead to some traffic in other areas, I think it will still
be slower, um, is there any game plan to slow down that traffic?
Ralston/ There's.... there's a bike boulevard that is planned for part of Church, but as I
mentioned earlier, a bike boulevard typically doesn't slow traffic down a lot, um, so other
than.... than taking a hard look at that corridor to see what we can do as well, I don't
know that there's anything planned per se. Um, I know there's been discussions about
adding parking, um, to portions of Church Street over the years, I mean that's something
we could look at, of course, too that would help slow traffic, um, but there are .... there are
not bike lanes recommended at this point for Church Street. Because of the on -street
parking that exists now, the widths just .... the width just isn't there, um, so....
Cole/ The on -street is not allowed from 8 to 5, is that correct?
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Ralston/ It's just not allowed at all, I believe, on the eastern half....
Cole/ Okay.
Ralston/ ...and on the western half. You'll see some on the south side of Church towards
Dubuque Street that is allowed, I .... I think that's right. I think not during the day. So
outside of 8 to 5, Monday through Saturday, I think.
Thomas/ Well I would agree that, I mean, in terms of Church, Church, if we can get buffered
bike lanes on the .... the one -ways, then Church is the last street left in terms of arterial
speed control and so the ... the bike, I mean the parking along there seems to me to be, uh,
a good remedy, and you know we have had discussions about.....by allowing that, that
that could be a place where, um, Horace Mann's staff could park.....
Ralston/ Right.
Thomas/ ....as well, so.....
Ralston/ Right.
Thomas/ Or Preucil, um, I mean there are various ways in which opening up parking along that
section of Church Street would be I think of a benefit to the, um, you know this .... the
school and....and Preucil.
Ralston/ Sure ... sure, and if we could do that, urn ..... and we'd have to look into the details, but if
we could do that it would certainly help slow traffic.
Thomas/ Yeah.
Ralston/ I mean that's .... it's been proven.
Thomas/ And then on the intersections, uh, and I don't know, um.....Kent, if. ... if you were still
planning to have a neighborhood meeting, but I .... I would encourage that we have a
neighborhood meeting. Urn .... the word I'm hearing, in fact, goes all the way back to the
Ronalds Street repaving project, is that the upper end of Gilbert, south of Brown, does
have speeding issues, especially on the hill, um, but I .... I've even noticed cars
northbound on Gilbert, once they pass Market, they can be flying through there.
Ralston/ Sure.
Thomas/ Uh, so I would .... I would say from Iowa to Brown would be how I would define the
corridor, and .... and then, you know, with the community meeting, um, the ... and the
neighborhood, I would.... there.... there are, there's a finer grain, I think, to this question
of, uh, cut -through traffic, particularly. That's where we .... we tend to see the higher
speeds and, you know, the fact is is we already do get cut -through traffic, you know, even
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though we have five arterials, plus Dubuque. Uh, in fact that's part of the reason we have
it is people are getting from one of those to the other. Uh, we do have speeds
and... throughout the neighborhood in various locations and... and one of the things I ... in
discussing I haven't heard anyone say they oppose it. In fact I think many people support
it, is .... is the idea that as is being done in other cities where traffic is a concern, um,
setting the speed limit in .... in neighborhoods, uh, that are well-defined, like the
Northside, at 20 miles per hour .... which, you know, as we've talked before, 20 is kind of
the, um, speed at which everything works, you know, in terms of traffic safety, people
feeling comfortable. This ... this is an issue of quality of life, as well, you know,
it's.... it's, you know the .... the collision rates in my mind are the, kind of the tip of the
iceberg, and ... and if we can slow the cars down, it may even help us in terms of, you
know, that intersection sight line issue, because you know the reaction time when you're
driving at a slower speed is ... you know, isn't as long. So the chance of collision would
be reduced. So .... so that's my take, is that there may be another level in terms of this
traffic calming program, you know, how we implement it, I think, needs to be discussed
in a .... in a kind of a neighborhood forum.
Ralston/ Yeah, and that's, uh, a good segue ... and we're .... we're happy to stick on this one
obviously, but that's a good segue into the next segment because one of the, um, potential
recommendations for the parking.... issue on the Northside, and whether or not to have a
residential parking permit system or some other system, is to actually allow parking on
both sides of all streets in the Northside, um, which I think would probably be the
biggest, um, aid in reducing speeds. So even if we did implement a 20 mile per hour,
without something to slow traffic....
Thomas/ Yeah!
Ralston/ ....we know it just won't work and .... and (mumbled) talk about this, but I think, um, if
we did lower it to 20 mile per hour, you certainly have to do something else to make sure
people feel like they should be driving 20, and I think, uh, allowing parking on both sides
would.....may have other issues, unintended consequences (both talking)
Thomas/ Yeah.
Ralston/ ...but one of the .... the good things about doing that would be slowing traffic definitely.
And I think it would actually have a .... a pretty dramatic effect on the Northside.
Throgmorton/ So why don't we move to that next topic.
Ralston/ Yeah! Yes, thank you. So the nex.... the next topic is concerns with the availability of
on -street parking and potential for residential parking permit system. Um, as many of
you know on the Northside and then portions of, um, the College Green neighborhood,
uh, the parking is currently lim.... limited to one side of the street from 8 to 5, Monday
through Saturday, and then parking is permitted on both sides, uh, outside of those times.
Uh, this is primarily intended to reduce, uh, commuter parking and limit storage of
vehicles in the neighborhood. Um, there's been a few different studies, uh, that have
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been completed in the recent past, one by staff, one by a consultant. Uh, both show
roughly the same thing, is that when you look at the neighborhood as a whole, it's about
70% full during the daytime hours. And then when you look, um, towards the blocks
near downtown, that that rate really jumps up to about 85%, which is what we consider
full, or at capacity. Uh, the reason we say that's because after you .... you sort of surpass
85%, really what happens is folks are just circling neighborhoods just looking for
parking, you know, and we see that a lot down around the College, uh, Green Park
and .... and certainly downtown at the .... in the meters is that people just start circling. So
that's what happens once you sort of, uh, exceed that 85% threshold, and I've got a map
here in a second that shows you approximately where that occurs in the Northside. Um,
you know residential permit systems have been discussed, uh, in the past but never really
seriously considered by the neighborhood I think or by the Council. Um, the idea of a
residential parking permit system came up in 2013 during the Northside neighborhood,
um, study, which we did have, um, at least one, uh, public meeting, if not more, and that
idea of course came up then and .... and we've all heard about it I think from time to time,
but it's really never been seriously considered. Um, and I think part of that is that staff
has never historically received a lot of complaints about parking in the Northside. The
complaints we do get are really more with illegal parking behavior, you know, where
you're parked too close to a stop sign, or a more frequently where you're actually
encroaching on someone's driveway apron, and they're finding it hard to actually back
out of their .... their driveway. Those are really the concerns we get. Um, I can't tell you
in the last few years how many I've actually gotten that was just said I .... I have no place
to park, you know, it's just I'm parking too far from my front door, or I'm having
difficulty, you know, when I have my groceries, getting home and that sort of thing. Um,
this is that map I just referenced, and this was, uh, the one that was completed by a
consultant. This was, uh, put in the Optico study that I believe you all saw this last fall,
and what you'll see is sort of these brownish color blobs represent 85% capacity. So
when we looked at the daytime parking, uh, in .... in these two neighborhoods, what you
see is what we consider full during the daytime hours. Now again, that's one sided
parking. That's parking on .... it's calendar parking, so it flip-flops every day, uh, but
that's 85% full on one side. Um, for reference, this is Mercy Hospital here. It's not
very .... the image isn't very clear, but this is Mercy and this is College Green Park here.
So clearly you can almost draw a diagonal line from the northwest, the southeast, through
the Northside neighborhood where you've got higher density development in this area,
uh, with multi -family housing, and then certainly you can tell that on the northeast of that
is more single-family, owner -occupied residents, and .... and the parking isn't such a big
deal. Um, as most of you probably, uh, know, down around the park during the day,
primarily this is, um, sorority homes and multi -family housing and student housing, but
not totally by any stretch of the imagination. Um, but that's.... that's really what's
occurring here as well is you're .... is you're seeing full parking during the day. Prior to
implementing a residential parking permit system, um, if that's the route that Council
chooses to go, um, I think the following issues probably need to be considered pretty
strongly. Um, one is of course it's going to be important to gauge neighborhood support,
uh, especially since there'd likely be a fee associated with any permit. So if we go the
route of permitting, um, whether it's $10 a permit, 20, 30, 50, 100, whatever we end up
doing, um, certainly that that is going to want to be vetted with the neighborhood because
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you may or may not like that. Um, also there's gonna be an obligation for folks to do a
little bit of legwork on their end because they have to actually acquire an annual permit,
guest permits, uh, and the like. Uh, staff estimates.... estimates that a simple permit
system would cost upwards of $133,000 to implement, and then could, uh, be anywhere
from, well, in the $60,000 range, uh, thereafter. Uh, we also estimate, and we feel pretty
comfortable with those numbers. What's a little harder to estimate is the actual revenues
that we would generate from a permit system, again because there's going to be a fee, uh,
likely associated with getting a permit. Um, but we estimate revenues could be in the
$40,000 to $60,000 range. That's based off one and a half permits per dwelling unit in
these neighborhoods, which is roughly 2,500 units, plus a little bit of extra for additional
citations, guest permits, and .... and the like. Uh, needless to say I don't think this is going
to be a revenue generator, uh, unless we really sell a lot more permits than we would
think we would, or unless, you know, that permit fee is $100 a permit or .... or some other
number.
Cole/ Kent, are you able to anticipate the increased use of the parking ramps as a result of a
permit system, cause presumably there are some people that need to get to work that are
using the free parking right now as a commuter. Has that been anticipated?
Ralston/ Uh, yeah, I certainly anticipate it, but I think that's gonna be tied to that permit fee,
right, because if it's a $10 permit fee, um, and potentially you're gonna get a guest pass
from a friend or, you know, there's gonna be ways to try and cheat the system a little bit,
but I would think certainly, um, depending on how many permits we sell, you know,
resident permits that are sold, guest permits that are sold — it's gonna fill up some of that,
uh, portion of the street parking, which is gonna force folks to do something else, or if
they can't get a permit at all, um, it's a good point that they're gonna be certainly forced
to find another place to park. How much commuter parking is really the bigger question
that I can't answer, is how much commuter parking actually occurs on the Northside.
Um, I think there's a fair amount of commuter parking, but I really don't have any way
to .... really aside from doing a survey or something, I really don't have any way to .... to
measure how much there is.
Fruin/ I would say, uh, with all of our decks, except the new one that opened, we have a waiting
list for permits. So if. ... if you're pushing people from neighborhoods into decks, which
would .... which would be a good thing, they're likely to be a .... a daily payer, as opposed
to a permit holder, and as a daily payer you're..... you're more likely to .... to deviate, um,
so you might try to park in the deck one day or .... or find a .... a neighborhood that doesn't
have a permit system, and... and go park there (mumbled)
Ralston/ Right, and another (coughs) another portion of that too is of course how much we're
charging for a permit, and this third bullet too is, um, trying to anticipate additional
public input and the study that's necessary. The one thing that I also can't answer right
now is that it's hard to know how many permits we would actually sell. You know,
it ... unless you actually get a permit system up and running, it's hard to know exactly how
many you're gonna sell, um .... and what we also don't know, while we know the supply
of parking, we don't know what that demand then is going to be and the issue being that
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if you're paying, uh, $20 for a parking permit, the hope is that you're gonna park closer
to your front door than you are now, but if we're selling more permits than we have
available parking, or there's more demand I guess I should say for permits than there is
available parking, then those.... that's not gonna match up and if you're parking as far or
further away, but you're paying for a permit, that .... that's not gonna work well for folks.
So, that's something that we would also recommend is we're really going to have to take
a hard look at that and try and figure out how many permits would be sold versus how
much supply there is, because if you're .... like I said, parking further away than you were
when it was free, that's.... that's gonna be a problem for residents. So these are some of
the unknowns that are gonna be tough to answer.
Fruin/ And I...I just add to that, while .... while we don't really know what that revenue will look
like, we're....we're fairly certain on the cost side. What we do know from talking with
some other college towns that have similar situations is that they're not making money.
In most cases they're.....they're lucky to break even. So, um, I know the idea of a
parking benefit district has come up and I do know that those are, you know,
implemented in other areas of, uh, of the country and .... and some do generate dollars for
the neighborhood. Um, personally I don't think that's a realistic expectation for this type
of setting based on what we've seen in other college communities. And based on what
we think the .... the tolerance of any, uh, that the residents will have to actually pay for
parking, um, when they're not paying for that parking now.
Thomas/ hi my discussions on the Northside, um, and my own observations, and .... and in fact
your comment, Kent, that you haven't received many complaints regarding access to
parking on the part of residents, although Dave's here (laughs) and Dave .... Dave is, and
I've .... I've since also heard from another person on Church who also doesn't have access
to off-street parking, there is some. There are some residents in the Northside — Nancy's
here from, you know, Jefferson and Evans, who prefer parking .... or, you know,
they ... they park on the street currently, and .... and, but I would say in general, and .... and
my initial interest in the permit system for the Northside was that very few residents park
on the street. So mostly we're talking about commuters. Commuters in my view, they're
....they're allowing them to park would be priced ..... uh, by market demand, basically as
it pertains to where else they might choose to park. Um, whether it's the ramps or
whatever.... whatever the opportunities are for them to park, you know, to price it
accordingly, but I think it would be considerably more than $10 a year.
Ralston/ Sure.
Thomas/ You know, it .... it, I mean even in San Francisco, uh, permit parking which in San
Francisco is for the residents only, um, is $128. So, you know I .... whatever the, it's a
market-driven, um, decision, but it seems to me, I would not be surprised if it doesn't at
least pay for itself. Um, the College Green is a very different, you know, I've talked with
Mark, uh, about this as .... as well as Jim, and um, that is (laughs) I'm beginning to feel
that's a real can of worms around College Green because there is so much demand there
and we've accelerated, or increased that demand with development east of Gilbert Street.
So there I think it's a very hyper -competitive situation in terms of commuters, possibly
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residents, um, shoppers, what have you, uh, who all want to park in that area. That ... that
is so close to the downtown, and the downtown in the sense of the downtown not
Northside Marketplace that, um, I ... I would on the other hand say that .... not knowing
what the residential demand is that you could get a pretty.... because of the demand you
could get a pretty good price for it.
Ralston/ Sure. Right, no I agree, and then .... I've got some information about that too in our last
topic, but um, I've had some discussions with a few folks that live around the College
Green Park as well and .... and I don't think, um, any of what we're saying tonight is kind
of a one -size -fits -all approach, because I do think the Northside neighborhood's quite a
bit different than the College Green neighborhood, um, and something that works around
the park might be metering. You know, it's something that probably won't work on the
Northside, but um, we metered the 100 block of Washington, right outside our door here,
maybe a couple years ago now, um, and what originally really wasn't full at all now
you'll see is almost full, uh, every day, and I think that's a .... a symptom of all this
growth, especially with The Chauncey building will .... this building'll be flanked by two
new buildings here in the near future, um, Farmers Market, I mean there's ... lot of reasons
for it, but I think, you know, even metering up into that area might make more sense than
a permit system.
Thomas/ And it (both talking)
Throgmorton/ So why don' t we, uh, come back to just parking around College Green Park in a
few minutes and .... and try to clean up what you were already presenting us.
Ralston/ Perfect! Thank you. So, um, with some of these uncertainties in this next slide, with
some of the uncertainties about the parking permit system that we've already touched on,
um, staff recommends taking an incremental approach because, again, when you get into
a permit system, you're really sort of have to jump all in, you know, you're gonna need
more staff, you're gonna need another enforcement vehicle, and that's where that
$135,000 figure comes from. Um, what staff would recommend is taking a more
incremental approach to this, and I've sort of laid out, uh, five of these steps. Um, not
necessarily do you have to.....not necessarily are they meant to be walked through one
through five, but they're options that we I think can .... can look at incrementally at least,
uh, before jumping into a full permit system. Uh, the first is simply increasing
enforcement using existing staff and equipment, uh, to try and increase turnover, and also
look at, uh, scofflaw tow list and street storage issues and a lot of other issues that we....
that we hear about. So that's literally taking the existing staff and enforcement vehicle
we have now, reallocating those resources maybe from downtown to the Northside. You
know, that's one .... that's one option. Uh, the second option is to do that very same thing
but actually get that additional staff and equipment that might be needed. So we might
need another, uh, vehicle with, uh, the license plate recognition, the software, and then
staff to be able to .... to accomplish that. The third is, um, simply imp..... implementing a
three or four hour limit for on -street parking, and this could be done, uh, as the Northside
is today. You add a three-hour, um, parking limitation to that and right then and there I
think you get rid of the vast majority of your commuting population, because if you're
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commuting into the Northside, parking, walking downtown to work an eight-hour day,
the likelihood of you being able to go up there and move your car, you know, every three
hours or every four hours is probably pretty slim. Um, and I think, uh, that would help a
lot, urn .... to try and rid of commuting parking, if that's an issue. The only issue with that
too I think is that it might require waivers that don't have off-street parking at all, um, so
certainly, again, there's some sort of permitting or waiver portion to doing something like
that, um, but that's pretty low-cost, um ... the biggest issue is you probably still need that
additional enforcement and staff. Um, what I have been hearing from some of the
meetings that I've sat on with the City Manager is that our existing enforcement staff is
already pretty well, uh, busy during the day and wouldn't be able to implement, you
know, this additional, urn...... permitting system in the .... in the Northside. Um, the fourth
one is something that was recommended in the Optico study that you all reviewed here
this last fall, is to simply remove parking restrictions and essentially double the supply of
parking. So right now you've got that calendar parking where every other day you're
moving your car, and you could simply open that up, double the supply of parking, which
I think could help. The unknown is, if all of that additional parking just fills up with
commuters, then we're back to the same place we were. So, and again, it's really hard to
know what that's going to look like without potentially implementing a pilot. That's
another way we could go is .... is open up both sides of parking for a year, see how it
looks, uh, do some additional study, figure out what the numbers look like. Um, and then
last is really implementing a full-blown, uh, residential parking permit system,
and .... what the nuts and bolts of that system would look like, I think, remain to be seen,
um, but that would be a full system where annually at least residents would have to
prove, uh....uh, residency in the Northside, have their address, get a permit, pay their fee.
Uh, there'd be issues with guest passes as well. You'd have to get some guest permits,
um, and so forth, and then of course you're gonna need that additional, uh, parking
enforcement .... that goes along with that. So that would be that $130,000, um, what
Geoff was alluding to. $130,000 at least as an up -front (mumbled) and then potentially
$60,000 or so annually afterwards for the additional equipment, software, and, uh, staff.
Frain/ So as you get into discussion here, I guess what I would really encourage you to think
about first, before you jump to what's the solution, try to articulate what the problem is
that you're hearing about because it's .... it's a different solution if you're trying to weed
out commuter parking versus, uh, the storage of vehicles, and maybe the same vehicle
sits in front of my house all week and nothing's done about it, uh, versus I can't find
parking in front of, you know, on .... on my block. So if you can kind of figure out
exactly what problem is you're tryin' to address, I think the solutions will .... will become
much clearer.
Mims/ Well that's where I was gonna start, I mean, John, you talked about neighborhood
meeting. I guess I'm curious what the complexity would be doing a more detailed survey
of this neighborhood, um, even like a mailed survey to every residential address, just...
you know it may be a five .... (laughs) five -question, you know, a very easy, quick to
complete survey, um, or even something they could go online and do instead, or
something to get more detailed information from the people who actually live there,
because as you say, Geoff, you know, when you say, Kent, what you're hearing, I'm
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concerned that we may jump in and solve a problem that isn't necessarily what the
residents in the area are seeing as the problem. And I think we really need to listen to
what they have to say, and .... and I, in saying that I totally separate this from the, uh,
College Green Park, but.....um, I think we really need to hear what they have to say
as .... as what their issues are, because I think that really impacts .... if they're talking it's
really the commuter issue, then to me, you know, implementing that three or four hour
limit may.....you know, may be that solution and .... and maybe adding parking on both
sides of the street at the same time, but still with that limit. I ... I don't know, but I ... I
really feel like we need to hear more from the people who actually live there. (mumbled)
Fruin/ We certainly do a lot of surveys. Kent's.... Kent's team does a lot of surveys, so that's....
Ralston/ Yeah, I mean we could certainly do that. Um, I mentioned earlier somewhere in the
presentation there's about 2,500 residential units in the College Green, Northside
neighborhood if you combine those two, um, certainly like all permi.... or, uh, surveys,
you don't have to survey everybody. You know, you can do a .... um, you can whittle that
down to maybe a tenth of that or you know a random selection. Um, and when I said,
you know, I'm not hearing complaints, I didn't mean to say that to be (both talking)
Mims/ No.....
Ralston/ ...but I think what Geoff said articulated it better, is that we're just not hearing the
complaints, so again, I'm .... I'm not sure how to solve the problem, or what that exact
problem is. Um, I will say this, on a staff level, I would think that any permit system that
we would employ at some point in time is gonna generate more complaints for staff than
we get now. And that's only saying that I may not be hearing what's going on in the
neighborhood, and it sounds like I'm not, um, but with a (mumbled) permit system like
that, there's certainly.... because the onus is on the neighborhood to get that annual
permit, they've gotta, um, show that they're..... they're residents of the neighborhood and
that sort of thing. The onus is on them and certainly that's going to create more....
complaints at a staff level than .... than we get today and that's just by sheer number of
people that we're communicating with .... with on a day-to-day basis.
Throgmorton/ So like Susan and Geoff, and I think Kingsley, I .... I was asking myself the same
question — what are our objectives, or what's the problem we're tryin' to solve. So, when
I ask myself that question, in part I have to think about the form -based code that we've
commissioned and, you know, hopefully.... or possibly we'll adopt. Uh, one thing we
want to do, I believe, is avoid having to build more off-street parking, if. ... if there's an
increase in, uh, housing or units in the Northside because of the form -based code and the
use of the missing middle, so we want to avoid off .... more off-street parking. Uh.... I
think it's correct to say we want to ensure the traffic speeds and the risk of accidents is
reduced, even though you've described how it's really not severe. Uh, also, uh.....I think
of my .... when I lived on North Linn Street, uh, I owned a duplex and had to flip back and
forth on the street because I did not have off-street parking at the duplex I owned. I don't
know how many people there are like that in the Northside. I have no idea. Uh, but for
such people, uh, it's important to be able to park their cars (laughs) somewhere within a
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block at the most of where they live, you know. So, uh, that's another thing. And I think
I had another, um.....um...... find ways to encourage bicycling and walking, uh, such that
the whole neighborhood is, uh, a healthier place in that sense. So, yeah, so which of
those.....you know are most important or are they all equally important, I'm not sure, but
those are the ones that come to my mind.
Thomas/ Yeah, I'm.. A agree that I .... the better we understand the demand .... the more likely
we'll be successful in terms of implementing a permit system. Yeah, I'm just working
off conversations and observations, uh, but yeah, if we can ... I'm, you know, short of
a .... a mailed survey, of staff going and seeing what properties have access to off-street
parking, things of that sort. Um, but my goal has always been first and foremost in
learning about residents that did not have access to off-street parking that .... we need to
provide some reasonable accommodation for them. That's part of what we're trying to
promote is a higher quality of life in .... in the core neighborhoods. At the same time it
seems to me the presence of automobiles, if they're tri... driving at a slow speed, has some
benefits, in terms of narrowing the traffic lanes and depending on how we price the .... the
permit system, uh, I've always believed that it seemed to me if...if I'm correct in my
hypothesis (laughs) that it's primarily commuters, that there could be some revenue
generated with that, and the ... and the key issue with that is that the revenue would stay in
the neighborhood. That .... that makes the selling of that idea much more appealing
because if we can say, look, we'll get ... however we want to spend the money, snow
removal on the sidewalks, whatever, um, that in fact I felt would be a way of promoting
the idea of parking on both sides is .... I know people have expressed their concern about
that. They may not be as concerned if they felt there would be a benefit to them with the
revenue. Um, but yeah, to have more data I think would be useful, but I, yeah, I'm not
interested at all in, um. .... reducing, uh, parking opportunities for those coming in from the
outside. In fact I think that's also .... it is a benefit to the downtown. I mean .... you know,
we ... we need as much parking, uh, as we can provide in my view. We're already seems
to me it's overflowing into the neighborhoods. We don't wanna cut off that supply. In
my mind we just wanna price it. It's free currently. It shouldn't be free.
Throgmorton/ It might be helpful, Kent, I .... I see you're writing and I just interrupted, it might
be helpful if we could articulate this a little bit more, and you could try to convert what
you hear into a goal statement.
Ralston/ Sure!
Throgmorton/ Or problem definition. (both talking)
Ralston/ ...be very helpful.
Throgmorton/ Then come back to us and we could try to figure out how we want to respond to
the ... that problem as defined, or that goal as defined.
Ralston/ No, I think that'd be very helpful and like I stated.... these.... these five, you know,
there's any number of.....different way you can spin all five of these, you know, these
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solutions. These are just five that, I mean, you could bend these in any possible way you
wanted to get at the .... the problem, and again, maybe if we can try and articulate and sort
of gather what that problem really is then maybe we'll be able to do a better job of ...of
finding a solution.
Cole/ I guess I have two I think .... what I think would be simple goals. One to get the design
speeds to 20 miles an hour in the neighborhood, and two to increase, uh, access for
parking for the, um, homeowners and renters that live in the neighborhood. And then
maybe if staff could sort of come back with a recommendation and give them the
flexibility to come back to us, those seem to me to be in two pretty simple goals then
would give them the flexibility to come back and come up with a solution for us. While
reaching out to the neighborhood.
Frain/ If you were .... a couple of ideas, um, I .... I think if you were to survey the neighborhood as
was suggested before, the .... the goals might become more apparent, um, you know,
you'll.... you'll understand the issues that they're expressing better and you might be able
to develop some goal statements from that. Um, the other thing we could do, while in the
process of surveying, is .... is a little bit of number one up there, which is just periodically,
um, send our enforcement staff through the neighborhoods and see what types of hits
they're gettin', you know, how much of it are they just .... are they just noticing illegal
parking too close to corners, are they seein' a lot of street storage issues, um, but if we
spent a, you know, even a month or two just takin' a pass through once or twice a week,
um, and not pullin' out of the downtown a whole lot, but just again, once or twice a week,
we could probably get a better sense of what some of the issues are and maybe where
those issues are.
Throgmorton/ I like the kind of two .... two component, uh, approach to this that I think is being
articulated. One is to try to get a clearer goal definition for us that might lead to
something in the longer tern, and the other, Geoff, is just what you articulated, uh,
take ... take the first incremental step, um, step up the enforcement in the area, see what
turns up, see what we learn from that, and then decide whether we want to take another
step.
Ralston/ Yeah, I talked to Mark Rummel too, uh, Interim Director of Transportation Services and
he .... he indicated to the, uh, it wouldn't be what we're gonna .... what we're going to see
with some increased efforts, but what we've already got in that neighborhood. He can
actually tease some of that out of our data to show, you know, what illegal parking has
occurred, what street storage looks like, uh, tow list and that sort of thing, so I think we
can also get some .... some data from the past that might help augment the .... the
conversation. Moving on?
Throgmorton/ Yeah, let's go, uh, let's go to College Green Park (both talking)
Ralston/ Yep! Last topic, um ..... is concerns with the availability of on -street parking near
College Green Park, which we've sort of alluded to a little bit already in our
conversation. Uh, both staff and Council received concerns about the lack of a ... available
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short-term parking around the park. Uh, primary concerns are that the on -street parking
is primarily used by commuters again, um, which creates a lack of short-term parking for
park users and then adjacent residents, because there are quite a few, uh, single-family,
owner -occupied houses in that neighborhood. Um, concerns are also that vehicles are
routinely stored, uh, on street for long periods of time, which I think I've witnessed. Um,
and to combat those issues, staff intends to review the usage of the area and again, sort of
like in that last slide, there's a bunch of different options we can take, um, but I think the
ones that probably make the most sense in this neighborhood would be to either add
meters to all or a portion of the streets around the park, or possibly again implement a
three or four hour parking limit to try and, uh, limit the amount of commuters that are
parking in that neighborhood and then walking downtown, uh, for an eight hour day.
Um, also to further that, if there are other similar concerns around other parks, uh,
certainly we've got other issues like this at other parks that .... that I'm not aware of, but
we could broaden that review to those parks as well and try and apply a similar approach
to .... to correct some of that and, um .... free up some available parking, short-term
parking, for park users.
Throgmorton/ (mumbled)
Thomas/ I'm not sure what the hour limit should be .... if we .... if we were to do that, um, what I
typically see is two hours.
Ralston/ Sure! Yeah, and again that's where we can kind of spin that into .... we could make it
one hour, two hours, three hours — it's just then we have to be able to match the
enforcement with that, right, because....
Thomas/ Right.
Ralston/ ....implementing it but not enforcing it does us no good, so we've gotta, uh, step up our
enforcement a little bit, and I think whether we just apply this, um, whether it's meters or
a .... a hour limit to, um, College Green Park or five different parks in the community, we
just need to then be able to sit down and prioritize that enforcement effort between those
different parks, and between the different neighborhoods frankly.
Throgmorton/ I know there's some interest in having metered parking on perhaps one block,
especially Johnson Street. So, urn .... your ..... your memo suggests studying that.
Ralston/ Yeah I think .... and again, part of that was that if we're gonna go the route of a limit is
sort of seeing, you know, potentially talking to some of the neighbors, um, there's not
that many owner -occupied houses that are immediately adjacent to the park, but reaching
out to some of the neighbors. I've already talked to Mark McCallum, um, that owns a
property in the, uh, in the Johnson, block of Johnson adjacent to the park. Um, so I'm
already starting to get some of that feedback, but certainly looking at that, looking at
actual usage in the area because we don't have outside of, um, the Optico study, we don't
have a lot of good data around that park. The Northside neighborhood study that, uh,
staff did in 2013 didn't include the area around the park, so just taking a look at it and
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really trying to grasp what's there, um, is what I meant in the .... in the memo, just taking
a look at it and, uh, really I think the .... the simplest approach is probably metering, um,
either portions of College, Washington, and Johnson, or .... one or two or three of those,
whatever it might be, and again I think what we're really seeing is, um, even on that 100
block of Washington like we talked about earlier, for the first month or two or three it
was pretty empty. Um, but then all of a sudden people started figurin' out that it's there.
They know what the limits are, uh, the meter terms and so forth and they .... they started
to fill it up and I think, um, again with, um, Mr. Allen's project and The Chauncey
project both, there's gonna be .... there won't be any less demand around the park, that's
for certain!
Thomas/ I'm wondering, Kent, if that .... that one block segment there between Washington and
College on Johnson, uh, we might consider testing the idea of parking meters on both
sides? I mean most of the other streets in that area are.... already have parking on both
sides. Um, we know that parking on both sides will calm traffic.
Ralston/ Right.
Thomas/ And it's only one block, and it's in a good location. We know that ... we know the
demands there. So....
Ralston/ Right. Um .... (both talking) yeah and in some of the conversations I've had, I mean we
can certainly do that. In some of the conversations I've had, um, like any change, there
was some concern that if you.....instead of having the calendar parking on Johnson where
you're, uh, every other day you're swapping, if you fill both sides backing out of some of
those narrow, single -loaded driveways is going to be difficult. So I've already heard a
little bit of feedback about that. Um, but aside from some of those issues, I mean,
certainly you're.....you're adding more parking, calming traffic, and potentially making
more revenue if it's metered.
Mims/ Well the thing is if you meter it, hopefully we could design the spots so that they're not
too close to those driveways also.
Ralston/ Right. Yeah, so we typic .... yeah, right. (both talking) ...mark `em and pull (both
talking)
Mims/ ....mark `em and pull `em back from those driveways. I mean I would be interested, I
think, as I've watched the demand around that park over the last number of years, it's
just, you know, gotten busier and busier, very seldom that I will come down and .... and
say drive down College or .... and see an empty spot, you know, anywhere on either side
of College Street. So, I would strongly encourage that we start looking at metering, and
with the meters that we have today, we can always adjust the time limitations over time,
correct?
Ralston/ Correct.
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Mims/ So we could put `em in with a four-hour time limit, change `em to three, change `em to
two, whatever.
Ralston/ Right.
Mims/ Increase the price on, I mean, so I .... I think that is what makes sense, and I think we've
gotten some .... I think we've gotten some interesting information that Mark has, I know
he sent to me and probably sent to other Councilors on what some other cities are doing
on just demand -based pricing, and it would seem like with these smart meters, there's
probably more of an opportunity to look at doing some of those things as we move
forward, urn.... so I'm certainly supportive of starting to look very strongly at metering,
um, on those three sides of the park. If there's space, you know, to do the two -side
parking on Johnson, I'm certainly not adverse to looking at that, and again, I think with
meters versus, uh, I mean .... you walk two blocks away or one block away and you gotta
pay in the Chauncey or anywhere else, so why shouldn't people have to pay there. Um,
and plus putting the meters in I think gives us that opportunity to actually control where
people are parking a little bit better, because they're gonna be parked, hopefully, in that
spot designated for that meter. So would help with not being too close to the corners, not
blocking driveways, and starts with some revenue.
Ralston/ Yeah, no I agree 100% and to your point, um, there's probably not .... very many
Council meetings that go by when we're not changing meter terms somewhere (laughter)
for various reasons! For ... for businesses or for other reasons, but it seems like every third
Council meeting we're changing a meter term somewhere, so you're right. That's, uh,
not a horribly hard thing to do.
Cole/ And I guess I would like to, uh, proceed expeditiously on the meters as well, because it's
not only the adjacent homeowners, I'm also concerned about access to the park.
Ralston/ Right.
Cole/ Um, on any given day it is very difficult to find parking even in close proximity and while
I absolutely love studies and I think those are absolutely important part of traffic
planning, um, I think sometimes we can rely on the observations, um, and I think just in
terms of the overwhelming amount of anecdotal information, um, I would really like to
proceed forward on that as quickly as we can, consistent with, you know, making sure
that we're not missing anything or, you know, any other concerns from adjacent land
owners.
Mims/ I would agree with that, Rockne, around that park especially.
Thomas/ (several talking) ...so close to the ramp, I mean (several talking)
Botchway/ Yeah, I'm supportive of it as well, I mean I guess the process that I'm thinking
through is something that was already kind of articulated in our packet around kind of
that .... the tool kit, and kinda thinking about costs, and it just seems a little weird for me,
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um, and again, you know, we're becoming into a, you know, bigger city and a
burgeoning, you know, metropolitan area, um, about metering, um, parks, and so I was
just really thinking of that last, um, comment here, so I'm generally supportive of the
College Green Park area because of its proximity, but looking at expanding it to other
city parks, I .... I think I get it but it just kind of made me feel a certain type of way. I was
kind of walking through the process of what that would look like, and you know, as ... as
somebody who kind of frequencing.... goes to a park now, then I have to think about, you
know, paying for it and I think the app works, but it's just something that I think we need
to think about, or put in the back of our minds as far as what that looks like, as far as
accessing parks in generally..... general.
Mims/ I wouldn't think (several talking) other parks (both talking)
Fruin/ No, I think we actually have the opposite program at several, uh, the problems — sorry — at
several of our, um, parks. So for instance, if you wanted to go out and see the new
Frauenholtz-Miller Park, there's no parking signs (noise on mic) excuse me, all around
that park. Same with Tower Court. So you .... you can't technically drive and park
around the park on either side of the street in some of our parks. So, I think the comment
is more to look holistically at our parks. I'm not necessarily suggesting that meters need
to go around various parks, but looking at some of the parking regulations that we have,
um, because I know we've had complaints from certain neighborhoods, or from people
who ... who want to access neighborhood parks by vehicle that have trouble doing so.
Ralston/ Yeah, we're opening availability than anything else. Uh, the issue we have here is
it's .... it's probably our most urban park and .... you know a .... signing it for park use only
or something that .... it just won't work, I mean the enforcement would be a, um, very
difficult to say the least.
Throgmorton/ So I .... I think you're hearing strong support for metering and .... and, you know,
the details matter so .... presumably you'd look into the details and decide, uh, where
specifically to install metering and what the time period would be, what the rate would
be.
Ralston/ Yeah, and I don't think ... it sounds like .... sounds like Council wishes to move forward
with that rather quickly. So I don't think that'll be a .... a super time-consuming thing.
We just need to go out and .... I know I tell you guys this a lot, but what .... what happens
is there's always, um.....there's always a ripple effect with .... with any parking change
we make. So we just kind of need to grasp that, but I think, um, certainly we can move
forward pretty quickly.
Botchway/ Well and before that, I mean talking to the neighbor.... you already mentioned that a
little bit, you know, there's only a couple owner -occupied, you know, places and so
having that conversation first I think would be important as well.
Ralston/ Sure! That's all six topics, um, I'm happy to answer any other questions that we missed
along the way or go back, uh.... to a topic if we need to.
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Cole/ The cost of evaluating the permit system, if we were to do let's say an evaluation stage,
how much would it cost, and also in terms of staff time, in terms of your own wattage,
that it would take.
Ralston/ Yeah, you know I think we would do it in-house. I don't see that as something we'd
have to hire a consultant for, certainly, um, to be debated once we start looking at it. If it
gets too complicated, but I .... I think certainly it's something we could do in-house. Um,
it's hard to say, you know, how long that would take, but I think if we do it in-house,
obviously we can keep our costs down.
Fruin/ We have .... we have the software that we need in other parts of our parking operation, um,
Mark Rummel's staff, uh, uses the technology that we would use. There's some add-ons
that .... that would need to be brought in for the ... the permit system, but I .... I think the
evaluation is really the neighborhood outreach (several talking)
Cole/ ...staff time to do, cause I guess where I'm sort of comin...... (mumbled) Okay.
Fruin/ Yeah, I think .... when you're lookin' at 72, um, what was it?
Ralston/ (both talking) ...almost 72 ..... (both talking)
Fruin/ ....blocks, um, you know, if you're doin' surveys, if you're doin' neighborhood meetings,
that's a lot of data to collect and sift through. Usually what you end up doing is going
back and presenting the data, the survey data, to the neighborhood and they'll wrestle
with that a little bit. You know, it's .... it is a time -intensive, uh, process, but I really
wouldn't suggest you get into a permit system without that type of engagement.
Cole/ Yeah. I mean that's really what I was wondering is if it is a super high wattage, I guess I
don't feel great urgency on the permitting is what I'm saying, but if it's a reasonable
amount of time for staff to allot over the next....six to nine months, I guess I'd like to
take a look at it. I don't know how people feel about that.
Thomas/ Yeah, I agree. I think it needs to be done deliberately, urn .... but I .... I would, you
know, I would like to see it move forward. Um, the other issue that we haven't talked
about is, um, and this has come up, you know, since this work session was announced,
uh, back yard parking. You know, that's the other (laughs) zone kind of. ... all these
inner -related parts and, um, you know, you affect one, you may affect the other, uh, I
think some ... some property owners already rent some of their....
Throgmorton/ They do!
Thomas/ ....parking for...... commuters or whoever wants their, to park their car on their
property. So I think that may .... that's part of the ... the dynamic that we're dealing with as
well.
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Ralston/ Yeah, I agree and something I would suggest, I think, to Rockne's question about the
time it would take and staff time. You know I .... from the earlier conversation, it would
make sense to me to sort of work on that goal definition and try and really tighten up
what we're after before we start with the public....
Cole/ Higher wattage.
Ralston/ Yeah, before we start with the public comment periods and the .... the, um, public
meetings and surveys and that sort of thing. It seems to make sense to me to try and
really define what that problem is. Um, it may be parking on both sides of the street, you
know, as a pilot project, um, it may be something else, but I think if we can try and define
that a little better, um .... then we can certainly move on to a permit system, if we need to,
but I'd hate to start that process before we, you know (several talking) get our arms
around.
Fruin/ Councilman Thomas, just to respond to your, um.....uh, your..... your comment about the
back yard paving. That's really coming as part of phase two of the neighborhood
stabilization effort that we're in. So tonight you're going to be considering the housing
code changes. That will come when we present the zoning code changes, which is....
probably shortly after the .... the first of the year.
Thomas/ Right. So the .... people building an extra room on their house is also ... coming into this.
Throgmorton/ Okay, I think, uh, we can probably move to our next topic. Thank you, Kent.
Ralston/ Thank you very much. I appreciate the input!
Clarification of Agenda Items:
Item 8. Revised TIF Policies - Resolution adopting City of Iowa City Tax Increment
Financing (TIF) Policies
Throgmorton/ All right, the next topic is clarification of agenda items. I want to refer to Item 8,
revisions to our TIF policy, which we will be discussing tonight. Uh, given
communications we have received and to ensure that interested people have an
opportunity to comment, and for us to consider what we learn, I plan to ask for a motion
to defer tonight. Uh, but we will have the equivalent of a public hearing and .... so I need
to know, Eleanor, the technical way to do this, you know. So there's a motion on the
floor, a motion to adopt the resolution. Then what? Or how do you want us to do that?
Dilkes/ Well the public comment it's just .... it's not a public hearing. It's just a public (both
talking)
Throgmorton/ Yeah!
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Dilkes/ ...public comment, so you know you don't really need any ..... I mean you could ... you
could put, if you want to put the item on the floor and defer the item, you can do that.
Throgmorton/ That's.... that's what (both talking)
Dilkes/ ....all you need to do.
Throgmorton/ Yeah.
Dilkes/ Yeah.
Throgmorton/ All right, so .... after we hear people speak (both talking)
Dilkes/ Right!
Throgmorton/ ....have a motion to defer I'd say that, right? (both talking)
Dilkes/ And you can put public comment again on the next time, if you want to.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, yeah, okay, that's what we'll do.
Fruin/ It's probably your intention, but I would suggest that you allow staff to ... to give an
overview of it, so those that are watching or .... or watch this later on can understand
what's being considered and then perhaps comment the next meeting.
Throgmorton/ I think Wendy's ready to do that. (laughter) Anybody else wanna speak about
that? (several talking in background) Okay .... mmmmm.... Item 9, uh, about resi...
rental permit requirements. We can discuss that tonight, right, cause... yeah, okay. I
mean in a work session. So I guess I want to ask a few questions, and I don' t know who
would be the right person to answer, so I'll just ask the questions (laughs) Uh, am I
correct in understanding that with the exception of the rental cap, the provisions of this
ordinance will apply to rental units in single-family and duplex structures throughout the
city?
Item 9. Rental Permit Requirements - Ordinance amending Title 17, entitled
"Building And Housing," Chapter 5, entitled "Housing Code," to establish a
rental permit cap and to strengthen the minimum requirements for rental
housing. (First Consideration)
Laverman/ Let me look through those quick a second. Yes, you are correct!
Throgmorton/ Okay, thanks. And do I understand correctly that new rental permits could not be
issued in neighborhoods that exceed 40% rental of those types of units? At least that's
what your .... is recommended.
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Laverman/ Permitted... rental permits, yeah (both talking) There's a provision for temporary
rental permits in certain situations.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, okay. So one of the things we'll have to talk about during the formal
meeting is what percent.....we really prefer, cause staff is recommending 40. Maybe we
want to do 35. Maybe we want to do 45. I don't know. We'll find out! All right, uh.....
then question is ... arisen mainly from Goosetown neighbors, havin' to do with boundaries
and about.... whether we should alter .... uh, at least one boundary pertaining to the,
uh.... uh, to the districts, uh, and I .... I guess we could talk about, during the formal
meeting as well, but I know my general feeling is there's always gonna be an edge....
problem with regard to any district boundaries we setup. So.....I in just alerting y'all. I
think that'll be a topic we're gonna have to focus on.
Dilkes/ I mean I think with some of. ... with this boundary issue, I think you just need to hear
what people have to say....
Throgmorton/ Yeah.
Dilkes/.... and then I think we'll .... staff will need to go back and take a look at it, see how it
shakes out. I mean the bottom line is there needs to be, if we move a boundary, there has
to be a rational basis for doing that, and has to be consistent with the rest of the analysis,
but I'm not sure you have to make those decisions tonight. Now it may be that you, um,
want to go ahead and get first reading under your belt, to show support, um, and we may
have to back up if we change something, to first reading, but um.....I don't think you
have to decide all that tonight.
Throgmorton/ Okay. Yeah, okay and .... a related point has to do with claims about affects on
affordable housing. So we'll have to talk about that again .... I mean also. Is there
anything anybody ..... I guess that's the end of the question, just the one really (laughs) I
guess, um, so anybody else want to raise any points with regard to this or questions that
really can help us understand what we're gonna be doing?
Thomas/ Yeah I mean .... in advance, another.... another aspect of this had to do with, um, you
know, situations.....where it seems to me, and maybe it's conceivable that, uh, we may
find, um, occupants of the .... given property to be, uh.... listed on the deed at a very low
percentage of ownership, um, and based on the language that we were seeing in the
memo, staff's memo, it....it wasn't clear to me, um, you know, how .... how that would
work, because if we do, you know, and I .... we .... I've already seen this, where you have
two I% deed holders, uh, if we allow then one more renter in that .... that residence, we're
in a sense back to three .... the three unrelateds basically. Uh, it's.... it's a way in which
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unrelated, you know, the .... the ownership notion is being utilized to claim that the
residence is owner -occupied when in fact it's the ... the actual occupants are 1 % holders
who are then cla....you know, occupying the building, um, and you know, and then
you... depending on how many we add as allowed in addition to those on the deed, raises a
question as how that .... it seems to me it may be a loophole .... in terms of the, urn ... (both
talking)
Dilkes/ So right now, um, if. ... if you have any owner, even a I% owner living in the house,
there's no rental permit required. So under the proposed, um, change, um ..... an owner -
occupant so even a 1 % owner can have one tenant without needing a rental permit. Um,
when you raised your question, John, and .... and you know, okay if we have three
siblings, who each own 1%, I mean I think the intent is that they'd still be limited to one,
and I think we can tighten up that language.
Fruin/ The other thing I would .... I would point out, um, there's gonna be loopholes, and ... and
people will find loopholes, and we should try to anticipate those and enclose `em
certainly, but one thing with this 1% owner, um, loophole is that it's a much riskier
investment for somebody. So if you're buying into a neighborhood that has a .... that's
already over the cap, and say you're a parent and you're buying a .... a home to .... to house
your student for four years, your intention more oftentimes than not is to sell that
property again, um, you won't be able to sell that to someone who traditionally wants to
rent it, right, cause we can't take in more rental permits in that district. So, not to say it
will stop that from happening. I think we're .... we're always going to get, again, those
creative ownership structures, but it becomes much riskier because you don't have that
fall -back option of just leasin' it to somebody who will be able to obtain a rental permit.
Thomas/ Selling it, did you mean, Geoffl
Fruin/ Correct. So after.....after my son or daughter graduates I have to go sell that and unless I
can find another parent to buy that and .... and who wants to take on that same ownership
structure, you're gonna have to find a owner -occupant to sell to.
Mims/ Well and I think.... while we may not have solved all the problems, I think it's a really
good start and I think we'll just have to keep looking at the necessary tweaks as we go
forward.
Cole/ And, Jim, did you just want to save the Goosetown thing for the actual hearing itself? In
terms of further discussion on that?
Throgmorton/ Yeah (several talking)
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Dilkes/ Yeah, I think you want to hear what people have to tell you before you (mumbled)
Throgmorton/ Okay. So any other, uh, questions about agenda items?
Botchway/ I would just say as we're going through this, you're gonna just highlight. So it's not
necessarily in the memo, or maybe I'm missing it, but discussing kind of the caps and
how that, um, pertains to neighborhoods that are over the cap and what that process may
look like as an individual, you know, loses a rental permit and then (mumbled) Okay. I
just .... cause that just seemed unclear. Thanks!
Mims/ There's just a couple of items in the Consent Calendar that don't need to be pulled out per
se, but I ... I would like to make a couple comments on them. I think they're really
important. One is TIF documents, um, I think there's some really important information
in there that needs to be highlighted and, um, that's 4d(1) and then 4d(3), the Fresh Starts
Janitorial Service with Shelter House. I think, again, that's a very important program that
is good to highlight for remind people in the prog.... in the community that we're doing
that. So.....
Throgmorton/ Susan, do you want to bring up those points during the formal meeting, during our
discussion period?
Mims/ Yeah, that's what I would like to do, after we've made the motion to approve the Consent.
I know we don't normally talk a lot about the Consent Calendar, but I would just like to
make a couple comments on those items.
Throgmorton/ Sure! Okay.
Taylor/ Not really any question, but just pointing out in the correspondence, uh, the 4f(3), uh,
from the Joint Resolution from the Student Government, uh, folks. I found that very
interesting, especially since, uh, Geoff and I had just attended a politics and government
class on the University, and it was very interesting, and the students were very engaged
and asked really excellent questions. It's great to see that, uh, there's encouragement out
there for the students to become active and register to vote and .... and engage in their
civic responsibilities. So I was pleased to see that!
Tbrogmorton/ Any ot4er agenda items?
Thomas/ It's related to the, um.....to the housing, the rental cap. It was just a question about the
housing, student housing study. What ... what is the status on that?
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Frain/ We have a draft report, um, and I actually, uh, earlier today submitted comments, uh, back
to the University on those. University's taking final comments from the stakeholders,
um, and, um, I don't know what the ... the turnaround will be, but we're getting close. It's
taken a lot longer than anybody anticipated.
Thomas/ Is it....it seems to me to be kind of a .... a critical piece, you know, this data....
Frain/ Sure.
Thomas/ ...driven decision making if, you know, it'd be very helpful to have that and....
Frain/ Yeah.
Thomas/ ....in our discussion.
Fruin/ We're getting close!
Information Packet Discussion [October 19, October 26, November 21:
Throgmorton/ Okay, let's turn to our Info Packet discussion, October 19. Anything on it?
Taylor/ IP4, the info from Councilman, uh, Cole on Makerspace proposal. Um, reading through
all that information, one thing jumped out at me, uh, Tech Shop talked about in
Arlington, uh, engaging the veterans, uh, agencies, Department of Veterans Affairs, and
involving them because I think that's oftentimes a .... a forgotten group of folks that ... that
need to get out, back into the market workforce and ... and it would be great to be able to
include that in some of your discussions about market, potential market space here
and ... and involve our VA system here.
Cole/ Absolutely!
Botchway/ IP3, it's just from the CTC, the Community Transportation Committee, um, just
looking at different, ub, percentages around passes and things along those lines, just to
keep on our minds around transportation and that being a really important issue, um,
that's being discussed, um, throughout the last couple months. Some of the data behind
it.
Throgmorton/ Anything else on October 19a'? All right, how bout October 26th9
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Thomas/ Kind of related to IP2, I've been reading recently about, um, these, uh, kind
of. ... transportation -like company systems related to restaurants. You know, where it's
possible now to order out through, um, the local one that formed kind of in response to
Grub Hub is called Chomp. So it's .... it's a similar service to, you know, an Uber or a
Lyft and, you know, drivers will deliver your meal and, um, it's not under the automated
vehicle category, but it's still another.....another thing that's coming or that's already
here that is affecting the use of our streets.
Botchway/ IP4 and 5, just more great information, um, continuing updates. I guess I don't
necessarily talk about `em every time, but, you know, they're important and, um,
especially IP5, I mean, not to say that IP4 isn't just as important, but, um, just seeing
progress, um, especially that's been made, um, with our Police Department as well, I
think is a .... it's been big. Sorry, I'm kinda crashing a little bit from the caffeine and feel
a little (several talking and laughing) another boost! (laughs)
Throgmorton/ Well with regard to IP4, I had a very good conversation with Ben and Gustav, our
Student Liaisons, about ... uh, affordable housing as seen from a student perspective and
I .... I think we do need to pay closer attention to that, and perhaps build it into our
affordable housing action plan, uh, in some future amended version, uh, but one of the
things that Ben and Gustav and I talked about was the, uh, the implications of increasing
the supply of housing oriented towards students, and by supply I mean the kind of units
that are actually discussed in the, uh, housing market analysis that Geoff and I have both
read a draft of, but you know, and .... and that basically involves higher rise structures that
are well managed, well designed, in appropriate locations, and it .... there are several of
these already in the works, uh, but .... more could be built, perhaps by the University,
perhaps through a public/private partnership, or perhaps in other ways, uh, but there are
implications, uh.... uh, with regard to increasing this, implications for rents, with regard
to increasing the supply of that kind of housing. So I .... I really think our affordable
housing action plan needs to be looking more carefully at that, uh, and ... in other words
about the relationship between increasing the supply of such housing, and rents.
Fruin/ Yeah, I think a good time to do that would be after you get the chance to consider the
market analysis. As you alluded to, that is one of the key findings in the report is
compared to the peer communities and institutions that they chose to use, we have a
much smaller percentage of student -oriented beds is what they call `em, um, and, uh, you
know, they really point to that factor as contributing to affordability problems,
contributing to some of the neighborhood, um, encroachment issues that .... that we have.
Um, so it...it may be a strategy of. ... a specific strategy that .... that we do wanna
incorporate and .... in some type of report that says, you know, these are ... these are
opportunities that we should be lookin' for. Course you have to be careful with those,
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because .... um, you ..... you tend to get the interest where the land is either easiest to
assemble or cheapest, and so you see a lot of these large student housing developers, uh,
developments in many communities taking place on the fringe of the communities, and
we've seen it with the Quarters now, um, we've seen it a little bit with the .... with The
Lodge, uh, previously. Um, you know, other than The Rise, we .... we haven't seen that
occur in Riverfront Crossings or downtown, partly because it's just so dam expensive to
assemble land, uh, for that type of, uh, development, but .... um, there are some
communities and .... and the study's gonna point to some that have strategically taken
steps to .... to attract that type of housing.
Throgmorton/ With regard to IP #5, the social justice and racial equity report, um, I agree with
Kingsley of course and thank, uh, Stefanie for preparing it, but I'm .... I think I did not,
well, I don't recall seeing, uh, any reference to the LGBT amicus brief, which I know,
Eleanor, you and I have communicated about, but I'm not sure other people on the
Council are aware of it. So could you briefly state what that's all about?
Dilkes/ Sure, and I .... we've got a couple amicus briefs going on here due to my conversations
with Jim and, urn .... uh, and so I'm .... I'm trying to ... once they're at a point where it
makes sense to give you an update on all of them I was going, uh, to do that. But one of
the amicus, um, that ... what was being, uh, prepared.... amicus brief just means a friend of
the court brief, is in the Colorado case of the cake .... cake seller who wouldn't sell to a
same-sex couple for their wedding. Um, and .... the .... I can't remember, that was .... that
was being done, put together by I think one of the attorneys in California, L.A.
art... attorney or another one, and we're kind of on this list now when they're reaching out
to similar communities if ...if we're interested in ... in, um, signing on and we did, we
signed on as the City cause I can do that under my signature and... and the Mayor also
signed on to that, um, individually. So.....and I believe there's been oral argument in that
case.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, thanks, I .... I wanted to make sure people were aware of that, but also, uh, it
wasn't in the social justice and racial equity impact statement... or report. Thought it
should be.
Bowers/ I was actually going to put it in the next one, cause it actually just got filed, I believe,
last week. So it wasn't that it wasn't on the radar. It was just (both talking)
Throgmorton/ You're on top of it! Thanks, Stefanie! Uh, IP8, that's proposed meeting schedule
for January through March. Uh, I was just wondering about March 201', just you know if
it's spring break, it's problematic. I don't know if that's spring break or not. Maybe you
can check into that and.....see what that leads to.
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Fruin/ I'm hearin' it's the week before from the audience. (laughter)
Throgmorton/ Okay! All right, well they would know! (laughs) Never mind! (several talking
and laughing) Can we tum to the November tad packet, and we have six minutes.
Botchway/ That's gonna be tough. (laughter) Um, IPS, um, so I really appreciated, you know,
uh, Stefanie and the work that she's done, and obviously other City staff as well. I mean
I can say .... I can't say how much this is kind of exactly what I was talking about in
regards to really looking at, um, especially the City departments that are listed here, and
looking through and how we can, you know, really put policies together that I think affect
some of our not only under -represented populations, but just generally, you know, good
policy across the City. The only question I have is kind of a next steps, because it does
talk about kind of in conclusion, um, expanding to City departments, I mean one of the
questions I was actually going to ask, um, Kent was even in the analysis that which we're
going through, how that, um, conversation could of, uh, you know, morphed into a tool
kit kind of analysis from that perspective, but .... so that's my first question but I mean
now I'll go back to my comment. Just awesome stuff, I mean especially in focusing at th
end, um, discussing some of the comments around how we can include, um, different
vendors, um, include, uh, more minority owned vendors, more women vendors, I .... I just
think that, you know, if we're able to do this from a city perspective, I think it's gonna
put us, um, in a different place.
Throgmorton/ So your question is what are the next steps?
Botchway/ Yeah, expanding for City departments.
Fruin/ Well (both talking) some of these items that we described in there have next steps
associated with them and so absent any direction from Council to the contrary, we'll....
we'll proceed as .... as the memo indicates. Um, you know the next step for us is to
identify new departments to go through this exercise, um, it is a very time-consuming
process, um, so we'd probably still do it on a targeted basis. Um, but I can tell you in just
having daily interaction with .... with de .... department heads, this type of mentality is .... is
on everybody's mind, uh, it's still healthy to still go through the documentation phase,
but, um, you know, the .... the hope is that you continue to closely evaluate these pol....
policies, but even the day-to-day decisions that departments are making, they're startin'
to .... startin' to think about this. We're all starting to think about, um, these types of im...
implications. So, I think it's, uh, I think it's movin' along well. We'll .... we'll continue
to .... to march forward, and we learned a lot through this process and as we bring in new
departments we might tweak things a little bit, but .... I think you'll see more of the same.
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Mims/ What I found interesting in looking at it was that, um, at least in this report, it didn't seem
like there was any incredibly glaring... issues that you came across. I mean there were
things to tweak, you know, things we could do a little better, um, you know, you're
looking at it from a perspective that probably a lot of people already have, but maybe not
with quite the same attention as when you're specifically doing it for this tool kit. So I
think what it says is while we always have room to improve, I think we're already doin' a
pretty good job. But, it's always good to step up, improve.
Throgmorton/ Anybody else on this, uh, Information Packet? All right, well you know it's 22 till
and we have one last item, but I don't think we have enough time really to fire through it.
Council updates on boards, etc. So let's .... let's (mumbled) let's adjourn this meeting till
after, right after the formal meeting. Okay.
(RECESS TO FORMAL MEETING)
(RECONVENE WORK SESSION)
Council updates on assigned boards, commissions and committees:
Throgmorton/ Gonna take us five minutes probably but.....
Mims/ Just an update on the assigned boards, commissions, and committees.
Throgmorton/ Yeah.... yes. Yes. I'm tryin' to find it (laughs) my notes anyhow. So....
Mims/ I'll start while you're looking.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, please do!
Mims/ Steering Committee for the Access Center's had a meeting since our last one. Nothing
specific to update. We just keep working forward. I think we're getting closer and
closer, but I think I might have said that last time, so.....we..... we're gettin' close (both
talking)
Throgmorton/ Is this an exa.... an instance of getting half ...making, getting half as close as you
were before, then half as close, then half as close (both talking) you can never get there.
(both talking)
Mims/ We're gonna get there! I am convinced we are going to get there, and soon!
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Throgmorton/ Thanks. Kingsley, why don't you go next.
Botchway/ Nothing. Uh, Rules Committee just thought about meeting, but we didn't. (laughter)
Cole/ Nothing on the City of Literature.
Throgmorton/ But you know we're wondering what the other Cities of Literature are doing, what
the creative cities network is doing, you know.
Cole/ Well I mean basically he said that it's not gonna affect our status I think was what he had
indicated, so, um, we're continuing to get updates from him on that, but it's supposedly is
not going to impair our status.
Throgmorton/ Okay! Pauline?
Taylor/ Uh, well last month, uh, Tracy Hightshoe and I, um, attended the InvestHealth pod
convening in Henderson, Nevada. Uh, it was a really good experience. Uh, and yes we
did go up to Las Vegas briefly (laughs) one evening and had fun. Won 15 -cents! 15 -
cents! (laughs) But we were.....in the group we were able to share our ideas and plans
with representatives from some of the other InvestHealth cities and received a lot of
constructive feedback on some of, uh, our ideas and plans, and urn .... the InvestHealth
grant itself actually is only two years, from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation
and ... and the Reinvestment Fund, and that ends this December. I can't believe it's been
two years already. It's gone really fast. But, uh, our .... our group, um, is .... plans to
continue to get together, the five of us, as well as work closely with the stakeholder group
that ... that, uh, has evolved from our group, uh, and we'll keep you posted on the great
ideas we have planned, uh, for the coming year! For our community, so....
Throgmorton/ Excellent! It's good news.
Taylor/ It's fun!
Throgmorton/ John?
Thomas/ Uh, normally I would not report from the Johnson County Emergency Management,
um, but there was something (laughs) that came up that I ... I thought you all, and ... and
staff, might be interested in and that is whether that.... emergency management should
purchase drones and, uh... I thought I would throw that out there. I don't know if staff or
Council has any opinion regarding..... them doing that.
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Throgmorton/ Yeah. For what purpose?
Botchway/ What is our policy on drones currently?
Fruin/ Um .... not for law enforcement purposes, I think.
Dilkes/ Right, the City can't, um.....use drones for traffic enforcement purposes...I always have
to look back at that. It was a compromise thing that came out of an initiative. So, um....
Botchway/ But just for that particular purpose?
Dilkes/ But I don't think it would affect JECC, because they're a separate entity.
Fruin/ No, and I think we could use `em for public safety purposes too.
Dilkes/ Yeah.
Fruin/ Just not issuing citations and things of that nature and.... and certainly the emergency
management field, they're becoming increasingly commonly used and I ... I would see no
reason not to use them for that purpose, whether you're lookin' at tornado damage, flood
damage, trying to get into a confined space that you otherwise wouldn't be able to see, I
think it makes a lot of good sense.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, I'd say (several talking) That's it, John?
Thomas/ Yeah.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, okay. I'll mention two things. I had ... on the 19a' I participated in a meeting
of the Convention and Visitors Bureau Board, and we touched on, uh, you know, each of
the topics that I mentioned in our last meeting about forthcoming events, but I think the
main interest had to do with RAGBRAI and .... the possibility that we would be a
stopping point in next year's RAGBRAL If we are I'm sure you're gonna race in it,
aren't ya? (several talking and laughing) Yeah, so, uh, there's a meeting in January in
Des Moines, right. I can't remember the exact date. So we'll know better, yeah. Also on
the 24h I participated in a meeting of the Partnership for Alcohol Safety and .... much of
the discussion focused on alcohol and beverage control, yeah, and .... and the meeting
they were going to have in Davenport, and about whether they might be proposing some
changes that would be of benefit to us. Yeah, and I don't know how that meeting went.
Has it been held yet? I'm not sure about that. (unable to hear response in audience)
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Fruin/ Yeah, I don't .... know how it went but....
Throgmorton/ Yeah so Jody....
Dilkes/ I think it went fine. Eric was there with, um, Chief (both talking) Basically they're just
in the process of gathering input at this point.
Throgmorton/ Yeah. Okay, so that's all I would like to tell you about my committees and all
that. So I think we could consider our work session adjourned! Thanks, everybody, for
your patience. It's been a long night!
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