HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-07-03 Transcription Page 1
Council Present: Botchway, Cole, Mims, Salih(electronically),Taylor, Thomas,
Throgmorton
Members Absent: None
Staff Present: Fruin, Monroe, Dilkes, Fruehling, Hightshoe, Sitzman, Russett, Laverman,
Andrew, Knoche,Nations, Bowers, Seydell-Johnson,Nagle-Gamm,Havel
Others Present: Stewart, Wu(UISG)
Hensch, Baker, Townsend, Signs, Martin, Dyer(P&Z Commission)
Consultation with Planning& Zoning regarding the proposed rezoning at 12 E. Court FIP3,
IP41:
, Throgmorton/I'm gonna call to order the....Iowa City City Council work session for Tuesday,
July 3'd,2018. Uh,we begin with a consultation with the Planning and Zoning
Commission, with regard to the rezoning of 12 Court Street. I wanna thank the
Commissioners for coming and welcome Billie and Larry on-board, uh,to the Corn....on
the Commission. Uh, I have to scratch my head about Larry,but you know(laughter)
there ya go! (laughter) So as you Commissioners know,the Council voted 3-3 on the
motion to approve the proposed rezoning with your conditions. And we did that back on
May 29. Since that date, I have prepared a....a set of possible conditions that would be
added to yours, and I think you've already seen them. I hope you have. They were
distributed, all that. We are aware that you discussed the proposed rezoning during your
April 16th work session, and that unanimous....you unanimously recommended approval
with conditions at your April 19th formal meeting. As I read the minutes, in both cases
your discussion was pretty brief. You often have lengthy discussions, like with regard to
Forest View, I mean, you've really gone into that very,very deeply. So,just to begin,
I... I think what we'd like to know is help us understand your rationale for
recommending approval with the specific conditions that you laid out. Just so we can get
our conversation goin'.
Hensch/Well it...it was a....it was a difficult discussion,just to....to, because there were no plans
submitted. So it was simply illustrations and concept plans. So that was why, um, for the
CZA, one of the points was that it needed to return to P&Z so that we could actually see
the plans itself,urn, once the rezoning. So we looked at it strictly as a rezoning, not
usually how we're looking at the actual building itself and how it's situated in the lot or
any,uh,different requirements to it. Urn, I think,uh,we thought it was,uh, fairly clear
that the rezoning was in compliance with the actual Riverfront Crossings South
Downtown District requirements that's listed in the 2014 plan. Um, we really didn't see
any discrepancies from that. It matched up pretty clearly. Uh, so the....so I think that
was actually a pretty easy rezoning from our opinion,that's why there wasn't a lot of
comment about that. The difficulty, and I think one of the problems it's raising for
everybody is it's simply a concept plan and illustrations,without actually seeing the
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building, without actually knowing the height. Because as everybody knows for
Riverfront Crossings South Downtown District, you can have a minimum of two stories,
a maximum of eight stories,but you can get seven additional stories for bonus height,
depending on the criteria, and it was felt that this cri....this qualified probably in four
different criteria for the historic preservation height transfer, for the public right-of-way
height transfer associated with the opening...dedication of right-of-way to open up
Capitol Street,height bonus for student housing; and for height bonus for workforce and
affordable housing. So I just think briefly that's how we looked at that, knowing there'd
still be four more reviews that would take place before this,uh, any building would be
broken, because it'd have to come to P&Z, because of the conditional zoning agreement.
City staff would have to look at it another time once the actual plans are submitted. City
Council would have to approve that and then the Form Based Code Committee would
have to review that, with actual,um, details of the form based code.
Throgmorton/Thanks, Mike. Uh, with regard to your....the Commission's, uh....uh.....what do
you call it, condition requiring the,uh, the....I don't know,the drawings or concept plan
to be brought back to you, can you explain what precisely you're imagining you will be
able to do as a Commission?
Hensch/We've, urn, in the past been pretty vocal about wanting people to come to us with pretty
specific plans. And in this case, and people can correct me if I misunderstand this, the
applicant simply had none. They had the illustrations and the concept,but they wanted to
have the rezoning so they could know what they could actually design and build, and we
wanted to see more specifications. We wanted to see what the building was going to look
like,make sure it was in compliance with the streetscapes and some of the setback
requirements and the space requirements,but,um,they weren't able or willing to provide
that without knowing they'd be able to proceed with that rezoning.
Throgmorton/ Okie dokie. Thanks. Uh, I don't know if other Council Members have immediate
questions you wanna ask or if you all want to ask us questions too,because it is a
consultation, which basically means interaction among the Commission Members and the
Council.
Signs/I....I think the idea was for it to come back to us so we would have another opportunity to
comment and/or critique the design before it got to the...to the remainder of the stages
where...where really the final, uh, you know the final decisions get made.
Throgmorton/But tell me if I'm wrong, but you wouldn't have any authority to approve or deny
what came to you. Would that be correct or not? I don't know.
Hench/Once the rezoning is approved, urn, cause we've never done that before, asked
something to come back after it's been rezoned. So I can't specifically answer that
question.
Throgmorton/El...Eleanor's gonna come up and say something.
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Dilkes/The way the conditional zoning agreement reads,they would have that authority. And
basically it's conditioned on obtaining the approval of the....the exterior design
elevations from the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Throgmorton/Thank you, Eleanor!
Dyer/I....I think the process itself, um....enables developers to come and ask for`trust me, we'll
do it right.' And I find that really frustrating. Um, and some developers come with
pretty elaborate plans at the zoning....time. I've done that myself. Uh, others....come
with sometimes nothing, until the meeting, and.....I think there should be some,urn,
expectation clarified,um, for everybody. The other thing that frustrates me is, um,
people who do come with concept plans, um, make the plan sound, urn, really appealing
and then when we see what actually is built, it doesn't conform to the requirements of the
Riverfront Crossing and, um, district plan. Like for example the setbacks on the upper
stories aren't there or we saw plans for townhouses, um, around the UU Church, urn,that
were three stories high and now they're much bigger than that, and the density's much
higher. Urn, some.....there's.....there's a slip-up in the expectations of the process, or the
design of the process, in my opinion. So I voted for it because....there was no reason,
um, given the....the way the rules work, urn, to....to deny it or postpone it or ask for
more at that stage. I guess on the rever....the reverse is, um, if you're gonna....if you
wanna do something like this project and you need rezoning for it, you'd kind of like to
know can we actually do it after it's re....rezoned, so there's a mismatch here.
Hench/I do believe this is the first time we've actually asked it to come back to us.
Dyer/Yeah.
Hensch/(mumbled)plans, and that would have been avoided if plans had been submitted
initially, so that's why I think some of this back and forth is happening, but....that's
....that is what happened.
Martin/To echo what Mike has said earlier,we have been very vocal with people,because
Riverfront Crossing, there are so many possibilities, we want to make sure that...that sort
of everyone has a voice in this and that we are....that we're doing things in a very
transparent way and this, having them come back, I thought, was...was very clever.
Throgmorton/(mumbled) Commission as a condition,requiring them to come back.
Martin/Yep!
Throgmorton/Yeah.
Botchway/I would agree with that as well. I thought, I mean, having that particular condition in
there, I thought, was very appropriate, um, that's part of the reason why I've been so
supportive. You know, you've done wonderful work in the past and so I didn't see this
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as any different from the work that you would do in regards to this particular property as
well. Urn.....well, there's some other things I'm gonna speak on but I'll wait.
Cole/Maybe any of you could comment on this, but how unusual is it in your experience that
you would have this sort of procedure where it would come back to you for design
review,um....I don't know if anyone has any comments on that.
Hench/Well my three-year history it's the first time. Phoebe would have the most longevity, I
think(both talking)
Martin/I don't think, since I....well, yeah, Carol's been here longer, but I don't think that I have
seen that, but I definitely think it's something that had it been appropriate in the past we
could have done but I don't know that it's....I....I can't remember off the top of my head
when there would have been an appropriate time for that to have happened.
Cole/And as I understand the intent of that is it essentially fixes what your concern was, is
that... we don't have a project and the developer comes and says well we can't invest the
amount that we would invest in a full design scheme....schematic without knowing what
it's going to look like, and then you essentially get that on the back end, as opposed to the
front end. So essentially gives you...is that sort of what the intent was?
Martin/Yeah,they have a....there's a concept(both talking)
Cole/Yeah.
Martin/ ....and there's an idea and there's a master plan and you know how does that all fit
together, but let's make sure this is actually legit and....
Hench/Cause I....I agree with exactly what Carolyn said, we've learned the hard way we can't
go on `trust me,' and so it's just 'show us the plans,' but we wanted to help them to get
the rezoning, so that they felt that(both talking)
Cole/ ....certainty (both talking)
Hensch/ ....plans.
Cole/Yep!
Mims/Are....I'm just curious with....with what you said, Carolyn, and Mike,you following up
on that, are you saying, and I....this is...diverges a little bit but I'm curious to the answer.
Are you saying that you have approved rezonings in Riverfront Crossings....and then
people have not built to the code?
Dyer/Yes. (several responding)
Mims/I would....Geoff, I'd be....
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Cole/Probably in terms of the plan.
Fruin/Yeah, I think it'd be really helpful, urn, for the P&Z members to,urn,maybe at your next
meeting, go through that....a list of those projects that you approved that you didn't feel
turned out the way that....that you thought that they would, and then have staff come
back to you and explain what may have transpired. There's some of it may just be a....a
misunderstanding, for example, the UU Church, that was mentioned, uh, what you're
seein' there is the internal apartment structure,which was always seven stories in the
plan. The townhomes have not been (both talking)
Dyer/Three stories on Iowa Avenue originally.
Fruin/Yeah, those townhomes have not been constructed yet. That'll....those'll be built in the
space between the tall wall that you see. The tall wall that you see is a....a wall from the
interior parking deck, and then the stair towers you see for the larger apartment, and then
the....the three-story, or four-story I believe, urn, townhomes will line that, but I don't
want to get too far off....off point here. We're....we're talking about 12 Court, but urn, I
think it would be a helpful exercise for us to....to sit down with you as a staff and say
what are those projects where you've experienced some frustration and let us talk about
the administrative approvals or waivers that....that have taken place and....
Hench/Part of it could be when the, your internal Form Based Code Committee allowed some
changes we're just not aware of what those changes are and so our discussion versus
what you guys ultimately approve from the FBC Committee may be a slightly different
and enough that it looks different to us.
Dyer/But...well there's no transparency about the Design Review Committee. It's....it's a staff
committee, um.....we have other kinds of committees that deal with design that include
some public members, um....but that's one that....it's a black hole as far as we're
concerned.
Fruin/Well then....we would probably just need to work on our communication back to the
Commission, uh, on that.
Signs/And we have in recent meetings we have requested, um, some, uh, some feedback on
some specific items that we had concerns about, and staff has brought, you know
(mumbled) the plans as they were presented at the initial meeting versus the pictures of
the end result and things, and so we are starting to seek some of those details and
connections.
Botchway/Do you feel like there's transparency as far as what Council's looking for in relation,
not necessarily to this project but other projects as well?
Hensch/I....I don't feel that I have a good grasp on what Council wants. I....I think I have a
good feel for what P&Z wants and what we're always looking for, but the closed loop is
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probably my fault cause I don't come to the meetings to listen to you guys talk. So I
can't criticize (both talking)
Signs/ I mean I would say our decisions are very closely aligned with the....with the....with the
strategicwith the plan, the master plan and....and in situations where it's in the
Riverfront Crossings district, with the Riverfront Crossing plan. Urn, we do I think a
pretty good job of really vetting individual projects and do they meet the....the, um, those
plans.
Botchway/And I only ask cause of two things. One, there's certain times where changes have
happened up here, where we have said,hey, we want to see some things differently from
that perspective, but I don't necessarily know what comes back to you, as far as that's
concerned. And then also, I know that, I mean...(mumbled) your comment about
transparency and I'm....I'm glad Susan asked that question cause it has me worried
because I didn't hear the other feeling from developers, and so....both sides are saying
transparency,transparency. So something.....I think what you're saying as far as a
process need to be....needs to be reviewed and....and thought about more articulately,
across all levels.
Throgmorton/(mumbled) ...not sure what you're referring to in terms of what we've changed.
We have disagreed with the Commission to my knowledge twice before within the past
couple or more years.
Dyer/It's not the Council that's changed, it's the Design Review Committee that's changed
things. Or approved things.
Botchway/We've definitely had situations where the developer's come up to us and brought
plans and we've stated, I mean I can state just this...just the, uh, Kum n' Go project,
where I mentioned some couple of things that I think would have been different and the
developer came back with a door in a different place and some different,um, and maybe
I'm wrong, help me staff Come forward and say, `Kingsley, you're wrong!' Um,
different trim and everything along those lines and they brought back a new project. So it
does happen. I just don't think that it....I don't know....I don't think there's any way that
we've shared that information with them, as well, and then I was also just speaking to
transparency in general, because I think that I'm hearing....I'm hearing this concern and
that worries me, but then again I'm hearing from the developers, 'We don't know what
people want,' and so that's awkward for me to hear from both sides, like...that's just
weird! So I'm just highlighting the weirdness and speaking to we need to think about
what that means.
Signs/I'd say overall since we realize our role as advisory and folks make the final decision that
we've we regard our role really as sticking with the plan.....and making sure that the
criteria and the intent of the plans are met. We,uh, I think we do a really good job of
that, and(mumbled) it gets into discretionary issues that you folks have the right to
exercise.
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Mims/Well and I was one that was supportive of moving forward with the rezoning, and
particularly I think because of the CZA, urn, and...and I....I appreciate your concerns and
the fact that you didn't have, you k now, detailed plans, which you obv....obviously often
have and require,urn, before you do rezonings. I also understand and appreciate
the....the challenge for the developers in a project like this where there is the opportunity
for bonus heights and the expense of drawing those up in detail and not having any clue
how many heights they might get. So I think....I think what P&Z did was really kind of a
great compromise in terms of that process of saying, `We'll go ahead with the rezoning
so we can get this step out of the way, but....you're gonna come back to us and get
approval for the design,' and so I've felt very comfortable with that and then we have
plenty of time to scrutinize, negotiate, etc., any bonus heights, which would be, urn,
anything over 10 stories would certainly would be at the Council level, urn, so that's why
I was comfortable going forward, and I think the developers know very well that, um,
there's concern with this Council about how many stories they would get. So I can't
imagine that they're going to invest, urn, hundreds of thousands of dollars in super-
detailed plans until they are pretty sure what they're actually going to have in height. So
I was comfortable with moving forward.
Throgmorton/I think the Commissioners probably know that I don't agree with Susan about that,
uh, we don't need to re....rehash that, uh, but I tried to elaborate my own reasoning in the
memo that I shared with the Council and.....and with the developer, and with, uh, with
the Commission. Uh, in part....my concern is that if we are not clear ahead of time about
what our expectations are, then either the developer will take the risk of designing,
spending a lot of money designing something, knowing that we might not approve it, or
they'll do that and we'll get to the point where something will come to us and the
pressure will be very great on us to approve it. So, I do not want to be in that position! I
think we need to be clear enough about what our expectations are, and I think it's helpful
to know, to learn from y'all, um, how your reasoning was based on whether the proposed
rezoning was consistent with the Riverfront Crossings master plan, and I think it's correct
to say that nobody on this Council disagrees, that it is consi....the rezoning is consistent.
The question is not whether it's consistent with....with the master plan. The question
is are the conditions you recommended to us sufficient from our point of view, or do
we need to do something else fairly quickly with regard to conveying, communicating,
our expectations to the developer. So we don't get into that mutual trap. So....I mean
that's the way I see things anyhow. I don't know about other Council Members.
Taylor/I agree with you, Jim. I'm thinking on the same lines that they....you had laid out some
conditions, but I'm hearing from some of my fellow Council Members that there are
additional conditions, which Jim had laid out some....some very good ones,um, so we're
not necessarily not in favor of the rezoning, cause it does pretty much comply and...from
what I was reading in the plan, I mean, right there in there it says, uh, that it's appropriate
for student housing, uh, in that Riverfront Crossings area, which obviously it is because
that's what it's been since the 70s or whenever that was built. So we're not disagreeing
with that, that it's appropriate for student housing. But there are just, we think, some
other additional conditions that could be applied to that, so that the developer goes into it
fully knowing what....what we might expect or would like to see.
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Hensch/Because I...in final analysis from our perspective, as an advisory, we felt it did comply
with the Riverfront Crossings South Downtown District plan in every regard. But there
are discretionary items on that, and so you'll have to make those calls.
Throgmorton/ So could I ask y'all a question. Eleanor, you're out there. If you feel like I'm
goin' a bit too far (laughs) please start waving your hands or stand up and yell or
somethin' like that! (laughter) So....part of what's involved here, it seems to me, is
that....as far as I know,this is by far the largest residential development in the history of
Iowa City. I don't know that as a fact cause we haven't researched it, but I think it's true.
There could be 2,000 or so residents there, 800 to 1,000 residential units there. It's a
massive project, in a really important location. So it seems to me we really need to be
careful with this. We need to be very thoughtful about this, and from a....from a Council
point of view, at least from my point of view, it's a question about rezoning and
capability with the master plan, but it goes beyond that, because it's so big! And so
potentially significant. And it...you know, if we approve the, uh,things and the
developer moves ahead as the developer would like, uh, and there are buildings there,
they're gonna be there for decades. So....it's not a trivial point. We really have to do
this carefully.
Martin/So...and actually that's....that's exactly why we worded things the way that we did,
because every other plan that has come before us for Riverfront Crossing,we do require
them to have very detailed plans. We've sent tons of people back, you know, go back to
the drawing board,bring us back something else. So I think that developers do know
what we want, because we're all looking at Riverfront Crossing. We're all looking at
that master plan,but this is the first that we've allowed to even go this far without having
those details. So I get your concern that they don't know exactly what we...what we're
all looking for, but I think that they do, and....but we want to know that, that...we want to
know that we are all on the same page, instead of just assuming, `Well, you've read the
master plan, you know Riverfront Crossing,' but of course that's always open to
interpretation because we're humans. So that's why I think that tho...that verbiage was
so, urn, so purposeful.
Hensch/In the actual plan itself, it has two phrases in there that could be pretty scary to people,
when it says the intention of the plan is for high dens....high intensity mixed-use
development. So, that is high intensity, and the other thing for the residential density, or
units per acre, no maximum. So again, that whole area's designed for that high intensity,
high density population. So....
Taylor/ I think there are also still some unknowns as far as the wording, uh,particularly in
relation to the affordable housing aspect of it, and there were several options that the
developer could take, including in fee in lieu of and....and not knowing, I mean we talk,
talk, talk all the time the need for more affordable housing in the area. Will there actually
be units in there? Are there going to actually plan to have those units in there or are they
gonna opt for the fee in lieu of, I think that would make a big difference to like not have
those unknowns kind of floating out there.
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Dyer/That particular point is important to me, urn, and it seems to be....too optional from my
perspective. Urn, we....I think we would like some affordable student housing near
campus. Urn, not just luxury, um,housing. What....to.....to amplify one point
(mumbled) the condition, urn, another developer came with a project and wanted
something that de...departed from the requirements for the Riverfront Crossings. And,
urn, in our discussion we....challenged that and said that doesn't meet the requirements.
And, um....that developer, um, said, well you.....you can make an exception. Urn, and
we looked at....at the requirements and....and basically it said you could make an
exception for an exceptional design, and it was just another Iowa City, um, tall building.
There was nothing exceptional about the design. I was interested in...Jim's comments in
his, urn....conmients about....um, exceptional design and the fact, again, that it's so big.
It will be there for a long, long time. Urn, it's right by downtown, um, and, urn, by the
music building.
Signs/One of....and that was....that was actually part of our conversation. I think as a group,
urn, when....when we sent the developers away with some very clear suggestions that
they come back with something very creative, very unique, and something that was going
to be, uh, a positive, uh, addition to the skyline of Iowa City. Urn, and I....I.....I think we
made it pretty clear that that was the expectation, uh, as far as us being able to go back
and say, yeah, this....this really does meet everything that we're....that we're trying to
achieve there.
Hench/To follow up on what Mark said,because it...in the Riverfront Crossings plan it says,
`Bonus height is granted solely at the discretion of the City Council,based upon the
quality of the proposal.' So the opportunity to get a really quality proposal out of this,
and to follow up just as a citizen what Pauline said, I completely agree. This is an
opportunity with this high density to put some downward pressure on rental prices in
Iowa City by increasing the amount of rental stock. Just saying that as a citizen because
it's not relevant to the P&Z discussion.
•
Baker/Uh, Jim, can I ask a question here? Um, Billie and I were not on P&Z when this was
created, so we're catching up with the public right now. Urn, and so I have a process
question. If the Planning and Zoning Commission is going to see plans come back to us
for approval, those plans would have to have some sense of the height bonuses, whether
or not they're allowable or not, but only the Council approves those. So,how can the
Zoning Commission approve plans that....based upon certain heights, not knowing what
the Council is going to allow?
Throgmorton/I don't know. I....Eleanor, yeah. Do...I don't know if we have procedures
specifically laid out for this kind of situation.
Dilkes/ Planning and Zoning, um, serves in an advisory capacity. So I think the way the
conditional zoning agreement is worded is that Planning and Zoning will look at
whatever plans are presented. Urn, approve that or disapprove that exterior design. Urn,
and there's still the requirement that they go to Council and get the heights approved.
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Baker/But their plans would be based on an assumption of height.
Dilkes/That's right. And if it comes to the Council and the Council denies that height, then they
go back to the drawing board and they do different external designs and they come back
to Planning and Zoning and they go back to the Council (both talking)
Baker/(mumbled) They can do all they want....get our approval, and still be turned down at the
Council level,based on height.
Throgmorton/If the developer was me (laughs) you know, if I were the developer, I'd want to
have clarity from the Council about what our expectations are and then I'd try to....
design within those expectations. Or...drop....drop the idea. So...and I....I think we
would need to be clear about those expec....expectations, before they put....plans,
renderings, etc., together and hence before they presented stuff to the Commission(both
talking)
Baker/ So you would make a decision on the height bonuses before they finalized their plans,
and they come to us.
Throgmorton/I believe that's correct.
Baker/Okay.
Mims/I would(both talking)
Throgmorton/Yeah.
Mims/I would guess we might not formally, but I think....and I agree with a lot of what Jim has
said. I think this is....this is the first project I think of this size in the community.
Certainly the first project of this size for student-oriented housing with a developer that
doesn't have that experience with that size, I mean CA Ventures who put up The Rise has
done this at multiple universities across the country. So they had a long history of doing
that before they came in here. So.....I believe, I feel that there are a number of
requirements that need to be attached to this, urn, in tants of security and management
and....and things like that, above and beyond some of the design things that we've talked
about, quality of design, quality of construction. Like Jim said, this building's going to
be here for decades, and we want to make sure that it's, um, an attractive,healthy place
for students to live in the decades to come. And so I have no problem with putting some
requirements on in order to get those bonus heights. For me, the issue is the process that
we're going through. Um, as everybody I believe here has said, they agree that the....the
straight rezoning is in total compliance with the master plan. And P&Z, because you did
not have detailed plans of the buildings I think were creative in requesting a CZA that
gave you the right to approve those plans once they came back. My contention is that
because this complies with the master plan and because there are checks and balances and
approvals going forward, that Council should go ahead and approve the rezoning. We've
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made it abundantly clear, abundantly clear to the developers that there are going to be
issues in terms of getting the height that they want, and they're nodding their heads.
They get it. Um, that gives the Council and staff ample opportunity to sit down with
them,um, explain what requirements and negotiate those and see if we can come to an
agreement on what they need to do to get whatever heights we're willing to....to give
them in terms of bonuses, and I think we can do that in a manner that.....would allow
them to get those details before they put, again, hundreds of thousands of dollars into
architectural and design fees, so that by the time they do that, they know....yes, we're
getting four 15-story buildings. No, we're getting an average of 12 stories, which I think
is Jim's proposal. Um, so they know what the maximum is, assuming that the design
quality comes back. They know what they can get, and I think that can all be done
through an negotiation and discussion process to save them time and money, and then
come back...bring that back to P&Z, to...the formal approval of design and then back to
Council, um, for former...formal approval on the heights. To me, that's the way the
process should work, that the density bonuses should...should be and are laid out
separately from rezoning. I think it also makes it much more transparent to the public as
to what we're doing, not that we're lumping all in one and they don't really know that
we're doing all this other height stuff at the same time.
Martin/That's exactly what has been done in the past when we do tell people, when we send `em
back and say, you know, we need something more detailed. They sit down with Bob and
with...with City staff and they have those conversations, to then come back and say, okay,
we know that the City, you know, Council has in the past said this. P&Z in the past has
said this. We get that, and they have those conversations to then come back to Planning
and Zoning, and we can have a more detailed discussion and then they come to you. So I
think that that's....I think that's exactly right and that's exactly what this would....do
because we've done the zoning part first. If that made sense.
Botchway/Well and I would agree, I mean kind of beat me to the punch, I mean that's
ultimately, I mean, in the past we've always negotiated and discussed what the height is
and I feel like we're, I mean I know that you're here right now, and um, so I feel like
we're just puttin' all our cards out on the table and just saying no height, nothing, and so I
feel like we've (laughs) we've played our hand! There's no conversation about the
affordable housing piece, which is optional. There's no conversation about some of the
other design pieces, which I mean we can have that conversation. I have full confidence
from a Planning and Zoning Commission standpoint, as you have done in the past, to talk
about some of those design criterias and other things. I'm not necessarily in line with all
the things that have been proposed. I think that for me there's some comments and some
questions and some feedback I warma give in regards to that, but....I understand....and I
was thinking in my head like why is this project so much different than any other project,
and I get the fact that it is a large project, but to me I'm always questioning the character,
the context of every single building that comes before us,not just one big building, but
even if it was a hut or a small building, it still matters to the fabric of Iowa City. And I
think you....from the Planning and Zoning minutes, spend an inordinate amount of time
doing that as well, regardless if it's 15 stories or it's two stories,you spend....you seem
to spend, you know,just the same amount of time discussing what that looks like. On a
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separate note, since we're talking about kind of in general conditions and things along
those lines....Gustave, I'm gonna throw you under...or on the bus right now, but I'd be
really interested in having some type of student context or component, because we're
talkin' a lot about students and student housing, and I know I've talked to students, and I
don't know whatever the other Councilors have done as well, urn, but students love this,
at least the students I've talked to, and so I'd wanna make sure that they're incorporated
because a lot of times I don't think they are, and I think we discuss, you know, what we
may think in about a particular proposal, and this is driven by student housing. This
location is student housing. The only person I see that is of, uh, more experienced age is
our representative when I see him work out at the gym over there, and other than that I
don't see anybody else, um, outside of students, and so if we are talking about something
different for(mumbled) different community then I think we need to be frank about those
conversations, but I think the developers have spoke to it. We've even spoke to it in our
comments and conversations, and also in our memos, and so I would love to figure out
how that input, and I'm sure you can think about that in regards to when you deliberate
from a....from that CZA standpoint if we moved in that way, but how students, more
student input can be discussed.
Stewart/Yeah I think(both talking)
Throgmorton/Hold on, Gustave. We don't wanna go too deeply into the question about whether
we're gonna rezone the property or what...whether we're gonna have conditions on the
property. I mean that's really something we should discuss. Tell me if I'm wrong,
Eleanor, but we should discuss during our formal meeting. Here we're just....we've been
trying to get a sense of what the Commission's reasoning was, share some ideas, discuss
that a little bit.
Botchway/That was my idea, to incorporate more student input, and so I would be interested to
hear what Gustave has about incorporating more student input into the consultation or
conversation.
Throgmorton/I....I doubt that there's any objection to the students having more input, and in
fact there's ample opportunity for students to actually have a presence in whatever gets
constructed as a result of the rezoning, if it's approved. But just be brief(both talking)
Stewart/Yeah, so I was gonna, urn, agree with, uh, Kingsley and Susan,urn, on the fact that,urn,
if it's in the design review process, um, with Planning and Zoning, or if it's some
requirement, um,that increases the quality or make sure...ensures that there's the quality
and the livability aspects,um, like one of the conditions you recommended, um,which,
um, states about, uh...um, what is (mumbled)recreational space for, um, green space or
things among those lines that increase the livability and whether that's a conversation
that's done on the Planning Zoning level or at the, urn, City Council level, that's
something that needs to be ensured,but of course, yeah, more student input is always a
good thing. Um, and that means the developer would probably need to, um, work on
focus groups or various things like that,that's really seeking the input of students and that
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there's ample amount of opportunity and that's...whether that's a discussion thing or a,
urn, some sort of requirement, urn, that needs to happen.
Taylor/Kind of on that line, Jim, and this will go to the P&Z Committee. Just had a thought
here that I wondered if you take, urn, University input at all to....to, when you're making
a decision on property that's so closely tied in with student housing and, uh, University
buildings. I know Jim has talked to University folks about the need for housing and
location of buildings. Do you take that into consideration at all, and particularly with
this, did you consult anybody(both talking)
Dyer/ We're not permitted to consult with, uh....folks.
Hensch/ Out of concern for ex parte con....conversations.
Taylor/Okay.
Hench/But no one from the University attended the public hearing that I'm aware of, or spoke.
Taylor/Okay. Thank you.
Dyer/Just one other perspective that might, urn, shed a little light. When we're dealing with
OPD projects, we've sent them back three or four times to refine their plans, urn, and
make....lately we've been talking about, um, green space and....and place for activities in
multi-family things. So the contrast between `trust me' and 'are you gonna make that a
picnic table or a....urn, shelter,' uh, is pretty great.
Throgmorton/Does anybody wanna ask, uh, any other questions or make any comments and,
you know, interaction here? I don't see anybody. Billie, Larry, welcome aboard!
(laughter) Uh, so, uh, unless I hear objection, we'll thank you for coming and assisting
us, and uh,we'll move ahead! (several talking) So we'll take a very short break and then
turn to our Climate Action Steering Committee report! (BREAK)
Climate Action Steering Committee Report& Presentation [IPS, IP61:
Throgmorton/So we're gonna turn things over to Lindy here in a second but first I want to thank
the Members of the Committee,uh, how many are there here? Not...just one, two, three.
Three! Thanks so much for your work and the work of everybody else on the
Committee, uh, what you've been doin' it for about a year or so now, so bravo! Thanks,
Lindy, for the work the consultant team has done over that period of time. Uh, we....we -
really appreciate what you've done and, uh, thanks to Brenda and Ashley and all the
other staff people who have been involved. I....I think I saw a list of about 50 or
whatever (laughs) staff people who have been involved. So, thanks so much for
everything you've done. So let me turn things over to you, Lindy!
Wordlaw/Thank you. Can....can everybody hear me okay? All right, good! So I guess we
don't need to do introductions since you just, uh, did that, so thank you! Urn, I will go
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through a....a presentation and we will hit on the topics,just a short introduction. We'll
dig into the plan content, talk about, urn, what next steps are, and then have some
discussion after that. Urn, so quickly in this first section I'll just talk just real briefly
about the timeline and what Iowa City has been doing,urn, related to climate action, and
then just a quick overview of the, urn, the last year or so's worth of work that we've
been....we've been doing. So since 2007 the City's been addressing climate in a variety
of capacities, as you can see here. Urn, there's been a number of different commitments
and actions, urn, and the City has been quite aggressive in the last few years in addressing
climate. In late 2016 Iowa City set an official emissions reduction target to reduce, uh,
2005 level emissions by 26 to 28% and 80%by 2050. In early 2017 the City appointed a
steering committee to serve in an advisory capacity to the planning process for the
development of the Iowa City Climate Action and Adaptation Plan. Since early 2017 the
Steering Committee has met nine times, mostly in person but we have had some online
call, uh, conference calls, urn, to advise the direction of the plan, discuss their ongoing
role in implementing the plan, and providing key feedback to the City and consultants on
every area of the plan. We held one community meeting with the second one that's going
to take place, urn, next Wednesday, July 11th, in the evening at the Library. So we hope
you're able to join us, all of you. We engaged people across Iowa City who live and
work here to make the community a great place to live, and nearly 800 people responded
to our climate survey between December and January, 799 to be exact. We held
stakeholder interviews externally as well as internally with relevant, uh, City
departments. And finally, all of these things proposed in the plan are a result of the
research of best practices from other communities, and have been vetted with existing
City departments and divisions. The end goal of the planning process was to identify a
set of actions that when implemented will achieve Iowa City's emissions reduction
targets. And here's some, urn, oh, one of the pictures didn't download. Oh, sorry about
that! But here's some pictures from our first community meeting, and you might
remember seeing the poster before, and it'll be up again at the next meeting. So the
resulting plan focuses on how the City can reach its targets through,uh, coordinated
actions, actions in which the City leads by example in its own buildings and operational
considerations, and this was the City provides leadership in key areas from which people
across the city in homes and businesses can do the same. There are a total of 35 actions
across five areas. They include targeted work that involves City buildings and municipal
operations, and then stretch into what can be done across households and businesses.
This will require a coordinated approach from everyone in the community. Urn, when we
get into each of the action areas, urn, and with the draft that you have before you, there
are certain actions that, urn, have a star next to them and those represent the most, urn,
important....if you had to choose which ones you were going to implement, those should
be ones that are implemented, and the reason for that is they're either....they either
connect very directly to the emissions targets or they help facilitate the action, urn,by
other people across the community, or the last, urn, asterisk is also they represent a
cultural shift that is needed too for these things to take place in Iowa City. There are five
areas, as I mentioned, urn,but two of them in particular—buildings and transportation—
represent the largest bulk of actual emissions reductions and waste to a smaller degree.
So the first section is buildings, really the energy consumption in buildings, and there're
seven strategies here and as you can see, a large number of them are marked with the star,
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urn, that show how important they are, uh, to the City reaching its emissions targets. So,
urn, if you just quickly....I'm not gonna read them word by word for you, and hopefully
you've had a chance to take a look at the....at the plan, but they represent energy
efficiency, whether it's in existing buildings, which is a very important element of it, but
also when we're talking about, uh, new buildings. We just heard about a new building
now that's going up and Iowa City is still growing, so it's important that we capture
energy that....energy consumption in new buildings as well. Um, it looks at, uh, on-site
renewable energy or even more importantly, electric....electrification. Um...Mid
American as....as most of you I assume, understand that there's a commitment to
renewable energy, which is fantastic. A lot of cities don't have this, um, boost that you
all have. There's a certain amount of, uh, emissions reductions that you're getting just
because of that....that, uh, Mid American's commitment to renewable energy. Urn,
so when you're looking at energy efficiency, it's great to encourage energy efficiency
across the board, urn, but electricity is already going to be efficient just by nature of the
source of where....where the electricity is being generated. So a large portion of
elecuh, energy efficiency needs to be focused on natural gas consumption. The more
efficient use of natural gas consumption, or when possible what is called electrification,
when you're switching instead of natural gas to....to electric, and so this is a kind of a
shift cause a lot of people like their natural gas cooking or they use natural gas with...
with other, um,with other systems in the household. So that, urn, 1.4 addresses....
addresses that. We do still talk about, um, solar as an opportunity, particularly
community solar. Um, it allows people who might not otherwise be able to tap into, um,
the benefits of....of renewable energy. Urn, community solar is a way that people can do
that and....and, um....it's...become a member of an array of panels, and so that allows
people still to get the....the benefits of, um, renewable energy, uh, in their own
households. And then,urn, we have other....the....the benchmarking tools are just, uh,
more of an informational thing that, urn, allow people to better understand what their
energy consumption is and then be able to identify and target ways to improve, um,
improve their energy consumption, and then last but not least, of course,the City has
done a great job at add....addressing energy efficiency in its buildings, and has, um,
instituted different systems that....that use energy more efficiency....efficiently!
However, there's still more work to be done across a number of,uh, operations in the
City. The next section is transportation, and that's the....that represents kind of the
second, um,big chunk of emissions, uh, the emissions pie chart, if you will, um, in Iowa
City. So the first, if you look at the pie chart, it's gonna say electricity, natural gas, and
transportation, but when you're looking at the building section as a whole, that is
electricity and natural gas, and then transportation is....is the second, um....um,
contributor to emissions in Iowa City, and that's not uncommon. That's pretty much the
way it is across the entire United States. You might have a few communities that are
very different, but most....more often than not, that's the typical breakdown. That's why
there's so many strategies that you can, urn, start to look at from other communities and
see what's working, and see what is potentially a good fit to plug in in your community.
So that's....that's why there's a number of strategies that....that we were able to find that
worked in other communities that....that are a lot like Iowa City. So there's also seven
actions in the transportation section, and as you can see, a good number of them are very
important into, um, reaching, uh, the City's emissions goals. Um, and it volves...it
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involves a variety of selections here. So you can't just rely on all, on just one area, but
the important concept to take away from this is to begin to think about how you're
traveling. I think, you know, most of us here in this room grew up with 'you need to get
somewhere, you get in your car and you go,' and that's just the way it is, and especially if
you don't have prompts to make you think otherwise,that's just what you're going to do.
Um, and so the idea is to start thinking about those trips that we take, how are ways that,
you know, can I reduce one or two, maybe three trips a week by combining my trips?
Can I....is mass transit an option? Is that something I want to do? Urn, a lot of times
that's a tough strategy, that's a tough sell in a community like Iowa City. Um, other...
but what is a good sell is often biking and walking. You have a very walkable
downtown. It's....it's a wonderful....it's a wonderful place. Um, and then other
big....bigger ticket items like electric vehicles, alternative fuel vehicles, urn, and there's
a....a number of emerging technologies in those areas. So, it's one part kind of habit
and....in our daily habits, and it's also looking at the, um, other technologies that are out
there. This also includes commuter options, um, when you're thinking about computer,
urn, comm... commuter options, you're also thinking about what are the....what things
are we encouraging among our largest employers? Do people have a work-from-home
opportunity? Those kinds of things. So all of that falls under this category, and last but
not least certainly is, urn, increasing com......compact and contiguous development, how
we develop our cities, urn,has a lot of impact on how people get in their cars and go
somewhere. If,um, something is developed in the downtown area where then people
don't necessarily need a car and they can walk around, then that...that makes for a more
walkable community that promotes, urn, a more healthy....transportation angle, um,
when looking at these climate issues. Next is the waste section. Um, interestingly in the
first community meeting and on the survey, this is an area where everyone feels like they
got it covered, like I know what I could do, urn, this is....most people understand waste,
and it's probably because the City has been doing recycling for quite a long time. People
just get it. Um, give a hoot, don't pollute is an old....old, old, old, um....campaign from
back in the 70s. So it's....every.....every age group I think gets it. So, urn, this one is...
is the easiest to talk about with people. Urn, it basically looks at reducing consumption.
Um,whether it's through recycling, reusing, um, one of the big things that we....we hope
to push with the plan since people do get recycling is thinking about other ways, not just
recycling. It's not just composting. Those are great things. Not...and we certainly want
to encourage that,but we also want to think about what are we purchasing in the first
place. Do you need to....do you need to, I use the example with the Steering Committee,
um, I used to...it's so easy to get the little juice box or the little package of chocolate
bilks...chocolate milks when my kids were smaller, and I'd get the little six-pack, and it
comes in a plastic bottle and it's in a cardboard tray and it's wrapped in plastic, and that's
a lot of stuff that you're....some of it you're recycling, some of it is going to landfill, but
it's kind of unnecessary. I'm just being...it's convenient but it's me being lazy when I
could easily buy it in a larger amount and put it in a, you know, a durable...a cup that...
that lasts for...forever. Urn, so.....it's getting people to think about those kind of things,
and so most of these strategies represent.....putting less into landfill in the first place by
one,urn, way or another. It's not necessarily just enough to say we're gonna recycle and
compost. Um, and....and so that's really what that's getting at. There's a number of City
activities in here that look at,um, some,besides just reducing waste at the City as well, is
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to think, urn, from a longer, comprehensive standpoint, um, putting together a....a
comprehensive waste management plan and doing some feasibility studies around, um,
methane from the landfill and waste water operations as well. Urn, an adaptation is in
here. We'll talk a little bit more...I see right now that this...some of these pictures didn't
download. That's what happened, Brenda, when we pulled it up too soon. Sorry about
that, urn.....but this is a great picture of Ralston Creek actually and I really like it. Urn,
but adaptation is really looking at so most of the strategies that we've talked about, the
strategy we've talked about so far are climate action. It's how do we reduce our
footprint,but climate adaptation strategies are those that look at, okay, our climate is
already changing and we definitely see an increase in temperatures. We certainly see an
increase in precipitation and we also see an increase in just the weather events too, and so
adaptation is looking at basically a two-pronged approach that while we're working to
reduce our emissions, we are also making sure that we're prepared to act, urn, when
things happen,um, and not just that the City's prepared to act but that everybody is
prepared to act. Um, and one of the key areas of that is that we know that there's people
in our community who may have a tougher time doing that than....than some of us. Like
some of us are, okay, fine I'll....there's a flood, I'm gonna head to higher ground, I'm
gonna do this, I'm gonna, you know, it's a heat emergency. I'm gonna turn my air on,
I'll be good to go. But there's people, for whatever reason,that may have issues with it.
They may have mobility issues. They may not have the extra income to react as quickly,
um, there may be language barriers. There's a host of them, and so this section kind of
gets at,urn, that...that side of it, and the adaptation report digs deeper into that, and so
what you'll see here is, um, references to these, what we call vulnerable populations or
these....these, the groups that it may be more difficult to, urn, adapt and making sure that
we're, um, working with them now,not at the time of emergency, but having these
conversations now so that when...if and when an emergency does come, we can act, we
can move on what we plan to do. Um, so....and this, in....in this particular section, all
the sections require a lot of partnerships during implementation,but this one in particular
does because when you're talking about vulnerable populations, some of the best people
to talk to are going to be the agencies and groups that already work with these different
vulnerable populations. So in some cases it might be a community organization, it might
be a church, it could be, um....it could be any number of people. So, urn, having had
those conversations ahead of time is good,but it also involves,urn, for example, the
County Health Department and talking with them and....and working with them on
making sure that the, um, preparedness plans are understood, and we understand how we
integrate with that and how we connect people to the tools that are....that are already
available too. And then, um, I should also say that, um, there's other things in here
that....that look at climate that help to address climate adaptation, such as expanding the
tree canopy. I think people understand the value of trees in....in.....in communities, and
so this kind of gets at that. And then,urn, the last section of the plan is sustainable
lifestyle, and this is really getting at,urn, what are the personal things that I can do right
now, um, in my community as an individual, um, a lot of these don't necessarily result in
immediate emissions reductions and how they were calculated in....uh, for the
greenhouse gas inventory, urn, and I guess what I'm getting at with that one is like a plant
rich diet is often referred to as, um....a significant reduction in emissions, and that is true
if you're looking at the global perspective of it. However, in how emissions were
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calculated from a....from the, urn, spatial analysis of inventory, the emissions that they're
looking at in that come from other places, so they're not actually, urn, happening here in
Iowa City. So that's why it doesn't necessarily contribute to, um, it doesn't necessarily
contribute to the emissions profile, but it is an important mind shift and it's....it's more of
a global thinking, urn, type of....type of strategy. This also looks at, urn, expanding
community garden and access to healthy local foods, and I noticed that the, urn, I'm sorry
that we forgot to mark the stars on....on this one. So the important, the star....they're all
important! But the ones with the stars are 5.1, 5.4, and 5.5, and so these....these all will
help contribute, help....help the City reach its goals. 5.1 is that, again, that mind shift
of...of encouraging a plant rich diet. 5.4 is....is a huge, urn, strategy in that it's basically
creating these funding mechanisms to support community-wide climate action. That
involves a lot of partners, urn, banks and lending institutions and other....and.....and a
host of other potential partners, urn, to help be able to fund a lot of these,um, actions
that....that we're looking at. Urn, and so....I think this....this is basically the last of the
strategies that, um, totals up to 35 of them. So I think the big question, of course, is with
these actions can Iowa City reach its targets, and here's a reminder again of the targets.
Uh, so this next slide I'm gonna explain to you that yes, in fact, urn, the City can reach its
targets, and I'm gonna explain this little chart to you cause I'm not a good chart reader
when I look at stuff and I need stuff explained, so I'm assuming that at least half of the
people in this room are the same. So on this chart I'm gonna tell you what we're looking
at. Um, what we see here is Iowa City's baseline emissions from 2015, which is on the
left in dark blue. And on the far right in green is where we need to be to reduce the 2005
levels by 28%. So we're looking at the two ends right here. So we need to get from there
to there. So to determine if we meet the goal, we first anticipated the incremental growth
in emissions between 2015 and 2025. That's the second blue block. And then all of the
emissions are in orange. Now, if you're looking at the bottom, they don't necessarily
coincide with the action areas, so don't get too confused about that, but I am gonna
explain to you, um, what you're looking at. So.....as I said all the emissions reductions
are in orange. The City is already really close to the 2025 goal now, and that's largely
due to Mid American's strong commitment to renewable energy. It's that first orange
block is the biggest chunk of emissions reductions, assuming that Mid American is
reaching its goals, which it looks very much like that will be the case. Urn, the second
orange block actually represents the University's power plant fuel switch, and then very,
very small incremental actions will be required to make the final push to meet the goal
for 2025. So it's actually, uh, great job! You're already there pretty much. Urn, how
these are broken down, the rest of it, and I'll talk a little bit more on the slide, is that the
second, the....the third orange block, the third and fourth that are pretty small are really
energy efficiency and the electrification and it's a focus on natural gas primarily. Um,
because we couldn't really count, urn, electricity in energy efficiency. Again, because
that's already zeroed out with the utility's commitment to renewable energy. And then
the rest of it represents transportation, um, and land use, electric vehicles, and waste, as
well. Urn, but this is 2025. That's around the corner, right? So let's look at 2050. Yes,
you still can reach the goal, urn, and it's....it's a similar chart. On the left again we see
the baseline emissions and then....we, uh, calculated the growth through 2050, which is
the second blue block here. Urn, on the far right is where we need to be to meet that 80%
goal. Urn....to 80% reduction of 2005 levels. So once again, urn, while we anticipated
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businesses growth, and like the last chart, all emissions are in orange. Again you still see
the huge, uh, impact that Mid American's, uh, renewable energy is with that orange
block, the big one. The second largest is still, um, the power plant,but then we start to
see that, um, where there's a....where there's a breakout and still energy efficiency in our
buildings, existing and to capture energy efficiency in new buildings,um, are...are really
important. Urn,transportation, particularly, uh, electric vehicles is another very
important element, and then all of the others, um, are...are important as well, uh,
electrification, um, transportation, and the waste as well, and methane. Um, so all this is
to say that with implementing these....these strategies that Iowa City can meet its
ambitious emissions reduction targets. So, urn, I'll talk a little bit about what our next
steps are. Um, as you know, you got a copy of the plan that had,uh, blank spots for
photos. We've gathered hundreds of photos (speaking away from mic) Ashley for getting
so many photos, so we're still putting photos in, uh, we've already been informed there's
a number of'em we need to swap out. Gotcha! We'll do that. Urn, and then we're
actually redrawing all of the charts that we have had, because they've been sifting in a
draft,just a draft text form for so long,um, and they need to be redrawn so that they
match the color scheme. So we're....we're doing that. Um, there'll be a more final draft
that's at the community meeting that I would imagine, Ashley, you can send back out to
everybody before that as well. But we're....we're doing that. We're making other, uh,
text small, text edits that are happening,um, throughout. We are, um, meeting number
two, as I mentioned, is coming up. I'll talk a little bit more about that, and then, urn,
there's a number of documents that are related to this plan that we're finalizing or are
already final and I'll talk about those. So as I mentioned, I think twice now, is that the
community meeting is next Wednesday, 6:00 at the Library. We really hope you can
come,urn, we are busy with outreach, uh, our Steering Committee has been out talking to
people. Matt has really pushed everybody and written up emails for us so that all you
gotta do is really hit send. Um, we're making that push and we're finalizing the prep for
the meeting activities, once of which will include an Iowa City climate pledge. Urn, it's
been redrafted and there's gonna be more changes even after we met last night, but the
anticipation is that we'll have this climate pledge, some of it the first half is really just,
you know, basics that align with the, it aligns with the action areas of the plan, and it's
really kind of simple stuff,urn, but we really want people to see where they can take part,
fairly easily. Urn,the second half of it is `I've been there, done that. I'm an all-star. I
got this. I can do more,' so that's what those are really pushing people to think bigger,
think longer term, you know, you might not be ready to go out and get an electric vehicle
tomorrow, but you might think about it four years from now when your transmission
blows out and you're like 'what the heck I'll....let me at least look at it.' So this is really
designed, all these conversations happening, that the City is doing, and it just...once you
start to plant that seed people will start to think about it. Other documents, urn, related to
the climate action plan, uh, one of them is a community toolkit. This is actually a really
fun one. Urn, it's an online guide that's geared towards helping people across the city
kind of identify ways that they can plug in and take immediate action in their everyday
lives, and then again, providing that blueprint for longer term action. Urn, here's an
example of the checklist that are...that are pullouts from the plan, and people at the...at
the community meeting will actually get a double-sided checklist that we hope,uh, we
don't like to (mumbled)pass out a bunch of paper, but this is one that we hope goes up
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on the fridge and people start to pay attention to it, get used to it and read it. And that
will be online along with the....with the climate plan. Uh, the adaptation report, I already
talked a little bit about it,but...part, a lot of cities have done, um, climate action plans.
They're....they're startin' to become common across the United States. What isn't as
common is that second piece of addressing adaptation and not just....not just looking at
how we can reduce our emissions, but how we can adapt to our already changing climate.
And so this report digs deeper into identifying a....a variety of the physical, uh,the, what
we call critical assets, things that are really important to, you know, when there's a flood
and the bridges are out, that...that's a critical asset. So looking at critical assets, physical
ones and also, um, organizations that are critical assets as well, and then we also have a
pretty, uh, we have a detailed look at vulnerable populations, like who are the people that
are likely to be impacted even more by our changing climate. So, urn, that's what this
report is and it will....it's a separate document because it's another....(speaking away
from mic) pages or so, so we didn't want to add it into this plan. Um, but that will, that's
another thing that we're finalizing and it will be online. And then, urn, of course you
might be wondering, well how are you going to keep track of all this stuff? This is nuts.
So....what the other thing that we're developing is a tracking tool and we're almost done
with the design of it. We're having...we have a meeting, well we don't actually have it
on the calendar but we're supposed to meet next week, Ashley, Brenda, and I, to go over
the tracking tool, and this is really to aid in kind of tracking every action. So it'll...it
establishes a set of metrics for each action, not just one but multiple ones. Urn, and it
allows the City to track the progress for every single action, and whatever timeframe you
wanna do that. This is really important because you don't wanna wait till the end of a
year and be like, oh no! We're not doing well on this, in this action. So we wanna be
able to see early on if there's, you know, by the metrics that we've chosen, we meaning
not the consultant team but the City,the....the.....the team here, the Steering Committee,
we wanna make sure, you know, if we need to....tweak something that we know that four
months in rather than the end of the year, and having lost a whole year in....in working
on implementation. The other great thing about these kind of tools are then they are
useful in helping develop reports,because of course the City, the community is gonna
want to know, okay, well it's been a year, what have you guys done? Looking at this
tool, you'll be able to see exactly what you've done and be able to report on it in
whatever format you want. So the City has taken the first step to galvanize community
support around these important issues and how Iowa City can most effectively respond
while reaching its, uh, ambitious emissions targets. The important thing to remember is
we're not acting alone and we must continue, we have to continue, to strive to build
partnerships and establish pathways for individuals and organizations alike to participate
in the ongoing implementation of this plan. While we're nearing the end of the planning
process, this is actually the beginning of the plan. Adopting this plan and moving
forward will position Iowa City as a climate leader, not just in Iowa, but across the
Midwest. So....I would like to again thank, urn,the City, Brenda, and Ashley and the
Steering Committee. There's only three here but there's....they're a team who've been
engaged (several talking) Oh, two more made it, so there's five here! This is, uh, Jesse
from Mid American and GT from the Homebuilder's Association. So we've got a great
group of people. That's five out of 13. I think that's fantastic! Um.....so I wanted to
thank them again. We've still got a lot of work to do, especially before the meeting next
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week. Um, but I think we will....we're happy to take any questions that you might have.
I think, Brenda, were you going to come up (mumbled) If you guys wanna answer
anything, feel free (difficult to hear, speaking away from mic)
Throgmorton/ So, do y'all have any questions for our Committee members, and for Lindy?
Cole/I have two questions. Urn, you'd mentioned cooperation with other entities and you had
brought up Mid American Energy. I'd be curious if Mid American Energy has a set of,
urn,best practices that they would recommend that municipalities implement for
purposes of accelerating some of the climate reduction targets, and related to that, I think
there's a statewide energy plan that's in place and whether the State of Iowa plan has
recommendations for municipalities that we are specifically going to be implementing.
Wordlaw/ Sure, so do you want to address the utility one (several talking) I think you should
address that. (unable to hear person responding) Well I'll talk about the State plan first.
So, um, I was on the project team with the State plan,uh, and so we did pay attention to
what's in the State plan. However, there's a lot of changing elements at the State level
right now. Urn, we did try to pay attention to what's happing happening politically
with that,but it does...it does....it....it coincides with what's in the State plan. The thing
that's changing....largely with the State, besides some of the, urn,political policies is that
incentives like, at a utility, incentives change annually. Urn, so we reference them as a
potential source for incentives, financial incentives, but we don't specifically address
them in here because it is a changing thing year by year. While utility incentives are also
....they change year by year, ucn....they're usually....they usually, um, around the same.
They don't change as much as I think they do politically with the State. The, uh, wild
card that's kind of thrown in here, I don't....can I....the....the wild card that's thrown in
here is that some of the rules around what utilities are required to do, in terms of energy
efficiency, have started to change in Iowa particularly. So, that means that access to....it
probably means that access to energy and efficiency incentives at the utility, that's
probably going to decrease. So that means it's that much more....it's gonna be that much
more difficult for....um, for example, to get a rebate on, um, some energy efficiency
measure that you might put in your home or your business. It's probably going to
change. Um....because they're no longer.....they don't have the same requirements that
they've had in past years.
Leckband/I'm Jesse Leckband. I don't need to say my address or anything (mumbled)
(laughter) But, um, yeah, so I work for Mid American Energy, urn, and I'm....I'm in the
envir.....our Environmental Services Division so I'm not extremely familiar with the
energy efficiency, um, kind of portion of it,but I know that Brenda works pretty closely
with our key account managers to...to look at some of those options, but I do know that,
urn, we have entered in agreements with,urn, the Des Moines WRA for purchasing, or
off-taking their natural gas methane that's, urn, that they produce and I know that we've
....we've had agreements since 1993, I think, with (can't hear) Authority to also take
their landfill methane as well. So those....those kind of frameworks.....you know, and
agreements exist. Um, generally I think there's we're always looking at different, you
know, outreach and partnerships that we can take on. Um, but I would....I would say that
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some of the things we're doing, we're....just internally with our, say with our fleet that
we have a lot of pretty similar utility trucks, like if...managing the City's fleet vehicles,
that um, we have implemented a greening of our fleet to have battery powered so that
there's less id idling and then that's, you know, using less fuel and things like that. So
there's some similarities there and....and looking in electric vehicles as well and things
like that. So.....but I can....we can definitely talk to the key accounts and....and get
some more information about municipal best practices and things like that. (several
talking in background, away from mic) Yeah. There....yeah, I mean we've, and we've,
there's a Green Advantage Program I guess, urn....well, there's, yeah, the Green
Advantage is, urn, certified by the Iowa Utility Board. Every year will certify, urn,
basically the percentage of the load on an annual basis that is generated by wind or other
renewable sources and so that'll be available. I think it's still in development, but I
believe they....Iowa Utility Board just approved last....week, um,that they approved our
50.9% for the last year. So by 2021 is, urn, should the....the Wind 12 project be
approved by the Utility Board,then we'll have, that's when we would reach kind of the
100%.... threshold. (several talking)
Nations/I just have one thing. Uh, one of the things that we've talked about with Mid American
since you can see that it's such a large part of our emissions is what, uh, Jesse was just
talking about is, urn, we've been looking into once everything passes, uh, the possibility
of having an agreement that, uh, we're locked into having the renewable wind, so that,
uh,those recs won't get sold and so even though we are getting wind energy that
somebody can't buy the credits for wind energy, so that Iowa City will always, urn, have
that wind energy, and so, urn, so since it's such a big part of our climate action plan.
So.....(several talking)
Salih/ I just have a question about, um....the Steering Committee.
Throgmorton/Yeah, go ahead, Maz!
Salih/How many people should be on that committee and what is the requirement? Is this like
organization member or could be a community member?
Nations/Oh, there....there are 13 members on the Committee and there were seven that were,
urn, stakeholders that were identified from important places around the community, like
the University of Iowa, urn, Mid American, urn, Homebuilder's Association, and then
there were five at-large, urn, spots that the Council chose for those, that we had I think
40-some applications and....and that was chosen. That's the current committee. Is that
what you're asking?
Salih/Yes. Yes. Thank you.
Botchway/I had a quick question. So this is great! First and foremost, and I'm sure that, you
know, other Councilors are gonna say that, but I beat 'em to the punch. But....there's a
couple of things that...or I have tons of questions,but one question in particular, one
feedback or whatever the case may be, is the equity considerations, and so love that
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they're considerations, but my fear is as....as they're considerations, they won't
necessarily be incorporated into whatever the final action step is. So as I was listening
and, you know, reading beforehand and...my consistent thought was like how does this
apply to me, and so I know that you brought up a checklist, cause I think that's a great
thing as far as how that could apply to the individual....or individual person, what they
can do,but....I see this as a very Iowa City thing, which I like, but I just don't necessary
know how it applies to all of our different communities and what that looks like, and so I
know that you're still working through those community meetings and things along those
lines, and so I think that will be addressed, but I....I just wanted to share that particular
feedback.
Monroe/So as part of the review and....and development of the plan, there were a variety of
subcommittees that were developed and, um, you know, there was an outreach
subcommittee, there was a....a plan review subcommittee, as well as an adaptation and an
equity review committee. So, um, the....the Committee members that were....took part
in equity review, um, did look through the plan and identify some of these areas in which,
you know, ended up being listed as these broad, general thoughts or considerations, and
the outcome of the committee meeting was that, um, was that we need some type of
representative group of individuals that take part in the implementation process. So, um,
that....um, you know, the makeup of that group and how they would work with the
implementation at....at large is still kind of in....in process. Um, I think there's gonna be
more discussion as to what the implementation committee or...or groups, work groups,
advisory committee, whatever it turns out to be looks like, but the equity subcommittee
was....felt very strongly that the, there needs to be more outreach and engagement from
these, like you said, comm...you know, communities within our community to ensure that
whatever decisions we're making,whether it's, uh, review and consideration of new, um,
building code requirements perhaps. What does that look like for the renters? What does
that look like for the landlords? What does that look like for the public at large? So it's
not just a, you know, what is a development committee,how is that impacting residents
that are living in those communities and what are the potential outcomes of those choices
that we're making at a policy level or a, urn, staff operations level. So,um, you know,
that...that was a consideration throughout the development of the plan and it really is
gonna come into play when we're doing the implementation.
Throgmorton/Maybe I could follow up on that (both talking)
Wordlaw/Yeah, I was thinking....so a couple of things. Just adding on to what Ashley said is
that also with the adaptation piece, you know, we have that groundwork laid for who
our....who are these, the vulnerable populations that....that may, you know, it doesn't
mean that everybody in these groups are vulnerable,but they may be,based on a variety
of characteristics. So we have that, and then one of the other things as we were talking
about all of the strategies is, you know, what are the equity considerations for all these...
these building was where might people fall through the cracks, and so we kind of...we
had that identified and then....so that will be addressed in implementation, but I also
think it's messaging too, and we've talked a lot about, urn, the....there's a number of the
actions that look at communications and it's not enough just to say,hey,we're gonna
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reduce our emissions and assume everybody cares about the environment. Because we
know that's not the case, but there are other benefits,what we call co-benefits, to a lot of
the strategies that are, um, you know, energy efficiency's great, we're reducing
emissions, but there's also cost savings that happen with that. There are cost savings that
happen with a lot of these, or there's cleaner air, or there's....there's a number of these
benefits that then can....can, again, cleaner air might not register with someone who's,
you know, I don't care about the environment, but you might care about it if you're
affected by asthma rates in your community or other, you know, other health things. Urn,
so it's trying to identify those other messages that we should be sharing,besides the big
message of this is a big thing that we're doing and we're trying to reduce emess...so...
reduce emissions, so we warm make sure that those messages, those messaging efforts,
are reaching all sorts of people. Did you want to (both talking)
Nations/Yeah, I'd also like to say that, um, the adaptation committee, I mean the equity
committee, uh, really did a good job, like researching and reading papers about equity
and climate action planning, and realizing how much work there is to do and how we're
just beginning to do that. And another thing is since we're members of the Urban
Sustainability Directors Network, um, we're involved in,um, a group that is working on
equity and climate action planning and working with an equity director there and trying
to figure out best practices, and that's ongoing for the next year. So we're....we know
that it's something that we need to continue and not just, uh, something that we need to
put in a plan and forget.
Throgmorton/So it seems pretty clear to me that a lot more needs to be done with regard to
social equity, but that said....I think this plan really takes huge steps in that direction, and
that should be acknowledged. Uh, I've seen tons of plans, or....you know, I don't know,
reports or whatever saying how one could reduce carbon emissions, but they don't really
talk about the equity aspects of this. So....I....I'm really pleased with what the
committee and you, Lindy, and the team have done with regard to drawing attention to
that. So, that's one point I wanted to make. Uh, another has to do with economic
development. I'll ask you about this in a second, and the third has to do with....making
sure that actions really are taken. So with regard to the economic development part, it
seems to me we have a great opportunity to publicize the fact that we've made huge
strides here and that we are on the verge of adopting a plan that will,uh, put us among
the leaders nationwide with regard to producing....uh, with regard to using energy in a
much more sustainable way that is also very, uh, getting lower and lower with regard to
carbon emissions. So, I think that's a huge asset with regard to economic development
and should be publicized widely. I would hope that because people with ICAD and the
Chamber have been involved, that they will take advantage of that and be able to alert...
uh, people that they're...who might be interested in moving here or in investing here, uh,
that they have a real opportunity to accomplish what they want, while also contributing to
a much healthier global environment with regard to climate change. So that....that's the
point about economic development. With regard to the, um....actions, I know that the
committee provided us with a memo identifying certain actions they recommend that we
take in order to ensure that actions....really occur, and that they occur in a timely fashion,
achieve what we're hoping they would achieve and that kind of thing. But so far we
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haven't discussed that, I don't know, is the thinking....are y'all thinking that we will
discuss this later. Ashley, maybe this is your....a question for you. Are you thinking we
will discuss this later on in a...in our work session or can we do it right now? It seems to
me right now's a good time(both talking)
Monroe/Yeah! Great!
Throgmorton/Yeah. Okay. So can somebody summarize for us what the Steering Committee is
recommending with regard to future steps?
Nations/I think Matt would be the person that would do that.
Throgmorton/Great! Hi! (laughs)
Krieger/Hi! Uh, Matt Krieger. I'm the architect representative on the, uh, Steering Committee.
Uh, I'm also an employee of Neumann Monson Architects. And....so the Committee, uh,
met without the consultant,uh,but with City staff present as well, cause...just talk...
primarily talk about implementation. Um,the....when the Steering Committee was
established, it was a one-year commitment, urn, to help develop a plan,but nothing was
discussed as far as how do we do implementation. And so the Steering Committee was
very concerned about how is this gonna happen? How is it going to work? Um, we can't
put all of the responsibility on the City. This requires so much coordination,
collaboration,partnering with individuals, with businesses, with other organizations
within our community, with other government quite frankly. It's not just the City of
Iowa City. We're in Johnson County. We are close proximity to Coralville, city of
North Liberty. So it's gonna take a lot of collaboration, and...uh, we don't think City
staff can do all that, and so our recommendation is that some form of the Steering
Committee continue. Um, we have recommended that it is a....a, established as a....as
another committee or commission of the City Council, um, but we are certainly open to,
you know, whatever it is that you're looking for, um, in assisting in this implementation
as well. So this is really just to kind of jump-start the discussion. Urn, part two of our
recommendations is really that we need to establish a....a person who can be the....the
....the champion,the person who's going to be leading the effort on a daily basis, because
Steering Committee members are volunteers. Um, we are not, uh,paid consultants to do
that work, and so there needs to be someone who's tracking the information that we bring
back to them, who's making contacts daily, who's, urn, coordinating the efforts, um, and
the priorities associated and identified in the plan. So our recommendation is that there is
a staff person,um, that is hired to do that work. That could be at any, at different levels,
urn, but we....we have identified that there is a need for that...for that role and that
position. Um, speaking more....to the Steering...the future Steering Committee, urn, we
also recommend that that be much like it is now—a diversified group of people—that
represent different areas of the community. Um, we even working together have
acknowledged that there are gaps in representation on that committee. For instance,
there's no one from the School Board on that committee. There's no one from the
Johnson County on that committee. And those have,um,big impacts in our community.
Um,those organizations, and so we've iden....we recognize that there needs to be some
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representative roles that need to be identified as part of moving forward. Uh, but we
should still maintain that at-large, uh, component as well. Right, that needs to
be...there's...there was I think 40 people who do apply but didn't make the committee.
Um, and so rotating people on and off that committee in the future is also important. We
also identified that there are....that there's a lot here, right? You saw I think we said 35
actions. Urn, we can't attack them all at once. And even as...with the help of a steering.
committee, the help of a full-time person, that can't all happen at once. We have to focus
on certain things at a time. Urn, and so we also recommended forming working groups,
urn, to help identify what are all the issues, urn, and Kingsley, you mentioned earlier the
point about equity. I think as part of implementation, the working groups can incorporate
representatives of other organizations, people....communities within our community, to
be part of those working groups, to understand the impact,uh, of what the different
actions and the...and the, urn, the, what the....the actual process and...what actually
happens, and so, urn, that's....that was identified in our....in our recommendation letter.
That,urn, that the Committee establish working groups, along with these actions, urn, to,
uh, to involve and incorporate all of that information. I believe that was everything in our
letter. If there were any questions I'm certainly willing to....to hear those.
Throgmorton/Well thanks, Matt. I....I know when I looked through that memo I thought it
looked like a pretty reasonable set of recommendations. We as a Council have not had a
chance to discuss them,uh,but I would suggest that we ask staff to initiate the formal
steps required to create such a semi-permanent committee. We....we can discuss all this,
uh, later on of course, along with providing managerial advice about possible tweaks to
the Committee's recommendations. Uh, based on, uh, you know, your experience
managing staff, Geoff, that's mainly what I'm thinking there. Uh, and I think we also
need to make documented progress each year, which implies that the Committee should
provide some kind of brief annual report, and that it should, uh,recommend a...a specific
set of actions every one or two years, it seems to me. I mean when I read the overall
plan, it's not clear to me what's gonna be done next year, or the year after that. So....we
..... we need some mechanism that will enable us to know in 2019, fiscal year 2019, 20,
we're gonna do X, Y and Z.
Krieger/Right, and identifying potential additional resources that may be needed three years out,
10 years out.
Throgmorton/Yeah! So....those are my thoughts, I mean I don't know how the rest of y'all
think about this but....
Botchway/ So I would, I mean...I like some of those thoughts. I think I would add also, and
maybe I'm not....maybe I'm not seeing something differently, but it seems like there's a
lot of things on there that we've talked about in recent meetings, not necessarily as
germane to the Climate Action Steering Committee and so looking at transportation.
We've talked about, um, surveys, you've talked about, you know,um....urn, trans...l
mean parking and bicycle infrastructure and so for me I do want a little cleaner
understanding as far as what are we already doing or what already is happening in some
other plans and then what is kind of more siloed as far as the work on climate action. I
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understand that it's gonna be across all the different things, whether it's parks and all
those other type of things as well, but....I'm also worried about duplication of efforts,
and I don't want us to, you know, be focused on an area that we're already focused on
over here. So that would be my first comment. And then just a clarification as far as
representation and actions as it relates to equity. And so I'm not discounting that this
committee, cause I know you have thought about representation and some of the other
things. I'm just making clear that with some of the considerations, and this is more
focusing on it from like that review toolkit standpoint, starting with, urn, elderly
populations, people of color, at the beginning of any type of discussion or analysis of
implementation, regardless of who's being represented, and then going through that
deliberation as far as what it....what happens, because what I fear is is that....while
we're....while we're considering some things and we're thinking about as far as
representation, we'll start down the path of implementation and then we'll bring in and
say, hey, we received this guidance from, you know, some other groups and this is the
answer, instead of starting from the top and then working us away from the outcome, and
I mean I know many of you and so I know you're thinking about that. I'm just trying
(both talking)
Krieger/We had that exact discussion. (laughs) (several talking) I'm glad you brought it up,
thank you!
Botchway/Never mind! I just wanted to clarify that point cause I wanted to make sure I was
being clear!
Krieger/Yeah, absolutely! Thank you.
Monroe\I can just add to the, um, discussion about wanting to know more about what we're
already doing and what we're planning to do. Um, as we, staff was very involved in
the....in the discussions with the consultant team and...and the Committee and so as the
Committee was discussing with staff, or I should say the consultant had stakeholder
interviews with our staff team, staff was defining and identifying all the projects that
have, for instance, already been budgeted in the upcoming year that would apply or in
some way relate to, um reducing our carbon emissions. So there's quite a bit in the plan
that we already have a....a start on or, urn, are identified as....as a budgeted study or
element of, you know, for instance the transportation project and....and study. That's a
major component of....of how we move ahead, and so including it in the plan in...in our
climate format is....is identifying that that needs to be a component of that study as well.
So, um, I did go and....and break down for the Committee too what staff currently has,
you know, planned, what's been budgeted already, what's....what's being proposed at an
organization level, and then we can find some way of identifying what....what
connections there are between the plan and, you know, the budget, what connections
there are between the plan and the strategic plan, you know, we can find some way of
communicating about that to ensure that it's not being a duplication necessarily, but
working together with these outside groups as we go ahead with, urn, implementation.
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Fruin/Yeah. Urn, I understand what...! think the Council comment was, it...it'd be great to look
at the plan and say, okay, in the next 12 months we're gonna start this process. We've
done that with some of our plans, and I think it's pretty effective communication tool. I
refer to 'em as `quick starts,' um....what are those....what are those 10 things that we're
going to either accomplish or start on in the next 12 months that get us closer to our goals
here. I....I think those things are here as....as Ashley mentioned, we can pull those out.
We've been anticipating this plan for a number of years. It comes off the heels of our
Star Communities certification process. So there's a lot of things in motion already, uh,
that's not to say we don't need to ramp up our efforts,that this plan won't push us to do
more. But I feel really good with where we sit in relation to this plan right now. Uh, one
of the questions before I think we draft as staff the....the necessary resolutions and
authorizations for another standing committee, I think it would be helpful for the....both
the Council and the....and the Steering Committee to think about what type of role the
Committee should have, because that's gonna dictate the type of committee structure that
you want. Uh, there's a lot of administrative work that goes along with a Council
commission, an appointed Council commission. There's notices. There's meeting
minutes and, um, it takes a lot of internal energy to do that, and in some cases it's
absolutely appropriate and worth it, and in other cases I think committees can....can
function very well and perhaps even better outside of that environment. I think the
Council....you need to determine what is it you want from this committee, uh, looking
ahead in the future. Are you looking for them to advise you? Uh, are you looking for
them to,uh, monitor the implementation of the plan and report back to the public on the
process? Um, cause I think that's two very different things, and I'll....I'll have you recall
the bicycle master plan that you....that recently passed. In that case, we opted for an
informal advisory committee that meets with City staff, I don't know if it's quarterly or
every couple of months, to check in on the progress, to share new feedback that....that
Committee members have and just to make sure generally that things are moving along in
accordance with the plan. That's not necessarily a....that what the, it's not a Council,
um, appointed commission and they really don't have a role of advising the City Council
on anything, but they clearly are playing a....an important role in moving the, um, bike
master plan objectives forward. So part of it's what you want out of this committee
going forward, and I would recognize that, uh....uh.....uh, there is a significant amount
of just staff energy that goes into staffing a committee, if it's gonna meet with any
regularity,but again if you want an advisory committee, if you want to give it that
stature, and sometimes it's just a stature in the community, and given them a real strong
voice and presence, then it probably is necessary to have a Council appointed
commission.
Throgmorton/Do the Committee members have a strong perspective about that?
Krieger/Uh, we did have a discussion about the difference between a City commission and....a
City committee or a commission and a....an advisory role. Um, we didn't have this
example of the bicycle, uh, advisory group, uh, to really compare to exactly as an
example. Um, I do know that in our discussions that, uh, we identified that we need
community members who have expertise in certain areas to be able to provide that
expertise, um, component to....and advise on the...on the development of whatever those
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actions,those future, uh, implementation efforts take. You also need people who are out
in the community helping create the partnerships that are necessary. So this is essentially
a volunteer network, but it's also, urn, you know, people on this committee,whatever it
is,uh, are probably spearheading a lot of that effort,uh, and forming the working groups
and finding out what information they need in the community, uh, to report back. Urn, I
think the other part of it is that, um....is this, urn.....uh, continual reporting of activities.
Um, I think that, you know, we want to be able to provide regular updates, and then also
what are the things that we need to be looking ahead to, similar to what you were
mentioning. Uh, it, you know, if those things can happen, in different ways, I....I think
we're...we're open to hearing that. I think the....the one difference that's been explained,
at least to me, uh, between the two is that an advisory role doesn't have direct reporting
to the Council. It's....it's to staff, right, and the staff make....are making
recommendations. Um, but a City commission and committee reports directly to the
Council and takes Council's direction. It's a....I'm not sure that there's a big difference
in the end. Um, but uh...um, and in that manner I don't know that we, uh, have a strong
opinion....either way (mumbled) I invite other Committee members that are present here
to...to speak to that. But we did....we did have during our communications I will say
that, urn, that if there is....we were particularly worried during, I should say, during
development of this plan, that some of our input was not being heard. That it was being,
urn,that it was being....filtered, urn, in the development at first. I think we've come
around to understand that this is a framework, something to work from, uh, and that
implementation going forward, uh, is...all the details need to be worked out and so I think
that's one thing to consider, um, in that....in that discussion is, uh.....do you want to hear
the direct expertise and/or opinions of the committee, directly, or....and give that more
authority, or do you want that to be filtered first through staff and how that can result in
implemen....in actual implementation. So I think those are probably....that's probably
the main....the main difference from our, uh, perspective.
Throgmorton/Do other Council Members have any....thoughts about how we should proceed,
on this point?
Thomas/I guess (clears throat) other than your own thoughts within the committee as to how to
move forward, did....did you look at what other cities have done with respect to forming,
you know, a standing steering committee or commission?
Krieger/No, I don't think that, uh, that has been thoroughly vetted. I think we thought about it
from the implementation of the actions that were developed as part of the plan, and the
framework that was being established.
Mims/I....there's....how to say this.....I want to make sure that we're hearing what....the
volunteers and these work groups are, what their views are and what their ideas are. I
also...think it's important that....that staff has a lot of input, cause they understand the
intricacies of how the City works and....and budgeting and priorities and stuff. Um, we
have....we've really upped the ante on staff in the last couple years in terms of
commitment, and so, um....and Geoff, you know, brought this point up, and so that's one
thing I'm concerned about. I don't....I don't want people to be putting in a lot of time
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and effort and feel like Council isn't hearing what they're doing. I don't want them to
feel like it's being filtered in a way that....that Council isn't really hearing that, hearing,
you know, their input. At the same time, I....I'm really hesitant with the number of
formal committees and commissions that we already have, and the staff time that it takes,
um, to adding another one. Urn, and the second piece then is that full-time FTE. I would
like to see us wait and talk about that in August or whenever we kind of do our pre-
budgeting meeting, because I....I think it's important that we look at all those different
pieces that we might be wanting to add to the budget and not just start adding one here,
one there, and then all of a sudden we're in August and we've, you know, added a huge
dollar amount to the budget. So while ideally I would like to do it from a....from a
philosophical standpoint, I think it needs to be part of our budget discussion.
Throgmorton/I would think we can wait a couple months on that particular point. That sounds
reasonable to me. Uh, I....I'd like to make sure we're getting the best possible advice
about how to make sure that we can actually make this plan effective, and I worry that if
we don't have some kind of institutional, new institutional structure, some....some
mechanism, that, uh....that we'll end up with, you know,with a piece of paper that, uh,
pretty much gets ignored. I'm exaggerating a little bit but that....that would be my
worry. So....um, my.....I guess my gut instinct is to say I think we need to create a
committee, or extend this current committee, so it has some, I don't know, street
cred....that it has, uh, it is authorized to advise us, but....I think we need to be really clear
about what else our expectations are for that committee. So if we go down that road, I'd
like to get really good advice, from the Committee, from Geoff, uh, from other Council
Members about what specifically we would expect that committee to do....over the next
several years and it could probably be, I don't know, you know the....I'm just kind of
thinking aloud here, you know, maybe a....anticipated life span of five years to begin
with, so we have some sense, or maybe....some number like that, so that we can get a
sense of how it's working,whether the committee's...the expectations need to be
tweaked, or the committee membership or stakeholder membership needs to be revised.
Uh, and so on. But I think we need to have some kind of credible entity, outside of City
staff,keeping us on track.
Mims/But with that, Jim, I...I think maybe our first piece is really having that discussion of
exactly what we want and expect back from combination of staff and committee on this
and then maybe once we develop that we decide do we need that formal commission or
committee, which the....the point that Geoff is making, that immediately adds a lot of
staff time to it based on State law. Because every meeting has to be noticed. We have to
have staff there to take minutes, all that stuff has to be, you know, published and reported
out. Can we....can we get that, those same results that as a Council we decide we want,
can we get that with something that is structured more like the Bicycle Advisory
Committee? So...so I'd like to see what is it we really want first, see if we can get it the
more informal route, which requires less staff time, and if we can that's my preference.
Cole/Well I, to follow up on what Susan....I think that's my feeling exactly, in the sense of I
wanna make sure that we get that independent voice from the....the committee, um, but
on the other hand I think in terms of a formal commission at this point, I don't know that
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I'm sold on that yet. So what I would like to see is, to the extent that we can, I mean it
may be if we're getting a committee, and they're coming together, and they're sending a
report to us, I don't know whether we would have to have a formal commission or not,
but I would like to at least get that. I know from the staff's perspective, probably one of
their most frustrating things is is the recommendations they get from Council, from
community members that says `I was just in Madison and here's this great thing they're
doing, here's this great policy, we should do it here in Iowa City.' Um, and I think those
sorts of anecdotes sometimes can be helpful in the sense of; hey, there actually is a policy
that they do, that we can do as a matter of, you know, state law we have the authority to
be able to do it so....I think in terms of our committee that we have here,there is a degree
of expertise that they can give. I would like to see what the recommendations are, sort of
independently, and then of course we will get that feedback from staff. Staff will say we
don't have the budget, we're not recommending at this time. We don't have the authority
to do it, urn, you know, there may be some other limitations. So I'd at least like to hear
those independent voices to the extent we have, and the other thing is is that I know that
this by definition is sort of a big-picture project, in a sense that we're just sort of giving
the....the....the chapter headings, urn, but at least from my perspective, I would like to
see more detail in terms of what the recommendation is going to be in each area. So for
example, increase building efficiency. That's really vague. Um, we have a certain...it's
my understanding in talking to Nar...Martha Norbeck, who's not here tonight, is that the
City over the course of time adopts a set of codes that will increase the efficiency over
time just as a matter of course. But are there steps that we can take that would accelerate
that process, cause that's what my goal is is....how can we accelerate by reason of going
through this process as opposed to it's great with Mid America. I'm....I'm thrilled that
you're doin' the work that you are, but then the question is then how much are we really
accelerating it by reason of having the, uh, committee itself. So that's sort of where I'm
coming from. More specificity, one; two, I would like to have...I think we can try out the
informal mechanism, as long as we get that independent voice, um, is sort of where I am
at this point, and maybe we need to have a separate work session to allow staff an
opportunity to digest what we have today and then do a follow up, so that's where I'm
coming from.
Fruin/Yeah, if I could just react quickly. First I want to make sure that my comments weren't to
dissuade you from a formal committee. My comments were....were just, I think you
need time to reflect on what you want, uh, from the committee. Hopefully we've shown
as a staff we can...we can deliver when it comes to implementing plans. You're seein' it
with the bike plan. You're seein' it with the Parks and Rec plan. This plan is unique.
Every plan's a little bit different and there are some more external components to this
plan than say the Parks plan. But I think you need time to....to think about exactly what
you want from the committee, and then the form of the committee will follow with that
discussion. And....the process-wise, we're gonna have the public meeting next week.
Uh,there's some refinements to the plan, there's probably additional committee meetings
to tie up some loose ends. We will bring the plan back to you for formal adoption, and I
think at that time, hopefully you've had a chance to think about it a little bit, to review
any changes made to the plan. That's when we can start to make decisions on committee
structure. You don't need to worry about us not getting off to a quick start with this plan.
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As Ashley mentioned, there's a number of things already in the works. We know what's
coming. We....we can take the draft plan now and...and really get to work. So....I
would say wait till maybe August when the plan comes back and have that discussion.
Throgmorton/One of the things I really admire about the plan is how it basically cross-
references all the other kinds of activities the City's already engaged in, and all the other
plans that we initiated or on the verge of initiating, and the actions that follow from them.
So, I admire that a lot. I think it's certainly(noise in background, difficult to hear
speaker) what you're just saying. Well what you recommend makes sense to me, Geoff,
so....when....when, if y'all are agreeable, when we get to the point where we're being
presented with a final version of the plan to adopt or throw out(laughs) uh, we can
discuss the committee further. I...I....I would say also that I....I worry a bit, not....not a
huge amount, but I worry that if we don't have some kind of formal structure, uh, formal
committee structure, affiliated with the City, in some fashion, that it's....I....I guess I'll
just be blunt. I worry that....we might end up with a committee that consists of, uh...um,
people fos...focus a lot of energy and passion on....on climate related activities...
personally,but we need to make sure that these other key stakeholders, other
organizations, other groups, etc., are involved. So I worry if we don't have some kind of
formalized structure we won't get that kind of involvement. Okay, anything else on this
topic? Thanks so much, Matt, Brenda, Lindy(several talking) Thanks so much for
everything you've done. We're really pleased to be able to move ahead and I look
forward to getting that final version from you and I look forward to seeing you, Lindy, at
the forthcoming, uh, community event that's coming up.
Wordlaw/Yes, I hope all of you can come and we're actually having a separate, uh, we're
having breakout sessions, one of which will be on, um, ethi...equitable distribution of the
plan. So urn, hope you can come and....and join us, all of you. Thanks.
Throgmorton/Thank you. Alrighty, uh, our next topic is to discuss City assistance with
relocation,uh, displaced tenant relocation. I need to take a short break. We can either all
take a short break....or(laughs) All right, we're gonna take a short break, all right, for
five minutes. (BREAK)
Discuss City Assistance with Relocation [IP7j:
Throgmorton/Is Maz still on-board? Mazahir, are you(several talking)
Salih/Yes, yes!
Throgmorton/All right, so we're gonna discuss City assistance with relocation. All right, Geoff?
Fruin/Yes, so in your information packet, we have ff7, which talks about the 1705 Prairie du
Chien relocation assistance. As you recall at your first consideration of the zoning, for
1705 Prairie du Chien, uh, the, um.....conditional zoning agreement was....amended to
include an increase to $2,000 per household commitment, and that's from the developer
of the property. Previously the,uh, the condition, uh, was 1,000, or the proposed
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condition, was $1,000 per household commitment. The developer increased that to 2,000
and the City Council expressed an interest in having this discussion, which centers on
additional assistance that the City may provide in this particular situation. So the memo
in the information packet provides a little bit of recent history on relocations. We
provided, uh, two examples—one bein' the Quarters project, formerly known as Rose
Oaks, and the other 332 Ellis Avenue, and that was a vacation item that came before the
City Council. Also, gave you an overview of the affordable housing fund. Uh, a few
years ago when we created that fund, the Council at staff's recommendation set aside 5%
of all the contributions for emergent situations, and of course that was coming off the
Rose Oaks, uh, situation and so that this type of relocation, uh, situation was envisioned.
The fiscal year 19 budget,uh, contribution to the affordable housing fund is $1 million.
Therefore, we have$50,000 available for emergent purposes. If...if in a given year we do
not use the....the 5%, that rolls over into our land banking fund. So, again, 50,000 is....is
really the, uh, pot of money, if you will, that we have to....to work with in this case.
However, we were just a couple weeks into the fiscal year and you need to consider what
future needs may, uh, arise, uh,because in most cases those are unanticipated situations.
Um, we do, uh, communicate to you at the very end of the memo that,uh, we expressed
some caution in trying to define a specific policy, a one-size-fits-all policy for relocation.
I....I understand the Council's desire to do that and to have a very, uh, systematic
approach to how we handle these things, but I think as you've seen with a couple of these
cases, they're all very different, and, uh, I think it would be challenging to develop a
policy or a set amount that, urn....would apply to each of those situations. So with that I
think it's really a discussion that you all need to have. I think the question is, uh,
certainly, one, should the City provide additional relo....relocation assistance, and if so,
what does that look like. Uh, as you'll recall, for those of you who were on the Council
during the Rose Oaks,um....uh, situation. There was a lot of discussion about direct
payment versus case management approach,uh, so if there is a desire to provide
additional relocation assistance, I think you need to have that discussion on the type of
assistance that you want to provide and then we can advise on how you might.....
implement, uh, any type of program that you come up with.
Throgmorton/Do I remember correctly that there are eight households, or eight occupied
trailers?
Fruin/I think it was....
Salih/ Seven.
Throgmorton/ Seven?
Froin/Yes.
Throgmorton/Okay. So I just wanted to have that number in mind. All right, folks, do you have
a view about this?
Salih/I wanna talk about that.
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Throgmorton/ Okay, go ahead!
Salih/Yeah....uh, I think....I don't know what happened the last meeting, uh, I'm not sure how
come we get to the 2,000 with the developer,but my understanding, this is completely
different (mumbled) This is look like (unable to understand) and that because of that,
you know, they don't need any rezoning or anything, and that's why we don't have
nothing to do with that(unable to understand) They are not required to provide any
relocation plans, but for somehow they did. Even though is not enough, and we end
up the City ends up like paying more. But, for this one,we should have made the
developer pay! (unable to understand) for the....for those residents. That means we are
subsidizing the developer....indirectly. I think the developer should pay more than 2,000.
And after that maybe the City can....if they cannot reach to that. My goal was, if I was in
that meeting, I will ask the developer to pay 5,000 each household,but....you know, if
we cannot....because I think they should, even though they don't use HUD money here,
that we should follow HUD regulations and policy, and so we should ask the developers
to pay more than the 2,000. But since they gonna pay only like 2,000 and if the City
(mumbled) the difference, then we are subsidizing the developer actually! That
(mumbled) I really want the developer to pay more.
Throgmorton/Okay. I understand! What do the rest of you think?
Taylor/I agree with ya, Maz, that, um, I...but I....I was pleased the developer, he himself, uh,
raised it from the 1,000 to 2,000. I also agree that,uh, this is a somewhat different
situation that Rose Oaks in that,uh, these folks, uh, own their homes and I think we have
to look at that and consider that also cause, uh, as we got a letter from one of the owners,
um,he recently spent a lot of money to refurbish his mobile home. So some of them
obviously are in, uh,better condition or may have more value than some of the others, so
we might have to consider that. But I think though I...I differ from ya a little, Maz,
because we have set a precedent and, with Rose Oaks and, urn, from some of the others,
um, First Avenue,the Towncrest area, the area by, uh, the Airport,uh, we have helped
with the displacement of some of these folks in the past. So I think the City does need to,
uh, take a part in....in helping these folks out.
Cole/I'll jump in here at this point. (clears throat) What I would like to see is, I would like to
see the City, so we have seven total households is my understanding, is that we would
give 2,000 per household, so it'd be a total of$14,000 impact on the budget, and then it
would be administered directly to the residents as opposed to a social service agency.
Um, you know, one of the things Pauline had brought up is that there was sort of
almost...they are renters but there's also an element of ownership interest, and it's my
understanding that a lot of them are not going to be able to transfer over, um, and so I
think we're just, you know, as Geoff brings up, I....I think we're just gonna have to do a
case-by-case basis as all of these things sort of arise, and this will give us maximum
flexibility. Although it's not exactly apples to apples, I would point out that the City, in a
variety of contexts, um, for economic development, does give direct cash payments to
various entities, urn, for facade improvement, for infrastructure development. Um, I
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think it, correct me if I'm wrong, for Big Grove there was, uh, a pretty substantial amount
of cash that we gave them. I'm totally in favor of that. I think that that makes sense, but
I view that this is part of economic development and that if we have someone that's
displaced, um, they should not bear the entire burden of that. Um, Mazahir, I completely
agree with you. I think we should of,um,required more and I think the developer could
of done more,but I think that decision was made at the last meeting. So I would like to
double that, uh, so it'd be the 2,000 for the, urn, 2,000 for the, uh, developer, and then the
City would kick in 2,000. It's a relatively modest sum, urn, but I think the City does have
an interest in ensuring that the, urn, displacement or the...the cost of the development
don't fall solely on the residents in this case, and that's essentially, urn, what is
happening.
Mims/Well....I think in....I guess I'm going to be consistent with my comments with Rose
Oaks. I....I don't agree with the direct payments. Um, I....I think when we've done
things like facade improvement and stuff, I....I see a distinction there between that kind
of economic development and improvement in property, um, versus the relocation. Urn, I
think we really should be doing this on a case management basis, where the individuals,
you know, work with whoever, you know, we would select Shelter House or whatever
and show, um, you know, and show what their financial need is and then, you know, we
set some maximum that we would give, depending upon....on what need they show. So,
urn, so there is some maximum that we would set there. Um, I....I think sometimes we...
we make the absolute assumption that because somebody lives in a certain location they
have a significant financial need. That may be the case with 100% of these people. It
may have been the case with everybody at Rose Oaks,but we have no documentation of
that, and I think as....basically trustees of the financ...of the money, um, for the members
of this community, I think in....in these kind of cases, it should be done on a case
management basis. Um, so I'm....I'm not sure what that right dollar amount is,but, um,
that was my position with Rose Oaks and it's the same with this one.
Thomas/(several talking) ...with the seven, it's...it is possible I think to....to apply the case
management approach, um.....uh.....with perhaps, which may in the end be able to
allocate more accurately based on need, so that, you know, if we were to say on average,
say....say that there would be a....a fund of...available of say $14,000 just to use a figure,
that doesn't necessarily have to be distributed equally among the recipients. Some may
get more, some may get less depending on their need. Uh, so that seems reasonable to
me, and I....Maz, I agree that....Forest View is...is an interesting, uh, comparable...the
scale of this project is considerably smaller. So that...uh...you know, the increment of...of
value that's being created by this project is considerably smaller than Forest View. On
the other hand, you know, we don't know. I....I can't say with any accuracy that, uh, we
could have negotiated additional funds over the 2,000 that....that is being offered. Uh,
but those are....those are my thoughts.
Taylor/I think the one thing we have to keep in mind somewhere along the line we'd heard that,
uh, the owner of this property doesn't really have to do anything. He can just evict all
these people and say `I need to'....just end this business here, uh, because of the sewer
situation. So I think we have to keep that in mind,that....I mean this is,but that was a
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very good, generous offer for the 2,000 and....and nine months to....to find someplace
else.
Throgmorton/And distinguishing between the owner and the developer(both talking)
Taylor/ Exactly! Yes. Yes.
Botchway/Yeah, I....I don't know. This is a tough....this is a tough one. Um, you know, I think
I expressed my......how tough I thought this was at the last meeting and maybe even the
meeting before. It's been so long. Um....I.....I think for me, I....I would agree with the
case management angle,just from that equity standpoint. I....I worry though cause I
don't want...] don't wanna stop the access to funds. I don't want to slow down the
access to funds,but I do think that there are those that may need more compared to
others, and so I...I don't necessarily know that we're...or excuse me, I'll say I. I'm at a
place where I can sit here and say, you know.....that limit or whatever the amount may be
is the only, I mean is the only limit that we have to stand to (mumbled) 2,000. I actually,
I'm okay with that $2,000 number, but what if somebody needs 2,500 and somebody
doesn't need the entire 2,000, and so I would want that approach to have at a....at another
level, not necessarily us. I would say, you know, and I know Geoff had mentioned, um,
you know,the....the fact that we should take this on a case-by-case basis, but I....I really
feel uncomfortable with that approach. I'm not saying we can't....we shouldn't, and I'm
not saying that, I mean you're giving your opinion and advice to that so I'm not speaking
to you in that regard, I...I just don't like it. I mean honestly we gave 250. What makes
this particular group of residents different than the Rose Oaks residents? Um, if anything
I feel like the Rose Oaks situation was more of an emergent situation than this situation,
um, in the sense,just because of some of the things that the developer has said as far as
giving nine months, compared to what we....what was facing basically a lease
termination at a certain date that would have expired, and so....I....I don't know. I mean
from a case management standpoint, I'm agreeing with that. I think that, you know,
ultimately thinking about some sum of money, um, you know, 14,000, 15,000, whatever
that number is, I feel comfortable with. I feel comfortable with the number that Rockne
felt....I mean threw out, but I do think we need to think about how we are doing this,
because....and what that, you know, whatever precedent it may be. Is it double whatever
the developer can offer, I mean, what is it, because I don't want us to change based on
whatever development, small or large. It just makes me...it just makes me feel
uncomfortable. Not necessarily from a developer standpoint. I'm just talking about us...
about it from, I'm wor.....Susan had brought up in the Rose Oaks situation that we were
going down a slippery slope as far as getting that money, giving money out to, um,
relocation assistance. I'm not....I'm actually, you know, at the time, advocating for that.
I felt like we had a moral obligation to do so, based on the situation. I still feel the same
way about this one, but now I'm saying why is it 2,000 here, and it was only 250 here?
Do you see what I'm saying? I don't like the fact that we only gave so much to this
group and that we're giving a substantial amount more to this other group?
Throgmorton/Such a large number of people involved at Rose Oaks.
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Botchway/Right. Right, so that was part of the reason but it's....yeah, but I mean my point is is
that why is the need so much greater here, and you're right! I mean it's the number of
people. I just don't like it. That's all...that's what I'm trying to say.
Mims/There's another difference here too, and to clarify, I....I believe my biggest issue with
Rose Oaks was the direct payment, not that we were giving money for transition(both
talking) It was the direct payments with no documentation of need. Um, that's why I....I
can accept a case management. I....I do think there's a significant difference here, and I
don't know of these seven how many "own"their trailer versus are renting. I....I think
there might be at least one that does not have "title"to their trailer. I'm not sure.
Botchway/And is it seven, cause I thought the owner said something in the last meeting about
who all was there and who wasn't (both talking)
Mims/ Yeah, and I don't have those (several talking) and I mean when you're renting, you have
nothing invested in that property, other than you maybe have put down a security deposit
and you've paid your monthly rent. Okay? And....but you have nothing invested. Here,
you....you do have the potential that people have invested significantly, urn, in these, and
I....I....I'm not saying that 200....2,000 is the right number. That may be way high. I
mean I hear what you're saying, Kingsley, in terms of how much higher that is than Rose
Oaks, but I do think there's a significant difference when it's a pure rental situation, when
somebody potentially has a fair amount of money in an ownership status, and I don't
think any of these can be moved, cause they're so old. So....
Cole/ Can I say one thing related to the case management? The only concern I have with case
manage it is....is I don't know whether a lot of these expenses would be compensable
under the case management. So for example, assume that they want to move to a new
trailer, and under, if they're applying their ordinary standards for that, will they be able to
get a down payment to purchase a trailer? I don't know that. Maybe, assuming they do
have that discretion, I don't know that I'd have that concern, and I think that's what came
up with Rose Oaks. It's not that our existing non-profits weren't doing a terrific job. It's
that they were doing a good job in the sense that they have a very specific set of criteria
in terms of what's compensable or not, and given what we know in terms of Susan saying
the, lot of'em do have a property interest, lot of`em, as I understand it, are not going to
be able to move the trailer because they're so old, and I think maybe because of some of
the sewer connections or something like that, this is a real loss. So,urn, I'm hoping that
if we do do the case management that we retain the flexibility....that we reconsider this if
it turns out that a lot of these expenses just aren't compensable in terms of moving
expenses and getting a trailer, that sort of thing.
Throgmorton/If we do a case management approach, Geoff, who would we potentially contract
with?
Fruin/Well we have not talked with any of the service agencies yet. We....we have an existing
tenant based rental assistance program that we fund, uh, Shelter House administers that
and....and Tracy can probably give ya a little overview of how those programs work,but
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that's essentially what we did at Rose Oaks to start, and then the Council, after going
through that process for a little bit decided to do the direct payments on top of that.
Taylor/The Shelter House, I think I'd like to commend Crissy for that. I think they did a
wonderful job with working with each of the individuals that they could contact, uh, to
find other housing, and I....they....they were very helpful, I think, in that situation. And
could be in this one too (several talking)
Hightshoe/With the Rose Oaks situation we allocated $15,000 to Shelter House and they worked
with the client that applied, and if they met their eligibility criteria. Urn, it was a tenant
based rent assistance because it was a rental situation. So, um, they would provide 75%
of their rent for up to six months, where the tenant had to provide 25%. If that exceeded
a threshold, based on the....like a voucher program, urn, the tenant has to pay 30% of
their income, in a tenant based rental assistance program, of their income. If that was, if
that rule couldn't be met, then it was basically a typical voucher, where the tenant was
paying 30% of their income on rent and then the tenant based rental assistance voucher
made up the difference, uh, for the full rent. And then Shelter House would help that
tenant find a place to relocate and provided that relocation assistance if they....if they
needed that assistance.
Cole/Tracy, do you know with the low income housing assistance program whether they do, I'm
assuming a lot of these residents may look for another mobile home, urn,park. Do they
do down payments for mobile homes or is that part of that....um.....process?
Hightshoe/If it's federal relocation, the situation would be difficult because you'd have to find a
comparable mobile home park and....or a comparable unit that's safe and decent. I'm
guessing that you'd have to pay a lot more than what they pay now, in order to get a safe,
decent mobile home, in a different....it would take time to try to help that tenant move to
another mobile home park, urn, that's as comparable to....to where they're living now.
Taylor/And, Eleanor, you may be able to clarify this for me, but I'd heard just in recent years
that,uh, a lot had changed recently where, uh, banks,uh, reluctant to give loans for
mobile homes. If you are having a mobile home on property that you own, they will do
it, but uh, in....in the mobile home parks and as a rent....on a rental, they're reluctant to
do that. So it would be difficult for these folks to get a loan for mobile homes. Do you
know anything about that, or Geoff? Do you know?
Dilkes/I don't.
Taylor/Or Tracy? Okay.
Botchway/To that end also, I mean throwing this out for questioning cause I'm still thinking
about what...what it might look like but we have to think about....we have to think about,
we have to think about timeline as well, cause I know that there was a....uh, email about
expediting, but I don't necessarily know what that changes within our deliberation, from
the developer, what that changes in our deliberation as well.
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Throgmorton/Do you think it would have an effect, Geoff? If we did a case management
approach?
Fruin/Urn....
Mims/They were still (both talking) nine months, right? (several talking)
Fruin/ ....time for a case management approach. Now that's assuming that the Shelter House or
another agency is willing and able to....to step up and provide that, and we probably
provide some type of administrative support for their efforts too, but I think nine months
would be plenty of time if we got the direction tonight to engage Shelter House. If not,
we come back to ya at your next meeting and say, well, I don't think there's....I don't
think there's a path forward here, or we'd have to consider doing it ourselves, which
we're reluctant to do, but we'd have to have that conversation internally.
Mims/I think another point is I don't...I don't feel that....r think in looking at transition we don't
have to be looking at trailer park to trailer park, I mean we're talking about another living
unit. I don't feel that as a city with taxpayer dollars that we should be feeling obligated
that we have to....get them a new or.....much newer trailer in a trailer park. I think, I
guess I look at it and say we need to set a total dollar amount that we're willing to
allocate out of that 50,000 for these seven units and then if we can get Shelter House or
some other case manager to do it, they need to figure out what the needs really are and
then proportion those dollars to those different residents. Is that...a way they could do
that, Tracy? I mean....
Hightshoe/You could set a dollar threshold that they'd have available and they would allocate
that out based on the needs.
Taylor/And they would, as they did with Rose Oaks,kind of help to connect people with the
options, housing options, I think is what you're getting at, Susan. Yeah, someone that
(both talking)
Hightshoe/ ....advantage of contracting with an agency that...that places people in permanent,
supportive housing, or permanent, stable housing. This is not what staff does, so we
wouldn't have the referrals and the different....what programs are available, and even
like if you tried to look for another mobile home park, you don't know their financing
and what they could qualify for, so you might be able to pay for the, you know, the down
payment, but they can't qualify for a loan for the (both talking)
Taylor/Right.
Hightshoe/It can be time....time-intensive.
Throgmorton/I think I'm hearing support for the idea of doing a case management approach. In
other words, uh....uh, seeing if any of the service providers would be able to step to the
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fore here, with a....total dollar limit of$2,000 average per household, $14,000
if...assuming seven is the number of households.
Botchway/Jim, are we making any type of differentiation, what Susan had mentioned about
owner and renter? Or not? No? I'm just asking! I just(both talking)
Dilkes/I can't....(both talking)
Botchway/ Sony, are we making any type of differentiation between owner or renter or just not?
I was just asking to....cause that (both talking)
Dilkes/Well I think you're not talking about the amount of money that is going to replace a....a
mobile home. So it....it sounds to me like what you're talking about is getting a....you
know, either a rental situation or if there's some down payment assistance that they can
buy another home,but you're obviously not going to be...Rose Oaks was a little different
because you were taking a....a tenant and trying to move them to a different apartment,
urn, under a similar circumstance as you could get. Here we are, if someone owns their
home, you're not talking about the kind of money that can replace that.
Throgmorton/Yeah, I....I think we're really just talking about transition assistance(both talking)
Dilkes/Yeah! (both talking) Moving,really more moving assistance.
Throgmorton/Yeah.
Hightshoe/We've had relocation before when we did the Broadway condos. People have a
diverse, some people moved in with family. Some people, um, found another apartment,
I mean it's a really, until you meet with each individual household, you don't know what
their transition plans are. So I think it's just a benefit to help them along that transition
plan and find the resources that you can to....to mesh that, so that they can find
permanent housing.
Botchway/ So I'll say this quickly. I guess for me then we are somewhat setting up a precedent.
I know we, it's a little bit differently,but I guess,you know, in this situ...or in these
situations, um, there is some type of case management approach that we are using. I
mean we've done that now twice. I know that there's another situation where we didn't
necessarily do it,but I guess I'm thinking....I just....I don't like the.....just the openness
of it. It just doesn't make me feel comfortable and I...I just feel like, you know, if a
resident comes to me tomorrow and says, hey, I'm feelin' this type of way about this
situation, can City Council help me out. Why....why is it different, I mean I know this is
a rezoning, but what is the....what is the conversation that we need to have from that
standpoint when we're talking about these type of relocation situations. So I...I'm just
pointing out that we've now done, you know, some type of case management approach,
even though we haven't necessarily selected somebody right now, um, and maybe that's
how we think about us moving forward. Maybe the dollar amount does change and I
mean I'm not gonna focus too much on that but...just to think about in the future.
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Hightshoe/ (mumbled)we were under the impression there are seven residents, but we'll have to
confirm with the developer. So if...if you're talking about...it'd be nice to have a per
person so if there's another household. We think it's seven but we'll wanna confirm.
Mims/To give you an example, Kingsley, if we were sitting here and....this was say an
apartment building, these were all renters, and.....the landlord was giving them nine
months and nobody's lease went beyond nine months, so they're not, you know, there's
no evictions. I...I would be really hesitant to do any transition money. Because landlords
have that opportunity all the time to not renew leases. And if they had as much as nine
months to find new living quarters, I....I, somebody'd have to be very convincing to me
why the City should be giving them taxpayer money to move from one apartment unit to
another. I...I know a lot of the argument with the Rose Oaks case was it was so many
units and so quick, even though some people had six-plus months left on their lease. Urn,
but just saying, if....if something like this came up similarly again with relatively small
number of units like this, and six to nine months to find new arrangements, I personally
would be very hesitant about spending taxpayer money for transition. I'm not saying I
wouldn't consider it, but...I'd have to have a compelling argument.
Throgmorton/All right, uh, are we clear about what we'd....like staff to do?
Fruin/2,000 per household, case management (both talking) average. Okay. And you're
comfortable with us paying administrative fee? I think that's a reasonable expectation.
Throgmorton/You have to! Yeah.
Fruin/Okay. We'll just report back. We'll have a conversation. We'll start with the Shelter
House and then we'll report back to Council how we're gonna proceed.
Botchway/Geoff, that comes out of that fund,right?
Taylor/Emergency fund.
Fruin/Correct, emergency fund. The emergent needs portion of the affordable housing fund.
Throgmorton/Yeah, there is a certain precedent here that we're establishing and it's kind of
building on Rose Oaks, but....transition assistance, people displaced by a development,
using the emergent needs portion of our affordable housing fund. Those are the key
things. All right.
Dilkes/And I'm sorry, I just would also note that....it depends on what....what gets us here,
whether we're talking about a rezoning, whether in the case of Ellis we were talking
about vacation, I mean....the City has different....powers in different situations and that
is gonna play into this too.
Clarification of Agenda Items:
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Throgmorton/Indeed! Okay, let's move on to the next item, no! (laughs) It's 22 till. Uh, I...
maybe we can do this, clarification of agenda items. So....does anybody have any
agenda item they want to have clarified?
Taylor/ (mumbled) ...on the agenda items, 2d(10), about the legal services contract. Just had a
question about that. Is that a different firm than what the City's utilized before?
Monroe/Yes! So the, um, the City had the same, um, attorney assisting us with legal, with labor
matters, for the last couple of decades and so they've moved on and....and we've needed
to find a new opportunity for legal services, so this was the firm selected and....
Taylor/Okay, good. So that will include like the upcoming contract negotiations(both talking)
Monroe/Yes! (both talking) Collective bargaining(both talking)
Taylor/ ....passion of mine is that, uh, we maintain those permissive topics for our employees as
much as we can, so I would hope that this firm would go along with that.
Monroe/Good direction.
Taylor/Good! Thank you. Uh, I also had just a comment, uh, on 2f(18), there was a
correspondence, there was a letter about the Sheridan Avenue bridge and I just wanted to
commend the staff because even though it seemed like it took three letters from this
person to get that fixed, I was driving on Sheridan today and I saw that it had been
patched there and it looked very nice, so....thank you for taking care of that. That's all I
had.
Throgmorton/On 2f(6), which is an email from Magda Monteal Davis concerning exploding
windows at 201 S. Dubuque. Uh, yeah, uh, I hope somebody's looking into that and....
and can maybe bring us up to date later on or maybe now, I don't know, but uh, it
sounded pretty(both talking)
Fruin/Um, yeah, we have had conversations with the developer who is....is obviously very
concerned about, urn......uh,this particular situation, uh, and they are taking....at least
I'm comfortable that they're taking the necessary precautions. They've been meeting
with the glass manufacturer and the construction crew. I think they have identified a
potential, uh, flaw in some of the glass installation and they are, urn, working through
that process right now. So I....I feel comfortable that they're....uh,taking a very serious
approach to these concerns and....and that the item's....in the process of being resolved.
Throgmorton/Okay. Any other questions about the agenda items? I wanna say something about
2f(1), which is, uh, I don't know, a series of emails involving Amy Charles wanting us to
do something about a....a recent, relatively recent rape involving an Uber driver. Yeah,
it....I.....I hope the appropriate people are looking into that situation and, uh....it's just
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not clear to me whether she's expecting me or us as a Council to respond or whether
someone else has already responded, uh....
Fruin/Well, you know we had a series of responses. I....I started, uh, corresponding with Miss
Charles and then while I was on vacation, uh, Simon in our office, uh, had a....had a
email exchange with her. I think initially her call was for us to regulate Uber in a way
that would minimize this potential risk and we cannot do that. That's what was
communicated to her. Um, what we can do is make sure our Police Department's doing
everything they can, which they are,to, uh, investigate, uh, and....and solve these
incidents when they do occur and....and take other actions they can to prevent them,
outside of a regulatory framework, uh,but we do not have the authority to institute
background checks or to do, uh, anything like that. The State has preempted cities from
doing that. So, uh, I think....I think we're on the same page as Miss Charles. I think she
understands that now. She doesn't like the situation, um, and doesn't like that we
authorized Uber to come before the State set up their framework,but those issues are in
the past.
Throgmorton/ I guess the last thing I noticed that she....um, wanted, was basically for us to make
public service announcements, um, about the relative dangers of ride-shar....sharing
services and conventional cab services, or providing advice to those who risk using Uber.
That's her language, not mine, uh, so I...I don't know if it's viable to do PSAs on this
topic. I don't know. Any of you have an opinion?
Mims/I think you wanna be pretty careful about starting to name one company over another type
thing, I mean.....the.....the number of crimes in Iowa City with "Uber" drivers versus
traditional cabs, I have no idea what they are. Nor do I know what they are nationally.
But to start....doing PSAs that say regular cab companies are safer than Uber or Lyft, I
think is going down a pretty dangerous path. I don't think that we know that's true.
Um....I....I just, I don't know for sure. (several talking)
Botchway/And we can do, I mean, so I would agree, cause it makes me feel uncomfortable,but
I....we could, we've done before like tips, um, in general, like I know I've seen on some
of the, urn, the emails out from, uh, City standpoint, tips you should have when you're
out late at night and trying to get home or something along those lines,not necessarily
targeting, you know, ride-sharing or targeting cabs, but just in general what are some
things you should remember when thinking about that type of thing. I think that would
be good.
Fruin/There's....we have communicated those things—always try to transport and move in
pairs, you know, try not to be alone, those types of things we can....um, we can discuss
with the Police Department and probably come up with some generic type of guidance,
but I...I agree with Susan,probably avoid targeting this specific...company or maybe even
industry.
Cole/Well and if people have studies they can always send them to us via correspondence, right?
Just for review in the public record.
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Fruin/ Sure!
Throgmorton/Okay, given the time, if there are no other points about,uh, agenda items, we
should,uh, stop for this moment and come back to the infor...the information packet
discussion after our formal meeting. (BREAK)
Information Packet Discussion Ma)/31, June 7,June 14, June 21, June 281:
Throgmorton/All right, so....speaking of the work session.....we left off at the information
packet. Uh, the first one being May the 31n. I have to kind of find it so....bear with me,
please.
Botchway/While you're doing that, Jim, IP2, um, so I think Susan.....Pauline and I....yeah,
Susan, Pauline, and I had the discussion as far as some of the recommendations that
Stefanie's put in the memo,um, regarding the, um....grant program. So I....I'm in favor,
I don't know what, if there was a question as far as Council, I mean I'm in favor with the
recommendations. My only,urn, actually addition or change was actually, um, a part of
what....was requested was just adding language, urn....cause I think it was requested that
Council look at the purpose of the....of the, uh, grant program and just adding the
language 'spur new and innovative programming.' Cause I think that was something that
we talked about in our discussion, so I mean I'm throwing it out to Council in general,
but adding that to the purpose,um, statement of the actual program, cause it...when I....I
read over it and, it's been a long time now. It didn't have that particular language, so just
wanted to add it, to speak to some of the changes we had discussed. Other than that I'm
supportive of all the other things that were mentioned.
Mims/ Yeah, I just wondered, I was supportive of all of'em too, and I just wondered if....and I,
cause I don't think I saw the actual stated purp....was the stated purpose in this memo?
Did I miss that?
Throgmorton/ (several talking) Well I had the purpose written down.
Fruin/Yeah, uh....(both talking)
Throgmorton/It's to encourage, empower, and engage (both talking)
Mims/Okay, okay, that...okay,that second....okay. Yeah, so I don't....I mean I don't know if
other Council Members have looked at that in detail and have ideas, you know, of....of
what changes we might want to make, but.....and I know we've got a number of things
on our pending work session list(laughs) So I hate to even add another one,but I was
just wondering if this could be a....something that people did look at and maybe just a
really short....five minute discussion at a work session to confirm any changes we
wanted to make.
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Throgmorton/Yeah, I....I'd be okay with that. I don't have notes telling me what I think
(laughs) so I don't know what I think!
Mims/Yeah.
Cole/ I would agree.
Mims/ I mean hopefully it's something we could get through very quickly. I think if people just
kind of look at that, if you ....if you look at that memo, under background you've got that
second paragraph it says the purpose of the funding is, and then....uh, to Kingsley's
point, one of the things we talked about was, you know, new and innovative,um,kinds of
programming. Um, but other than that,the other six or seven recommendations, urn, I'm
supportive of as well. I guess the other five, so....
Throgmorton/With regard to, uh, I don't know, item #3 or whatever, it says no set maximum or
minimum amount of grant funding shall be required of applicants. I found myself feeling
concerned about that....about the no maximum criterion and (several talking) I was going
to suggest that not more than one-fourth or one-fifth of the total should go to any single
applicant.
Mims/I think Stefanie's point though in our discussion was, if...if we got just an absolutely
incredible....application that could reach out to....many, many people of diverse
populations within our community, that did take up the bulk of this funding, would we
want to have some really arbitrarily set maximum that then we can't take advantage of
that. I mean I think...I think the goal clearly, especially as, um.....when you get to #6,
um, each funding round should include organizations that support multiple goals and
benefit a diverse group of participants. So I think when you take#6 into account, in
order to take some really large percentage of this money and use it for one applicant, they
would have to....they would have to reach that one as well. They'd have to be supporting
multiple goals and benefiting a really diverse goup....group of participants. Her, again,
her point was....it doesn't mean we're gonna do it, and we probably never would do it,
but let's not limit ourselves and not be able to take advantage of some incredibly creative
application,just because it...it, maybe that year it takes the majority of our funding. So
that was her rationale and I.....
Throgmorton/Yeah, I understand that.
Botchway/I would agree,just the collaborative....thinking about the collaborid...collaborative
piece of a project that, you know, may come before us, you know, wanting to just kind of
open up that. I totally agree with you cause I think that's what we discussed. We were
concerned about that as well, and then that's where that inputting that new, spurring new
programming as well, so, you know, if you try to build a program,um, with this money,
you know, you're not going to be able to use it....you're not....don't think that you're
gonna have every single year, and so, you know, it's really speaking to....if there's a
major project across the board, um, that I think, you know, obviously hits at a bunch of
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different identities, but also, urn, it's collaborative across the board. I think it would be
an interesting project to look at. (mumbled) consider, not necessarily approve.
Throgmorton/Well, uh, why don't we try to set aside like five to 10 minutes of a work session.
Anything else on, uh,the 30....May 31....packet?
Mims/Mid American 100% renewable, that's already been talked about tonight.
Throgmorton/Yep. June 7th packet?
Thomas/I just found that National League of Cities interesting in terms of the scope of the, um,
you know, issues that seem to be....shared among cities, and Iowa City was in the list, so
we were part of that survey, uh, but I think we're....I was pleased to see that I think
we're....you know, we are addressing a number of these things, so I was pleased to see
that.
Throgmorton/June 14th packet? Uh, Joint Meeting agenda items, I'm gonna toss out a few. If
y'all think these are not appropriate, uh,please shout out. Uh,the comprehensive plan
amendment, uh, with regard to affordable housing. The School District's redistricting.
The County's new comprehensive plan. Uh, our climate action and adaptation plan.
RAGBRAI. And....major progress on major roadway construction projects. I know we
did that last time also, so I don't know if we need to do that. Do I need to repeat any of
that, Kellie?
Fruehling/(several talking)
Throgmorton/Do those sound (several talking and laughing) Well I don't know, there might be
a gap somewhere! Uh, any other items that you think should be on a list?
Mims/Who's hosting this next time?
Fruin/North Liberty.
Taylor/North Liberty, yeah.
Mims/I guess my only thought would be is....I mean if others have a number, are there ones
maybe that you'd want to prioritize on here because...when Kellie talks to 'em, I mean,
this is a lot for one meeting, and if other entities have agenda items, we might....want to
pare this down to like two or three and put some of the others off till another meeting?
Which ones, I mean certainly if you want to do RAGBRAI, that's time-sensitive. Urn...
and if you wanna do the roads, that's time-sensitive. I don't....I don't know if the others
are as time-sensitive. (both talking) I don't care.
Throgmorton/I don't know...uh, maybe we could sus it out and see how many other topics gets
proposed by these....by the other entities, and...so I guess, do you submit topics? Is that
the way it works? So....maybe you could indicate that if need be we can trim the list of
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topics back. Uh, IP3, proposed Council meeting schedule for September through
December. Those all (both talking)
Mims/Did anybody else have any items for the joint meeting? Okay! I just didn't hear
(mumbled) Um, what have we typically done with the election day if it's not local or
City Council?
Throgmorton/It's, yeah(both talking)
Mims/Do we still have our meeting that night or....
Taylor/On Monday(several talking)
Throgmorton/ ...because it's not a local election. I....I talked with Marian about this at length
way back when and it...we started not doing Council meetings on nights of Council
elections because of what happened roughly 20 years ago, when (both talking)
Mims/That was my only question. Otherwise schedule looked fine.
Taylor/The general election, leave it that night?
Throgmorton/Yeah.
Taylor/ Okay. (several talking)
Throgmorton/Anything else in that packet?
Mims/Just might want to have a short agenda that night. (several talking and laughing)
Throgmorton/Yeah, let's make sure there's a short agenda that night (both talking and laughing)
Mims/ ...sitting here (laughing)
Taylor/...watching,watching the results.
Throgmorton/Okay,movin' on, people! June 21?
Taylor/IP2,just wanted to comment on the Langenberg Avenue, uh, thank the staff for
following up on that and, uh, approval of the stop signs at the two different intersections
there and hopefully that's going to help with traffic there, between that and the speed
humps.
Mims/Well and I would also just comment, they are not in favor of a 25-mile-an-hour speed
limit on McCollister.
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Taylor/I caught that! But, yea,but I was hoping, you know, if they have all of those elements—
- the stop signs and speed humps—perhaps people won't go that way but....we'll see!
Throgmorton/ I was glad the staff went out there. So thanks to Kent or whoever,uh, was
responsible for all that. IP3, listening post update. Uh, we should have a listening post
sometime in either late August or September, something like that, so I wanna suggest,
well I (mumbled) I don't mean that. Doin' it at a Party in the Park would be reasonable.
I don't have the, where the Party in the Park's gonna be held for the last two weeks of
August, but if...I...I'd love to participate, but I won't be here on those two dates in...in the
last two weeks of August. So....if there are two people, other than others who have been
doin' it a lot, if there are two people who wanna do the Party in Park, during....one of the
days in the last two weeks of August, that'd be good.
Mims/ I probably can!
Taylor/Rockne and I had done, I just wanted to comment. Rockne and I had done one, uh, out at
Kiwanis Park one time, a listening post out there and it's a different situation. It's a
really more informal and you just kind of roam and talk to people, so it's a really fun one
to do. If people want to do that one.
Throgmorton/Well maybe somebody else would want to volunteer(mumbled) figure that out.
Fruin/You want the dates of those now? Or....
Throgmorton/It might help somebody else. It won't help me cause I won't be around on those
dates in Aug....last two weeks of August.
Fruin/The 16th of August is Willow Creek Park and the 23`d of...August is Happy Hollow.
Cole/John Thomas written all over it! (laughter)
Taylor/Yeah, John!
Thomas/Yeah but I probably should go to one outside of my neighborhood (laughs) I think.
Throgmorton/Yeah, I think Willow Creek'd be better.
Mims/Yeah, we haven't done one on the west side in a while, have we?
Throgmorton/We're gonna do one in Brooklyn Park, which is you know har...hardly anybody's
ever gone to Brooklyn Park, but it's near U Heights, uh, close in, west side. We're gonna
do that in early September I think. (several talking)
Fruin/ September 2"d, yeah.
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Throgmorton/Yeah, so I'd suggest Willow Creek Park (several talking) if someone else would
like to volunteer that'd be great.
Thomas/I'm probably available. So I can(mumbled)
Throgmorton/Okay. Great! IP6, the Police Department's annual report. I think it's an excellent
report. Really well done. And....you know, yet again I'm very thankful that Jody's
become our Chief of Police. But on a related note, I'm really sorry to learn that Troy
Kelsay will be retiring soon, September, is that what you told me?
Fruin/Yes, September.
Throgmorton/And that Liz Ford has resigned as Director of Animal Services. Yeah, they're
both terrific people so....sorry they're departing. Anything else in that packet? June 28?
Mims/ (mumbled) (laughs)
Throgmorton/ Well I'll mention one thing, uh, on, uh....let's see, the pending work sessions, IP
#8, what I'm conscious of is that we will need to meet with regard to doing City
Manager, City Attorney, and City Clerk evaluations. I thought we could do that on the
17th of July, but that's not gonna be possible. So we're gonna schedule it for August the
7`s. Just want you to know that. I imagine we'll start at 4:00. Seems reasonable, doesn't
it?
Frain/Sure.
Throgmorton/Yeah.
Fruin/ On August 7th?
Council updates on assigned boards, commissions and committees:
Throgmorton/Yeah. Okay, so.....anything else on that packet? All right, I'm hearing none. So
Council updates on assigned boards, commissions, and committees.
Cole/ (mumbled)
Throgmorton/Sony?
Cole/I said no update for me.
Throgmorton/ No update. John?
Thomas/Uh, ICAD had a meeting and I think the biggest piece of news was there, you know,
have been discussions between the, uh, Chamber and ICAD in terms of their relationship,
potential merger, and uh, the decision was not to merge.
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Throgmorton/All right.
Thomas/I mean they will certainly try to coordinate their work, but um, they're not planning to
merge, partly because of....the funding source issues were creating problems in terms of
what they could do in terms of advocacy and so forth, so....so they will remain separate,
um,but they are trying to develop a vision and uh, they kind of outlined it in terms of
moving forward and uh, you know, see how that draft develops, but it's almost like a,
urn, I felt it was like a strategic plan, you know, they kind of developed seven different
areas of focus—education and so forth. So....you know,there is movement, urn, it'll be
interesting to follow with that.
Throgmorton/Okay. Susan?
Mims/Uh, yeah, the....the Steering Committee and Executive Committee for the Access Center
continue to meet. I think we're making a lot of progress, um.....um, continue to move
forward on looking at properties and,uh, one of the biggest things really is looking at the
State law and regulations and, um.....what services can be in the same facility and how
many bed limitations and....so with changes in law there's....they're still trying to get
some of the rules written and so people in the group are still trying to understand all the
rules, but I have to say I...I feel good about the progress that's being made. I'm hoping
that we'll be really seeing some breakthroughs soon in terms of(both talking)true
progress that...that we can announce and people can see.
Throgmorton/(mumbled) Pauline?
Taylor/Well on that lines, I, uh, as part of our Invest Health group, uh, even though our grant,
our two-year grant ended, uh, they provided additional collaboration grants,uh, to further
Invest Health work, uh, and might hear Geoff talk about our sister cities. So they,uh,
group sister cities together that had similar concerns and goals or projects, and, uh,
Missoula,uh, Eau Claire, and actually Des Moines, and it, so those groups have met and
I just recently came back from San Antonio, which everything I'd heard I wanted to see
that. So...that facility, so badly, and they crammed two days of, I mean San Antonio, to
think about it I didn't even realize this, 1.5 million people. It's a humongous city, but
what they've done as far as this center, but they've been working a long time. They also
apologize for stealing our, uh (mumbled)program cause I met the sheriff. He said he's
the one that did it, uh, that stole her away from us, but uh, he talked about our....our
facility and....and what kind of roadblocks we're finding and I mentioned some things
and...and the one thing he stressed was just to keep up the hope and....and we can reach
our goal. So, you know, that was very inspiring,but uh,just to see that facility and the 22
acres of what they call the Haven for Hope was just amazing what they've done and see
the people and talk to the people that they've helped, uh, and...and they just, they didn't
leave any stones unturned, uh, even for children. They've got a child education center,
and I asked about the school children, school-aged children, and they have that plan..
They have a bus that comes but the bus picks those kids up first and drops them off last
so that the other people on the buses, the other kids, don't know that they're living in this
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center. So it's just, all of these things, and the food and then they also have just a
courtyard for the overflow folks that don't fit into their actual housed units. So just
amazing, and then the restoration center,uh, with the health center,where they come,
which I think that's more like what we're going to be able to have cause we don't have
22 acres, uh, with the sobriety unit and....and the detox unit, and then they have then the
observation unit where folks can go for certain period of time and....and help get clean,
uh, and we heard from a young lady that had gone through all of those steps and then
went to the Haven for Hope and then went and got her degree and now is working there
as a counselor for these folks, so it was just....was just really inspiring. I really enjoyed
that and, uh, was great to see that, and then, uh, the other....the day before we did
that...we also toured the jail. Did you get a chance to tour(both talking) They actually
have mental health unit, uh, three different levels of mental health units in this jail. Uh,
it's just amazing, cause, uh, the ones that were more severe and threatening to suicide, uh,
are...uh,there's no bars. There's just this solid door with this tiny little window that
people were peering out at us through and, uh, but just....just an amazing facility. I
would hope, you know, some day we can have something, uh, to that,but I will keep up
the hope, as he said, and uh, Susan's given me some hope here that, uh, we're moving
forward (both talking) so but they also then the day before that, uh, they have a program
called Quest, which Rockne would enjoy this. It's all about, um, educating, uh,people
and not just high school, but even folks that are 30 and 40 years old that have lost their
job and don't know what to do,uh, they retrain them through the Palo Alto Community
College there,uh, in the trades and also,uh, nursing, as a nursing assistant or LVN and
then on to an RN, it's just an amazing program,just....they,just well thought out, and
another program called COPS, c-o-p-s that has nothing to do with the police, but it's
community development and home renovation and the mental health also,but we were
going down this road and,uh, our tour guide said just a few years ago this was a dirt road,
but the community needed this paved road and then also they, uh, showed us....the
(mumbled)people would love these,uh,the drainage system. John would of loved this.
The, uh, apparently the northern end of town which was wealthier, the rain would always
come down and flood, totally flood this neighborhood. The homes and everything,uh,
but they, uh, worked and banded together and got this drainage system that's just
massive,that diverts the water, uh, so that was just amazing, and they....they got the
community college. They asked for the community college and those things,uh, working
together and, you know, having a goal and finding your funds and going for it,
so...that....that was very inspiring, and then, uh, also (mumbled) sorry, talking too long
here! Invest Health,uh, we had the Healthy Neig...Neighborhood symposium, uh, Geoff
spoke at that. Uh, that was also very inspiring. Had a couple guest speakers,uh, little
disheartening because one of the speakers was from the Child...a children's hospital in
Boston was it? And this hospital actually buys up properties around their neighborhood
and...and restores these homes and...and, uh, has people to move into 'em and even their
employees and encourages them to live there, and just amazing what they've done with
the neighborhood and what this hospital does for the community. So that...that was a
good symposium. That was all! (several talking and laughing)
Throgmorton/Still with us, Kingsley?
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Botchway/ Gettin' there! (laughs)
Throgmorton/You don't have anything? Okay, I wanna mention one thing. Pauline and I met
with Janet Godwin and Lori Roetlin on the 4th of June and discussed their school
renovations and redistricting process in relation to our comp plan amendment about
affordable housing, which is why Ruthina Malone showed up tonight. So, that's it! I
think we're done with our work session. Thanks so much!
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