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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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 2 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 3 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 4 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.... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 5 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 6 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 7 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 8 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 9 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 10 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page I I 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 12 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 13 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 14 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, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 15 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 16 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 17 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 18 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 19 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 20 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 21 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 22 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 23 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 24 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 25 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 26 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 27 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 28 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 29 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 30 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 31 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 32 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 33 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 34 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 35 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 36 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 37 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 38 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 39 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 40 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 41 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: This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 42 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 43 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. • Page 44 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 45 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 46 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 47 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 48 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 49 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. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 50 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 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 5I 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? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018. Page 52 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! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of July 3, 2018.